Author Archives: jeff_molander

“… I wonder if Starbucks has a much bigger problem: its most important brand attribute was a flush economy. Maybe the strength it most relied upon might have been actualized within the four walls of its stores, but it drew on a quality that was outside the stores, and beyond every definition of its brand.” [...]

Fundamental elements of the customer-marketer relationship are changing faster than retailers can adapt. In fact, they’ve already changed! While it seems obvious most of us are only beginning to appreciate something important: How customers interact via the Web with a brand is an experience. Ok… seems obvious but let’s frame it in a new light [...]

Successful, Daring Marketers are Focusing on Authentic Forms of Persuasion to Win & Keep Customers. Customers today have access to so much content — and have so many ways to gather news and information — that the likelihood of your corporate message penetrating the clutter is virtually nil. Instead, if you engage the audience in [...]

Should your company be involved with multiple affiliate networks? Why or why not? If so, how does it work technically — from a tracking, reporting and optimization perspective? I recently asked these questions to a group of veteran online affiliate marketing experts and got some surprising answers. Some were strongly ‘pro’ and others were firmly [...]

A new breed of American worker is challenging everything the old guard holds sacred: from giving orders, to dress codes. They are called “millennials.” Join a panel of experts as they candidly discuss this hot-button issue. Who are these people, really, and is what we hear in the media really true? To what degree and to what degree is this being over-sensationalized? What ARE the expectations of the people entering our workforce and are they out of line with those who are in need of hiring them?