Loyalty is Not a Pocket Full of Barcodes

It struck me the other day that these paper laminated “key fobs” represent the end product of loyalty programs. But, these six barcodes, adding some bulk to my already unwieldy key chain, are not rewarding. Sure, the promise of these programs to connect customers to retailers still holds great potential. The premise is simple enough: I give a retailer certain information. In exchange the retailer has the benefit of customized offers suited to my purchasing history and demographics.

From my vantage point, as a consumer, I don’t see much value yet. The only thing I get is an occasional valuable coupon in a long print out at the checkout.

I'd challenge any retailer that has a loyalty program to take a second look at the performance and relevance of the print outs.

How Blogs Influence Purchase Decisions

July 18, 2005
By BIGresearch

Do consumer blog-reading habits impact shopping and purchasing behavior? BIGresearch has the scoop.

The following is from our SIMM VI database of over 14,000 respondents displaying the differences in the influence of blogging directly on purchase decision to eat out, telecom services, medicines, car and truck, home improvement, grocery, apparel/clothing and electronics.
Dollar General and Dollar Store are two distinct discount retail chains where most items sell for $5.00 or less.


Overall, for Dollar Store customers, blogging has greater influence than Dollar General bloggers on their purchase. Blogging has greatest influence on Dollar General customers in purchase decisions regarding home improvement, electronics, telecom services and grocery, compared to Dollar General customers.

Blogging has very little influence on purchase decision in almost every category, but it does compare favorably on eating out. The above data can start to chart the potential power of the new media influence on concrete purchase decisions by retail channels. Media planning and ROI elements by retail channel are important to retailers and manufacturers.

BIGresearch is an Ohio-based online marketing intelligence and internet-powered marketing research company.

Don't Bore Me With Your Blog

Susan Solomon makes some good points
"If you're going to blog, become an expert on something. This is especially important for blogging in the business world. ....Blogs are for sharing information, not pointless doggerel (or catteral)."

She includes six points to make your blog "sizzle". Worth reviewing.
Read the whole article

Susan Solomon has been in healthcare marketing for more than 20 years. She teaches marketing communications at two Southern California universities.

Blogs: A Primer

Blogs, short for Weblogs have recently made headlines on TV, Newspapers and business publications. A blog is free, fun, way to show the world (almost) anything that interests you via a blog on the World Wide Web.

A blog is a means of sharing thoughts and ideas. Your blog can be a personal diary, a project collaboration tool, a guide, or any means of communicating and publishing information on the web. Its uses are as limitless as your imagination.

Authors use their blogs for creative writing. Others for political writing or technical writing. Teachers and educators use blogs in their courses and classrooms.
Blogs are now a great source of information and quotes for the media about your business. Get your blog mentioned in an article - that's free PR. Or, you can start a community with your blog. Blogs are a great way to drive traffic to an established Web site.

Blogs are free to start and very easy to update. Blogger (http://www.blogger.com) the leading service provider allows you to set up a blog in just a few easy steps.
Give your blog a name, provide a username, password, select a template and you are ready to start blogging. No Web designer required.

A blog has several parts which include:

• Date: The date the post is written. Posts are generally presented in reverse chronological order (most recent first).
• Title: Each post is given a title. This is a pithy phrase, a pun, or even a series of symbols.
• Time stamp: The time the post is uploaded to the blog. The time stamp often is a link to a permanent page just for this post. This allows other bloggers to link to a post.
• Post: A word, sentence, paragraph or essay, with links and names and current news. Key words and names are sometimes highlighted in boldface, which makes the post 'scannable'.
• Author nickname: The name or nickname of the person who wrote the post. For blogs written by one person, the author is often left off (because the author identification can be found on the Profile). For collaborative blogs, the author helps to differentiate contributors. The nickname can also be a link to a page of all the author’s posts.
• Comments: A software feature that allows readers to leave their own comments and reactions to the author’s post.
• TrackBack: A way for one blog post to link to the post of another blog. In other words, one blogger can write about the content of another person's weblog, and the two posts are linked in a web.

Where to Find Blogs

Once your blog is started you can add links to other blogs you’ve read and enjoy. It’s easy to find blogs in almost any city. Just type in blog and the city name into your favorite search like Google (www.google.com) and a list of blogs is often found.

Some Local Blogs of Note:

• Randolph is Talking – a community blog that connects citizens to local bloggers.
• Russlings - the blog of Russ Williams, Executive Director of the North Carolina Zoological Society.
• Flying the King of NASCAR – the blog of Mickey Pugh, pilot to Richard Petty.
• In the Stacks – the blog of the Randolph County Library