Chinese e-commerce giant - Alibaba Group

Alibaba.com is an e-commerce site that connects Chinese suppliers with buyers at home and abroad. Today, Alibaba Group is involved in a variety of Web businesses. Its most important elements are its online retail sites: Taobao Marketplace, a large commerce site; Tmall, an online marketplace for name-brand retailers like Apple; and Juhuasuan, a daily deals site similar to Groupon. The company is also affiliated to mobile payments service called AliPay, and it has investments in online video, mobile messaging and cloud computing, among other businesses. The company that started in 1999 by Jack Ma, a former teacher from his apartment in his hometown of Hangzhou, now employs 24,000 workers at its headquarters in Hangzhou and elsewhere, with 25 separate business units. 

6 Brand Strategies Most CMOs Fail To Execute

The ground rules for branding are rapidly evolving. Social media, content marketing, the younger generation, second screening, thought-leadership and the demographic shift are just some of the many things that are challenging brands to think differently. Creating and sustaining customer trust and loyalty is more difficult than ever before. Building relationships with consumers has never been more challenging, with so much competition for their attention. Look at the constant barrage of pop-up and video ads that flash before our eyes every time we use our phones, turn on our computers or tablets.

Being an on-trend, relevant, inspiring, purposeful, innovative and community-centric brand – these are the things that will make people pause, listen and pay attention. Customers want to identify with a brand they can grow with, that earns their trust and makes them feel valued. People want to evolve with a brand whose products and services help give their business or life meaning and significance. End to end, a brand must become a consumer’s best friend.

Whether you are a Fortune 500 company, business owner or entrepreneur, here are six brand strategies that all chief marketing officers (CMOs) must not ignore :

10 Things You Can Learn From The Apple Store

The Apple Store is the most profitable retailer in America, generating an average of $5,600 per square foot and attracting more than 20,000 visitors a week.

In the decade since Steve Jobs and former head of retail, Ron Johnson, decided to reimagine the retail experience, the Apple Store not only reimagined and reinvented retail, it blew up the model entirely and started from scratch. In his research for The Apple Experience, Carmine discovered ten things that the Apple Store can teach any business in any industry to be more successful:

1. Stop selling stuff. When Steve Jobs first started the Apple Store he did not ask the question, “How will we grow our market share from 5 to 10 percent?” Instead he asked, “How do we enrich people’s lives?” Think about your vision. If you were to examine the business model for most brands and retailers and develop a vision around it, the vision would be to “sell more stuff.” A vision based on selling stuff isn’t very inspiring and leads to a very different experience than the Apple Retail Store created.