Cool Marketing Stuff: The Best Marketing Blogs, Books, Sites, and Podcasts.

I've Moved Off Blogger!

2009-09-05T18:57:00.000-07:00

I have moved off Blogger to my own domain www.coolmarketingstuff.com

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Listen to Past Ad-Tech Speakers

2009-08-10T02:06:00.000-07:00

The following is a guest post from The Executive Marketing Blog.

Ad-tech.com advertises itself as “The Event for Digital Marketing.” An initial glance around the web-site will immediately confirm that Ad-Tech, in fact, the event. When the initial Ad-Tech.com page loads in a browser‘s window, they will be immediately be presented with a list of international cities where Ad-Tech has a presence. Sydney, Paris, San Francisco, Singapore, Chicago, Tokyo, London, New York, Shanghai, and Beijing all have clickable links in the left hand frame of the browser bar. Clicking on any of these cities will bring up a page detailing events scheduled for the near future in that particular location. For example, upon clicking on Chicago a reader will see a list detailing upcoming conference and exhibit hall hours with a list of keynote speakers, conference sessions, and regular speakers. Each speaker’s name is listed along with a headshot photograph. Keynote speaker’s names are clickable to provide the user with additional biographical information.

An extensive “Missed a Session” section of the site contains a series of podcasts. Each podcast contains a clear label, a very clear description of the topics discussed, and an easily accessible download button. The file size of the podcast is also presented to the right (measured in MB). Any person who did not want to download the actual podcasts can also listen to them in a background browser window. This section will prove particularly useful to business representatives who were unable to attend a particular conference.

Any company looking to actually be a sponsor or speaker, or to host an exhibit at an Ad-Tech conference, can find all of the pertinent contact details on the homepage. Clicking on any of these three opportunities will bring up specific contact information for Ad-Tech representatives the world over, as well as detail the advantages doing business with Ad-Tech provides. Any company looking to increase their digital marketing presence would benefit from Ad-Tech’s services, and at Ad-Tech.com a browser has access to all the information they need to attend a conference or exhibit on digital marketing in several major international cities.

This article has been republished with permission from The Executive Marketing Blog.

You Tube Star=Great Marketing for Stride

2008-08-21T22:00:00.000-07:00

Matt is a guy who made a video of himself doing a goofy dance in several interesting locations all over the world. It became a viral hit on You Tube and Stride sponsored him to do a encore tour. The second edition of the video came out 2 months ago and already has over 9 million views! Stride is smart because they have acquired the attention of millions with their "ad", and probably spent less than it would have cost for a traditional ad. They have also created good will by sponsoring something that has entertained and inspired people everywhere.

MC Hammer on Digital Marketing

2008-08-19T18:37:00.000-07:00

The latest episode of Stanford Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders has a panel of musical artists who discuss how the new digital landscape is affecting the music industry. I was pleasantly surprised, although I probably shouldn't be, about the marketing savvy of MC Hammer. He discusses how digital marketing is empowering artists to cut out the middle man and dramatically cut marketing costs for a new album launch. He also comments on how twitter can be a tremendous tool for artists because it can instantly reach thousands of loyal fans.

Jackie Huba on Customer Evangelism

2008-08-12T21:19:00.000-07:00

Jackie Huba is one of the world's foremost experts on customer evangelism. Her book Creating Customer Evangelists is an excellent read with several interesting case studies such as Dunkin Donuts, Build-a-Bear, Southwest, and the Dallas Mavericks. Her presentation profiles how these companies have been able to build a customer base so loyal and passionate that they are like having an additional sales force that works for free.

I have moved off Blogger to my own domain www.coolmarketingstuff.com

Marketers Failing at Social Media

2008-08-04T21:26:00.000-07:00

I have moved off Blogger to my own domain www.coolmarketingstuff.com

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Jerimiah Owyang, Sr Analyst at Forrester was recently interviewed on Marketing Voices and said that a recent study revealed that most marketers are earning a failing grade on their social marketing efforts. The reason that he gave was that many marketers do not understand a fundamental element of social marketing - the social part. The study found that most campaigns are achieving poor results because marketers are treating social marketing as if it were traditional marketing, and trying to communicate directly with the individual. This is a mistake, according to Owyang, because the social marketing is most effective when consumers are talking to other consumers. One successful campaign is BMW's Graffiti campaign on Facebook, where they created an online coloring contest. Individuals can share their vandalism of the BMW Series 1 with their friends, who can then learn about the new model.

Sean Moffitt on Wiki Branding

2008-08-01T19:57:00.000-07:00

I would define Wiki Branding as empowering your customers to build your brand. This is an excellent presentation by Sean Moffitt in which he describes some really innovative things companies are doing to engage their customers. For example Jones Soda has put thousands of photos of their customers on their labels and you can have your soda customized with your own photo.

Susan Decker Presentation on the Future of Digital Marketing

2008-07-27T23:18:00.000-07:00

The Most Brilliant Publicity Stunt Ever

2008-07-22T22:34:00.000-07:00

One of the best PR stunts of all time. Hilarious.

I have moved off Blogger to my own domain www.coolmarketingstuff.com

Presentation by Joseph Jaffe on New Marketing

2008-07-15T21:41:00.000-07:00

Great speaker, great message.

How to Kill a Brand: A Case Study on Starbucks

2008-07-08T22:24:00.000-07:00

Be Ubiquitious

Once a brand becomes too ubiquitious it loses a lot of its value. Starbucks density has been well chronicled in the media and even the Simpsons. The tradeoff with being everywhere is the loss of scarcity. A premium brand can not be everywhere because it becomes ordinary. That's when it becomes a commodity and is no longer worth the premium price. The thing that made Starbucks different was the experience, but that is exactly what they sacrificed when they tried to multiply it a thousand times. You can not have the authentic European coffee house experience when you build a thousand cookie cutter stores.

Hire a Villian CEO

Howard Shultz just became one of the most hated public figures in the city of Seattle. Shultz bought his home town's NBA team and then sold it to investors from Oklahoma when the city would not make renovations he wanted to the team's arena. Now the Sonics who have been in Seattle for 41 years are moving to Oklahoma and thousands of passionate fans have been turned into brand terroists, which is the opposite of brand evangelists. Not what you want in the city where Starbucks is headquartered.

Listen to the Stock Analysts

If Starbucks would have listened to their customers rather than the stock analysts they wouldn't have sacrificed the European coffee house experience to keep up with growth forecasts. They added greasy breakfast sandwiches, crowded the “third space” with coffee machines and merchandise, and rushed to open new stores to grow profits, while sacrificing the level of service.

Can the Starbucks brand be saved? Closing stores is a good start. Closing Starbucks in grocery stores that are not even staffed by Starbucks employees would be another good move. If Starbucks is really serious about the dilution of the brand they should close drive-throughs. My prediction is that Starbucks will survive, but their price premium strategy will become increasingly ineffective and they will be forced to evolve into the McDonalds of coffee.

Listen to Adtech Conference Presentations for Free

2008-07-01T22:05:00.000-07:00

Adtech is a digital marketing conference held all over the country and all of their speakers presentations are available for download on their site for free. I wish more conferences did this. TED is one of the premier conferences in the country and that costs thousands to attend, but they give all of their content away for free on their website. On the Adtech site you can listen to presentations by the CMO of Kodak, panel discussions by experts in digital marketing, and a hundred other presentations.

www.ad-tech.com

Cool Marketing Links for June

2008-06-22T21:15:00.001-07:00

Inconspicuous Consumption The Atlantic

Does the idea of a weak economy scare you? It shouldn't! Drew's Marketing Minute

Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business by Chris Anderson Wired Magazine

Cool Apps for June
Splashup free flash based graphic design and photo editing. Think Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop clone.

280 Slides free online Powerpoint clone that allows you to download files in the Powerpoint format

Frito Lay Advertises to Aliens

2008-06-21T23:59:00.000-07:00

I would have loved to have been in the marketing meeting when the Frito Lay team decided to transmit a 30 second ad to a solar system 42 light-years away.

"Being first to market often results in category leadership. If we can be the first in the minds of the aliens near Ursa Major, we can capture a majority of their planet's market share!"

More likely this is a publicity stunt to get people to generate buzz. Peter Charles, head of the project said “We are constantly looking to push the boundaries of advertising and this will go further than any brand has gone before." The ad was pulsed out from high powered radars from the EISCAT European space station in the Arctic Circle. The user generated ad that is being transmitted is titled "Tribe" and features a tribe of dancing chips that sacrifice one of their own to the god of salsa.

Scientific American asked the question we are all thinking. "How will ETs know Earthlings aren't a bunch of dancing little edible triangles?"

