Whining as Marketing

Tim Ferriss has done a fair amount of whining that many bookstores won't carry his latest book. Why would that be, as he's such as successful author?

It's because he chose to publish his latest with a small competitor of bookstores called amazon.com.

Thus he has built a marketing campaign around his complaint that he is being unfairly boycotted.  As Brett indicates in this nice takedown, it works, at least to a degree.

Yet, I don't think this approach is a smart one in the long run. It will leave a bad taste with many, and that taste will remain for a long time.

What does Facebook know about me?

Facebook is selling itself to advertisers on the strength of the data it mines about us, the users, to help advertisers create targeted campaigns.

My sidebar doesn't bode well for this "target marketing."

How to Write a Cease-and-Desist Letter

See the letter Jack Daniel sent to the author of a book whose cover mimics their Trademark.

What a great way to enforce your intellectual property rights -- friendly-like, reasonable and great for public relations.

Anyone who manages a Twitter account for a company or organization...

...must monitor the news. How did the person responsible for this account tweet at 9:20 AM without having looked at any news source this morning?

A Big Fan!

AJ Jacobs ‏@ajjacobs

A PR guy just emailed my Esquire account and started his pitch, “I am a big fan of PUBLICATION.” Hmm. I wonder if this is an exclusive?

Brilliance at Staples

Yesterday I returned a $6 binder to Staples. It had been intended for use at my previous job and it no longer fit my needs. My return was processed quickly and a refund issue to my credit card. This is the norm with Staples returns: ease of transaction and nothing to sign.

Then they surprised me: The clerk gave me a coupon for $5 off my next purchase of $25 or more. How brilliant is that?

Since I had thought about a different need for a binder or two, it took less than ten minutes for me to redeem that coupon.

Without the coupon I would have spent less than $25, but the coupon inspired me to pick up two extra items for a total $36 value purchase that cost me $31.

More importantly, it reinforced my already positive feeling about Staples and strengthened my loyalty.

My approach to sales and marketing management

Try new things, analyze, do more of what worked. Then continue to experiment.

Have a plan, but be ready to deviate from it based on new ideas and information.

Cultivate finance and operations colleagues, and understand what they need and do.

Hit on all the cylinders that drive profit: Increase revenue, lower expenses, improve margins.

Develop business models that work for you and your customers.

And don't forget to ask for the order.