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Brand

Top 500 Franchises of 2009 from Entrepreneur.com

Each year, Entrepreneur.com compiles a list of the top 500 franchises.  Year after year, the list remains fairly similar, but I was particularly interested in taking a look at the list this year. 

Given the tumultuous economy that is affecting most of the world, I wanted to see which brands were still leading the franchise pack, so to speak.  I imagined brands related to real estate would lose some ground, while iconic brands like McDonald’s would stand their ground.  Let’s take a look at how the list of the Top 500 Franchises shook out for 2009 according to Entrepreneur.com. [Read more…] about Top 500 Franchises of 2009 from Entrepreneur.com

Can a Brand Get Too Big?

I read an interesting post today on the Branding Strategy Insider blog that made the case that bigger brands don’t necessarily have better marketers behind them than smaller brands do.  Mark Ritson wrote in his post about how his consulting experience over the years has proven that smaller brands are just as likely to have marketers of similar capabilities and knowledge as bigger brands.  I have to agree with Mark but from a slightly different perspective.

My experience in Corporate America, working for some of the largest companies in the world, and in working with smaller companies through my own marketing company has shown me that marketing and branding talent can be found behind brands of all sizes.  The difference typically comes from the support behind those people. [Read more…] about Can a Brand Get Too Big?

Consumers Trust Corporate Blogs Least of All

A new report from Forrester Research, tells us that only 16% of online consumers trust corporate blogs, putting corporate blogs at the bottom of the trust scale, lower even than personal blogs. 

That’s not good.  However, it definitely reinforces what bloggers already knew but corporate executives have trouble believing – blogs that simply regurgitate corporate rhetoric are useless.  So what’s a company to do?  How do you create a corporate blog that’s actually useful?

There are a number of companies that have launched successful corporate blogs, but they’ve done it by listening to consumers.  Companies like Dell and Apple have turned their blogs into customer service portals and places where real conversations take place.  Rather than simply speaking at consumers through their corporate blogs, Dell, GM and Apple have embraced the main purpose of blogging by creating a communications device that speaks with consumers, values customer opinions, listens to customers and responds to them.  Rather than simply delivering marketing messages, the information on these blogs is useful and helpful to consumers. [Read more…] about Consumers Trust Corporate Blogs Least of All

Websites Play Major Role in Customer Satisfaction and Brand Loyalty

A new study by Foresee Results shows that consumer product websites can have a significant impact on customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.  If you’re having trouble selling your executives on the importance of investing on a great website, then take these results into your next meeting.

When compared with less satisfied website visitors, satisfied visitors are:

  • 81% more likely to return to the website
  • 109% more likely to recommend the website
  • 59% more likely to recommend the product
  • 73% more likely to purchase online
  • 41% more likely to purchase offline [Read more…] about Websites Play Major Role in Customer Satisfaction and Brand Loyalty

    • New Study Shows Brands Have 60 Seconds to Deliver a Message

    We all know that brands have mere seconds to deliver key messages before consumers move on.  New research from Tube Mogul proves that fact by providing the percentage of an audience that sticks around while watching videos.  Here are the findings:

    • After 10 seconds: 89.61% of the audience continues to watch
    • After 20 seconds: 80.41% of the audience continues to watch
    • After 30 seconds: 66.16% of the audience continues to watch
    • After 60 seconds: 46.44% of the audience continues to watch
    • After 2 minutes: 23.71% of the audience continues to watch
    • After 3 minutes: 16.62% of the audience continues to watch
    • After 5 minutes: 9.42% of the audience continues to watch

    What do these statistics tell us?  If your video is longer than a minute, don’t bother.  Best case scenario – keep your videos under 30-seconds or at the very least, make sure your most important messages are included within the first 30-seconds – including your call to action. [Read more…] about New Study Shows Brands Have 60 Seconds to Deliver a Message

    The Amazing Reach of Apple iTunes

    I have to admit that I had no idea Apple iTunes was so big internationally.  In the comScore Consumer World Metrix Report, I learned that nearly 25% of Japanese Internet users accessed Apple iTunes during the month of August 2008.  That’s one out of every 4 people who use the Internet in Japan or 13.5 million Apple iTunes users.  Now, that’s a significant statistic.

    Globally, the reach of Apple iTunes is at 11.2%, so clearly, there is something to be said for how Apple markets its products internationally.  Other countries reported similar Apple iTunes reach statistics. 

    Check out the Apple iTunes stats from comScore below: [Read more…] about The Amazing Reach of Apple iTunes