Pre-Commerce - Latest Comments

Re: How Brands Build Relationships: The StumbleUpon Solution

Ryan - Millicorp — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:31:19 -0000

I've been thinking about experimenting with a paid StumbleUpon campaign. Does anyone have any experience in doing this? Would love to hear about your results. Thanks!

Re: The Importance of Technology Community and Innovation

MikeGrace — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:23:11 -0000

This is very cool. Excited to see what comes of the effort by Sanofi.

Re: Insights for 2012 from Today’s Business Thought Leaders

AdamPedowitz — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 12:08:11 -0000

Awesome insights, and amazing to think of the potential for 2012. To me, these perspectives appear to take into account both the group desire to build into a movement, and the individual desire (among an influential few) to lead that movement. Now we must consider how to harness or access those distinct energies.

Re: Five transformational changes in social media for 2012 (for B2B)

Steve Schlabs — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:54:54 -0000

Bob - nice piece. What are your thoughts on b2c and c2c?

Re: Interview with Bert Dumars of Newell Rubbermaid (Part 2)

MikeGrace — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:32:59 -0000

"I truly believe that full immersion is the only way you can understand how Facebook, Twitter, Get Glue, blogging and the newest Location Based Social Networks like Foursquare really work." AMEN!!! I have seen lots of people share their opinion of different social networks and services without getting the full experience first. It just doesn't work any other way.

Hey! A fellow Leo Laporte listener! Thanks for sharing your insight and how you stay ahead of the trends.

Re: Interview with Bert Dumars of Newell Rubbermaid (1 of 2)

MikeGrace — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:54:11 -0000

It's cool to hear that Bert was looking at influencers for the Graco brand and trying to figure out where they were in the parenting lifecycle. Sometimes it's not enough or it's much more powerful if you know what stage a person is in the lifecycle of parenting, purchasing, etc. Thanks for sharing!

Re: Interview with Bert Dumars of Newell Rubbermaid (1 of 2)

Guest — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 11:25:16 -0000

This sounds great for virtual and business communities... but alongside this innovation I can't help but notice that Newell bought Rubbermaid with a promise to invest in the actual community where Rubbermaid had headquarters and manufacturing, then proceeded to shut down operations and move it out, leaving nothing now but the Rubbermaid store. This social impact not benefitting Ohio makes it hard to feel good about the social networking benefitting Newell.

Re: My Holiday Reading List for 2011

MikeGrace — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:29:18 -0000

Agreed! It's also on my list to finish this holiday season : )

Re: My Holiday Reading List for 2011

aaronstrout — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 19:10:44 -0000

Great list Bob -- and THANK you for being kind enough to include Location-Based Marketing for Dummies. I look forward to your feedback.

Best,
Aaron

Re: My Holiday Reading List for 2011

MikeGrace — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 10:50:02 -0000

Great idea! The holidays are a great time to read through some great books. I'll have to look into some of the books you mention.

Re: My Holiday Reading List for 2011

Mcbennett6 — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 22:48:22 -0000

Thanks for some good ideas, Bob. I'm still trying to get through Keith Richards' book. Love it, but making time to read it has been a challenge :-)

Re: Interview with Joel Babbit CEO of Mother Nature Network

MikeGrace — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 11:27:12 -0000

+1 for working "the 99%" into the post ; ) I love how a need was recognized and then action was taken. Also love what Bob says, "The key is to find the market’s unmet need and go forward, not get hung up on who the competitors are. Entrepreneurs create the future, they don’t copy the past."

AMEN!!

Re: Interview with Ferg Devins of Molson Coors Canada — Part 2 of 2

Adam Pedowitz — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 10:07:20 -0000

I appreciate the nod to web enabling all content. So simple a concept and obvious a tactic, and yet so many companies and brands neglect it. Integrating your content and social properties is key to reaching a broader audience and creating a more seamless content experience. As you mentioned, "... working hard to enable all of our stories to be easily found and shared online," will certainly pay dividends in the "Google battle."

Great insights.

Re: Interview with Ferg Devins of Molson Coors Canada — Part 2 of 2

MikeGrace — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 12:00:01 -0000

Great questions with great answers! I've made some notes and annotations using Diigo here http://diigo.com/0l8nh but I'll share them here in the comment also.

- "our approach has shifted from one way to dialogue in these channels"
A company that realizes that it needs to shift from one way communication to a dialogue with their customers is headed in the right direction. This is what enables a company to move forward in the right direction in social media.

- "We are also intent on managing all of these touch points through a centralized relationship database"
Managing all those touch point through a centralized relationship database is interesting. This probably make it easier for a single person or a few people to stay in touch and on top of conversations that are happening across the web about their brand and products.

- "Our goal is to learn as much about these people as possible so that we can curate content and experiences that help them enjoy our brands more"
Helping customers enjoy your brand more through curating content and participating in conversations is awesome! Not just selling more but helping customers enjoy the product more. Genius!

- "... it still starts with listening ... across the web"
Listening across the web can be difficult. It's good that you have found a tool to help you do that.

