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December 2009

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My Top Trends For 2010

December 31, 2009


This is the time of year for predictions and trends forecasting in the coming year, so before the famous lit bill drops in New York City's Times Square I'll offer a few of mine for 2010 and beyond:

1. The arrival of web/videoconferencing

Videoconferencing especially has long been regarded even by me as a 'tomorrow technology' ranking somewhere up there with jetpacks and hovercars i.e. cool to have, but horrendously expensive and complicated to implement.

No more.

Can Social Media Influence Sales? Just Ask Simon Cowell

December 21, 2009

If there is ever a demonstration that social media can make or break a product--and why enterprises should wrap tools and training with CRM strategies to effectively tap this new channel via their contact centers as presents to themselves-- then a recent U.K. Facebook-organized campaign to deny the debut single from the recent winner of Simon Cowell's X Factor reality show the hallowed position of Britain's top Christmas pop song should be it.

Lyndsey Parker's Reality Rocks blog, carried on Yahoo!, reports that the song, a cover of Miley Cyrus's 'The Climb' sung by X Factor champion Joe McElderry has been beaten out by a 17-year-old Rage Against The Machine track, 'Killing In The Name' 500,000 copies sold, compared to 450,000. RATM fan Jon Morter instigated the drive in what the blog reported was "a protest effort to stop Simon Cowell's empire from dominating the music industry--since Simon is the main X Factor judge, and X Factor winner McElderry� just signed to Simon's SyCo record label.

Thinking Twice About Loyalty Programs

December 14, 2009


Developing customer loyalty through card/membership programs is a good idea, in theory and for the meantime in practice. Yet is this a short-term gig, about as effective cash/gifts/other goodies-based performance incentives, with the same inherent flaw?

Canadians (yes I'm one) especially are big on loyalty cards. You can't go into a store or gas bar or most any other business and not be asked for one here.

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