Category Archives: Business

Business Online Marketing

Groupon in Decline Hypothesis

September 13, 2011 – 7:53 pm

Groupon LogoIt was reported a couple of weeks ago that social buying coupon giant, Groupon, saw a slow down in consumer purchases.

In a recent marketing podcast, panelists cited buyer fatigue, oversaturation, buyer laziness and untargeted deals as possible reasons for the slow down. But I want to offer a slightly different hypothesis – access and service delivery.

Consider the operational challenge a family-run cleaning company faces when, in a matter days, they add 250 new customers.

The fact is that because they are basically giving these services away at cost, they can’t afford to hire new help. And when the dust settles after the excitement of seeing a deal hit the market, poor secretaries and business owners are left to fend off literally hundreds of phone calls while staring at a calendar with no openings.

I have more than once fallen victim to buying a Groupon that I could not redeem at a time convenient for me. So does this make me think twice before purchasing another? Heck yeah.

Companies like Groupon must take a deeper look at their company selection process or at least limit the number of sales to a manageable number.

And I offer this opinion with appreciation that Groupon and Living Social have both exposed me to new companies and experiences I would otherwise never heard of. Hopefully it works out.

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Business

Five Years In: Advice for Young Marketing Communications Professionals

June 21, 2010 – 8:59 pm

Five years ago, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I entered the corporate work force on a marketing communications team filled with experienced professionals.

In addition to countless side-conversations with my fellow intern at work, I used the internet to read and learn more about how other young professionals have dealt with a variety of situations.

With five years experience and thousands of M&M’s under my belt, literally, I thought I would share some the characteristics and advice that I have found to be most useful.

  1. Ask questions. Be curious.
  2. Keep your eye on the prize and always work to meet your business objectives.
  3. Google everything that you don’t understand.
  4. Don’t over complicate marketing communications. (Message – Audience – Channel) Work to optimize each part of the equation and remember to listen as well.
  5. Ask intelligent questions to your managers. Pick their brain and learn how they approach their work.
  6. Have confidence about what you know, especially when working with people outside of your department.
  7. Marketing campaigns are launching daily. Look and learn from them.
  8. Share your ideas in a manner that show they are well thought out.
  9. Look at the big picture, but manage the small projects like they all matter.
  10. Manage quality vs. quantity. Limit uncharacteristic mistakes.

I hope these little tidbits of advice helped you out. If you feel comfortable sharing a few of your own, please do.

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Business Marketing

Managing Email Overload and Gen-Y

February 1, 2010 – 6:22 pm

It’s unpleasant for most marketing or any professionals for that matter to think about how many hours they are spending reading and sifting through emails.

In 2010, one of my (many) points of focused personal improvement is on my overall work efficiency. Not that I don’t enjoy getting my mind going a little later in the evening, but at some point, being married and a home owner must rule the day.

I asked my wife, a public relations professional, how she manages her email and she enlightened me about the four D’s of managing email overload.

  1. Delete it
  2. Do it
  3. Delegate it
  4. Defer it

I should mention that neither of us can take credit for this clever wordplay. Upon further review I found it actually came from a Microsoft blog of all places.To look at the four D’s a little bit closer: If it’s unimportant delete it. If you can do it in less than 2 minutes, do it. If you can delegate it to someone else, forward it and if it is a little bit bigger than that, defer it to a folder in your email reader.

And finally a word to all my Gen-Y friends on the bottom of the totem pole feeling overwhelmed. When starting out at a new job, you will most likely be delegated some unglamorous time consuming tasks. My simple word of advice is to handle it and learn from it as best you can. If you work hard enough one day, you too will be able to delegate more freely.

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