Profitable Marketing

Forget ROI When Selecting a DM Agency

When selecting a DM Agency be less concerned about ROI, response rate and other hard measures than about the quality of execution of the Agency. After all, the market is now so commodified that any company can claim jaw dropping results from their efforts, these top line results are un-differentiated across the segment. What differentiates DM companies these days is no longer top-line results but risk management: low error rates, fast turnaround times, the ability to begin generate reports even before the database is up and running, etc. The ability to execute flawlessly is the true differentiator in this market.

Blogging Again

After having stopped blogging approximately a year ago, I've decided to get back in the saddle and pick up blogging again.
I may expand the scope of my posts and my objective is to have a approximately a post a week for the upcoming year.
Thanks to all that stopped by even when there were no new posts.

The Power of PR - Starbucks Goes at it Again

I've blogged in the past about how Starbucks has been so adept at using PR instead of advertising to keep its brand front-of-mind for most consumers, and now an much advertised three hour closure tonight represents one more successful attempt at using the news media as an advertising vehicle.

Howard Schultz had announced that the quality of the brews had to improve, and to do so, the "baristas" (Starbucks lingo for the folks that mind the coffee machines) have to go through a three hour training session. What is interesting is that the training session is supposed to take place at the same in each time zone; that is, every Starbucks location will close from 5:30 to 9:00 local time throughout the Nation. Other than generating some media buzz, it doesn't seem like this bizarre schedule has any other practical purpose. And it is also unclear what "improving quality" actually means let alone how it is measured.

The Best Online Manifesto You've Ever Read

Event though I haven't posted for a while, I've just recently had a small "manifesto" published online by Change This. Check out their site and download as many publications as you want; they are free and there is a very wide variety of topics represented.
My "manifesto" is actually more of a set of guidelines for effective problem solving, you can use the guidelines for general problem solving as well as for groups. I hope this is of value for my readers.

Will Google Kill Wikipedia?

Most likely not. Google has set out to deploy knol - it's Wikipedia-killing service, the question is how successful will this service be? Google has rolled out many a service whose success or adoption has been less than stellar (pick your own example) and knol may just be one more.

From a marketing standpoint this is a classic case in which a brand defines a category and Google = search whereas Wikipedia = online encyclopedia. Also, Google is not trying to grow by adjacency (i.e. by rolling out product extensions that are close to its core brand identity of "search") but by leaps into further categories (e.g. productivity software a la MS Office that is not close to "search"). Add to this the fact that Google has lacked Microsoft's persistence in succeeding in categories it choses to win, and we have another product that seems geared more to satisfy Wall Street analysts than to actually dominate a category.

Book Review - I'm on LinkedIn -- Now What???

Ever wonder what to do with LinkedIn - or with other "social network" sites for that matter? Check out Jason Alba's new tome I'm on LinkedIn -- Now What??? and get some pointers.

This review is long overdue. Back in July Jason announced the publication of his book and although he made a galley available for review, I haven't been able to review it until now... my loss - the book starts with the basics of setting up a profile and quickly evolves into covering the more esoteric uses for the platform. I like Jason's examples and the fact that he never belabors his point. Jason has great expertise in Personal Branding and this book goes a long way towards helping readers burnish their brand.

Passion for Brands and The "Wart Remover Test"

John Moore has an interesting generalization about how consumers develop passion for some products, and Bill Gammell has picked up on it. In summary, the posts posit that great products and services will elicit passion in their consumers, and the goal of marketers and managers that want their products to be successful is to find ways to elicit passion in their customers.

This smacks me of hasty generalization and exemplifies the use of the "wart remover test": do you feel passionate about wart remover? do you want to have a relationship with your wart remover brand? do you want dinner time calls and post cards in your mail box driving to buy wart remover? I didn't think so (for your sake I sincerely hope you don't).

Passion is great for some products or categories, but it is not a feeling that sane consumers have about the vast majority of products. Good products (functionally and aesthetically), delivered with good service and at the right price go a long way towards successful sales.

How We Intend to Vote

I remember a few references in Freakonomics about how people report that they are willing to vote for black candidates when in reality they will not. In the same vein, I've found some interesting data in Data360 that sheds some light into out collective prejudices. I've condensed the data into the accompanying plot, and it is interesting to see that our prejudices correlate with "difference from the median": we seem more accepting of a Black, Catholic or Jewish person than of a woman (certainly a black, catholic woman would have no hope of ever being in the race?)

And it is shocking to see that the fitness of a Homosexual or Atheist person is equated with that of an older person, genetic pre-disposition and moral conviction are equated with longevity or mental performance? Interesting.

Facebook and My Space - The Power of PR... Again

Facebook is in the news every day, or at least that is what it seems. Hardly a day passes in which I don't read some bit of news about how it is opening its platform to developers, how it is creating some new model of advertising that leverages the data of its users... as well as how the greatest number of users found this a misuse of their personal information. All in all a search in Google news produced 16,102 references to Facebook.

On the other hand, it seems that My Space is placing news exactly where I can't find them: although a similar search in Google yields 18,366 results, I hardly remember reading a but of news about them.

But the most interesting aspect of this is how powerful and well orchestrated Facebook's PR is when compared to My Space: the former had 19.5 million unique visitors whereas the latter had 58.8 million (as reported in DM News from a Nielsen source)... it seems that the ratio of news references is out of sync with the market and of how users view the two. It will interesting to see if all this news activity translates into Facebook increasing its visit numbers.

No News - Price Matters the Most for Online Customers

Try as we may, Marketing Charts tells us that price is still the most important factor for shoppers, at least for online shoppers. And curiously enough, it is total price - that which includes shipping, handling charges and tax - that customers are looking at. Free shipping a la Amazon is very good, shipping compounded with tax and handling charges a la Eddie Bauer is very bad.

...Was this ever news?