Apple’s Macintosh desktop and laptop computers have enjoyed near-cult status among devoted users since the 1980s, but it wasn’t until the new millennium that the company began hitting a series of bona fide home runs with consecutive new product launches. It began in 2001 with the iTunes media player, which was followed later that year…

Is e-commerce “gaining ground” even in terms of convenience shopping? I am not sure if this is a social issue or a business issue.  If you have read prior blogs, I have talked about how to make the purchasing experience not only pleasant, but at a bare minimum, easy. This seems to be a challenge in…

When it comes to figuring out what makes for the most relevant selling to customers, you have to consider more than just price. There are endless beliefs, opinions, needs and wants that customers factor into the relevancy equation. Rather than presenting long lists of how to use information that you should be collecting from customers, I thought…

Recently I was interviewed by New York Times journalist Elizabeth Olson who asked what my thoughts were on “Made in America.” This past week, USA Today published a similar article titled Made in USA Making a Comeback as a marketing tool.  And Barron’s just featured “Made in America” as a cover story for their January 28th issue.  Barron’s cites that…

Market Trends Are Predicted to Shift… Are you Ignoring Your Biggest Potential Customer? There is great umbrage over the fact that women may still earn less than men for equal work in many areas. Market changes are worth noting:  women currently control $12 trillion in assets with an expectation that number will almost double in the coming…

Do you make your customers buying experience easy or difficult? While I have never experienced water torture I have had the unpleasant experience of car shopping, car buying, and car purchase negotiation.  I keep a car much longer than I would like. I procrastinate buying a new car to avoid the agony of the experience….

Richard Anderson had his work cut out for him when he took over as Delta’s CEO in 2007. Gas prices were soaring, the economy was on the verge of crumbling, and operating costs were nearly suffocating the multi-billion-dollar airline. Smaller, more flexible airlines were pouring salt in the wounds of industry giants by picking up…

Reality stars, TV stars, YouTube sensations, radio personalities, theater standouts – if you’re a director looking to find talent, you’ve got more choices than ever before.  So, how do directors determine which stars are most likely to bring an audience to the movie? How Actors are using Social Media to Foster their Competitive Advantages The National…

Follow these Steps to Dominate Your Market Movie megastar Netflix hit on an amazingly profitable competitive advantage shortly after its founding in 1997, by offering DVD rentals via mail at a flat monthly subscription rate. Their well-known business model: subscribers enjoyed unlimited rentals, without the added worry of late fees or shipping & handling. Netflix quickly developed a reputation for…

I’m a new Hubspot enthusiast – to me, they are the gurus of inbound marketing. A noteworthy benefit of inbound marketing is its ability to reach a highly targeted audience. Brian Halligan, CEO & Co-Founder of HubSpot, and the pioneer of the inbound marketing concept, offers this advice: “rather than doing outbound marketing to the masses…