Current

I'm all for keeping current updates on your home page, and pushing upcoming events where users can learn about them.

The key word is current.

A notice of an upcoming event that is 10 weeks old only tells me that you aren't really paying attention or you don't care.

Whatever bits of marketing you choose to do, do them all the way, or don't do them at all. A few things done well is far better than a bad scattershot approach.

Peter

Book Recomendation

I was given an eBook to review last week, and boy was it worth the time spent:

"How to Market A Business" gives you more information.

The book discusses the skills to look for in a marketer who will deliver results, and there the skills you need to develop to become one yourself.

I will be reading the book a couple more times and taking careful notes on the way. There is just too much good detail to ignore.

Buy it at the usual locations.

Peter

Leading From The Pole

The secondary product in a space is more likely to use low context, data driven, us-compared-to-the-leader marketing to try to gain share.

The market leader can talk about the things their product brings (freedom, luxury, attention, healthy lifestyle, etc.) without mentioning the product's features.

Think iPhone vs Android phones, or Honda vs. Hyundai. Both brands are similar (phones and cars), but both have distinctively different marketing approaches.

The market leader also has more leeway in taking the market where it wants to go. A bold sideways move by #1 is viewed differently than the same move made by #2. Its human nature. Which means #2 has to play it safer than #1.

Clearly its more fun the be #1.

Peter

Lowered Expectations

Sometimes a company can impress you despite your first impression.

I buy shoes at this place. They have nice staff. They know what they are doing. They are considered experts locally. Their service is super.

But their website is like a flashback to 1994. Or rather, they built the website in '94 and have never done a redesign to bring it up to modern technological or aesthetic standards.

While a business that still rings up sales on an old cash register (Cha-Ching!) can appear quaint and nostalgic, an outdated website suggests cluelessness.

It lowered my expectations as a first time customer.

While the 'retro' website may be an in-joke for regular shoppers, how many potential sales are chased away?

Peter

Brilliant Marketing

This is great stuff.

It works on so many levels, too.

(Design Fetish is one of my favorite sites, also.)

Peter

Marketing FAIL

I'm sorry, but to me every ad in Microsoft's current campaign says:

"Our products aren't as sucky as you think they are."

Plus, the whole "Find what you need for less" angle pretty much cedes the high-margin segment of the market to Apple. I'm sure PC makers are psyched about that pitch.

Full disclosure: I use several Microsoft products at work each day, including an Avid on XP. But bad marketing is bad marketing.

Peter