Mailing list providers were the original third party cookies. They gathered contact details of different demographics and you could buy lists to mail (junk mail) to them.
Tag Archives: Retail
Why Authentic Value Proposition ?
The lingering pandemic, the Ukraine war, supply chain problems and inflation has all types of organizations reviewing their “value” proposition. The idea of an explicit contract in B2B and an implicit contract in B2C used to involve fewer parties. If there was a serious dispute there was arbitration, courts or government regulators who would step in and try to sort things out. No longer true in the world of instant social media. Think of Elon Musk’s Twitter purchase situation.
For everyday business it’s simply keeping your promises to your customers. To be fair, our experience is that Elon Musk is pretty good with Tesla in keeping customer promises. No matter how the Twitter acquisition plays out.
Since marketing is about customer value, it’s important to clarify the idea of value proposition in these challenging times:
AIDA sales funnel and the buyer’s journey to purchase
Businesses tend to wonder about the effectiveness of their advertising spend in terms of what they actually sold that could be attributed to advertising.To understand how advertising works its useful to look at the hierarchy of effects AIDA sales funnel credited to Advertising Hall of Fame member Elias St. Elmo Louis in 1898. No that was not a typo and check out the history of this kind of thinking called Hierarchy of Effects in the article by Barry (1987).
This post was originally published on April 22, 2014. We have many readers asking about the connection between the AIDA sales model and the Digital Customer Journey or Digital Buyer’s’ Journey. We are delighted to update the original post on March 5, 2021. We hope that this will help all businesses come back after COVID as customers go through their AIDA process online.
Forever 21 : What is your strength – that customers value?
It is sad to see that Forever 21 filed for bankruptcy. Their backstory is fascinating and the 5 minute video backstory of Korean immigrants achieving the “American Dream” by Business Insider is worth watching.
Unlike the typical sad “decline of US malls” story and rise of “online retail” the Forever 21 story has important lessons for all businesses. It is also an eerie reminder of the the New Coke fiasco, To recap, Coca Cola did not realize in the eighties that customers did not drink Coke for taste but it was all about being American – a much deeper meaning.
How TJX and Costco drive foot traffic in the digital age
The TJX group (including brands like TJMax, Marshalls, HomeGoods etc.) and Costco seem to be always crowded. And when you look at long checkout lines you know they must be doing something right in the digital age.
Why consumer marketers always do field visits- and digital marketers should too
If you noticed, all consumer marketers do market field visits-all the time. Let’s say that a CMO or a marketer turned CEO is in town for a board meeting. You’ll find that CMO making the rounds of retailers and distributors. This after getting all those market research and insights syndicated reports. These reports break downContinue reading “Why consumer marketers always do field visits- and digital marketers should too”
RadioShack and now Staples: Five steps for retail businesses in the Internet Knowledge Economy
That Staples will close 224 stores by the end of the year is shocking just after the news that Radio Shack is closing 1000 stores. Shocking because a way of life in American strip malls and malls is changing- just as a Dollar Store replaced Circuit City a few years ago at our nearby Mall.Continue reading “RadioShack and now Staples: Five steps for retail businesses in the Internet Knowledge Economy”