Skandia axes Selestia branding Money Marketing, UK - Skandia is axing the Selestia brand and developing its platform into a full wealth management wrap under the name Skandia Investment Solutions. ... |
Monday, June 30, 2008
Skandia axes Selestia branding - Money Marketing
Young Jeezy Unconvinced By Fraud Mccain (ContactMusic)
Rapper YOUNG JEEZY was left unimpressed after appearing on TV alongside U.S. Republican presidential hopeful JOHN MCCAIN - branding the politician a "fraud". The 30 year ...
Are Your Friends in Your Suitcase? [CenterNetworks]
Last night I was a guest on Aaron Brazell's TechnosailorTV. We spoke mainly about Twitter and other social networks over the 40-minute discussion. One of the topics I brought up is what I call the "friend suitcase". The idea is simple - a person develops friendships (real friends) over time on all of the different social networks. Whether it's MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Pownce, Plurk, Jaiku, Driftr, Yelp, Brightkite, Toluu, etc., we've all met people we consider friends.
Once a person moves into friend status with me, I do my best to get them into my suitcase. I guess it's my form of data portability. My suitcase contains the information for my friends that is outside any social network. It typically includes email addresses, snail mail addresses, phone numbers and instant messaging accounts. Email is still the main form of contact with most people and so it's important that I can contact my friends via email when needed. Sure Twitter or Facebook is good, but email is almost 100% and the likelyhood that's going down is near zero.
With all of the talk about Twitter's potential death over the past few days, the idea of the friend suitcase becomes even more important. So many times we've said, "what happens if x dies, how will we find our friends" -- the answer is the friend suitcase. When I need to get a hold of a friend in an emergency situation, I sure don't want to see a fail whale.
Once data portability becomes the norm and users can select to share the data above, then filling my suitcase will become much easier. I don't see these exporting options becoming the norm for at least the next 12-18 months.
Do you have a suitcase? If so, what pieces of information do you store in it? If not, do you assume that your friends will find you on the next social network?
Test a new pricing strategy
Our last post about Parker Hannifin’s pricing strategy brought up a lot of great questions from our readers and colleagues.
To recap, Parker Hannifin (a $9 billion company) was struggling with their profit margins, so they modified their pricing strategies.
They grouped their 800,000 products into categories based on their level of differentiation in the market. For their most highly differentiated products with little or no competition, they raised prices substantially. Then they implemented less dramatic increases for more competitive categories. As a result, they generated an additional $200 million in operating income.
Their story offers a great case study on pricing strategy. But the question we’re hearing is “How do I evaluate whether I can truly increase prices without jeopardizing my sales volume and profitability?”
After all, a price increase can be very risky. As we all know, when you increase prices, you should expect a drop in sales volume. But the real question is this: By how much will that volume rise or fall?
For example, if you raise prices 10% and your volume drops 20%, you’re in trouble. But if it only drops 5%, you’ll generate more profit at the higher price point.
The same is true if you’re lowering prices – if your volume increases at a greater rate than your price cut, you’ll generate more profit at the lower price.
So how can you measure this price sensitivity? It’s difficult to calculate accurately unless you have plenty of historical price and volume data and an economist on staff.
However, you can use these eight steps to generate a general estimate and test your new theory before you roll out a new pricing strategy.
1. Know your value proposition. If your pricing strategy and value proposition aren’t aligned, you’re contradicting yourself, confusing the market and limiting your opportunities.
2. Group your products/services into categories: Commodities, partially differentiated, substantially differentiated, custom. And remember that your opinion may be different than that of your target market – while you may view your products as “highly” differentiated, they may think “partially.”
3. Evaluate your competition for each group of products. How do your prices compare to those of your competitors?
For many B2B companies, this step is easier said than done -- you’re less likely to find specific pricing info for your competitors. If that’s the case, you can try to “secret shop” your competitors, ask prospects for feedback or just estimate a range.
4. Talk to your sales reps. If they’re very close to their prospects and customers, they may be able to provide solid estimates.
Give them a chart and ask them “If our price was X, how many incremental deals do you think you could have won (or lost)?” Provide 3-5 values for X.
