Many of the Hostingcon sessions have been commented on by various bloggers and unfortunately mine was not one of them. Due to two flights being cancelled, I had an unexpected overnight stay in an airport hotel in Toronto meaning that I didn’t arrive until 6pm on Monday night – 24 hrs later than planned and 9 hrs late for my presentation. I had many people mention to me that they were in the room ready…
In writing about inexpensive forms of advertising or promotion, I asked you to think about “sudden attacks sprung from hiding.” Did the term “ambush marketing” come to mind? It’s a form of marketing or advertising that lets you enjoy the benefits of sponsoring major events, without actually paying big bucks to be a sponsor. I know, I wrote about ambush marketing a few posts back, but it deserves revisiting. Briefly, during the 1990s, a clever…
Countless thousands of dollars get spent every year on viral advertising, in pursuit of the Holy Grail of one million-plus views on YouTube. But the truth about viral videos and games is that you can’t really plan and design them – you can only create them, release them in the vicinity of a suitable host, and hope it spreads. A viral ad or video is viral only if it actually goes viral, so be skeptical…
The short answer is: You can’t – at least not head to head. But there is a mighty lesson to be learned about competing with giants from a small Australian company called Messages on Hold (MOH). MOH may no longer be as small as they once were, but they are still tiny compared to the major telecom carriers in Australia and the Pacific region. Nevertheless, in a very short time they have climbed from obscurity…
Whenever the economy takes a hit, churn rates rise as companies seek ways of paring costs. It’s almost identical to what happens with mobile phone services, as subscribers seek out ever-better deals. The answer to churn, of course, is stickiness – and stickiness is built through customer service. Actually, it’s a little more than that: stickiness, or customer loyalty is built by serving your customers in ways that delight them. So, how much time do…
Talk to companies in the hosting industry and you’d have to say yes. I deal with hosting companies every day and I’ve heard from only a few that their businesses are in decline. In fact, I most often hear that their businesses keep growing – sometimes with record revenues and profits. One company I deal with has experienced 300% growth over the past year and expects to double the number of its employees over the…
Who is it really all about? For several years I’ve read a blog that provides in-depth investigative reports I can’t get in the daily newspapers. I won’t name the blog, because that’s not the issue. The issue is that they are running out of money. Their annual budget is $125,000, which provides a modest income for the blog owner, money to host and update the blog, plus a budget to pay freelance reporters.
Frankly, there are no secrets. Good marketing works in all kinds of economic circumstances. So, the non-secret to marketing in a recession is this: practice sound marketing, paying particular attention to the rules and techniques of direct response marketing: Start by understanding your market. Who are you already selling to and where can you find more like them? What do you know about them that will help you sell to them? What do they need…
You can admit it now: In your heart you always knew the housing/credit/market bubble was going to burst one day. So now what? I recently read an item by a marketer saying they were glad the bubble had burst, because now they could get back to real marketing. What did they mean by that? If I read it correctly, the writer – a marketer – was saying that while the various bubbles grew and grew,…
Now that you’re in the thick of your media campaign, don’t sit back and wait for the sales to come in. You still have plenty of work to do. You have to monitor your results. You need to see which pages on your site are receiving the most visitors. Which ones are like Astroturf in the Sahara – they stand out and are getting tons of attention? Which ones are standing in the corner of…