The GM CEO Blog

A corporate blog gives voice and agency to a company, and CEO’s should take advantage of this opportunity to communicate directly with customers and the public. A CEO should share a love and enthusiasm for their company and its product or service. They should not be CEO of the company if they don’t feel that love. With GM, of course, it is easy. Beautiful cars, colorful history, and of course, appealing advertising.

Vice Chairman Bob Lutz gives his thoughts on the blog (see his blog) and over time it has become apparent Bob loves cars.

A CEO like Bob now has voice without being lackey to media conglomerates and the sickly procession of charlatans who work in them. I still think about the now infamous incident between the NY Times conglomerate and GM. The NYT published a vicious Tom Freidman editorial about GM that it later admitted went over the top. GM sent them a reply and asked it to be printed on the op-ed page but kept getting the run around by the Times editors. (See GM Blog )

GM complied with demand after demand to water down their reply until the editors finally demanded that GM remove the word rubbish. The Times said it was a devil word inappropriate for a paper of their stature. At that point, GM posted the unsightly email thread it had been keeping with the Times on its Fastlane blog.

It was so outrageous that it spread across the Internet like the fire of righteous retribution. Many were appalled by the Times hypocritical censorship and arrogance. The Columbia School of Journalism wrote that the Times was patently unfair (Columbia Journalism Critique).

The days of newspapers playing God because they were the only game in town are over. An open discussion about GM occurred despite the Times trying to suppress and censor it. As a postscript, when you get wildfire like this, the law of many eyes kicks in and some eyes found editorials posted in the Times past that contained the word rubbish.

I am saddened by the Chapter 11 status of GM. The NYT is on the same path. A consortium of colleges may save them (see Freepress) but the Internet has destroyed their revenue structure.

Vexing the Dull EAR of a Drowsy Man

If you participate in global trade you can run afoul of export regulations. The United States is notoriously sensitive about the shipment of advanced capability to its potential foes. The Bureau of Industry and Security (see their Web Site) is responsible for "enforcing Export Administration Regulations (EARs)."

A mistake here and they may give you a thumping you won’t walk away from. Here's a watchful inspector now.

The FedEx service I select this day is its Export Advisory Services. FedEx provides comprehensive protective services to companies, helping them navigate the regulatory minefield put in place for national security (see The EAS FAQ). Let FedEx deal with these inspectors.

Vanides (2009, p. 1) says that B-to-B global segmentation must deal with a different model. She says that one important dimension is "How customers will use product." Not all export businesses will use the Export Advisory Service, but those on the Export Control List are people who might. There are several categories of industry that will benefit from my service. Two industry classifications I will visit with my Fedex team are software and wireless communications.

NAICS codes
EAR Category 4, Computers, encompasses Software, which has a NAICS code of 511210.
EAR Category 5 (Part 1) is Telecommunications and I drill into the Wireless NAICS code 517210 thusly:

5172 Wireless Telecommunications Carriers (except Satellite)
51721 Wireless Telecommunications Carriers (except Satellite)
517210 Wireless Telecommunications Carriers (except Satellite)

If you're like me and don't like mind-numbing regulations written in bureau-speak, FedEx can help.

References
Shakespeare, W (1611). Louis the Dauphin, in King John, act 3, sc. 4.

Vanides, A. (2009). Lesson 8: Managing the Global B-to-B Brand Asset with Direct Marketing. Retrieved on October 9, 2009 from WVU IMC 626 Week 8 Readings.

IBM On-Demand Sevices

1. The Business World is on Fire.
Small businesses’ partners and customers expect quick and easy transactions. Their competitors continually erase profit margins. Information management systems must be part of the solution, not millstones around their necks. At last, the world can be their computer, thanks to IBM On-Demand Services.




Wouldn’t it be nice if an IT solution were like their electric utility? Flip a switch to use it. Flip back when done. They only pay for when they use it. Oh, and by the way, they can connect to the world’s dataspace seamlessly. An impossible dream? For over a century, IBM has made impossible dreams come true for small businesses.

