Monday: Existing Home Sales,
Tuesday: Gross Domestic Product, Consumer Confidence
Wednesday: Personal Income and Consumption, Weekly initial jobless claims
Thursday: Thanksgiving Day
Friday: Black Friday, New Home Sales, Crude Inventories
Larson Notes: People are sitting back wondering if they are next to get the pink slip. There is not much room to maneuver in the marketing right now. Retail has been trying to stretch out Christmas by trying to get cus…
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Added by Howard Larson on November 23, 2009 at 3:30pm —
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Monday: Existing Home Sales,
Tuesday: Gross Domestic Product, Consumer Confidence
Wednesday: Personal Income and Consumption, Weekly initial jobless claims
Thursday: Thanksgiving Day
Friday: Black Friday, New Home Sales, Crude Inventories
Larson Notes: People are sitting back wondering if they are next to get the pink slip. There is not much room to maneuver in the marketing right now. Retail has been trying to stretch out Christmas by trying to get cus…
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Added by Howard Larson on November 23, 2009 at 3:30pm —
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Direct mail has a cost that you need to be able to handle in this recession, and it is easy to put snail mail and park it as a bad way to market but I beg to differ.
Experience shows that many B2B marketing campaigns actually have a better ROI (Return On Investment) than an email campaign when done as a standalone unit. E-Mail is less expensive so why? Consider this first direct mail lists are more plentiful and generally cleaner that an e-mail list you might get.
Second, most of us are still…
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Added by Howard Larson on November 18, 2009 at 5:30pm —
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Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday: Weekly initial jobless claims,
Friday: Trade Balance
Larson Notes: As expected everything was good except employment. Did you really think we would not hit unemployment over 10%. But the good news was there. Interest rates remain low. With inventory levels low production levels were raised. And productivity are higher, Government extended the home buyers tax rebate, but the heath care squeaked though the house even with a large group of…
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Added by Howard Larson on November 9, 2009 at 3:30pm —
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Monday: September Construction Spending, Pending Home Sales,
Tuesday: Factory Orders, Auto & Truck Sales
Wednesday: Federal Reserve Meeting
Thursday: Weekly initial jobless claims, 3rd Quarter Productivity
Friday: Consumer Credit, Wholesale Inventories
Larson Notes: The government stimulus in cars grew the economy lst month together with home sales by 3.5%. That is mainly due to cash for clunkers and the $8000 home…
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Added by Howard Larson on November 3, 2009 at 3:49am —
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Monday:
Tuesday: Durable Goods Orders (B), Case-Shiller Home Price Index, Consumer Confidence (B)
Wednesday: Durable Goods Orders (B), New Home Sales (C+), Crude Inventories
Thursday: Weekly initial jobless claims (C+), Gross Domestic Product (B)
Friday: Personal Income and Consumption (C+), Chicago Regional Manufacturing Surveys (B)
*Rating Scale by Importance (A-F)
Larson note: Last week we saw Home sales go up but new housing st…
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Added by Howard Larson on October 26, 2009 at 2:30pm —
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Monday:
Tuesday: Sept. Producer Price Index (B-), Sept. Housing Starts and Building Permits (B-)
Wednesday:
Thursday: Weekly initial jobless claims (C+), Sept Leading Indicators (D-)
Friday: Sept Existing Home Sales (C+)
Larson note: Looking to keep the upward outlook this week. I am looking for producer pricing so say flat and housing starts to continue to go up and home sales to contintue strong as though the end of November with the government tax credit of $8000…
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Added by Howard Larson on October 19, 2009 at 2:30pm —
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Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday: Retail Sales, Business Inventories
Thursday: Weekly initial jobless claims, Consumer Price Index, Crude Inventories
Friday: Industrial Production, Capacity Utilization
Larson note: I was a little surprised by the retail sales report for September as were a lot of people. I guess school supplies were really selling like hot cakes. That and consumer bowering going down will only help in the long run. But it is still employment. Do you add pe…
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Added by Howard Larson on October 13, 2009 at 1:50am —
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Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday: Consumer Credit, Treasury Budget
Thursday: Weekly initial jobless claims, Wholesale Inventories
Friday: Trade Balance
Larson note: I was ready this week. Auto sales drop, employment rate higher. Still I like what I and my people are hearing off the street.
