Although PMP is known for its books on market research and market segments, once in a while we go off topic for a book that excites us. No, it's not about the New York City marathon, but it was written by one of the elite women runners in this year's event.
Katherine M. Aldridge (Katie) brought us a book that includes more than 100 letters from a Union soldier to his wife, written between June 1861 and January 1865. Katie found these letters, which she painstakingly transcribed and lightly edited over a period of about 3 years, in the carriage house on a historic farm that she had purchased in upstate New York. Imagine, letters that were thrown in a cardboard box and not seen for 150 years.
Keith Poulter, Publisher of North and South Magazine got an early look at the letters and told us, "These letters are a major find. There are, of course, thousands of letters that have found their way into print. But these are some of the best I have seen. "
No Freedom Shrieker is particularly important because the soldier, Charles Freeman Biddlecom, was the product of a Quaker environment in the communities of Macedon and Farmington, New York, where the abolitionist movement had many leaders and a strong following.
The book is now available here. Even if you aren't a Civil War buff you probably know someone who is and this is the perfect gift.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
The Asian middle class should be your next target market
President Obama is determined to open Asian markets to American exports, but he needs your help. The best thing American companies can do to facilitate exports into Asian markets is to better understand the wants, needs, and behaviors of Asian consumers.
Fortunately, PMP author, Laurent Sausset can help. His new book, Shopping Behavior in Asia What Retailers Need to Know for Success in the Far East, includes a plethora of tips for retailers and manufacturers of all kinds of products. Besides assessing current behaviors, Sausset offers some important tips for the future as discretionary spending increases for many customers.
He suggests:
Retail brands do not have to be perfect in every way, but they should have something new that shows movement and impetus because that is what Asian shoppers will continue to want.
Retail brands must invest in training their sales associates, specifically in product knowledge and friendliness, two qualities that are often lacking. Asian customers will appreciate services that make shopping easier, avoid wasting time, offer assurance about product safety, and provide a harmonious atmosphere in the store.
These concepts have become ingrained among many retail brands in the United States, but they should not be taken for granted in the Far East. U.S. retail brands and manufacturers need to be prepared to monitor every aspect of their brand's entrance into the region and make sure that standards are set that will assure success.
Chapter 9 of Sausset's book outlines specific steps that retailers can take to create loyal customers in Asia for supermarkets, hypermarkets, department stores, category killers, leisure products, and soft lines like perfumes and cosmetics.
Fortunately, PMP author, Laurent Sausset can help. His new book, Shopping Behavior in Asia What Retailers Need to Know for Success in the Far East, includes a plethora of tips for retailers and manufacturers of all kinds of products. Besides assessing current behaviors, Sausset offers some important tips for the future as discretionary spending increases for many customers.
He suggests:
Retail brands do not have to be perfect in every way, but they should have something new that shows movement and impetus because that is what Asian shoppers will continue to want.
Retail brands must invest in training their sales associates, specifically in product knowledge and friendliness, two qualities that are often lacking. Asian customers will appreciate services that make shopping easier, avoid wasting time, offer assurance about product safety, and provide a harmonious atmosphere in the store.
These concepts have become ingrained among many retail brands in the United States, but they should not be taken for granted in the Far East. U.S. retail brands and manufacturers need to be prepared to monitor every aspect of their brand's entrance into the region and make sure that standards are set that will assure success.
Chapter 9 of Sausset's book outlines specific steps that retailers can take to create loyal customers in Asia for supermarkets, hypermarkets, department stores, category killers, leisure products, and soft lines like perfumes and cosmetics.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Why you need to win the Hispanic market
PMP bestseller, M. Isabel Valdes, has been busy editing a new book that includes the expertise of about 20 strategists, researchers, and marketers involved with the Hispanic market. Although the book started out with the title, Hispanic Metrics for Success, Isabel soon learned that the title threw potential readers off--they thought they would be reading yet another book about statistics.
But Isabel's mission in assembling this group of expert collaborators is far beyond statistics. Rather, its purpose is to persuade Boards of Directors, CEOs, CMOs, and CFOs that the Hispanic market presents the most sustainable and viable growth market in the United States for the foreseeable future.
