What’s Working in Marketing

This week’s top five faves covers a range of topics including discussion about the state of US manufacturing, email marketing, taking a page out of Domino’s book for true transparent marketing, and that MadLibs-style communicating may be alive in marketing!   Oh, and how could I forget about the great article about the management secrets of the Grateful Dead…I loved that band back in the day and have my share of bootleg cassette tapes from a number of concerts. They were truly ahead of their time.  So let’s get to it…

1.  Most Informative:  US Manufacturing Is Not Dead
A thoughtful blog post that makes that claim that US manufacturing is not dead, but perhaps US manufacturing jobs are.  It includes some interesting statistic s to support the author’s claims, along with some great comments that take the discussion even further.

2.  Most Practical:  Taking Your Email Segmentation for B2B Marketing to the Next Level
Adam Needles from Silverpop takes us through the paces about how to consider segmenting email marketing from applying the buying cycle, using personas and more. It’s good food for thought for our marekting friends.

3.  Most Honest:  Transparent Marketing: A slice of honesty from Domino’s Pizza
Many companies worry about  being called out on the carpet in social media networks, but Domino’s is taking the bull by the horns in their latest marketing campaign.  Instead of hiding behind a problem, like Toyota, they are hitting their problem of “lousy pizza sauce” in their latest marketing campaign.  They are keeping the lines of communication open with their progress, and I have to commend them for this approach.

5.  Most Enjoyable: Management Secrets of the Grateful Dead
“….the Dead were visionary geniuses in the way they created “customer value,” promoted social networking, and did strategic business planning.”  They really were, they were among the very first to give their product away for free, and went to great lengths to cater to their customers.  Imagine that?  Apparently they teach classes on this at the University of CA/Santa Cruz, I’d sign up for that class in heartbeat!  In all seriousness, there are nuggets of wisdom we can realize from their approach in business.  Read on…