Marketing And The Fallacy Of Short-Term Selling
Most marketers assume that, if you look after the short-term, the long-term will look after itself. But this is dangerously wrong. The key is to understand that marketing works in two very different ways.
Sales activation aims to get an immediate behavioral response. This is the world of performance marketing, promotions, and much digital activity. Activation requires tight targeting, relevant and motivating messages, and a focus on getting close attention and an immediate response. This is good for short-term selling, and ROIs can be high. But the effects don’t last long, and do little to foster long term growth.
BRAND STRATEGY INSIDER
Your online shopping has a startling hidden cost
When I’m browsing for a new outfit online, I instinctively scan a brand’s website, looking for the words “free shipping and returns.” And if I don’t see a flexible return policy, I think twice about making a purchase. After all, it’s risky to ask a customer to buy jeans or a button-down on the internet. What if it doesn’t fit? What if the color looks different in person?
FAST COMPANY
The 60+ will generate over half of all urban consumption growth in the developed countries
The retired and elderly over 60 in many developed countries are increasingly important drivers of global consumption. The number of people in this age group will grow by more than one-third, from 164 million today to 222 million in 2030. We estimate that they will generate 51 percent of urban consumption growth in developed countries, or $4.4 trillion, in the period to 2030. That is 19 percent of global consumption growth. The 75-plus age group’s urban consumption is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 4.5 percent between 2015 and 2030. In addition to increasing in number, individuals in this group are consuming more, on average, than younger consumers are, mostly because of rising public- and private-healthcare
FUTURE LAB
There are 230 new emoji on the way in 2019
Unicode just made its new emoji list for 2019 official, and the update adds 230 new symbols, including a yawning face, white heart, and pinching hand symbol.
Though the list of new emoji has now been finalized, it will still be several months before the update hits your phone. Unicode will release the update in March, but it will take some time after that for apps and operating systems to roll out support for the new characters. Updates will start hitting in April and continue through the end of the year, according to Emojipedia.
MASHABLE
The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
Why don’t successful people and organizations automatically become very successful? One important explanation is due to what I call “the clarity paradox,” which can be summed up in four predictable phases:
Phase 1: When we really have clarity of purpose, it leads to success.
Phase 2: When we have success, it leads to more options and opportunities.
Phase 3: When we have increased options and opportunities, it leads to diffused efforts.
Phase 4: Diffused efforts undermine the very clarity that led to our success in the first place.
HBR