2. Who are the customers and what do they want?
IBM (2009e, p 1) says the world is “Instrumented. Interconnected. Intelligent.” and that these on demand services are “Inevitable.” They report that there are now 1 billion transistors per human. Over a trillion things are networked. All those things have intelligent devices in them. “The time is right now. “

Small Businesses are the target market according to Vanides (2009, p. 1). They want effective support of their operations. They cannot afford the IT staff and glass house expense for the sophisticated information services used by larger competitors. They also need to reduce costs including whatever IT costs they already incur. What is more, with the new Waxman and Markey HR 2454 Bill (2009, pp 652-672) also known as the Cap and Trade Bill, all business including small business will need to reduce carbon footprint. Penalties will be assessed on those who don’t. Those who do will be able to sell their carbon allowance credits on the open market.

Small business managers in the business units want efficient automation of their operations. It would be nice to have access from anywhere rather than the currently constrained in-the-building format. Small business workers want ease of use. Existing partners want an easy way to perform transactions with the small business.

Existing computer suppliers and software vendors would be opposed to a move to On-Demand services. They have a concerned interest in the sale of expensive solutions and services to these businesses.

3. Market Analysis
3.1 Competitive Actions
Leong and Chamberlain (2009, pp 1-2) report that this market is rapidly growing. It is considered the future of computing by the most of the major players. The new Microsoft Chief Technology Officer, Ray Ozzie is not blind to the market change. Microsoft completely missed virtualization but they have a belated start here. Online services are becoming an important market segment for them, according to Mackey. A Microsoft on-demand services initiative is code-named Azure (see Mackey, 2008, p 1). Google and Amazon are also in this developing market as well. The players in on-demand services will soon have good-enough offerings, or so says Gartner (see Smith and Austin, 2007, p 1).

Wainwright (2009, p. 1) highlights Microsoft’s weakness in this area, which is its Software plus Services model rather than on-demand services model. Wainwright gives as an example:
"A Microsoft spokesperson told me that customers will need to buy a SharePoint server, which ranges from $4,400 plus CALs, or $41,000 all CALs included, if they want to share documents using the online version of Office 2010."

$41,000 to get what Google offers for free with Google Docs, not to mention the pounding the prospects will take in buying Office. Wainwright concludes that Azure is not a competitive threat to the other players but a defensive play to give existing Microsoft customers, who already paid for the software, a .NET friendly cloud. This is Microsoft’s competitive weakness.

What about Google or Amazon? Neither of them have the history of supporting small business that IBM does. Neither has the business expertise that IBM consulting marshals. According to a Gartner Press Release (see Gartner, 2009, p 1), Google is a leader in offering advertising services. However, Leong and Chamberlain (2009, p 2), in their Gartner study, do not rate Google or Microsoft as even niche players for on-demand business operation services. They do rate Amazon as a visionary but without the ability to execute that vision. For On-Demand Services, they rate IBM in the highest category – a leader with the vision and ability to execute.
Their main competition is AT&T, another venerable institution, and my former employer. What are AT&T’s weaknesses? They tell us. Poor customer service! How long would a small business last if they gave their customers poor service? AT&T is inflexible. AT&T’s process is difficult, complex, and slow.

3.2 Marketing Issues
Like the PC in the early 1980s, On-Demand services is a leap into the unknown by most small businesses. This is because it is a new technical approach to business operations. In such a case, a trusted institution like IBM is a strong marketing positive. It was that way with PCs, which did not take off until IBM backed them. There were microcomputers before the IBM PC. When it introduced the PC, Jackson, et al (2002), say that IBM was “responsible for unleashing the upheaval that would lead to … the complete restructuring of the IT industry.” So it was with each new automation era in business processing.

