Category: Sales & Marketing

articles regarding sales, marketing, commercial processes, customer and consumer marketing

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Different isn’t Distinctive… and being distinctive is better

A few weeks ago, I set out to bust a number of marketing myths using data based opinions to really understand how businesses can grow. I’m a big fan of Byron Sharp’s work at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute and use his research and files to help explain how businesses and brands can grow to become market leaders.

Last week i looked at a brand’s customer base and made the case for using mass marketing as an effective strategy to engage light consumers and use this as a base for long-term brand growth.… Read more

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Why I still believe in Mass media

… and why “new media” is just old media on a computer.

My last post looked at describing what makes small brands small and big brands big- as a means of helping new General Managers understand how to grow their businesses. We also discussed what factors need to be considered in growing a brand.

Here we’ll take a closer look at another myth smashed by Byron Sharp’s work at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, we’ll explore brands’ customer bases and which—if any—buyers they should be targeting using what type of media.… Read more

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Why BIG brands are BIG and small brands are small

Last week, I tried to smash and shatter the big myths surrounding how we do marketing, I’d like to continue that with some posts influenced by Byron Sharp’s work at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, by taking a more scientific approach to  marketing.

Two weeks ago, I started this series wth the question “what should I do next” to assist General Managers looking to plan for their new financial year.  … Read more

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Why the search for EFFICIENCY has destroyed marketing

In my occasional day job with SMU, I have a course designed to assist business leaders, new to Asia, stimulate business growth.  I have been reading widely in this topic area for a few months, and my business life’s assumptions have been shattered.

I was a firm believer in “common sense” strategies aimed at creating and building loyalty amongst a group of consumers and finding ways to be more efficient in increase their purchasing as a means to efficiently grow performance.… Read more

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What should I do next?

Many new General Managers will look forward to planning for their next financial year with some trepidation.

We all are facing situations where:

– The plan is going to call for substantial growth (in sales and profit contribution), even if last year this wasn’t achieved.

– Yet the investment budget won’t be larger. The amount of time your brands are ‘on air’ has shrunk over the years as more money has gone to in-store activity (largely price promotions), and the media budget has been spread more thinly across more media options as various digital ‘new media’ were added to the mix.… Read more