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How About We Just Think?

Posted on July 27, 2007 by Sarah Eaton.

Hmmm...normally I hold my tongue and just pass along the opinions of the team for these reviews.  This time, though, I feel compelled to tell you that I agree with Kathy.  Without further ado, the review of the summary of "Don't Think Pink" by Lisa Johnson and Andrea Learned.

Kathryn Regina

Most of the concepts in this summary can be boiled down to one sentence: Women have more money than you think, and they want different things than men want. But what do they want, exactly? It varies. Of course it does—“women” isn’t exactly a vertical market. To write an entire book about how women want more than pastel colors is surprising and possibly sexist, depending on your interpretation. Nevertheless, tips about the importance of customer feedback, visual presentation and human connections may be helpful—especially if your company has only considered a male audience thus far.

Jeff Sanchez

It is not breaking news to know that women are a powerful market in the consumer world. I know just from daily observation that women are marketed towards more than ever and a lot of the strategies that were covered in Don’t Think Pink I see put into practice. I am sure other women can resonate more with what they look for as a consumer, but as a male I would definitely take Pink’s strategies into consideration. Any targeted group would want themselves to be treated as intelligent, valued and sensible – women are, of course, no exception.

Kevin Grant

This topic of surging necessity to market specifically to women is not exactly new–but it is relevant.  Relevant to nearly any product or service out there.  Women are the largest purchasing segment in the world, they influence social opinion, and have the largest influence in presidential elections.  The important thing to remember when targeting a specific or general female segment is not to treat it as phenomenal, but natural, as it should be.

Emily DeMarco

“Don’t Think Pink,” centers on effectively marketing to women; advertising with girly pink things won’t cut it anymore. The ideas were interesting, although the summary focused more on profiling women’s transparent qualities (apparently the key to success) instead of offering concrete hints for marketing.  Also, this summary came dangerously close to a piece of feminist activism, instead of a business marketing tool.  The same type of dynamic marketing strategy can be easily applied to different male generations as well.  A good idea is a good idea no matter the gender.

To all the advertising firms out there:
For the record, you can still make me swoon with pink.

Vanessa Day

Don’t think pink. Ok, I know that I’m a woman and that I should support this theory, but I would have to say that companies probably should think pink when it comes to marketing to women. Maybe not hot, fluorescent pink but rather a subtler pink hew. Something a little less girly, since women are gaining more and more power in our society today. The book even acknowledges that men and women are different; they have gender-specific ways of thinking. So when it comes to products they want to buy, women are going to lean toward more feminine products. This book seems to hit on good points, but I wouldn’t completely throw away the notion of thinking pink.

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PROBLEM: So many great business books. So little time.  SOLUTION: Read Less. Learn More. Subscribe to Soundview Executive Book Summaries!

July 27, 2007 in Brand enhancement, Building Customer Intuition, Corporate newsletter, Educating Clients, email tracking, Freelance newsletter, how to publish and promote online, how to write a newsletter, Interactive Marketing, Newsletter complete outsourcing, newsletter layout, Newsletter ROI, Newsletter solution, outsource magazine, prospect newsletter, sample newsletter, self publish, Thought leadership newsletter, writing magazine | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

HTML Vs. Text

Posted on July 25, 2007 by Kevin G.

I was reading an article on practices that are working in B2B marketing.  Written by Robert Bly, the article supports the notion that even though marketing gurus promote authentic and effective practices, the large majority of them are inconsistent.

It is a challenge to pinpoint what exactly makes a marketing campaign succeed or fail, even when it comes to custom publishing.  One point, however, I refused to accept: B2B email marketing is a strategy best served in plain text format over HTML.  What?!

Alright, I understand how spammers utilize HTML in various ways to trick filters, personal message are often sent in text format and HTML messages can seem insincere if sent to a bulky list.  But to say that text email messages for B2B purposes works better than HTML is a bit shortsighted.

