Blog Feed: The Marketing Boutique

We're moving to WordPress

Published on 2012-05-23 18:37:00

Hi guys,Long time no hear, hope everyone is doing well.Just a quick note to tell you all that we are moving to WordPress. > read more

Who called this meeting and why are we here?

Published on 2012-02-23 10:39:00

The first time I heard this line, I burst out laughing. I was the marketing communications manager for a company and one of the sales guys came in to the meeting with a brawny attitude and billowed out, “who called this meeting and why are we here”?Why was it funny? Because it was unexpected considering meetings are usually a very serious communication forum.What happened? The CEO gave the sales guy the look. You know the look, the look that tells us to behave and follow traditional meeting [..] > read more

Institutionalizing Creativity, Not Without Its Challenges

Published on 2012-02-22 08:38:00

Can anyone really define the creative process? Does it take a specific environment, two people with opposing talents or a single vision to create that unique product that will help to define a certain century? Or, what about your marketing department, what is your expectation from this department in the area of innovative promotional plans or tactics to help you shorten your sales cycle, enter a new market successfully or win a large client?Lately, I've been hearing a lot about creativity and ho [..] > read more

Creating a Business Culture of Risk-Taking

Published on 2012-02-21 16:37:00

We need to continue to adopt a business culture of risk-taking. But how can some companies transform the same marketing tactics that is available to all of us into authentic branded experiences, while others simply follow the leader? There are many variables involved in creating a business culture of risk-taking, sometimes it is a single factor like the president of your company who is a visionary, while for other companies there is a product (a chemical like the sticky back in the post-it note) [..] > read more

If Pinterest could....

Published on 2012-02-09 22:32:00

Source: a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net via Rasa on PinterestPinterest is the latest technology in the social sharing platform arena. It is a photo sharing platform where one can select {pin} a photo and place these pins in personally created categories {boards}. It is a good promotional tool for businesses like fashion designers, crafters, cooking blogs, photographers, wedding planners and florists who can showcase their product and service via beautiful photos.Source: google.com via Britnie on Pintere [..] > read more

The Marketing Boutique Wins 2nd Place in the 2011 Canadain Weblog Awards

Published on 2012-02-01 09:29:00

Thank you to the Canadian Weblog Awards for this recognition, The Marketing Boutique is awarded 2nd placed in the Best Weblog About Business & Career /Affaires et carrières Category.We also thank the huge number of volunteer jurors who worked on their spare time on the weblog awards and to Schmutzie of Schmutzie.com who is the creator of this award. What is the Canadian Weblog Awards?The Canadian Weblog Awards promote good weblogs of all genres from across Canada year round through regular in [..] > read more

2012 Retail Trends and The Economy

Published on 2012-01-24 20:35:00

Retail Trends | A great video presented by chic.tv. Here is a wrap up of the interview:Interviewees:Robin Lewis, CEO & Managing Editor, The Robin ReportNeil Cole, CEO & President, Iconix Brand GroupAlexis Maybank, CMO & Founder, Gilt GroupJoe Gromek, CEO, Warnaco GroupJohn Long, Partner and Retail Strategist, Kurt Salmon AssociatesAndrew Tilton, Senior Economist, Goldman SaksRetail Trends:Burst of spending (consumers say they won't spend but then spend more money than anticipated)Tale of two con [..] > read more

Four B2B Companies That Use Facebook Right

Published on 2012-01-21 10:36:00

Facebook | Faccialibro There is a change in the air. Facebook is becoming a solid tool for B2B industries. We thought we would check out which companies are on Facebook right now and doing it right. (I'm sure you know that this is not an in-dept report....and if we missed a b2b company that deserves to be on this selection, feel free to add your company to our comment section.)We picked four B2B companies that use Facebook ranging from great to good based on user interaction, content engagem [..] > read more

Recognizing Quality Candidates: My Five Favorite Interview Questions

Published on 2012-01-19 16:08:00

I often preach that your staff are a key component to your company's success. I've certainly learned this in my career experience in retail, but I'm confident this is true across other industries as well. Interviews offer a small window of time to realize a potential candidate's quality. Great people get snatched up quickly! Here are my go-to questions for finding a star.1. Tell me about our company.2. What can you do for us?3. How long would it take you to make a meaningful contribution [..] > read more

Three Factors That Affect Your Advertising Budget

Published on 2012-01-15 15:19:00

traditional & online advertising Advertising is considered a short-term objective. As such, what you need to accomplish for 2012 should be how you develop your advertising budget. Remember; design an advertising budget with your entire marketing plan and not as a single activity.1. Reduce sales cycle: An educational style advertising program will help seal your brand position and messaging. Consider this under the education and awareness factors under your sales process. The ability to establish [..] > read more

What I wish for 2012

Published on 2012-01-07 19:42:00

wishing you love | amore, sempre amoreHi guys!Happy New Year. Hope you had an enjoyable holiday and a safe return to work...We will start off 2012 with our ever so popular post, What I wish for. We may even make it an annual event. In this year’s post Jamie and I decided to combined our wishes. Can you guess which wish belongs to whom?For more original thought;For smartphones to become even smarter;For the US presidential candidates to run with more integrity and creativity and less pointin [..] > read more

Season's Greetings and a Happy New Year!