5. Survey your lost prospects and customers. As in the previous step, you’re trying to project the number of deals you could have won or lost at different price levels.
You can have your sales reps contact prospects and customers or you can use an independent third party or formal survey. Your goal is to find out whether they would have bought from you (or whether existing customers would buy more/less) at different price points.
6. Calculate your total estimated profit at each price point. First, calculate your total current profit at your existing price(s).
Units sold * (Price – Cost of Goods Sold) = Total current profit
Then look at your surveys and estimates and calculate the number of additional units you could sell (or lose) over the same time period.
(Existing units sold + incremental units sold) * (New price – Cost of Goods Sold) = Total projected profit
7. Test your theory. If possible, before you implement a company-wide pricing change, set up a statistically valid test to evaluate your new pricing.
8. Develop a communication plan. If you’re raising prices, your sales reps and materials will need to easily overcome any objections they face. Consider giving existing prospects a window of time to buy at the current price. And if you’re lowering prices, it’s a great time to plan a major campaign to announce your news.
Know other good resources, case studies on pricing strategy, price elasticity and/or testing? Add a comment below or send us an email – we’ll share it with our readers.
Technorati tags: business | marketing | sales | B2B | price
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Latest Business Coach podcast: Branding your business to gain an edge - CNW Telbec (Communiqués de presse)
Latest Business Coach podcast: Branding your business to gain an edge CNW Telbec (Communiqués de presse), Canada - These are just a few powerful brand names that distinguish themselves to consumers each and every day. While most people associate brands with large ... |
Evri Launches Public Beta of Semantic Discovery Search Engine [CenterNetworks]
Semantic search provider Evri is moving into public beta today. Evri debuted at the D6 conference last month and I've embedded the presentation below. Founder Neil Roseman explains the Evri mission as, "(to) help users make more sense of the content on the Web." In the launch blog post tonight, Roeman continues, "Evri is building a data graph of the web, using our technology to understand the People, Places and Things in the web content read every day-and the actions that connect them to each other."
Dan Farber was on location at D6 and has a good overview of the service. Evri seems like it's in the same sector as NY-based Hakia.
Update: Frederic over at RWW has more details on the semantic side of Evri.
Special Report: Broadband Video Evolves (Broadcasting and Cable)
Programmers are fine-tuning their broadband game, introducing more user-friendly video players and experimenting with new ad formats such as graphic overlays and the “skins” format, which surrounds the video player with branding.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Jordan Edelson New CTO at H3 Enterprises [ProHipHop: Hip Hop Business]
H3 Enterprises has announced the appointment of Jordan Edelson as Chief Technology Officer and Digital Entertainment Director to "spearhead H3's video gaming and web property development".
Source: http://www.prohiphop.com/2008/06/jordan-edelson.html
Solar panel parts company looks for tax break tonight (Midland Daily News)
Should the City Council say yes tonight, Midland will be two steps closer to branding itself as a host city to the evolving solar energy industry.
The Porous Politics of Branding - New University Online
The Porous Politics of Branding New University Online, CA - In 1964, Republican Barry Goldwater’s brand of conservatism emphasized the concept of smaller government, in which programs for the economically ... |
Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera Meet (and Match) Again [Adrants]
For KahloRivera100, Ken Carbone of Carbone Smolan Agency/NY created a playful print that riffs off the King and Queen of Hearts.
Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/adrants/~3/318194993/frida-kahlo-and-diego-rivera-meet-and.php
Monday, June 23, 2008
PermissionTV Launches Platform Developer Kit, Interactive Video Branding (Mashable)
Online video platform PermissionTV has just released its Platform Developer Kit. With a recent $9 million round of funding, PermissionTV is expanding on its platform offering by providing a series of APIs that site publishers can use to enhance their video experience for their own backend and that of their content creators as well. [...]
PermissionTV Launches Platform Developer Kit, Interactive Video ... - Mashable
PermissionTV Launches Platform Developer Kit, Interactive Video ... Mashable, CA - Online video platform PermissionTV has just released its Platform Developer Kit. With a recent $9 million round of funding, PermissionTV is expanding on its ... |
New to B2B internet marketing? Start with content.
There’s a reason marketers are literally pouring their budgets into new internet marketing programs.
