Market Like You Mean It

Conversation Rate, Not Conversion Rate

2011-08-03T06:44:00.002-06:00

Pretend you want to get together for a poker game with your friends. You send out an email to the gang. Some of your friends respond immediately. Others need to check their calendars. Still others just don’t do emails. It could take several rounds of emails, phone calls, tweets, Facebook invites or in-person communications to get everyone together.In terms of setting up the poker game you don’t

Innovation in Action

2011-02-14T15:56:00.000-06:00

By: Rick FoyInnovation. Let’s face it. It has to be one of – if not the most – overused term in marketing. And it’s easy to fall back on, isn’t it? What organization doesn’t want to be considered “innovative?” I know we do. But when you use a term so much, the impact of the word, the true meaning of the word, is weakened, if not lost. Webster’s defines the innovation as: “…a new method, custom,

Publish or Perish: Recommending new perspectives for traditional mediums to promote, educate and advance

2011-01-28T16:51:00.002-06:00

By: Marlene Nelson, PartnerOne of the many things I love about the World Wide Web is its “wideness” – the way it can lead you, sometimes unsuspectingly, down varied and disjointed avenues to end up at a final point of enlightenment. The journey there (often referred to by some as a colossal “time suck”) is typically where the learning takes place.In marketing, we understand the impact of the web,

The Pledge of the Healthcare Consultant

2011-01-07T12:05:00.002-06:00

Throughout my education and career, I have heard reference that there should be a pledge or oath in consulting comparable to the Hippocratic Oath that doctors take, pledging to “do no harm”. Many have viewed consulting as an expensive solution to problems that companies already have answers to. I have worked on both sides of the equation and while there are exceptions to everything, I believe

Marketing to Miracle Workers: Are we employing the best practices for communicating to health care professionals?

2010-12-06T13:26:00.003-06:00

Marlene Nelson, Partner, HealthcareMore than half of the communications we send on behalf of our customers each year are directed to physicians. Needless to say, we take a lot of care when we create messaging for this audience. We consider the tone of the communication, the channel in which we deliver, the time we distribute, and even the precise amount of time for

Value

2010-11-23T09:43:00.001-06:00

I attended a session at the MN AMA conference recently. A former professor of mine, Dr. Sailors, from the University of St. Thomas was talking about Marketing ROI. Is ROI the best way to examine all projects. It is certainly a factor, particularly when budgeting, but how is it weighted against other factors such as key performance indicators around response and customer

“You can trust us to do the job for you.”

2010-11-17T11:38:00.005-06:00

"Do you think one short sentence at the end of your ad could cause a major increase in the level of trust customers place in you? Believe it or not, it’s true. Researchers found that placing the following statement at the end of an ad for a auto service firm caused their trust scores to jump as much as 33%!"Interesting blog by Roger Dooley I thought you might like: Ten Words That Build

Inspiration

2010-10-27T14:11:00.004-06:00

My friend, Kate Herzog, was recently featured on KSTP 5 Eyewitness News http://tiny.cc/n2ugv. She was featured because she has started a company called House of Talents, whose mission is: “To alleviate poverty by connecting artisans from developing countries with consumer markets worldwide.” (www.houseoftalents.com) How does one person take on the charge of alleviating poverty? It is not

Social Media vs. Social Activism

2010-09-29T14:00:00.002-06:00

A friend forwarded a link to a great article by Malcolm Gladwell from the New Yorker titled “Small Change.”Among other things, it points out the fundamental difference between networks, like social media, and hierarchies found at the core of successful social activism. I encourage everyone interested in social media to read it because it can help us understand how social media can be most

Customers Value Experience

2010-09-21T09:31:00.002-06:00

A recent report from Accenture shows the "top three success factors required to differentiate from other [bank] players in the eyes" of customers have to do with experience. In this graph the top 5 items are experience based. Interestingly, the lowest ranked factors have to do with products and pricing.Banks, by and large, offer the same types of products across the board. Likewise, medical

Prescribing CompassionHealthcare providers’ use of easily accessible social media tools elevates the patient experience.

