Be Timely

So I’m standing in front of my house this weekend, watching the kids scooter around, when we’re suddenly accosted by various people passing out flyers. One gentleman asked me if he can share some information about a local candidate. I shuffled some papers around so I could grab the brochure. Once I [...]

Target Customer Intelligence

I’m stunned at the number of companies targeting fools and idiots in their commercials. Geico continues with its ridiculous caveman ads, Cox has their talk show ads, Dunkin Donuts introduced a new product recently with the same concept, and Staples reduces people’s intellect to pushing a red button.

Maybe they are seeing something in their [...]

Managing Internet Sales

One of the biggest challenges for any company that sells a product is protecting its trademark and MSRP online. It’s even worse when you sell through others, whether they are distributors or retailers (or both).

The best way to maintain the integrity and legitimacy of the brand is to implement a tight policy that specifically [...]

Making Something Different

I’m watching a repeat of the season premiere of Project Runway (yes, I am a fan). The challenge for the first week was to take grocery items and repurpose them into something fashionable. Many succeeded, while a few fell flat on their faces.

The most common error was taking an existing fabric—like a tablecloth [...]

Leave Me Alone

Since purchasing our new house, we have received an obscene number of mailings, all looking alike but from different vendors (I think) telling us that we have to enroll in bi-weekly mortgage payments. Others inform us that we must take out mortgage insurance.

None of these notices are from our mortgage company, mind you.

The notifications [...]

Ads 2.0

I set up some Google Alerts for certain keywords I want to track. One of the neat things about the alerts is that they can include blog posts and new web pages. Some of what I am finding is a bit perverse. Fortunately, the limited execution should mean a short life.

It happens [...]

Understanding What You Really Sell

I am working on a new project that started with one purpose but morphed into another because of one “little” question: What is it we are really selling? At first glance, the answer may be obvious, but as you dig deeper and talk with your customers, you’re likely to find there’s more to it [...]

High Switching Costs

I’ve never really gotten into, nor understood for that matter, the ongoing fight between PC and Mac users. Each has its own features, benefits and drawbacks and caters to two distinct audiences. Neither one is truly better than the other. As things progress, each one is nudging closer to the other, blurring [...]

Maintaining Your Identity in a Partnership

One of the main changes we face when we marry is a change in our identity. That same identity changes even more when kids enter the picture. Notice I said change and not loss. It’s an important distinction, because you still are who you are, just in a different context that includes [...]

Or Current Resident Too Generic

The real beauty of database marketing is that you can tailor your content to your customer. The effectiveness comes in having good data about those customers. Which is why addressing a promotional piece to “Joe Smith or Current Resident” doesn’t cut it.

For the company, finding that customer should be an act of desperation, [...]