HTML has the capacity to present multiple sources of information in a customized way.  If designed well, HTML messages can help promote a company brand while delivering a unique experience for the subscriber.  Not to mention that HTML is more expansive in its capacity for tracking and measurement than plain text.

If you think text email messages will set you apart from the rest of the B2B traffic – you’re right. You'll leave your subscribers wondering why you seem to think bland is better.

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July 25, 2007 in award winning blog, award winning newsletter, Award winning publications, Brand enhancement, build credibility, Building Customer Community, bulk email marketing, company blog, company newsletter, create a newsletter, create email newsletter, create newsletter, creating company newsletter, creating newsletter, direct email marketing, E-Marketing, Email Marketing, Email Newsletter, email tracking, ezine marketing, how to publish a newsletter, how to publish online, html email newsletter, html newsletter, newsletter design, newsletter publishing | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Loyalty Hit or Myth

Posted on July 13, 2007 by Sarah Eaton.

We all have our ideas about customer loyalty--many which turn out to just not be true.  This week we review the summary of "Loyalty Myths" by Timothy L. Keiningham Terry G. Vavra, Lerzan Aksoy and Henri Wallard.

Emily DeMarco

“Loyalty Myths” provides the reader with a whopping 53 myths about customer loyalty, only to wrap it up in just seven ways manage loyalty right.  The last line, “Each dollar appropriately invested in nurturing customer loyalty will pay substantial rewards in the future,” expresses that customer loyalty is a profitable thing, yet the whole summary focuses on how loyalty can be unprofitable. 
Maybe I’m in the minority, but I buy most of my purchases according to which companies I’m loyal.  My groceries come from Jewel not Dominick’s.  My french fries come from McDonalds not Burger King.  My purses from Coach not Louis Vuitton.  I think this summary would be much more helpful if it had 53 ways to improve loyalty efforts and only seven reasons why it doesn’t matter.

Kathryn Regina

“Loyalty Myths” should probably be named “Loyalty Assumptions,” since most of these 53 “myths” are not shared sayings at all. The exceptions are “Myth 1: The Number One Goal of Any Firm Should Be Customer Loyalty” and “Myth 8: It Costs Five Times More to Acquire a New Customer Than to Retain a Current Customer.” The authors wisely point out that “The fundamental purpose of any business is to identify and satisfy customer needs at a profit” and that acquisition and retention costs are far too complex and differentiated to be represented by one statistic.

Brian Pinkley

Across the globe, businesses spend billions of dollars a year in attempt to hold onto their current customers to gain a sense of loyalty.  However, this sometimes overzealous spending backfires since most CEOs follow old myths about customer loyalty. “Loyalty Myths” offers insight into ways in which companies make mistakes in the process of gaining the trust of customers.  The authors of this book challenge business leaders to think beyond what they have heard has worked to keep customers coming back and shows them what really works.  One myth I found interesting was the notion that companies “know their customers”--most companies do not know their customers as well as they think due to a lack of communication and feedback. 

Vanessa Day

In and out of the work place, loyalty is a big factor in any relationship. It seems to be common sense to nurture customer relations in order to be successful and maintain loyalty. So after reading the 53 myths about loyalty, I was a little surprised by some of the information. What interested me most was that good customer service doesn’t mean that customer loyalty will grow. I always felt that if employees provided great customer service, people were more likely to stick with that company. But, even if you are the most helpful person, the product may not be the best quality item. It’s not the size of your smile; it’s whether or not your product is better than the other guys’. That is truly what keeps customers coming back.

Jeff Sanchez

Loyalty Myths puts the truth behind hype of business strategies focusing on customer loyalty. Going through the exhausting 53 myths (which many could have been cut and combined) I had a mix of thinking “pretty obvious” and “huh?” A few of them combined the actual myth and reality in a confusing manner, when I felt a clear “Myth” and “Truth” layout should have been adopted to skim easier. A few of the myths such as “Firms Should Emphasize Retention Efforts Rather Than Acquisition Activities” shed some light on best practices for the specific strategy . In fact, I found the “Loyalty Myths That Subvert Company Goals” most effective.