2010-09-08T10:27:00.003-06:00

Marlene NelsonPartner, Sight Marketing“I stopped crying in my sleep, which tells me that I have whole-heartedly accepted the fact that I have cancer. And I, too, am left with many questions. How bad is it? What are my treatment options going to be? Do I have to have chemo? Will I lose my hair? How sick will I get?” (Kelly, CaringBridge journal entry, March 2010)My cousin

Favre: Still relevant after all these years

2010-08-23T12:25:00.002-06:00

Rick Foy, Director of Strategic Communications Unless you were camping somewhere deep in wilderness over the past week, with no access to a radio, TV, newspaper, cell phone, the Internet, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook or YouTube, you probably know Brett Favre made a triumphant return to the Minnesota Vikings. It took a little convincing from three of his favorite teammates,

Balance

2010-08-16T12:27:00.002-06:00

There is a lot of talk about balance these days. Balancing long-term and short-term strategy, work-life balance etc. What does balance really mean, and does it mean the same thing to everybody? I turned to Webster’s Dictionary for a definition, and there are fourteen options listed under the definition—seriously fourteen! Count them (below). The definitions range from

Four Easy Steps to Creating Successful Email Campaigns

2010-08-09T10:32:00.002-06:00

1. Use a well-scrubbed email list When preparing for an email campaign it is important to have a good list to work from. This is important for several reasons including: * A good list ensures you will actually hit your targets* You will have a lower opt-out rate which helps protect you from being blacklisted as SPAM 2. Design a clean and attractive email A

The Devil IS in the Details

2010-07-26T08:53:00.003-06:00

The countless ways our actions affect customer experience outcomes In the forty-plus years I’ve been living on this planet, there is one sentence that I have come to completely abhor, “The doctor will be with you in just a few minutes." More unreliable words have never been uttered. I’m pretty sure that hospital time is a lot like dog years – where 5 minutes really translates into

Get It Out Of Your System

2010-07-19T15:04:00.004-06:00

Megan KieckerDesign InternSight MarketingWhat do you do when inspiration is lacking? Maybe it isn’t even lacking. Maybe it just isn’t directed at what you need to do at the moment. I’ve been sitting at my desk trying to write a blog for a while and have not been able to generate any ideas that I find interesting enough to write about. I’ve read several blogs, which indicate that I should

Is Your Doctor Treating You with His iPhone?

2010-07-15T07:49:00.005-06:00

Megan KieckerDesign InternSight Marketing Doctors around the world are taking advantage of the new iPhone applications. There are over 1,500 medical applications available. Less than half can be used a in a professional health care setting, yet the uses for these applications seem endless as they can provide diagnoses, eye tests, medical calculators, anatomical diagrams,

BP’s PR Mess: What’s the Solution?

2010-07-12T09:26:00.005-06:00

Rick Foy Director of Strategic Communications Sight Marketing “So, how’d you like to be doing PR for BP right now?” As the old saying goes, I wish I had a nickel for every time I’ve been asked that question over the past couple of months. Almost everyone in the PR business has pondered the question: “What would I do if were assigned the BP account?” Those of us on the outside looking in

Get To The Point!

2010-06-14T10:44:00.005-06:00

Event and page requests show up on Facebook every day. Maybe Walmart is giving a free discount if I follow the quick link to their website. Then I might get asked to complete a survey or fill in some personal information and have to click a few more times. When it takes more than one click, I instantly exit and forget about it.So how many other consumers exit when they have to click more than

How connected are you?

