QVIews

First I have to eat one of my words. A couple of years ago I was sitting in a meeting, talking about an email newsletter, and the owner expressed a desire to include video clips. I’m ashamed to say I didn’t just roll my eyes, I also said "never." Although it’s still not technologically feasible…

No marketing concept has become corrupted as quickly as "viral marketing." My introduction to the idea was through a Fast Company magazine article called Network Effects (August 1999). This marketing system was originally mentioned in an article by Steve Jurvetson and Tim Draper which was written in 1997 as a result of their experience with…

In developing more conversational marketing, it’s important to use language that resonates with your customers and reminds them what is special in their relationship with you. Think Customers, The 1to1 Blog: Measuring Great Service . 2007-Nov-1, by Jeremy Nedelka The short questionnaire had only 4 questions, and each made sense based on what I’d experienced…

As the pace of change accelerates, we don’t always get a chance to consider some opportunities thoughtfully. If you haven’t looked at Google Adwords recently, check out their new site-targeting capabilities. Now you can specify exactly which online publication will carry your ad. You don’t have to let Google pick the sites (although it’s a…

To turbocharge a new product announcement, Timberland is recycling their advertising materials, amplifying the message that the product is made from recycled materials. Boston Glob: Timberland ads aim to cut carbon footprint. 2007-Oct-13, by Diedtra Henderson To rekindle interest in the flagging boot market, the Stratham, N.H., company has created a leave-few-carbon-traces campaign with the…

Marketers are always being told to tell more stories these days. The audience will remember a story, stories attract attention, etc., but if you’re going to make a systematic use of stories, you need to have some criteria for which stories to tell and how to tell them. Peter Gruber, founder of Mandaly Entertainment, recently…

Keeping your ears open in hard work. We tend to put our nose to the grindstone and let our ears flop down. So companies have to put a listening system in place. Recently these systems have moved away from customer surveys and into "labs" where the target audience can experience a product or service and…

I have finally figured out why I have to look at those ugly "fix your face" adds for Botox and Botox alternatives at my Yahoo mail account (which I have to check six times a day). I told Yahoo how old I am. So because they have limited inventory of ads, they keep serving these…

Do not let your invoices go out the door unadorned with marketing messages. The cost of printing these messages has gone through the floor, but if your small business doesn’t have the resources to merge-print marketing messages on the bill, consider adding a personal message or a clipping of a new item or offer to…

The "Honda Helpful" campaign is still unproven, so I can’t recommend is as a marketing system, but it does have some very intriguing features. Instead of just advertising and describing themselves as helpful, some Honda dealerships are demonstrating their helpfulness by 1) providing traffic updates to people who register on the web site, 2) running…