A new survey indicates that despite the lack of measurable ROI, companies still embrace sustainability based on both potential economic reasons and the hope of product differentiation in the current marketplace. Thus, green is still cool for the customer and they will seek providers who offer sustainable products. Still, the payoff will have to come…
Red sky at morning, sailors take warning. Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Sounds like a nursery rhyme. In times past, a red sky at dawn was a signal to seaman that the weather was changing for the worse. This weather rhyme is centuries old. Like folklore, some myths are actually true. A red sky…
According to a study by Millward Brown, Amazon.com is the top performing brand in the U.S. based on “trust” and “recommendation”. The study uses a “TrustR” standard to judge different companies, which it arrives at by asking consumers two questions – “how trustworthy is this brand?” and “would you recommend this brand?”. Running a close…
“Print advertising spending in U.S. consumer magazines is set to decline again in 2010, 2011, and 2012. After losing 21% of their print ad revenue in 2009, U.S. consumer magazines should expect print ad revenues to decrease 7% this year, 3.5% next year, and 1.1% in 2012. Print ad revenue will total $9.1 billion in…
A new book called “Drive” by Dan Pink challenges us to rethink what really motivates us. In a nutshell, simple mechanical tasks can be encouraged with rewards such as money. A factory worker who assembles items repeatedly may respond very positively to cash bonuses for quality or quantity goals achieved. Yet, as tasks become more…
A lot gets written about social media and how companies do or don’t use it effectively. Seldom do you find evidence of how CEOs have responded to or embraced it. My favorite social media blog, Mashable, offers some insight with this article: “How CEOs are Using Social Media for Real Results.” http://mashable.com/2010/06/14/ceos-social-media-real-results/ John Bradley Jackson…
The internet age is one that has lost its personal touch, if not its humanity. Little personalization is done. Everything is digitized, automated, and delivered but is done without compassion or style. Letters are addressed to “Dear Occupant”; “Please insert your name here.” Seemingly, every letter received has a label created from a database by…
The internet age is one that has lost its personal touch, if not its humanity. Little personalization is done. Everything is digitized, automated, and delivered but is done without compassion or style. Letters are addressed to “Dear Occupant”; “Please insert your name here.” Seemingly, every letter received has a label created from a database by…
Have you ever had the feeling that you have experienced a sales and marketing challenge before, but were uncertain about what to do next? Have the conventional tools become less effective for you? You tried direct mail, networking, print advertising, and cold calling. Nothing seems to work anymore. Welcome to the “new normal”. New and…
Trust is hard to define, but we know it when we see it or feel it. And this is particularly true with e-mail marketing. The truest measure of trust in commercial e-mail marketing may be the “reputation score” which is calculated by all the individual ISPs. A reputation score is a complex algorithm used by…