Bob Borchers was the Marketing Director for the iPhone from its launch in 2007. Now that he's moved on from Apple, he's been able to speak about some of the strategy behind the now infamous product. There are a few key things about brands that I've learned from this short article.

1. Price isn't an objection if the consumer sees value in a product


2. when a product is new, it takes effort to create that value your product needs


3. Identify a need or problem in the marketplace and communicate your solution for it


4. Market research can describe what happend in the marketplace


5. Think like "The Great One", anticpate where the consumer will be, not just where they are

http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/mowi/article.php/3838926

• marketing guy who hosted the original, 24-minute iPhone guided tour video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKXWBb8F-w4) back in June of 2007 when the device first came out


• Borchers also spearheaded the Nike+iPod partnership and Apple’s iPod integration efforts with major auto companies


• When the iPhone launched with a $500 price, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said his first reaction was “that is the most expensive phone in the world and it doesn’t appeal to business customers because it doesn’t have a keyboard.” Later he said, “it may sell very well.”


• He says one his goals at Apple was to establish in people’s minds that the iPhone was more than just another product, and something a consumer would be happy to pay more than a hundred bucks to own.


• “Steve (Jobs) realized no one loved their phone,” says Borchers. “The goal was to make the iPhone irresistible and make the customers give the most effective demos. We deliberately never called it a smartphone because we don’t want to be part of what that was.”


• He also believes Apple’s other edge is a long held marketing strategy it shares with his previous employer Nike — complete disdain for market research in devising new products.


• “As a company, and I think Apple gets this better than anyone, you want to follow what Wayne Gretsky said about hockey: skate to where the puck will be, not where it is.”

PPM - a new way to measure TV and Radio

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS135579+31-Aug-2009+PRN20090831

• the world's largest combined panel for television and radio audience measurement is now live in Canada using Arbitron Portable People Meter(TM) (PPM(TM)) technology.


• The PPM technology is designed to measure exposure to all audible media and is easy-to-use, mobile, flexible and language-agnostic.


• PPM technology is now used throughout Canada, replacing the legacy electronic measurement technology for television. It is also replacing BBM Canada's diary service for radio in five markets.


• "In September 2004, BBM began using PPM technology to measure television viewing in the francophone market of Montreal and over the past 5 years we have grown confident that the PPM service is the audience measurement solution that can best meet our members' needs today and well into the future."


• The Arbitron Portable People Meter system uses a passive audience measurement device -- about the size of a small cell phone -- to track consumer exposure to media and entertainment, including broadcast, cable and satellite television; terrestrial and online radio as well as many types of place-basedelectronic media


• Carried throughout the day by randomly selected survey participants, the PPM(TM) device can track when and where they watch television, listen to radio as well as how they interact with other forms of media and entertainment.


• PPM detects inaudible codes embedded in the audio portion of media and entertainment content delivered by broadcasters, content providers anddistributors. At the end of the day, the meter is placed in a docking station that extracts the codes and sends them to a central computer. The PPM isequipped with a motion sensor, a patented quality control feature unique to the system, which allows Arbitron to confirm the compliance of the PPM surveyparticipants every day.

Branding Vs Advertising Vs Promotions Vs Marketing Vs Public Relations

http://ezinearticles.com/?Branding-Vs-Advertising-Vs-Promotions-Vs-Marketing-Vs-Public-Relations&id=2114051

BRANDING

A great example of branding is Apple. iMac, iPod, iTouch, iPhone, iTunes. Get the point? Apple has created a massive brand strategy using the "i" element.

Does everything you do, say, print, write, and provide consistent with your brand message? If not, you may want to consider who your true target audience is, and work at ensuring you continue to provide services that directly relate to them.

ADVERTISING

Advertising is the actual process of displaying your message. Advertising on the radio... Advertising on tv... The one act of making something happen

Tie your Advertising and your Branding together, you have the Marketing Process

PROMOTIONS

Whereas marketing is ongoing, a promotion can be a one-day, one week, one-month, or even one-hour event.

In retail, a "SALE" is typically a promotion. Car dealerships offering Zero percent interest is a limited time promotion.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

typically revolves around un-paid news sources and focuses on your business as it relates to the community

You, too, can harness the power of free press and public relations, although it can be difficult at times to get noticed

MARKETING

Marketing is the process that drives all the above elements

It directs the feel, image, and tone of the advertising, promotions and public relations.

the single most powerful tool in local advertising

I found a book sitting on a dusty shelf titled "The 33 Ruthless Rules of Local Advertising" by Michael Corbett. In it, Michael gives numerous tips, well 33 actually, the most interesting of which I've summarized below. The most powerful tool according to Michael is outlined in Rule #9, a unique selling proposition (USP). My second favorite is #23 which is a great summary of the various benefits of different media.

