Posts tagged Product
Product Listing Ads: Five Tips That Increase Conversions
May 15th
Google Shopping scored best in class in our latest rankings of comparison shopping engines. How can you get more revenue out of it? Read on for our five tips to increasing the conversion rate of your Product Listing Ads. 1. Please The Feed Your Google Shopping product data feed is the most…
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Former Google Product Manager Takes A Senior Director Role At Yahoo
May 13th
A Yahoo spokesperson confirmed that Dylan Casey has joined Yahoo as a senior director in the platform organization. According to Casey’s Linkedin profile, the new Yahoo senior director was head of project management at Path for the last year and five months after serving as a product manager…
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AdWords To End Product Extensions As PLAs Take Over
May 7th
AdWords product extensions will soon be heading off into the sunset. They are leaving quietly, too. Brad Geddes noticed the announcement in the Adwords agency newsletter, but no other formal notification has been communicated to advertisers. Product extensions will disappear from the campaign…
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Product Listing Ads: How to Maximize Your Returns
Apr 23rd
Product listing ads can be deceptively easy to set up, but there are still simple steps to take to make the most of them. Here are some of the simplest things you can do when it comes to bidding and optimizing your PLAs to maximize your returns.
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One Out Of Five “Second Screeners” Look Up Advertised Product Info While Watching TV
Apr 19th
To give further credence to consumers’ love of “second-screening” and why marketer’s should be salivating at the opportunities these new habits behold, Nielsen released stats on just what consumers are doing on their tablets while watching TV. Social networking sites…
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Google Shopping: Product Listing Ad & Feed Optimization Tips & Best Practices [Videos]
Apr 17th
Need help getting started with Google Shopping? This series of six videos explains Google Shopping data feed best practices, reasons why you might not want to list on Google Shopping, and how to troubleshoot issues with your PLAs, and more.
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The New iPad, Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 And Other Ridiculous Product Names
Apr 16th
Here’s one for you: how is it that some of the smartest, richest, market-savviest companies on the planet – allegedly – can’t seem to figure out how to name their products in a way that isn’t strikingly confusing?
The “new iPad” is not to be confused with the iPad 2. The new iPad is in fact, iPad 3. Only, Apple doesn’t call it that – nor do they market it as “new iPad” anymore, either. Rather, it is now branded as “iPad with Retina display” – with the “R” capitalized, though not the “d.”
Don’t ask me why.
While the iPad with Retina display is newer than iPad 2 it does not come with a model number. Nor does the iPad Mini. At least, not yet. I assume that Apple will still sell “iPad Mini” – likely at a lower price – when the newest “Mini” model is released. Which I’m also guessing will be called “iPad Mini with Retina display.” Or maybe iPad Mini 2.
After that, all bets are off.
Which brings up the question: how is it that some of the smartest, richest, market-savviest companies on the planet – allegedly – can’t seem to figure out how to name their products in a way that isn’t strikingly confusing?
Welcome To Branding Hell
What comes after iPhone 5? iPhone 5S, perhaps? Or iPhone 6? Is there any real difference?
And will it come pre-loaded with iOS 7?
Yet despite the inexplicable naming conventions that Apple uses for its products, it’s not the worst perpetrator – not even close.
Which is better? The HTC One or the HTC First? How is it possible that HTC offers multiple “Ones” at the same time? Which “one” do you want?
- HTC One
- HTC One S
- HTC One SV
- HTC One V
- HTC One X
- HTC One X+ (no, I did not make that up)
I’m not even going to attempt to wade through the angrily confusing versions and price points of software products, such as Microsoft Office. There’s “Premium,” “365,” “Enterprise,” Mid-Sized Business” – to name only a few!
Technology is here to help us. Otherwise, it does not belong. Technology with a confusing name is, therefore, suspect. If you can’t even get the name right, what else might be wrong with it?
