These blog posts represent the opinions of EMFatic and its staff. We frequently update and add to our collection, so check back regularly! If you have ideas or topics that you would like to discuss or see included, don't hesitate to comment and make recommendations! Thank you!!!
So, what’s so important about a logo? A logo is a visual representation of a company. When we see a logo, we see the company. When we think of Nike, we don’t visualize Dave in accounting, we envision the “swoosh.” When we see a car go by with four interlocking circles on the grille, we know that the vehicle was built by Audi, not Deiter and Heinrich in the outskirts of Stuttgart. A logo IS the company in icon form. Continue Reading…
Traditionally, brand building and cultivating a company’s brand image has been the responsibility of the Marketing department. Marketeers, for decades, have prided themselves upon their innate ability to create, design and grow the public image and perception of a business, its products and services. I’m here to tell you that the customer service department has more control over the brand than Marketing could ever dream of!
Okay, I’m as big of a marketing geek as the next guy, but let’s face the reality… Continue Reading…
We all know the famous Four P’s of marketing: Product, Price, Placement and Promotion. There is now a more potent, more powerful “P” than ever before – Perception.
More and more, Americans (and much of the rest of the globe) are moving into a realm of virtual existence. Reality is often overridden by the thoughts and opinions presented in the blogosphere. Online, people see, comprehend and internalize content. What is there becomes their understanding of the topic at hand. This is great in that people now have nearly the entire body of human knowledge available to them …and only a few keystrokes away. At the same time, this can become problematic. Continue Reading…
Branding is when a cowboy takes a scorching hot chunk of iron and applies it to the hide of a steer. The result is a permanent scar that identifies the steer with its herd. So, what does this have to do with marketing?
It is the basic observation that a company’s brand is a long-term defining mark the sets a business apart from other businesses. It is how the public can identify the business. I have heard it said that the brand is the “personality” of the company. I think that it goes beyond personality. A brand is the sum total of a person’s understanding, attitudes and beliefs about a product or service (multiplied across the market population). Just like the poor ol’ cow, it doesn’t wash off when it rains. Continue Reading…
As I read the daily news, it’s hard to find much to get excited about. With the lowest interest rates in decades, we continue to see banks tighten their belts and pinch their pennies. Having just spent trillions of my money (and yours), the government seems to be at wit’s end regarding a solution for today’s money woes. When will it end? …I’ll give you my two cents in a future post, but what I wanted to address here is how does this murky economy affect pricing strategy for retailers and beyond?
With the few neurons that I have remaining from my college days, I remember one basic tenet of pricing theory …Never back down on your prices. This works well in a good economy. Retailers set a price and stick with it. It forms a base for their brand identity (premium versus value) and it helps define their target market. Continue Reading…
I recently made a trip back to one of my ol’ alma maters and overheard a couple of grad students discussing the unfairness of marketing practices …you know, how Corporate America tries to fit everyone into nice and tidy little boxes. They seemed upset that the big-corporation “man” was putting them down by looking at people, all people, as stereotypes – mindless automatons rather than free-standing individuals. In the modern world, how can such a heinous crime be tolerated?!?
What they failed to realize is that they have just discovered the keys to greatness in American business. Surgical marketing strikes have saved America’s marketing budget trillions in wasteful spending. Marketing is one of the last vestiges of legal discrimination known to the modern world. It’s a place where it’s OK not to be PC. Not only is it acceptable, it is necessary. Without targeted messaging, marketing would be a shotgun science trying to make all products appeal to all people. It’s just not possible!
So, next time that you see a commercial that doesn’t appeal to you at all, realize that you have just been discriminated against. You were not the chosen target. …But instead of being incensed, understand that you have just been a part of a practice that has been around as long as prostitution – targeted marketing!
This is actually more of a random thought than an insightful commentary – more rhetoric than rant and rave…
If you had to pick one, would you expend your marketing budget trying to increase penetration in an existing or traditional market segment? Or would you prefer to go after an untapped niche? …I know, I know… The correct answer is “It depends.” Forget correctness for a moment. Your answer is not graded and you will not be held accountable for it at your next annual review.
This is a topic that seems to come up again and again and seems to relate directly to the stakeholders’ risk tolerance. Do you fish where the fish are biting (the ol’ fishin’ hole) or do you try something new and hope to strike gold(fish)?
This is our first official blog! Stay tuned for future installments as we get our website up and running. Thanks for your patience and understanding as we grow into our site. Be sure and come back and visit us soon!
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