That's why we retitled the book, WIN the Hispanic Market! Strategies for Business Growth.
The reason for the message is that domestic population growth for the next 40 years will be mainly among minority groups (who will become the majority) and Hispanics are the largest of those groups. Since most business growth in the U.S. depends on consumers, it only stands to reason that Hispanics need to be a significant part of most companies' growth opportunities.
You can learn more about the collaborators on the book here as well as review the table of contents. A hint: A pre-publication sale is going on now at Paramount. The book will be out in January, but if you order now, you'll not only get the discount, but also you'll be one of the first to have this critical information for the next decades.
But Isabel's mission in assembling this group of expert collaborators is far beyond statistics. Rather, its purpose is to persuade Boards of Directors, CEOs, CMOs, and CFOs that the Hispanic market presents the most sustainable and viable growth market in the United States for the foreseeable future.
That's why we retitled the book, WIN the Hispanic Market! Strategies for Business Growth.
The reason for the message is that domestic population growth for the next 40 years will be mainly among minority groups (who will become the majority) and Hispanics are the largest of those groups. Since most business growth in the U.S. depends on consumers, it only stands to reason that Hispanics need to be a significant part of most companies' growth opportunities.
You can learn more about the collaborators on the book here as well as review the table of contents. A hint: A pre-publication sale is going on now at Paramount. The book will be out in January, but if you order now, you'll not only get the discount, but also you'll be one of the first to have this critical information for the next decades.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Qualitative researchers face many challenges
Our publisher, Jim Madden, recently attended the annual meeting of the Qualitative Research Consultants Association (QRCA) where he met many of our customers. Qualitative researchers are a dynamic and wonderful group, sharing ideas with each other and working hard to understand how the new social platforms are impacting their business. Bestselling titles at the QRCA event were two Paramount titles, Laurie Tema-Lyn's Stir It Up and Moderating to the Max by Jean Bystedt, Siri Lynn, and Deborah Potts, and Martha Guidry's new book, Marketing Concepts for Success.
Qualitative researchers are probably the most entrepreneurial people among the self-employed. In order to make a living, they first have to be marketers, finding clients who will pay them to moderate focus groups, do in-depth interviews, and write reports with recommendations based on their findings. In order to be successful, they have to immerse themselves in a variety of industries.
They have to be highly organized and tolerate a great deal of travel, often going from city to city in a few days. They have to maintain a group of "associates" who help them recruit respondents, provide facilities, and help them out when there is simply too much work for one person. And they have to be creative, because one size never fits all.
But it's getting even harder to make a living as any type of independent researcher, in part because new technologies are leading companies to believe that they no longer need in-depth research.
Robert Kahle, author of Dominators, Cynics, and Wallflowers, shared his thoughts on the challenges for qualitative researchers and indeed, many types of independent researchers.
Corporate research budgets get cut and executives think they can survive on the results of on-line surveys, monitoring chat rooms, and doing internet searches for free information.
When budgets are cut, managers expect qualitative and other independent researchers to cut their rates to accommodate, forgetting that they are paying their own health benefits, their own social security at the full rate, buying their own equipment, etc. as well as trying to support a family.
At the same time that corporations have technology departments and webmasters to support their employees who are trying to cope with new technology, independent researchers have to be their own webmasters and technology departments and there is a lot to keep up with these days.
Qualitative researchers are probably the most entrepreneurial people among the self-employed. In order to make a living, they first have to be marketers, finding clients who will pay them to moderate focus groups, do in-depth interviews, and write reports with recommendations based on their findings. In order to be successful, they have to immerse themselves in a variety of industries.
They have to be highly organized and tolerate a great deal of travel, often going from city to city in a few days. They have to maintain a group of "associates" who help them recruit respondents, provide facilities, and help them out when there is simply too much work for one person. And they have to be creative, because one size never fits all.
But it's getting even harder to make a living as any type of independent researcher, in part because new technologies are leading companies to believe that they no longer need in-depth research.
