Posted in branding, community, consumer behavior, consumer engagement, consumer perception, customer engagement, customer interaction, customer relationship management, marketing, marketing innovation, network, seth godin, social branding, social marketing, social media, social network, transformation on Jul 14th, 2010
This is a simple, straightforward question. Is your first touch selfish? Is the first contact that you have with your prospects about you or about them? It’s surprising how many businesses only realize this is important when they are asked. Even then, some folks never get it.
In 1999, Seth Godin published Permission Marketing: turning strangers [...]
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Posted in SPURspectives, banking, branding, community, consumer behavior, consumer engagement, consumer perception, customer engagement, customer interaction, financial services, follower, leader, lifecycle, marketing, marketing budget, marketing innovation, social branding, social marketing, social network, spur communications, transformation on Jul 13th, 2010
Regular readers of SPURspectives know that Spur Communications provides marketing services for financial services and community benefit organizations. We are routinely asked to help with brand development. So, we spend a lot of time asking why — Why do you exist? Why do you matter? Why should someone care? As you can imagine, our nonprofit [...]
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The South African World Cup has come and gone. Spain is the World Cup champion for the next four years and Paul the Octopus has proven to be the most reliable gambler’s aid on earth, albeit below the waves. This is one final post on my observations of the World Cup and what it can [...]
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Posted in SPURspectives, community, consumer behavior, consumer engagement, customer engagement, follower, imitation, leader, marketing, network, seth godin, social network, transformation on Jul 7th, 2010
Championship competitions are great for studying the microcosm of team cohesion. The World Cup may be the greatest study of all due to its global reach. This Cup’s German team is showing something very unique and I think reflective a change in how the world does business.
Teams have long been assembled like armies, with top [...]
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Posted in branding, community, consumer behavior, consumer engagement, consumer perception, customer engagement, customer interaction, donor engagement, marketing, transformation on Jun 29th, 2010
There is a major intersection that a friend of mine cannot drive through. It isn’t blocked or under construction. There’s nothing technically wrong with the intersection. It is simply that 3 out of 4 of the corners have businesses with horrible logos on their signs. He’s not a design snob. The 3 bad logos are [...]
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Posted in branding, community, consumer behavior, consumer generated content, customer interaction, imitation, marketing, marketing innovation, network, transformation on Jun 23rd, 2010
We love them. We hate them. They’re suddenly everywhere. The vuvuzela has emerged as the defining element of South Africa’s World Cup. The constant, relentless, droning, B flat buzz of the plastic horns has everyone buzzing about them. They’re all over the news. The microphones for World Cup matches have been changed to accommodate them. [...]
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I have a routine. Most people do. We tend to make habits of the simple chores that we need to do each day so that we can concentrate on the big exciting stuff. The problem is that several routines become a pattern and a pattern becomes a rut when it’s allowed to grow. Pretty soon [...]
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Posted in Uncategorized, banking, branding, community, consumer engagement, consumer generated content, consumer perception, customer interaction, follower, investment, lifecycle, marketing, marketing budget, marketing innovation, network, social branding, social marketing, social media, transformation on Jun 16th, 2010
The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is an unprecedented tragedy. The extent of damage to the ecosystem, economy and lives of countless people is staggering. But it has also been enlightening. Our always on connectivity, social networks and the instantaneous spread of news by citizen journalists has shown this crisis to be [...]
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I love soccer. I know most Americans don’t get it, but I think the game is wonderful because it is filled with life lessons. With the 2010 World Cup in full swing now in South Africa, there is no shortage of lessons to learn. Consider this weekend’s 1-1 draw between England and the USA squad.
It [...]
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Posted in banking, community, consumer behavior, donor, economic recession, financial services, investment, kansas city, marketing, network, social network, transformation on May 12th, 2010
To say that the recession has had a negative impact on retirement savings is a serious understatement. Rather than debate the legality, morality or responsibility to shareholders and other arguments related to the cause of the problem, I would like to open a conversation about how to fix the destruction. A lot of people are [...]
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