Our Blog

Our Blog

“50 million children starving in the US.” Did I hear that right?

Uncategorized No comments

 

Impactful piece on the fact that 50 million US kids are “starving”. No, they don’t appear as we might imagine: emaciated. The lack of proper nutrition causes they to look overfed. Yet they are under-nourished, and diabetes, asthma and other lifestyle disease are increasing at alarming rates. Time and money invested up front would make a world of difference to our kids and to our health care dollars. Kudos to organizations like The Children’s Medical Center of Dallas, who are reaching into the community to initiate change.

Non-profit branding – new approaches relevant to all organizations

Uncategorized No comments

SUMMARY:  This seminal piece reveals how non-profits can use branding techniques in unique ways. Also how these can be used by for-profits. What are these so-called non-profit branding techniques? They revolve around creating a clearly stated values/mission statement and using great marketing techniques to communicate those both internally and externally to increase impact/change.

http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/the_role_of_brand_in_the_nonprofit_sector

 

This compelling article, published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, is relevant to non-profits and for-profits alike. It reveals a role of branding which falls outside traditional parameters of  “spreading the word externally” to “inspiring change/cohesion internally”. The authors, Nathalie Kylander and Christopher Stone, who conducted an extensive research study on the success/challenges of branding in non-profits with Harvard University’s Hauser Center for Non-Profit Organizations, and The Rockefeller Institute, come up with important views of branding which will inspire each of us to re-think the power of branding in the organizations we serve.

 

The essential difference in branding in for-profits vs non-profits is that, in for-profits, the end-game is new customers/revenues, whereas in non-profits, the goal is social impact/change. I would say that what unites the two is a goal to increase influence to allow change of any kind to occur (be it to get someone to buy a widget or get them to save water. (If we are working with organizations that “do good” in the world, non-profit or not, I would argue that all types of organizations are about positive social impact.)

 

The message from the article that rung true to me was linking the organization’s values with its branding so that they are communicated clearly. This will enable them to find collaborators/customers/converts. Organizations that aspire to create change need to focus on their values. Specifically, they need to both define their values with the help of their internal and external collaborators, and then communicate them both internally and externally via clear messaging.

Clean, clear messages inspire employees at Linked In

Marketing, News No comments

Today I visited Linked In in San Francisco. Like my visit to the Silicon Valley campus, this one was inspiring. In addition to great food, massive bean bag chairs, inspired employees, I also noticed that the mission and vision were posted everywhere, along with reminders about shared values like: “Connect talent and opportunity at a massive scale”, “Relationships matter” & “Be honest, open and constructive.” This article speaks to Jeff Weiner’s commitment to inspiring leadership:

http://www.businessinsider.com/linkedin-ceo-jeff-weiner-talks-about-leadership-2012-9

Affordable Care Act affect on health care marketing

blog, Health Care No comments

The count down to 1/1/14 and the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ie Obamacare) is starting, and the debate rages on: private vs collective responses to resolving health care in the US. The market will certainly be reacting to one key element of the plan: the stipulation that will require all U.S. residents to have a minimum level of Health Insurance. It will be interesting to watch industry shifts over the coming months.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/business/what-sweden-can-tell-us-about-obamacare.html?ref=healthcarereform&_r=1&

“Influencer marketing” on the rise

Tags: blog, News No comments

“Influencer” marketing* is trend worth following.

Social tools on the Internet are only making it easier for individuals to share  with others and influence their habits (what they buy, do, believe in). This expands our concept of a marketing term called “influencer marketing,” where those we know have an impact on our lives.

Pinterest is an obvious example. Another is a new player, Luvocracy, which launched recently. It was founded by two executives with deep ties to Direct Sales: Roger Barnett (Chairman & CEO of the Direct Sales leader, Shaklee Corporation) and his business partner from Google. Read more about their concept in this TechCrunch article:

http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/16/luvocracy-raises-11m-from-kleiner-perkins-google-ventures-and-others-to-master-ecommerce-and-social-recommendations/

In marketing, we use “influencer marketing” as one of the tools in our marketing mix. But one wonders, could the concept grow to supersede other tools in the marketing mix? For example, will press become less important if the influencers in our own lives are easier for us to access and/or more credible for us? I’ll be eager to continue the dialogue with the “influencers” in my own life – my FB/LI connections, and beyond.

* How is it defined?

This w/e, I wanted to learn more about the concept, so enjoyed dipping into Wikipedia and otherwise refreshed my memory about the types of Word of Mouth marketing that have evolved over time, and what people are saying about them.

I also appreciated a piece written in 2009 called “Word of Mouth and Influencer Marketing Literature Review Summary” by David Roberts. He traces the concept back to the 1950’s and defines this concept as “influencing the mass[es] through the influence of a few….”

 

 

 

5th anniversary of apps – impact on marketing tool kit

Tags: , Marketing, News, SEO No comments

success diagramIt is the 5-year birthday of the Apple iTunes Store, and, at the same, the rise of the world of apps. iTunes has become a powerful market space, and yet one that is still very tightly controlled by Apple.

Recently, I met with a friend to discuss his highly ranked app business (10,000 new users a day). I mentioned his rather poor ranking in Google search results. He seemed unconcerned: “Customers do not find me with Google. My world revolves around my ranking on iTunes.”

What he IS concerned about, however, is the tight control exerted by Apple over the marketing of his business within iTunes. There are very few tools that he has to affect Apple Store searches. His objective is to develop a means of mastering the Apple Store Optimization (ASO) tools he does have (though very few), and strategize about creating marketing to affect his iTunes ranking to win loyal customers.

Obviously, the “history” of technology and how it impacts our businesses is being written day-by-day, but it seems clear that learning to negotiate the world of app marketing/ranking will be crucial.

I suggest taking a glance at this great guide  to app SEO.

http://moz.com/blog/app-store-seo-the-inbound-marketers-guide-to-mobile