Paul Provost
President
6P Marketing

Using Weather to Increase Sales and Productivity

It's late August and absolutely smouldering as I write this article. Summer 2010 has been hot, humid, rainy and even haily (not a real word). The heat has got me thinking about how important temperature is to marketing, sales and workplace productivity here in a city with such extreme, varied weather.

Although we often feel that weather is uncontrollable, the truth is that there are many ways we can work with the weather to maximize results. Regardless of industry or location, weather has a huge effect on both customer behaviour and employee productivity. The key is finding ways to make it work for you, not against you.

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Frank Wehrmann
Brand Strategist
6P Marketing

The correct answer is: It all depends.

Here are a few things to consider before committing to a summer sales event:

1. If you sell a ‘summer’ product the answer is no

Your summer advertising should focus on the benefits of your product or service. Remember: sustained price-point advertising trains customers to shop for the price, not the best value. Best price is not a brand loyalty anchor.

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Here is a study by Forrester Research documenting interesting trends in the world of web analytics. Full document here...

Adam Levy
Account Manager / Special Projects
6P Marketing

You see it time and time again. You or a friend becomes passionate about a company or a brand, and want to find out more about them; you immerse yourself in their culture, receive interesting news and updates from them, and maybe even a special offer every once in a while. You subscribe to their e-mail newsletters, visit their website (which is hopefully current), and want to hit them up on Facebook or Twitter. Last update: October 2009. Bummer.

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Frank Wehrmann
Brand Strategist      
6P Marketing

On May 28th the iPad arrived in Winnipeg and because I had the day off, I took some time to look at what one reviewer calls “the ultimate middle-class gadget”. For an hour I explored it and watched others do so as well. By the time I got to the store by mid-afternoon, price sensitive early adopters had snapped up all the affordable 16GB and 32GB models, leaving sales people no choice but to flog the 64GB iPad at an all in price close to $1,000.  


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Paul Provost
Principal      
6P Marketing

Developing professional, effective marketing strategies starts with improving team organization. Whether you employ an internal marketing team, outsource to one or more agencies or utilize a combination of both, great marketing starts with a well-organized team.

Great people lead to great marketing.

The start of the process is reviewing your company’s past marketing performance to determine where your company succeeded and where you failed. Did you meet past goals and targets? Are you proud of the marketing communications you presented? Next, it’s time to complete an in-depth analysis of your marketing team and organizational structure, as well as future goals. You can then assess the options available to your organization, and begin to choose the structure that works best for you.

Here is a short step-by-step guide designed to help you build your great marketing team:

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By Paul Provost
Founder of 6P Marketing

Many companies originally set up their websites as a means to advertise and promote their products or services. These Brochure Sites are static, online versions of the company’s new business presentation – an online brochure.

More recently, websites like eBay, blogs, and social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn increased the demand from  organizations, who are usually not computer literate, to build dynamic websites with content that they could quickly and easily update with new information and features.

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Frank Wehrmann
Brand Strategist      
6P Marketing

So I went to the WAG last month to see the Warner Brothers exhibit. What I went for and what I left with are two very different things: it’s the kind of moment brand managers, like me, really live for.

What I went to see: A few of my old childhood friends: Daffy Duck, The Road Runner, Bugs Bunny, Foghorn leghorn – and more.

What I left with: A whole new appreciation for brand management.

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Frank Wehrmann Brand Strategist       6P Marketing I got my 1st valentine from Billy Buckley the class bully. Like many other kids in the class he got a book of them and passed them out to friends and foes. Looking back on those days, getting the most valentines was a whole lot like having the most friends on Facebook. Some things never change…

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What? A new ketchup packet?

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Let Passion drive you ----

Have you ever witnessed someone passionate about a product or service they were offering?

Perhaps it was a genuinely friendly smile and hello from the Walmart greeter or the unexpected follow up from the service/sales rep for a product you recently purchased. It doesn’t happen often, does it? It is oftentimes empowering, inspiring and motivating.

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by Kara Trivunovic
Published on November 3, 2009

When the weather gets warm, we Midwesterners really enjoy hanging out with our neighbors and having a cold drink.

