Best and worst marketing ideas . . . ever

Some marketing efforts manage to hit the ball out of the park. They resonate with the consumer, generate tremendous buzz and even permeate pop culture, becoming part of our lives and linguistics. In a rather unscientific manner, we`ve gathered more than a dozen of these iconic campaigns and consulted a variety of experts to explain why they were so great. Here`s a recap along with the lessons that can benefit you and your business. Best making the best of a bad image: Las Vegas` "What Happ...
Published about 13-01-2009 | Rated +3

Why Narayana Murthy didn`t want to be on Satyam board

Almost a week after the Satyam scam broke — after a lot of damage control — NR Narayana Murthy, chief mentor of Indian IT bellwether Infosys sits down and gives his take on the situation. Murthy said it will not be fair on either Satyam or Infosys for him to be a part of the new Satyam team as it could have potentially led to a conflict of interest. He added that the new members on the Satyam board are very impressive. Murthy added that clients abroad haven`t got in panic mo...
Published about 16-01-2009 | Rated +2

How to Develop a Marketing Plan

If you’re thinking about developing a marketing program, you need to begin with a marketing plan. Having been in marketing for more than a decade, I have seen my share of marketing plans. Some are short and to the point, others are hundreds of pages thick and cost thousands of dollars to produce. The irony is that many of the expensive marketing plans end up on a shelf and rarely get implemented. The simple plans, if researched and implemented effectively, have the greatest impact. Regar...
Published about 21-01-2009 | Rated +2

15 Useful Event Promotion Tips

In a recession, the entertainment industry thrives. So if you are thinking about trying your hand at event promotion, I have some suggestions for you: 1. You need at least two weeks to advertise. Use different color flyers with different ads for the same event. Use original artwork and be creative. Be brief: Too much information is bad information in modern advertising. 2. Contact local stations, websites, and newspapers to see if they’re willing to plug your event in exchange for pr...
Submitted by Vibha | Rated +2

The Six Simple Principles of Viral Marketing

I admit it. The term "viral marketing" is offensive. Call yourself a Viral Marketer and people will take two steps back. I would. "Do they have a vaccine for that yet?" you wonder. A sinister thing, the simple virus is fraught with doom, not quite dead yet not fully alive, it exists in that nether genre somewhere between disaster movies and horror flicks. But you have to admire the virus. He has a way of living in secrecy until he is so numerous that he wins by sheer weight of numbers. He pig...
Submitted by Vibha | Rated +2

Top 10 Secrets of the Marketing Process

Try these 10 ideas to get you started down the path of scientific marketing tactics: 1. Don’t run out of money. It always takes longer and costs more than you expect to spread your idea. You can budget for it or you can fail. 2. You won’t get it right the first time. Your campaign will need to be reinvented, adjusted or scrapped. Count on it. 3. Convenient choices are not often the best choices. Just because an agency, an asset or a bizdev deal are easy to do doesn’t mean that the...
Submitted by Vibha | Rated +2

Brand strategy and integrated marketing communication

Integrated marketing communication (IMC) is defined as "a cross-functional process for creating and nourishing profitable relationships with customers and other stakeholders by strategically controlling or influencing all messages sent to these groups and encouraging data-driven, purposefuldialogue with them" (Duncan 2002, p. 8). To better understand the real-world application of IMC, a call has been made for case histories that focus on IMC best practices (see Duncan and Mulhern 2004, p. 19). I...
Published about 11-01-2009 | Rated +1

How to Create a Marketing Plan

A marketing plan, on the other hand, is plump with meaning. It provides you with several major benefits. Let`s review them. * Rallying point: Your marketing plan gives your troops something to rally behind. You want them to feel confident that the captain of the vessel has the charts in order, knows how to run the ship, and has a port of destination in mind. Companies often undervalue the impact of a "marketing plan" on their own people, who want to feel part of a team engaged in an excit...
Published about 13-01-2009 | Rated +1

20 Internet Marketing Trends for 2009

New Year, New Trends This time of year is refreshing, in that it affords us time to reflect, analyze and develop strategies for our companies for the coming year. For example, now is a great opportunity to identify the major Internet marketing trends for 2009, and to develop corresponding marketing plans to capture market opportunities and to maximize revenue accordingly. To that end, the following is a list of 20 major Internet marketing trends taking shape for 2009. Internet Mark...
Published about 19-01-2009 | Rated +1

11 Ways to Market Your New Social Networking Website

“Build it and they will come,” not anymore (if that was ever really true). Just building a feature-filled social networking site with a sound infrastructure is only the start of your website journey. Don’t fret, though, because it’s an exciting journey: social networking sites are the most visited area of the Internet. According to recent statistics from Hitwise.com, social networking actually accounts for 11% of all web visits. As expected, this popularity begets competition: comp...
Published about 21-01-2009 | Rated +1