Marketing – Page 29

The Woes Of Internet Marketing – May 2016

There is a disturbance in the world of internet marketing right now in May 2016. It might be going too far to say there is something rotten in the state of internet marketing…

…but certainly things aren’t like they used to be. In just the last week or so, I’ve heard the same message from 2 very experienced and successful marketers about how things have changed in the internet side of their operations.

Bottom line is that what used to work well online is no longer delivering the same kind of results. The main reason for this seems to be…the rise of “internet on the go”.

The arrival of fast wireless broadband, combined with smart phones and portable tablets has led to a big change in the way people (your prospective customers) access and experience content and sales messages delivered online. To illustrate this, let’s step back for a moment 5 years in time…imagine yourself in 2011 (seems like an eternity ago).

At that time, the vast majority of people would have experienced the internet through the medium of either a desktop computer or a laptop. Either would have a decent-sized screen and “mobile” access would still have been through a laptop computer. When someone accessed the internet, they were to a large extent engaged in the act and focused on what they were doing. It was hard to casually jump online.

Fast forward to today… [Read more…]

Looking Ahead – Marketing Calendar May 2016

May 2016 is approaching…

…so time for smart marketers to plan ahead and look at some of the holidays, events and anniversaries in the coming month that can be used as part of an “event driven marketing” strategy. You can then use these ideas to put together your own Marketing Calendar May 2016.

Two notable occasions are…

…firstly “May Day” (May 1, of course)…

…and then in most places apart from the UK, “Mother’s Day”, which this year falls on Sunday May 8.

“May Day” (May 1) is an occasion widely observed in the northern hemisphere and originally was a pagan festival linked to Spring and fertility.

Wikipedia has more about May Day traditions…

…including in the UK the May Pole, the May Queen and Morris Dancing.

Like many originally pagan festivals, May Day has been co-opted by the Church and in many Catholic countries May is a month honouring the Virgin Mary.

In the modern era, May Day has also come to be known as “International Workers’ Day” and associated with the labour movement.

Also in May… [Read more…]

Looking Ahead – Marketing Calendar April 2016

Here’s our regular look ahead at the coming month, April 2016…

…and the events, holidays and anniversaries that a smart marketer can use as the foundation for an event-driven campaign or marketing promotion.

The most prominent event of general interest this month is…

…”April Fool’s Day” (a day for practical jokes and spreading hoaxes) on the first of the month.

It’s also “Shakespeare Day” on April 23 and this year marks the 400th anniversary of the death of the great Bard. April 23 also happens to be “English Language Day” and “World Book and Copyright Day”.

Other events of note… [Read more…]

Three Ways To Increase Customer Average Value

Three Ways To Increase Average Customer Value

At the February 2016 meeting of the GKIC London Chapter, the main presentation from David White was…

“Three Ways To Increase The Average Value Of A Customer”

Increasing the average value of an existing customer should be a priority for most businesses for a number of reasons.

Firstly, there’s the old direct response marketing wisdom that the easiest sale is to an existing customer. After all, you’ve already done a lot of the hard work by establishing a relationship and getting them to buy from you in the first place. They already know you and the act of buying indicates some degree of liking and trusting you.

But there’s more to consider…this from Dan Kennedy in the January 2016 issue of the “No BS INFO-Marketing Letter”…

“I’d point to (a) my predictions and reports of genocide of middle class coming to fruition…new Dec. report shows the middle class no longer the majority US demographic, first time since before WWII (b) concentration of spending into fewer ‘n fewer categories (c) rising health insurance/care costs (d) stagnant wages (e) job erasures, sky-high percentage of able workers opting out, leaving millions of unfilled jobs (f) onerous gov’t burdens and interference (g) overall consumer and investor anxiety (h) investor/capitalist and corporate leaders’ vehement disapproval of tax and other policy so ‘capital on strike’ (read Ayn Rand) continues to pile up and sit idle.”

Put another way, most businesses face an ongoing squeeze on profits with costs increasing relentlessly and customer value at risk of declining because of (a) ongoing competition and (b) increasing commoditisation of many products and services because of the impact of the internet and information technology.

So, it’s vital to defend profitability and increase the average value of a customer if you want to survive, let alone prosper, in the years ahead.

Three ways to increase average customer value are… [Read more…]

Looking Ahead – Marketing Calendar March 2016

Time to look ahead at the month of March 2016 at the events anniversaries and holidays that we can use to build a marketing calendar March 2016 for campaigns, product launches or promotions.

The main occasion of general interest is St Patrick’s Day on March 17. Plenty of scope for ideas based around luck, good fortune and finding that elusive “pot of gold” at the end of the rainbow.

There is also the change of season with the Spring Equinox in the northern hemisphere and the Autumn Equinox in the south.

And this year Easter falls early over 25-28 March.

Moving on to other events… [Read more…]

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