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PROBLEM: So many great business books. So little time.  SOLUTION: Read Less. Learn More. Subscribe to Soundview Executive Book Summaries!

July 13, 2007 in Brand enhancement, Building Customer Intuition, Corporate newsletter, Educating Clients, email tracking, Freelance newsletter, how to publish and promote online, how to write a newsletter, Interactive Marketing, Newsletter complete outsourcing, newsletter layout, Newsletter ROI, Newsletter solution, outsource magazine, prospect newsletter, sample newsletter, self publish, Thought leadership newsletter, writing magazine | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Most-hated internet words

Posted on July 11, 2007 by Kathryn Regina.

A recent poll by YouGov identified the top ten most-hated internet words. Some of the words voted most irritating are "blog," "netiquette," "cookie," and "wiki." The word "folksonomy" was the number one most hated word, but it's a word that I love. "Blogosphere" came in at number two. If it were up to me, "netiquette" would have made the list all ten times. Hate it.

Read the article

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July 11, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Don't be a lightweight: Renovate, then innovate

Posted on July 06, 2007 by Sarah Eaton.

Sergio Zyman, the manager of New Coke, described in this summary as "one of the greatest innovation busts of the 20th century," draws from his experience and shares his ideas about the best way to approach company growth in "Renovate Before You Innovate." 

Did we read it?  Nope.  But we read the summary:

Kathryn Regina

Wow, this summary is full of formulas and acronyms. But I think it offers some useful information. Many companies think of innovation as developing new products, and overlook opportunities to find new value in current services. It’s also good to start with “new growth opportunities that are consistent with what consumers have shown they’re willing to buy,” and then decide whether your company is able to offer those services or products. Companies that operate inversely will often shell out a lot of money on a fancy product that gets little response in the marketplace, because it offers no real value to customers.

Vanessa Day

After reading the summary of "Renovate Before You Innovate," I have started to see the importance of altering products to please the consumer. Sergio Zyman discusses the beauty of renovation within a company, rather than innovation. He believes strongly that it’s smarter to do “better things” with existing assets, and that innovation can ultimately run a company into the ground if done improperly. His main point is to figure out what the core essence of your business is, because that is “who you really are as a company.” This essence is what consumers relate to, and it’s the most important part of any company, because it creates a relationship with customers.

Brian Pinkley

The current business fad of innovation is highlighted in the summary of “Renovate before you Innovate”.  The authors provided a fresh perspective on this current trend and explained some of the hidden pitfalls.  So many businesses today are quick to latch on to new ideas rather than trying to improve the old products and services, wasting assets in the process.  The reconstruction process is a way to challenge a business to meet customer expectations while becoming a more cohesive unit in the process.

Emily DeMarco

“Renovate Before You Innovate” is a book about how to revamp your company to improve marketing and sales over the competition.  The author, Zyman, emphasizes that it is more important to expand your current product base rather than come up with an entirely new, unique idea.  Coke becomes a consistent example for understanding this concept.  Zyman brings up that “diet soft drinks were not introduced by Coke,” yet Coke managed to be a “Leader Forced to Follow” (and who honestly prefers Diet Pepsi now?)  In addition, New Coke was a “disaster.” Therefore, when Coke simply renovated its original “core essence” rather than innovated, the results were dramatically superior. However, this article begs the question of: Doesn’t renovating take an innovative thinker?

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PROBLEM: So many great business books. So little time.  SOLUTION: Read Less. Learn More. Subscribe to Soundview Executive Book Summaries!

July 6, 2007 in Brand enhancement, Building Customer Intuition, Corporate newsletter, Educating Clients, email tracking, Freelance newsletter, how to publish and promote online, how to write a newsletter, Interactive Marketing, Newsletter complete outsourcing, newsletter layout, Newsletter ROI, Newsletter solution, outsource magazine, prospect newsletter, sample newsletter, self publish, Thought leadership newsletter, writing magazine | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack