Posts Tagged business
Deloitte USA to Layoff 900, 2% of US Staff, Impacted by Economy Slowdown
We are a little late on this, but WebCPA and Wall Street Journal report that Deloitte USA plans to layoff 900 staff or about 2% of its 45,000 US employees, according to their spokesperson Deborah Harrington. There seems to be no official statement that at least we can find on the Deloitte.com website. But we finally did personally see the Wall Street Journal article.
There is also an extensive write-up on this at the Re:The Auditors blog who confirm this based on the author, Francine McKenna’s phone conversation with Deborah Harrington.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Tom Polanski in Advertising on September 12th, 2008
Tom Polanski discusses most recent eBrand Interactive client success story
By Tom Polanski, EVP, eBrand Media and eBrand Interactive
I’ve been asked over the years why eBrand Media doesn’t issue press releases regarding our success stories and our new client acquisitions. In addition, more than one has wondered why we don’t attend any the industry shows. The long and short of it is that we’ve always put all of our money into our people and into optimizing our systems so that we can actualize the most positive of results while offering industry-leading customer support. Those who are interested can go to eBrand Interactive to see a sample list of our clients which includes several leading, nation wide, brands.
However, let me make this observation regarding industry conventions including Ad-Tech, Shop.org and SES: I find it ironic that digital marketing companies still use booths, brochures and business cards to promote their companies. As a person who has attended numerous conventions I find them to be highly inefficient. I seldom remember who said what by the end. It is a great excuse for getting drunk with your marketing peers calling it business development.
That said, the purpose of this article is to discuss our most recent client success story so lets get started.
Posted by Tom Polanski in Marketing, Success Stories, Tom Polanski, eBrand Interactive on September 8th, 2008
Mistakes to avoid when remarketing to your in-house lists
By Tom Polanski, Mojo Marketing Maestro, eBrand Media and eBrand Interactive
Remarketing to in-house lists 4 times a month is a bad idea. I have said it over and over again and I’ll probably have to say it until I’m blue in the face but I’m seldom really heard because once an advertiser analyzes the returns on that first drop, the numbers are so compelling, it’s hard to resist dropping again as soon as possible. That’s short term thinking that is inappropriate for a business that plans to be around for the long-haul. That type of frequency will eventually burn out a list. I strongly encourage companies to resist the seduction and to treat those names and e-mail addresses as if they are representative of people.
In addition, in the interest to clarity and transparency, it should be made clear to the buyer that they are opt-ing in for future e-mail specials. It’s all about the relationship….unless your selling downloads loaded with evil java script and your intention is to burn and churn until you’ve made a ton of money. But if you are running a legitimate business then you’ll want to keep and monetize that customer as carefully and for as long as you can.
In the tax business there is a saying that applies here; pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. What the difference between a hog and a pig? About 1lb. A pig is a pig until it hits 180 lbs. Any thing above 180 Ibs. and it’s then classified as a hog. And we know what happens to hogs. In other words, don’t get greedy.
Posted by Tom Polanski in Advertising, Marketing on September 2nd, 2008
Best Practices for Blogging (Potentially)
By Tom Polanski, EVP, eBrand Media and eBrand Interactive
I included the word “potentially” in the title because testing are critical componants of any and every marketing campaigns. Below is a case study regarding testing that Ice.com did with their blog. What you learn form this case study may or may not directly apply to your company.
SUMMARY
Are company blogs really as successful as everyone makes out? The answer is … yes, no, well, maybe.
CHALLENGE
Two years ago, Ice.com® Marketing EVP Pinny Gniwisch noticed from his site traffic logs that he was getting an unusual amount of traffic from independent blogs.
Turns out dozens of bloggers who loved fashion frequently linked to SKUs they admired in Ice.com’s jewelry selection.
Naturally Gniwisch began to wonder, what if Ice.com launched some blogs of its own? His marketing department could control the messaging and feature SKUs that way. In effect, the idea was blogs as separate promotional microsites.
Bad news — Ice.com’s CEO “was not keen on the idea.” However, Gniwisch promised the idea wouldn’t take up many company resources — he and the in-house team would write the blogs and they’d use ultra-cheap blogging software to post them online.
Posted by Tom Polanski in Marketing on August 27th, 2008
The importance of building trust online with strong, consistent branding and customer-centric practices
By Tom Polanski, EVP, eBrand Media and eBrand Interactive
I’m surprised by the number of companies that lack an understanding of how to improve stickiness on their site. Every end-user approaches a site for the first time with a degree of anxiety. We’re all a little apprehensive about whether the site will be secure, easy to navigate and, ultimately, whether we will actually get what we order.
Over the years we’ve looked at perhaps a hundred thousand sites and we’ve found that the best sites (and best converting sites) have security symbols above the fold, crisp images and convey a feeling of orderliness. Additionally a shopper is made to feel comfortable in other ways too; most importantly, no surprises! The “best practices” site will give the shopper a window view on availability and shipping costs well before they arrive at the check out page.
A real concern for end-users, too, is privacy…the collection and use of personal information. Studies show that 30% of the online population is still wary of giving out their personal information and an astounding 51% don’t trust search engines to keep their search data secret. Additionally, 30 percent of consumers report reducing their overall use of the Web, while 25 percent say they no longer make online purchases, according to WebWatch. The report, “Leap of Faith: Using the Internet Despite the Dangers,” was based on a survey of 1,501 online adults.
Even those who continued to shop online reported taking precautions. Fifty-four percent of online shoppers said they now are more likely to read a site’s privacy policy or user agreement than in the past–while 29 percent say they shop online less frequently than before.
It’s a hot button issue for end-users and marketers too.
Posted by Tom Polanski in Advertising, Customer Centric, Marketing on August 21st, 2008