Holiday hype or economic boon?

I'll sound like my parents, but Christmas is coming earlier every year. The amazing thing is that my kids are starting to notice and object to that, too. Yesterday (the day before Thanksgiving) one of my kids was hauling the holiday decorations down from the attic. I thought his complaint had to do with the labor, but it wasn't. He was unhappy that we had not even had our Thanksgiving meal yet and we were already looking planning for Christmas.

That got me thinking. As marketers and merchants push the holidays ever closer to summer, do we risk a backlash at some point? One of my astute kids pointed out that an ad on TV for a car manufacturer was reminding viewers that their winter sale was almost over - but that we have not yet even reached winter yet (by way of the calendar, anyway).

I know the economic rationale for pushing the products earlier - maybe people will shop a little longer and buy a little more if they see it in October. Maybe we can stretch the holiday shopping season by another couple of weeks and increase profits.

But at what point do we push that too far? I am not sure that we do, but the thought of year-round holiday sales events is a little weird.

I am interested in your thoughts and when you think we will have gone to far!

Plus Up Your Business

Google+ for business has been around just a few days, but already the early adopters are aggressively using it to assist with their online marketing strategies. Many of the influencers in the industry are suggesting that having a Google+ page will help you with your search engine results. Why? Because it legitimizes your business in the eyes of Google, for one thing. You will have established yourself as a real entity with some degree of authority around the topic of your + Page. Jay Berkowitz of Ten Golden Rules suggested today in a webinar on the topic that early adopters will also have the advantage of being connected to other leaders in various industries because the field is just less crowded right now and you have a better chance of standing out.

I launched my Google+ business page a few days ago and I have been tweaking it and adding to it along the way. It is a simple process that takes less than 30 minutes to get launched. I recommend your business, or your clients, begin working on your Google+ page as soon as you can. It's another opportunity to be noticed on the internet and to influence search engine results.

Marketing Currents: Another Brand Bites the Dust

Marketing Currents: Another Brand Bites the Dust: I grew up in South Jersey watching Penn State and Joe Paterno throughout my childhood. He was an icon of dignity and class and, for me, rep...

Another Brand Bites the Dust

I grew up in South Jersey watching Penn State and Joe Paterno throughout my childhood. He was an icon of dignity and class and, for me, represented what was still good and pure about college football. The events of the past several days have brought a sudden and ugly end to that reputation. I'm saddened by that, especially for Joe Paterno and the young men he influenced over the years. I don't think Joe is a bad guy, but he clearly didn't do everything he could have to protect the young men exposed to danger. I am furious for those young men, and heartbroken at what they endured.

There is a marketing point here. Brands, no matter how shiny, can be tarnished in mere moments. Penn State's brand is certainly dinged up a bunch right now, and Paterno's brand is in bad shape. Can they recover? Of course they can. Tylenol did. BP is doing it. Toyota has managed it, Exxon did. Bill Clinton is a highly-sought-after speaker and best-selling author despite his antics in the White House and being the only modern president ever impeached.

As a marketer, I am extremely cautious about aligning my client's brand with an individual spokesperson. Celebrities and athletes can be wonderful spokespeople, but they can also behave badly and take your brand with them. Even CEO's can get into trouble and damage the brand.

It's impossible to predict when your brand will suffer because of the bad actions of one of your employees or a spokesperson. Your best defense is a complete crisis communications plan with an identified process for dealing with any situation. If you don't have one of those, I would be happy to help you put one together. Please contact me at Kim@DeppeCommunications.com

Have you heard about Facebook Edge Rank?

First there was the Google Page Rank, which indexed your website based on a series of factors that essentially determine how important your site is compared to others. On the 1 to 10 scale, Google ranks a 9 or a 10 (depending on who you talk to). Amazon is right up there, as is Facebook. A few weeks ago, folks started to talk about your Klout rating. This is a number that determines how influential YOU are among the people you interact with. Now, I'm reading about Facebook's Edge Rank, an index that determines which of your "friends'" posts you see and which of them see your posts. (Here's a great article that gives a good explanation: http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/7885-edgerank-the-most-important-algorithm-you-ve-never-heard-of)

So, as marketers we are challenged with an ever-changing series of factors that determine how we place our advertising, what content we should develop and how and where to place it. My dashboard is getting busier and bigger as I try to keep ahead of the latest way to measure me, my business, and my influence in the digital world.

The power of SEO

There's a great article on searchengineland.com today (http://searchengineland.com/seo-beats-ppc-social-media-for-generating-leads-99064) that indicates marketers are seeing the power of SEO. What's interesting to me is that while marketers who were part of the study said they felt like SEO was producing more leads, they are still planning to expand their spending on social media and SEM. That may be because they are shifting resources from traditional media to online media, but it also may be because it is easier to track and, therefore, justify those expenses. SEO takes a lot of time and it's a continuous process. Running banner ads is a lot less labor-intensive even if it is becoming less and less effective.

I see the cost increases on social media restricting some of that investment in the near future, but that is reflective of the results people are seeing, too.

How to invent, internet style

A few weeks back, I attended a banking conference in Chicago and had the good fortune to go to a session where I learned about Quirky.com. This is a very cool site on so many levels, but it says something to me about where we are going vis-a-vis product development and marketing. At Quirky, inventors or people with a great idea pitch their ideas. They are asked to write a brief summary of the idea, attach a sketch or photo, and pitch it to the others who frequent the Quirky site as well as market it to their friends on Facebook and Twitter. The idea is out there for comment and voting and the staff at Quirky will also review it. If the idea is chosen, crowd sourcing is used for refining and developing the idea further and judging its marketability. If it selected to go further, Quirky puts the idea out for pre-orders and, if enough are sold, then it goes into production and distribution. The coolest part is that everyone who "influences" or plays a part in the final product receives a percentage of the profits from the sales. If you influenced 5% of the final product, then you get 5% of the profits, in perpetuity.

Crowd sourcing as a model for marketing intrigues me. I'm fascinated by the Quirky model and, in fact, am using it to pitch an idea I had of my own - what I call a Patient Poncho (vote for it here: http://www.quirky.com/ideations/125855). I will be watching to see how the crowd sourcing model might be applied to marketing strategy in the near future. And, hoping that my cool idea gets chosen!