They work.
Marketers spent $16.9 billion on search, display and rich media in 2006, and that number could be $31.3 billion by 2011 according to ClickZ and IDC Internet. Internet advertising is growing three times as fast as the overall ad spend, they explain.
B2B companies are still relatively new to internet marketing. But even an entrenched, traditional firm can successfully implement an internet marketing strategy with dramatic results.
But where do you start? Optimize your website? Launch a paid search campaign? Try your hand at blogging, article writing, social media? The choices are overwhelming.
Here’s a great springboard: Add valuable content to your website. Don’t just slice & dice your sales literature -- I’m talking about high quality pages, white papers, tools and other content that’s meaningful and relevant for your prospects and customers.
Enquiro has published a number of terrific studies about the role of search engines in the B2B buying process. In their 2007 search study, 65.3% of business buyers said they would start their research with a search engine. “We found a heavy reliance on online research in all aspects of the purchase cycle,” they say. “Online resources are critical in the business purchasing process and a few of them stand head and shoulders above the rest, notably websites and search engines.”
Quality website content can help you take advantage of this trend and deliver three big benefits: 1. Lure visitors and prospects, 2. Qualify & engage your audience, and 3. Build your brand.
1. Lure visitors and prospects
Many B2B companies think of their website as a static brochure -- home page, product page, services page, about us, and maybe a news center. And if people are searching specifically for your company or product name, they should find you.
But what about the prospects who have never heard of you? What will they search for? They’ll use a keyword or phrase that describes their problem, their pain or a general category of solution.
When your site is inwardly-focused, it’s virtually impossible to rank highly in search engine results for broad terms unless you pay for it. Why? Because you need GOOD content that’s relevant for those general descriptions people are using.
Search engine spiders need content
Search engine spiders scour the entire web about once a month. They “read” as much of your site as they can and then decide 1. what it’s about and 2. whether it’s important.
When you give the spiders more rich, relevant content about your area of expertise, you’re improving the likelihood that they’ll say yes, this is important and deserves to be ranked highly in search results.
Spiders also prefer content that’s updated regularly. In fact, when you update regularly they’ll visit you more frequently. That gives you a chance to get your new content in the search engine results more quickly and can help your Google PageRank.
Generate more inbound links
When you offer more quality content on your site, you’re creating more reasons for other sites to link to you. This activity delivers two benefits:
- People will click through from other sites.
- Search engines will reward you. Spiders say, hey, this content must be valuable or other quality sites wouldn’t link to it. And when they’re deciding what sites are the most valuable, these “votes” are a critical variable.
2. Qualify and engage your audience
You’re probably painfully familiar with this vicious cycle: Marketing generates leads but sales doesn’t follow up; salespeople complain that leads aren’t qualified and not worth followup.
This morning I wasted 45 minutes of a sales rep’s time (and my own) because I misunderstood his service. I had done a Google search, looked at a bunch of websites, and contacted a few that I thought were the best fit. However, I wasn’t the ideal client for his company.
He could have shortened that call to 10 minutes if he had asked more qualifying questions. Better yet, his website could have done it.
You can cover much of the early sales process with strategic website content. Spend more time educating your prospects and your leads will be more qualified.
3. Build your brand
Your website is often the first interaction your prospects have with you. What does it say about you? Does it create trust? Does it make prospects want to do business with you?
If your site is a standard brochure-type site with an inward focus, you’re missing an opportunity to build your brand (and B2B brands are important just like onsumer brands).
Instead, create more content that communicates your brand promise. Speak directly to your audience and their pain. Build value and make them want to work with you.
Conclusion
It isn’t easy to write good content for the web, but a great copywriter can help you develop the strategy and create these valuable assets that can help you drive traffic, leads and revenue. And consider creating content for different market segments or buyer personas, too.
Once you have solid content on your site, you can start adding social networking tools and campaigns to leverage that content. But you have to start somewhere … and that means creating content first.
This is a really long post and I want to share some specific content ideas and examples. Look for them soon!
Technorati tags: SEM | SEO | business | marketing | sales
Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MarketingTipsFromTheTrenches/~3/134263466/template_permalink.asp
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