Newsletters

From time to time, we publish a newsletter for clients and friends. It offers observations and references to market research and its implications for small and mid size businesses. If you'd like to receive our next letter, just click the link above.

So, a guy writes on LinkedIn:    “Surviving the downturn.  A new focus on promotion strategies?  Any thoughts?”

Promotion strategies?  I ask.  The automobile industry’s in the toilet.  You think a few flags are going to turn the tide?  I say, position for the upturn. view the article »

Henry Ford built automobiles before most people knew what an automobile was. Although he made them look and feel like carriages, he profited from the fact that what he built had no competition from anything that carried you from point A to point B. When Steven Jobs introduced the iPhone in 2004, he had a very different problem. view the article »

Just what exactly is the brand? Is it identity? packaging? the name? perhaps a tagline? Not quite. These elements reflect the brand. The brand is a relationship. It's what people expect and experience when they do business with you: the why they buy, the satisfaction they expect, the dream of how purchase will better their lives. view the article »

10% of the world's population is online, and they're getting to know one another for a lot of reasons. New tools appear daily to link people and workers together. Fred Barson reports on two proprietary surveys, one from McKinsey, the other from Ketchum and the USC Annenberg Strategic PR Center. There are some intriguing back fences in the world of Web 2.0. view the article »

Just how do you achieve clarity for a crowded world? A recent McKinsey survey reports the middle market is vanishing. Consumers are heading up or down market for their products and services. Blue Bolt principal Fred Barson talks about "the vision thing," noting that marketers in a crowded world are now "in the difference business." view the article »