There are no success stories for On-Demand services, it is such a new concept. There are no references. IBM is eating its own dog-food, so it can report on its own experience, but that is it. To counter this, there is little marginal cost in offering a free starter service and consulting to reduce risk for the small businesses.

Another marketing issue is that no one has a complete toolset at this time. To counter this, there are positive returns for the small business from the implementation of even one of the tools. Furthermore, according to Gartner only IBM and AT&T have the comprehensive vision for the toolset and the ability to execute that vision. The lack of a complete toolset by anyone can actually be an advantage to IBM.

Additionally, there are issues and cautions for email marketing. Vanides (2009a, p. 2) says that this is even truer for B-to-B: messages. B-toB email must be relevant and have substance. Vanides (pp 7-8) provides advice on the form and style of our emails. First make a compelling offer and tell a story that “engages the reader’s imagination.” Stay focused, an email should cover one product or service. Give assurances to the forces of nature with money-back guarantees. Keep the paragraphs short and the tone appropriate to the audience. You may want to have a P.S. Finally, have multiple calls to action.

Momentum is another aspect of email marketing. Quris (p. 10) says that measurement of past behavior lets us gauge email engagement momentum. This gives us the recipient motivation and interest before we send our emails.

4. Constraints
The Direct Marketing of IBM On-Demand services is constrained first by an incomplete toolset. Another constraint is the radical newness of this technology; we are not completely sure how customers will use the various services. There is a further lack of references and no real life feasibility studies with existing implementations. Accomplishing the objectives of this Direct Marketing campaign will remove many of these constraints.

5. Decision Options: Objectives, Strategies and Tactics
Leslie and Holloway (2006, p. 116) stress the importance of education when marketing new technology. This is a two-edged sword, especially while the services are being fully defined. The customer needs to be educated on the value and benefit of the service but at the same time IBM will need feedback from the customer on how they think they can employ the service and any changes that would make this easier. This two-way education is a common thread amongst our objectives, strategies and tactics.

There is risk in changing technology, and free trial is a way we can reduce that risk. This will be a second common thread throughout our objectives, strategies and tactics. In our readings, Carlson Marketing (2007, p 2) reported that one On-Demand service that has already proven successful is Customer Relationship Marketing.

CRM will be the free service offering in our IBM campaign – all businesses need it and small businesses may consider it a luxury because of the cost and difficulty of a traditional implementation (see Doyle and Martin, 2003, p. 1). Additionally, it is something that we can offer as a plain vanilla basic package to give them immediate benefit with low marginal cost to IBM. Then we follow-up with paid consulting engagements to customize it according to more specific ways they do business.

Finally, the Waxman and Markey Cap and Trade Bill may make On-Demand services pay for itself at small businesses. Waxman and Markey's bill (2009, pp 652-672) puts a cap on carbon footprint and will dictate an allowance to each business. All companies will be required to purchase an "Emissions Permit" and over time this allowance will be reduced to squeeze companies to further drive down carbon footprint.

The trade aspect enables “green” companies with an allowance greater than their footprint to sell credits to “dirty” companies at whatever the market will bear. On-Demand services reduces server and glass-house carbon footprint. We can take it a step further as well. With On-Demand services, you really may not need an office building: they are just big filing cabinets. People can access On-Demand services from anywhere they have Internet access.

So On-Demand services can help companies with a quick reduction in glass-house carbon and later with smaller buildings for enormous carbon savings. Teleworking becomes a more feasible option with On-Demand Services.

5.1 Objectives
Spiller and Baier (2005, p 210) find that roughly 80% of people respond to email compared with less than 2% click through on banner ads (p 214). This established the order of magnitude for our expectations in this Email Direct Marketing campaign. Here are our objectives. As noted before, with a radical new technology, an education process is the appropriate first step.

• 90% of IBM small business customers are aware of benefits from On-Demand Services


• 50% of recipients accept an invitation to a free online seminar with the promise of free consulting services after completion of seminar, and completion of a questionnaire at the end of the seminar.