Published on 2011-12-19 21:32:00

Happy Holidays | Buon Natale | Joyeuse Fetes A warm thanks to all our readers and friends. We truly appreciate your support and enjoy hearing from you. Thank you for all your well wishes!We send you our very best and all good things for 2012!This is our last post for 2011, we will see you again in the New Year! Jamie and Cecilia > read more

Seven Tips For Holiday Business Greeting Cards

Published on 2011-12-18 09:40:00

merci | gracieI was planning on sending this post in November but it got lost for awhile. So, it is a little late. I'm sure your holiday cards have been sent already. Perhaps you can use these tips next year!1. Use a combination of ways to send your message. Depending on your territory, market and client, you should consider sending your holiday greeting in paper and electronic format. Some people really do like to receive a card in the mail, starting with me. Okay forget me, the point he [..] > read more

What's in a name? Everything.

Published on 2011-12-13 21:37:00

Brand Strategy | After reading that the Huffington Post will now be in Canada, I decided that I should really read up on what this news blog is all about. I don't see anything different in its format when compared to a general newspaper would offer expect for one element - their business model. The Huffington Post has a huge number of freelance bloggers and syndicated columnists where many are unpaid. These bloggers provide their content for free with the hopes of getting their work noticed. [..] > read more

The Triple Bottom Line: A Case for a New Teaching Standard in Business Schools and Executive Education

Published on 2011-06-29 03:53:00

Share| We are discussing no small matter, but how we ought to live. ---Socrates (ca. 469/470 BCE-399 BCE) in Plato’s RepublicIn current business school teachings there are a broad variety of models and text that outline and provi > read more

Best Business Practices; Think Lean

Published on 2011-06-21 23:42:00

Share | Just something I recently found and thought I would share it with you.  If you are anything like me, you are always cleaning your desk, opening a new file, making lists and updating your calendar in the ever losing battle of creating a more > read more

Missing my mail...

Published on 2011-06-09 10:47:00

Share | There is a postal strike going on in Canada. News channels and industry experts both claim that many of us won't see the difference because we're so connected with emails, texting, skype and so on. The message from the&n > read more

The Best Kept Customer Service Secret: An Element of Surprise

Published on 2011-05-31 07:41:00

Share|This little gem of inspiration actually stems from a moment almost five years ago after an exceptional shopping experience at a Birks jewelry store. Years have passed, and certainly my background in retail management has grown, however, this s > read more

Stupidity and dumb logos... I just can't take it anymore!

Published on 2011-05-13 12:57:00

ShareIt all started with him pointing out the brilliant subtlety of the hidden arrow in the FedEx logo... About a month ago, I had the opportunity to hear Mickael Kanfi of Twist Image speak about Building a Brand for a Digital World. Amongst other th > read more

Photos, an important element to your brand development success - On and Offline

Published on 2011-05-09 16:44:00

Share | Whether you are in e-commerce, b2b business, an appliance repair shop, accounting firm or craft business; every business needs to build and protect their brand name and market share. While the sale is the only clear result of succe > read more

Top Tips for Improving the ROI of Your Loyalty Program

Published on 2011-04-26 13:05:00

Share | The good news about investing in relationship marketing is that you can measure the results and demonstrate them to Management. That's the bad news, too: you can't hide behind "but the business would have declined even more without it," unles > read more

HOW DO YOU DIFFERENTIATE A PRODUCT THAT’S ALMOST COMPLETELY UNDIFFERENTIATED?

Published on 2011-04-23 14:52:00

Share | I recently discovered a great advertising blog, called AD TEACHINGS. AD TEACHINGS is owned and writted by Suzanne Pope. Suzanna is the Creative Director at JOHN ST. in Toronto and has been writing ads for 20+ years.  > read more

The Gift of Gab: networking is key to professional growth

Published on 2011-04-06 18:01:00

Share I just got home from a networking cocktail hosted by the women's alumni organization of my alma mater. I did not want to go. I'm tired, worked for 10 hours today, and I don't remember sitting down for dinner with my husband in the last two week > read more

Expect more from Marketing; Create a competitive advantage

Published on 2011-03-26 12:05:00

Share Sarasota Herald TribuneA recent job posting is credited for telling it like it isI worked for one company where the president would gather his sales team once a year and ask' "What's your strategy for this year?" And, the answers fr > read more

