By Holly Buchanan Google “worst customer service stories” and you’ll get 4,090,000 results. I was actually surprised the number wasn’t higher. We’ve all had horrible experiences with companies and products. The question is, after a bad experience, would you do business with that company again? And are women different from men? Are women more likely […]
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Archive | March, 2010
Creativity is the fingerprint of a brand
March 30, 2010 
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by Tony Fannin, President, BE Branded In my blog, I’ve addressed branding and advertising from a business and marketing point of view. I not only believe strongly in marketing and branding, but I truly love the game. Business is exciting to me. I want to start addressing, ever so often, the other side of marketing, […]
Read moreToo much data can be a hinderance to great marketing
March 25, 2010 1 Comment
by Tony Fannin, President, BE Branded Research is a great tool. I’m a believer in its power and insight. If used properly, it can generate overwhelming momentum that can sweep the competition. In today’s world of real-time analytics and access to mountains of data, I see many marketing efforts becoming stale, uninspiring, and as a […]
Read moreBrands still mean something at WalMart
March 22, 2010 0 Comments
by Tony Fannin, President, BE Branded Here is an interesting, real-time case about the power of brand. WalMart started to slim its shelves of brands across the board and began only carrying a few different brands, including their own Great Value brand. They believed that people really didn’t care what trash bag they bought as long as […]
Read moreHow much to budget for marketing?
March 18, 2010 0 Comments
by Tony Fannin, President, BE Branded I recently gave a talk about marketing principles to a group of successful CEO’s and entrepreneurs. One of the points was “How much to invest in marketing when developing a budget.” Setting marketing budgets is more art than science. It’s about predicting the future and what it would take […]
Read moreIs Google turning old school?
March 15, 2010 0 Comments
by Tony Fannin, President, BE Branded Recently, Google announced a joint venture with DISH Network. Google will have access to your viewing habits via the DISH box wired to your TV set. This is a very bold move into traditional media. I think it is the next logical step for them. What I find interesting is […]
Read moreEven Google believes in brand marketing.
March 8, 2010 0 Comments
by Tony Fannin, President, BE Branded I’ve been noticing an interesting strategy unfolding over the last few months. Google seems to believe in brand marketing. I know that’s heresy for some, but it’s really smart business by Google. Before, they were the poster child of word-of-mouth, much like Starbucks. They were also the evangelists who […]
Read moreKnow why you’re doing social media.
March 4, 2010 0 Comments
by Tony Fannin, President, BE Branded I recently attended a meeting where the subject was about social media and its ROI. I heard things like, “We need to get at least 50,000 followers in 5 days,” or “Our goal is to get 10,000 people to become fans of our page.” That’s all well and good, but where […]
Read moreWhat does The Apprentice have to teach us about business?
March 1, 2010 0 Comments
by Tony Fannin, President, BE Branded I’m a fan of The Apprentice, mainly the first several seasons. One of the things that attracted me to the show was that the task for each team in the competition was focused on business basics. The tasks showed who understood the basic fundamentals and who didn’t: setting a […]
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