#1 - Advertising is neither a necessary evil nor a cure-all

• effective advertising can produce and maintain steady growth in any economic circumstances. That growth is relative. By "relative" we mean between 10 to 30 percent more growth than non-advertising

#9 - The Single Most Powerful Tool in Local Advertising. It's called a Unique Selling Proposition

• A USP is something you develop after looking at your competitors and seeing what's not being offered that you can offer...It can even be something that produces a perception of uniqueness. Are you really better off being in the good hands of Allstate? If people think they are, who's to Argue?
  Special Note: on a local level, I think Brasso Nissan has done a great job to uniquely brand themselves as the only car dealership that potential buyers can book an appointment

#10 - If Your Doors are Open, You Should be Advertising

• You're not advertising to a standing army. You're advertising to a passing parade.

#11 - Budget Adequately For Advertising

• As a starting point, earmark between 5 and 10 percent of gross sales for advertising...don't forget to include an amount equal to about 10 percent of the budget for producing the ads, or making them media ready.
  special note: we do not charge for producing commercials at Rogers Radio

#12 - Think Long Term

• At minimum, a local advertiser should have a long term, flexible budget, a unique selling proposition, and a commitment to at least a 12 month advertising plan.
  using the media for infrequent, short term advertising schedules will not get you the same growth benefits you'll get when you advertise with consistency, frequency and impact.

#16 - Don't Ask Your Customers What Brought them In

• A poll was conducted at the front doors of a stores grand opening....As they entered the store, each shopper was asked "what brought you in?"
  Roughly 50% said radio, 30% said TV and 20% said newspaper. What interested the poll takers is that they never ran an ad on TV
  we've learned some things about polling and about people
  people don't know what brought them in
  people don't know that they don't know what brought them in
  people don't like not knowing what brought them in and they want to be helpful, so they'll make things up
  never change your multiple media advertising plans based on what people say brought them in
  the only foolproof way to evaluate advertising effectiveness is by setting measurable growth objectives

#22 - Understand the Objectiveness of Media Salespeople

• Talk to your media salesperson about Advertising's Real Issues:
  Are your gross sales satisfactory?
  Is your advertising producing consistent results?
  Is there Growth available in the marketplace for your business?
  Is there a way to determine and justify your advertising budget?
  Is there a way to set a measurable growth objective for your ad budget?
  Is there a simple system of absolute accountability that allows you to determine the effectiveness of your ad expenditures?

#23 - Any Medium will Work if You Know How to Work the Medium

THE GOAL

• your job is to find the mass media that are most suitable to your budget, and to your objectives of establishing an equity position in a short time, say a few weeks, and of providing the impact necessary to motivate a few new prospects on a daily basis
  your budget will determine your growth objective
  you'll want to reach enough people to motivate the total daily prospect count you'll need, in order to reach your growth objective.
  start that process by dominating on member of one medium (ie. 1 radio station or 1 TV program), and grow out from there
  


• Newspaper
  Research (Daniel Starch Report) reveals that in a large number of retail categories, bigger is not better.
  newspaper can be described as a price and item catalog for the Now Buyer. It's a place for shoppers to compare prices and information after they've already been motivated to buy
  The Now Buyer will almost always find your ad, even if it's not a full or half page
  The readers of most newspapers are middle aged and older...if you are looking for buyers under the age of forty, you will find fewer of them by advertising in the newspaper than other media.
  most consumers don't rely on newspaper as much as they once did
  For those Now Buyers who do read newspapers, the reading of the ads is usually the final step before shopping at your business. Before that, something motivates a prospect to begin the shopping process
  The greatest strength of the newspapers might be their very useful role as a support for your primary vehicle for domination of the media
  


• Television
  has been without question the most powerful, most influential medium ever invented
  it used to be-and may still be in some cases-that by the time you paid for the effective production, there was little left for air time. This was especially true if you changed your ads often, which is imperative
  People do not watch television stations, they watch programs. If you are targeting a particular type of consumer, you may have to buy ads on more than one station in several different programs each week to reach your target audience in sufficient numbers
  consistency is the key to equity position and subsequent growth.
  Using TV as a primary vehicle for domination...your ads on the air a minimum of 2 weeks per month every month of the year and reach 70% of your target market with a frequency level of 3
  If you're using TV as a support for other media...formulate a schedule that will begin at least 3 working days before the events start date.
  


