August 24th, 2010
Products, services, logos, slogans, music, publications and inventions are known as intellectual property. Intellectual property law is the term for the multiple areas of law—copyright, trademark and patent—that governs the ownership and rights to these creations.
In this Blue Paper, we discuss the basics of what these protections are, why they are important to business, when and how to apply, and how to take efforts to ensure that you and your employees are not violating the terms of someone else’s copyright, trademark or patent.
August 24th, 2010
Clearly, marketing isn’t what it used to be and neither is the budget; but what still holds true amid the evolution is that budgeting takes research, planning and measurement to be successful. What is your business doing with your budget to ensure success in this new landscape? Read on to learn the basics of successful budgeting, to see where you’re business falls in line with other benchmarks and how to implement a budget that works.
August 2nd, 2010
Effective advertising has much more to do with strategy development and targeted messaging, delivered via the media channels most likely to reach intended audiences. Luckily for businesses and organizations everywhere, technology trends and the socialization of the Internet have opened up a whole new world of advertising. Advertising through social networking sites such as Facebook stands to engage consumers as much as it stands to convince of a message.
July 13th, 2010
Traditionally, marketers and advertisers have long utilized focus group-based research as a means of gauging responses to products and communications of a brand. But just like the change to a consumer-driven marketplace, how we gather consumer opinions and reactions is changing.
It may sound futuristic, but there are now technologies that allow marketers to scientifically understand the mind of the consumer. It’s not science fiction, its neuromarketing.
June 28th, 2010
In fundraising, there’s something called the “warm glow” theory that offers
reason for why people give. While research has suggested that tax benefits,
vested interest in causes and recognition all compel people to donate, it’s the
warm glow—the feeling of doing good—that truly drives the act of giving.
This theory has been extended to the corporate world as well. It is has
been proven that purchasing from companies that act ethically or give
to a cause provides further incentive (warm glow!) to the consumer.
June 24th, 2010
Remember the Walkman™, that beat out the boom box, that turned into the Discman, that led the way for the MP3 player, that got eaten by the iPod™? It’s the perfect example of evolution. Just like the World Wide Web.
The Web is constantly changing as people innovate, as the demand for information ebbs and flows, and as cultures shift. The Web that Sir Tim Berners-Lee launched in 1989 is not the Web we know today, nor is the Web today what it will be tomorrow.
May 27th, 2010
Businesses and corporations have had an active role in public education for close
to a century. What began as a means of providing funding and resources for
schools and educators, corporate involvement in schools has grown to encompass
so much more—mainly, educational partnerships, sponsorships, incentive
programs, training opportunities and internship programs.
May 10th, 2010
If this recession has taught us anything, it has served to remind us that basic b-school tactics are also required to sustain a business, regardless of economic climate.
The proof can be found in the handful of businesses that have not only walked away from the battlefield of the last two years relatively unscathed, but are actually better off than before with new investments, new products or increased sales.
These businesses all have one thing in common: They were successful before things went south; they were positioned and prepared to forge ahead.
May 6th, 2010
Psst … you, yes, you reading this Blue Paper. Don’t make any sudden movements
… you’re being watched.
No, you‘re not the subject of a CIA investigation. Instead, it’s more likely that monitoring and data collection is taking place as we speak, right here in corporate America—perhaps even your office—perhaps even by you.
May 6th, 2010
Sometimes marketing can seem akin to throwing a fistful of darts at random
moving targets in hopes of getting a single bull’s-eye. The savvy marketer,
however, knows that to be effective, messages need to be targeted to the
audiences most likely to be receptive, or in a way that is most likely to resonate.