• 5% agree to the deployment of On-Demand basic CRM services with free consulting services. A free trial period of use will be followed by discount rates per hour of usage for these innovators, an influential group.

These objectives will guide the education of the market about the benefits of IBM On-Demand Services. In addition, IBM will learn how customers actually use this radical new technology. This will give IBM both references for future sales, as well as guidance to product development on what real customers look for in such services.

5.2 Strategies
Spiller and Baier (2005, pp 210-11) disclose that the grand strategy for email marketing is to target promotions to specific customers and that such an approach should be database-driven and customized to match the specific needs of the recipient. This type of customer-centric marketing is at the heart of customer relationship management. Thompson (2007, p 2) says we need to become customer-centric by understanding our customers and giving them "what they want." Our grand strategy is to integrate our email campaigns now and in future with the customer databases at our disposal.

Our second strategy is to offer free consulting services in an exclusive offer. Spiller and Baier (p 89) suggest that when products are new to the market, and so are in limited supply or not yet generally available, in such cases an effective approach is to offer an exclusive. The Email offer will use this strategy and the chance for Free consulting services. Spiller and Baier (2005, pp 102-103) list nine strategies and (p 104) 99 specific tactics for direct marking offers. The first strategy is a free offer.

Of course we must avoid the appearance of being Greeks bearing gifts, the all pervasive strategy of Western civilization, but that said, I think gifts as in "we're here to help" are a way to get the doors open for IBM On-Demand Services with its small business services. In this email campaign, prospects will have the opportunity for Free consulting services to set-up a very basic customer relationship management system. Once IBM has that the basic foudnation setup then we can spin-sell off of it. Additionally, IBM have references for early majority and late majority customers.

The marginal cost of the service is nil, the opportunity cost is low because it is only the basics, and the engineering time is an investment. The establishment of the basic foundation gives IBM sales teams opportunity for spin-selling to get follow-up work. The benefit for the customer is reduced risk.

5.3 Tactics
This is a high involvement product. Customers will need to engage in detailed descriptions of benefits and attend a learning seminar. The email will not attempt this education since a seminar is a better forum. The email body copy will emphasize benefits, however.

• Better your own business through access to services previously available only to large organizations


• Reduce IT costs


• Free consulting


• A time limit offer – we are starting now and value your expertise.

We will say that because we want timely feedback for product development and later marketing campaigns, this is a time-limit offer. Time limit offers are a standard tactic in direct marketing.
We will use the IBM CRM database (see Spiller and Baier, 2005, p 121) to personalize aspects of the materials. We will include the compelling promotional phrase “At last” to start our text. Spiller and Baier (p 111, 126) make the case that the phrase “At last” is attention grabbing. At last, the world is your computer.

Bob Stones Seven-Step formula in Spiller and Baier (2005, p 117). First a benefit is promised: “At last, the world is your computer.” Next the most important benefit is enlarged: Wouldn’t it be nice if your IT solution were like your electric utility? Flip a switch to use it. Flip back when done. You only pay for when you use it. Oh, and by the way, you can connect to the world’s dataspace seamlessly.

Back up what you say: “We’ve Defined Each New Era In Business Processing for Over a Century.” Tell them what they lose by not acting: “”Free implementation of an online service.” Incite action now: An impossible dream? Call us now. For over a century, we’ve made impossible dreams come true for small businesses. IBM On-Demand Services. P.S. We’ll throw in free consulting to get you started. Call today.

Vanides (2009a, pp 7-8) provides life-giving advice on the form and style of our emails. First make a compelling offer and tell a story that “engages the reader’s imagination.” Stay focused, an email should cover one product or service. Give assurances to the forces of nature with money-back guarantees. Keep the paragraphs short and the tone appropriate to the audience. you may want to have a P.S. Finally, have multiple calls to action.