Robert Kahle, author of Dominators, Cynics, and Wallflowers, shared his thoughts on the challenges for qualitative researchers and indeed, many types of independent researchers.
Corporate research budgets get cut and executives think they can survive on the results of on-line surveys, monitoring chat rooms, and doing internet searches for free information.
When budgets are cut, managers expect qualitative and other independent researchers to cut their rates to accommodate, forgetting that they are paying their own health benefits, their own social security at the full rate, buying their own equipment, etc. as well as trying to support a family.
At the same time that corporations have technology departments and webmasters to support their employees who are trying to cope with new technology, independent researchers have to be their own webmasters and technology departments and there is a lot to keep up with these days.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Do great ideas sell themselves?
Author Dave Siegel will speak about the innovation myth "Great Ideas Sell Themselves," at the upcoming PDMA/AMA conference on innovation in Cincinnati on Nov. 17th. His book, Innovation Myths and Mythstakes, is a bestseller for PMP.
Dave says. "One of the biggest reasons behind great ideas ultimately failing to achieve success lies in communication. All too often, what could be a great idea is misunderstood within the company itself. Too often great ideas never hit the marketplace because a key member of the decision team never truly understood how it benefited them. CFO's want profits, CEO's want growth and ROI and company fit. Sales teams need to know how the idea fits with the rest of the line they sell, etc. etc. etc. The innovator? Well he just has the "idea!"
"Then, there is the huge challenge of communicating the idea to the consumer. Oftentimes the idea is researched with full blown, well-stated, highly illustrated concept statements. Yet, when it is time to actually introduce the idea to the marketplace, the only communication consumers see is a small burst on a package or a 2 inch internet banner ad or at best, a 15-second commercial. It's a shame, all that work by R&D, Marketing, Sales and Research and then the consumer gets a tiny message and goes 'Huh?'"
You can learn much more about myths included in Dave's book by clicking here.
Dave says. "One of the biggest reasons behind great ideas ultimately failing to achieve success lies in communication. All too often, what could be a great idea is misunderstood within the company itself. Too often great ideas never hit the marketplace because a key member of the decision team never truly understood how it benefited them. CFO's want profits, CEO's want growth and ROI and company fit. Sales teams need to know how the idea fits with the rest of the line they sell, etc. etc. etc. The innovator? Well he just has the "idea!"
"Then, there is the huge challenge of communicating the idea to the consumer. Oftentimes the idea is researched with full blown, well-stated, highly illustrated concept statements. Yet, when it is time to actually introduce the idea to the marketplace, the only communication consumers see is a small burst on a package or a 2 inch internet banner ad or at best, a 15-second commercial. It's a shame, all that work by R&D, Marketing, Sales and Research and then the consumer gets a tiny message and goes 'Huh?'"
You can learn much more about myths included in Dave's book by clicking here.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
For Asian shoppers, seeing is believing
The Far East will be the next middle-class market for retailers and manufacturers in all categories. Name brands are sought, especially when they are sold in department stores where customers can be assured they are not fakes. Retailers such as Carrefour, Walmart, and Tesco are already well established in many Asian countries, but there is plenty of room for modern retailers as consumers gain more discretionary income.
Author Laurent Sausset has been conducting surveys of shoppers in Asia for many years and his new book (released Oct. 3, 2011) details the unique characteristics of shoppers in this rapidly emerging middle class market.
Shopping Behavior in Asia: What Retailers Need to Know for Success in the Far East discusses the importance of observation among Asian shoppers. For example, Sausset writes that Asian shoppers will rarely ask for help in a store because the staff members look so busy and shoppers are unwilling to interrupt their work. A woman in Bangkok relates that she was not respected in a store because she was just wearing sandals, not leather shoes, and she lost face in the eyes of the sales associate. If shoppers see a line forming to take advantage of a special deal, they will probably join the line even if they aren't sure what is on sale.
