Direct Marketing Observations

SEPTEMBER 30, 2014

However, what Dr. Deming really said was that one of the seven deadly diseases of western management is “Running a company on visible figures alone.” In other words, know that though the numbers may say that you have a “successful” company, if everyone is miserable and everyone hates you? Did you buy it? Is that success?

Sentiment 196

Sentiment ROI Company Strategy 196

Direct Marketing Observations

JUNE 23, 2011

They fear the new found empowerment of an existing employee and the new hires that have expectations around the company being truly social and digital. Some of the likely examples that you may be aware of, are of course Zappos, Cisco, Dells, Best Buy, Home Depot, P&G, for example. Scared to death of socia l. Of becoming social.

Social Media 200

Social Media Posterous Collaboration Course 200

Direct Marketing Observations

FEBRUARY 17, 2012

An empowered customer who wants to buy from a business that doesn’t get “it” means nothing to that business-it’s just a lost opportunity to that business. Today’s empowered consumer has too many tools at their disposal to make an informed and educated buying decision. No one wins.

Buy 143

Buy Education Activities Groups 143

Direct Marketing Observations

OCTOBER 27, 2011

Does giving stuff away for free make you eventually buy stuff? How do other companies compete when Nike, Gatorade and AE give stuff away for free? It may create awareness of the brand, product or company but there is no value in free. d) Create a market for your content that creates awareness of you, your brand and your company.

Compete 162

Compete Case Study Social Networking Small Business 162

Direct Marketing Observations

DECEMBER 2, 2011

One constant, in my humble opinion, is the fact that with all the high-tech “reaching out” methodologies and social channels that exist to make companies more engaging, and accessible, is that the CUSTOMER, still rules…. Combine the “high tech” with a bit of “high touch” and remember that people buy from people.

Content 184

Content Banking Skills Software 184

Direct Marketing Observations

FEBRUARY 19, 2010

If you want to me to use, test-drive or buy your social media solution regardless of what it is-I want to see that you are actively playing in the social media space. because then and only then might you understand the people, the social business challenges facing companies, and the ever-changing landscape that is social computing.

Social Networking 138

Social Networking SEO Social Media Organization 138

Direct Marketing Observations

JANUARY 19, 2010

If you want to purchase an accounting system, customer relationship manager (CRM) or enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform for your company, it’s a pretty established process. But if you are a company who needs external help, how do you weed through this entirely new industry?

RFP 159

RFP RFI Social Media Proposal 159

Direct Marketing Observations

NOVEMBER 2, 2010

Interestingly enough though, the buying cycle is getting longer, not shorter. The expectation is that I, as a customer, can ask a question online to a company and get a response back either from other customer zealots or from the company itself. Fast forward to today. Customer’s purchase paths have changed.

B2B 199

B2B Patterns Comparison Compete 199

Direct Marketing Observations

MAY 6, 2011

You could spend the majority of your time within your company trying to get buy in and roll out a social media initiative and get nowhere because of “the silos&#. They’re still there. And they’re still being used in some cases. They’re built to last and withstand the elements. How do you break down silos ?

Organization 164

Organization Buy Social Media Company 164

Direct Marketing Observations

JULY 28, 2011

So let’s think through that quickly about the multiple platforms that you, me, and your organization can now use to convey your key message themes: Blogs, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Forums, Websites, QR Codes, Group Buying sites, and LBS( location based sites)-to name but a few. He’s right. We should tell more stories. Rich stories.

Platform 190

Platform Social Media Drupal Open Source 190

Direct Marketing Observations

APRIL 7, 2011

The study revealed that 68% of the top 100 companies were experiencing a negative growth in unique visits over the past year. But I do want to possibly buy your product. Recently WebTrends released a whitepaper in which they analyzed the website traffic of Fortune 100 websites based on ‘unique visits’. Make it simple.

Brands 166

Brands Retail Mobile Sites 166

Direct Marketing Observations

NOVEMBER 2, 2012

Another prevalent business model in the online world is to build a product or service, give it away for free while trying to make money on people buying “other” things while in your store. The same holds true for a lot of people and companies in tech.

Posterous 162

Posterous Tumblr Flickr WordPress 162

Direct Marketing Observations

FEBRUARY 15, 2010

Frankly, I think everyone says that just to buy a little time before they have to really figure out what to do with social. You want to listen for mentions of your company, brand and top executives. Not only do you have to listen, you have to listen for 6 months or more before you are allowed to do anything. Just ask the experts!

Sentiment 143

Sentiment Analysis Aggregator SEO 143

Direct Marketing Observations

NOVEMBER 23, 2010

Google has changed and redefined what search is for you, me and all the companies that rely on it for business. We use it for online transactions, travel decisions, job searches, purchases, research, and a dozen other activities. We use search the same way we use our lights, drive our cars and brush our teeth. We will define it.

Mobile 177

Mobile MySpace SMS Yahoo 177

Direct Marketing Observations

FEBRUARY 25, 2011

We’ve all been wondering either on the behalf of the company’s we work for, or the clients we serve, or for ourselves- How can we leverage Facebook to actually make money? I know it’s based on The notion of group buying shares and likes and tweets but still…Can we be that precise on the value of a share or a tweet?

Facebook 178

Facebook Social Networking Widget Advertising 178

Direct Marketing Observations

FEBRUARY 9, 2010

Comcast said it would buy NBC. With that, think about your company for a minute and the brand/s you represent. Meanwhile, US newsroom employment fell to a 25-year low and magazine newsstand sales dropped 63% from of their 2001 peaks. Reader’s Digest declared bankruptcy. The statistics go on and on.

Industry 143

Industry Aggregator Crowdsourcing Wikipedia 143

Direct Marketing Observations

JANUARY 21, 2011

Not all of them are always sitting in front of computers tweeting, downloading coupons, friending brands and buying stuff through Groupon and Livingsocial. Culture and cultures. All of your customers are wired differently. What makes us different makes us unique. But we all drop into the funnel anyway, like lemmings.

Social Media 166

Social Media Social Networking Class Case Study 166

Direct Marketing Observations

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

What matters to you when you are on the verge of buying something? What is your go to process for vetting a new product, service, or company? So here’s the scenario, I want to buy a new big screen TV. C) Going into a social network and letting 500 of my most intimate friends know that I’m thinking of buying a TV.

Forums 148

Forums Research Buy Compete 148

Direct Marketing Observations

JANUARY 4, 2010

We hear so much chatter that companies have to be participating in social media. Customer support, service, tech support usually have dozens if not thousands of company representatives waiting for you to call. Social media is propagating a new class of defining moments for companies to deal with. and Voila! Listen and 2.

Social Media 131

Social Media Engagement Class Social Enterprise 131