• Billboards
  has 2 primary strengths
  can be used effectively to introduce a new product or service to the marketplace with a heavy, short term showing.
  can be used to provide directions to your location, especially if you're difficult to find.
  the 2 most important words you can put on a billboard are NEXT EXIT
  it's almost never appropriate to use billboards as a primary vehicle for domination
  if you do find a use for a board make sure you only have one, large graphic and no more than six words with clear large type.
  


• Radio
  if you can't or don't buy radio for its strengths, you're just as likely to get poor results on the number one station as you are the lowest rated station
  Like Television, radio is primarily a motivational medium, but can be informational as well, like newspapers
  many radio stations are affordable enough to use as a primary vehicle for domination
  to dominate a station, you have to buy schedules that give you a frequency of 3-5 impressions per week, each week for the first sixteen weeks, and three weeks out of four weeks thereafter.
  if you're a small advertiser who can't afford a schedule...but you want some frequency and consistency, run one commercial per hour between midnight and 6am. It will be dirt cheap and you'll even reach sufficient number s of listeners to grow, although at a slower pace.
  many, if not most radio stations have sufficient number of people in their audience to generate a few prospects per day for almost any business. Once you determine the audience profile and match that with your customer profile, you can determine if a particular station fits your needs
  


• Direct Mail
  the main reason for using direct mail is to promote a purchase or an inquiry
  can be very powerful if you target your prospect carefully and if you mail often with some unique offer to get their attention
  repetition and frequency play a vital role. In fact, your prospect will receive over 100 pieces of direct mail in the same week yours arrives
  results increase after several mailings, and especially after personal contact
  you're almost always better off mailing your own individual piece to your own preferred customers
  like other print vehicles, such as newspaper, direct mail is more effective when you are dominating an electronic medium like television or radio
  


• Yellow Pages
  Like newspapers, the yellow pages is primarily an informational rather than motivational medium.
  consumers go to the yellow pages when they need your location or your phone number
  most of the display ad money you spend in the yellow pages is largely wasted, at least in most business categories
  follow this rule of thumb, if the greatest percentage of your business is done by customer contact on the phone, have a display ad. If the greatest percentage of your business is conducted at your place of business, have a listing alone.
  are business owners being led to actually believe that an "A" name will produce more phone calls? If that's true, every business in America whose name doesn't begin with several A's will never get the highly coveted first position in the listings, nor as many phone calls, so they might as well not be in the yellow pages at all!
  don't ever tell people to look for your ad in the yellow pages. Tell them to look you up in the white pages. There are no competitors' ads in the white pages
  

#25 - Stop Spraying and Praying

• successful local advertising is not a function of reaching large numbers of people. It is a function of convincing the relatively few prospects you can afford to reach to do business with you, and not your competitors!
  

#26 - Use a proven Scheduling Formula

• Choose a medium to dominate. For most local advertisers this should be an electronic vehicle - radio or television
  Determine if your chosen medium for domination reaches a sufficient number of your target customer
  Schedule your electronic ads for impact. See Radio above #23.
  Determine the relative affordability of the schedule
  Make a 12 month buy, with a four-month option. If you're advertising with a dominant, consistent schedule, it doesn't matter on which days you run your ads!

#29 - Don't Forget how People Remember

• repetition is key
  remember, you're not advertising to a standing army - it's a passing parade. You must constantly remind the passing parade.
  

#32 - Let Your Employees in on Your Advertising Plans

• make them aware of knowing the what's, when's and where's of your advertising
  your employees can then excite the prospects that your advertising is bring in
  

#33 - Let go of the Branch

• for the most part, people choose to remain well inside their comfort zones. You may have to let go of your own "branch" before putting what we've outlined so far into action

Ideavirus

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/37/ideavirus.html

The first 100 years of our country's history were about who could build the biggest, most efficient farms. The second 100 years were about the race to build efficient factories. Welcome to the third century: This one's about ideas.

An idea that just sits there is worthless. But an idea that moves, grows, and infects everyone it touches ... that's an ideavirus.

The medium doesn't matter; the message does. As long as you can use your manifesto to change the way that people think, talk, and act, you create value.

