Archive for Four51
Vote Tomorrow
Insights Four51 is setting aside everything to do with e-commerce and Enterprise Requisition Management for one day and encouraging all to vote. Here are the 6 best quotes ever about America’s relationship with its government, and the indispensable role played by The Poll.
Popularity: 48%
Hey Advertisers! Lay Off Me!
Isn’t anywhere sacred anymore? Everywhere I turn, advertisers are after me. I send an email to my friend in New York and Gmail tells me about cheap airfare to JFK or discount Yankees apparel. I login to check my Facebook and I’m given the diet secrets of the stars. Even my beloved XM radio is no longer safe, occasionally telling me how to make my dog stop stinking or manage my unruly children. Well, I’ve got news for you advertisers: I don’t have a dog, I don’t need to lose weight, and I hate the Yankees! Bah!
Popularity: 36%
Sales: Their pain is your gain
I subscribe to a number of blogs on a wide range of topics from effective financial management to snarky Project Runway commentary. This article from the Small Business Branding blog struck me, as it’s something we preach here at Four51.
Popularity: 29%
Sales: Franchisee or Franchisor?
In my opinion, franchises are the ideal fit for the Four51 application and our data can back that up. Currently, more than 30% of the Top 200 Franchises (based on worldwide sales) are buying online through the Four51 platform. This includes everything from restaurant chains to convenience printers to upscale coffee shops. Therefore, they’re concerned about brand continuity, order cycle times and spend management.Four51 addresses all of these issues. However, when selling your capabilities, do you start with the franchisee or the franchisor?
Popularity: 35%
Sustainability: ‘Green collar’ jobs
Regardless of your beliefs about global warming and its environmental effects, businesses are placing stock in the idea of sustainability. I ran across this article, showing that the advent of and increase in ‘green collar’ jobs is the latest indication that green is here to stay. This is great news if you’re in the print industry.
Popularity: 25%
Marketing: Data is our friend, or so they tell me
To me, the word data evokes images of horror and pain, as if I’m being suffocated by endless rows and columns of ubiquitous Excel spreadsheets. Wow, scary…deep breath. To other masochistic souls, data is sheer bliss. Thankfully, here at Four51, we have some of these data freaks whose entire job it is to sort and sift through the seemingly endless information produced by the application.
The key with data is to make it relevant to you. Did you know that we processed nearly 1 million orders in 2007? Or that there are over 20,000 companies buying online through Four51 today? Yep, that’s right, the data says so. What else would you like to know? What do you need to get the “oohs” and “ahhs” from your customers and prospects? We constantly strive to provide you with the tools you need to more effectively present your e-commerce capabilities, but we need your feedback to do so! Chances are we have the information you need to help you seal the deal!
~Maren
Popularity: 11%
Sales: What pitfalls have you learned to avoid?
During a recent discussion on effective strategies for selling Four51, a customer remarked, “Hearing all of your stories and learning from past success is great, but what are the things I SHOULDN’T do?” This struck me as an odd thing to blurt out, yet extremely insightful at the same time.
What techniques have you learned to avoid during the e-commerce sales process? When going up against a competitor with similar capabilities, what didn’t work? Success is a blessing, but the ability to learn from past mistakes or missteps is a skill.
~Maren
Popularity: 8%
Marketing: Turning pain at the pump into potential profit
It’s inescapable. Everywhere you look, people are talking about gas prices. From CNN’s daily recap of barrel prices to the Minnesota Twins reducing ticket prices to help save fans money at the pumps, it is absolutely unavoidable.
I recently asked whether or not any of you had considered corporate sponsored incentives for your employees, encouraging them to carpool or utilize public transportation (you’ll be glad to know that the Consistency Czarina and I are carpooling twice a week…Go Earth and go our wallets!). All of this hullabaloo got me thinking; in what ways can you utilize this frenzy to drive sales and increase customers? Chrysler has jumped on the bandwagon with their $2.99 gas. I recently was forwarded a campaign for a car dealership offering a free handgun or gas cards with purchase (yes, I said handgun). Have you contemplated ways to turn potential crisis into marketing prowess? If so, have you had success?
~Maren
Popularity: 10%
Sustainability: Company-endorsed environmentalism
As I begrudgingly spent $4.12/gallon filling up my tank the other day, I thought to myself, “There must be a better way.” Minneapolis, unlike other metropolitan cities, does not have the extensive public transportation infrastructure to make taking the bus or train an option. Not owning a bike, and finding it difficult to rollerblade to work, I began contemplating the idea of carpooling.
There has been a buzz around our office lately of co-workers exploring the possibility of biking or carpooling to work in an effort to reduce their carbon footprint, as well as fattening their wallets. I began to wonder how this mentality could be further encouraged by the head honchos of Four51. Has anyone explored a corporate policy of carpooling and rewarding for that behavior? Could anyone recommend some best practices to follow or advice for incentivizing employees to be more environmentally conscious?
~Maren
Popularity: 7%
Marketing: Reaching Outside your Target Market
I am a self-professed tomboy. I like beer. I consider buffalo wings their own food group. I can kill a spider.
It may come as no surprise then that my favorite TV show is Sportscenter. Every morning, I groggily turn on the television to wake up to the repartee and biting commentary of my beloved ESPN sportscasters (I love you, Scott Van Pelt). Now, the commercials you see on ESPN aren’t quite the same as my other beloved network, E!. Each day I am bombarded by athlete laden shorts for sports drinks, deodorant, or razors. I’ve realized that, although I’m not the target market, I’m a marketer’s dream.
The Consistency Czarina and I are cubemates and we frequently find ourselves in long, thoughtful MSN chats about everything from Britney drama to effective marketing. Now, I can’t really overstate this, but Laura is NOT a sports fan. She once asked me if the Canadiens won the game against the Phillies. However, in one of our spirited marketing debates, she brought up an interesting point.
By now we’ve all seen the slow motion shots of Tiger sinking his putt during the U.S. Open. In that clip, you couldn’t ignore the instantly recognizable Nike Swoosh. In this instance, Laura was now a marketer’s dream. She’s not the typical demographic, yet she was reached through marketing (although, indirect), by seeing that replay over and over again. Nike’s brand was successfully brought to the forefront of her attention, just like G2 is brought to mine every morning during Sportscenter. The trick for marketers, and it’s quite the challenge, is to capture that new and unexpected attention from non-target market viewers and turn it into profit. So the question is, how do you do that? Does anyone have suggestions or proven methodologies for succes?
And oh, G2 is really good by the way.
~Maren
Popularity: 9%
