The Customer Lens: An Approach to Customer Touch-Point Analysis
Few marketers would dispute the statement that it is the sum of all customers’ interactions with a company, over time, that ultimately creates or destroys that company’s brand value. Yet few companies take the time to look at their own business practices comprehensively through the lens of their customers to understand how they measure up to their customers’ needs and expectations.
Does each customer interaction live … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Author: Barre Blake | Source: MarketingProfs | Subjects: Customer Related, Marketing / Sales
Aging Processes Can Transform Consumers
Counterfeit Competition: Driving up price and quality
Driving up price and quality: Strong intellectual property rights (IPRs) are generally considered necessary to encourage innovation and protect the price of authentic products. However, research by Yi Qian (Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management) shows that under some circumstances the quality and prices of authentic goods can actually increase with the market entry of counterfeit products.
Content: Article | Author: Yi Qian | Source: Kellogg Insight | Subject: Marketing / Sales
Align With Aging on Multiple Dimensions
For Every Optimization, There’s a Pyramid, So Get Started
We at FutureNow sometimes wonder why more companies aren’t busy optimizing their websites and online marketing, or why those who are “on board” with the concept don’t always commit the right amount of resources towards the effort.
I’m not a mind-reader, but I think it’s due in part to an all-or-nothing mentality where nothing short of a full optimization ‘project’ is worth putting effort into. … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Author: Brendan Regan | Source: Future Now | Subjects: IT / Technology / E-Business, Marketing / Sales
The Return of the Salesman
Salesmen have received a bad rap over the years, but increasingly the profession is drawing scholarly interest. Business History Review coeditor Walter A. Friedman discusses the publication’s recent themed issue on salesmanship.
Content: Article | Author: Walter A. Friedman | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subject: Marketing / Sales
Community: The Structure of Belonging
Modern society is plagued by fragmentation. The various sectors of our communities–businesses, schools, social service organizations, churches, government–do not work together. They exist in their own worlds. As do so many individual citizens, who long for connection but end up marginalized, their gifts overlooked, their potential contributions lost. This disconnection and detachment makes it hard if not impossible to envision a common future and work … [ Read more ]
Content: Book | Author: Peter Block | Subjects: Customer Related, Marketing / Sales, Organizational Behavior
10 Tough Questions To Ask Prospects
Find out if you’re asking the wrong questions — and what to ask instead.
Content: Article | Author: Geoffrey James | Source: BNET | Subject: Marketing / Sales
Managing Sales Effectively in Tough Times
How can companies grow sales while keeping costs low, mitigating risks and maintaining customer satisfaction? The answer is to increase sales effectiveness. By optimizing the sales channel and product mix at every stage of the customer experience, a company can increase its sales force’s productivity and improve both the top and bottom lines. In this tough economic environment, these measures can help companies weather the … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Source: Kearney | Subject: Marketing / Sales
Broadcast TV Ad Revenues Down 12.8% in Q209
Worldwide Advertising Spending
Dianne Ledingham and Darrell Rigby
“Good revenue,” is the kind that’s predictable and profitable, and holds possibilities for further expansion. Bad revenue, in contrast, comes from customers that don’t value your core business proposition, requiring excessive customization, complexity or discounting, and causing the sales management team to lose strategic focus. Tempting though it may be, no company can afford bad revenue with its explicit and hidden costs.
Content: Quotation | Authors: Darrell K. Rigby, Dianne Ledingham | Source: Bain & Company | Subjects: Business Plans, Management, Marketing / Sales
Mobile and Social Media Ad Spending Small But Getting Bigger
Margaret Wheatley, Carole Schwinn, Peter Block
People (communities) can work together to create what they need and desire, “a future distinct from the past.” Focus should be on the structures of belonging, giving detailed attention to the many elements of design, location, and process that contribute to having productive conversations, gatherings, and relationships. Conversations should be structured around questions that evoke not answers, but commitment, accountability, and the possibility for transformation. … [ Read more ]
Content: Quotation | Authors: Carole Schwinn, Margaret J. Wheatley, Peter Block | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Customer Related, Marketing / Sales
People are Talking
Talk may be cheap, but listening to what people are saying about your product can be a valuable method of improving corporate performance. According to recent research, there is a measurable connection between what is being said about a product in online posts and real-time customer behavior. Becoming aware of online comments and learning how to use the information can avert potential downturns in sales … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Jacquelyn Thomas, Lakshman Krishnamurthi, Shyam Gopinath | Source: Kellogg Insight | Subjects: Market Research, Marketing / Sales
The Trouble with Brands
Most consumer brands are not creating value. The exceptions share a set of “energized” attributes that companies can identify and exploit.
Content: Article | Authors: Ed Lebar, John Gerzema | Source: strategy+business | Subject: Marketing / Sales
Becoming Credible
Tom Wanek believes credibility can be “purchased” by risking one or more of six currencies. The more you put at risk, the more believable your message.
Content: Article | Authors: Roy H. Williams, Tom Wanek | Subject: Marketing / Sales
Worldwide Social Network Spending Climbs…Less Quickly
Obsessive Branding Disorder: The Illusion of Business and the Business of Illusion
Journalist Conley examines the implications of brand-centric marketing in an incisive investigation that illustrates how defenseless consumers are against advertising—on any given day, they are assaulted by 3,000 to 5,000 ads and branding stratagems that subtly dictate every aspect of their lives. Harnessing scientific innovations, branding has become increasing insidious—whether it is the Xbox audio logo or Southwest Airlines’ incorporation of the fasten seatbelt sound … [ Read more ]
Content: Book | Author: Lucas Conley | Subject: Marketing / Sales
Cost-Effective Marketing in an Uncertain Economy
In a downturn, a company can sometimes be its own worst enemy. For example, consider marketing, where research suggests that companies that cut their marketing budgets during the last three recessions trailed the growth of their peers by more than 20 per cent once the economy started to improve. These co-authors, consultants with McKinsey & Company, maintain that a focus on improving the effectiveness of … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Christopher Halsall, Kathleen L. McLaughlin | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subject: Marketing / Sales