In the new economy, consumers have built up antibodies that resist traditional marketing. That's why we need to stop marketing at people, and start creating an environment where consumers can market to one another.

So, is an ideavirus a form of marketing? Absolutely! But today, what else is there? You don't win with better shipping, or better manufacturing, or better accounts payable. You win with better marketing, because marketing is about spreading ideas -- and ideas are now the very basis of competition.

Recession Over!

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090723/boc_economy_090723/20090723?hub=TopStories

The Bank of Canada is declaring the recession essentially over in Canada and projecting the economy will bounce back at least twice as strongly as in the United States.

Canada is coming out of the deepest and most painful downturn since the Second World War
The bank remains concerned that the fragile financial systems in the United States and Europe may contain more unpleasant surprises

But overall, the new outlook represents a clearly more optimistic view of the Canadian economy
growth is now projected to turn positive in the third quarter (of 2009)," the bank now says.

the central bank adds specifics and context to its new outlook, and almost all are favourable to Canada, especially in relation to the United States.

overall view that it will take until mid-2011 for Canada's economy to return to full capacity.

What is happening, say the economists in the bank's governing council, is that Canadians are responding to low interest rates and growing confidence by pulling the trigger now on such big-ticket items as houses, cars, furniture and appliances they were planning to purchase later.

The U.S. has stopped shrinking, but is still likely not growing. And Europe may still be in recession, along with Japan. Next year, the U.S. will only rebound by 1.4 per cent, less than half Canada's rate, and the European area by a mere 0.7 per cent. The strongest engine of growth globally is China

Just as Canadian exports of autos and wood products were hardest hit during the downturn, they will be boosted more than other industries once demand returns in the U.S.

The Communications Room
Musical apparel – Mos Def releases album via a T-Shirt
Posted: 06 Jul 2009 08:53 PM PDT

Mos Def’s new album, The Ecstatic, is released in the US today but it’s taking a refreshing approach to distribution. Rather than offering up a CD (who buys them apart from me) people buy a T- Shirt with the album artwork on it, along with a code embedded into its tag so you can download it.

I love this kind of blurry stuff that is digital, traditional, social and a product innovation all rapped up in one (excuse the gag). It’s such a simple idea I can’t believe it has been used more often. Imagine how much The Ramones could have made with all those millions of walking adverts – it might also have ensured the cool kids actually listened to the music as well.

Not only that, it has raised the price to $39, probably reduced the production costs and generated cheap, peer 2 peer advertising. Genius.

Lots of you are using your advertising to drive consumers to your website to search for more information on specific product and offers. However, if the consumer doesn't know your acutal web address, they'll do a search aka query in Google using keywords or phrases about what you do. The results of a google query are generated in seconds and the sites are ranked based on the relevance to the original keywords entered for the query.



http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-rank-high-in-google
It is better to rank #1 or #2 for a specific keyword phrase such as "stock market investing tips" than to rank #100 for a more general keyword such as "stocks"

Step One: Make a list of targeted keyword phrases

After you have made your list of possible keyword phrases narrow down the list to the phrases that you really want to target. Use keyword research tools such as the keyword selector tool, Wordtracker and Keyword Discovery to find the keyword phrases that will be most worth your time to go after

Step Two: Create an optimized page for each keyword phrase on your list

It is a better strategy to just stick with optimizing for one keyword phrase per page. By focusing on one phrase you are more likely to rank high for that particular phrase and you may get lucky and rank high for other related keyword phrases at the same time.

Step Three: Obtain quality backlinks to each of your pages

The third and most important step in ranking high in the search engines is to obtain links from outside sites. The more links the better, but you should focus your efforts on sites that themselves have many links pointing to them, because the search engines place higher value on links from those sites. The amount of links that a site has pointing to it is called link popularity.

Google uses a ranking system called PageRank to measure the link popularity of each page. Do a search for "Pagerank tool" or download the google toolbar to find out the pagerank of specific pages. Don't rely to heavily on PageRank to determine a pages worth, though. It is more important to obtain links form sites that are relevant to yours than. For some ideas on how to get links please visit Andy Hagan and Aaron Wall's 101 Ways to Build Link Popularity in 2006 article.

The Power of Momentum

This is a long one, but certainly worth it. There are 2 key things that I've picked up from this article. The first is that you can use the metric "marketing-sales-ratio" over time (in this case 20 years) to measure your marketing efficiency. The second is the importance of building momentum. As they say in this article "Momentum leaders aren't that passive. They live by this motto: First build your wave, then ride it."


