THE VALUE OF A PROMISE
EXCERPTED FROM: PERSPECTIVES ON INCREASING SALES
Is the promise of future work enough to make up for lower prices at the outset of the relationship?
Each and every step you take to engage your prospect should be with an eye toward developing a relationship in the future, and not just in the moment. All too often, however, [...]
CREATIVITY AND THE CULT OF BLAME
Creativity. Has the word or concept lost its meaning?
Recently, I’ve found myself scratching my head over this. As more and more of my agency peers express frustration with their clients’ lack of appreciation for creativity in marketing – apparently, brand managers increasingly define “creative” as “not strategic” – I’ve started wondering if maybe they have [...]
SOCIAL NETWORKING IS NETWORKING – NOT MARKETING
It seems as if in every marketing journal you open these days, a so-called social networking guru blabs on endlessly about the ways businesses should use social networking as part of their marketing mix. Whether it’s urging marketers to Tweet or companies to set up Facebook Fan Pages, social networking is here to stay. These [...]
IS IT OKAY TO STRETCH THE TRUTH?
EXCERPTED FROM: PERSPECTIVES ON INCREASING SALES
There’s a major difference between stretching the truth and outright lying—and anyone who tells you that salespeople can be successful without stretching the truth a bit is, well, outright lying. And anyone who outright lies to sell anything—even the idea that salespeople never need to stretch the truth—will inevitably get [...]
CONSUMERS’ ‘BACK TO BASICS’ FORCES LUXURY BRANDS TO CHANGE
High ends luxury brands have boomed over the past 20 years with seemingly nothing to stop their mega-growth. These brands understood this recession would have an impact, but were they prepared to reinvent themselves to play on a new game board with a new deck of cards? They were accustomed to making the rules and [...]
AN INFLUENTIAL MANAGER DOESN’T BELIEVE IN BRANDING. NOW WHAT?
Welcome to my world. This could be a really complex discussion or a really simple one; I’m going to go with simple. Here’s the bottom line: Influential and effective managers generally manage business units or support groups that generate profit or cut expenses in a way that is material to a company’s bottom line. They’re [...]
BRAND IRRELEVANCET: A LESSON FROM PETA
by Jason Miletsky
I’ll start by going on the record: I’ve never been a fan of PETA. As an ordinary, politically-minded citizen, I’ve never bought into their hard-line tactics. Back in the day, I thought that their habits of throwing blood on people who choose to wear legally purchased fur was reprehensible, and every time they [...]
TRIDENT: A LITTLE HAPPINESS GOES A LONG WAY
by Michael Hand
The most recent issue of Brandweek (6/13) reported on how the Trident brand was getting back into the TV advertising world with a new campaign. The new tagline, “a Little Piece of Happy” , hits on the common human truth that the small things in life matter. As we wait to read about [...]
GM REDEFINES TRUTH IN ADVERTISING
by Jason Miletsky
I’ve been simply floored by some of the negative reviews I’ve read for GM’s new TV spot, “Reinvented” (shown below). If leaving negative reviews is simply a convenient way for shareholders to vent their frustration, fine – I don’t agree with using online ratings that way, but at least I can understand their feelings. [...]
SPANNING THE MARKETING DIVIDE
by Jason Miletsky
With social media marketing showing no signs of slowing down, companies are rapidly starting to assemble separate social media departments to help them ramp up their online strategies. And as they do so, the wisdom of these moves is increasingly becoming the subject of debate.
For the life of me, I can’t understand why [...]
