Heather Rast

5 Reasons Your Marketing Is A White Hot Mess

by Heather Rast · May 5, 2011

“Whaa? Are you talkin’ to me?” Yeah, I’m talking to you. Whether you’re part of a small marketing team or just a regular ol’ small biz (where everyone wears a marketing hat), I’m talking to you. Specifically, you team managers or small business owners who, along with an assistant and intern, do it all.

Or maybe I should say, do it all wrong.

White. Hot. Mess. Your marketing programs may be in poor shape for some of these reasons (why stop at 5?):

Misplaced value
Vague or inconsistent priorities
Not beginning with the end in mind

9 comments

9 Lessons Marketers Can Learn From American Idol

by Heather Rast · April 15, 2011

Cheesy reality shows may be an embarrassing addiction for American television audiences, but if you’re of the mind to learn something from everything you do, read, or watch, then Tinsel Town and a crew of slicked-up stars have something to offer marketers.

Eyes on the prize, we can easily fall into “react” mode when pressured by our bosses, this months’ numbers, or an unanticipated competitive move. “Just get it done! I don’t care how!” isn’t exactly constructive, but you can channel the company’s quest for success into a cogent plan when you consider these nine lessons.

11 comments

Is there profit in a kinder, gentler business?

by Heather Rast · March 23, 2011

Big business is where it’s at, right? The Industrial Revolution paved the way for us to produce a greater variety of products, in greater numbers, more efficiently than ever before. We all know the impact Whitney, Ford, Watt, and many others made on living standards for the masses. We gained access and became enabled. Reach grew alongside speed to market.

Eyes turned to the assembly line, we fixated on efficiency. And we steadily lost sight of emotional and spiritual needs. We squeezed the joy and artistry right out of the village.

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Customer Service Goes Social With Groubal

by Heather Rast · February 11, 2011

There’s little question customer satisfaction and loyalty are inextricably intertwined. In our value-conscious, post-recession world, maintaining good relationships with existing customers is a business imperative for companies which hope to hold a measure of protection against price-driven competitive strategies.

We consumers may have high expectations, but we readily reward companies which hit the mark. Conversely, we often revile those which miss it. And why not? We’re talking about our hard-earned money here.

14 comments

How To Light My Fire: Authentic Word of Mouth Movements

by Heather Rast · January 20, 2011

Last week there was some really good discussion going on over at the Brains On Fire blog. Seems that UnMarketer (Scott Stratten) made a video recommendation to his tribe. He suggested they all go out quick and buy the book, “Brains On Fire: Igniting Powerful, Sustainable Word of Mouth Movements.” Tom Moradpour accepted the torch and went head down, then later posted a book review of his own. He rated it pretty highly at 4 out of 5 stars, but had some lingering points he believed warranted more discussion. How can teams defend Movements to the C-suite so that they are seen as legitimate business pursuits? And how can you gain the resources and budget to really start the fire, instead of just warming things up? Good questions indeed.

16 comments

When is 31 flavors more than 11.5 million?

by Heather Rast · December 3, 2010

A while back I read a great post by web analytics master Avinash Kaushik. He wrote a bit about data geeks and the mountains of information they routinely collect and build. Information about traffic source overlain with pageviews, special segmentation, abandonment rates and exit pages, ad nauseam. Great piles of information that are watched daily and reported weekly. It’s the stuff the big-wigs asked for once it became known that the web analytics package could surface the goods. All the company needs in order to get ahead is a little more information …

4 comments

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