Dissatisfaction with Customer Satisfaction: Why Consumers Unwittingly Deceive Researchers (and What We Can Do About It)
Posted on | January 16, 2009 | steve whigham
To do our jobs properly, marketers need to predict future consumer behavior. But how?
The problem is this… as an industry, we’ve got a lousy track record of accurately predicting consumer behavior.
Even though we have all these research tools and methodologies (focus groups, mall intercepts, attitudinal questionnaires, Likert scales, multivariate cluster analyses, perceptual maps, conjoint analyses, demographic and psychographic profiles, semantic differentials, etc.—all of which we stole from behavioral scientists many years ago) we still seem to get it all wrong. We have the capacity to know a lot, but we don’t seem to learn what really predicts behavior. Are we guilty of bad science the same way surgeons were guilty of bad medicine by blood-letting bad humours out of the human body just a handful of generations ago?
Book Review – The New Rules of Marketing and PR
Posted on | January 15, 2009 | mike zeller
The New Rules of Marketing & PR
Here’s a “must read” book that in my opinion, does a great job of presenting how the web has changed things in a big way for us marketers. The full title is The New Rules of Marketing and PR, How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly.
The author, David Meerman Scott, is a well qualified authority and internet veteran having launched a marketing strategy with online content to reach buyers directly on the web way back in the early ’90s. He’s spent the last 18 years or so speaking and consulting with corporations on how to use web content to sell products and services. This book evolved out of David’s vast blog experience and an ebook he published called The New Rules of PR. After more than 200,000 downloads, David decided he had a hot topic on his hands so he went full bore into writing a hard cover. He broadened the subject matter to address marketing as well.
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Where’s Your Video?
Posted on | December 22, 2008 | drew stauffer
With the advancements of Universal Search becoming more and more prevalent, all site owners need to be sure that they are making their sites as sticky as possible. Google wants sites that are the “total package” in their index and if you’re missing a piece of the pie you might find your rankings dropping as early as the first part of 2009.
I posted a quick Video Blogging 101 on my personal blog about some easy ways to get started adding video to your website. The post gives you a quick look at what programs I used, how I made the video, and where I uploaded it.
Content is a huge part of the web, but when you can give your audience another medium to digest all of your information then you’re making your site more substantial.
Besides video, what are some other methods that you’ve implemented to keep your site sticky?
Back in my day…
Posted on | December 16, 2008 | mike weston
Advertising, in all its forms, has been around for a long, long time.
And if you look hard enough, you’ll always find remnants of old ideas in today’s new concepts. The trick is to avoid using a library of knowledge to shoot down good ideas. And it doesn’t take long to find someone in an agency, usually a grizzled ACD or CD (wait, before you can say anything, guilty as charged. But only on occasion), who uses their memory to make you feel, well, like a schmuck. You don’t want to become one of those insufferable ad people who looks at every concept and says something like, “so-and-so did that at DDB in 1986. It’s in the 15th edition of CA!”
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Clipping Coupons and Paying Cash – Is that what’s in store for 2009?
Posted on | December 9, 2008 | joshua lyall
As each new year approaches, Nielsen analysts examine market trends and make projections about what will be popular (and unpopular) with the American consumer in the coming year. Some of their predictions affect the marketing industry directly (e.g., ad spending and coupon redemption) while others could greatly affect clients’ businesses. It’s worth five minutes of your time to see what it takes Nielsen months of research and analysis to develop.
http://www.nielsen.com/consumer_insight/ci_story1.html
Pitfalls of Out-of-Touch Branding in a 2.0 World
Posted on | November 25, 2008 | mike zeller
In this rapidly changing age of Web 2.0 we all have experienced in some way, the amazing power of social media and its influence on consumer attitudes and behavior regarding the purchase and usage of products and services.
The most recent “case study” that has gotten a lot of attention is Johnson & Johnson’s advertising for its pain relief product, Motrin. Now, one would have thought that a big sophisticated marketer like J&J, and its subsidiary company McNeil Healthcare, would not be challenged by relating to their customer base. After all they’ve got to have tons of research about and experience with their customer base, right?
