Several years ago, while on vacation, I wondered whether it was possible to reduce the number of work emails I received while I was away. I was feeling pressure to stay on the clock, a feeling that is utterly incompatible with really taking time off. As I pondered that, I came to recognize that the […]
Facebook’s quarterly gains in mobile ad revenue boosted spirits on Wall Street last week, especially for those who have been long on the social networking titan since its bumpy IPO last year. What does Facebook’s performance indicate about the overall health of the mobile economy? I see mostly positive developments and some useful lessons for […]
Looking for examples of brick and mortar stores that are embracing the mobile revolution? I’ve found one that may inspire you. Several months ago, I wrote about the challenges and opportunities brick and mortar stores have in a world increasingly connected by mobile devices. Customers have taken to “showrooming” store merchandise, by which I mean […]
http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/procedural-versus-strategic-approaches-to-social-media/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mitsmr+%28MIT+Sloan+Management+Review%29 In my recent post on the importance of recognizing the distinction between functional and strategic expertise, I cautioned against falling into the trap of assuming the youngest among your colleagues were inherently more qualified to run your mobile operations. The column from MIT’s Sloan Review that I link to here, while focused on social […]
A few months ago, I noted the attempts various companies, Google and Yahoo in particular, were taking to accelerate the growth of the mobile economy and mobile advertising in particular. You can read about it here. This week brought news of the latest development in this effort: the release of new guidelines by the Interactive […]
“Put Mary in charge of our TV advertising. She watches the most television.” “I want Jeff running our print advertising. He has the most magazine and newspaper subscriptions of anyone in the company.” “Lisa clearly needs to manage our events marketing. She always knows the hottest shows and venues in town.” “Find the youngest people […]
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of listening to Crawford Del Prete, Executive Vice President and Chief Research Officer at IDC, talk about the challenges facing developers of mobile apps. What stuck with me was Crawford’s reminder that great products of all types, including apps, help people tackle specific, meaningful jobs and do […]
Most marketers have adopted the view that nothing is worth doing if it can’t be measured. That’s good. It forces us to articulate what success looks like and invest in those programs that are most likely to achieve that success. It also forces us to think carefully about what we should measure. Sometimes, that’s easy. […]
A business school professor of mine once did an entire class on companies that plan their product lines’ obsolescence. These firms proactively anticipate when their products will no longer remain competitive and therefore include a road map for phasing them out. Having an obsolescence plan can help a firm navigate the really tough decisions involving […]
Markets are filled with competitors within a single industry segment that do a great job for their customers in very different ways. Target and Wal-Mart illustrate this well. Each retailing giant prides itself on its unique way of servicing its customers: Target for its collection of exclusive brands, Wal-Mart for claiming to have the lowest […]
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