Manufacturing’s Like the Weather: Marketers Should Look for Warming Trends
This time of year it’s tough to decide what to wear. One day it’s warm; the next, it’s almost sub-zero. The manufacturing ‘rebound’ seems to be following the same pattern: good news heats up, then cools down. This week’s news from Caterpillar – where earnings exceeded estimates by 28% – helped shore up stock prices […]
Manufacturning Loses 23 Trade Mags. Now What?
Manufacturers who’ve been counting on advertising in trade journals have just had their promotional options cut significantly. Yesterday Reed Business Information announced it was shutting down 23 magazines. That’s in addition to eight titles it sold previously to Sandow Media and two others (Library Journal and School Library Journal) sold to Media Source Inc. The company blamed declining […]
Who Needs a Crises Communications Plan?
You do. Let me repeat that: If you’re operating in today’s modern world providing products, services, information or advice to others, YOU need a communications plan for emergencies and crises that might befall you. It’s even more important today when everyone’s a citizen journalist, filmmaker, or photographer with access to the global publishing platform called “the Internet.” When […]
Manufacturing: Canary in the Coal Mine?
Sing, birdie, sing. On April 4th, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ran an article by Harold D. Miller, entitled “Ripple Effect: Manufacturing Job Drop Has Wide Ramifications.” The story detailed the number of jobs lost because of the recession in the last two years (28,600) with 35% of them occurring in the manufacturing sector. “In fact, manufacturing accounted […]
Hey Manufacturing! Stop Whining. Start Marketing.
Last week U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner met with United Steelworkers and US Steel, and visited a local factory where Allegheny Technologies produces specialty metal plates. He was trying to point out that heavy industry can succeed in the US even with tough competition from abroad. Geithner said the sector “will play a critical role in helping to spur our […]
Infographic Explains How Online Sweepstakes Work
Marketers are always looking for innovative ways to drive interest in their products and programs. With email in-boxes getting more and more saturated with promotions that are turning customers ‘off,’ online sweepstakes is a great alternative to more traditional marketing channel strategies as a way to turn customers back ‘on.’ Case in point: When Bay Area […]
University Uses e-Surveys to Build Business Case for New Programs
Bowie State University’s new Visual Communication & Digital Media Arts (VCDMA) Program – formerly a loosely-organized “computer graphics art concentration” – is an official degree program today, thanks to thoughtful use of Ennect e-surveys by University administrators. Bowie State used the online surveys to gather data to validate interest and make its business case. “Five years ago, when I […]