William J. Brown

(Sole author) Word-of-mouth marketing has long been recognized as among the lowest-cost but highest-impact branding activities. What's different now is people have so many more ways to communicate -- and even broadcast -- their strong opinions, and among groups with whom they have influence. This article focuses on establishing a management focus to encourage "promoter" behaviors and discusses a measurement methodology for continual improvement.

With smartphone adoption skyrocketing, customers are increasingly turning to the mobile web for interaction with brands, where they are being influenced to make purchasing decisions (of purchases themselves). Written in late-2009, this article appeared months later, and sets out a framework for determining when and how to develop mobile apps to succeed in this critical emerging channel.

[Article quotes me extensively; I did not write it] Feature story, appearing in Stores Magazine, the official journal of the National Retail Federation (NRF), profiles how an intense focus on marketing and digital analytics, along with behavorial targeting & re-engagement of visitors, drove substantial top-line sales improvements for Alienware.com & it's other branded web sites. As director of e-commerce & demand generation.

This article outlines that strategic partnerships need to be well constructed and managed -- a process not always understood. Clearly defined alliance objectives -- mutual goals, realistic expectations, and active & intense communication between the partners -- are essential success factors for collaboration and vital for managing partnerships once they are established.

Published over 9 years ago, this article remains timely today as firms still struggle with unlocking the full potential of customer-facing self-service distribution, business-to-business interchange, reformation of back-office systems, and delve into social media marketing & Web 2.0 customer engagement.

The demise of dot-com companies like Go.com & Pets.com -- along with hundreds more in 2000-2001 -- signaled the popping of an unparalleled speculative investment bubble that funded terrible business plans. This article described the ideal characteristics of a successful digital business strategy, for established firms as well as start-ups alike.

Because every business has unique goals (aside from bluntly "to make more money), and each targets different customers, one 'boilerplate' set of instructions cannot be applied to all digital business activities. Nevertheless, the tools discussed in this article, for creating a digital brand & store, should be directional for any company seeking to diminish it's learning curve.

10 years ago, and years before Facebook, Twitter and blogs, I wrote this prescient guide for such brands as Bally's Total Fitness, Terminix, Ford Motor Co., and Dunkin Donuts, all of which had discovered that while the Web promised new channels to improve communication to customers, it also created new & equally powerful ways for dissatisfied users to complain to a worldwide audience. Herein were suggested tactics for brands to become prepared to better engage detractors online.

The final stage of implementing a commercial web site never really ends for successful e-commerce sites -- there is no finish line. Once your site or application is up-and-running, you must evaluate how well it is working. This article discusses technical & business perspectives on that topic, including log analysis, hyperlink verification, and design research & continuous benchmarking.

With a lens on the rapidly growing vacation ownership and consumer travel industries (CAGR of 9%+), I benchmarked how companies in these verticals were progressing with attaining the most basic goals in such activities as effective lead generation and presentation of customer service options (if not actual fully web-based functionality). The conclusions suggested that for most firms the web was still far from a top priority.