Author Archive
Cyber Monday Email Spike & Dive
Email marketing is bound to set records for emails sent on Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving, but it is likely to lead to a DECLINE in email marketing in the coming year. Here’s why…
Tricks With Gift Certificates…
There are two kinds of businesses in the world… those that rely on the holiday season to make or break their year, and those that don’t.
If your business’s success for the last 12 months depends on how you do in the next 30 days, it might be a good idea to milk all the revenue [...]
Old Timers & Answers
Have business people stopped looking for answers, falling content to grouse about how bad things are in the economy and expecting somebody else to “fix” it for them?
There is a sense that they have. And what a desperate sentiment that is. I can’t imagine the state, either of believing that no answers even exist, or [...]
Advertising is a messy, almost futile endeavor
A client called me from a medium-size Canadian town of about 120,000. The client is in charge of marketing for a jewelry store. One of about five competing stores within the geographic area of dominant influence of this town.
The boss had entered into an agreement to do some television advertising and they said they wanted [...]
Recession/Depression Prescription
I recorded this video a year ago. Revisiting it today, I was surprised at my own profundity. If you haven’t seen this, you really should take a look. If you have seen it, it bears watching again. It’s a good prescription for what you can do to save yourself from today’s economy.
Click on the link [...]
The End of the Branding Era
Hail the end of an era. A bad era at that, in my humble opinion. Hail the end of the “branding era.”
I’m not saying it’s the end of brands. There will never be an end to brands. But this notion of “branding” has got to go. And it is going quickly… although this is probably [...]
Crashing a Focus Group
Yes, it’s true. I crashed a focus group the other night. I say “crashed” because they typically don’t let people who work in the marketing business to participate in focus groups. Not that we’re any more or less typical than the average guy. But we might be counted on to skew the results by talking [...]
Happy Birthday Little Recession…
Hooray! Happy birthday to the recession! We’ve recently passed the one-year mark since the official crash and resultant “little” recession. How did you celebrate?
Actually, it hasn’t been just a little recession, has it? It has been, and continues to be, a big recession. A devastating one for many people. Unemployment at higher levels than it [...]
The Paralysis of Politics
It is with considerable trepidation that I approach this post.
I’m a marketing expert. I help people sell stuff. I help them advertise more effectively and efficiently. I help them get more bang for their marketing buck. I’m all about testing and tracking, chasing cost per lead, cost per sale, profit per sale.
I don’t have a [...]
The Home & Phone of Good Customer Service
After a couple of columns worth of bad news, how about some good news? How about a couple of companies that are doing things right?
I’ve complained almost tirelessly about the phone company over the years. If you’re a faithful follower of this column, or a reader of my latest book, How To Market Your Crap [...]
