Marketers of all stripes are often tasked with forecasting–sales for next quarter or year, inventory levels to meet demand, or marketing budget to meet corporate goals. However, the process of forecasting is often rife with bias, data quality issues, mathematical error, poor planning assumptions. While no forecasting technique is perfect, ... more

The annual Super Bowl buzz-buildup and ensuing flurry of analysis about game day ads is all just part of the entertainment. And it's continuing now, almost a full week later. These attention-getting moments on one fun-filled winter's eve reflect little, if any, true marketing wisdom. Instead, such flash-in-the-pan attempts at ... more

Okay so you are comfortable with getting your personal brand out there on the web. But periodically you are going to have to monitor, prune and synchronize it to keep it fresh. Here are a few tips for keeping your personal brand clean, organized and bold;" Tons have been written ... more

There is a great deal of talk these days about social media companies and their need to find a business model. Even my recent PC talked about how Twitter and others will need to find a business model in 2009. This whole discussion seems to be looking for some elusive ... more

Score one for ... at the expense of Starbucks and all of the other high-brow coffee shops peddling pricey lattes, cappuccino, espresso and all manner of caffeinated concoctions. Marketing message? You don't have to be a snobbish, artsy type–real or affected–to enjoy a good "cultured" brew. You don't have to ... more

Believe it or not, there's one ride at Disney World that never has a long It features one of the greatest comedic talents alive, Eric It was designed by the most talented "imagineers" on the planet, the ones at And its subject is one we associate with Disney itself -- ... more

Okay, I admit the title is a bit over the top. These ten tips aren't exactly secrets and they won't, in and of themselves, turn you a social media Stated more accurately, these are practical guidelines that will make you a better member of social networking communities in which you ... more

In this Marketing Over Coffee we discuss Research with Twitter, Social Media and Healthcare, and Webinar Providers..... all that and more in this Marketing Over Coffee, a weekly audio program sponsored by MarketingProfs that covers classic marketing tactics and what's new on the technology Direct Link to Show length Using ... more

We live in an age of skepticism about all forms of consumption. The diffusion of our skepticism is accelerated by the Internet and makes the sincerity even more So it's no surprise that the world of business -- specifically in the realms of advertising, branding, and marketing -- has to ... more

Registration is now open for this spring's free virtual event, MarketingProfs Digital Marketing . Taking place online, the full-day event is totally free to attend .... and the program (if I do say so) is stellar. So why miss This spring's theme is "Winning Against the Odds," which we think ... more

Customers are quick learners. We've learned, for example, to ignore subscription renewal letters that come months in advance of our actual expiration date; from experience, we know that there's no urgency – plenty of other letters will come in the next few months reminding us to That's why I'm concerned ... more

Maybe it is because I just saw South Pacific at Lincoln Center a couple of weeks ago, but when Anne , Chairman and CEO of told 800 marketers at the American Marketing Association's in Orlando that she was not "a wild eyed optimist," I perked up and listened. You just ... more

A well-researched article in Adweek, Noreen O'Leary's Boomers Caught in Squeeze ," ought to make marketers everywhere sit up and take The Consumer reaction to the painful reversals in the economy... particularly that of baby boomers, "who account for more than half of U.S. spending and who traditionally have grown ... more

Having taken on this new role of blogging on the Personal Branding , I naturally have been looking at many of the other personal brands that are out there. A few names come to mind very quickly when you think about strong personal Robert Scoble, Guy Kawasaki, Steve Jobs (the ... more

"Inventory is bad, inventory is evil," finance and operations professors intone across business schools worldwide. And every B-school graduate knows companies should balance enough inventory to meet customer needs while accommodating shifting preferences. That said, companies face a paradox; holding too much inventory ties up valuable cash, but too little ... more

Marketing's mission is to somehow change a customer's behavior. We try many things to affect that advertising, email, search, events, webinars... and the list goes on and And in tough economic times the opportunity to affect customer behavior is exceptionally acute, especially when it comes to existing loyal So check ... more

A recent Brandweek article, Concentrating on , piqued my interest. In the article, we learn that Clorox has launched a new campaign to show consumers the many uses for bleach, besides using it to whiten their laundry. New ad spots show that bleach can be used to disinfect cutting boards, ... more

I'm back from the Fulbright in Yerevan, Armenia. And while most of my current thoughts seem to be on the increasingly intimidating task of finding a new position in the marketing world, I have also spent time contemplating what my family and I just It was the adventure of a ... more

As a copywriter, I'm particularly interested in names. Some I love, such as "Amazon" or "Starbucks," for their evocative quality. Some I hate (imagine what you will here) and some leave me just plain puzzled. Why is it, for example, that hair salons are especially prone to bad puns such ... more

It helps to have been around business blogging and social media for a while. It gives one historical Case in point, the almost perennial debate over whether it's okay to mix advertorial content in with editorial. That argument has been bandied about ever since the days of Marqui's Blogosphere in ... more

Why do you use Twitter? A week or so ago MarketingProfs CEO Allen Weiss on Twitter, "Sitting here with my wife trying to figure out what motivates people to use twitter....any ideas?" Allen had just returned from a few days of meetings with me and the rest of the MarketingProfs ... more

Dwindling budgets suddenly make low-cost social media look like the pretty girl at the " - Ann I love Ann's optimistic take on social media in the downturn. And I fundamentally agree. Big promotional budgets are hard to find, but you still need to get your message out there. And ... more

Think about None of these cool new social media tools were developed with "us" (marketers) in mind. Blogs, social networks, YouTube, etc. were created for people to keep in touch with their family and friends. So it shouldn't be a big surprise that the majority of people who first embraced ... more

In the last couple of years, as companies have become more interested in social media, they have tried to find ways to use these tools to reach "influencers." Sometimes these initiatives are referred to as 'blogger outreach' programs. But there is a much more influential and important group that most ... more

I work in a professional services firm and in order for firms like ours to differentiate themselves, they have to create perhaps hundreds of personal brands around individuals who understand niche topics extremely well. And since buyers have transparency through the use of search engines they can really get a ... more