I have moved off Blogger to my own domain www.coolmarketingstuff.com

100 Best Small Business Marketing Tactics

2008-06-18T20:35:00.000-07:00

Here are my top 100 small business marketing tactics that will help you acquire and retain customers. This is a evolving post so if you would like to contribute, make suggestions in the comments.

1. Create a podcast
2. Offer a free trial
3. Blog
4. Google Adwords
5. Provide remarkable customer service
6. Give something of value away
7. Use SEO to get ranked in Google
8. Find a Purple Cow
9. Give speeches
10. Join your local Rotary club
11. Volunteer in the community
12. Sponsor worthy causes in your community
13. Sponsor a little league team
14. Make your customers feel welcomed
15. Teach people
16. Speak in public
17. Learn your customer's names
18. Get feedback from customers
19. Make sure your employees understand your brand
20. Get to know your customers
21. Understand your customers wants
22. Thank your customers
23. Respond quickly to emails
24. Be of service to others
25. Select employees that will represent your brand
26. Make sure the floors are spotless
27. Take care of your employees
28. Send thank you letters
29. Reward repeat customers
30. Create a how to Youtube video
31. Create a sense of community for customers
32. Set up a referral program
33. Sponsor local events
34. Partner with local companies and organizations
35. Get mentioned in the local paper

Cool Blog Branding

2008-06-11T21:28:00.000-07:00

Even though blogs are a great way to communicate with your customers and gain an online presence, most companies still don't have a blog. Executives may be afraid that they can be criticized internally for not playing it safe or they may be resistant to changing their marketing practices that have always worked in the past.

One good example of a company that is not afraid to experiment is Dry Soda. Dry Soda's brand strategy is to stay true to the lifestyle of their core customers. Their core customer shops at Target, buys groceries at Whole Foods and uses a Mac. In other words, they care about design and what is cool. So someone at Dry Soda had the brilliant idea to create a blog to highlight products that the marketing team felt were cool and represented the lifestyle of their customers. Dry Recommends is an example of marketing that adds value rather than random interrupting people. As a result, Dry Soda gains credibility because visitors view them as experts on what is cool and associate them with being cool.

Comcast Goes Twittering

2008-06-01T00:05:00.000-07:00

It may be risky for billion dollar companies to use social marketing tools like Twitter and blogs because it can backfire when customers are angry. For instance, it just takes one customer to put up a YouTube video of a Comcast technician who fell asleep on the customer’s couch to blacken Comcast’s reputation. However, a employee at Comcast found a clever way to use Twitter to have a conversation with customers and evangelize the Comcast brand.

Comcastcares on Twitter is managed by Frank Eliason, a Comcast employee who experimented with Twitter and discovered a very passionate response from Comcast customers. Anyone can send a direct message to Frank by beginning their twitter update with “d Comcastcares” followed by their message. Frank currently has 1,752 people who are following his Twitter feed, which is pretty remarkable. Almost 2,000 people care enough about Comcast that they are willing to receive updates whenever Frank has something to say.

A majority of Comcastcare's 3,800 Twitter updates thus far consist of Frank simply responding to people who have issues with their service. Frank often goes above and beyond to solve customer issues such as giving out his email or tracking down the someone in the company who can help. You can read some of Frank's twitter conversations over at quotably.com. Frank has won over many fans with his empathy and warmness, even when he takes heat from angry customers. Using Twitter has put a human face to a huge telecom company, which has demonstrated that maybe Comcast really does care.

I have moved off Blogger to my own domain www.coolmarketingstuff.com

Successful Second Life Marketing Tactics

2008-05-25T15:42:00.000-07:00

Second Life will probably never be widely adopted but as a niche media, it offers a lot of interesting marketing applications. Although Second Life is very unproven and difficult to measure in terms of ROI, residents of the virtual world have an unmatched level of brand interaction.

I recently had the chance to listen to Catherine Smith, the VP of marketing and PR for Second Life at the Market Smart conference in Seattle. I was shocked to learn that the average Second Life user spends 56 hours a month logged in. One of the attractions appears to be the opportunity to make money. Over 56,930 residents have been profitable in Second Life.

She gave us the following guidelines on successful marketing in Second Life.

The More Interactive the Better.
One of the best benefits of marketing in second life is that it is highly interactive. If you make your marketing interactive it will encourage people to spend time with your brand.

Extend Your Brand Without Diluting It
One of the biggest mistakes Catherine sees marketers make is trying to create a replica of a real world store and just expecting people to go there. Successful promotions add value in some way, like Marvel offering Iron Man costumes for free.

Know Who You're Marketing To
"There's nothing sadder than an empty island" said Smith. There have been several companies that have tried to create a Second Life presence with out first understanding the consumer. This often results in an empty island.

Some interesting applications in Second Life are using the streaming capability to show video clips in a virtual theatre. You can set up a exclusive place in Second Life where you can conduct virtual meetings and teleconference. You can conduct market research with new products by observing behavior and collecting feedback. You can sponsor Second Life concerts and give a class in one of the lecture halls.

Image by Yeray Hernández

John Jantsch's 7 Steps to Small Business Marketing Success

2008-05-23T10:23:00.000-07:00

Here is a great podcast by John Jantz on how to be successful in small business marketing.

The Seven Steps
1) Narrow your marketing focus to ideal customers
2) Differentiate or compete on price
3) Create marketing materials that educate
4) Lead generate to be found instead of hunt
5) Create a lead conversion process
6) Harness technology and the Internet
7) Live by the calendar

via Duct Tape Marketing

All People Want to Feel...

2008-05-18T20:31:00.000-07:00

Safe
Welcomed
Part of something big
Recognized
Valued
Rewarded
Loved
Love for someone else
Empowered
Successful

-Scott Bedbury Author of A New Brand World

How will you make your customers feel these things?

Nike Y2K Ad

2008-05-15T23:08:00.000-07:00

Nike aired this ad on January 1st 2000. Classic!

The Best of Seth Godin

2008-05-11T14:29:00.000-07:00

Seth Godin recently summarized the main ideas of his philosophy on good marketing on his blog.

-Anticipated, personal and relevant advertising always does better than unsolicited junk.
-Making promises and keeping them is a great way to build a brand.
-Your best customers are worth far more than your average customers.
-Share of wallet is easier, more profitable and ultimately more effective a measure than share of market.
-Marketing begins before the product is created.
-Advertising is just a symptom, a tactic. Marketing is about far more than that.
-Low price is a great way to sell a commodity. That’s not marketing, though, that’s efficiency.
-Conversations among the members of your marketplace happen whether you like it or not. Good marketing encourages the right sort of conversations.
-Products that are remarkable get talked about.
-Marketing is the way your people answer the phone, the typesetting on your bills and your returns policy.
-You can’t fool all the people, not even most of the time. And people, once unfooled, talk about the experience.
-If you are marketing from a fairly static annual budget, you’re viewing marketing as an expense. Good marketers realize that it is an investment.
-People don’t buy what they need. They buy what they want.
-You’re not in charge. And your prospects don’t care about you.
-What people want is the extra, the emotional bonus they get when they buy something they love.
-Business to business marketing is just marketing to consumers who happen to have a corporation to pay for what they buy.
-Traditional ways of interrupting consumers (TV ads, trade show booths, junk mail) are losing their cost-effectiveness. At the same time, new ways of spreading ideas (blogs, permission-based RSS information, consumer fan clubs) are quickly proving how well they work.
-People all over the world, and of every income level, respond to marketing that promises and delivers basic human wants.
-Good marketers tell a story.
-People are selfish, lazy, uninformed and impatient. Start with that and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what you find.
-Marketing that works is marketing that people choose to notice.
-Effective stories match the worldview of the people you are telling the story to.
-Choose your customers. Fire the ones that hurt your ability to deliver the right story to the others.
-A product for everyone rarely reaches much of anyone.
-Living and breathing an authentic story is the best way to survive in an conversation-rich world.
-Marketers are responsible for the side effects their products cause.
-Reminding the consumer of a story they know and trust is a powerful shortcut.
-Good marketers measure.
-Marketing is not an emergency. It’s a planned, thoughtful exercise that started a long time ago and doesn’t end until you’re done.
-One disappointed customer is worth ten delighted ones.
-In the googleworld, the best in the world wins more often, and wins more.
-Most marketers create good enough and then quit. Greatest beats good enough every time.
-There are more rich people than ever before, and they demand to be treated differently.
-Organizations that manage to deal directly with their end users have an asset for the future.
-You can game the social media in the short run, but not for long.
-You market when you hire and when you fire. You market when you call tech support and you market every time you send a memo.
-Blogging makes you a better marketer because it teaches you humility in your writing.