Moving from the general to the specific, Sausset discusses the nuances of location, traffic patterns, product assortment, pricing, parking, store design, signage, loyalty programs, promotions, employee training, and even shopping carts. County-by-country, he details the relationship of retailers to shoppers in categories such as apparel, furniture, do-it-yourself, and packaged goods.
Seeing is believing in the minds of most Asian consumers and Sausset helps you "see" how to succeed in Asia.
Author Laurent Sausset has been conducting surveys of shoppers in Asia for many years and his new book (released Oct. 3, 2011) details the unique characteristics of shoppers in this rapidly emerging middle class market.
Shopping Behavior in Asia: What Retailers Need to Know for Success in the Far East discusses the importance of observation among Asian shoppers. For example, Sausset writes that Asian shoppers will rarely ask for help in a store because the staff members look so busy and shoppers are unwilling to interrupt their work. A woman in Bangkok relates that she was not respected in a store because she was just wearing sandals, not leather shoes, and she lost face in the eyes of the sales associate. If shoppers see a line forming to take advantage of a special deal, they will probably join the line even if they aren't sure what is on sale.
Moving from the general to the specific, Sausset discusses the nuances of location, traffic patterns, product assortment, pricing, parking, store design, signage, loyalty programs, promotions, employee training, and even shopping carts. County-by-country, he details the relationship of retailers to shoppers in categories such as apparel, furniture, do-it-yourself, and packaged goods.
Seeing is believing in the minds of most Asian consumers and Sausset helps you "see" how to succeed in Asia.
How Chicago is Developing Latino Leaders
Cristina Benitez writes, "In the span of a quick week, Chicago witnessed more steps, más pasos, of developing young Latino leaders and further Latinization of the US. Instituto Health and Science Academy for high school kids and New Futuro for potential college students launched and Latino Media and Communication at DePaul University celebrated the beginning of year two.
This is positive news that supports the recent report from the Pew Hispanic Center touting a 24 percent increase in college enrollments among Latinos. The Pew report is good news to be sure, but the trick is keeping these kids in school. This is how we are building Latino leaders in the windy city."
Cristina is the author of two PMP titles, Latinization: How Latino Culture is Transforming the U.S. and her latest, with Marlene Gonzalez, Latinization and the Latino Leader: How to Value, Develop, and Advance Talented Professionals.
Here is the contact information to find out more about these programs in Chicago.
http://healthacademy.idpl.org
In 2008, leadership from Instituto del Progreso Latino (Instituto) began exploring the idea of creating a new high school that could help serve Chicago’s pressing need for high quality education within urban communities. Last week Instituto Health Sciences Career Academy (IHSCA) opened a new charter high school in Chicago that serves 600 youth, grades 9 to 12 from Chicago communities, and paves the way for the next generation of doctors, nurses, information professionals, and bio-technicians.
New Futuro provides Latino families with tools to get their students into college. Parents and students gain access to free, bilingual information and tools to create a step-by-step plan. Using a user friendly “10-step roadmap” the program created a simple formula to a college plan with the goal of enrolling 10,000 new college students. New Futuro enhances the probability of success by connecting members with non-profit organizations and educational institutions via New Futuro’s website, magazines, and neighborhood outreach efforts.
In partnership with Allstate, New Futuro has created “Road to College Workshops” a series of college workshops every week in the Chicagoland area, giving a $1,000 scholarship weekly. These smaller workshops will culminate with a major education summit at the UIC Forum, 725 W. Roosevelt Rd., on Nov. 12.
Today’s communications scholars recognize that Latinos are shaping communication and contributing to the Latinization of U.S. culture. DePaul’s program in Latino Media and Communication offers high caliber courses based on an awareness and appreciation of Latino cultures in the U.S., grounded in history, communication, culture, performance, and sociology. These Latino focused courses are in Public Relations & Advertising, Intercultural Communication, Journalism, and Media & Cinema Studies.
LM&C is open to undergraduate and graduate students within the College of Communication and other Colleges and offers a minor or a concentration, taught by outstanding faculty and develops culturally sophisticated and savvy global citizens
This is the action we need to support the success of Pew’s promising news. This is Latinization and development of Latino leaders.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)