The Three C's that are Crucial to Good Leadership

Published on 2011-03-12 07:02:00

I had the pleasure of attending a Montreal Sustainability Conference last week, and that event was the inspiration behind this post.Share Throughout the day and myriad of speakers, I saw three common themes in almost every presentation or speaker pan > read more

Email Deliverability: Today's Best Sales Practices

Published on 2011-03-03 11:03:00

ShareContent: Content is more important than frequency. Even if you are liked by your readers and customers, you will still end up irriating them if you send too many emails.Subject line: As much as you want to make it interesting, stay away from wor > read more

There's no I in Team: a simple management lesson from the Oscars

Published on 2011-03-01 07:28:00

ShareThis post wasn’t inspired by the Academy Awards, but it all just rang too true when I watched the awards show last night.Entrepreneurs and business owners alike often bite off a bit more than they can chew. You may even do the same in your pos > read more

Let’s Get this Party Started!

Published on 2011-02-21 12:14:00

Share I’m so pleased to join The Marketing Boutique blogging team. Last week’s introduction was just a brief scratch at the surface… now let’s get down to the nitty gritty!With 12 years of retail experience, nine in managerial or strategic ca > read more

IT'S NOT ALWAYS CLEAR!

Published on 2011-02-13 13:32:00

Share | "Customers don't always know what they want. The decline in coffee-drinking was due to the fact that most of the coffee people bought was stale and they weren't enjoying it. Once they tasted ours and experienced what we call "the third place" > read more

The Marketing Boutique Blogging Team Expands, Introducing Jamie Wolfe

Published on 2011-02-12 12:42:00

Share | With over 9 years of retail industry expertise, a recently completed MBA from Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, a natural organizer with a ‘get it done’ personality, Jamie will discuss her passion for retail, everything retail and speci > read more

What I wish for 2011

Published on 2011-01-02 12:19:00

Share | What I wish for 2011 is:For the market to recover and have more people working. Busy people are happy people.For us to have more time, tried people spend money. Tried people eat out more; look for more resources to help them g > read more

Happy New Year!

Published on 2011-01-02 09:39:00

Share | All the best to you and your loved ones for 2011. Wishing you a very good year with lots of love, laughter and prosperity.Theresa and the gang at The Marketing BoutiqueHappy Marketing! The Marketing Boutique Blog: Browse with > read more

Ecommerce Retail Business

Published on 2010-12-05 13:43:00

Share When I was in Ecommerce Retail, it was a lot of fun. And, quite honestly, I would love to return to this industry given the opportunity.Of course Ecommerce Retail presented it own challenges. From my point of view, these would be the most impor > read more

December Action Plan

Published on 2010-11-30 08:32:00

Share | Hopefully you have finalized your marketing plan 2011 earlier this month allowing you to review:what has been done successfully and not so successfullywhat resources are missingdid you manage to keep to you budget, if not why notcompetit > read more

Finding a Social Media Expert

Published on 2010-11-20 09:14:00

The Start of Social Media...Here is an intersting article on how to evaluate a Social Media Expert, even the comments are good to review. I don't know the fellow who wrote it so I'm not making any claims but the article is worth the read.M > read more

Four of 10 Americans Read Blogs, One-Third of Those Click on Ads,

Published on 2010-11-15 12:28:00

Article from MarketingCharts.comValidates what you've been thinking...According to a study conducted by Synovate/Marketing Daily, blogging has entered the US mainstream. Nearly 4 out of 10 Americans having visited a blog and 8% of Am > read more

Impressions, Click-Through and Inquiries

Published on 2010-09-07 19:06:00

I have been looking at increasing the online visibility for The Marketing Boutique (.net) and I was slightly irked that some directories still position Impressions as a quality selling point. I then thought a review on online advertising stats would > read more

10% Discount!

Published on 2010-09-02 21:07:00

On any package of 2 or more items!We are offering a 10% Discount of any package when you combine 2 or more services. Services include:DESIGNLogo Twitter PageEtsy BoarderBlogger HeaderComplete BloggerComplete Corporate Brand Devel > read more

The Spa Marketing Handbook: Service

Published on 2010-06-21 17:44:00

Congratulations!You've opened your first spa business, selected the perfect background music, created the calming water feature and carefully tested the skin care products you will use in your treatments. You've done some promotions and voilà, > read more

New stats on : Will Social Media End Email Marketing

Published on 2010-06-12 14:40:00

To update the last post on the topic if Social Media will End Email marketing, according to a new study by ExactTarget and CoTweet, it states that, "More online consumers use email than social networks for brand interaction". &nbs > read more