Marketing Matters

No meeting in December

mktgmatters — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 02:07:44 +0000

Just a reminder – we are not having a Marketing Matters in December. I figure everyone has an even busier schedule than normal during this season. But we will definitely regroup in January, and I hope to see many of you there.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all. And thank you for your interest and support in Marketing Matters during 2009.

Why free WiFi may be a good marketing strategy

mktgmatters — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:10:20 +0000

Interesting article about all the different companies that are sponsoring free wifi and the benefits that may come of that. Read it here

Meeting tonight

mktgmatters — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:07:26 +0000

Hope to see you there. Back at our original location in Palo Alto, MacArthur Park.

John

Meeting Reminder

mktgmatters — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:04:38 +0000

Don’t let a little rain get in the way of you attending Marketing Matters!

See you tomorrow, October 13, at the Fish Market in San Mateo (where 92 hits 101).

Creating a Lifestyle With Marketing

mktgmatters — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:01:46 +0000

Microsoft vs Google…One has excellent branding as a result of extensive market research and advertiser commitment, the other..not so much.

http://www.betanews.com/joewilcox/article/If-Microsoft-sold-a-lifestyle-would-you-buy-it/1253220971

Evite for September’s Marketing Matters meeting

mktgmatters — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:31:40 +0000

The evite was sent out this morning for the September meeting. But don’t worry if you weren’t on the mailing list, you can still access it HERE or on FaceBook!

Make sure you notice that Marketing Matters meetings are now held in Cupertino at The Cypress Hotel.

Hope to see you there!!

“Why Marketing Matters in These Times”

mktgmatters — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:42:38 +0000

An interesting article about why marketing, in fact, does MATTER! Read about it here.

Real Time Marketing

mktgmatters — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 00:45:01 +0000

Did you notice the example of very good real time marketing a couple days ago?

Big News – Obama swats a fly. Here’s the clip. The question is, WHO CARES? This is NOT NEWS! But it became news in part because of PETA.

PETA is People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. They were all over this, and to their credit. They’re getting great coverage from this. I don’t know what their typical website traffic is, but I bet it increased just a bit as a result of this. All of the early reports I heard were as much about PETA as they were about the Pres.

So, the lesson is that marketing opportunities come up every day, in unexpected ways. The trick is to be on the look-out and to be ready to act quickly to seize the opportunity. I offer kudos to PETA for doing just this, and once again I blame the media for taking the bait. They fell right into PETA’s fly trap (sorry, couldn’t help myself).

Topics of Conversation at Marketing Matters

mktgmatters — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:28:12 +0000

You never know what will come up at Marketing Matters.

Here is just a sample of the topics of conversation at our most recent Marketing Matters event on June 9:
• How women in Mexico are growing organic agave to fuel the growing demand for this natural, low cal sweetener. You may have seen agave at Peet’s, who’s offering it as an alternative coffee sweetener.
• Ideas for presenting consulting proposals that make it a no-brainer for clients to say “yes”, such as showing the ROI they’ll receive from their marketing investment. One example was an insurance company that, by increasing website traffic by even 5% would generate millions in incremental revenue. Who could say “no”?
• “Micro-loans” as small as $25 and how they’re helping people start small businesses all over the world. For some people, it’s like a charitable donation that gets paid back so they can donate it again.
• Opportunities in today’s real estate market for flipping property in such unexpected areas as Lake Tahoe which finds itself with a glut of golf course properties
• The new Pixar movie UP — you GOTTA see it in 3D! — and the underlying genius of those folks at Pixar, not only the technology they use to create such amazing movies, but also the story lines that entertain adults as much as, or more than, children.
• New ideas for spreading the word about Marketing Matters in order to continually expand the invitee list, such as formatted email templates that can be forwarded to established groups such as Women in Consulting (WIC) that have standardized on email as the preferred method of communication among members

Who knows what will be the topics of conversation next time. Don’t you want to be there to find out?

See you in July.

John

We’re Moving – to the 2nd Tuesday

mktgmatters — Mon, 18 May 2009 23:13:06 +0000

It seems that there are conflicts with the first Tuesday that have prevented some folks from attending, so in the interest of accommodating as many of you as possible, we’re moving Marketing Matters to the 2nd Tuesday of the month. That means our next gathering will be Tuesday, June 9.

I’ve heard from prospective attendees that they’re too slammed, crazy, swamped, or just plain busy to attend. Rather ironic given that there are many people out there who would love to be more busy. I don’t hear any complaints from the slammed folks – I’m know they’re all appreciative of being busy in an economy with 9% unemployment – other than they can’t make the time to attend Marketing Matters. Now that I take issue with!

Consider that Marketing Matters brings together a bar full of seasoned pros ready to offer new ideas, a spark of creativity, a new tool or strategy, or other helpful suggestions that could lighten those busy loads. So, people are missing the opportunity of easing their state of swamped-ness.

Actually, in all reality they’ll leave just as busy as when they arrived, but at least they will have had a little fun to make it a bit easier to bear. And they may meet some people who, when the economy picks up a bit, may be perfect to take on some of the burden.

Summer’s here. Kids are wrapping up school. Time to put on your aloha shirt and come out for a drink or two with a bunch of fun people.

I hope to see you – June 9th – 2nd Tuesday. Whether you’re busy or just wishing you were.

John