Black Monday bests Black Friday.

Important news for retail advertisers: Black Friday is shifting to Black Monday.

Accenture recently issued a report noting an increase in online sales activity for the 2009 Christmas holiday shopping season. Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, has reigned king as the busiest retail shopping day of the year as hoards of shoppers have swarmed retail outlets at the break of dawn. Black Friday also evolved into “doorbuster day” with retailers offering loss leader items at significantly reduced pricing to boost overall store sales. This drove even more shoppers into the fray, some camping out at store fronts after putting away their Thanksgiving leftovers.

However, Black Monday entered the picture a decade ago and has been gradually eroding the brick-and-mortar sales event ever since. For sure, those who don’t relish the idea of negotiating stampedes of mall ninjas prefer the sedate world of online shopping as evidenced by 2009′s history. And those who needed the high-speed, broadband access at work to do their shopping, spiked the online activity to gargantuan proportions during lunch hours and late afternoon office breaks.

Online retailers have caught on to the “doorbuster” idea and are now offering “screenbusters” to lure shoppers to their e-commerce site. Let’s see if 2010 continues the shift toward even more dependency on online holiday shopping.

Happy Holidays!

Tags: Black Friday, Black Monday, doorbuster, e-commerce, online, online shopping, Retail, shopping, thanksgiving

Tips for making Virtual Trade Shows a success

It seems that webinars are “so 2009,” as the cover story in this week’s BtoB Magazine has proclaimed 2010 “The Year of the Virtual Event.”

In partnership with United Business Media, BtoB Magazine conducted a study last month to track use of a variety of virtual events, and to survey companies on their awareness and intended future use of these interactive techniques as part of their marketing mix.

Almost all of the 500 responders were aware of virtual events … and more than half stated that they plan to increase involvement with virtual shows in 2011.  The two main reasons cited were the show’s “spirit of innovation as a marketing tool” and their “ability to reduce sales and marketing costs.”

Continue reading

Tags: CBD, Lori Colman, virtual event, virtual trade show

What products can’t you live without?

Think about the products and services you use, the airlines you fly and the retailers you shop.  Are you a loyal consumer?  If so, to which brands … and to what extent?

NewMediaMetrics creates syndicated databases that measure the Emotional Attachments that we consumers have to the stuff we acquire.  They surveyed 3,500 consumers, ages 13 – 54 with annual incomes of $35,000+, to rate which brands they would be most unwilling to give up.  A score of 0 – 4 indicates very little emotional attachment and hence a lot of switching.  A strong rating of 9 or 10 not only means a “can’t live without” attitude, but indicates really great things, including a likelihood to repurchase, to recommend and to spend more to get the brand.  NewMediaMetrics believes that the higher the Emotional Attachment, the greater the brand’s revenue potential.

From groceries to cars to electronics, our fondness for things waxes and wanes from year to year.  It appears that Americans are more loyal to makeup and clothing than to food brands. Unlike many years, there’s not a food product to be found in the Top 20.  In fact, the very first CPG brand is Hershey’s Milk Chocolate … number 39 on the list!  The only others to even hit the Top 60 are M&M’s (46), Oreos (51), Coke (53) and Kraft Mac n Cheese (58). 

Our own (CBD’s) annual consumer research ranks 10 criteria most important to consumers when buying food and beverage.  This year, for the third in a row, Brand Name was dead last.

What’s going on here?

The economy certainly has something to do with it.  Consumers are much more willing to trade out a previously preferred food brand for one that’s less expensive.  Today’s high coupon redemption rate points to a lot of switching.  That, combined with the multitude of products, line extensions, confusing front-of-package messaging … and loyalty in the consumer packaged goods world is tough to come by.  We may be too spoiled by choice and cheap food.

Yet it’s interesting that the brands garnering the most loyalty are not the least bit inexpensive.  What do we love most?  Entertainment and communications.  Here’s the Top 10: iPod, iPhone, Disney Parks, Xbox, Microsoft Office Suite, Nintendo Wii, Honda, Sony Play Station, iPad, Google Search.

Tags: brand, CBD, Colman Brohan Davis, consumer, Customer Engagement, Lori Colman, marketing

Secrets to Getting Great Speaking Gigs: Part II

In Part I of this blog series, I provided three tips on developing a plan for obtaining speaking engagements at high-level business conferences when you know you can’t be a paid sponsor. To recap:

Secret No. 1: Speaking at a top venue is a business-building investment. Allocate resources accordingly.

Secret No. 2: Make a conference hit list and go for the gold.

Secret No.3: Stop talking to yourself. Talk to your clients. Target the vertical industry conferences frequented by the purchase decision-makers for your company’s products and services.

Those first three tips are your foundation. This post provides three more tips on dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s on your way to speaker stardom.

Secret No. 4:  Dig deep into conference research. Once you have your conference hit list, dig deeper through search. Find the most recent year’s conference online–even a year-old site will likely still be up–and review the speakers and topics. Be sure you’ll fit in.You may think you’d like to talk about topics A, B and C, but when you look at a previous agenda, you  may need to shift tactics and speak about X, Y and Z. The point is–be sure your organization, speakers and potential content are truly a fit with the conference’s interests and will be relevant to the audience that attends. Once you’ve established a fit, it’s time to identify the decision makers and get into the cycle.

While big conferences will have their own websites, many conferences are an extension of a larger venture–like a media publishing company, a trade organization or association. If you know the association or group that sponsors the conference, you can usually find the sites via the parent organization as well.

Secret No. 5: Identify the program decision-makers and be really, really nice to them.  Most big conferences have staff members with titles like Education Manager, Program Manager or Speaker Coordinators who are the main contacts and gatekeepers for speaker proposals. Sometimes you’ll deal directly with the Conference Manager. Find out who at the conference is the point person for proposals and keep them on your outreach list. Most are happy to answer questions about their process or their audience, but aren’t forthcoming with “insider” tips on getting on the podium. As a newbie, you might want to send an e-mail and introduce yourself, indicate your enthusiasm for the conference and let them know that you plan to send along a proposal or two for consideration. Be polite, be respectful, be professional. There is nothing more annoying to a busy conference staffer than a person who seems to assume a speaking engagement, or who clearly has not done enough research about the group, the conference, or the audience.

 Secret No. 6:  Play by their rules. Adhere to the proposal submission schedule and use the forms provided. Most big conferences have a strict schedule for submitting proposals, and their own forms for how they want you to do it. Many are asking for proposals a year ahead–right after one conference closes, the new proposal cycle begins. Since you want the favor of a speaking engagement and you do not plan to be a sponsor, you need to be aware of their schedules and stick to them. Use the forms provided on the site, or the format requested. If it’s a science or education-based conference, proposals are often in the form of an abstract. Other conferences want to know the top three things their attendees will learn. Others want you to detail your unique content. Each one is different. Play by the rules, do what is requested and be thorough and complete in what you submit.

In my next and last post in this series, I’ll cover speech content  (not only is content King, when its proprietary content, it’s the Emperor); what your presentation looks like and, last but not least, the importance of developing  your “speaker style.”

Tags: B2B Marketing, business speaking tips, CBD, CBD Marketing, Colman Brohan Davis, how to get business speaking engagements, how to get speaking gigs, Jean Ban, public relations, speaker tips, speaking at business conferences