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• Trends, Tactics, And Tools
• Latest News From Selling Communications

Trends, Tactics, And Tools

Web marketing gains at old media expense. The analysts who track advertising predict Internet advertising will grow by over 20 percent this year, while traditional media remains flat.

Apple Keeps Rolling. More iPods and iTunes turn up as incentives in all types of promotions, and CBS and NBC have now enhanced their value by announcing their plans to sell television programming of popular programs via cable on demand for 90 cents, within hours of the initial broadcast. It proves the notion that’s what hot with consumers is hot as an incentive, and vice versa.

Make sure your brand has a purpose. This is the gist of an excellent article entitled “It’s the Purpose Brand, Stupid,” by Clayton Christensen, Scott Cook, and Taddy Hall. A purpose brand, they assert, “is like a two-sided compass. One side guides customers to products that will do the job needing to be done. The other side guides the company’s product designers, marketers and advertising as they develop and market improved products.” A purpose brand, they say, clarifies how it will help people get a job done; the extra price it can command is actually the “wage” customers will pay for the brand to get the job done. Look at your Web site and promotional material: does it simply explain what you do or describe a clear solution to a pressing business problem?

Cendant manages leads with rapid-response system. By successfully implementing a lead-generation tool customized to its needs, the real-estate division of lodging and hospitality corporation Cendant generated and passed along to its realtors 240,000 qualified leads in roughly a year, according to the company. The key to the success is a proprietary lead distribution and management system, the company says. Lead management is the next frontier of marketing return-on-investment measurement; it has become so easy to manage leads and prove their worth, there’s no reason not to. For ideas on lead management, contact Jim Kilmetis at 914-591-7600, ext. 229, or jkilmetis@sellingcommunications.com.

Gift cards keeps booming. Both consumers and businesses continue to flock to gift cards, with all surveys pointing to increased usage at the consumer level and near saturation use in the business-to-business category. According to the latest Incentive Federation survey, well over 50 percent of companies use gift cards. Now, the chief problem for suppliers is that everyone has a gift card, putting market-share pressures on companies that have been accustomed to unfettered growth. In the next phase of the gift card lifecyle, the winners won’t only be those with desirable products, but also those who get to market more efficiently.

Business intelligence provider adds vertical market coverage. First Research provides intelligence tools for salespeople seeking detailed information on specified industries. Its reports offer useful background for salespeople going after new markets or companies in markets with which they are not familiar. Go to www.firstresearch.com.

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