6. Implications/Recommendation/Conclusion
IBM has a leadership role in the industry for this important new direction. Gartner (see Leong and Chamberlain, 2009, pp 1-2) rates it as having the comprehensive vision for the future of On-Demand services and the ability to execute. AT&T is so rated as well.

This is a radical new direction for an industry noted for radical changes. IBM must learn how the customer will use the new services and as Leslie and Holloway (2006, p. 116) observe, this is true for all new technologies. This campaign is only the first step. The results and feedback from it will lay the foundation for next steps. We are ready to work with IBM on those steps and welcome the opportunity to discuss with you our ideas.

References

Carlson Marketing (2007). No More Limits: On Demand CRM Goes Strategic. Oracle. Retrieved on September 17, 2009 from WVU IMC 626 Week 3 Readings.

Doyle, M., Starr D., and R. Martin (2003). Salesnet: Change or Die. Retrieved on September 4, 2009 from WVU IMC 626 Week Three Readings.

Duncan, T (2005). Prinicples of Advertising & IMC. McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Gartner (March 26, 2009). Gartner Says Worldwide Cloud Services Revenue Will Grow 21.3 Percent in 2009. Gartner Press Release. Retrieved on September 16, 2009 from http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=920712

IBM (2009). 1400 Series Computers. Retrieved on September 15, 2009 from http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/mainframe/mainframe_PP1401.html

IBM (2009a). IBM 405 Series Business Machine. Retrieved on September 15, 2009 from
http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/interactive/index.html#/EarlyAmbitions/405AccountingMachine

IBM (2009b). IBM 603 Series Adding/Multiplying Machine. Retrieved on September 15, 2009 from
http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/interactive/index.html#/GrowingInfluence/603ElectronicMultiplier

IBM (2009c). IBM System3 and 30 Series Computers. Retrieved on September 15, 2009 from
http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/rochester/rochester_4008.html

IBM (2009d). IBM Personal Computer. Retrieved on September 15, 2009 from
http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/pc/pc_1.html

IBM (2009e). Retrieved on September 15, 2009 from
http://www.ibm.com/ibm/ideasfromibm/us/smartplanet/20081106/index2.shtml?&re=sp2

JACKSON, M., MANDEVILLE, T. and J. POTTS (2002). The Evolution of the Digital Computation Industry. Prometheus. Retrieved on September 16, 2009 from EBSCOHOST.

Leong, Lydia and Ted Chamberlin (July 2, 2009). Magic Quadrant for Web Hosting and Hosted Cloud System Infrastructure Services (On Demand). Gartner Research, ID G00168687. Also, retrieved on September 16, 2009 from http://www.rackspace.com/downloads/pdfs/GartnerMagicQuadrant.pdf

Leslie, M, and C. Holloway (July-August 2006). The Sales Learning Curve. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved on September 18, 2009 from EBSCOHOST>

Mackey, Kurt (October 27, 2008). Microsoft has head in the clouds with new Windows Azure OS. Retrieved on September 16, 2009 from http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081027-microsoft-has-head-in-the-clouds-with-new-windows-azure-os.html

Marketing Vox, (October 4, 2007). Ballmer Sees Ad Revenue as Microsoft's Future. Retrieved on September 16, 2009 from http://www.marketingvox.com/ballmer-sees-ad-revenue-as-microsofts-future-033446/

Quris, Inc. (October 2003). How Email Practices Can Win of Lose Long-Term Business. Retrieved from WVU IMC 626 Week Five Readings on September 13, 2009.

Smith, D and Austin T (June 5, 2007). Microsoft and Google: Who's Going After Whom? Gartner Research, ID G00148622

Spiller, L and M Baier, (2005). Contemporary Direct Marketing. Pearson/Prentice-Hall

Thompson , B. (Jan. 22, 2007). Why "CRM" Must Die for Customer-Centric Business To Thrive. CustomerThink Corp. Retrieved on September 8, 2009 from www.customerthink.com.