Top 10 Marketing Applications of Twitter

2008-05-02T19:29:00.000-07:00

Twitter is not just for telling people you just ate a sandwich. There are limitless applications for Twitter. Here are the top 10 marketing applications of Twitter.

1. Instant Focus Group
Jason Calacanis uses his 23,000 plus followers to find out what they think. He will shoot out a question about what people think about a Mahalo's site design or who should be the next host of Mahalo daily and lets the community share their ideas and thoughts.

2. Giveaways
You can ask or pay a top twitterer to giveaway some of your products for free. Jason Calicanis often gives away the GPS Dash, which made me wonder what it was.

3. Advertising on the Homepage
You can set an image as your avatar or in the background of your Twitter homepage. If you can get your brand on a top Twitterer's homepage it can build brand awareness.

4. Spread a Message
Twitter is the ultimate catalyst for word of mouth. If something remarkable came out like the recent rumor that AT&T will offer a subsidized iPhone for $200 with a 2 year plan, it will spread through Twitter like wildfire. With a lot of people having mobile access to Twitter via SMS, they can quickly and easily spread interesting news.

5. Market Research
By texting Track, followed by a keyword (e.g. track Obama), you can get immediate updates whenever someone in the Twittersphere says the keyword. For instance if you are Nike, you can monitor what people are saying about your brand.

6. Endorsements
If Britney Spears or Paris Hilton started using Twitter, their followers would be in the hundreds of thousands if not millions globally. If you could get a high profile individual with many devout followers, they might influence people in favor of your brand.

7. Provide Valuable Content
If you provide valuable and useful content people will give you their attention. A company Twitter could provide useful information and updates, it will build good will for the brand. A brand that has passionate followers like Apple, would have many followers.

8. Direct Leads to Your Website
You can direct people to products on your website where they can convert to customers. Linking to your site can even possibly give you some added SEO value.

9. Communicate with Customers
Company leadership can speak to customers at a intimate level by Twittering. This could also build good will for consumers who often view corporations as soulless entities.

10. Have a Conversation
Twitter allows you to reply to what someone says, so you can have a conversation about virtually anything from the lives of consumers to issues in society or just whatever you think is cool.

Can you add any marketing applications to this list?

Should We Keep it Simple Stupid?

2008-04-26T21:43:00.001-07:00

One approach to communicating a marketing message to maximize effectiveness is to keep it really simple. The argument is that the human brain can only comprehend and retain a small amount of the total data so you should try to make your message as short and simple as possible. With this perspective you might be inclined to replay a single ad over and over again until you beat the message into the consumer's brain.

The opposite approach is to have multiple messages and several simultaneous story lines. This would be the strategy of those who view consumers as intelligent beings capable of comprehending and recalling complex messages. One example is Geico's campaign that tells a story of a disgruntled caveman, a cute British Gecko, and old-time celebrities doing voice overs which all tie back to the central theme of saving money on auto insurance. This approach trusts consumers to be able to follow multiple stories and interpret the underlying brand message.

What do you think? Is it better to have a really simple message play over and over, or tell multiple stories with an interwoven message like Geico?

Buzz Marketing Highlight Video

2008-04-23T21:26:00.000-07:00

Top 10 Tips for New Marketing Grads

2008-04-19T22:02:00.000-07:00

Marketing is one of the best jobs you can get, but many of us can attest to the trials and tribulations when first starting a career in marketing. If you are someone who is interested in getting started in marketing, here are the top ten tips I have learned while trying to land my first job in marketing. If you are already a successful marketer, then please share your wisdom with young marketers on how to get into the best career on earth.

1. Get informational interviews. So few people do it, but a lot of successful marketers are willing to spend 15 minutes to share their insights on how they got where they are.

2. Network like mad. I believe this is by far the most effective way to get a job. Join the American Marketing Association, join local organizations, volunteer. Do whatever it takes to meet as many people as you can, and make sure to follow up!

3. Don't give up. Keep your passion for marketing. If you have the passion for it, you will eventually make it.

4. The walls aren't there to keep you out. The walls are there so you can show how much you want it. They are there to keep those other people out (courtesy of Professor Randy Pausch of Carnigie Mellon).

5. The really good jobs aren't going to come to you. You're going to have to go out and get them. Surfing Monster.com all day doesn't work. Believe me, I've tried.

6. Be a sponge. Work to get better at marketing every day. Try to make yourself into a better all around person, and you will make yourself more valuable to an organization.

7. When conducting an informational interview. Don't forget your pen so you can take notes. I learned this the hard way.

8. Get an internship or volunteer for free. One person I met got a great marketing job at Microsoft because she was able to show a portfolio of work she had done as the VP of marketing for a charity. Often non-profits can give you important responsibilities since you are volunteering. One of the most difficult challenges is that every marketing position requires experience. Internships and volunteer projects can provide you with that experience.

9. Reach out to your alumni network. Alumni are almost always very happy to help new grads. They will go to great lengths to help you. Take advantage of people willing to help.

10. Talk to everyone you can. You never know if the person you meet knows someone who knows a hiring manager at one of your target companies.

If you are a new grad, please contact me at csipe84@gmail.com with any questions and good luck!

Please add your own insights and tips on how to get started in marketing!

How to Use Twitter for Marketing Research

2008-04-14T23:05:00.000-07:00

Here's a cool tip to monitor chatter on Twitter. You can text track Marketing to 40404 and you will receive an update every time someone mentions marketing in a twit.

If you want to know what people are saying about your brand, you can text track Apple or track Tesla, to listen to what people are saying. To disable text untrack Apple, or track off to stop all updates.

Cool Marketing Thought

2008-04-10T23:32:00.000-07:00

Ignorance is more expensive than paid research. -Guerrilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson

10 Best Marketing Quotes of All Time

2008-04-08T18:29:00.001-07:00

Put these quotes on your fridge, read them when you wake up, tell them to your friends:

10. The greatest enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan. -Carl von Clausewitz

9. As long as I have failed to defeat my enemy, I must fear that he will defeat me; therefore I am not in sole control; he controls me just as I control him. -Carl von Clausewitz, On War (1832)

8. Try not to become a man of success but rather a man of value. -Albert Einstein

7. If Thomas Edison had used a focus group he would have just invented a bigger candle. -from The Brand Show episode "The Science of Branding"

6. Great wisdom not applied to action and behavior is meaningless data. -Peter Drucker

5. Advertising is a tax for having an unremarkable product. -Robert Stephens, Founder of the Geek Squad.

4. Customers can't always tell you what they want, but they can always tell you what's wrong. -Carly Fiona on the Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders podcast

3. If you want to understand how a lion hunts don't go to the zoo. Go to the jungle. -Jim Stengel CMO of P&G

2. The purest treasure mortal times can afford is a spotless reputation. -William Shakespeare

1. It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. -Charles Darwin

How to be Successful in Your Marketing Career: Advice from Marketing Leaders

2008-04-04T10:27:00.000-07:00

Brain Martin interviews marketers who have been very successful in their marketing careers and asks if there is any advice they would give someone who would like to someday get to their position. Here are their suggestions:

John Scalzo, CEO, White Wave Foods
You have to have a passion for marketing and want to make a difference. Bring a great attitude every day. Believing the business will be better at the end of the day because of you is very important. Great marketers have to work well on a team. Enjoying what you do keeps you fresh and keeps you going.

Robert Swaigen, Director of Marketing, Jelly Belly
Approach you job like you're running your own business. Seek out new opportunities to learn. Learn by your mistakes as well as your successes. Really understand the math behind the metrics. Marketing is an art and a science, make sure you develop both the right and left side of the brain. Go on sales calls with your sales team.

Jeri Finard, CMO, Kraft Foods
Stay close to your consumer and always be curious about them. Focus on what will really move the business and make the rest go away. If you're not having fun, do something else.

Chris Nemeth, Vice President of Global Marketing, Coleman
Having great passion for what you are working on will help you get noticed and move up quickly in the organization. Be able to speak effectively in front of people is really valuable to being successful.

Manos Spanos, Product Director Johnson & Johnson
Know where you want to be and plan for it. Take advantage of the opportunities that are given: sometimes you have to jump on a bus even if you don't know exactly where it goes. Work hard. Be open to learning.

Christopher Baldwin, President of US Commercial Group, Hershey
Demonstrate ability to change the company. Show an ability to get things done.

David Verklin, CEO, Carat
Never forget where you came from. Take it one step at a time.

