Watch out for cross-selling

When you try to increment your cross-selling you need to be careful about a handful of dimensions. But one that is key is profitability, as highlighted on the latest edition of Harvard Business Review.

Cross-selling may seem a marketer dream - you are expanding the size of your customers checks with you, without the cost of acquiring a new one. But that may actually be deceptive, as there are no free lunches - you will probably have to communicate or give incentives for that basket increase. My advice on cross-selling is:

- have a good and solid profitability analysis and carefully monitor cross-selling in-market performance. It is easy that in products with different profitabilities, one of them might mask the other's lower margin. So, think about this;

- ensure you have the right incentives to your sales people. Make sure that they are being measured in terms of profitability and not volume;

- make sure you are taking all costs of cross-selling in your analysis.

- focus on your consumer. Why would those products association make sense? What can we ensure our customer is winning with this association? Remember that consumer and customer should be at the centre - not your cross-sell intention. Don't start selling baby diapers because a 80 years old is buying baby food.

But don't be afraid to cross-sell. It may just be the right think to do. You just need to make sure you are not taking your eyes from the ball.

Some of the best social campaigns from 2012

I will not dare to say these are the definitive 10 best campaigns from 2012 (I am noticing Red Bull Strato Jump is not there), but, if you want to see a number of good examples, backed by good monitoring, you might want to follow this link and see Nike, Cadbury and Old Spice mingling up with unknown brands on the best social campaigns for 2012. Enjoy!

http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/11244-10-of-the-best-social-media-campaigns-from-2012

Wear out

Campaigns and campaign themes will not be effective forever. After a while, the target audience will grow tired of the ad, it will lose its freshness, its surprise. It will become predictable and boring. And it is time for a change. 

There is no scientific way to predict the wear out of a campaign. It depends a lot on the market, the target group, even the way the campaign was built. The best more, way to understand it is to keep track of the target group response to the campaign, using emotional attributes. Most of the consumers will try to rationalise and will speak loudly about a successful campaign that they really liked in the past - even if nowadays it is borgin to them. Thus, ask questions like "what does this campaign make you feel now", "what is the first reaction you have when you see this ad now",... So, keep close watch of your campaigns. Because one thing is for sure - however successful a campaign has been, if the target is perceiving it as old and boring, if it is not refreshing to watch it anymore, it is worn out. And it is urgent to have a new concept on top of your mind.

Note: A great campaign idea that is now completely worn out? Nespresso's with George Clooney. Simply predictable and tirable to watch nowadays. And it has been a classic.