Vanides, Alexia (2009). Case Study: IBM’s New Company Positioning Strategy: E-Business on Demand. Retrieved from WVU IMC 626 Week Five Assignment on September 13, 2009.

Vanides, Alexia (2009a). Lesson 5: Online and Other Email Marketing Techniques. Retrieved from WVU IMC 626 Week Five Lesson on September 13, 2009.

Wainwright, Phil July 20, 2009). Assessing Microsoft’s Cloud Intentions. EBiz. Retrieved on September 16, 2009 from http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/connectedweb/2009/07/assessing_microsofts_cloud_int.php

Waxman and Markey (2009). H.R. 2454, aka The Cap and Trade Bill. U.S. House of Representatives. Retrieved on September 18, 2009 from http://www.heritage.org/Research/EnergyandEnvironment/upload/hr2454-text.pdf

IBM Support for Small Business: A Visual History

According to Vandies (2009, p 1), network computing is at the heart of IBM’s E-Business On-Demand project. This On-Demand computing allows companies, and their external partners to work seamlessly together. IBM brokers this effortless, cooperative information sharing by offering a suite of technology services.

Analysts speculate that only a small subset of the eventual service offering is now in place. Leong and Chamberlain (2009, p 1) note that this is true industry-wide. In their Gartner article, they rate IBM as a leader, with vision and the ability to execute that vision. It is important to stress IBM’s history of executing visions for small businesses.

Although On-Demand is a far cry from selling hardware, it does follow the IBM tradition of supporting small businesses. Here is a short, visual history of its support for small business over the past century. All of the equipment shown below was designed for and used by small and medium sized organizations.

1930s-40s: IBM 405

1940s-50s: IBM 603

1950s-70s: IBM 1400 Series

1960s-80s: IBM System 3 Series

For the 1980s-2000s, IBM Defined an Era



For 2009 and the future: On-Demand Services


IBM anticipates that 60% of the profits in the high-tech industry will be derived from software services (see Vanides, 2009, p 1) and they want to be there. IBM has purchased an on-demand tool vendor and a major consulting firm. IBM itself is eating its own dog food and becoming a user of its on-demand services.

References

Figure 1: IBM 405 Series Business Machine. Retrieved on September 19, 2009 from
http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/interactive/index.html#/EarlyAmbitions/405AccountingMachine

Figure 2: IBM 603 Series Adding/Multiplying Machine. Retrieved on September 19, 2009 from
http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/interactive/index.html#/GrowingInfluence/603ElectronicMultiplier

Figure 3: 1400 Series Computers. Retrieved on September 19, 2009 from http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/mainframe/mainframe_PP1401.html

Figure 4: IBM System3 and 30 Series Computers. Retrieved on September 19, 2009 from
http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/rochester/rochester_4008.html

Figure 5: IBM Personal Computer. Retrieved on September 15, 2009 from
http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/pc/pc_1.html

Figure 6: On-Demand Services. Retrieved on September 20, 2009 from
http://www.ibm.com/ibm/ideasfromibm/us/smartplanet/20081106/index2.shtml?&re=sp2


Leong, Lydia and Ted Chamberlin (July 2, 2009). Magic Quadrant for Web Hosting and Hosted Cloud System Infrastructure Services (On Demand). Gartner Research, ID G00168687. Also, retrieved on September 16, 2009 from http://www.rackspace.com/downloads/pdfs/GartnerMagicQuadrant.pdf

Vanides, Alexia (2009a). Lesson 5: Online and Other Email Marketing Techniques. Retrieved from WVU IMC 626 Week Five Lesson on September 13, 2009.

The Vesper Martini Came Later: A Campiagn to Introduce Campari

Campari
In his first novelized missions, just after WWII, James Bond’s drink was the Americano: Campari, Cinzano and Perrier (see Fleming, 2008, p 5). Today, it is a drink on Mad Men, obtaining product placement on that popular series (see MadMen Cocktails). Campari is an Italian aperitif, infused with herbal essences as well as extracts from the Cochineal beetle.

