Marketing
Linked
Resources
News*GOLD
Table of Contents
(1—7)
- Downtown
- Moo!
- Local/Global
- Revival'87
- Direct Marketing
- Linked Resources
- MyQuiz
|
Subscribe Unsubscribe |
|
| I. Downtown.
On April 17th, 1996 I had accomplished a seminar titled 'DB Marketing Fundamentals'. That course was run just then in Downtown Toronto (¹) by Connexions, an iniziative of Canada Post Corporation (²) to promote direct marketing in Canada. This is to remember how much of down-to-earth business can be found in a North-American city's central district! That experience put down the seeds for direct marketing linked resources, since this newsletter got off the ground a year later after my flying back to Italy. Those days of mid 90's the buzz-word was database marketing --or the fourth stage of the so called 'Marketing Evolution': 1960's Mass marketing 1970's Segmentation marketing 1980's Micro marketing 1990's Database marketing 2000's Interactive marketing Where the marketing changes have been basically led by three factors, i.e. advancements in technology, increased emphasis on customers satisfaction and retention, plus general shift from mass to micro marketing. You ought to date 1992 the first predictions on the DB marketing as a legitimate part of the marketing mix. So that year (1996) DB marketing was moving only from a period of conceptual awareness and understanding to a widespread acceptance and practice. What about that term? Database marketing is any process in which useful, relational information about prospects or customers is stored in the company's database and used to continue the relationship or stimulate sales (Stan Rapp, 1993)(³). This in Canada. As the European business culture is not a close relative to the English-American one, usually the new marketing schemes and techniques are moving from overseas to Italy as late as a decade or even more. We could think that DB marketing is just come into Italy-based SMEs and maybe today early adopters only are running it for real. If it's true then www.dmlr.org has always been a topical reference to local marketers with regards to their professional scenario known as marketing evolution. Moreover I had chosen the Internet as ideal platform where launching DMLR ten years ago, thus operating long in advance the conversion to the interactive marketing predicted early in 2000s. Anyway you truly think of www.dmlr.org, thank you for keep on joining the e-mail list or visiting the web site. The small big story of DMLR continues here... Useful resources: ¹www.downtowntoronto.com ²www.mailposte.ca ³www.stanrapp.com
II. Moo! It's awardin' time. Another year, another prize. Always virtual but meaningful award to the best webiste by www.dmlr.org. 2007 Primo Award is searching for the next gold marketing cowboy... We all know that cows are holy for marketers according to the general cash-flow rules on the product-life --see also Zoo Web pt.I. Since the world is changing ever more rapidly, many business and marketing experts have been telling us that an organization, product or service has to be designed and built in order to appear unique to the consumer's eyes the way a purple cow in a graze field would be remarkable. You're either a Purple Cow or you're not. You're either remarkable or invisible. Make your choice. What do Starbucks and JetBlue and KrispyKreme and Apple and DutchBoy and Kensington and Zespri and Hard Candy have that you don't? How do they continue to confound critics and achieve spectacular growth, leaving behind former tried- and true brands to gasp their last? Face it, the checklist of tired 'P's marketers have used for decades to get their product noticed --Pricing, Promotion, Publicity, to name a few-- aren't working anymore. There's an exceptionally important 'P' that has to be added to the list. It's Purple Cow (from the Amazon.com's book description for "Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable" by Seth Godin. Godin and other 20 great marketing thinkers are now together in a single file. Their interactive websites will be visited, reviewed, evaluated during the next days and only one of those gurus will achieve the 2007 Primo Award. Don't miss DMLR*News no.37 where you'll find all votes and details about these 21 nominees... and no cowshit!
III. Local/Global. I keep on thinking that the Internet is an ideal medium for reaching a global audience... And I keep on suprising me when I meet people running a small business, or even a local firm, who are willing to deal with their customers even through a web site. This thinking is probably wrong because every day I can properly detect many case histories of web sites run by local businesses. Let's explore the historic centre of the medium town where I'm living, because this is the most original way of getting to know how the Net help act locally and think globally! Strollin' downtown, and in an area of just 500 meters, a virtual visitor could face some commercial initiatives of very different impact, but all promoted by a Web marketing effort of a certain reliability. www.festivalfilosofia.it // highly global // The website is for a nation-wide 3-day event known as 'Festival della Filosofia'. Every September the festival takes place in different small towns of the same province (Modena) and gets support on the official site powered by Intertech Italia. Philosophy has been made lighter on public lessons held by primary and international teachers like Remo Bodei and Jeremy Rifkin. Around the main location of this public cultural event, one could (and still can) enter some shops for buying souvenirs or even products that usually are offered to a local audience. Indeed they are very small shops, taking no part in store chains, located in the oldest district and selling some traditional range of products made from artistic crafts --in order to exemplify the kind of business we are talking about. Since some small shops and enterprises have got their website, you can visit them from everywhere even if you won't go visiting the city at all. For example, www.fondazione-crmo.it // almost global // This foundation is carrying a lot of weight onto the art exhibitions that take place downtown, usually during the winter season. www.coopoltremare.it // fair global // It's possible buying via e-mail, placing an order, customizing and mixing the products, that all are coming in the town thanks to the Fair Trade organization. www.lavacchettagrassa.it // closed // Web site cancelled. A local craftsman who meets the golden rule of a typical shopping city centre, i.e. locate your shop on one of the main streets. It offers hand-made leather works. www.santeufemia26.com // absolutely local // Worth for a break, this café/bistrot is a strategic place within the ancient city walls where one starts exploring streets, lanes, and squares from. www.E35.it // under construction // Trendy objects? Well, this shop sells something else than fine workmanship, because high technology goods are always appreciated by young customers who are going downtown and searching for original surprises and brand new items. PS. Keep the virtual guide in your hand... and you could have fun just strollin'. Since I like to walk downtown when I'm not at the workplace, I look forward to seeing you there!
