April 13, 2009

Social Marketers beware. Tapping in to highly vocal, critical, loyal, active and chatty network on Twitter may seem like a great opportunity - but it isn't for the faint of heart. Further, you can't just take traditional marketing tactics, throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks - or you may wind up with egg on your face.

March 25, 2009

In the course of attending the SXSW conference, I had the pleasure of listening to the amazing Kathy Sierra speak. In her session, "Making Breakthroughs Happen," she asked the audience to consider our clients or customers and try to answer the question "If your customers were living a movie, what movie would that be?"

November 19, 2008

I recently began to wonder how many of the airlines and hotel chains have really considered “Customer Lifetime Value” in the creation of today's largely calendar-driven loyalty programs. Beyond the motivation to examine year-over-year performance, how was it decided that one year is an adequate period over which to “judge” and reward a customer’s loyalty?

September 25, 2008

Taking a look at "social media" it is difficult to comprehend the dizzying number of sites, tools and applications that are proliferating before our eyes. I recently sampled about 3,000 social media sites, tools and applications. Overwhelmed by the list, I then set out to classify these sites and tools to make them a little easier to digest. I've included the list of categories below for your consideration and feedback.

September 8, 2008

Last Saturday on Twitter, Whole Foods’ "Tweet of the Day" caught my eye. The post, which "retweeted" a user's comment involving the term "Oh my f'ing gawd..." prompted me to question whether the company’s judgment in the use/repetition of that term was appropriate.

August 1, 2008

Interesting drama unfolded a few weeks ago on Plurk....

July 11, 2008

The lagging (read: nose-diving) economy is creating additional dimensions of customer need that may well force many companies to re-think their value propositions. Here’s a good case in point...

June 24, 2008

There's a great article at Fast Company by way of 37 signals about Alaska Airlines' proactive attempts to rethink the check in experience. This is really a great case study that illustrates a point I try to make to my own clients, students and colleagues....

June 5, 2008

It seems each day I’m presented with yet another "killer app" I need to go evaluate and monitor. These seem to have a few things in common. First, most seem to have these cutesy 3-7 letter names like "Blyk" and "Fark". Second, none of the names really reflect what the apps do.

May 8, 2008

I once had a co-worker recount the tale of her junior account position at a 4A’s agency. Her account was for a well known brand of… well…tampons. Evidently, the team brainstorming sessions (comprised largely of men), yielded many unfortunate and hysterical marketing and product development ideas – most of which I can’t recount here.

April 16, 2008

Coco Chanel used to say that before leaving the house, every woman should check herself in a mirror and remove at least one accessory from her ensemble. That's part of the reason she became a style icon: She knew when too much was enough. Not so for Kimberly Clark/Cottonelle in their new (largest) non-traditional advertising campaign EVER...

March 3, 2008

A ton of reports on inflation, unemployment and other economic indicators are slated to hit Wall Street. The Fed is considering dropping rates another quarter point...and the financial world braces. The thing is, everyday Americans don't need data to tell them the economy is in the crapper!

February 27, 2008

Guess where I am: Here's a hint. It's a restaurant you have probably visited at least once in your life. Walk in to the sound of water running down glass panels. There is a sculpture of a crane on one side - a koi fish on the other. The room is light and airy with colors in earth tones and accents of red. Bamboo plants grace the scene. The textured walls are patterned to resemble the ocean and the asymmetrical tiling is warm and artistic. The seating is leather and lounge like. The whole place is comfortable and very Zen.

March 21, 2007

Smart companies have customer service policies in place to protect their best interests and the bottom line. Smarter companies, however, know how and when to bend certain policies for customers who have the right profitability, loyalty, frequency of purchase and long-term revenue potential. This helps protect customer loyalty and works to maximize the bottom line.

February 1, 2007

There's no doubt, our sense of smell is powerfully tied to memory recall. Now more than ever, scent technology is being used to reinforce the customer experience environment. But what happens when the experience fundamentals are missing and scent technology actually works to reinforce a bad customer experience...?

January 17, 2007

My husband and I joined the Vonage family last month and I have to say, it’s been good for the most part. The price is good -- even for international calling. The service seems to function reliably, although we’ve had to restart our modem a number of times to get things working again after cut-offs -- even a few mid-call, which has been inconvenient (buzzz)....

October 27, 2006

I've talked about The Power of Persona and how using personas can foster a more tangible understanding of a target audience's needs, desires, pet peeves and behavior. Here's more detailed information on how to create personas and apply them.....

September 21, 2006

Imagine for a minute that you're on a charge to make your company -- or your product, or your Web site --increasingly customer-centric. So you have a company-wide kickoff to rally passion around the customer....

June 21, 2006

Great article yesterday in Advertising Age on the average lifespan of a Chief Marketing Officer....

June 4, 2006

Lately, I've been spending a lot of time with my fiancee, Brent, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota....

May 11, 2006

When was the last time your marketing plan looked anything like this...?

May 4, 2006

I spoke on the subject of Customer Experience Management at the annual MarketingProfs retreat a few weeks ago....

April 6, 2006

Check out this interesting article in Mediaweek, “MTV Networks Coins New Sales Metric For The Upfront.”

March 30, 2006

There's been all kinds of trash talk about whether the modern day graduate with an MBA is worth his or her salt.....