2010-05-10T09:04:00.003-06:00

I recently attended a seminar on new and advanced features for Linked In and Twitter(a couple of social media tools I use on a regular basis). The presentation was good (as good as anything can be at 7:30 in the morning), the speaker stayed on topic and I learned a few new tricks over the course of the hour. The most important thing I took away from the session, however,

Priorities

2010-04-28T11:49:00.002-06:00

I’ve been thinking a lot about priorities lately. One of the best things I took away from my MBA from the University of St. Thomas was an exercise that my Writing Lab Professor built into her class: free-writing. Free-writing was a form of journaling that she required. Each week, students dedicated 10-20 minutes at the end of our two-hour class for free-writing. I think it’

Upwardly MobileMaking a move to elevate our brand experience

2010-03-29T17:01:00.001-06:00

The Wyman Building on the corner of 1st Avenue and Fourth Street in downtown Minneapolis has been at the epicenter of commerce and trade for more than 100 years. First established in the late 1800s as a wholesale dry goods mercantile, the building has experienced dramatic transformation over the past century. Today, this classic renaissance revival is home to many of

How Valuable Are "Friends"?

2010-03-16T10:44:00.007-06:00

In June 2009 I received my Business Week in the mail and promptly filed it into my “read later” pile. It is now March 2010 and I finally got around to reading it. Why did I save this magazine so long? The lead story intrigued me “What is a Friend Worth, Decoding Digital Relationships Will Change How Businesses Market, Manage, and Recruit.” Little did I know that by the time I read the article I

Old News

2010-03-09T09:23:00.006-06:00

Okay, I admit it. I love to read newspapers. Yep, call me old-fashioned, a fuddy-duddy, a dinosaur, a relic…or just call me: old (unfortunately, I’m really getting used to that descriptor). Maybe it was the way I was brought up. My father, a lifelong educator, insisted that we subscribe to a morning and afternoon daily, even though we lived in a small rural community. Maybe it’s because I

Social Media and PR in Healthcare Marketing

2010-02-18T08:34:00.000-06:00

One of my associates, Rick Foy, passed along an email that included "10 Trends from the Holmes Report."The second introductory paragraph struck me:"But there are reasons to be optimistic about the prospects for public relations over the next 10 years. Increased transparency, demands from consumers and other stakeholders for greater authenticity, an emphasis on dialogue and conversation—all these

Marketing is Killing Me(Or, at the very least, eating into my valuable TV time)

2010-02-15T17:49:00.009-06:00

There are only a few things in life that I’m embarrassed to admit: I only shave my legs for warm weather or visits to the doctor (whichever comes first); I live in a state with more than 10,000 lakes and can’t water ski; and I’ve never actually seen Office Space, Caddyshack or Pulp Fiction. When these movies come up in conversation (which they do more often than you’d think), I laugh, feign

Facebook as a Measured Marketing Tactic

2010-02-11T08:00:00.001-06:00

A few weeks ago, I came across a nice webinar from Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide on the topic of Facebook. It was part of their 360° Digital Influence program.The webinar did a good job of reinforcing a basic structure behind good measured marketing practices, specifically regarding social media (although I would offer a few tweaks).Here is one of the key slides:It sort of reflects the way

Reaching Out To Healthcare Blogs

2010-02-04T14:00:00.000-06:00

Here is an interesting short interview of two nurses who run some of the most influential nurse blogs on the internet. They are the founders of Emergiblog & Codeblog.The interesting part of the video for me starts at about 3:30 into the spot. They are asked what should marketers know about reaching out to medical bloggers? I'll paraphrase the answers here:Be honest and open about who you are and

Social Media Sparks PR Renewal

2010-02-01T16:09:00.011-06:00

The start of a new year is always intriguing isn’t it? It provides the chance to reflect on the year past, and move forward with a fresh start – and a resolve to change for the better. For me, the start to 2010 offered a bit more: a recommitment to the profession of public relations.It was all sparked by a reunion held in New York City Jan. 8-10 marking the 15th year of

The Rhythm of Marketing

2010-01-25T09:44:00.005-06:00

It’s interesting how marketing is such an event-driven business function. Marketing “pushes” are focused on the holidays of business; trade shows, sales meetings, product kick-offs, etc. Prior to the event there are hectic, stressful days that build to a crescendo at the event, much like the holidays of life and family. Anybody who has hosted a high school graduation open