Jay Popli, Senior Marketing Manager, Lunesta
Passion is one of the most important traits. Ability to shift through data. Don't settle for good enough.

Nicole Hayes, Partner and Group Planning Director, Mindshare
Find a good mentor. A strong work ethic is important. Don't be afraid to ask questions, speak out, and try new things.

Peter Klein Officer at Gillete
Find out what is expected of you and get results that you can point to. Be rigorous in having analytical support.

Steve Wallace, Director of Marketing, CV Technologies
Know the consumer. Focus on the benefits. Have fun.

Tom Denford, Director of Communications Planning, JWT
Don't be afraid of being a generalist. Keep on top of the latest research on consumer behavior. Consume as much media as you can. Always ask questions. Find out what people in other disciplines at your company do. What gets measured really gets done.

Cool Quote

2008-04-01T22:02:00.000-07:00

Begin with the end in mind. -Steven Covey

How to be a Great Quitter

2008-03-26T22:49:00.000-07:00

In The Dip, Seth Godin not only argues that quitting is good, but that it is the key to success.

He suggests that we only pursue ventures that we can be the best in the world at and quit the rest. He points to Jack Welch of GE, who eliminated divisions that were not #1 or #2 in an industry, even if it was making profit. This allowed the managers to focus on the areas where they could be the best in the world at.

What justifies sacrificing to become the best in the world? The market leader has a great advantage over competition and often outsells the rest by a large gap (Vanilla ice cream makes up almost 30% of sales compared to the next most popular flavor Chocolate, at under 10%.)

To become the best in the world you have to determine which ventures that you are willing to endure the "Dip". The Dip is the struggle that must be overcome to become the best in the world. It is a waste of time to struggle and then quit in the Dip so you should predetermine if you will make it or not. The greater the Dip, the greater advantage you have over your competition. For example Microsoft has such a dominance of the operating system market that if you wanted to beat them, the dip would be almost impossible to overcome. The greatest success comes to the ones who determine the most worthwhile Dips that they can achieve and focus everything on getting to number one.

Age of Conversation Sequel

2008-03-25T10:38:00.000-07:00

The Age of Conversation web collaboration project in which a community of authors write one page of a book on the topic of conversation. The proceeds go to charity and a sequel is currently in the works with more authors and more topics.

One of the marketing tactics that is being deployed is bum rush the charts. This is sort of a hybrid between word of mouth and PR. The authors encourage people to spread the word of a specific day in which they want you to buy the book on Amazon. If successful, the book will climb up the ranks of the best selling books with the goal to reach number one. Being number one in a category is often a very profitable marketing strategy, and this tactic aims to achieve it, at least for a short time.

Free Logo Design

2008-03-21T12:49:00.000-07:00

Logo Ease is a terrific DIY tool for creating a logo for your business and marketing that is absolutely free and very easy to use. Here are some of the logos I have created, often in 5 minutes or less.

If you would like me to create a logo for you, send a request to csipe84@gmail.com, and I would be happy to help.

Seller Beware

2008-03-18T00:05:00.000-07:00

The internet has empowered customers to fight back against corporate injustice. These activists who have been dubbed "Consumer Vigilantes" by Business Week in their article about customers who go way beyond telling their friends about their bad experience.

One angry Apple customer smashed his Apple with a sledge hammer on You Tube, which has been viewed 360,000 times. Adage columnist Bob Garfield created ComcastMustDie.com. Anyone can email top executives at Comcast by finding their contact information on sites like The Consumerist, a consumer advocate site with more than 2 million unique visitors a month.

Huge corporations can no longer ignore the individual like they have for so long. A new approach to customer service is required to prevent an army of vigilantes from using their new powers against them.

Cool Fact

2008-03-17T23:59:00.000-07:00

More than half of American adults think they know more about the products and services they shop for than the people helping them in the stores. -Yankelovich

via Business Week

New Marketing Models for Selling Music

2008-03-11T22:17:00.001-07:00

Jonathan Coulton is a musician who is trying a new approach to marketing his music, licensing it under the Creative Commons license. The Creative Commons license basically means that anyone can copy, distribute, transmit, or remix the content as long as they attribute it to the creator. The creator is allowed to add restrictions to this, for instance if they don't want people to make money off it.

Jonathan Coulton has been able to grow a strong community of raving fans, in part due to the Creative Commons, which allows fan videos like the one above that spread across the internet. This strategy allows artists to avoid record labels from taking their profits, while empowering their fans to share their music with their friends. He also has released his songs for free, on his Song a Week podcast, in which he released a new song every week for a year. Giving away his music has helped him build a loyal following who will attend his concerts and buy merchandise. He also offers the option of buying song downloads at his site.

Nine Inch Nails became the first major artist to release a new album on creative commons. NIN also offers the first 9 tracks of the album for free on their site or all 36 tracks for 5 bucks. They have already sold out of the 2500 Ultimate Deluxe Limited Edition Packages that includes a Blu-Ray disc, a book of photos, an autograph, and costs $300. With many customers being frustrated with the RIAA and CD sales sliding, I think that releasing music for free or under Creative Commons will become a more prevalent business model, which is great for consumers.

Cool Quote

2008-03-10T14:18:00.001-07:00

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication -Leonardo da Vinci

Meatball Sundaes Are Delicious

2008-03-03T13:12:00.000-08:00

Seth Godin's latest zany title, Meatball Sundae was everything we have come to expect from the Godin marketing machine. Here are some of the most memorable ideas from the book and my interpretations.

New Marketing Favors Some Approaches Over Others
Seth describes organizations who are used to cranking out meatballs, or commodity products who then try to throw some new marketing on top of their previously successful traditional marketing. If organizations want to adapt to the new world customers live in then they should fundamentally change their organization to align with the new environment.

Mass marketers can no longer ignore the individual consumer as they have for the past hundred years.
Jeff Jarvis’ Dell Hell rant showed a few influential people can use new media to wreck havoc on a brand.

Companies waste billions of dollars interrupting strangers, instead of building a permission asset.
Pets.com used every tactic they could find, even sock puppets to interupt people who didn't want to hear from them. Dailycandy.com has hundreds of thousands who willingly hear their message in return for useful email newsletters on style. Making noise does not provide the highest returns.

Things that used to be scarce like manual labor, airtime, and shelf space are now abundant. Things that used to be abundant like spare time, attention, and trust are now scarce.
The world changing means the way people allocate their time and resources have changed. Marketers must also change their organizations if they want to thrive.

A big idea can spread so far and fast that the market leader cannot stop it.
New media has exponentially accelerated how fast ideas can spread through the population. In the old marketing system, manufacturing and distribution could give the leader an advantage for decades. Today an big idea, like Dell Hell can threaten Dell's market power immediately.

Why Not to Have Customers Make Your Commercials

2008-03-02T23:26:00.000-08:00

In 2006, GM created a website that allowed people to make their own commercials for the Tahoe SUV. The site allowed users to select backgrounds, video shots and input text to design their ad. Unfortunately they must not have accounted for people creating negative ads that would circulate on You Tube.

via Join the Conversation

Microsoft Brilliant X-Box Strategy

2008-02-27T01:45:00.000-08:00

Though often criticized, one of the things that Microsoft has done tremendously well on is marketing their X-Box line. They haven't focused on big media ads but rather on developing a community of passionate fans.

Video games are a huge growth market, in which revenues have exceeded both the music and movie industries. The internet has been a great thing for the gaming industry while the music and movie industries have not been able to take much advantage of the internet. Most importantly the internet enables X-Box Live, where users can connect to players all over the world, a community of 10 million users. They can also download samples of games for free or purchase mini games. Their platform is open to amature developers and it was just announced that users will be able to play user generated games on the online market place.

Microsoft also has a public relations guy Larry Hryb who hosts a weekly one hour podcast that discusses exciting news and developments in the X-Box world which many customers listen to which great interest. The X-box team's ability to create a huge passionate community has resulted in a competitive advantage over their competition. Now if they can only get their product testing right.

Questioning Assumptions

2008-02-20T21:21:00.001-08:00

One of the most important jobs of marketers is to question assumptions. In his book BrandSimple, Allen P. Adamson talks about Jerry Seinfield's uncanny ability to point out things that don't make sense but are never questioned. For instance he once said "It's amazing that the amount of news that happens in the world every day always just exactly fits the newspaper".

Whynot.net is a website where people can submit ideas that challenge conventional wisdom and the ideas are voted on by the community. Some interesting ideas are break lights that indicate the level of deceleration, a Netflix for books, or different horn sounds for different driving situations. Checking out this site can give marketers ideas to find hidden markets or better serve the needs of customers.

