Why Big Consulting is able to compete with Big Ad Agencies for Digital Marketing work

Big Consulting firms are competing with Big Advertising agencies according to E.J. Schultz in the current issue of AdAge. Big consulting firms like IBM, Accenture , PwC and Deloitte are growing their digital marketing practices and competing with big ad agencies like WPP, Omnicom, Interpublic, Dentsu etc. for digital marketing work. Here is a quoteContinue reading “Why Big Consulting is able to compete with Big Ad Agencies for Digital Marketing work”

Trump Effect: Five reasons why CEO’s will become more involved in Marketing and Supply Chain

The Trump (@realDonaldTrump) effect in Marketing and Supply Chain is that CEO’s worldwide will take more interest in the operational decisions in marketing and supply chain. While Chief Marketing Officers (CMO’s) being rainmakers have more visibility in organizations, the supply chain folks tend to be sidelined. The CSO (Chief Supply Officer/Head of Procurement/Purchasing) typically reportsContinue reading “Trump Effect: Five reasons why CEO’s will become more involved in Marketing and Supply Chain”

Brand positioning for authenticity: Focus on mission or competition?

Positioning is a market facing concept while authenticity is about looking inward at the organization.Originally introduced by Jack Trout and Al Reis in 1973, positioning suggests that you must be clear about what your brand is to the customer compared to the competition.

Don’t have a mobile website? Why the new iPhone7 should make you worry

The iPhone 7 launched yesterday. The biggest buzz is about the wireless headphones and the removal of the headphone jack.One more urgent reason to make your website mobile friendly. (plug your website URL to the Google Mobile Friendly Test tool to see if you are already mobile friendly). But first more about the iPhone 7Continue reading “Don’t have a mobile website? Why the new iPhone7 should make you worry”

Accept that everyone will NOT like your brand

It’s hard for mothers to accept that “everyone” will not like their child. And here is a clip from Seinfeld to explain your mom’s position. Surprisingly, numerous businesses and marketers seem to think like Seinfeld’s mother when it comes to understanding and accepting “market segmentation”. That everyone will or must  like your brand. It isContinue reading “Accept that everyone will NOT like your brand”

3 questions to ask and decide how much to spend on Google AdWords

Our readers ask How much do I spend on Google AdWords? An earlier post provided the strategy answer and this post presents three questions to ask for coming to a better decision. Here are the questions to ask: What were your inquiries before AdWords? Before AdWords you were getting inquiries. These inquiries could be fromContinue reading “3 questions to ask and decide how much to spend on Google AdWords”

7 Questions for your Business Model

“A business model is the manner in which you provide value to your customer that is paid for (by whom – is considered in the questions below). You cover your costs and make a profit on a sustainable basis.”

If you are a small business, you rarely think of your business as having a business model. But it does. It does because the moment you have a single paying customer, she is paying for the value you create. It is another matter, if your business makes a profit consistently over the long term. Sustainable profit is why it is important to understand the business model concept.Here is a definition based on the highly cited article by David Teece.

Why its safe to put out most of your market research as web content

Businesses large and small seem scared of putting out their market research on their websites. Common concerns we have heard are: Our competitors will know how we think about the market Our market insights  are our “secret” – sauce- why share the recipe And the one we like best: Speech is silvery but silence isContinue reading “Why its safe to put out most of your market research as web content”

“What is your brand mission? ” ask experts at the Yale Customer Insights Conference

As usual, the The Yale Customer Insights Conference 2016 was great. Leading practitioners and academics came together to tackle some of the most challenging customer insights problems of our time. This as technology moves at warp speed and entire business models get wiped out in a couple of years. And customer behavior changes more rapidlyContinue reading ““What is your brand mission? ” ask experts at the Yale Customer Insights Conference”

Drones for commercial use up ten times in one year- pizza delivered by drone?

The drone industry is booming. And the number of companies authorized to use drones for commercial drones is up from 499 to over 5000 in just one year according to the NBC Today show. The number of personal drones registered has risen to over a million in the USA. Currently the Xponential 2016 Conference andContinue reading “Drones for commercial use up ten times in one year- pizza delivered by drone?”