Ad Age Calls Cause Marketing a Survivor December 18, 2009

Marketing periodical Advertising Age reports that cause marketing, the fundraising approach of A Drink For Tomorrow, is “marketing’s true survivor.” Marketing expert Mike Swenson likens the marketing industry to the popular TV show, Survivor, stating that cause marketing is one of the few marketing programs not getting kicked off the island.

Even companies having to cut marketing program expenditure in the current economic climate are holding steady when it comes to doing good deeds. It’s not just smart PR; an Opinion Research Corporation study indicates that 76% of consumers are willing to pay more for environmentally friendly products.

Another study conducted by Barkley in conjunction with PR Week focused on women, who account for 80% of all spending. Two of three women have purchased a product because it supports a cause they believe in, and three of four women have recommended a product to a friend because of its affiliation with a cause.

Cause marketing is surviving a treacherous economic environment because consumers want their dollars to work harder for them. When businesses integrate cause marketing into their overall marketing program, they offer customers the added value of giving back to a cause they are passionate about.

Source: http://adage.com/goodworks/post?article_id=138175
(adapted from an original post by Meg on A Drink for Tomorrow’s blog)

Facebook Worth More Than CBS July 13, 2009

Today Mashable’s Adam Ostrow wrote an article reporting that Facebook is now worth more than media giant CBS. After raising $200 million in May (making the total value of Facebook reach a whopping $10 billion), investor Digital Sky Technologies has given employees the green light to sell shares at a valuation of $6.5 million.

This valuation gives new perspective to the significance of social media. The article goes on to say Facebook is now valued higher than Macy’s, Discovery Communications, and yes–CBS.

When I began brainstorming for a graduate research topic, sheer intrigue led me to focus on social media uses in marketing and public relations.

Marketing Research: Critical To a Firm’s Success July 13, 2009

Good marketing research is crucial to a firm’s success. “Good” research is valid and reliable, meaning that it can accurately measure what it is supposed to measure and that findings would be the same if the study were repeated under similar circumstances, respectively.

Organizations must make decisions involving large amounts of money and on which the success or failure of these organizations depend. To make these decisions, managers must have quality information. This information could be in the form of sales records, target market demographics, financial reports, and economic conditions, for example. Decisions requiring such information include setting price, designing advertising campaigns, forming financial strategies, and determining the future well-being of a firm, for example. If a firm were to have inaccurate information on any of these important areas, consequences would be dire.

YouTube Meets Google Earth July 7, 2009

YouTube is a great platform for nonprofit video. With minimal time and money, nonprofit marketers can produce and disseminate informative and inspiring videos. These days, most nonprofit organizations have a YouTube channel highlighting their cause. YouTube members can post video replies, thus fostering a conversation.

But how can nonprofit marketers and public relations professionals get even more interactive on YouTube? A recent article on Global Voices Advocacy introduces digital activists to the concept of “Geo-Bombing” on Google Earth. Geo-tagging YouTube videos on Google Earth will cause that video to come up when the YouTube layer of Google Earth is turned on.

Opt-In E-Mail Marketing and Spam July 3, 2009

Marketing experts have identified best practices for e-mail marketing to reap the benefits of e-mail’s high response rates (Han & Reddy, 2000).  But first, an important concept to understand is the way in which opt-in e-mail marketing differs from spam.  Spam, which has given e-mail marketing a bad reputation in the past, is unsolicited commercial e-mail.  These messages often consist of blaring subject headers and wildly exaggerated claims in the message body.  They are sent indiscriminately to mass e-mail lists, often to users who have no relationship with the product or service.  Because Internet users have negative reactions to spam, American federal and state legislators have passed laws to regulate it.

Export Marketing: Managing the Local Market July 2, 2009

In exporting, there are several ways of managing local marketing.  These include independent agents and distributors, forming an alliance with a local marketing partner, and operating a wholly owned sales subsidiary (Johansson, 2006).  Typically, businesses use independent agents and distributors, and a local partner is often in charge of marketing in strategic alliances.  FDI in manufacturing sometimes calls for the creation of a wholly owned subsidiary that will also manage local marketing efforts. 
 
However, some companies choose to retain total control over marketing in their exporting ventures.    An example is Sweden’s Absolut Vodka, which is an example of pure exporting (Johansson, 2006).  In this example, Seagrams is an independent agent retaining territorial marketing control in the U.S.  So, the company is in charge of marketing in the U.S. even though the company is based in Sweden.  For Absolut Vodka, this arrangement works quite well.  Part of the allure of Absolut is its foreign brand association.  The foreign look and feel of an Absolut ad appeals to U.S. consumers of fine alcoholic beverages.