How to Create Raving Fans

2008-02-17T14:38:00.000-08:00

Awesome customer service is very difficult to achieve, unless you meet a guardian angel who specializes in creating raving fans. Raving Fans is a short story about a new area manager who learns how to revolutionize his customer service by not just creating satisfied customers, but by creating raving fans. From the people who brought you The One Minute Manager and Who Stole My Cheese, Raving Fans will teach you more about creating evangelistic fans than any complicated 300 page book. It only takes a couple hours, but if you don't have the time, here are the key takeaways from the book...

-Goods aren’t sold, products and services are bought.
-Satisfied customers are not enough.
-Washrooms will tell you if a company cares about its customers.
-Create a vision of perfection.
-Decide what you want.
-What people really want isn’t what they directly say.
-Silence is not good.
-Customer’s needs and wants change all the time.
-If you don’t look after your people they won’t look after your customers.
-Consistency creates credibility.
-Limit the number of areas you want to make a difference in.
-First consistently meet expectations, then constantly strive for 1% better.
-All good customer service is a result of nifty systems.
-To be consistent you have to have systems in place that your people are trained to follow.
-Systems are predetermined ways to achieve the results.
-Team members have to be flexible and change the systems when necessary.
-People need to feel they belong to the group. They need to feel they’re important and that what they do, think, and say truly matters.
-Great service is like giving your customer a big hug.

This Week in Marketing for Feb 16 2008

2008-02-15T16:56:00.000-08:00

Show Links:
Generation MySpace Is Getting Fed Up
Anytime Is Prime Time for Online Shows
Special Flavor: The Big Rhubarb

The Secret to Marketing

2008-02-08T17:57:00.000-08:00

Anita Campbell asked the top marketing experts in the world what their best marketing secret is. You can read their responses here.

Meet The Top Minds in Marketing

2008-02-06T13:40:00.001-08:00

I just learned about the coolest thing ever. If you go to this site you can sign up for a free 5 person video conference with some of the top authors and bloggers in social media marketing such as Joseph Jaffe author of Life After the 30 Second Spot, David Meerman Scott author of The New Rules of Marketing, CC Chapman of Managing the Gray, iJustine, and several more great marketers. I am so psyched to be able to talk with these great thinkers, that I'm going to buy a videocam today. Hurry, it is first come first serve and the spaces are sure to fill up fast.

BrandSimple Review

2008-02-05T11:57:00.000-08:00

I just finished BrandSimple by Allen P. Adamson and I thought it was a fairly valuable read. The thesis is really simple. To create a strong brand you must find a simple idea that is differentiated and relevant. You then build the brand by focusing on specific points in the customer journey, and craft the brand interactions to send signals that will shape the perceptions of the consumer.

The weak parts of the book were that some of the ideas seemed too simple or obvious, and it was repetitive at times. I loved the analogy which compared the mind to a computer desktop and brands to computer files. The more associations and images you have of the brand, the larger the file appears when you click on it. The brand must say something relevant and meaningful to get you to save as.

The coolest thing I learned was that all the pencils at BP are made out of recycled plastic coffe cups, which I didn't know was possible. Overall it is a good book to read if you are interested in the fundamentals of building a brand.

Here are my key takeaways from the book:
-Knowledge of a brand rather than awareness provides a better indicator of brand strength.
-A strong brand has high levels of differentiation and relevance.
-The first step is to make sure begin with a genuinely different and relevant idea that people care about.
-Branding signals should be in sync with the brand idea and business strategy.
-The lightning fast speed Google turns up the answer to your query is a brand signal.
-80 percent of advertising fails before pen is put to paper because it’s not based on a powerful idea- Martin Puris
-Look for unacceptable practices that people have come to accept without thinking.
-Look for profound truths in very ordinary things like Jerry Seinfield.
-When pitching to a client it is critical you demonstrate you understand their business and their core audience.
-Good positioning is the art of sacrifice.
-Black and Decker tools lost credibility with their contractor market because they didn’t want to be using power tools that carried the same name as their kid’s toaster.
-Nothing kills a brand faster than not delivering on your promise.
-Engage your employees to understand the brand idea so they are trained to make brand decisions that will send the desired brand signals.
-Stay in touch with your primary users.
-Everything about a product sends brand signals to consumers. The advertising, the packaging, the customer service, the design, all communicate a message to the consumer.
-Power signals are expressions that shape how people see and experience your brand.
-Draw a map of the customer journey and identify points to create powerful signals.
-The brand driver is the essence of the idea that drives your brand.
-Differentiation and relevance are more important than awareness.

Cool Marketing Stuff Podcast for Feb 2, 2008

2008-02-01T18:06:00.000-08:00

Why We Like Expensive Things More

2008-01-29T00:27:00.000-08:00

Scientists at Cal Tech and Stanford have discovered that wine tastes better when it is more expensive. Subjects preferred wine labeled as $90 dollars over wine that was labeled as $10, even though they were the exact same Cabernet Sauvignon. The functional magnetic resonance imaging of the subjects showed that more blood and oxygen was sent to the medial orbitofrontal cortex, which is thought to be responsible for judging the pleasantness of an experience. The study shows that the practice by marketers to increase the price of a good can affect consumers actual experiences at a physiological level. This can explain why people tend to like expensive things more and how a price premium strategy works.

Source: The Naked Scientist Podcast
Article

Is This the End for Banner Ads?

2008-01-26T15:44:00.001-08:00

John Wall from the Ronin Marketeer blog and Marketing Over Coffee Podcast recently opened my eyes to a firefox plugin called AdBlock Plus that is internet equivalent to DVR. I just installed it and it claims to eliminate 99% of banner ads. It's scary good.

Banners are often ignored anyways but if people start using effective ad-blocking software it will really make them into ineffective marketing tools. The benefit of using AdBlock is not only eliminating ads, but since these ads take time to load, your page will load faster. If enough people downloaded this free software it could have some serious effects on the business model of many sites that rely on ads for revenue.

Marketing Round Table

2008-01-24T13:28:00.001-08:00

There's a great round table discussion with marketing experts Seth Godin, Chris Anderson, Tim Ferris and John Jantsch, which you can listen to via streaming audio here. They discuss the idea of a Meatball Sundae, trends in the advertising environment, social networking, and more.

How Customers Think

2008-01-22T22:33:00.000-08:00

We are constantly uncovering new insights into the way the mind works which can be used to better understand the consumer. I highly recommend How Customers Think by Gerald Zaltman, an extremely insightful and practical book that is written by an academic but in non-academic speak. For those who do not have time to read the entire book, I have summarized my most important takeaways from the book.

-It is estimated that over 95% of thought is unconscious.
-Understanding the nature of customer wants and relating them to innovations enables managers to tailor communications accordingly and provide specific products to meet their wants.
-Explicit survey questions often contradicts what consumers actually feel, intend to do, and actually do.
-Consumers are poor at predicting their future behavior because they can not predict the context in which the choice will be made.
-Testing for response latency, how long it takes to respond, can detect “noise” in consumer's thoughts and feelings.
-Subjects of one study who unscrambled elderly words walked significantly slower than those who unscrambled neutral words.
-Implicit measures may predict future behavior better than self-reported measures.
-Mangers can make mistakes if they assume specific thoughts are associated with specific behavior.
-Managers tend to focus on consumers differences rather than similarities.
-Companies should define customer segmentation based on similarities in their thinking and reasoning processes rather than on demographics.
-We store memories in pieces throughout the brain and reassemble them during the retrieval process.
-During reassembly, memories can be altered by cues, context, self-identity, and mood.
-After subjects viewed an ad suggesting all kids at Disneyland would have the opportunity to shake hands with Bugs Bunny, 16 percent remembered meeting Bugs during a childhood visit.
-Consumers in a happy mood tend to evaluate more positively and remember more positive memories than negative ones.
-The mood evoked by content surrounding the ad can affect the perception of the brand advertised.
-About 80% of market research is designed to reinforce an existing belief rather than uncover new insights.
-Brands can inspire consumers to create stories about who they are and who they want to become.
-People remember more easily when it has some connection to what they already know.
-A senior VP at Hallmark requires research summaries to include the single most important question left unanswered.
-In depth personal discussions such as metaphor elicitation interviews produce more surprises and nuanced responses.
-Attitudes and perceptions that come up in diverse contexts are likely to be highly relevant to consumers and deeply embedded in their thinking.
-There is nothing more subjective than a number, for example people who said they definitely will buy, gave probabilities between 50-100 percent.
-Question assumptions.
-The officers of the Titanic failed to question the conventional practice of maintaining standard speed at night with a sharp lookout to watch for trouble. They believed their existing practices were so sound that they didn’t merit re-examiniation.