This week, don’t expect anything good report wise. We need inventories to keep low and I am not sure if they are low enough. My only suggestion is to pick your battles and push forward.…
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Added by Howard Larson on October 5, 2009 at 2:30am —
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Monday:
Tuesday: Case-Shiller Housing Price Index, Consumer Confidence
Wednesday: Gross Domestic Product, Regional Manufacturing Surveys
Thursday: Weekly initial jobless claims, Personal Income and Consumption, Construction Spending, Auto and Truck Sales,
Friday: Factory Orders, Payroll / Nonfarm Payrolls
Larson note: Wow was I off last week. I expected upward trends and saw bad news home sales and factory order reports. Good news was the Fed will hold intere…
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Added by Howard Larson on September 28, 2009 at 2:30pm —
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Monday: Leading Indicators
Tuesday: FHFA US Housing Price Index
Wednesday:
Thursday: Weekly initial jobless claims. Existing Home Sales, Durable Goods Orders
Friday: August New Home Sales
Larson note: We saw some bad and I mean bad employment numbers last week, as August numbers really took a beating, yet on the up side the manufacturing figures looked good, very good. So where do we go from here. Yes employment is going to stay tight, very tight as employers…
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Added by Howard Larson on September 21, 2009 at 2:30pm —
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The e-mail inbox lies at the convergence point of two trends in advertising: Marketers forming direct relationships with consumers and marketers working to deliver more relevant, specifically targeted messages to consumers. The inbox uniquely allows marketers to address interested consumers in context.
As a result, it verges on becoming a major online advertising medium. However, it remains to be seen how quickly the potential of the inbox will be realized. Much will hinge on eliminating the cl…
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Added by Howard Larson on September 18, 2009 at 5:22pm —
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While oversized postcard mailings can be very effective, see yesterday’s blog, they are perhaps not that much more effective than any other Kind of mailing piece. There are other choices in your mailing arsenal. Due to their size, oversized mailers tend to stand out, but if the message is well-defined and creative graphic are used, that is what really ensures the success of any mailer, large size postcards or small.
Sometimes we get preoccupied with the size of a mailing, forgetting what can he…
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Added by Howard Larson on September 17, 2009 at 4:37pm —
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Oversized postcards can be effective in business-to-consumer, business-to-business and nonprofit marketing. They never replace envelope mailings in many markets, but oversized postcards do have several advantages over smaller postcards and envelope packages in many instances.
Oversized postcards will stand out more on the desk or kitchen table. And we all will agree that you can't get a response if the piece doesn't get read and it won't get read unless it gets noticed.
Size does matter.…
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Added by Howard Larson on September 16, 2009 at 3:30pm —
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With Labor Day over summer is officially over. The kids are back to school and those of us with jobs are back at work. For e-mail marketers, now is the time to buckle down and get a holiday e-mail plan into effect, if you haven't already done so.
The holiday season is crucial to retailers. This year, with the recession, a good holiday season is even more important. It is important to plan early and have your online marketing plan in place. So start your planning now.
Since more marketers are g…
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Added by Howard Larson on September 15, 2009 at 2:43pm —
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Monday:
Tuesday: August Producer Price Index, August Retail Sales, July Business Inventories,
Wednesday: August Consumer Price Index, August Industrial Production, Crude Inventories,
Thursday: Weekly initial jobless claims. August Housing Starts and Building Permits,
Friday:
Larson note: Well we have another feel good week again, but remember we are STILL in a recession. Even though things are getting better, the downspin has not stopped. If we can stop losin…
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Added by Howard Larson on September 14, 2009 at 3:49pm —
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In recent months, we have had conversations with people on and off of twitter who own their own business. Many of those people reported they do not understand the value of twitter and especially how it can help their business.
We explained that we see the core values of Twitter Success to be… engaging, building relationships and providing value. While it may seem simple, if done effectively, it can propel your business to much higher levels of success. Whether you are new to the world of busine…
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Added by Howard Larson on September 11, 2009 at 4:00pm —
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Country rankings,
Ratio of number of computers to population
(top 10)
1. Israel
2. Canada
3. Switzerland
4. Netherlands
5. Sweden
6. United States
7. United Kingdom
8. Australia
9. Denmark
10. Singapore
* Source: Pocket World in Figures 2009 Edition, The Economist
Larson note: Taking in population as a whole if we look at the top 10 the United Sates probably wins hands down on the sheer number of computers based on population. But if you had to focus your money on density you would loo…
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Added by Howard Larson on September 10, 2009 at 7:00pm —
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Spending Cuts By Age
Age No cuts Some cuts Deep cuts
18-34 24% 45% 31%
35-44 19% 45% 36%
45-54 14% 40% 46%
55-plus 21% 51% 26%
Spending Cuts By Income
Income No cuts Some cuts Deep cuts
<35K 17% 45% 38%
$35-$49.9K 11% 55% 34%
$50-$74.9K 22% 43% 35%
>$75K 21% 53% 26%
*Source: Harris Interactive August 2009 Sample of 2.066 adults surveyed online between July 15-17, 2009
Larson note: What is your target market? Does this tell you why you are or are not making sales gains? You could…
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Added by Howard Larson on September 10, 2009 at 5:05pm —
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This kind of conversation must run though hundreds or offices weekly. A CFO talking to a CMO about spending on Social Media Marketing.
CFO: "Before I spend any money in this environment, I need to know the impact of this investment to the company’s bottom line. I need to see an ROI."
CMO response: "It's not about the ROI; it's about creating awareness. Having people understand our brand will create engagement, which will lead to revenue."
Two people in the same boat wanting the same thing, re…
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Added by Howard Larson on September 9, 2009 at 2:53pm —
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