Strategy

Corporate missteps provide fodder for reporters and bloggers. There is something in human nature that makes it impossible to look away from a self-inflicted company train wreck. Some leaders, like Kenneth Cole, purposely create controversy to increase brand exposure and sales. It’s a viable marketing strategy that works for his company and customers. The most [...]

“A sale is a sale is a sale.” The toy department manager at Best Products repeated this saying as if it were a spell that would miraculously change him from mediocre employee to super-manager. Periodically, he would change it to “A customer is a customer is a customer.” If asked to explain, he would respond [...]

The idea of a magic formula that solves problems is as old as mankind. Even though we know it doesn’t exist, hope remains that someone will discover the combination that resolves all issues with a sip or swipe. This hope has created opportunities for snake oil salesmen hawking everything from tonics to social media. Desperate [...]

When UPS first came to Western North Carolina, my father’s company was hired to help with, well, everything. The contract that started out as a vehicle maintenance agreement quickly expanded to include anything that needed to be done. Many of the lessons I’ve learned about business came from time spent with Dad and UPS executives. [...]

Capturing data is relatively easy. Converting data into actionable information that improves sales, profitability, and loyalty is not. Filtering through bits and bytes for nuggets that can affect people’s behavior can be overwhelming especially when the data isn’t centralized. According to a recent study by Yesmail/Gleanster, only two out of ten of the marketers surveyed [...]

Real Time Web Analytics