A stock market is a market for the trading of company stock, and derivatives of same; both of these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.
June 27, 2008
How big is business marketing?
Hutt and Speh (2001) note that “business marketers serve the largest market of all; the dollar volume of transactions in the industrial or business market significantly exceeds that of the ultimate consumer market.” For example, they note that companies such as GE, DuPont and IBM spend more than $60 million a day on purchases to support their operations.
Dwyer and Tanner (2006) say the purchases made by companies, government agencies and institutions “account for more than half of the economic activity in industrialized countries such as the United States, Canada and France.”
A 2003 study sponsored by the Business Marketing Association estimated that business-to-business marketers in the United States spend about $85 billion a year to promote their goods and services. The BMA study breaks that spending out as follows (figures are in billions of dollars):
Trade Shows/Events — $17.3
Internet/Electronic Media — $12.5
Promotion/Market Support — $10.9
Magazine Advertising — $10.8
Publicity/Public Relations — $10.5
Direct Mail — $9.4
Dealer/Distributor Materials — $5.2
Market Research — $3.8
Telemarketing — $2.4
Directories — $1.4
Other — $5.1
The fact that there is such a thing as the Business Marketing Association speaks to the size and credibility of the industry. BMA traces its origins to 1922 with the formation of the National Industrial Advertising Association. Today, BMA, headquartered in Chicago, boasts more than 2,000 members in 19 chapters across the country. Among its members are a new breed of marketing communications agencies that are largely or exclusively business-to-business-oriented.
Network Marketing Slogans Look To Make Comeback
by Wayne Friedman, Wednesday, Feb 28, 2007 3:45 PM ET
NBC’S NEW THURSDAY NIGHT MARKETING line, “Comedy Night Done Right” seems like a throwback to broader network brand campaigns of years ago — either that, or a nod to current efforts at cable networks. In the early ’90s, NBC produced its famous “Must-See TV” marketing line that took on a life of its own. Focusing on big Thursday night programs, “Cheers,” “Seinfeld,” “Mad About You,” “Friends,” and “ER,” among others, NBC’s high-powered shows sustained the truth in the slogan for years.
Since then, networks typically have eschewed such broad-based marketing themes. The logic comes from that old saying: People watch programs, not networks.
Of course this doesn’t seem to apply to cable networks. Those brands have to have a sharper focus. Thus you have Fox News’ “We Report. You Decide”; TBS’ “Very Funny”; TNT’s “We Know Drama”; and USA Network’s “Characters Welcome,” among others.
In the late ’90s, ABC — mostly on the ropes in third or fourth place — found room for a wide-ranging network brand campaign, the so-called “yellow campaign,” with the ultimate tongue-in-cheek marketing line, “TV is good.”
Once ABC began to get some good shows, the line seemingly lost some bite — or sarcasm.
Still, that kind of wide-ranging marketing theme could seemingly return if broadcast networks ever work themselves into the niche arena that some cable networks find themselves in. For example, couldn’t CBS offer a spin on all its procedural crime dramas?
Tim Brooks, executive vice president of research at Lifetime, told Television Week that broad-based nightly slogans could be tricky business. “If NBC adopts a slogan like this, they have to stay with comedies on Thursday night, and that can be tough if they decide to put in an ‘Apprentice.’”
It’s not just Thursday night. NBC is looking to regroup other programs on other nights, for example on Sunday.
With “Deal or No Deal, “The Apprentice,” and, possibly, “The Biggest Loser” on that night, NBC could offer up another line or two: “Reality Night — With Bite” or “Reality on NBC: Pact, Fat or Sacked.”
Registering wireless device users in direct marketing campaigns
Systems, methods, and computer program products for registering wireless device users in direct marketing campaigns
United States Patent 7,162,221
Abstract
Systems, methods, and computer program products are provided that allow wireless device users to “opt-in” to a direct marketing campaign by “clicking on” a conventional advertisement displayed within a wireless device and register to receive future promotions via one or more direct marketing channels. Likewise, users can “opt-out” of future direct marketing by “clicking on” content displayed within various promotional content.
Converting a geographic location to a direct marketing area for a query
Method and apparatus for converting a geographic location to a direct marketing area for a query
United States Patent 6,970,864
Abstract
A method and system are provided for performing database queries with geographic inputs that are converted to a direct marketing area prior to performing the query. Direct marketing areas define geographic locations as discrete areas of interest that may be more useful than city limits or a specific geographic location (e.g., latitude/longitude). Direct marketing areas are more useful geographic designations for purposes of advertising and marketing. A geographic input, such as a city and state, or a latitude and longitude are converted to a direct marketing area. The direct marketing area is then substituted for the entered geographic parameter (e.g., city and state or latitude and longitude), and the requested database query is performed.
June 11, 2008
Who is the business marketing customer?
While “other businesses” might seem like the simple answer, Dwyer and Tanner (2006) say business customers fall into four broad categories: companies that consume products or services, government agencies, institutions and resellers.
The first category includes original equipment manufacturers, such as automakers, who buy gauges to put in their cars, and users, which are companies that purchase products for their own consumption. The second category, government agencies, is the biggest. (more…)