For nearly 25 years, I was a partner in an ad agency that had a great roster of national and international clients including the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, the Chilean Image Campaign, celebrating Chile’s return to democracy, and domestically, companies like L.L.Bean, Sebago and many food and beverage companies in Europe and the […]
Did Santa bring us an AI calamity?
Now that the holidays have passed, we can confront the present and future of AI. The future is bright. The present, for some uses, is dismal. You may choose to disagree and, like me, you probably received dozens of prediction emails for 2024 announcing that if 2023 was the year we discovered AI, 2024 will […]
DTC Wine Sales Are Falling: What Are You Going To Do About It?
(This article is directed to the wine industry but the principles apply to almost any product where customer relationships are important. Is there one where it’s not?) Report after report, blog after blog, and trend after trend are showing that Direct-To-Consumer wine sales have been falling both in volume and value. It’s not just DTC […]
Customer Knowledge Is Not Valuable Unless It’s Actionable
Last week, Knowledge at Wharton (their business school’s newsletter) sent out a promotion for a book titled “The Customer Base Audit” by three esteemed college professors. The authors believe an audit is “the first step on the journey to customer centricity”. I can’t argue with that or many of the other points they make about how […]
The answers to 3 simple questions determine success
There is a lot that you would like to learn from your customers and there’s no shortage of data or ways to get it. But what you really need to know in order to succeed are the answers to the three questions above. In the past, I’ve asked many CEOs , “Why do your customers […]
If Only You Believe, The Luxury Market Will Grow Forever
This morning, one day after I wrote and posted this article, Vogue Business reported on a decline in U.S. luxury sales. China is still growing but if you’re one of the companies, I refer to here, you’ll need a new way to learn your customers’ needs, build their brand loyalty and grow sales. We can […]
A look back at Direct to Consumer for the wine industry but others take note
I published a blog post titled “DTC Wine Shipments are growing at a record pace. How long will it last?” in April of 2017. In it, I wrote about the euphoria around a 17% increase for DTC shipments the previous year. Several years before the pandemic, DTC was growing rapidly and Covid-19 gave it additional […]
Big Changes in Digital Marketing Are on the Way
This is the year to invest in and revise your digital marketing plan. Why? Two big changes are coming in 2022: These two changes will revolutionize how we interact with consumers over email, text and on the Internet. If you didn’t know, first take a breath. Then, download this excellent article and overview of the changes from McKinsey […]
Let’s rethink how tech can build customer relationships
Ten years ago, there were dozens of marketing automation platforms that claimed they helped you engage with your customers. Five years ago, there were hundreds. Today, there are thousands and they make some pretty fantastic claims. Here’s what some of the biggies have to say: Okay, they all have great tech tools and make things […]
Don’t segment your customers by whether they buy or not
I read an article the other day on best practices for emailing customers of wine and spirits producers. In it, I found this bit of advice, “Within your CRM, you can segment your audience by lifetime value, club members, loyal or churned customers, subscribers who haven’t made an initial purchase, or customers who haven’t purchased […]