2009 December

*Trust* is the bonding agent which connects business and customer together. I'll Spell It Out Trust:  a relationship of reliance. Relationship:  "...is managing and nurturing a company's interactions with its customers...The overall goals are to find, attract, and win new customers, nurture and retain those the company already has, entice former customers back into the fold, and reduce the costs of marketing and customer service." Reliance:  "...a system's ability to maintain its functions...

We used to think a lot about impressions. Now we think more about views, clicks, friends, and followers.  We think about sharability, portability, and usability. As a brand, the bottom-line objective is still to convince (and convert) a group to your worldview.  To divert the Pepsi fan to the Coke community.  To offer the kind of experience that touches a personal value and strikes a strong emotion. The tactics and tools have changed, and so have the metrics.  We now have the kind of the profiling...

One of the things I love best about marketing communications is that a brand is never staid.  It moves, it flows. There's A lot To Consider. A brand's position is always evolving and even migrating within an organization and also in the minds of its customers.  There are line extensions, new formulations, and public mishandlings- these change the dynamics of things.  The forces and variables in play determining a brand's position (and ultimately, precipitating reactive responses and proactive...

Every day, I have opportunities to make choices. Like my children, some days I make good choices and some days, well let's just say I could make better ones. I have choices when I discover I'm late and stuck behind a slow driver.  Or when my son spills a half gallon of milk on the counter and floor. I have choices when I'm in the "10 items or less" lane holding 20 lbs of dog food, pressed for time, and the guy in front of me is haggling over coupons with the cashier. Some days I make good...

This is a post about righteous behavior, serving as good examples, leading with your gut, and listening to your heart. The concept of community benefit and an innate need for social interaction help make these things possible (and most definitely searchable!). The (momentarily)Disadvantaged Image by Getty Images via Daylife Teresa Basich(@transitionaltee) writes at her blog Overcommunicated. I forget how I came to follow her, but my first introduction to her thinking/writing came with a post...

A note to professional service providers: When you're late, I notice. If repeated, it makes me feel unimportant and insignificant. When you reply to the punch list I emailed you without actually addressing any of my list items, I notice. And I begin to feel steamrolled. When we have a recurring status call and you don't join the conference, I notice. It tells me my time isn't important to you. When you accept my money but don't deliver the product, I notice. One-sided relationships don't...