Learn Word of Mouth Marketing Our friend, former RP colleague, and WOM guru Andy Sernovitz is hosting a small-group word of mouth marketing seminar. Usually he only does private training for companies at a very large price, so this is a rare chance for 50 people to get the best introduction to word of mouth that there is. I blogged about his book a while back here. We’ve arranged for a $250 discount for our clients. Use code “welovereturnpath” when you register (kind of catchy code, isn’t it?). This is a very practical, hands-on course. In one intense day, you will: Master the five steps of word of mouth marketing Construct an action plan that your…
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Marketing
Book Short: What’s For Dinner Tonight, Honey?
Book Short: What’s For Dinner Tonight, Honey? The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less, by Barry Schwartz, presents an enlightening, if somewhat distressing perspective on the proliferation of options and choices facing the average American today. The central thesis of the book is that some choice is better than no choice (I’d rather be able to pick blue jeans or black jeans), but that limited choice may be better in the end than too much choice (how do I know that the jeans I really want are relaxed cut, tapered leg, button fly, etc.?). We have this somewhat astonishing, recurring conversation at home every night, with the two of us sitting around paralyzed about where to eat dinner. The author’s arguments and examples…
Book Short: A Must Read
Book Short: A Must Read Every once in a while, I read a book and think, “This is an important book.” Microtrends, by Mark Penn, was just that kind of read. Penn is the CEO of one of our largest clients in the market research business as well as CEO of Burson Marstellar and, more notably, the Clintons’ pollster and strategy director for much of the last 16 years. He’s a smart guy, and more important than that, he’s awash in primary research data. The premise of Microtrends is that America is no longer a melting pot, where lots of different people come together to try to be the same, but rather that it’s a big tent, where lots of…
A New (Old) Favorite Returns as a Blog
A New (Old) Favorite Returns as a Blog Andy Sernovitz’s very cleverly-named Damn, I Wish I’d Thought of That is back, this time in blog and RSS feed format as well as, of course, email newsletter format. Andy is a Return Path alum and does a great job of crystallizing smart and clever ideas for marketers into manageable nuggets, particularly around viral and word-of-mouth marketing (Andy wrote a great book on WOM marketing, which I reviewed here). He was nice enough to interview me for his blog. As a teaser, Andy asked me (and a bunch of other people) three questions: Great marketing comes down to one simple idea: Earn the respect and recommendation of your customers, and they will…
Brilliant Client Service: It’s Not Just for Peaceful Revolutionaries Any More!
Brilliant Client Service: It’s Not Just for Peaceful Revolutionaries Any More! I just read this quote, attributed to an unlikely source, Mahatma Gandhi, in an annual report from InfoUSA, one of the biggest public companies in our industry: A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so. This quote is widely believed to actually be from Gandhi,…
In the Land of Too Many Conferences, This is a Good One
In the Land of Too Many Conferences, This is a Good One It’s rare that I’m sad to leave a conference — usually I can’t leave fast enough. But such is my mood today leaving Mediapost’s third Email Insider Summit. Our industry is way over-conferenced in general. I’m guessing that our company’s full conference calendar has 40+ events on it over the course of a year. It’s more than we can afford to exhibit at, participate in, speak at, attend. We do our best, and what money we spend is much more carefully monitored and measured than it used to be, but usually it’s with that sick feeling in the pit of our collective marketing stomach that we’re throwing money…