Eliminate The Negative.

I've written before about the importance of eliminating mistakes rather than looking for the next big thing.



It sounds negative, but I still contend it's not about being risk-averse, it's about avoiding delusion. All too often, marketers' career ambition leads them to seek the heinous wow factor. The intention is to startle and dazzle, but I'm not convinced that customers are looking for that.



And anyway, that's not what they truly absorb. It may temporarily blind them, but then their eyes clear and they notice the minor irritations that are foisted upon them day in day out. It is those irritations that build into their true sense of your "brand".



To eliminate those negatives is to be truly customer-centric via the provision of enduring improvement. So, as Doc Searls restated it recently, "can you identify your core incompetencies?"

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Friday's Marketing 5 Shorts and Sweets

I don't know about you, but this week has been information overload. From worries about the imploding stock market to the roller coaster ride as it recovers, I'm ready for some short, sweet and inspiring news to get me in the mood for the week's end.

Here are 5 short and sweet marketing bits that I thought worth sharing this week:

[READ] Boring Meeting Suck (Here are some ways to kill them for good.)
Your fourth hour-long meeting of the day may have convinced you that all meetings are useless and hopelessly, irrevocably boring.
Not so, says Jon Petz in his recently published Boring Meetings Suck. In his world, meetings are productive events at which information is shared, perspective is offered and everyone emerges better for having been there. They are also quick and even rare.

I especially love the idea of rotating meeting hosts.
Presumably, those attending your staff meetings are department heads or hold some type of unique responsibilities/position. So why not give all the leaders within your business a chance to actually flex those leadership muscles? You can even use this as a team building and employee education exercise, because holding meetings within the confines of other departments can give you a better perspective on the demands and challenges they face on a daily basis.


[READ] 7 Ways to Inspire Others
Conventional wisdom tells us that we cannot change people. The results of our attempts to direct different actions, behaviors and thoughts will not be immediate, guaranteed or precisely as we envisioned. But you and I can be agents of transformation for our colleagues, employees, business partners, mentees and customers. Here are 7 ways to inspire others to become better.


[VIEW] Infographics: The Marketing Hourglass (Duct Tape Marketing)
It’s not a marketing funnel, it’s an hourglass, and what happens after the “know, like and trust” that leads to your sales will make the difference in whether your customers buy again, buy other products or trust you enough to refer their family and friends to your business. Don’t miss the graphic at the bottom, which gives you an idea of several types of offers that should be part of your core product or service menus.


[READ] 7 Ways to Reward Customers with Shipping Perks
You might not be able to soak up all shipping costs, but there are other ways to reward your customers with shipping perks; here are 7.


[READ] 3 Key Elements of Email Subject Lines
Rumors of the death of email marketing have been greatly exaggerated. Email is still the way to go in many lucrative mainstream niches. You must first, of course, get your emails read. And it all starts with the subject line.


Want more? Here's a link to last week's Friday's 5 [click here].

Or subscribe to my newsletters to have more inspiration and links to great articles delivered right to your inbox, generally no more than once each week.

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make under - not over - your brand

So often we make the mistake of thinking that our brand needs a "makeover" when what it really needs is a "make-under".

If you aren't building a bigger role for your business in the lives of your clients, if customers don't seem to want to refer friends and family to you, if they aren't inspired by the greater purpose of your business in the community or the causes you support — if they just aren't excited about your business much at all — let's face it, you have a real problem.

If that's the case, it would be easy to think that you need to redesign, refresh or totally renovate your brand. But before you expend the time, energy and money it will take to make over your brand, try a makeunder, instead.

Here's what I mean:

Make decisions about your business underneath the umbrella of your brand. Create offers and design communications that fall underneath the spirit and promises that exist in your mission and vision statements. Make hiring decisions that support the promises that your business makes to its customers, and which fall underneath your long range plans. Set company policies that reinforce your brand's personality; in other words, which fall under the tone and culture that you want to define your brand. And create a marketing plan for your business which is designed to communicate your brand — the story of your business, the mission and vision, your values and core objectives, the greater good that you do in the community and for the local economy — to your customers.