IV. Revival '87 (pt.II). Every year this newsletter looks after some facts happened twenty years ago within the consumer markets. This time we are holding back the year 1987. What's going down those days? [:)] Italy became the world's second producer of kiwi, after New Zealand! That year's production raised to 830,000 quintals, 66% more than the previous year. They say that many Italian farmers uprooted their vineyards in order to plant kiwis, whose price kept on moving up. The great imagine of healthy fruit gained by kiwi thanks to the marketing campaigns towards the Italian consumers, did support this little green revolution. [:(] An Italian family was being seated in front of television for 6 hours 47 minutes per day. The fact was distributed as follows: women passed 3h 59m before the small screen, being so the family record holders. Italian kids spent there 3h 32m, while men did it for 3h 18m. That average exposure by an Italian family would be a big time if compared to that of an English family (6h per day) or a French family (5h 13m), but not so much time if compared to the US American family (7h 49m). [:o] AssAP, Association of Italian Advertising Agencies, has asked Italians their opinion about advertising... Such a question, 'are you favourable or unfavourable to advertising?' The results reported tell us that only 48.5 per cent were liking it, 22.4 per cent were disliking it and 29.1 per cent were indifferent! [:o] What kind of products did Italians mostly buy by mailing? First clothes (39.3%), secondly books (20.2%), then houseware (17.7%). The main mailing catalogues reached about 1,000 billion ITL. as total amount of yearly sales! Further information on that unforgettable year on DMLR*News no.34.
V. Direct Marketing. The DIRECT MARKETING glossary is available on DMLR in a 3-document edition (PDF) you can browse here or easily download onto your desktop. It consists of 19 pages as a whole, 311 paragraphs/terms, 236 Kb, 7450 words, 44772 types! Select and print the three parts of the glossary in English from PDF::Menu. Sure the Internet has been changing the traditional snail-mail based direct marketing. And yet the Internet marketing is a consequence of the old direct marketing somehow. Many terms you'll find inside the DM glossary are suiting for the e-mail marketing too... What you don't find on the glossary are such Internet born terms as 'Search Engine', strictly related to the new medium... Well, 'search engine' is the first tool used to looking for something over the Net (information available on web sites and pages). Search engines in turn feed on by means of robots reading and indexing continuously all that has been published as Internet contents. Allowing an effective on-line search means offering a great service to web users in change of the view of some advertising elements placed on the pages delivered through the search engine, for example the query form or the informative listings. The answers are presented as a list of web locations where a specific search word, phrase or topic have been gathered during the visit to millions of web sites.
VI. Linked Resources. (I have got, and now I'm quoting it, the following introduction produced by the e-mail from the marketing officer of ArtNowOnline.com. Good reading.) Artnow Online is an art web site specially designed to promote the Art World, featuring international galleries, artists, events, museums, publications, art fairs and biennials, art schools, and more. During this time, Artnow Online has become media partner/sponsor of the most important and recognized art fairs in the world such as Art Basel, ARCO, The Armory Show, Art Brussels, FIAC, Paris Photo, Art Taipei, Art Shanghai, KIAF, Artissima, and many more. Our online magazine, The MAG, brings the latest and most accurate art news, exhibitions, and events from around the globe directly to your screen. You will also find historical masterpieces being analysed in detail and recommended art books to read. If this is not enough, our special section of Lifestyle will take you to a world of luxury, fashion and sophistication. The MAG is updated 24 hours a day, seven days a week to keep informed our large and growing online audience. Cynthia Schabauer Marketing and Subscription Coordinator Artnow International Corporation www.artnowonline.com PS. Find this web promo and other interesting linked resources at www.dmlr.org/webmarketing/LINKS.htm.
VII. MyQuiz. Which Italian law does allow to collect private data when you want to start a mailing list for delivering via e-mail a newsletter to subscribers? Find answer on www.dmlr.org/webmarketing/MYQUIZ.htm (in November). |
Roberto Dondi --word processing, HTML and the ropes.