This study looks at the conduct and performance of well-known corporations among the world's 1,000 largest, covering a 20-year period from 1985 to 2004. The authors looked at these firms' marketing behavior and tracked the effect that changes in this behavior had on sales revenue, net earnings, and stock price.

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2033


Introduction

Momentum...Some hold on to it. Most don't. Slowly, imperceptibly, the tailwind turns around and the momentum disappears, without anyone quite realizing what has happened. The company is still growing, but not as strongly as before, not as efficiently. Everyone's maxing out, but it seems like there's molasses in the works. Sound familiar?

The insight came when we realized that if momentum was powering a firm's success, then its relative marketing spend should be decreasing. Contrary to conventional "spend money to make money" wisdom, our hunch was that firms with momentum achieved superior growth while spending a relatively smaller percentage of their revenue on marketing than those pursuing the traditional "push hard" methods.

We divided the firms into three groups according to how their marketing behavior could be described: Pushers, Plodders, and Pioneers. Because we were interested in the effect of extremes in marketing behavior, our three groups were divided in a 25:50:25 split.

The Pushers were those companies that pushed their businesses hard in the traditional way, seeking to drive sales through aggressive increases in relative marketing spend. Then there were the Plodders...Their marketing-to-sales ratio remained more or less constant for 20 years. These middling firms stayed in the safety zone of past behavior and took no drastic action one way or the other. Finally, there was the remaining quarter -- those firms that were, either boldly or foolhardily, heading in the opposite direction from the Pushers, and decreasing their relative marketing spend. Taking these firms' average marketing-to-sales ratio, we see a 4% drop over the timeframe.


Results

remaining in the safety zone of stable marketing spend is not a viable option: The Plodders underperformed the stock market by 28 percent (over a 20 year period)
Pushers managed, on average, to create shareholder value exactly in line with the evolution of the Dow Jones Index, thus demonstrating the soundness of the conventional faith in the power of active marketing spend to contribute to increasing shareholder value

Pioneers. Despite having decreased their advertising-to-sales ratio, these momentum-powered companies created shareholder value 80% above the Dow Jones Index over the 20-year period.
Over the 20-year period, using the Pushers' performance as a reference, the Pioneers' revenue growth was 93% better -- almost twice as high. They achieved this massive revenue growth despite decreasing their advertising ratio. And remember: This is in comparison not to underperforming firms but to firms that actually matched the Dow Jones Index.

If we compare the profitability growth of these two groups, we can see that the Pioneers also did much better, with average earnings growth 58% superior to that of the Pushers.


Analysis & Conclusions

our study shows that the momentum-powered Pioneers actually increased their total marketing expenditures in real terms. But while their marketing budgets were increasing, the proportion of their revenue that this expenditure represented was decreasing. In other words, because of the Pioneers' superior revenue growth, their advertising-to-sales ratio was coming down despite the fact that they were spending more.

The question is: What was improving the efficiency of their marketing investments? This is not simply a case of great marketing, although marketing excellence is a key part of the mix. These firms achieved greater efficiency with their marketing because they found a different path to growth: They exploited the momentum effect.


Momentum Powered Firms

Too often, companies invest more in marketing to compensate for something: an inferior product, a poor pipeline of new products, deterioration of growth prospects, or a general lack of creativity. Firms with such a limited vision compensate for their less-than-spectacular offers by pushing them on an unconvinced market using heavy-handed marketing resources.
The Pioneers show there is an alternative. These momentum-powered firms don't have to push so hard because they have built up a momentum that improves their efficiency. Rather than just better-than-average growth, they deliver exceptional growth. Their growth is exceptional on two counts: It is both higher and more efficient.
Momentum in Action

WALMART
Sam Walton knew about retail, but his main asset was the fact that he knew about customers. When he started out, he related deeply to a very specific kind of customer -- people like him, people from the United States' rural South.

Walton understood that these customers would value his offering, that they would appreciate being able to shop locally, rather than making long journeys to larger towns. He also realized that these shoppers were worth more than they seemed. Although their wallets weren't as full as those of people in large cities, Wal-Mart was able to command a higher share of their spending because there was no competition. The combination of cheaper premises, lower labor costs [and] no competition ... meant that Walton's customers were extremely profitable to service.
Eventually, Wal-Mart was able to glean economies of scale in purchasing to achieve its mantra of "Every Day Low Price" (EDLP) and gain further momentum.