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Consider Samsung. Go into an AT&T store, for example, and there you find at least six different “Samsung Galaxy” devices. These are not to be confused, however, with the various “Galaxy Nexus” devices. In other words, the Galaxy brand name now means essentially nothing.
If you don’t believe me, just answer this question: which Galaxy is right for you? A Samsung Galaxy S III or a Samsung Galaxy Note II? Will you even bother to find out? Should you have to try?
What? There’s a line of various Galaxy “Tabs”?
Does Samsung not want my business?
And is the Galaxy Note 8.0 four times better than the Galaxy Note II? (Or do Roman numerals count for more?) Wait. Will the next version of the Galaxy Note 10.1 be a 10.2?
Nor is it possible to divine the brand meaning – and thus the brand value – of the Motorola Droid line versus Android versus Nexus – all of which is owned by Google. Which I’ve heard is now overseen by the Google Chrome team.
Do companies just pick names out of a hat?
If not, then how much money did Nokia pay its marketing staff to promote the Lumia 820 as “our most versatile phone?” Was it more or less than they paid the team that branded the Lumia 920 as “our most amazing phone?”
In just the U.S., there is a Lumia 710, 800 810, 820, 822, 900 and 920. I dare you to uncover the meaning, intent, price, value, speed and/or ability of any of those based on their actual name. According to Nokia’s own site, the Lumia 900 is available “from $0.01″ whereas the Lumia 800 is “from 526.72.”
Why? It seems backwards.
And, no, I am even going to try and select which of these fourteen different Blackberry smartphones is right for me.
Are these companies even paying attention? Maybe it’s time for some brand simplification to put some sense in the market place.
Image courtesy of Shutterstock.
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AdWords Product Listing Ad CPCs Close In On Text Ads [RKG Report]
Apr 11th
Are those sweet efficiencies early adopters of AdWords product listing ads saw in their holiday numbers coming to an end? Well, CPCs are rising, but ROI is still solid. RKG’s Q1 Digital Marketing Report finds that as more merchants come on board, product listing ad CPCs are now just 10%…
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Bing Ads Says Product Ads Are Coming This Summer (U.S. Only)
Apr 10th
Today Bing Ads announced on its Developer blog that they plan to roll out Product Ads in the U.S. sometime early this summer. The ad unit follows AdWords Product Listing Ads format with thumbnail image, merchant information, price and optional promotional text included in the ad. Bing says they are…
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How To Make Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) A Strategic Asset
Mar 22nd
Guest author Kevin Prendeville is a global managing director with Accenture’s Product Lifecycle Services practice.
The tables have turned on many large high-tech companies – market leaders have become followers while followers have become leaders. What’s behind the seismic shift? The ability of those former followers to leverage investments in product development processes to deliver more innovative and successful products. These processes, known as Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), extend from idea gener¬ation through product launch to product retirement.
An analysis by Accenture has found that large high-tech companies can spend $1 billion or more per year on Product Lifecycle Management in hopes of substantially boosting revenues and cutting costs. But Accenture also found that many C-suite executives view PLM as the engineering department’s black box – a critical enterprise business process poorly understood, measured or managed.
Today’s competitive business environment requires that top management see PLM as a strategic corporate asset, a cross-functional, enterprise-wide business discipline that augments innovation, helps drive revenue growth, and reduces costs of everything from engineering rework to regulatory compliance.
What Is Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)?
PLM integrates a multitude of critical cross-functional activities, such as:
- product strategy
- portfolio management
- product management
- idea and requirements gathering
- product design
- product engineering
- product validation and compliance
- product costing
- product quality
- direct material sourcing
- manufacturing
- after-market services product retirement
PLM capabilities support PLM activities to drive activities, decisions and data within the end-to-end PLM process. Examples include
- intellectual property management
- product structure and reuse
- engineering changes
- stage-gate approvals
- ideas and requirements
- software configuration
- quality tests and defects
- product costs
- development project status
For global enterprises to maximize the business impact of PLM, they need to examine two dimensions: effectiveness and efficiency.
