Good user experience (UX) design has a critical impact on your brand
Poor user experience design can actually be fatal to your brand. A good user experience builds brand equity with every interaction, while a poor one erodes brand equity. Consumers are expecting more...
View ArticleWeather the storm when competitors innovate
One of the biggest challenges any marketer faces is knowing how swiftly or strongly to react when the competition introduces something new. This article will provide you with a simple framework for how...
View ArticleSpecialty brand in-store displays go digital
We’ve been in the specialty brand business for nearly 30 years, and in that time we’ve seen an explosion in the number of choices available in the way these products are marketed to shoppers. This...
View ArticleWhat is a category enthusiast?
Category enthusiasts are critical to specialty brands, and we have been studying them and why they’re so important for quite a while. Years in fact. This article will first explain what the category...
View ArticleParalyzed by too many choices
The number of products on shelves, the number of options we have in our daily lives is beginning to paralyze us. Shoppers are walking out of stores or leaving websites – frustrated, unsatisfied and...
View ArticleIncrease sales from people who are moving
Each year about 15-20% of your customers – about 40 million people in the U.S. – will move (about 16 million of them move outside their previous counties). Those moves are a potential gold mine for...
View ArticleThe importance of neighborhood culture
"Think globally and act locally." It's a catchy and wise-sounding phrase one hears thrown about and seems to be a good thing for any company to do. Most businesspeople understand and desire the 'think...
View ArticleIf opportunity doesn't Knock, build a door
Milton Berle may have been a comedian of the '50s and '60s, but his quote about opportunity knocking speaks to many of those facing retail challenges today. Just how does a retailer look at change...
View ArticlePick up a mop
Improving retail performance is on everybody’s mind these days, what with the economy and lots of stores, restaurants and retail outlets struggling or even being shuttered. So how can you turn your own...
View ArticleWill marketers have a new reality too?
I recently read an advice column by Carolyn Hax (yeah, I know) that contained a remarkable suggestion. The subject had cheated on his girlfriend, yet through hard work regained her trust to a point...
View ArticleIs specialty still special?
For the past couple of years, all we’ve heard about is an economic Armageddon. Research companies started using terms such as “value-conscious,” “staycation” and “conscientious cost cutters” to help...
View ArticleCustomer APP-reciation
I have been amazed at the speed and breadth of the change underway in mobile devices. Truth be told, as a marketer I’m quite worried about this rapid change because of its potential influence on...
View ArticlePremature neuromarketing
“We’ve got to think outside of the box!” This is a common exclamation, heard almost every time a marketing department faces the wrath of an executive not happy with the company’s performance. We’ve all...
View ArticlePeople hate brands (but they really don't have to)
As technology and mobile devices march ever forward, brands out there – the big and the small – are coming under increasing fire. After all, within moments of hearing about something a company or...
View ArticleWhat specialty brands can learn from art
I had the privilege recently of helping a local non-profit art center think about their brand and develop a strategy for increasing the support and use of their facility. They were facing a significant...
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