EDLP runs counter to traditional retail promotions that lure customers into stores, hoping that they'll also end up buying more expensive products.

Wal-Mart's competitors, to their discomfort, failed to understand that, although EDLP was jargon on the surface, it expressed a strong, hidden emotional value deeply appreciated by customers: trust. This customer trust powered the company's growth for decades.

Unfortunately, momentum doesn't look after itself. There is a perception that Wal-Mart slowly began to pay less attention to many of the key drivers of its success -- respect for employees, local communities, and suppliers -- and began to lose its momentum as a result. Momentum is dynamic: Unless it is constantly nurtured, it will ebb away.

TOYOTA
Toyota's ability to create new, original, and compelling value in the first place that drives its growth. Its secret is its ability to connect totally with customers' sense of self, to create products that are more than mere goods but complete, perfect, and compelling presentations of value.
Consider the contrasting histories of the U.S. auto industry and Toyota. American car manufacturers are among the best illustrations of the limitations of the Pusher's strategy. They have given everything a try in terms of efficiency drives, but although they are now leaner, they are no fitter.

Its success is based on a number of factors, but underlying its achievement is a deep understanding of its customers. First, Toyota proved that it could consistently deliver reliable, impeccably engineered automobiles. Once this crucial plateau had been achieved, it went on to innovate its range with cars that were somehow more than mere vehicles.


Join the Momentum League

Our research has shown that increases in marketing pressure can lead to significant profitable growth.

Momentum offers an easier, more efficient, and exceptional form of growth. But it requires the ambition to break free from the traditional reflex of using more resources to fuel it. The very things that seem to push you forward are holding you back. Momentum does not happen by chance. Nor can it simply be willed into existence. Achieving momentum requires an understanding of its source, and then the relentless application of a systematic process. It requires a momentum strategy.

Marketing during a recession

Statistics On Advertising During a Recession


I think Seth Godin outlined marketing's Catch 22 best in his book The Purple Cow (and I am paraphrasing here): When times are tough the tendancy is to conserve capital vs. when times are good the tendancy is to not be aggressive.
As marketers we are so often faced with the dilemma of having to cut advertising in times of economic softness. But here is some real data that you can use to illustrate why that is a bad idea.
McGraw-Hill Research study of over 600 Businesses found that:

1981-1982 – business that maintained or increased their ad spend during this time

* Averaged higher sales growth during the recession and in the following 3 years!

By 1985 – sales of the businesses that maintained or increased their ad spend during that recession

* Sales had risen 256% over those that had cut back on advertising

Likewise in 2001 – another study found that aggressive recession advertisers

* Increased market share 2 ½ times the average for all businesses in the post-recession

In 2002 – the Strategic planning institute illustrated that during economic expansion

* Although 80% of businesses increased their advertising spend there was NO improvement in market share

* Why? - because everyone has increase ad spending!

Full Disclosure: I got these stats from a paper called Innovating through a Recession by Professor Andrew J. Razeghi at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Not only did I thank him for writing this paper, blogged about it, tweeted it but I also invited him to do a podcast with me so stay tuned!

The Pasta Indicator: when is the market going to turn?

Hi There,

Just this week I've had some very positive feedback from clients in both the home and auto industries about their recent campaigns. While business is still not great by most accounts, there seems to be a growing number of positive stories this month over last.

If you're interested to chat about I can help your business grow, please don't hesitate to call me at 403-686-9715 or email marc.binkley@calgaryradio.rogers.com



http://treasure.1x1y.com.cn/useracticles/20090211/20090211083014615.html
recessions don't last forever, and we'll be coming out of this one long before official statistics say so. That's just the way it works. Most economic data — like the quarterly GDP reading — are lagging indicators. What you need are leading indicators that will signal when we've made a turn.
Here are 10 indicators to help you know when times are getting better

1. Home Sales
says Jeoffrey Hall, chief U.S. economist for Thomson Financial. He's watching the National Association of Home Builders House Market Index, which measures recent sales, expected sales, and prospective buyer traffic. "The faster it rises," says Hall, "the faster I'd say we're emerging from recession."

2. Jobs
companies typically cut hours before cutting heads the slide means more layoffs are coming. the key is to just change the direction. You can find private sector average weekly hours worked on the Bureau of Labor Statistics web site.

