Back in ancient times (that is, before 1996), big companies and big brands ruled the market. Then came the dot-com boom. With the internet and manufacturing lot sizes of one, virtual companies were supposed to spell the end of big brands and usher in the age of the micromarket. What we've ended up with instead is an odd dichotomy of mass and micro. On the one hand, big brands still rule in many cases: Coke and Pepsi ; Bud and Miller ; GM , Ford , Daimler-Chrysler and handful of other large auto makers. Even the internet -- supposedly the ultimate micromarket vehicle -- is dominated by Amazon, Yahoo and Google. And of course, no industry is more dominated by one brand than computer operating systems, where all alternative operating systems combined don't generate 10% of the revenue of Windows. And yet, simulateously, markets are indeed becoming more micro. When I was in high school (too long ago), there were only a handful of teen subcultures: you were either a Jock, a Ner...

I just got back from Aruba, on a "free" trip that's going to end up costing me dearly -- though that is a topic for another post. Although focused on the tourist trade, Aruba has not yet become as commercialized as many other sunny tourist desinations. The lack of marketing sophistication is charming in its own way. For example: Aruba has a spectacular national park. But the park has no visitor center or gift shop -- only a small museum at the entrance in the park, in a private residence which is up for sale. For anyone with an entreprenurial streak and a desire for the island lifestyle, there's a prime business opportunity for you. If you're curious, the asking price is $250,000 U.S., but the park rangers thought that was overpriced for the local market, so you may be able to get the property for less. The island has lots of gift shops, but it seemed that 90% of the merchandise was the same. And the prices were the same in the hotel zone as downtown. Clearly...

Here are my marketing resolutions for 2006. Feel free to steal these, or leave a comment to share your marketing (or life) resolutions for the new year. 1. I resolve to understand my customers better. What drives them, what motivates them, and how to reach them in a way that is helpful -- never intrusive. 2. I resolve to try to blog more frequently and eloquently. 3. I resolve to put a real effort into making trackback work effectively. 4. I resolve to try to determine why dmoz.org has become so awful about adding new sites. 5. I resolve to try to get back to reading the Marketing Sherpa Best-of-Weekly newsletter on a regular basis. It is the best marketing newsletter on the planet. 6. I resolve to learn more than necessary, and teach as much as possible. Marketing Profs is a great resource for online marketing wisdom. You can find a great summary of life lessons here. 7. I resolve to be more strategic in my thinking and planning. 8. I resolve to write more clearly a...

My post several weeks ago about the emergence of blogs and the decline of the e-newsletter drew a thoughtful comment from Monty Loree of Express Marketing . Mr. Loree contended that "With direct email, you're in control of staying in touch with people and inviting them back to your site." While that's indusputable, my point was that you don't need a traditional email newsletter to accomplish that task. As Suzanne Falter-Barns points out in her blog here, collecting email addresses from your blog visitors is both easy and a great supplement to RSS feeds. Then, rather than sending out a traditional e-newsletter -- with all of the planning and formatting that requires -- you can simply send a brief note to your email list each time you post (or weekly if you are posting more frequently than that) inviting your recipients to revisit your blog and check out your latest musings. Your blog becomes the content container for the information you would have previously ...

In Web marketing, just as in hitting a golf ball, swinging a baseball bat or kicking a football, the importance of follow-through can’t be overstated. In sports, failing to complete the motion means a shorter drive, hit or kick – in other words, you won’t achieve the desired result. The same holds true for marketing. Launching a campaign or activity without the proper follow-through can mean poor results and/or unnecessary cost. For example, one company I spoke with had spent a considerable sum of money on a search engine optimization (SEO) project for their site – but never bothered to monitor the change in their search engine positioning. When a (smart) consultant followed up with them later, he investigated and discovered that their search position had barely budged. Had the company known this sooner, they may have been able to get extra work or a partial refund from the SEO firm, depending on contract terms. They would have at least known that their investment hadn’t really paid ...

Marketing professionals too often get caught up in communicating with "markets" to remember that a market is an abstract construct. "Markets" don't buy anything -- people, that is customers, do. It's a great exercise for marketers to occasionally talk to a real customer. Ask the sales representative in charge of the account first: in some companies, this is required, and in any case it's good practice. You'll need to assure the sales rep that you are not checking up on them; you are rahter trying to determine how well your department is doing in helping them to be more effective. No one likes someone looking over their shoulder. Everyone likes help. Ask a customer three key questions: - How well does our company seem to understand your problems? - What do we do really well? - Where could we improve? The purpose of the first question is to determine how well your marketing literature is hitting the mark, and to find out if you are really...

When WebMarketCentral was first launched, the plan was to offer an associated newsletter. After careful consideration, this ain't gonna happen. E-newsletters were, not so many years ago, a clever and unique idea (good newsletters anyway). Just a few short years later, email newsletters are beyond ubiquitous. Even the most laggard of sites offer one. People are sick of them. Email in-boxes are overflowing, few people are signing up, and fewer still are actually opening the newsletters they do receive. Suzanne Falter-Barns does a great job addressing the issue of blogs vs. e-newsletters here . Blogs are more immediate, faster, easier, less formal, and with comments, more interactive. In the case of WebMarketCentral, I thought about what my newsletter would include if I wrote one: a link to my latest blog posting, e-commerce news and Web marketing news headlines, a sponsor or two, and some humor. Since pretty much all of that is already available on the site -- generally with ...