Large high-tech companies are making substantial investments – often 5% to 25% or more of revenue – in PLM. But according to Accenture’s analysis, nearly half of PLM ends up wasted on products that do not meet market needs or timing. High-tech enterprises have thousands of highly skilled and well-paid designers, scientists and engineers working inside global PLM processes across hundreds of current and future products. But due to lack of central coordination, prioritization and integration of processes, systems and data, they’re often working on essentially useless or redundant tasks. That means there’s a huge opportunity for improvement.
Technology can help improve PLM – if it’s implemented with an integrated plan focused on a distinct business process. Most global companies have deeply fragmented PLM systems comprising 20 or more applications. PLM software vendors provide powerful and field-tested applications – but not the kind of end-to-end business process coverage available in leading customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications. Most high-tech companies use three or more PLM vendors to span the various PLM capability areas.
Four Ways To Improve PLM
True enterprise PLM requires building an end-to-end framework that spans multiple solutions and accom¬modates business processes and data from marketing, design, product portfolio management and more. A one-size-fits-all answer does not exist, but Accenture has identified four best practices to get the most out PLM:
Step 1. Create an enterprise-wide framework to define PLM capabilities. Define what is and is not PLM, then formally break down and re-evaluate current PLM capabilities. Review all processes, applications, metrics, organization and data that underpin product development process flow from initial concept to product retirement. Then examine the performance and maturity of each as objectively as possible. High-performance businesses structure PLM as a hierarchy of capabilities that span the process, represent various organizations and competencies, and connect all corners of the PLM landscape with each another. Most companies that go through this exercise are surprised by how disjointed and fragmented their overall PLM approaches are and by how many gaps and redundancies they uncover. And they are often alarmed to find how few metrics and how little docu¬mentation supports their PLM activities.
Step 2. Link the PLM framework’s capabilities to key corporate and product priorities. Settle on five-to-ten business metrics that track the effectiveness and efficiency of innovation and product development outputs, transcending any one department or function. They might relate to pipeline throughput, cost of engineering, reuse of platforms or components or resource use. For instance, if plans call for more new products to be developed in lower-cost countries, the PLM framework would link that objective to the corresponding capabilities and metrics.
Step 3. Use the prioritized PLM framework As An investment planning tool. It is relatively straightforward to turn the results of these exercises into a powerful tool for ongoing planning activities. The organization’s varied constituents can more easily analyze trade-offs, guide investments in product development improvement projects, and measure the impact of those projects over time. For example, one high-technology company used this framework to concentrate its future PLM focus and investment to improve software product development processes rather than mechanical design. Basically, the firm chose to improve the productivity of its thousands of software designers instead of its hundreds of mechanical designers.
Step 4. Establish a group to own and update the PLM framework and corporate roadmap. As with CRM, ERP and supply chain management, there has to be a single, formal organization to advance and support PLM. That organization should have visible, unambiguous sponsorship from a senior executive. This helps ensure PLM becomes part of the company’s innovation fabric rather than a one-time project.
Three PLM Success Stories
Using these best practices, several high-tech companies have made significant progress with their PLM strategies:
1. One version of the truth. A provider of servers and storage equipment re-designed its business processes to better leverage PLM technologies. The firm created “one version of the truth” for a single engineering change process for all its hardware products including several from large acquisitions.
2. Integrating hardware and software. A provider of electronic gaming equipment developed new processes, data models and a central application to manage the relationship between its hardware designs and corresponding software designs, as they evolved through development and change processes.
3. Increasing re-use. A global consumer electronics company implemented a streamlined portal and graphic user interface – providing a fast and visual way for designers and engineers to search, find and re-use components, solutions and information stored in its PLM databases.
The good news is there are many cross-industry cases proving the merits of improving PLM. The better news is that many industries have already blazed PLM trails, providing proven strategies, lessons learned and methodologies for high-tech companies to leverage.
Image courtesy of Shutterstock.
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