First of all, what is “showrooming”? It’s when a shopper visits a store to check out a product but then purchases the product online. This occurs because, while many people still prefer seeing and touching the merchandise they buy, many items are available at lower prices through online vendors. As such, local stores essentially become […]

From packaged goods to technology and from B2B to B2C, the question on senior marketers’ minds is: why have CMO tenures doubled?  According to executive search firm, Spencer Stuart, after a low point in 2006 of 23.2 months, CMO tenure jumped to 45 months in 2012.  Here are 5 reasons I see driving that change: 1. […]

 When you think of mobile, what do you think of? Devices like iPhones and iPads? The old brand of gasoline?   Both of those answers are outdated. Mobile is no longer a device (and it hasn’t been a gas brand since 1999!). Mobile is now a situation. Mobile is a way people use devices—not the devices themselves. […]

Do you listen to what your customers are saying about you and their experiences with your products—good, bad, and ugly? It used to be that listening to your customers was an expensive and clunky process (e.g. focus groups, surveys, etc.), but now, with social media, you have an unprecedented look into the hearts and minds […]

When you hear “Marketing automation”do those two words fill your head with visions of annoying emails sent to you over and over again by marketers desperately trying to push a product but without the slightest clue about how to target their pitches?  Phil Harrell, vice president of enterprise sales at Hubspot, gave a fascinating presentation […]

One of the secrets that PR can teach marketers is that Marketing and PR really are not that different from each other.  Where they do differ, they can complement each other—yet historically speaking, these two disciplines don’t often get along with each other. The relationship within organizations between their marketing and PR departments (where they have […]

Marketing 101 says that customers who buy from you follow a journey of five phases that culminates in a visit (or visits!) to your cash register. The five phases (awareness, engagement, purchase, loyalty, and advocacy) are not new. What has changed however, are the stops your customers make in each of the phases.  You are […]

Recently, I got an invitation to a friend’s wedding and on the envelope was a stamp with a photo of the lovely couple. Time was when you had to be famous and dead for ten years before you made it onto a stamp, but now thanks to Stamps.com a service of the US Postal Service, […]

Remember when the internet was new and people were amazed by the fact that they could do email and shop online while sitting at home in their underwear? Fast forward to today, and that amazement has become an expectation. People have become omnichannel shoppers and they expect full access to products and services at any […]

This week we’re featuring guest blogger, Mary Aviles from Bauman Research & Consulting (www.baumanresearch.com). Today, we are discussing two sides of the same coin: Long-tail Search, a marketer’s secret weapon. BRC’s take is as it relates to secondary research for competitive landscape development. I’ll be discussing its implications on search engine optimization and keyword purchases.] […]

Brand Language Examples: What do Google and Disney have in common?   Ok, before we get to that, let’s play a quick game—I’ll say a word and you say the brand that pops into your mind: Magic kingdom… do it… 15 percent… overnight. Were the brands you thought of Disney, Nike, Geico, and FedEx? These […]

What’s on your marketing to-do list this year? According to a presentation Sheryl Pattek, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester, gave at a meeting of the NJ chapter of MENG (Marketing Executives Networking Group) last month, these are the key priorities and initiatives that are—or should be—on every CMO’s 2013 to-do list. 1. Mapping […]