Whether its chit chat on a 4-mile hike to reach an amazing view like this one or on a closed Facebook group, most of the conversations that happen about our brands takes place in a world which we as marketers have no direct access to. Yet in an attempt to become more transparent by speaking to customers, we’ve unwittingly backed into a corner and become stuck on only what is right in front of us — monitoring and “owning” the public conversations but missing the big opportunity. Continue reading →

At over 8% of US retail sales, ecommerce is no longer the wild west. Winning the sale requires a great offer but price isn’t the entire story. Customer expectations have grown and with so many options, insuring confidence, trust and validation are all vital elements to standing out ahead. Continue reading →

If we’re starting a brand new company and tomorrow you kicked off a TV campaign promoting the business you’d expect some immediate sales to walk in the door, you’d expect to hear about the efforts, but chances are you’d be downright surprised if you broke even on new sales. After decades and decades of advertising we’ve come to accept the value of building brand perception to grow business over the long haul. So why is it that so many companies’ measure social media only by the short term sales bump? Continue reading →

Just a day in and my Twitter stream resembles the comments section of a Google Plus blog post, but it’s too be expected, this is afterall a potential game changer for social. The great thing is that we won’t have to wait long, a few weeks, possibly even less to know where Google Plus stands in the market. Here are three very immediate issues I see that could break, or make, this launch when the masses come flooding in [and yes, they’re starting to creep on over Continue reading →

With the buzz out there, it’s easy to see why brand owners, marketers and of course the hotly contested social media experts, are extremely amped up about social, social, social but just because social is right in front of us … Continue reading →

As our sites go from 10 reviews per item to 1,000s, it’s no longer enough to say each product has freeform comments and a 1-5 rating. Instead marketers [and their review vendors] need to adjust for value, time and price before we sell ourselves down… and sell our customers the wrong level of solution. This means pulling price, features out from review details and summarizing them up to quantify a $5,000 amp versus a $500 one so that consumers aren’t just seeing what’s most popular, they’re seeing what’s most respected in the category of value they are looking for. Continue reading →

As articles continue to popup like Tory Burch’s win of $165 million against counterfeit selling sites, it’s clear just how big of a problem fakes from China and other developing nations are becoming but what’s not being discussed is the … Continue reading →

While I’ve expressed my concerns on deal sites many times, I can’t help but wonder if the businesses buying into deals themselves are getting a free pass in the equation. Today I’m asking a simple question: After the deal gets signed and the customer influx starts up, are daily deal businesses doing anything to insure their own success or merely blaming their marketing partner for a bad deal? Continue reading →

From mega tradeshows CES, IFA, E3, Comic Con to niche & industry shows DEMA, IRCE, NAMM, and many more that I’ve since thrown away the badge from, I’ve made it to a lot of tradeshows in the past few years and every show I tell myself I’m going to create a killer post about the great uses of social media I see yet after every show I walk away empty handed.

Most campaigns start – and stop at a QR code and a contest which, let’s face it, is no more social than a lead gen form. But with a campaign that goes the distance to bring people in and aggregate content out, social media offers the opportunity to not just sell more, but give your tradeshow a whole new type of ROI by letting the investment live long after the booth comes down. Continue reading →

So it’s only been a few hours since my post on Delta Airlines snafu with a group of soldier’s over baggage fees which turned into a viral / pr crises in just a few hours. Not only is the issue all over Twitter, Facebook and news sites but the video from the soldier’s has passed 200,000 views at last count. So while my first post was really about empowering your ground-level employees to avoid bad customer experiences, whether they go viral or not, Delta has turned this into a great example of how you should handle social incidents. Continue reading →