- "We assess whether or not we can add value by jumping in, clarifying facts or shepherding consumers to another destination to get them answers to their most pressing questions"
I think it's cool that before jumping in to a conversation, the amount of value that can be added to the conversation is assessed. Smart.

Re: Are you at all QRurious?

MikeGrace — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 10:34:17 -0000

For me, QR codes are a success because they make my life easier as they were intended. Grabbing links from the web, newspapers, adverts, and getting friends contact information is all made easier through QR codes and I am grateful for that.

Re: Interview with Ferg Devins of Molson Coors Canada — Part 1 of 2

MikeGrace — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:12:47 -0000

I think it's awesome that you are working hard to keep the voice in your social networks internal to people who work at Molson Coors and work on the brands. As a consumer, it's exciting to be able to connect with the people who create the product and share the passion. Being able to quickly and easily connect with those who are doing amazing things and building great products is one of the biggest reasons I have loved being on Twitter the past few years.

Re: Interview with Ferg Devins of Molson Coors Canada — Part 1 of 2

Ferg Devins — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:58:14 -0000

thanks for the comments Mike (seems strange that I'm thanking you on Bob's blog...but I guess that's just being social...). We've also worked really hard at keeping the voice in our social networks internal to people who work at Molson Coors and work on the brands...we've also had some success in sales areas where our sales team takes on a voice as well...strongly believe in taking the on line to in bar...where we can truly interact and socialize with our very social product...cheers

Re: Interview with Ferg Devins of Molson Coors Canada — Part 1 of 2

MikeGrace — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 12:05:49 -0000

Nice! Excited to see you using Disqus for your comments now. Look forward to part 2 of the series.

Re: Interview with Ferg Devins of Molson Coors Canada — Part 1 of 2

MikeGrace — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 11:06:31 -0000

" The biggest learning was that, as a big brand, we could be human in our conversational approach"

I think that is one of the biggest hurdles for large brands to figure out and implement. I have seen many companies and brands fail in that regard. It's cool to see them participating and giving to the local social media community through tweetups and other means.

Re: Part 2 of 2 — Interview with Sona Chawla — President E-Commerce for Walgreens

MikeGrace — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 11:50:33 -0000

"always be willing to disrupt yourself" Amen! Great advice and interesting insights. I think it's amazing that 8 out of 10 internet users seek health information over the web. It's also good to see Walgreens working on connecting with their customers within their local geographic community. Connecting with a company is great, connecting with a company within your local community is even better.

Re: Interview with Sona Chawla — President of E-Commerce for Walgreens – 1 of 2 posts

MikeGrace — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:22:50 -0000

Great perspective. I think the concept of the store becoming the showroom for online is interesting. There are many products that I purchase online that I have researched online but want to test it and handle it in a store.

Re: How Brands Build Relationships: The StumbleUpon Solution

Aaron — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:13:29 -0000

Great article! We've heard from a few others that StubleUpon was a very effective channel. This summarizes it well. Plus, I like the 4 A's.

Re: The Three New Drivers of Commerce

MikeGrace — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 10:41:34 -0000

I think you bring up a good point that the brick mortar stores will continue to be important. There were some "back in the day" that thought shopping on line would replace and kill many stores. While some stores have gone out of business and others are hurting, online retail through the different drivers of commerce have a chance to strengthen brick and motar stores and make them bigger, better, stronger, faster, and more personable than ever. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Re: The Three New Drivers of Commerce

Kelly Tirman — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:07:03 -0000

Bob -
Regarding virtual retail. I agree that Amazon is a giant in the space but I think they are far from being the only player. I am eager to hear your thoughts on companies that can provide a true multichannel experience especially internationally - where most retail growth will happen. Amazon might be the largest virtual retail shop but will they be able to meet customers expectations with a true multi-channel experience becomes the expectation?

I also sometime wonder if our kids will all hang out and shop on Facebook (a.k.a virtual mall) with their friends especially with the recent PayPal news. I wondering what the mall in my home town (where I used to hang out as a teenager) will become?

Re: Lessons from Michael Dell on Continual Innovation and Collaboration

David Marshall — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 15:29:16 -0000

Nice job Bob, both on your insights into Dell leadership and your own personal experiences as shared in Pre-Commerce. You know I couldn’t help but enjoy your work!

A couple more admirable leadership character traits that are often overlooked in Corporate Leaders have to do with a leader’s response to failure.

Willing to admit failure and tell the customer those rarely heard words in business; "I'm sorry."

“I’m sorry” for this leader means making it right; not just for the company but more importantly for the customer. He seizes failure and turns it into the foundation of success; even if it costs the company money. Lessons learned that are costly serve as a reminder to correct the problem at the deepest levels so they do not happen again. Any repairs that benefit the customer will ultimately impact employees and produce a better company. Never forget that employees were customers long before they were employees!

Thanks Bob for all of your encouragement!

Seizes failure and turns it into the foudantion of success; even if it costs the company money. Lessons learned that are costly serve as a reminder to correct the problem at the deepest levels so they do not happen again.