3. Jobs (again)
monthly temporary employment. In 2002, temporary hiring went from net job losses to net job gains almost to the month that the recession ended. At this moment, the monthly change in temporary employment has been negative for 25 months running. When it swings positive you can be sure that better times will follow. This can be tracked on the BLS web site as well.

4. Car Sales
Cars are one of the first big-ticket items that consumers buy when they start to feel good again. "It's only fear that's holding consumers back," says James Smith, chief economist at Parsec Financial Management. "They have money — $56.5 trillion of net worth — and the products available are attractive and well priced." They just need to start feeling a little better about the economy and their financial future.

5. Retail Sales
For the seventh consecutive month, retail sales fell in January. When that string reverses it will be a positive sign. But more important will be any shift away from discounters like Wal-Mart and Dollar General towards specialty or higher end stores like Nordstrom or Saks. You can track retail sales at http://www.census.gov/.

6. Interest Rate Spreads
Modest signs have begun to emerge suggesting that the credit freeze is thawing. When credit spreads across the spectrum narrow it will signal that money is flowing again, a critical development. Also, and perhaps easiest to follow, look for jumbo mortgages which are now about 1.5 percentage points above conforming mortgages to close to within half a point.

7. The Pasta Indicator
When pasta sales begin to slow you'll know times are getting better. One way to track the trend is by watching financial results at American Italian Pasta Co. (ticker: AIPC), which is North America's largest pasta producer. The stock has soared from $5 to $26 in the past 12 months while just about everything else got hammered.

8. The Cardboard Indicator
Alan Greenspan was fond of tracking liner board prices. The idea is simple: liner board is a main component of cardboard, which is used as packaging to ship just about everything. When liner board prices surge it means that packaging is in demand, which can only be the case if people are buying things, which in turn signals a healthy economy. Liner board isn't easy to track. As a proxy, keep your eye on the stock price of leading cardboard producers Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. (ticker: SSCC) and International Paper (IP). Their shares began falling before the recession started and could turn higher before the recovery begins.

9. Sweet-Talking Bill Collectors
The big card companies are waiving fees, restructuring debt and even accepting payoffs of as little as pennies on the dollar. They're not doing this to be good guys; they are bracing for a continued wave of defaults and want to collect as much as they can right now — before some other bill collector gets to you first and leaves you with empty pockets. You'll know the economy is righting itself when credit card companies stop negotiating with debtors. To monitor this industry, check out creditcard.com. 10. Movie Madness

But where Hollywood storylines tend to lag the economy, movie goers as a group tend to lead the economy. So it was that the number of tickets sold dropped 4% last year, when film buffs collectively concluded that with money so tight they might as well make better use of their high-def home theater system. Watch for that trend to reverse. You can check for year-to-date movie ticket sales comparisons at http://ercboxoffice.com/

In Branding, Minority Rules

Although we'd like all the business out there, it's not possible. I think this article is a great example of how important it is to identify your core business and superserve them. Our stations are a great medium to reach 25-54 year olds in general, but each station has a specific niche within that general group.

Please fee free to contact me at 403-686-9715 or marc.binkley@calgaryradio.rogers.com to find out if LITE 96 or JACK FM is the right fit for your business.

http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/2009/03/in-branding-minority-rules.html
Matthew Norman, food critic of The Sunday Telegraph, nodded politely to the waiting staff as he entered Shepherd's Restaurant. Aside from being co-owned by Michael Caine, Shepherd's other claim to fame was its reputation as one of London's finest restaurants. Norman was looking forward to his meal. What followed next sent shockwaves through the culinary world. Norman hated everything he experienced at Shepherd's and made this clear in his subsequent review. When the review appeared two weeks later, Richard Shepherd, the other owner of the restaurant, was furious, and threatened legal action, complaining that this "vicious rant" would have a dramatic affect on business. In one sense, Shepherd was absolutely right. His restaurant was suddenly packed everyday for lunch and dinner. While one might have expected Norman's diabolical review to have sparked a mass exodus, it actually had the opposite effect. How is this possible?

The answer lies in the unique competitive forces that operate within marketing.
Norman's review created a negative general opinion about Shepherd's in the minds of millions of consumers.

So what? It also piqued the curiosity of a few hundred consumers to go and try the restaurant. The review also enraged a few hundred loyal Shepherd's customers, who immediately called to make a reservation to show their support

Marketers should not fall into the PR-induced trap of attempting to make all the people generally happy all the time. Define who your target market is and do all in your power to inspire their love, belief and allegiance.

