Archive : Marketing

I just read a fascinating global study on what CEOs think of Marketers, by the Fournaise Marketing Group. Some of the interesting findings for me are: They keep on talking about brand, brand values, brand equity and other similar parameters that their top management has great difficulties linking back to results that really matter: revenue, sales, EBIT or even market valuation (77%) They focus too much on the latest marketing trends such as social media, because they believe they represent the...

“What are you doing now?” That is the question facing you every time you open Facebook, Twitter or other social networks asking for a status update. Through follows, fans and likes, you are connected to people, brands and content. Web and mobile devices ensure you are constantly connected and empowered to create your own content. Brands are starting to display their Facebook URL and Twitter names at the tops of their sites. And thus, the explosion of social experiences is about to hit the...

In social strategy there is always something missing and something to improve. But there’s one area where I see a big gap. First, the good news. Brands are starting to ‘listen’ to what people are saying. There are great listening and social media management platforms available, such as Spredfast (plug disclosure…I’m an advisor). However, it’s typically a few people inside the company that are paying attention to user generated content. There’s still a long way to go to make this listening...

I’ve had a lot of conversations lately about the strategy of group buying sites (or daily deals, flash sales, etc.). Groupon is the leader in this space…so much the word is becoming a verb. The questions I often hear are: How do you know if Groupon (and group buying deals) are right for a type of business? What are the factors that make Groupon a profitable strategy? How do you evaluate and analyze the profitability of Groupon? Already there are a lot of competitors with Groupon, and more several...

It’s surprising how many web apps are out there that set out to accomplish growth and mistake activity for sustained progress. Perhaps they get some press but then lack traction. Why? Because they don’t get the ‘how’ right. It’s a lot like producing a movie. You can get a great actor and pull off a movie, and there are thousands of B to D grade movies out there. Or, you can get a great actor with a fascinating story, smart script, talented director and sophisticated...

This is a summary of some of Guy Kawasaki’s recent tweets that I like…but I’m really doing this to show off Keepstream’s new application, which will be featured at Capital Factory Demo Day on Wednesday (disclosure: I’m a co-founder in CF and therefore an investor in Keepstream). They are announcing a 48-hour free signup on Wednesday (9/8), but I have an inside scoop…you can sign up right now and still get in on the free signup. Sam Decker Sep 6, 2010 at...

Last week I spent hosting our second annual Bazaarvoice Social Commerce Summit. Over 300 people came to the AT&T Center in Austin to evolve their social commerce strategy. See my wrap up post here. Last year my team and I produced a video to send a message to our clients, which was a mockumentary music video, "More Than Words". This year, I did another music video parody to George Michael's "Freedom! '90" to communicate the idea to our clients that their customers...

Last week I presented on a panel with Professor Arturo Perez-Reyes (UC Berekeley) at an event in San Francisco we put on with Jupiter Research. One story the Professor shared about Toyota was something I hadn't heard before… He said that Toyota followed the baby boomer generation as a market. They looked at the demographics and spending power of that generation. I think it went something like this… They started with the Corolla, then Celica for when they got into college, then Corona/Camry,...

A marketer from a manufacturer brand recently asked me if user generated content was relevant to the baby boomer and senior population. Boomers make up of 35% of the Internet population. While it’s true that Millenials (the 13-24 generation) share content at double the rate of Baby boomers (56%), 31% of Baby Boomers share their own user generated content. This could be in the form of reviews, blog posts, comments, discussion forums, etc. Bazaarvoice has several clients with a high percentage...

What a dilemma! You are asked to reduce budget, cut costs, reduce expenses. However, you need your BEST to gain market share, compete for customer dollars and emerge from the recession as a winner. You need the best employees, technology, service, partners, vendors, and agencies so you can outsmart and out-execute competition. You need the best to drive demand when marketing rules are being reinvented by customer conversations. You need the best because, more than ever before, the quality of your...