Archive for the ‘Community Marketing’ Category
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 »
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 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 »
Make Every Contact Count
A few years ago a retail company hired me to consult with them about why their advertising didn’t work. I first reviewed the amount of traffic in the store, the direct result of the advertising. It was healthy, indicating that the advertising did work in getting people to come shop. Upon further tracking, however, I found that only 7 out of every 100 people coming into the store made a purchase.
They had an astonishing 93% walkout rate!
It wasn’t the advertising that didn’t work. It was the employees who didn’t work.
The employees were ignoring the customers. When I delved into this problem with the employees their reason for the behavior seemed perfectly logical to them. The employees claimed Read more »
Get the Customer to Find You
In the first quarter of 2009, U.S. Consumer spending actually increased 2.2%. The challenge is to get consumers who are spending to spend it with you.
This is where some different thinking is required.
Traditional marketing and branding still have the power to keep your name and message in front of consumers so you are foremost in their minds when they are ready to spend. Which is why you must continue to advertise even though the return on your investment is not as high.
But the way consumers receive and relate to advertising, and the way they shop, is changing. The consumer is Read more »
“Searching” for Results
The number of consumers performing online searches increased 20% in 2008 to more than 11.8 billion searches in the U.S. alone. In the worldwide market there were 82.8 billion searches in 2008. These figures will continue to increase in 2009.
As you strategize about where to spend your marketing budget, be sure you are allocating a portion to optimizing your results from Internet/Web searches.
This is especially important if you are marketing business-to-business. And it is why more than 26% of small B2B companies (those with fewer than 100 employees) are beefing up their online spending this year while making cuts to the overall marketing budget.
In just over ten years the marketplace has Read more »
Low-Cost Ways to Boost Cash Flow
Feeling the pinch? Looking for ways to keep your brand alive and healthy during a sick economy?
To fight the blight of a tight market, it’s time to pull out guerrilla marketing strategies. With guerrilla marketing, instead of the big-budget, splashy ad campaigns you might use when cash is flowing, use stealth marketing to motivate consumers without looking like advertising as usual.
Quite simply, guerrilla techniques are the unconventional, innovative and imaginative approach for reaching customers in ways and places that are Read more »
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