Blogs

While a growing number of businesses today are starting to use social media in marketing their business, there is always a risk of putting execution before strategy. This is a real danger with social media because too many businesses realize too late that once you begin a social media initiative (such as a Facebook Fan Page, Twitter account or YouTube channel), you’ve got to refresh it with new content on a regular basis as well as monitor it for comments and spam. Otherwise, you would have been better off not doing anything.

When you live in Silicon Valley like I do, you can’t help but be amazed how quickly what you hear as a rumor turns into a consumer reality for sale at your local retailer or online. This is especially true for consumer electronics that are currently undergoing an unprecedented explosion of innovation and change. I wanted to reflect on seven consumer trends I believe will drive continued growth and change in this multi-billion dollar category:

I create and teach customized marketing seminars for a wide variety of businesses that cover diverse topics ranging from marketing strategy, social media and all things digital. Given the rapid changes taking place in the marketing world today, I sometimes have a tough time keeping up with what’s happening and what merits being included in my latest seminars.

I’ve been working with Thomvest Ventures (a VC fund based in Silicon Valley) for about a year as a Venture Partner and it’s been a very enlightening experience. After working in the corporate world as a marketer for almost 30 years, it was “back to school” time for me to fully understand and appreciate the role the critical role VC’s play in funding social media and other start-ups.

I love Virgin Atlantic.

One of the reasons I do is I believe they really, really do care about their customers. As proof of this, one time back in 1994 I had a problem with one of their flights and wrote a note to Richard Branson to make him aware of it (this was back in the days in which you still wrote letters that went through the post office).

 I just got back from my first ever SXSW event. They are celebrating their 25th year as a Music Festival and 15th year as an Interactive Gathering (the “Davos of Digital”).

As we enter the new year, I wanted to share some "fun facts to know and tell" as well as some personal observations on how social media is impacting marketing and businesses:

Social media and mobile devices have become a common way that people engage with each other and with brands; brand marketers need to be proactive about leveraging this accelerating trend

Over the past year I’ve been working with Thomvest Ventures (check out the website at www.Thomvest.com) as a Venture Partner (in addition to my regular consulting and seminar business). One of my responsibilities is to sit in on the pitches from entrepreneurs asking for initial or additional funding.

This is Part II of a two-part blog that explains what a communication brief is, why it’s important and what it contains. I’d like to thank Norm Levy from P&G for teaching me these principles when I was in brand management as well as his continuing teaching of these ideas at the U.S. Marketing Communication College.

In Part I of this blog entry, I described what a Communication Brief is and reviewed part of what’s in it (i.e. Project Description, Target Audience, Specific Objective, Background/Competitive environment and Consumer Insights).

This is Part I of a two-part blog that explains what a communication brief is, why it’s important and what it contains. I’d like to thank Norm Levy from P&G for teaching me these principles when I was in brand management as well as his continuing teaching of these ideas at the U.S. Marketing Communication College.