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February 28, 2007
Act Globally, Think Locally
One of my favorite annual issues of Harvard Business Review is out — the February issue with the annual "Breakthrough Ideas" column. This year, one concept caught my attention "Act Globally, Think Locally."
This reveral of the familiar adage, "think globally and act locally" reflects the author's perspective that "companies today need both global reach, in order to spot useful local ideas and incorporate them into strategy, and physical proximity, in order to effectively tap sources of tacit knowledge and thus sustain competitive advantage."
We have long held this view in our business, which is focused on supporting the localization of marketing messages being deployed by large enterprises through disparate distribution channels. The interesting observation, however, is that competitive financial pressures are continually driving companies to look for ways to unify messaging, manufacturing, etc in order to hold down costs. The resulting homoginization results in milquetoast marketing or equivalently bland product design.
The article is worth reading. As always, all the ideas are intriguing.
Posted by jcioban at 8:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 18, 2007
Women of Innovation...It Starts In School
In our business, we have multiple customers who operate in the tech sector...a place where independent channel partners are the dominant form of distribution. I also sit on the Board of the CT Technology Council, a trade association comprised of large and small tech companies. So it is common that I hear concerns about the lack of qualified employees for tech jobs, worries about declining math and science educational achievement, and the dearth of girls pursuing technical careers.
Thus, I read with some happines a very nice article on CRN's The Buzz Blog by Heather Clancy about a network integrator in Warwick, RI -- Atrion Networking, that is doing something about shoring up the future workforce, and attacking the lack of women pursuing science and education careers. The GRRL Tech Expo is a cool idea and deserves more airplay.
Great stuff.
Posted by jcioban at 7:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 10, 2007
E-Mail...A Nuclear Winter Looming??
In the January issue of Direct Magazine, an article by Richard Levy titled "Watch Out for the Little Guys" noted that small and mid-tier companies--those with annual revenue in the half-million to million-dollar range--are pouring more money into database marketing, especially e-mail. The article quoted results from an Alterian best-practices study that indicated 85% of respondents planned to increase their online direct marketing budget in 2007, with 82% of respondents indicating an increase in e-mail marketing.
That got me thinking about a quote from John Mozena, the co-founder of the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail that I read Technology Review in 2004. In the article John stated,
"Our concern is not so much for the porn and the herbal Viagra as it is for legitimate businesses. There are 24 million small businesses in the U.S. If just 1 percent got your e-mail address and sent you one message per year, you’d have 657 additional messages in your in-box every day. That is our nuclear winter scenario.”
He's right. As I have noted in talks and verious postings, e-mail in its current form is relatively easy and fast to blast to an audience, making it unbelievably attractive to smaller businesses and organizations. However, if we fail to apply good practice and respect the individual recipients, we threaten to kill the goose that laid the golden egg. I liken the state of e-mail marketing to global warming...a disaster looming, but marketers everywhere want to "say it ain't so, Joe." An Inbox is not infinitely expandable, and increasingly frustrated e-mail readers are eventually going to demand a "mandated whiltelist" approach or some fees to reduce the burden of junk.
Seth Godin and others have spoken of the value and importance of "Permission Marketing" which remains the key to ensuring that e-mail remains unregulated and affordable. Remember the next time you plan an e-mail program.
Posted by jcioban at 4:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
