tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30625915082476142642024-09-01T01:56:40.792-07:00I propose a framework for corporate strategy development: 1) Match your vision with market opportunities 2) Map stakeholders' needs with stakeholders' resources 3) Develop business models to ensure the value - resources exchange 4) Create a "bandwagon effect."Winstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187595064699190214noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062591508247614264.post-58239634552762922022010-06-14T14:42:00.000-07:002010-06-14T14:42:21.378-07:00

Product lifecycle management is one of the key elements of marketing. As technology evolves rapidly today, tech products’ lifecycles become increasingly short and, therefore, renewal of product vitality becomes critically important. Apple inc.’s Steve Jobs has been extremely successful in bringing into the market very cool products such as iPhone and iPad. Marketers have a lot to gain by

Winstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187595064699190214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062591508247614264.post-80884533393254299932010-06-14T14:39:00.000-07:002010-06-14T14:40:02.009-07:00

Positioning a product to target certain market requires a great deal of diligence. A marketer starts by selecting a market as her target, taking into consideration of the company’s vision, product fit, competitive landscape and its winning roadmap. Once the target market is decided, the marketer examines the needs, wants and demands of the target customers at multiple dimensions and decides how

Winstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187595064699190214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062591508247614264.post-63744627200374777052010-06-14T14:36:00.000-07:002010-06-14T14:42:53.374-07:00

Prudent marketers understand that customers have diverse needs and wants and, therefore, products have to be positioned to target selected customer segment(s). What if a business wants to take market share beyond its target segment(s)? Starbucks has saturated the market that it currently occupies, showing stagnant demand. In an attempt to drive future growth, the company is brewing a fresh image

Winstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187595064699190214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062591508247614264.post-41414616397922865742010-05-30T08:36:00.000-07:002010-05-30T08:36:36.580-07:00

Business model is one of the critical elements in business success. An effective business model is dictated not only by the grand strategy of the business but also by the key attributes of the product and the key preferences of the target customers. Google’s decision to bring an end to its online sales of its Nexus One handset shows how a poorly-configured business model led to a failure in

Winstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187595064699190214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062591508247614264.post-38730668641504199722010-05-30T08:35:00.000-07:002010-05-30T08:35:21.922-07:00

Many consumers hesitate when it comes to spending money on luxury items. The feeling of guilt, conscience and sub-conscience, plays a significant role in purchasing decision-making. Furthermore, the financial crisis and economic downturn transformed consumers’ mindsets and in the process of turning luxuries into socially discouraged opulence. Research at MIT suggests that people will spend more

Winstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187595064699190214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062591508247614264.post-86869558802616684842010-05-30T08:33:00.001-07:002010-05-30T08:33:53.906-07:00

If you ask people what their businesses are or sit in a presentation, you will likely to find that many companies have hard time to describe their business. People often try to cover every area of their businesses’ expertise, all of their industry experience and each qualification they have attained in an effort to paint the full picture of what makes them stand out. Consequently, the messages

Winstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187595064699190214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062591508247614264.post-13692107647456399572010-05-15T16:07:00.000-07:002010-05-15T16:07:53.164-07:00

Consumer brands can earn social currency. Launching promotional campaign using social media is, however, just the beginning. Effective social media campaigns are achieved by acting upon five key fundamental themes: 1) advocates trump followers – building promotions around turning real people into online celebrities and then endorsers; 2) the social context during consumption matters – creating

Winstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187595064699190214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062591508247614264.post-12424681811002408832010-05-15T16:06:00.000-07:002010-05-15T16:06:25.747-07:00

Feeling powerless is an aversive psychological state that people try to eliminate or diminish. Behaviors such as associating oneself with figures of power, wealth and fame and emulating what they do are driven by the desire to build status and compensate their feeling of lack of power, although they usually leads to decline in self-confidence. Researchers found that, in a time of economic

Winstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187595064699190214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062591508247614264.post-10396437630717847342010-05-15T16:05:00.000-07:002010-05-15T16:05:21.572-07:00

Business success depends highly on discovering and seizing opportunities. Opportunities, on the other hand, are associated with events, changes and trends. If someone tells you that he is going to move to an urban area, it is not an isolated incident (event); it actually represents a change in mentality and a trend of urbanism. Young workers and retiring Boomers are actively seeking to live in

Winstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187595064699190214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062591508247614264.post-43483334775562423332010-04-29T12:06:00.000-07:002010-04-29T12:06:05.835-07:00

To better cultivate its apps ecosystem, Apple demonstrated its iAd which places ads on applications so that the third-party apps developers do not have to worry about building advertising components in their applications and placing ads themselves. Mr. Jobs says. “We have figured out how to do interactive video content without ever taking you out of the app… We think people are going to be a lot

Winstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187595064699190214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062591508247614264.post-30498199123687310732010-04-29T12:04:00.002-07:002010-04-29T12:04:59.634-07:00

Consumers are talking about your brand in social media channels, and you need a strategy to engage in these conversations. Ignoring them – or jumping in without a plan – is a missed opportunity. Kodak, whose direct sales and online share-of-voice are on an upward trend, learnt 6 lessons: 1) listen before you speak; 2) add value when joining the conversations; 3) don’t be intrusive; 4) use real

Winstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187595064699190214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062591508247614264.post-30953417166834080892010-04-29T12:04:00.000-07:002010-04-29T12:04:02.295-07:00

Venture capitalists and entrepreneurs are in the business of predicting the future. In order for young companies to grow and thrive, they must develop the products and services that meet the needs of future customers in markets that change over time. While some entrepreneurs are enormously successful based on luck, starting the perfect product at the right time based on a hunch, others are more

Winstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187595064699190214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062591508247614264.post-13565503309744832432010-04-29T12:02:00.001-07:002010-04-29T12:02:46.197-07:00

All successful business ventures need a clear business model and experienced investors will want to see it before making an investment. Business model tells us how a business makes money. The key pillars of business model are 1) customer value proposition – how your product or service helps to solve a problem or provide a benefit; 2) a foothold – where is the niche customer segment of early

Winstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187595064699190214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062591508247614264.post-26375135435380374782010-04-29T12:01:00.001-07:002010-04-29T12:01:32.099-07:00

While the Internet holds immense promise for reaching retail customers far beyond traditional trading areas, new Wharton research indicates that customers discover online retailers by offline word-of-mouth, online word-of-mouth, online search and magazine advertising. Old world dynamics, such as neighbors sharing word-of-mouth recommendations, therefore, can still have powerful effects on

Winstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187595064699190214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062591508247614264.post-40881953391431723612010-04-29T12:00:00.001-07:002010-04-29T12:00:29.748-07:00

As businesses reach a plateau, firms often conduct out-of-box thinking and look for more growth opportunities. One of the common choices is switch to more profitable market segments. By moving from “Always Low Price” to “Save Money Live Better,” Walmart Stores, Inc. seems to have difficulties in its journey for its upmarket repositioning and the company has a lot to learn from Target Corp.

Winstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187595064699190214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062591508247614264.post-44612386865140098262010-04-29T11:59:00.000-07:002010-04-29T11:59:23.721-07:00

Two years ago, I wrote to a Microsoft executive, urging the company to offer Microsoft Office for free. The idea is to deliver an online version of Office and provide links to highly relevant online information on the interface using user’s context for automatic search. Given customers’ concern with privacy, the most likely early adopters would be enterprise users who need to gather information

Winstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187595064699190214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062591508247614264.post-7446471881126417882010-04-29T11:58:00.000-07:002010-04-29T11:58:00.676-07:00

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, has seen better days. Yes, profits rose 22%, to $4.63 billion, in the fourth quarter of '09. Even coming out of the Great Recession, many consumers are trading down to shop at the discount superstore. However, for the third straight quarter the store saw negative same-store sales growth; during the last three months of 2009, same-store sales dropped 2%.

Winstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187595064699190214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062591508247614264.post-18333681823989052972010-04-29T11:56:00.001-07:002010-04-29T11:56:48.972-07:00

My students at University of Washington are fascinated by customer perception. If customer perception is more or less mysterious to you as well, take a look at that of iPad. It is supposed to be about web surfing, email and photo and movie watching experience for consumers, according to Apple’s promotion campaign. Customers, however, want a stretch – taking it into an enterprise product category.

Winstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187595064699190214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062591508247614264.post-45637733223670292832010-04-29T11:55:00.000-07:002010-04-29T11:55:26.881-07:00

Executives who strive to improve the effectiveness and lower the costs of their businesses are often frustrated by the fact that they have run out of ideas. In fact, opportunities can often be uncovered by diving down to the details. In pharmaceutical industry, for instance, marketing efforts usually focus on physicians who prescribe higher volumes of drugs. However, an analysis of prescription

Winstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187595064699190214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062591508247614264.post-2952154678927249222010-04-29T11:54:00.000-07:002010-04-29T11:54:00.602-07:00

Placing ourselves in other’s shoes is an approach which smart professionals often take in their business practice. The common problem, however, is that we often got it wrong when it comes to take others’ perspectives. Maxine Clark, founder and CEO of Build-a-Bear Workshop, switched companies for a day with Kip Tindell, cofounder and CEO of the Container Store. Both outfits are big, fast-growing,

Winstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187595064699190214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062591508247614264.post-25891428488507177572010-04-29T11:52:00.001-07:002010-04-29T11:52:37.385-07:00

Social media has been increasingly considered as a media for marketing promotion. Marketers are eager to learn whether it actually works. EPC Cigar Company decided to promote its brand using social media, which allow the company to communicate directly with cigar buyers, retailers, tobacco growers and others with whom it does business. “To have a lot of people talk about the limited-edition cigar

Winstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187595064699190214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062591508247614264.post-56137513581315851962010-04-29T11:51:00.000-07:002010-04-29T11:51:18.558-07:00

Marketing professionals understand the roles of selective exposure, comprehension and retention in marketing communications. They are interested in finding out the most persuasive types of messages. For example, would you be more likely to buy a TiVo if an ad described it as offering you freedom or if it explained how you could replay sports events? Research indicates that the key to an effective

Winstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187595064699190214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062591508247614264.post-66531427483795060132010-04-29T11:48:00.001-07:002010-04-29T11:49:28.328-07:00

Initial sales figure of Google’s Next One was not impressive. It was significantly lower than that of iPhone 3GS, Droid, and My Touch 3G. But Nexus One definitively is trying to be a different method of distribution, one done only by Google and directly to end users… View the article

Winstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187595064699190214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062591508247614264.post-52225282230221751192010-04-29T11:47:00.001-07:002010-04-29T11:49:59.948-07:00

Microsoft recently announced the new version of its phone operating system, Windows Phone 7. It’s a sweeping redesign, coupled with an aggressive new partnership with handset makers and mobile carriers. Initial reviews are not only positive but actually excited… View the article

Winstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187595064699190214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3062591508247614264.post-70479678136366564792010-04-29T11:41:00.001-07:002010-04-29T11:43:30.107-07:00

Pragmatic Marketing proposes 10 tools for user experience improvements: 1) heuristics; 2) expert review; 3) web hits/usage; 4) user testing; 5) session analysis; 6) online surveys; 7) A/B and multivariate testing; 8) eye tracking; 9) emotion/trust measurement; 10) neuro-marketing… View the article

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