Many estimates have been made as to the number of advertising messages the average American sees each day and the numbers range from about 150 to 5000. It is hard to pin the exact number down because it is hard to define what an advertising message is. When…
Market penetration pricing is one of the most easily recognizable strategies in business. When you see some company offering a “Special introductory offer,” they are probably engaging in penetration pricing. This strategy involves setting a super low price for a good or service in hopes that you will…
Apple has executed the skimming pricing strategy with great results. Each time the company – and most other tech firms – introduce a new product, they will charge the highest price that they know customers will pay. As those early adopters are satisfied, the price is lowered, following…
Price optimization is one of the most important factors in revenue management and price management. This term refers to the maximum price your company can charge for a product or service and achieve maximum sales. For example, if your company specializes in selling widgets and you’re charging $11.99…
MSN Money teams with Zogby, an international polling firm, each year to create its MSN Money Customer Service Hall of Fame. The list takes into account a poll in which Zogby asked customers whether a company’s customer service was bad, fair, good, or excellent. The 2011 Hall of…
In business we often hear comforting little idioms meant to inspire confidence. Little phrase like “dream big” or “aim high” inspire confidence in business owners who feel their fledgling company is ready to take on the big bad corporate world. But I call foul on these sayings. There…
Apple’s Q1 revenue for 2012 was a staggering $46.33 billion, a figure that broke all sorts of records. It was the highest revenue the company had ever seen and included the highest profit and highest iPhone sales ever. $46.33 billion is certainly an impressive number but even more…
Marketing used to be simple. A company placed an ad, sent a piece of direct mail or got listed in the Yellow Pages. Customers came – and bought. If the products didn’t live up to the advertised promises, customers might write a complaint letter or complain to their…
The fact that Pinterest is something of a phenomenon should not be news to anyone with an Internet connection. Experian, a marketing service, recently declared Pinterest the third most popular social network. Our friends at Shopify recently published a great infographic visualization describing how Pinterest drives online sales.…
Most small business ecommerce merchants send automated emails to their customers to notify when an order ships. How personal should you make those emails? Here is an example. (via 37Signals) Do customers like such personal language in the notification email? The opinion seems to be mixed according to the…