How to Consume More Content

2008-01-20T22:51:00.000-08:00

Here's an easy way to read 50 blogs a day, or actually have them read to you. Text to speech software is a rapidly improving technology and there are several good ones available on the web. Natural Reader is one program that offers a free version at their site. Using text to speech, I have been able to consume significantly more online content. The program reads me blogs and articles while I fold laundry or complete other mindless tasks. This can help you learn more valuable knowledge to apply to your work or life.

Coors Spoof

2008-01-16T13:19:00.000-08:00

If you watch football, you've seen the Coors commercials where they splice coaches press conferences with Coors fans asking irrelevant questions. These ads have inspired user generated copycats on YouTube that are just hilarious. The Coors ads are effective because they stand out and get people to wonder what they will come up with next, similar to what Apple has done with the PC vs Mac series. They have created content that viewers actually want to watch and have successfully embedded their product into this content.

via Church of the Customer

Best Marketing Podcasts of 2007

2008-01-10T14:58:00.001-08:00

The Top 7 Marketing Podcasts of 2007

#7 The Advertising Show
#6 The Brand Show
#5 The Hook
#4 Duct Tape Marketing
#3 Marketing Over Coffee
#2 Brand Fast-Trackers

and the winner for Marketing Podcast of the Year for 2007 is...
#1 Podtini

Best Marketing Books of 2007

2008-01-02T23:27:00.001-08:00

Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath
Meatball Sundae by Seth Godin
Authenticity by James H. Gilmore and B. Joseph, II Pine
BrandSimple by Allen P. Adamson and Martin Sorrell
Creating Customer Evangelists by Ben McConnell, Jackie Huba, and Guy Kawasaki
Duct Tape Marketing by John Jantsch
Truth: New Rules for Marketing in a Skeptical World by Lynn B. Upshaw
Neuromarketing by Patrick Renvoise and Christophe Morin
Boomer Consumer by Matt Thornhill and John Martin
Join the Conversation by Joseph Jaffe
What's Your Story? by Ryan Mathews and Watts Wacker
The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott

Stumbling on Happiness

2007-12-27T22:27:00.000-08:00

Stumbling on Happiness is a fantastic book on Psychology that discusses some interesting phenomena in human behavior that effect our pursuit of happiness. The author, Daniel Gilbert, previously wrote fiction before becoming a professor at Harvard. I picked out a few marketing implications from the book.

We tend to think of money in relative terms. People will drive across town to save 50 dollars on a television but they won't to save 50 dollars on a car because it is a small amount relative to the purchase. Consumer's judge their satisfaction of a toaster by relating it to the other toasters, which is why value increases when high end toasters are offered next to average toasters.

Studies have demonstrated that we are happier with things we are stuck with. We tend to value something much more after we own it than before we own it. We tend to enjoy something much more when we had to endure pain to acquire it (think standing in line for hours for the iPhone).

Our memories of past experiences are inaccurate and can be affected by our attitudes. If we think an experience should be great, we tend to remember being more satisfied than we actually were. We also tend to remember bad experiences more vividly, which is why everyone tends to think that grocery lines slow down as soon as join them.

He also argues that we are very poor at predicting our future satisfaction. If you had to predict your satisfaction at a new restaurant, you would be much better off by listening to a random customer's review than to make your own prediction by looking at the menu.

There's a lot more in the book so I highly recommend you pick it up.

Chocolate Rain Ad

2007-12-24T11:51:00.000-08:00

Chocolate Rain is one of the most popular viral videos of the year with over 12 million You Tube views. Dr. Pepper recently approached creator, Tay Zonday and produced a big budget music video to promote their new Cherry Chocolate Diet Dr Pepper. The video is only available on the web and has been viewed over 1.9 million times! This is an example of commercials as content, a great way to get a message across at a time when consumer's attention is so elusive.

Cool Fact

2007-12-22T14:09:00.000-08:00

In the 2006-2007 broadcast year, the average American watched 4 hours and 34 minutes of television per day, down 1 minute from last year.

-NielsonMedia Oct 2007

Is Marketing Responsible for the Commercialization of Christmas?

2007-12-18T23:28:00.000-08:00

Like Dave Barry said in the below quote, the commercialization of Christmas has partly distracted people from the true meaning of Christmas. You can't escape the constant advertisements of sales by every retailer trying to leverage Christmas to help their bottom line.

The other side of the argument would say that marketing is just facilitating consumers to consume what they were planning to anyways or quote John O'Toole who said "Yes, I sell people things they don't need. I can't, however, sell them something they don't want. Even with advertising. Even if I were of a mind to."

I like what Starbucks is doing with the Pass the Cheer campaign in which they encourage people to perform random acts of kindness and show generosity. If more firms focused on social responsibility rather than deep discounts, it could build good will and shift the focus back on the important things, like spirituality, family, and world peace. Now Click here to go to Amazon.

Cool Quote

2007-12-15T00:18:00.000-08:00

Once again, we come to the Holiday Season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his choice.
-Dave Barry

Happiness vs Status

2007-12-12T19:19:00.000-08:00

It would seem logical that people would choose happiness over status but many consumers choose the latter. According to Dacher Keltner, Psychology professor at Berkeley, the data across studies show that once people have made it to the middle class, there is a very small correlation between money and happiness (he states a correlation of .11 to .13). "Economists got it wrong" he argues. Keltner explains that money matters to people in the lower class because it allows them necessities like health care and transportation. However, starting in the middle class money does not influence the sense of well being. If this theory is correct then why do consumers act as if more is better?

One explanation is the human the need to display status. According to Trendwatching.com- "In the end, when dealing with (and selling to) people, everything always comes back to status. In a traditional consumer society, he or she who consumes the most, the best, the coolest, the most expensive, the scarcest or the most popular goods, will typically also gain the most status." The importance of status can explain why happiness is much lower in Japan then you would expect based on their economic prosperity and absence of crime and social ills. For consumers in America, the need to display status is one of the major drivers of demand and for many it supersedes happiness.

Another possible explanation to why consumers act as if more is better is because people are poor predictors of what will make them happy. This is the thesis of Daniel Gilbert, Psychologist and author of Stumbling on Happiness. For instance, people may predict that a promotion will give them a great boost in their happiness level, but despite the outcome their happiness level is virtually unchanged. Consumers might predict that buying that new 70 inch screen will make them happier, but it actually has little effect.

Economists are trying to refute this "money doesn't buy happiness" theory, but there is strong explicit data across many studies that supports it. Fortunately for marketers, many people still choose status over happiness or poorly predict that better stuff will make them happy.

For a great lecture that discusses the psychology of happiness download UC Berkeley Pscyh 156 Human Emotion lecture 12/10 from iTunesU

Why Money Doesn't Buy Happiness article in Newsweek

Free Consumer Trend Reports

2007-12-09T23:20:00.000-08:00

Trendwatching.com is a consumer research firm who publishes a free monthly report that is full of information about current consumer trends. This month they feature "8 Important Consumer Trends for 2008" , which describes trends like the premiumization of everything from 20 dollar water to fashionable toilet paper and people projecting their green ideals through consumption of eco-iconic brands. The only caveat is that the source of their analysis is through crowdsourcing, as they rely on a network of spotters all over the world rather than actual research. However, the report is a very good overview of some emerging global consumer trends.

Marketing Book Picks of the Week

2007-12-07T23:48:00.000-08:00

A Clear Eye for Branding
by Tom Asacker

The Marketing Gurus: Lessons from the Best Marketing Books of All Time
by Chris Murray
-This looks interesting because it summarizes the main ideas of several influential marketing books, which can save you from having to read all of them yourself.)

What Customers Want: Using Outcome-Driven Innovation to Create Breakthrough Products and Services
by Anthony Ulwick, Anthony Ulwick

BrandSimple: How the Best Brands Keep it Simple and Succeed
by Allen P. Adamson
-93% of Amazon reviewers gave 5 stars.

see Marketing Reading List in Right Column for More Marketing Book Suggestions

Awesome Psychology Lectures

2007-12-05T21:21:00.000-08:00

The study of Psychology can really help marketers understand customers. I recommend two tremendous courses available for free on iTunesU, which offers many free lectures. I have been listening to Psychology 156- Human Emotion and Psychology 160- Social Psychology at UC Berkeley, two very relevant courses to marketing. Both lectures are by Dacher Keltner , who is one of the best lecturers I have listened to. The lectures are also available at the course website. Psych 156. Psych 160.