Social Marketing in Plain English

I thought this was a neat video to help explain some of the social marketing concepts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpIOClX1jPE A few of our current clients have successfully used advertising to drive traffic to their blogs, videos, podcasts etc. with the use of commercials, bonus code events and email blasts to our loyalty database.

If you're interested in creating a buzz on your social marketing platforms, please feel free to contact me at marc.binkley@calgaryradio.rogers.com or 403-686-9715

BRAND sense

By adding radio to your marketing mix, your brand can be more persuasive to consumers. Please feel free to call or email me if you'd like to discuss how I can help your business build a stronger brand. 403-686-9715 or marc.binkley@calgaryradio.rogers.com



For his work in applying neuroscience to marketing (neuromarketing), Martin Lindstrom was the only marketer on TIME magazine’s list of the World’s 100 Most Influential People of 2009. In 2004, Martin Lindstrom commissioned Millward Brown to conduct the biggest ever study into how we use our senses to form branded relationships. 2 years, 20 brands, 13 countries and 1000s of consumers later, Martin published the results of this survey in his BRAND sense book which has become a worldwide bestseller. I've included a small summary below of the attached article.

For more information check out this link http://www.brandsenseagency.com/index.php?the-brand-sense-story

83% of marketing budgets are focussed upon our eyes

Brand impact increases by 30% when more than one sense is engaged and by a whopping 70% when three senses are integrated into the brand message.

We are unconsciously controlled by the thousands of sensory inputs we receive every day as we see, hear, smell, touch and taste brands.

it started in supermarkets in Northern Europe. As part of their strategies to generate traffic to their stores, they situated their bakeries up the back of the shops and connected them to the street using olfactory appeal. Hundreds of meters of pipeline carried the irresistible aroma of fresh bread to potential customers as they passed by the stores’ entrances. Upon detection of the marvelous smell, passersby are instantly struck with hunger and drawn inside the shop, down the aisles filled with other goods they realize they need, towards the bakery for intended purchase. Even banks in United Kingdom introduced freshlybrewedcoffee to branches with the intention of making customers feel at home when visiting the bank. The fragrance of fresh coffee induces relaxation, not an emotion you could normally associate with a bank.

BRAND sense research revealed that Nokia's ringtone is recognized by an astounding 74% of Europeans and 46% of American consumers. And they associate the tone with the brand
Kellogg’s has invested in the power of auditory stimuli, apparently testing the crunching of cereals in a Danish sound laboratory in order to upgrade their product’s ‘sound quality’ and link it with the brand signature. The crunch has created a powerful point of difference, being recognized as the Kellog’s crunch in 45% of cases in which the box has not been present.

BRAND sense showed us that, just by adding one additional sense to your brand, you increase brand memorability and brand loyalty by one-third.
Sound, too, evokes memory and emotion. Familiar birdsong floods you with impressions of home; a hit song from the days of your youth recalls the anxieties and excitement of your teen years

And of touch? One of the major reasons online clothes shopping never took off was because … well, you guessed it: people couldn’t touch the products
the only example of integrated sensory marketing I know of comes from Singapore Airlines...By appealing to all the senses (using music, fragrance, manner, personality which all combine in the Singapore Airlines’ cabin to evoke the airline’s preferred image) the airline has managed to create a branded flying experience.

The Wizzard of Ads, Word of Mouth and The Missing Google Analytics Manual

Hi There,

I've got a few short articles that I wanted to send today. I hope you find them useful. Please feel free to call me if you have any questions about how I can help you grow your business. 403-686-9715

http://www.entrepreneur.com/advertising/adcolumnistroyhwilliams/article178044.html

• Relevance is what determines whether an ad works or not. Every medium fails when it delivers a message no one cares about. Have you ever run an ad that failed? Let's see what really happened:

• Ads that fail in one medium will usually fail in others.

• The medium is not the message; the message is the message.

• And the message is what matters most.

http://www.grokdotcom.com/2009/02/23/money-for-nothing-clicks-for-free/

• There are NO magic bullets. When things come fast and easy they leave even easier more quickly.
• Isn’t word of mouth (”WOM”) free? WOM isn’t exactly free, but it can be. If you want to generate WOM do something remarkable for your customers. After all, WOM is driven by things people can remark on, hence the term remarkable.

Missing Google Analytics Manual http://www.grokdotcom.com/2009/02/16/the-missing-google-analytics-manual/