Need NAICS? OST Does
The first phase of my Campari campaign is B-to-B with an objective of increasing awareness of this historic drink in America among influentials. The strategy I will follow is to seed happening places such as clubs and bars with the product. This focuses initially on opinion leaders who obtain positive direct experience with the brand.


Once word of mouth creates a buzz about the product, then widen distribution to sectors surrounding the “in” spots. Keller (p 57) postulates that word of mouth advertising is particularly effective at building positive brand image in the product categories of restaurants and drinking places.

The tactic is to use direct email and direct mail to alcoholic drinking places to get them to carry Campari and incent them to introduce it. To do this, I start with the NAICS code for bars, coded in NAICS as alcoholic drinking places. Once word of mouth has worked its magic, then I will expand to other businesses that sell alcohol, such as liquor stores.

Getting the NAICS Codes
I used the Census Bureau worksheet of all NAICS codes to find the one for the business category of bars and drinking establishments. The worksheet is located at: Census NAICS. In record 2122, NAICS code 72 I find accommodation and food services industry segment. Reviewing the subordinate records, I then find in record 2137, NAICS code 722 - food services and drinking places. Then with record 2155 and following, I find NAICS codes 7224, 72241, and 722410 all with the same description, “drinking places, alcoholic beverages.”

I will go with the full six-digit NAICS code 722410 when I deal with list vendors.

SalesGenie.com is my Lister of Choice
Yo, where my drunks at? A list broker can help me answer that question. In dealing with list brokers, Vanides (2009, pp 1-2) gives some pointers.

In my case, I will want to work with the vendor on a follow-up campaign to liquor stores and more normal bars and restaurants. So the advice from Vanides is to select a broker who will work with me on OST. A truly professional vendor can help me properly set-up my first campaign so the second phase is easily feasible. I will also need a vendor with multiple files, so I can do appropriate follow-up with them for a different set of industries like liquor stores.

I will be segmenting on NAICS code and also on characteristics of the drinking place, as in trendy. One issue that can arise from this segmentation is overuse – too many other businesses are trying to reach my audience with other offers. The repetition of such email or mails creates immunity to new messages according to Gladwell (2002, p 273).

According to Vanides (p 2) the list broker has a key role, “Understanding how the source-mix has changed” and how that will affect the campaign. With all this in mind, I have selected SalesGenie.Com to help me with this vital work. They were enumerated in both Lesson 6 (see Vanides, 2009, p 2) and Multichannel Merchant (2008, p 2). Multichannel Merchant gives this write-up.

“Salesgenie.com is an Internet-based subscription service that helps sales representatives and business owners find new customers and increase sales. With 24/7 access to the freshest leads and mailing lists, and hundreds of search selections, Salesgenie.com clients can find the right prospects in minutes! Clients can search all 12 of infoUSA’s databases, which are comprised of the most comprehensive business and consumer data in the industry. Choose from 14 million U.S. businesses.210 million consumers and 10 other databases. “

Multichannel Merchant has write-ups on a dozen other list brokers as well.

References
Fleming, Ian (2008). Quantum of Solace: The Complete James Bond Short Stories. Penguin.

Gladwell, M (2002). The Tipping Point. Back Bay Books.

Keller, K (2008). Strategic Brand Management. Pearson/Prentice-Hall.

Multichannel Merchant (2/16/2008). Direct Buyers Guide. Retrieved on September 21, 2009 from EBSCOHOST.

Pearson (2006). Case Study 4: Red Bull, Building Brand Equity in New Ways!. Pearson/ Prentice-Hall.
Vanides, A (2009). Lesson 6: The Issue with Lists, Leveraging the Channel and DM Campaigns. Retrieved on September 20, 2009 from WVU IMC 626 Week 6 Readings