Cool Fact

2007-12-03T21:38:00.000-08:00

The predicted ad spending in North America for 2008- $195 Billion. Bush's '08 request for funds for Iraq- $200 Billion.

David Pogue on How Simplicity Sells

2007-12-01T17:08:00.000-08:00

Featuritis can occur when product designers add so many features that the product becomes overly complex and difficult to use. In this awesome video by the talented David Pogue, (see opening parody about tech support) he explains how simplicity sells. He describes Microsoft Word, which has many many features that no one ever uses compared to Palm, whose CEO requires any task that takes more than 3 taps to be redesigned.

Pogue rationalizes Microsoft's approach by what he calls the Sports Utility Principle, which suggests people like to be surrounded by unnecessary power. Consumers don't need a lot of extra features, but they like having them in case they might need them someday. However, tech products that have been designed with the "cult of simplicity" approach like Apple have thrived lately and won over many formerly frustrated tech consumers.

I personally think this same approach should be used in naming tech products. Consumers must be scratching their heads over confusing tech terminology like SSRD, DLP, LCOS, and 1080i vs 1080p, that tell consumers very little about what differentiates it. Simplicity improves the user experience by making the core functions intuitive or obvious to use. Pogue argues that simplicity is the best strategy for maximizing customer value and is what customers want.

The Merchants of Cool

2007-11-28T23:30:00.000-08:00

The Merchants of Cool is a great documentary about how marketers study the teen segment to find out how to sell to the largest generation of teenagers ever. In 2001 teenagers spent more than 100 billion and made their parents spend an extra 50 billion. The documentary discusses the ethics of marketing to this segment and how the messages big media sends to teens influences their social norms and self-image.

Commericals as Content

2007-11-26T22:27:00.000-08:00

For those who miss the interruptions of commercials you can now get your fix at Firebrand.com. You can watch a constant stream of random commercials or select specific categories. Sound like fun?

Well it is. Everyone has at some point searched for a great commercial on You Tube. The buzz around Superbowl ads shows that if the content is entertaining enough people will watch. TV ads are a microcosm of our culture and viewing the top creative ads is surprisingly fun. A similar site is Veryfunnyads.com, where you can view the funniest ads.

Some really cool aspects of Firebrand is a host who presents the ads in a show format, sometimes with interesting trivia between spots. You can also click on credits for each ad to see the agency behind the spot. The international ads are also cool.

Podcast Pick of the Week

2007-11-24T23:58:00.000-08:00

There's an excellent radio show about marketing called The Brand Show that airs in Kansas City but is also available via podcast. It is both content rich and entertaining with many useful segments. They have a great segment called "This Week in Branding History" which includes really interesting trivia that you can impress your peers with. They also discuss industry news, relevant topics, trends, and interview insightful guests. The hosts are very knowledgeable and contribute insightful commentary while having fun too.

Cool Quote

2007-11-24T13:50:00.000-08:00

If Thomas Edison had used a focus group he would have just invented a bigger candle.

-from The Brand Show episode "The Science of Branding"

The Placebo Effect in Marketing

2007-11-15T18:54:00.001-08:00

The brilliant book, How Consumers Think, has a very interesting insight on the power of placebos that connects with the book's theme on the impact of unconscious thinking on consumer behavior.

The Placebo Effect, which is typically used in a medical context, also has very profound marketing implications. Our perceptions, expectations, and beliefs have a major impact on our experiences. For instance if one believes that Titleist golf clubs are superior to Nike based on their perceptions and expectations of the brand, they will likely believe they are experiencing a better performance, even if the actual performance of the two brands is very similar. Whatever we expect from a brand often becomes our reality.

"This discussion of placebo effects demonstrates the power of the unconscious mind to produce very powerful and beneficial experiences over and above those expected from the technical merits of the product. Consider the extra experience that people have when they know that they're consuming their favorite brand compared to the lesser experience of their brand in a blind taste test." -How Customers Think

The Placebo Effect can help explain how strong branding increases the value of products and services and is an interesting metaphor for branding to think about.

Facebook Ads

2007-11-13T22:54:00.000-08:00

Last week Facebook launched Facebook ads which very closely resembles Google Adwords. You can bid for as low as 1 cent per click as long as you set your daily max at $5.00. The ads are very targeted because they use the individuals profile data such as age, sex, interests, etc, to serve a relevant ad which has generated some controversy concerning privacy. If a user updates their "status", an imitation of Twitter in which they tell everyone what they are currently doing, the ad system could potentially pick up the key words and send all his or her friends a recommendation of a relevant product or service. Imagine you log on and send a message to your friends asking them where you should go to hang out and Universal immediately sends everyone an ad to the latest flick. It will be interesting to see if this type of targeting is perceived by the users as brands stalking them or providing them with more relevant and useful recommendations.

Get Your Daily Ad News

2007-11-12T10:40:00.000-08:00

Adage has a nice 3 minute daily news show called 3 Minute Ad Age. It covers interesting ad campaigns, ad trends, and company news. You can also download the show from iTunes.

Why We Buy

2007-11-07T21:31:00.000-08:00

I really looked forward to reading Why We Buy by Paco Underhill because I expected a thoughtful analysis of how consumers behave. Instead I learned about useless ideas like the "butt-brush factor" which suggests shoppers who are bumped into from behind are not likely to continue to shop in that spot. I'm glad I'm not the executive who paid for that bit of information.

The author does acknowledge that many of his observations are obvious, because store designers often ignore the obvious. The book is very retail orientated, so the insights don't have much implications outside the retail environment. If you are a retail manager, the observations can help improve sales, but if not, you shouldn't waste your time on this book.

Imagine a World Without Marketing

2007-11-04T22:15:00.001-08:00

I recently spoke to a co-worker who asked the common rhetorical question about marketing: "Isn't marketing just about selling people things they don't need." I happily engaged in the intellectual sparring match, as I enjoy enlightening those unaware of how marketing makes our lives better. Granted, marketing is not as noble a cause as teaching or hospice care, but I argue it plays an equally important role in our society.

Imagine a world without marketing. Our economy would collapse. Our standard of living would plummet as a result of consumers not having enough information about their options and due to the plunging stock market. Without branding, people would lack confidence in their decisions as they wouldn't know what type of performance to expect from a given product or service. Television would not have enough funding to operate. Google would go out of business. Can you imagine a world without marketing?

Image from NOAA Photo Library

Cool Fact

2007-11-03T20:10:00.000-07:00

"According to most estimates, about 95 percent of thought, emotion, and learning occur in the unconscious mind-that is, without our awareness."

-from How Customers Think by Gerald Zaltman

Cool Quote

2007-11-02T20:21:00.000-07:00

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. -Charles Darwin

via Branding Strategy Insider

AMA Webinars

2007-10-31T21:55:00.000-07:00

There are several informative web seminars at the American Marketing Association site. The majority are member only, but there are 52 web seminars that are free to anyone.

Can Advertising Save the World?

2007-10-29T22:26:00.000-07:00

To whomever says advertising does no good, show them Ripple, a site where you can help feed and educate people in need by viewing ads or using their search engine. It is a neat concept where advertising can be used to raise money for those in need. They also donate 100% of their proceeds to charity.

Great Toyota Spot

2007-10-28T16:40:00.001-07:00

via http://www.dvorak.org/blog/

Philanthropic Marketing

2007-10-26T19:29:00.000-07:00

As it becomes more difficult to communicate to consumers on traditional media, branding has become more critical to marketing success. Companies can not survive with questionable reputations, on the other hand a strong reputation can differentiate you from the competition.

Bank of America recently bailed out Countrywide by purchasing 2 billion in stock which calmed fears of the county's largest home loaner going out of business. They also allow employees to allocate two hours per week to provide service to their community and donates $500 to charity if an employee reaches 100 volunteer hours for the year. It are these philanthropic efforts that help strengthen the positive associations in the minds of consumers. It can also strengthen the brand internally by engaging employees to feel a sense of purpose in being a service to others. Furthermore, a strong community will have more income to buy your products.

Corporate Philanthropy Winners:

Honda

Bank of America

Starbucks

Marketing Book Picks of the Week

2007-10-25T20:40:00.000-07:00

Life After the 30 Second Spot: Energize Your Brand With a Bold Mix of Alternatives to Traditional Advertising by Joseph Jaffe

The Elements of Persuasion: Use Storytelling to Pitch Better, Sell Faster & Win More Business by Richard Maxwell and Robert Dickman

Trading Up: Why Consumers Want New Luxury Goods... And How Companies Create Them by Michael J. Silverstein, Neil Fiske, and John Butman

The Pursuit of Wow! by Tom Peters

see Marketing Reading List in Right Column for More Marketing Book Suggestions

Cool Quote

2007-10-23T23:27:00.000-07:00

Marketing takes a day to learn. Unfortunately it takes a lifetime to master.
-Philip Kotler

Seth Godin's TED presentation

2007-10-22T23:43:00.000-07:00

A new Digg for Online Marketing

2007-10-21T11:11:00.000-07:00

Gooruze is a new social network site that is worth checking out. Members share news and articles about online marketing.