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How Well Does Green Really Sell?
Posted on | November 11, 2008 | joshua lyall
Finding a way to market a product or service as environmentally friendly seems to be a requirement of late. It appears no category of products is off limits – a green appeal for an electric toothbrush is likely already under development. There is growing evidence, however, that the actual impact of green appeals and green corporate behavior is less than originally thought.
Several recent studies have shown consumers reporting a greater willingness to purchase green products than their behaviors indicate, the exception being when a direct cost savings will be experienced by using a green product. For example, in a 2008 NAHB study of homeowners, over half said they would be willing to pay $5,000 – $11,000 more upfront for green features on a house if those features would reduce their annual utilities. However, interest was limited in green home features that had no efficiency advantage.
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Is It Time for a Branding Bailout?
Posted on | October 24, 2008 | steve whigham
Is Madison Avenue Guilty of the Same Hubris as Wall Street?
The Fall of 2008. Generations from now will remember it as the fall of the financial markets and a crucial turning point in global economics. So many slick, opportunistic decisions made by very clever financiers over the past decade are coming back to bite us… decisions laced with so much greed… stimulated by so little control and oversight. Unbridled opportunism has caught up with Wall Street—and us.
Are we on the brink of the same type of meltdown in branding?
Just as in the financial markets, branding has become slick and sophisticated over the past decade. A casual walk down the business book aisle at Barnes & Noble will attest to that. Dozens upon dozens of branding books are packed tightly together competing for attention. Marketers rush to them looking for the next big idea in manipulating their brands to create ever-higher levels of customer addiction.
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Are Your Smarter Because You Search Online?
Posted on | October 20, 2008 | drew stauffer
Have you ever thought that because you search online that you’re smarter than the next guy? According to a new study from UCLA, searching the Internet may help to stimulate and possibly improve brain functions.
Traditionally, taking part in activities like crossword puzzles have helped keep the mind sharp and preserve brain health and cognitive abilities. With technology increasingly becoming part of everyone’s life, scientists have begun to assess the influences of computer use and the Internet.
According to principal investigator Dr. Gary Small, a professor at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA who holds UCLA’s Parlow-Solomon Chair on Aging,
“The study results are encouraging, that emerging computerized technologies may have physiological effects and potential benefits for middle-aged and older adults. Internet searching engages complicated brain activity, which may help exercise and improve brain function.”
The team at UCLA studied 24 volunteers between the ages of 55 and 76. Half of the participants had experience searching the Internet while the other half had no experience. Education level and gender were similar between the two groups. The study mainly consisted of the difference in brain activity between book-reading and Internet searching while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans.
“Our most striking finding was that Internet searching appears to engage a greater extent of neural circuitry that is not activated during reading – but only in those with prior Internet experience,” said Small, who is also the director of UCLA’s Memory and Aging Research Center.
Further research and additional details on the study can be found in Small’s new book, “iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind,” published on Oct 14th.
Does PR Accreditation Matter?
Posted on | October 8, 2008 | brett turner
Remember when the word “marketing” used to mean advertising, public relations, sales, research and all other forms of communications? It still does to some people, but most, especially Fortune 500 companies, understand the difference amongst communications disciplines. That understanding is also trickling down to the grassroots levels thanks to integrated marketing communications agencies and our brethren in the corporate communications, non-profit and government sectors.
With that paradigm change, expertise and mastery of a specific discipline is more important than ever. Just think about other professions – doctors, attorneys, architects, realtors. They are all specialists. Sure they have to work with other specialists, as do we, but they are the experts in their field of study. Now, so are those in the communications profession, which is why differentiating oneself amongst your peers is so important.
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What We're All About
Welcome to The Cure for Common Marketing, a Jackson Marketing Group blog dedicated to sharing insightful thinking, new ideas, technologies, what-if concepts, success stories, and book/article reviews about light speed changes in the B2B marketing universe. We encourage you to share your thoughts and opinions.