Not What it Seems
Yesterday in my mail I received a “pre-approved guaranteed” $5,000 from a finance company. It wasn’t the misleading offer that got my attention. It was the address on my mail.
Nearly 20 years ago I was married to someone with the suffix Jr. on his name and we had a joint credit card account. When the account was dissolved, the credit card company erroneously appended my name with Jr. The finance offer in yesterday’s mail was addressed to Carol Aubitz Jr. That erroneous suffix on my name is still entrenched in data banks after nearly 20 years. I have moved three times and am no longer married to the “ex Jr.” yet the suffix on his name continues to follow me.
That is the problem with information in data banks. The person isn’t always what he or she seems to be. Marketers use the information over and over, multiplying the error so many times it is impossible to extract it and permanently correct the records. While most of the data collected about us is entered and stored accurately, there are many ways that the data Read more »
Putting Out The Welcome Mat
For communities, regions and states, the revenue generated from tourism and travel, both leisure and business, can often be perceived as a marketing “catch 22.” It is a classic example of needing to spend money to make money.
To attract tourists a destination must have activities and amenities. While most of these are funded through private investors and entrepreneurs, municipalities must do their part to provide an infrastructure and environment that makes the traveler feel welcomed.
I first started working with destination marketing back in 1976 and continue to do so today. As a result, when I travel, I pay attention to how regions and destinations present themselves to visitors. With the economic vitality available through tourism, it is puzzling that so few Read more »
A Discount Recovery
In the last two weeks of August, a muse article called “The Discount Dilemma” was the third most popular topic read by thousands of people who visited the Muse page on our Web site.
Discounting continues to be a topic of interest, especially as we are about to enter the busy 4th quarter retail season. What will drive holiday shopping? How much discounting can you expect as a consumer and will you do as a marketer?
Since I am on vacation this week, I thought it would be beneficial to take another look at “The Discount Dilemma.” So once again, as you look at price-cutting as an answer to slumping sales, or a way to gain a competitive edge over others in your market, consider the ways discounting can Read more »
Radical Change
Mention General Electric (GE) and the name that comes to mind most often is Jack Welch. Rarely, if ever, will you think of Lawrence Bossidy. Bossidy was a contemporary of Welch, but never garnered the same degree of fame. It was Bossidy, however, who guided the growth and success of GE’s financial division, GE Credit Corp. As the COO he doubled the assets to $16 billion in one five-year period.
Bossidy operated on the premise of, “Show me a great company and I’ll show you one that has radically changed itself and is looking forward to the opportunity of doing so again.” He embraced adaptability.
Adaptability should be at the core of your marketing strategy for 2010.
To be a leading brand in your market or product category will require Read more »
The Snake Oil Syndrome
In the 1800s, when marketing was very personal and done at the local level, itinerant purveyors of goods would travel from town to town, holding product demonstrations with promises of wondrous benefits to be had by using their wares. Frequently the hype far exceeded the results and the term “snake oil salesmen” came to mean quacks and frauds. “Snake oil” came to represent anything sold through exaggerated marketing claims.
It is now two centuries later and the method of snake oil marketing is alive and well. It has just been transferred from small towns to the global community of the Web. The media has changed, but the promises of greater wealth, health and beauty remain. However, the snake oil salesman is much more elusive in this global media than the fast-talking salesman who fast-tracked it out of town when customers got rowdy.
For those who sell products and services without exaggerated promises there should be concern about some of the marketing being practiced on the Web. Disillusioned Web customers will Read more »
Nothing to Fear
Thomas Edison holds more than 3,000 patents. Many are for items we now take for granted such as electric lights. Edison was a man who achieved immense success. He was quick to acknowledge that success comes as the result of persistence. Edison himself claimed, “I have never failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that didn’t work.”
Discovering what doesn’t work is part of the process that leads to achievement. Fear of failure, however, often prevents people from taking the necessary risks and time to do the things that will ultimately lead to their fortune.
This is true in all disciplines, from scientific invention to marketing. In marketing, I have learned much from the successful campaigns I have worked on or created. I have learned even more from Read more »
The Irrational Consumer
There is a seduction scene in the Hitchcock movie North by Northwest with Eva Marie Saint and Cary Grant. Exactly who is seducing who depends on your point of view. It is during this scene when Saint whispers to Grant that as an advertising man, he gets people to buy things they don’t really need and do things they shouldn’t do.
Although Saint states it a little strongly, the fact is that advertising is about persuasion. The more persuasive the message the better the advertising works.
To be really persuasive requires an understanding of how we manage our emotions. The only place for logic in great advertising is to justify the emotional decision that’s already been made.
Nowhere is this explained so well and in so many different Read more »
The Disappearing Act
It’s a sure thing that belts are being tightened at all income levels. Consumer and business spending is being carefully calculated, pondered and restrained. Only the government seems to be on a spending spree.
Perhaps the product segment where this is the most significant is in upscale brands and luxury products. Until the recent plunge, average American households were acquiring luxury brands. In fact, the “average” American home was a haven of luxury compared to the average standard of living one generation ago.
No longer content with 2-car garages, our homes needed space for 3 or 4 cars. Newly built McMansions had entrance halls larger than the living rooms of a generation past. Each member of the family required his or her own personal bathroom. It was this feeling that we were all entitled to the luxury lifestyle that Read more »
Doing the Unexpected
Open a copy of Entrepreneur magazine and you’ll see ads for business opportunities. Flip through the pages of Vogue and you’ll find ads for designers, perfumes, and cosmetics. Most people would agree that matching the message to the media and the reader is common practice and good advertising.
After all, what better place is there to sell golf clubs than in a media source that is read, watched or visited by people who play golf?
That is giving people what they expect. Dig deeper into the research of behavior and psychology, however, and you’ll start to uncover this fascinating truth. If you Read more »
The Red Dress
In 2006 Delta Airlines unveiled some new looks in flight attendant uniforms. Among them was a red dress. The dress was designed to provide attendants with a classier, and somewhat sexier, look. But there is a problem. It seems that the dress is only made up to a size 18 and now the union representing the flight attendants wants it made to a size 28.
The fact is, a red dress in a size 28 is a different image than a red dress in a size 18 or smaller. And every company should be able to put forth the type of image it feels best represents their brand. Image is one of the key elements in marketing and branding.
In the case of Delta, the significance of the color red for the dress is important. Red exudes power and sex appeal. Color is the Read more »
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