Thursday, June 10, 2010

How eBay really lost their Mojo & where it went

I was reading this article  http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/marketing/article/5-marketing-truths-i-wish-id-known-sooner-tim-berry


And got to the #3 "TRUTH" and realized why eBay has lost it's Mojo - for real though.   A lot of people have said this, that & the other thing are the reason - HERE is the real reason...read this

"3. Consistency beats brilliance.

The full form of this one is: better a mediocre marketing plan consistently applied over a few years than a series of brilliant strategies, each lasting months, each contradicting the last one.

That's another one, like the first one here, that I call sad but true. If you define marketing like John Jantsch does, getting people to know, like and trust you, then you have to realize that it takes being the same you – whether that's a personalized company you or a larger company brand – over a long period of time. Every time you reinvent the brand, you start back at zero.

Sure, in real-world marketing you can't keep doing something that isn't working just because it's in your plan. But, on the other hand, with any normal marketing strategy you and your whole team are bored stiff with a marketing strategy long before it begins to make impact on those people you want to reach. You need to give it time. And you need to stick with it until it's not working, not just until you're bored with it.

You can't expect to hit the bullseye with every arrow. You keep trying. "


eBay management decided "AUCTIONS" weren't fun any more.  None of us who like auctions decided that.  MANAGEMENT decided it.  I think what they decided really was "eBay doesn't make enough money with JUST auctions" so they are trying to turn the big boat - the SSS QUEEN EBAY around in mid ocean.  Guess what? Big ships don't turn on a dime and sometime things fall over board when some nimroad does that with the wheel. 

Notice that one term? MARKETING STRATEGY?  eBay has NEVER had an quality, consistent marketing strategy. Heck they never even had a good advertising campaign. We always get these lame slogans and stupid commercials.  They've changed directions and sent so many mixed signals NO one can figure out what they are doing.  So eBay, I know you're out there....go read that whole article and then pass it around the management "cubicles".   That's from AMEX not me so maybe you'll listen...not blinking likely but I can dream.

1 comment:

Sushiboofay said...

I think a lot of companies fall into the "it's not broke, but let's fix it anyway" mode of thinking. I can see cutting costs, but for eBay it is more like putting nails in a coffin one missed strategy play after another...

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