Archive for the ‘Strategic Planning’ Category
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 »
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 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 »
Mastering the New Media
Nikola Tesla, Philo Taylor Farnsworth and Tim Berners-Lee are three names not typically associated with advertising. Each, however, is credited with the invention of a new form of communication and technology, each of which eventually became an opportunity for merchants to hawk their wares to an increasingly bigger and broader marketplace, changing the face of advertising.
Advertising is the opportunity that knocked with the invention of radio (Tesla), television (Farnsworth) and the World Wide Web (Berners-Lee).
As with all new technologies, it took many years for the mastery of each to be developed as a source of advertising. We can Read more »
Keeping Your Business Fit
I don’t get to the gym as often as I should. Life seems to throw too many other time-zapping needs at me. It’s easy to make excuses and before I know, it’s been a month since I last picked up a weight or stepped on a treadmill.
When that happens, I can see and feel the difference almost immediately. As soon as I get back to regular workouts, I also see and feel a positive difference almost immediately.
It’s the same with your business. Keeping your business fit and in shape is vital if you want it to have a long and healthy life. Let it get out of shape and you’ll have a flabby, soft and lethargic work culture that can’t respond quickly and efficiently to a changing marketplace.
Here’s my fitness program to help you build business muscle and get your company or organization into top shape. Read more »
Planning for the Recovery
If your marketing strategy during the recession is to hang on, wait it out, and resume business as usual when the recovery comes, now would be a good time to re-examine your strategy.
Business as usual is not likely to be what you’ll find in a recovery marketplace. While you’re waiting for recovery, a major shift is happening. Consumers are re-thinking and changing the way they spend, what they spend, and why they spend. The change encompasses direct-to-consumer marketing and business-to-business marketing.
Fortune 500 companies are already making changes to deal with what is called the new frugality. The economic and demographic behavioral changes resulting from the recession are providing clear indicators of the trends to come. You should be Read more »
How Reverse Thinking Can Move You Forward
The expression “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” pretty much sums up the market place for many businesses and industries these days. There are a lot of lemons being delivered right now.
Most business owners and marketing managers know you don’t gain momentum by cutting the spending on your marketing. But that knowledge often gets forgotten when revenues are down or cash flow is tight.
One of the best techniques to use for changing your perspective, and looking at your challenges differently, is reverse thinking.
When used for marketing, the technique of thinking in reverse shows you Read more »
Trends Vs. Fads
A fad can make you rich, if you’re lucky enough to be the person who invented it. Hula Hoops, Pet Rocks, the Low Carb Diet, Ouija Boards and Koosh Balls are a few of the fads that enjoyed soaring popularity for a while and then fizzled. But at their height, they were hot.
The difference between a fad and a trend is that a fad is a product. A trend is about changes in behavior. People who are astute enough to spot trends and act on them have golden opportunities to bring the Midas touch to their businesses.
When it comes to trends, you have three choices. You can Read more »
The Power to Persuade
As Washington continues to allocate funds to financial sectors and select corporations, and as it supposedly puts money back into consumers’ wallets through the stimulus package, I can’t help but observe the greatest oversight of all when it comes to stimulating the economy.
And that is advertising.
There is not a penny put in any package to stimulate advertising.
Yet advertising is the single most important industry that needs to survive if Read more »
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