tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100220502023-10-24T06:07:33.795-04:00Dale Wolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03812019272454100113noreply@blogger.comBlogger466125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10022050.post-1162646530620470332006-11-04T08:16:00.000-05:002006-11-04T08:25:37.890-05:00

It is time for me to take my blogging in a somewhat different direction: The Perfect Customer Experience.This is where I believe the concept of contextual marketing has evolved in the current economy.It is still all about relevance to customer needs. But with a new emphasis on the experience that we as marketers are creating for our customers.I hope you will move over with me to my new blog ...

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10022050.post-1147621705725553552006-05-14T11:40:00.000-04:002006-05-14T11:48:25.970-04:00

Gosh, apparently many of you noticed I was not blogging lately and sent me emails asking what was up.Well, actually, I am just really, really busy right now.Spring rains have me cutting my lawn twice a week, the gardens are full of weeds so tall I had to give some of them names. Work is really busy at the moment and I have to pay the bills. But most of all I have my first grandson now in his

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10022050.post-1146426320054752552006-04-30T15:38:00.001-04:002006-04-30T15:45:20.190-04:00

I was truly shocked the other day to learn that there were more computer chips produced last year than grains of rice harvested. That sits up there on the Believe it Or Not list. But cap it off with the fact that the chips cost less on average than the rice.That gives you an idea of how technology is impacting everything we do. What we're really marketing these days (unless you are selling grains

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03812019272454100113noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10022050.post-1146413712273018622006-04-30T11:56:00.000-04:002006-04-30T12:15:12.606-04:00

Breakthrough thinking is a challenge. We get mired down in "the way we do things around here" and some of our toughest problems persist, starved of new ideas.I ran into a post by Bryan Coffman with a great example of an idea generation technique similar to one we used at my agency for years, adapted from Doug Hall's Eureka Methodology. It is useful at times to look outside your organization for a

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10022050.post-1146249910762636872006-04-28T14:44:00.000-04:002006-04-28T14:51:33.663-04:00

If you are wondering where the emerging markets lie, look no further than the one focused on small ideas -- nanotechnology.'Nanotechnology' is the engineering of functional systems at the molecular scale.It is a haven for clever marketing innovators. Business giants are looking at concepts that are built with atomic precision -- Procter & Gamble, Boeing, Merck, Kraft, Ford, the list is long and

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10022050.post-1146156050391752512006-04-27T12:40:00.000-04:002006-04-27T12:40:50.746-04:00

When billboards begin actively interacting with passersby, you know the marketing world is beginning to understand that it is time to change the way we converse with clients.Nationwide Insurance is the latest brand to speak to consumers through an interactive billboard located in New York's Times Square. Nike, Mountain Dew and Time Magazine launched similar campaigns in the past.The Nationwide

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10022050.post-1146076836220857242006-04-26T14:16:00.000-04:002006-04-26T14:40:51.900-04:00

Where's your comfort level? Entrepreneurs often innovate on their gut instincts of what the market needs without ever checking what customers in that market are looking for. Research tends to lead toward incremental growth while entrepreneurs seek explosive growth. By one account only 60% of such initiatives succeed and this number has been consistent for, believe it or not, several decades.Such

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10022050.post-1146075135227540012006-04-26T14:11:00.000-04:002006-04-26T15:04:56.320-04:00

Linden Labs' Second Life, is an online game that demonstrates clearly how this new market is exploding. Remember my previous post about user-generated content as one of the attributes of Web 2.0 businesses?Second Life is a privately-owned, subscription-based massively-multiplayer online real-life game (MMORLG) created in 2003 by San Francisco-based Linden Lab. Founded by former RealNetworks CTO

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10022050.post-1145997624653731682006-04-25T16:35:00.000-04:002006-04-25T16:40:24.810-04:00

Did you ever wonder what it costs to get a celeb on your marketing payroll?Adrants and Adweek have listed the Top Ten Deals. Here you can marvel how a single celeb can, in one day, make more money than you will see in your entire life.1. Catherine Zeta-Jones, T-Mobile: $20 million2. Angelina Jolie, St. John: $12+ million3. Nicole Kidman, Chanel No. 5: $12 million4. Jessica Simpson, Guthy-Renker:

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10022050.post-1145996774782219512006-04-25T16:18:00.000-04:002006-04-25T16:26:15.036-04:00

Let's assume that people who visit our websites from search are mission-driven. If their mission is not accomplished, and accomplished quickly, visitors will seek an alternative, and these metrics may turn out to be a red herring.We cannot put up eBarriers to enabling visitors to accomplish their missions. Instead, get them as fast as possible to relevant information. Most sites I visit do not do

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10022050.post-1145989213288963622006-04-25T14:02:00.000-04:002006-04-25T14:22:07.436-04:00

There's a natural rivalry between marketing and sales, but both silos are (or ought to be) doing the same thing. Marketing might be a bit more focused on a consistent brand message and sales might be more focused on engaging specific prospects. But neither can succeed without the other. Too many in one of the silos want to take all the credit for successes and point at the other silo when there

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10022050.post-1145984149092905762006-04-25T12:44:00.000-04:002006-04-25T12:55:49.736-04:00

As you may have read, the CEO of Sun after serving as CEO for 22 years has just passed the baton to a new CEO.The media hint that Scott McNealy did so because the company is mired in debt and has had no profit since 2002.The new CEO Jonathon Schwarz had this comment:Schwartz said Sun will spend the next 90 days assessing various aspects of its business and finding ways to become more efficient,

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10022050.post-1145971607748267662006-04-25T09:14:00.000-04:002006-04-25T09:34:20.276-04:00