Shift Happens Video

2007-10-20T23:19:00.000-07:00

If you haven't seen this video yet, it is mind-blowing presentation on our rapidly changing world.

Marketing Reading List

2007-10-18T20:27:00.000-07:00

Introducing a new feature to the sidebar: Marketing Reading List, marketing book recommendations that you may not have heard of. Check back often for new marketing book picks to be added each week.

Radiohead's New Strategy: Pay What You Want

2007-10-17T20:47:00.001-07:00

In a brilliant marketing and PR move, the British band Radiohead is offering their new album for download at any price you want. You just go to their site and fill in the blank. I paid 1.25 pounds for music I wouldn't have otherwise bought, just because I could. This is a great innovation for artists who usually receive a small royalty for each album sold and make most of their income from concerts. Terra Bite, a small coffee shop in Kirkland Washington, has a similar model in which customers can pay whatever they want for lattes and muffins. However this strategy is ideal for digital music which must have very low marginal cost.

While the recording industry is trying as hard as possible to get their customers to hate them, e.g. suing college students and putting bothersome copy protections on their products, artists are finding better ways to market themselves. Madonna signed with a concert promoter instead of a record label and Yahoo! Music General Manager Ian Rogers recently promised that Yahoo! will no longer be involved with DRM. These people realize that winning customers is about marketing that is customer centric not profit centric.

Cool Quote

2007-10-16T22:54:00.000-07:00

The purest treasure mortal times can afford is a spotless reputation- William Shakespeare

The Paradox of Choice: Why Less is More

2007-10-14T15:55:00.000-07:00

This is a fascinating contrarian view of the idea that more is better by psychologist Barry Schwartz. He discusses his theory that the immense choice for consumer goods is actually making consumers miserable.

Marketing Wikipedia Needs Your Help

2007-10-11T20:06:00.000-07:00

“Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world, can write anything they want about any subject. So you know you are getting the best possible information.” - Michael Scott from The Office.

Wikipedia is a great resource for learning and is unbelievably reliable despite its flaws. I think that the marketing entries are pretty weak and the marketing community can make it a lot better. There are now wikibooks, which are open-source textbooks. There is even a marketing wikibook which is just a few pages. If you've never been a part of mass collaboration, this is a tremendous opportunity to share your wisdom and contribute. Imagine the accomplishment of being one of the primary authors of the marketing wikipedia textbook that is read all over the world (unless someone edits it).

Best Marketing Podcasts

2007-10-10T20:43:00.000-07:00

Must Listens:
Podtini
Brand Fast-Trackers
Duct-Tape Marketing
Marketing Over Coffee
The Hook

Other Good Business Podcasts:
APM Marketplace
HBR Ideacast
The Cranky Middle Manager
Wall street Journal This Morning
Time Business Podcasts
Business Week Cover Stories
Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders
Knowledge at Wharton

Can You Read Enough?

2007-10-09T19:46:00.000-07:00

"Not Possible" writes Matt Heinz, author of Are You Selling Pants, or Selling a Dream. I posted last week about Tim Ferris' view that you should limit your reading of non-fiction because you could waste time passively consuming information instead of taking action. Here's Matt's counter argument of why we should read as much as possible:

As marketers, we need to be constantly learning. Constantly reinventing how we do business. Constantly questioning the way we do business today and tomorrow.

When I force myself to stop what I'm doing for a moment and read something, I almost always get new ideas, insights and inspiration.

I get ideas for how to improve my job, my company, my life.

Marketers are extremely busy and time-strapped. It's very difficult to stop and read. That's where audio books and podcasts can help. You can consume tremendous amounts of content walking down the street, driving your car, or waiting in line.

The latest episode of the M-Show states that one quarter of America's business elite downloaded a podcast in the last month. Audible.com has been a godsend, by allowing me to read several books while commuting to work. If you have a great audio book it can even make you look forward to the drive!

The McDonald's Video Game

2007-10-07T23:35:00.000-07:00

There is an amazing online video game called the McDonald's Video Game created by Molleindustria, in which you can run the McDonald's corporation. The game is a parody of the company and you can destroy rain forests, corrupt climatologists and nutritionists, and market to children. It is a blast. If you ignore any aspect of the supply chain you lose as the company goes bankrupt. Here is an explanation of why Molleindustria made the game:

For decades McDonald’s corporation has been heavily criticized for his negative impact on society and environment.There are inevitably some glitches in our activity: rain forest destruction, livelihood losses in the third world, desertification, precarization of working conditions, food poisoning and so on…

Denying all these well founded accusations would be impossible so we decided to create an online game to explain to young people that this is the price to pay in order to preserve our lifestyle.

We’ll continue on our way, with our well-known determination. Join us and have fun with us!

Cool Quotes

2007-10-05T23:55:00.000-07:00

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.
-Robert F. Kennedy

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.
-Winston Churchill

I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot...and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that's precisely why I succeed.
- Michael Jordan

Buzz Soda

2007-10-03T21:56:00.000-07:00

Jones Soda Company based in Seattle Washington is now taking pre-orders for a five-pack of soda titled Dirt, Sports Cream, Perspiration, Sweet Victory and Natural Field Turf. According to the company spokesperson Clare Bowles the "Perspiration Soda is kind of salty tasting" with a "stinky football sock" finish.

"A sip of Sports Cream Soda conjures up the experience of rubbing ointment into an aching muscle, while Natural Field Turf Soda is like 'playing tackle football, and you get tackled really hard, you're down on the ground and you get a little bit of the grass in your teeth,' Bowles said. The only sweet soda of the bunch, Sweet Victory, has a berry flavor" (Business Week).

This from the company that brought you Green Bean Casserole Soda, Mashed Potato & Butter Soda, Fruitcake Soda, Cranberry Soda and Turkey & Gravy Soda in 2004. The Seahawks Collector's Pack should make it to the buzz-worthy hall of fame. What a innovative and creative idea. Can you imagine what your management would say if you proposed such a radical idea. Seth Godin often talks about how most companies are afraid to take chances and are much more interested in defending the status quo. Jones Soda is not one of those companies.

Creating Free Content

2007-10-02T22:19:00.001-07:00

Creating free content is one way to generate interest in your company and its offerings. That is why many companies are looking into producing their own podcasts and some companies have embraced podcasting. Business Week Cover Stories and Climbing the Ladder are just a few great podcasts that are part of the Business Week Podcast Series. The high quality and value of these free podcasts created momentum that eventually led to the tipping point of me spending 50 dollars on a subscription. Luis Kelly, in her book Beyond Buzz, says that she's weary of consultants who guard their information until paid. Those who freely give away information on the other hand are perceived as having a lot more to offer.

Matt Heinz, in his book Are You Selling Pants or Selling a Dream, suggests that companies not talk about products but about their customers. Create content that is valuable to your customers. For instance if you are Home Depot, you could create shows on how to renovate your home. If you are a small business coach you could make a show about tips on marketing for small businesses. If your content rocks, you can build an audience of loyal listeners who have the potential to become loyal customers.

Is Reading Too Much Bad For You?

2007-10-01T23:19:00.000-07:00

Albert Einstein said "Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking."

I am currently reading The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss and he recommends that you don't read the newspaper or CNN, and limit reading of trade magazines and other non-fiction. It got me thinking. Do I read too much? What value do I get from what I read? Ferriss says that too many people spend hours reading but can not tell you much about what they just read. He makes the excellent point that information that you don't implement is useless information.

I advise that when you read, you write down as many thoughts and takeaways as you can. This puts your brain into a more active mode and helps you focus on gathering useful nuggets of information or insight that you can use in the future. It is also good to exercise your creative muscles on a blog where you can write about whatever provokes your thinking. I agree with Einstien. Ultimately you can't just absorb the thoughts of others, you must be able to think for yourself.

Chuck's Marketing 100

2007-09-30T17:38:00.000-07:00

Introducing a new feature of the blog, Chuck's Marketing 100, which will list the best 100 marketing blogs. Blogs that make the cut are highly relavant, interesting, informative, and thought provoking. So far there are 32 blogs that have made the list. Look for new additions each week.