What Happens if a Brand Doesn’t Listen & Anticipate Online
The rise of social media has put a magnifying glass under every branding decision. Before social media, and even before the Web 1.0 era, brands did have to anticipate how their branding decisions would be perceived by their target markets. However, with social media making it extremely easy to spread a message, the process by which brands get feedback about their branding decisions moves a lot faster. A great analogy for the speed differential would be the difference between traveling between 2 places by horse drawn carriage vs. traveling by Boeing 757. A highly unpopular branding decision from the pre-Internet Read More
Distributed Marketing Management Software: What’s the Point?
Distributed marketing management software has the potential to tremendously benefit an organization. But what are the benefits? What is the point of distributed marketing management software as a marketing automation solution? Marketing automation works well in an organization that is structured via a distributed model. In a distributed model, there is corporate marketing structure that centralizes brand management. In essence, this does not differentiate a distributed model organization from a company like Procter & Gamble, the company that truly defined the modern concept of brand management back in the early 20th Century. Distributed marketing organizations would diverge from Procter & Read More
Who Will You Find On a Social Network?
If your brand is not maintaining a strong presence on the major social networks at a bare minimum, your brand is missing great opportunities to achieve greater success. The majority of online Americans used social media in 2012, according to the Pew Center’s Internet & American Life Project published last week. 67% of all Internet users are using at least one social media site (including 71% of women), and amongst those 18-29, 83% use. The Pew report measured social media activity on 5 social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr). Certainly there’s some overlap, as there are many people Read More
Distribion, a Leader in Distributed Marketing Software, Had an Exciting Year in 2012; Looks Forward to More Excitement in 2013
Distribion, a leading provider of marketing automation software, had numerous accomplishments in 2012. The company is also looking forward to making 2013 just as much of a quality year as 2012 was. One thing that can be perceived as quite impressive was the fact that Distribion was named by the Metroplex Technology Business Council as the 4th fastest growing company in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Considering that the Dallas-Fort Worth area is routinely touted for being economically dynamic and performing well relative to the United States as a whole, this is a quality achievement. But Distribion does not intend to Read More
If Multi-Channel Marketing Efforts Are Good Enough for an Icon, They Are Good Enough For You
For brands, it is vital to be everywhere that your potential target market is. It doesn’t matter how big the brand is, nor do past brand achievements. Not resting on laurels is a key component of an iconic global brand. Take for instance the Barbie brand, owned by Mattel. Barbie can claim the following achievements. 99% global brand awareness The typical American girl owns 10 Barbie dolls Annual sales are around $1.6 Billion The Barbie brand is valued at $2 Billion, making it the world’s most valuable toy brand Just from those two very simple marketing statistics, one might easily Read More
Where’s the ROI in Social Media? (Part One)
The topic of ROI in social media is one that seems to be constantly on the minds of marketers in a variety of industries. If you type “social media ROI” into Google, there are approximately 24,300,000 results. There’s good reason for such a high number of results. According to a September 2011 post on the Digital Buzz Blog website… 96% are starting to look beyond sales goals and web metrics to identify the value of social marketing efforts 76% of businesses are using social networking for business objectives 64% of marketers are integrating social media into their marketing plans Since Read More
Why Centralized Marketing Control Benefits a Brand
One of the chief desires of corporate marketing management is control. Brand managers can’t control the outside world (even though they would like to!), but they can control the way in which they react to the external marketing environment. And the external marketing environment presents a host of challenges that must be scaled. Distribion knows all too well the importance of centralized marketing control. Forrester Research indicates 34 million workers ignored company policies and installed unsupported software to help them more effectively do their jobs. Gleanster research also indicates that 89% of large companies with regional or global brands indicated Read More
Distributed Social Media Marketing
The CMO Council recently reported that seventy-nine percent of marketers are expected to implement some form of social media technology platform this year —from community building (30 percent), social monitoring and data mining (30 percent), and social media tracking and analytics (19 percent) to automation platforms that will help take the next leap in optimizing social engagements and relationships. Social media marketing has certainly become a key strategic communication channel for most organizations in the world today. Many companies within the financial services, insurance and healthcare industries are currently not embracing the social media marketing channel to the same extent as Read More
Distributed Marketing Organizations Need An Extreme Makeover
This year’s LIMRA Distribution Conference theme “Extreme Makeover” highlights the need for organizations to rethink their sales, marketing, education and recruiting strategies to adapt to the new ways local agents and consumers communicate, learn and buy today. This call from LIMRA, a financial services and insurance association, should not be limited to only the industries it serves. Just about any industry that leverages a local marketing and sales model (e.g., financial services, insurance, franchise, hospitality, healthcare, telecom, etc.) needs to heed the same call and also consider a makeover of their sales and marketing strategies and supporting technologies. Gleanster Research Read More
