The other night I was watching Miracle on 34th Street, the unfortunate color version, and it got me to thinking. No, not about my blog post from last year (shameless plug for interested readers) but about customer service in general. The importance of ongoing communication with your brand ambassadors in the social space is almost immeasurable. Done well and you can have customers for life. Done poorly and you’re looking at nothing but coal tucked in your stocking and thrown at your head. This is pretty much agreed upon across all industries. So then why do some industries spend so much time ducking and weaving and so little time conversing?
There are a variety of factors that contribute to being socially challenged. Take highly regulated industries like pharma, finance, and healthcare for instance. Maintaining compliant yet engaging language can be tough. What’s more, reaching out to followers after listening to their tweets and posts can be even trickier. Tricky but not impossible. Compliance driven brands can develop and sustain meaningful relationships with customers by doing something they are not entirely familiar with – sharing thoughts and updates that have nothing to do with them. Companies in these sectors, especially in recent... Read more
Tagged 'holidays' 
Back-to-School, Halloween…Christmas: I miss Thanksgiving
It’s become the standard, yearly routine. Summer ends, children go back to school and we buy costumes and carve pumpkins for Halloween. Then it’s on to Christmas, decorating the tree and lots of holiday shopping. But wait – What happened to Thanksgiving?
It seems like any Thanksgiving celebration is now overshadowed by radio stations beginning to play Christmas carols months in advance, Starbucks introducing red holiday cups on November 1 and stores decking the halls in October. And, if Black Friday wasn’t enough of a shopper’s paradise, the biggest shopping day of the year has been extended beyond just Cyber Monday and now includes deals and steals on Thanksgiving Day! Are people really enjoying the holidays anymore or are they already moving on to the next celebration? Do consumers want to forgo their Thanksgiving holiday to shop?
Many retailers seem to think (and hope) so. Stores that extended their hours last year saw an average increase in sales of 22 percent, according to chief retail analyst at NPD Group, Marshal Cohen. Therefore, Walmart, Sears and Toys “R” Us are all opening their doors on Thanksgiving Day at 8:00 p.m. to capture extra holiday sales, and Target will be opening at 9:00 p.m.
Personally... Read more
'Tis the Season: Top 10 Tips for Designing Holiday & Limited Edition Packaging
Holidays and other special occasions provide brands with a license to put aside their typical constraints and innovate—great news for brand marketers. It’s also an opportunity to drive incredible sales performance. Here are 10 tips for designing holiday and limited edition packaging.
Holiday apps can be risky
With the Christmas season upon us, brands in every industry are looking for ways to capitalize on the holidays – particularly in the mobile space. A lot of businesses are rushing to create a seasonal app that offers a fun or unique holiday feature – like carols, pictures or easy ways to shop and share, in an attempt to gain exposure during this festive time of year. However, many don’t understand that creating a seasonal app that lacks a plan for longevity is actually more damaging to brand equity than having not created an app at all.
There are a number of reasons why season apps that are rushed to market can be risky for a brand, including:
Post-holiday obsolescence: When companies stop updating an app after the holiday is over, the icon sits idle on a user’s device until deleted. Apps that are visible but un-usable can create a negative association with any brand.
Rushed timeline: Holiday-themed apps are often based on short-term thinking and not necessarily quality. Submitting something that isn’t polished to the App store, for example, can damage your reputation with Apple and taint future submissions of your more long term projects.
High cost: Brands that change their apps to fit... Read more
