The Right Mix in Product Line Design Increases Profits for the Firm
Determining the right mix of products to offer in the marketplace has long been considered the purview of a firm’s marketing team. New research conducted by Olin Professor Panos Kouvelis reveals that operational implications of product line decisions are not to be overlooked.
“The era of unrestrained line extensions is over. Firms that align products and production-distribution systems with customer needs will create stronger margins … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Author: Panos Kouvelis | Source: Discovery@Olin | Subjects: Marketing / Sales, Operations
Sales and Operations Planning Process (S&OP)
Create a Customer Service Meritocracy
In Ads They Trust?
Mobile Marketing – R U up 4 it?
The mobile phone is the hot new and powerful marketing channel that savvy marketers are all talking about. It’s already huge in the UK and parts of Europe and is about to unleash itself in the US too. So what’s it all about?
Content: Article | Author: Russell Buckley | Source: MarketingProfs | Subject: Marketing / Sales
How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market
Harvard Business School professor Zaltman notes that despite enormous amounts of time and money dedicated to customer surveys and marketing, approximately 80% of all new products fail within six months or fall significantly short of their profit forecast. This shouldn’t be surprising, he convincingly argues, since “a great mismatch exists between the way consumers experience and think about their world and the methods marketers use … [ Read more ]
Content: Book | Author: Gerald Zaltman | Subject: Marketing / Sales
Laurie Coots
Branding is not about communicating a message; it’s about engaging in a relationship.
Content: Quotation | Source: Fast Company | Subject: Marketing / Sales
Loyalty-Based Selling : The Magic Formula for Becoming the #1 Sales Rep
A strategic guide for acquiring and retaining a customer base through loyalty-based selling. Offers no abstract concepts, focusing on practical advice on how to create lasting customer relationships.
Content: Book | Author: Tim Smith | Subject: Marketing / Sales
The Man Who Put the Valley on the Map
Marketing sage Regis McKenna on why smart companies are spending through the recession.
Content: Article | Author: Amy Johns | Source: Business 2.0 | Subjects: Marketing / Sales, People
Jupiter Media Metrix’s Rudy Grahn on Direct Response Versus Branding
Is the Internet a direct response medium or a branding/awareness medium?
This question, which not too far back into the past was used as a means of somewhat eruditely suggesting that, perhaps, there is more to Internet Advertising than clicks and immediate conversions, has now become part of a wider phenomenon of over-generalizing that has hindered progress in the Internet Advertising space over the last … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Author: Rudy Grahn | Source: avant|marketer | Subjects: Advertising, Marketing / Sales | Industry: Advertising
Integrate Design to Create Brand Harmony
In all the talk about brand in business and marketing today, there is a distinct lack of discussion about one of the most powerful drivers of brand: Design.
Companies need to understand and manage design to achieve maximum brand-building results. From the design of their corporate identity to retail, web, packaging and products, design is the key that ties it all together.
Content: Article | Author: Greg Hinzmann | Source: MarketingProfs | Subject: Marketing / Sales
Airpork – From Zero to Hero: What Next?
A 1998 livestock virus in Malaysia left a gaping hole in the pork market in Singapore, a country that relies solely on imports for its pork consumption. Into the gap stepped Australia, one of the world’s largest exports of meat and livestock. Intent on being more than just a short-term solution, Australia’s pig farmers took the opportunity to brand its product and succeeded … [ Read more ]
Content: Case Study | Authors: Paddy Padmanabhan, Ulla Fionna | Source: INSEAD | Subjects: International – Asia, Marketing / Sales | Company: Airpork
Zantac (A&B)
The anti-ulcer market is one of the largest categories of prescription drugs in the pharmaceutical industry. Its history dates to 1976, when a US based pharmaceutical company SmithKline launched Tagamet. This Nobel prize-winning breakthrough drug quickly rose to become the largest-selling pharmaceutical product. As the incumbent, Tagamet seemed unshakeable, but with the introduction of its ‘me-too’ product Zantac, UK-based Glaxo managed to … [ Read more ]
Content: Case Study | Authors: Christian Pinson, Reinhard Angelmar | Source: INSEAD | Subjects: Industry Specific, Marketing / Sales | Industry: Pharmaceutical | Company: GlaxoSmithKline plc
Consumer Promotion Spending
AdRelevance State of Online Advertising Report (.pdf)
This very in-depth study, which includes information through Q4 2002, covers everything a marketer needs to know, from the continuing development of advertising technology (animated gifs, ubiquitous pop-ups and embedded advertising methodology) to the statistical analysis of media purchasing trends, and much more. Of special interest is the overall conclusion that online advertising is increasingly direct marketing (as opposed to branding) focused.
In addition, the report … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Source: AdRelevance | Subjects: Advertising, Marketing / Sales | Industry: Advertising
S*pamCheck
Here’s a useful tool for marketers who want to get their legitimate email newsletters and sales campaigns through the blockades and filters that ISPs are using to stop s*pam.
S*pamCheck will run your email piece through its software and then will deliver a “s*pam score” and recommendations on how to decrease the odds of your email being filtered (by changing words, phrases or formatting). S*pamCheck is … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Source: SiteSell.com | Subjects: Advertising, Marketing / Sales
Gerald Zaltman
When introducing a radically new product, it is necessary to understand how consumers currently frame their experience of the problem addressed by the new offering. That is, no matter how radical a new product is, it will always be perceived initially in terms of some frame of reference.
Content: Quotation | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subjects: Marketing / Sales, Perception
The Hidden Dangers – and Payoffs – of “Targeted Pricing”
Should your firm target your competitors’ customers with lower prices than the competition charges them? When might it make sense, instead, to offer discounts to your own customers? Under what conditions might this sort of approach – known as “targeted pricing” – backfire by driving everyone’s prices down too far? Recent research by Wharton marketing professor Z. John Zhang and several colleagues examines the complex … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Source: Knowledge@Wharton | Subjects: Marketing / Sales, Pricing
Why do We Need a Marketing Plan Anyway?
As marketing professionals, we all understand the importance of marketing plans. But not everyone in your company thinks this way. To some, writing a marketing plan is a waste of time. Here’s a surefire way to get upper management on your side.
Content: Article | Author: Gwendaline Mazzara | Source: MarketingProfs | Subject: Marketing / Sales