Nobody enjoys a disruption, but it’s a fact of life. Kids ask to be picked up in the middle of a great movie. Meetings are scheduled right when you’re actually being productive. And occasionally competitors or a new technology turn an industry on its ear. Increasingly competition is coming from outside your industry, or influenced by technology that changes your industry. … [Read more...]
Is Google destroying users faith in them as a fair and unbiased source of information?
Google appears to be preferentially placing it’s own results in their new Google Plus Your World approach. Some consumers have taken notice of the changes in search rankings recently. This perceived influence and public silence on the changes they have made harkens back to the BIG BROTHER days of George Orwell’s 1984. Perhaps that’s being a little extreme, but paired with the … [Read more...]
Random consumer encounters – and some marketing lessons from the gals
Like many lower mainlanders, I found myself recently in a panic to buy snow tires. I’ve known for close to a year that I needed to buy a new set, but there’s nothing like a few flakes falling from the sky to turn casual interest into buying mode. I had done my research online, consulted my panel of experts, phoned around for scheduling availability and remarkably had ended up … [Read more...]
Making a case for social media
Much has been written about the power of social media to connect people and to potentially connect people to your product. Beyond the fun stuff and personal use, there is real value for businesses using these tools, but many owners echo the refrain that they want to see a ROI and an improvement to the bottom line. Is that the best way to measure the value of social media? I … [Read more...]
The new loyalty-loop marketing model
What possible commonality could a previously unpublished writer now making over $200,000/month selling e-books on Amazon share with the makers of a head shaving helmet, and an expensive Superbowl ad spoof for Groupon? Admittedly a motley crew to lump together, they all have benefited or suffered under economics of the new loyalty-loop that the internet has brought to … [Read more...]