Jeanne Jennings at ClickZ wrote this morning about predicting marketing results. Her comments reminded me of how difficult it is to get marketing managers to go out on the limb and post expectations and anticipated metrics before a campaign is launched. To me it was just a built-in part of the process, but in 20 years of working with many different clients at big companies and small, I could

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10022050.post-1145970323818090982006-04-25T09:05:00.000-04:002006-04-25T09:05:24.206-04:00

Our portfolio of marketing touchpoint opportunities is expanding rapidly so it's smart to keep a few basics in mind as we tool down the road:WEBINARSA webinar does not need to be expensive -- 2 to 3K should be plenty.Ideally, customers should be the guest speakers -- they can validate the value message as well as make it compelling through their first hand knowledge.These should be regular and

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10022050.post-1145471788768129662006-04-19T14:35:00.000-04:002006-04-19T14:36:28.993-04:00

Last Wednesday, I offered up that marketing must come up with a new magical sword -- at least periodically -- to keep itself fresh and inviting.Today The EMail Insider gave proof positive of what I was saying:While it is certain that improved spam filtering has had a significant impact, I think the real culprit is the incentive marketing industry itself. It has gone to the well too many times

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03812019272454100113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10022050.post-1145290181157904902006-04-17T10:51:00.000-04:002006-04-17T12:09:41.580-04:00

Connecting with Connectors is New CRM StrategyPeppers and Rogers' latest newsletter offers keen insights into word of mouth marketing ... they present concepts from P&G, Mercedes and Starbucks:An excerpt on the P&G portion:Procter & Gamble has invested in word-of-mouth activities designed to connect with consumers on a more personal level. "Advocacy occurs in one-to-one conversations, not

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03812019272454100113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10022050.post-1145115765914155832006-04-15T11:27:00.000-04:002006-04-15T11:56:55.253-04:00

While user-generated media are a hotspot for online advertising reaching younger audiences, technology buyers and influencers are also a concentrated market that uses RSS media.The explosion continues. User-generated media (a fancy term for blogs and online games) have proven a spectacular way to talk with the 18-34 crowd. That stands to reason. As MTV influence wanes, the new media offer high

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03812019272454100113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10022050.post-1145113465311288672006-04-15T10:54:00.000-04:002006-04-15T11:04:25.650-04:00

According to a recent Forrester report release, nearly 98 million US households will have a mobile phone by 2010. That's the good news for mobile phone carriers.The bad news is bad indeed -- 24% of US mobile subscribers switched providers between 2004 and 2005, and another 16% plan to switch in the next two years.Number portability, commoditized mobile offerings, and lifestyle-based service

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10022050.post-1145050907097554932006-04-14T17:17:00.000-04:002006-04-14T17:45:05.576-04:00

I am not talking about cold calling on the phone. What a waste. The federal government did us all a favor by taking such interruptive calls into our homes away from our marketing mix. Now we can stay riveted on calling as part of a coordinated lead generation process. It is not episodic, but instead is cleverly integrated into an overall process of helping customers make better buying

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03812019272454100113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10022050.post-1145049311085044312006-04-14T17:04:00.000-04:002006-04-14T17:16:24.383-04:00

Dion Hinchcliffe wrote an excellent piece on what Web 2.0 has evolved to ... so let me add his key attributes to the article I wrote two days ago.First off, he says that Web 2.0 is all about people. Well, that's just too high level to be useful -- everything pretty near is about people. But after this over-simplification, he gets at these five key concepts that reveal more what Web 2.0 is all

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03812019272454100113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10022050.post-1144857325163667282006-04-12T11:53:00.000-04:002006-04-12T11:55:26.620-04:00

The gaming community offers an insight into value propositioning: Gamers often create avatars or game tools such as a “magic sword.” These magic swords can be sold on eBay so they have monetary value. But once everyone has a magic sword, the value of the sword drops precipitously. So it is with a marketing or branding model that has become common … we have to shift and offer a new sword or we

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10022050.post-1144856938116891712006-04-12T11:39:00.000-04:002006-04-12T11:50:26.220-04:00

Web 2.0 businesses are fundamentally different. Web 2.0 businesses are delivering software as a service and using the Internet as a platform. A common attribute of all successful Web 2.0 businesses is that sharing control creates value for the producer.These businesses include the biggest most well-known companies and then some new, smaller ones are springing up everyday.Google is the leading

Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03812019272454100113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10022050.post-1144855989184538042006-04-12T11:27:00.000-04:002006-04-12T11:33:11.440-04:00

A recent analysis by PQ Media shows that 2005 advertising on user generated media (blogs, podcasts and wikis) at $20.4 million has leaped over 198% compared to 2004. A lot of this went to traditional blogs and to Web 2.0 businesses such as FlickR, MySpace, FaceBook because advertisers continue to chase the elusive 18-34 audience. Some percentage went to what I call serious B2B blogs that are fast

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10022050.post-1144803551975127472006-04-11T20:54:00.000-04:002006-04-11T20:59:12.460-04:00

Use Open Source to Build a Community that Markets Your ProductIn the 18 months since Mozilla released its open-source Firefox browser, more than 150 million users have downloaded it.That's a pretty good performance for a nonprofit foundation that has virtually no marketing staff. The secret behind the success is SpreadFirefox.com, a Mozilla website where users post ideas for marketing schemes and

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10022050.post-1144776794634889632006-04-11T13:25:00.000-04:002006-04-11T13:33:14.956-04:00

Creating communities can drive marketing to a higher level of success.The biggest shift caused by the Web is not the technology that people use to gain access to information. It is not even the content (although you know I am a huge believer in creating contextually relevant content). The biggest shift is one that is underway right now -- using the Internet to create communities who share common

Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0