You might actually already have a spectacular "brand" (I hope that you, at least, believe this to be true!) But if you aren't communicating what is at the core, heart and soul of your business, people will never be able to really see it or connect with you or your business. It's like being out on a first date with someone but never telling them about yourself, what you believe in or what you want for the future. You've got to give people a chance to fall in love with your business!

Build a bigger role for your business in the lives of your clients—it's going to be a great year!


Don't miss Monday's e-mail newsletter which will include more original content. [Click here] to subscribe. It's free, you can opt out any time, and I probably won't bother you more than once each week!

Elizabeth Kraus – 12monthsofmarketing.com
365 Days of Marketing is available on amazon.com in book and digital formats.

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Strong Earnings From Cisco, Kohls Boost Stocks

The market got some good news this morning on both the corporate and economic front. Moreover, there has been a pause in the selling pressure on Europe after a meeting with Merkel and Sarkozy was announced. There were also rumors in the market that Italy and France had banned short-selling, but that rumor has not been confirmed.



While Asian markets were lower overnight, European markets have bounced this morning.



In economic news, jobless claims for the week fell below 400,000 for the first time in four months. So that is good news on the jobs front.



In corporate news, strong earnings from Cisco (CSCO) have boosted that stock by +15% and emboldened dip buyers in the Nasdaq. Kohl's (KSS) also reported strong numbers, which is boosting retail stocks. All 10 economic sectors are higher today, led by a snapback in financials.



The flight-to-safety trade is being taken off slightly today, as gold prices have fallen back to $1757, and Treasuries are being sold for the first time in weeks. That has pushed the 10-year yield to a still very low 2.23%, up 9 bps on the day.



The volatility index is down only 5% today, despite the major indexes up nearly 3% so far. That is not as big of a drop as I would like to see, and probably indicates we still have some big swings ahead of us.



Oil prices are still higher today at $83.65.



Trading comment: The market is still chopping around and trying to build some support levels from which to stage a bigger bounce. It is good that we have held the recent lows from this week, but we have not been able to take out any overhead resistance levels yet. I would like to see the S&P 500 take out the SPX 1172 level to signal more upside. I have raised a little cash, but would look to do another round of selling if we could rally closer to 1200. I think the market is likely to be rangebound for awhile, with SPX 1100 acting as the lower band, and something like SPX 1200-1250 serving as the upper. But first we have to see if the market can rally towards those levels. My guess is its going to take some good news out of Europe that they are taking steps to get their arms around the debt issues and perceived credit crunch.

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Volatility Picking Up

The market is lower again today following yesterday's strong rally. The market sold off following the FOMC's announcement yesterday, but then the Dow rallied furiously into the close, tacking on 600 points in a little over an hour. At the close, the stock market had put together its best single-session since March 2009.



But this morning the attention has once again turned to Europe, and the fears about strains on their banking system. Today the worry is focused on France, whose large bank stocks are taking a hit. Investors don't like banking crises, so the nervousness is understandable.



As for the volatility index (VIX), it came down sharply yesterday back down to the 35 level. But today it is up over 20% again and topping 43. Its high close was Monday at 48.



A lot of comparisons have been made between the market this year vs. the market in 2008 or 1987. I tend to think it is more like 1987 as opposed to 2008. Our banks and companies are much better capitalized today than in 2008, there is much less leverage in the system, and the real estate bubble is behind us not in front of us. We have had a shock to the markets, a la 1987, but the remainder of the year should be more of a trading rangebound environment, imo.



Asian markets were able to muster small gains overnight, but not as strong as our bounce yesterday.



The dollar is up today, but that is not hurting oil and gold. Oil prices are just over $80, while gold has once again risen to new highs near $1779.



