Posts Tagged ‘Marketing’

Wanting to Be Like Mike

We as consumers are willing to buy just about anything our favorite celebrity endorses. We want the experience of being just like them, don’t we? For instance, take the Michael Jordan boom of the 1980′s and early 90′s.  The Chicago Bulls were undisputedly one of the best teams the NBA turned out in the decade. Michael Jordan slammed dunked his way into the gleaning eyes of little boys and girls across the globe, while at the same time giving swift rise to the Nike Air brand. Just as fast as Mike NBA championships, the folks at Nike made billions creating an entire market of Nike Air branded products that used his likeness to captured a premium from consumers. Why such a fee for shoes, hats and other Air Jordan products? Simple. Sporting the Air Jordan logo meant that kids like you and I could be just like Mike. Like Shoes, Like Headphones Today, it’s the brand experience of headphones were after. Dr Dre noise canceling headphones, branded as Monster’s Beat’s by Dr. Dre fly off the shelves at a whopping $299.95 per pair. If you order online, you can even choose one of six custom bright and bold colors (which obviously will make you look even more like the famous hip hop giant). This fad is taking off so quick, that even Ludacris has coined his own branded pair of headphones dubbed Soul. Note to self: If ever branding headphones for a client, it’s a good idea to stick with single word names. The Lesson Here is Important We consumers make all kinds of purchase decisions simply by the way a product or brand makes us feel inside. That’s marketing 101, but an easily forgotten truth. The thing about brand experience is that the strong ones stick with you for quite a long time. The inherent problem marketers face is [...]

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On Cheapening Your Brand

The more traditional school of marketing thought is that price cutting cheapens your brand. Maybe so. Yet, at Bob Evans, we’ve instituted a value menu for the first time in company history, driven by the needs of our restaurant guests.  That decision was not come to lightly either, but it’s working. This year, retailers everywhere relied heavily on discounting to drive sales during the holidays. Not that that doesn’t happen every year, but it was BIG in the retail recovery of 2011. Karah Joy sent me this article earlier today on how the New York Times botched a discount program by sending a 50% discount offer ment for a small list of unsubscribed readers to 8.6 million list members. OUCH! That’s a steep price cut that they may have to honor, at least for those who make a big deal out of the mistake (no pun intended). The Question for You In the wake of the disastrous economy of the past few years, can you really still cheapen your brand through discounting your products and services?  Or, is this a mechanism of survival driven by lighter consumer pocket books? Do you believe that price cutting still cheapens your brand?   nateriggsI advise mid-sized & large organizations on how to adopt and use social media to market through organizational culture and better serve their clients. I’m also a blended family dad who enjoys music, photography and distance racing. When I’m not writing here, you can find me writing over at the Content Marketing Institute. Like what you’ve read so far? Then why not subscribe HERE?Website – Twitter – Facebook – More Posts

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