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by Alex Williams
Published on October 27, 2009

The holiday season is the most important time of year for retailers, when aggressive goals are set for increased traffic and sales, both in-store and online. Email marketing is a powerful tool that retailers can use to build their brands and increase sales during that crucial period.

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by Steve Adams
Published on May 5, 2009

A great-looking email template is important for establishing credibility and brand recognition with readers; but, as the old saying goes, never judge a book by its cover.

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by Laura Patterson
Published on December 22, 2009

There has been more discussion about cross-channel analytics as more organizations leverage both digital and traditional vehicles in their communication mix.

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by Mike Volpe
Originally published on August 19, 2008

People have not stopped buying things, so how are they researching and purchasing products since they have made themselves immune to old marketing techniques like banner ads and direct mail?

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by Paul Chaney
Published on November 17, 2009

The following article is based on an excerpt from The Digital Handshake: Seven Proven Strategies to Grow Your Business Using Social Media (www.thedigitalhandshake.com).

Much the same way a power company connects homes and businesses with electricity, Facebook is a "social utility" designed to facilitate connections between people as well as businesses.

Accordingly, it can be highly useful as a business tool. This article addresses various ways that businesses can market using Facebook.

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by Paul Chaney
Published on November 3, 2009

An ancient proverb states that a "cord of three strands is not easily broken." By way of analogy, I hypothesize that the more individual connections to a person, the stronger your overall relationship with that person.

In constructing my social graph (i.e., my network of connections), I build relationships at three sites: LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. In some cases, I have connections with people on all three networks.

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by Paul Chaney
Published on December 1, 2009

I want to share a 10-step game plan for social-network involvement that I think will work for you. You don't have to think of these steps as commandments; rather, they are practical guidelines that will make you a better member of the social-networking communities in which you participate.

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Have you ever gone to a website and had a difficult time finding what you're looking for, so you end up leaving?  The same thing can happen with your registration form.  The first thing people see when they land on your registration form is the top of the page.  So you’ll want to make a great first impression and provide all necessary information for them to complete their registration.

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By Paul McKeon
Published on November 10, 2009

Rudolf Melik is a modest man, but he is also a thought leader.

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by Jerry Bader
Published on October 13, 2009

"My mechanic told me he couldn't repair my brakes so he made my horn louder."
—Steven Wright, comedian

We all want our websites to be more effective, and if you're like most businesspeople you are constantly searching the Web for anything that will help.

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By: Dennis Overbye, NY Times
Date: December 10, 2009

Tiny spitfires of energy blossomed under the countryside outside Geneva late Tuesday night, heralding the arrival of a new European particle collider as the biggest, baddest physics machine in the world.

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By: Sonia Simone

Last Friday I was in Atlanta, where I gave a talk on social media marketing at Dan Kennedy’s InfoSUMMIT conference.

I’m something of a fish out of water at a Glazer-Kennedy event. For example, unlike at Blogworld, I’m the only person in a room of 800 who has pink hair.

I wasn’t sure they’d be too receptive to what I had to say, but they surprised me.

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Tweeting no more? First, spectacular growth. Then a summertime slowdown. And now, in fall 2009, US traffic to Twitter.com is declining.

According to data provided to eMarketer by Nielsen, traffic to Twitter.com was down a dramatic 27.8% between September and October 2009, falling to 18.9 million unique visitors. Nielsen is the latest in a list of research firms reporting declines at Twitter.com. comScore said unique visitors were down 8.1% in October, while Compete reported a 2.1% decline.

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A marketing communications company (or marcom) will work with you to grow your business and achieve your business goals.

Marcom's can provide you with services that cover all stages of your business marketing cycle. These services include market research, logo design and branding, development and implementation of strategic marketing plans, design and production services for creating your advertising collateral, and evaluation of all elements of your existing marketing strategies.

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Following are the top 10 most useful and time-saving tools for internet marketing and SEO.

1. Google Analytics

A quality statistical tracking program is essential in reaching a website’s peak performance; knowing which websites and search terms bring you the most traffic can show you what to optimize for. Maybe your ‘Top 10′ lists are the most successful, if so you might choose to write more of them to maximize your traffic. Google Analytics is one of my favorite statistical tracking programs.

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