The 10-year yield has now fallen all the way to 2.11%. Yesterday the FOMC said it would hold rates at low levels until mid-2013. For bond traders, that meant they now know with certainty that interest rate hikes are not coming, and that gave them confidence to rush into longer-dated Treasury securities. The downside is that the hunt for reasonable yields just became even tougher.



Trading comment: As I mentioned the other day, we used yesterday's bounce to trim some underperforming positions. You don't have to try to catch the ultimate low in the market. Usually the market hits a low, stages a nice bounce, but then comes back down to retest the lows. And it is on that retest that one usually finds a better, lower-risk buying opportunity. So we want to remain defensive, and hold above average cash balances until we get to that point.

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Market Finally Bounces

The markets are finally enjoying a respite from the selling and bouncing this morning. Asian markets were lower overnight, and when I went to bed last night our futures were pointing to a lower open. But the selling finally dried up, and those futures were pointing to a higher open by this morning.



Europe's markets are also bouncing slightly, save for Germany which is still down a bit as of this post. Germany has been Europe's best performing market, so it is a little disconcerting to see it still down. Hopefully Asian markets will rally tonight.



The FOMC will make its announcement later today, and investors are on the edge of their seat to see what Bernanke will or will not say regarding future monetary stimulus. I don't think he will say anything that hints of QE3, but hopefully he will say something to sooth the markets. Bernanke wants a positive wealth effect, so I'm sure he hasn't been pleased with recent market action.



The dollar is lower today, which is boost commodities. Oil prices have bounced near $81.90, while gold prices hit record highs earlier but have pulled back to $1724 recently.



The 10-year yield is up slightly from its recent plunge, trading at 2.38% currently. That's about the levels it touched back in October 2010.



As for the volatility index (VIX), it has basically doubled in the last week, and yesterday it surged an astounding 50% to close at 48.0. Today is is down -13% near 41.65, but still elevated.



Trading comment: The market is currently more oversold than it was at the March 2009 bottom. That is pretty surprising. Moreover, yesterday saw 67 declining stocks for every 1 that rose. My statistician friend told me that is the lowest breadth seen since Germany invaded France in 1940! That means almost no one alive trading today has seen anything like what we witnessed yesterday. I long for the days when big brokerage firms used to actually make 2-way markets in stocks. I hope the SEC looks into this issue and comes up with some sort of remedy or improvement. Anyway, with the markets that oversold, we should get more of a bounce. It may come in fits and starts, but that's okay. You don't have to be a hero and try to nail the bottom. Look for those stocks that held up the best and could lead on future rallies.

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Monday Morning Musings

The markets are down sharply this morning, seemingly in reaction to the news that S&P has downgraded the US debt rating to AA+ from its longstanding AAA rating.



I say seemingly because the selloff is not affecting US Treasuries one bit. There is furious buying in long-term Treasuries, such that the yield on the 10-year Note has plummeted to 2.35%. So sentiment for the safety of US bonds has not been impaired.



The ECB came out and said it would be a buyer of Spanish and Italian bonds, but the markets seem disappointed that they didn't do more. I think they could have cut interest rates in a surprise move if they really wanted to elicit a market response.



I think the bigger concerns this morning are for the potential of a global recession, or at least recession-like growth. This is what the plunge in yields is really signaling. The flight to safety is also on in a big way today with respect to gold prices. Gold has spiked more than 2.5% higher today to top the $1700 level.



The opposite is occurring in the energy markets, with oil prices slumping down near $83.50.



Asian markets were also down sharply overnight, led by China's 3.8% drop.



Trading comment: Doesn't seem like anything has changed much from last week. The VIX is screaming higher today, up 25% to the 40 level. So the panic selling is palpable, and history tells us no one ever makes a dime selling into panics. It's not like Lehman Bros. declared bankruptcy over the weekend. But I think the fears of 2008 are still haunting investors. I still think the best course of action here is to remain calm, and wait for the oversold bounce to do any repositioning.

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