Sep
28
2007
There was a very intelligent discussion on Cord Silversteins blog titled Engage Your Customers or Die where he asks the question: “Is it a good thing for companies to try to engage their customers online? Does the good outweigh the possible repercussions that could come from it?”. The repercussions were defined as the big bad things that can happen if you do not handle every instance right.
If you read my previous post on the Invisible Visitor, I maintained that that the route to understanding our customers is engagement. Once they become visible, you are then positioned to make strategic decisions that result in major marketing breakthroughs. So the question is not “if” you should engage but rather “how”.
Sep
24
2007
I have always marveled at the world-wide penchant to buy logotype merchandise and pay a premium price for it. This type of marketing is perhaps the best direct measure of the value of a brand. If you have to give away your logo merchandise, you have not achieved a truly powerful brand.
Sep
20
2007
The first thing you should understand is that I’m not a shill for the SEM agencies. This is a viewpoint from a Director of Ecommerce who understands that the most important decisions concern where to direct resources. For most ecommerce businesses, the PPC program is the primary driver of new customers and deserves the most attention.
Depending on the scale of your organization, you have 4 options:
1. Do it yourself
2. Hire a new employee or delegate to an existing employee
3. Hire an individual contractor
4. Hire an SEM agency
Sep
16
2007
In my previous article titled 3 Guaranteed Methods for Driving Conversion I highlighted the need to cover a wide variety of user preferences. Users gravitate to specific shopping methods and will not necessarily use the best or efficient means to complete a transaction. The list I provided was a list of basics that you need to get right before proceeding with other programs because the ROI is guaranteed.
Where do you go next? The next step is to classify user preferences that are unique to your business by examining paths to conversion in your analytics. Typical classifications may look like this:
Sep
12
2007
There was an interesting discussion on Ron Shevlin’s blog on the Anti-Web. 2.0 Movement. It’s a ludicrous concept to rally against an unfortunate buzzword, but they do bring up some interesting arguments by identifying the irrational exuberance and engage in a sobering discussion of the potential impact of Web 2.0.
We do need to step back and evaluate where this is headed and analyze if the attempts of marketers to monetize it will ever succeed. A recurring theme I do see is the businesses that deliver the technology are making a bundle of money and the businesses that are attempting to use it to market their customer base are for the most part, experiencing moderate or no success. However, I believe marketers will eventually learn from their mistakes and do it right.
Sep
10
2007
You may want to read The Salesman vs. the Geeks Round 1 before reading this post.
I recently drove up to Lake Belle Taine in northern Minnesota on a vacation and had the good fortune to listen to a lecture from the Chatauqua Institute by Dr. Mel Levine. He founded an institute named All Kinds of Minds that’s dedicated to demystifying learning differences through a neurodevelopmental viewpoint. Their unique philosophy and methods emphasize team collaboration to better understand and nurture individual learning profiles of strengths and weaknesses. He stated interesting concept that I immediately glommed onto for the second round of this boxing match. The theme he identified is that the ability to understand the “big picture” and “skillfully recall and manage vast amounts of detail with accuracy” are for the most part, mutually exclusive skill sets. If you pursue a career outside of your profile, you will most likely not succeed.
Sep
07
2007
While my wife claims I’m guileless and gentle, I prefer to think of myself as a brutally honest curmudgeon with an advanced bullshit meter. In this information overload environment where everything seems over-hyped and the most critical success factor is boldness of your approach, I believe that the most valuable skill is the ability to eliminate the clutter and get to the core concepts.
The great marketing gurus have this secret in common. They repackage age-old ideas and make them relevant today by citing current examples of success and failure. So most of what you read about here and in most blogs is really just a discussion of concepts you already understand but may have forgotten or just plain ignored. Keeping this in mind, I’ve developed a personal preference to operate as an analyst with historical perspective.
Sep
07
2007
As a reader of this blog you probably share a common trait with me. You research new technologies, examine success stories of those who have been able to leverage the tactics and build an analysis of best practices. You may also examine the early adopters to get a leg up on the competition but may [...]