Low-risk Social Media Tactics for Healthcare Marketing

2010-01-19T22:21:00.003-06:00

While the FDA has not passed specific regulations on the use of social media in healthcare device marketing, there are, perhaps, some common sense and low-risk applications of social media for healthcare device manufactures. Here are three that come to mind:Monitor conversations and correct misinformationPromoting preapproved contentTalk about product development processMonitoring conversations

Communicating In A Regulated Environment

2010-01-18T11:00:00.003-06:00

Imagine if the FDA got its hands on the story of the three little pigs. One can only surmise the tragic ending those three little critters would have encountered. The fire (originally built for boiling a pot of soup) was not indicated for fending off big bad wolves. I’ll spare you the gory details. One of the challenges medical device marketers face is how to best communicate a product’s core

Telling Stories in Healthcare Marketing

2010-01-11T12:38:00.000-06:00

I just read a great post from "Note to CMO" about the art of telling a story. It was a good reminder to: 1) not rely too much on your PowerPoint presentation and 2) to tell a compelling story, it's good to share not only the successes but also the challenges. Presentations need to be engaging and dare I say, entertaining... Not every presentation needs to have a lot of multimedia or spectacular

Welcome to 2010!

2010-01-04T13:21:00.000-06:00

What will this year hold for healthcare marketing? With America’s aging boomer generation, increased direct to patient marketing in the medical device space, and the rise of social media it promises to be an exciting year. We’ve gathered some of our favorite 2010 trend links for you: 2010 Color of the Year 10 Branding and Marketing Trends for 2010 5 Non-Obvious Marketing

How the Web is Changing Healthcare Marketing

2009-12-07T07:35:00.002-06:00

As we get close to the end of 2009, I think it's important to recognize a particular healthcare marketing milestone. In August of this year Online Media Daily reported the results of a poll that revealed nearly half of consumers go to search engines to research their own medical conditions. This confirms other numbers I've heard recently. So what does this mean for healthcare marketers? The

From Campaigns to Conversations

2009-12-03T08:40:00.004-06:00

I recently stumbled across a blog post from BBH Labs about the shift from Campaigns to Conversations. We talk a lot about this topic in our business. There were a number of points that particularly resonate when it comes to measured marketing, especially in the healthcare marketing industry, where marketing to physicians is an art in itself. First I really liked the point-counter-point graphic (

Simple Truths To Save The Planet: Or, at the very least, our little corner of the marketing galaxy

2009-11-16T10:27:00.002-06:00

Imagine, if you will, a futuristic setting. A somewhat tousled (yet alarmingly attractive) scientist is meeting with the President and Joint Chiefs of Staff to discuss the findings from his recent discovery of a new life form. He moves to the center of the room and begins his address. “The ‘Physician’ species appears to be from an advanced civilization,” he begins, taking out a pointer and

Your Story: Make It Personal

2009-11-09T15:06:00.001-06:00

Recently I handed my business card to a friend. She glanced at our Sight Marketing tagline: “Your story matters.” She liked our message, but wanted a deeper explanation of what we were really trying to say to our clients and prospective partners. I responded with — what else — a story. Have you ever read a passage in a book that makes you say: “That’s me! The author is talking to ME!” I had

What Are Our Objectives?

2009-11-03T09:35:00.005-06:00

In the new 24/7 digital world of marketing are we sometimes losing the message? Woody Allen said "90% of life is showing up." While showing up is the first step to success, knowing why you showed up in the first place is what separates leaders from the pack. When launching Sight’s social media strategy, I initially found myself getting caught up in quantity, and at times losing sight of our

Persuasion Marketing?

2009-10-26T11:54:00.001-06:00

I was having lunch with a colleague here at Sight Marketing, Ted Loken, who has been thinking a lot about our own company’s positioning. Sight uses terms like “measured marketing,” “relationship marketing” and “experiential marketing” to describe what we do. All of the descriptors apply, but not too many people know what those terms really mean. The term relationship has a history stretching

The Perspectives Of Marketing

2009-10-19T11:04:00.003-06:00

Brand awareness and staying on message are two key topics that are often discussed in marketing circles. These topics are always talked about from the company/product/service perspective without consideration to the perspective of the audience. Depending on the product or service your organization offers the market this may not matter, but in complex B-to-B sales this is an important element of

Where is Marketing Going?

2009-10-12T11:00:00.000-06:00

We came across this great slide here The future of measured marketing is vast and the more integrated our communications become, the more important they will be to measure. What do you think?

Details Matter

2009-10-05T09:22:00.001-06:00

An old adage says “the devil is in the details” but in marketing, that’s where all the good stuff is. The more detailed information you have about the people who interact with your marketing, the more informed you are, and the better positioned your sales force is for success. Setting the call context In sales, there’s nothing worse than a cold call. It’s hard to create a good customer

Integrated, Measured Marketing for Medical Device Marketers

2009-09-28T11:21:00.001-06:00

Perhaps the greatest challenge medical device marketers face is understanding and fostering the complex relationship between sales, outside influencers and their primary audience segments – physicians and patients. In this new era of connectivity, the patient audience, once a staid and devoted follower of traditional medical practice, has now shifted to assume a position of authority and

Microsites: A Valuable Marketing Tool.

2009-09-21T09:11:00.009-06:00

What is a microsite? Wikipedia defines a microsite as: A microsite, also known as a minisite or weblet, is an Internet web design term referring to an individual web page or cluster of pages which are meant to function as an auxiliary supplement to a primary website. But what does that really mean? In our practice, we define a microsite as a very focused site that delivers a specific story.

Become a Measured Marketing Test Subject!

2009-09-14T08:35:00.000-06:00

Are you interested in seeing measured marketing in action? If so, I invite you to be a test contact in a direct marketing campaign we’re setting up for targeted and marketing professionals in the health care industry. Even if you aren’t in health care and are just interested in seeing what this kind of campaign looks like, we welcome your interest and will be happy to set you up as a seed

Measured Marketing: Breaking Down The Buzz

2009-08-27T14:24:00.000-06:00

Measured marketing seems to be the new "special sauce" in marketing these days, but what works, and what doesn't? What's merely buzz and what actually gives you a bang for your buck? Check out a recent article from our VP or Creative Services, John Barton, in the Minnesota Business Expert's Forum on the subject. What can measured marketing do for you? Read more.

Transform: A Short Film

2009-02-23T08:29:00.005-06:00

I found this on Scott Kelby's excellent Photoshop blog. Zack Arias is an Atlanta-based photographer and, for this guest post he made a little film. I found it funny, thought-provoking and inspirational. If you do something creative for a living, it's especially meaningful. He talks about the film here.Take 10 minutes and watch it.

What Color Is Your Bottom Line?

2009-02-20T16:50:00.006-06:00

Let's look at some facts.- Color increases brand recognition by up to 80 percent.- Color improves readership as much as 40 percent.- Color accelerates learning from 55 to 78 percent.- Color increases comprehension by 73 percent.- Color ads are read up to 42 percent more than similar ads in black and white.- Color can be up to 85 percent of the reason people decide to buy.Color sells!

The News, Now in Color

2009-01-23T10:06:00.004-06:00

Here's a new way to read the news... this site looks at Google News and arranges and sizes each story according to popularity and content.Who thought news could look so nice?

The "O" in Obama

2008-11-24T10:09:00.003-06:00

Here's an Obama story that has nothing to do with politics. Ever wonder where that "O" logo came from? This New York Times interview with its creator sheds light on the creative process to brand a candidate.

Human Interface

2008-11-21T07:57:00.002-06:00

Found this awesome web interface/navigation just now. The most unique way of presenting a web interface I've seen in a long time. Definitely adds a "human" element to the proceedings...

Video Games for the Blind

2008-11-20T08:06:00.003-06:00

Here's a very cool example of how web-based games can work for the visually impaired, animated by Aardman Studios, home of Wallace and Gromit. Check out how a video game works using only a keyboard and audio cues. Found here.

Good News

2008-11-14T07:50:00.003-06:00

A fake edition of the New York Times , containing only good news, was handed out across New York City this week. Kind of an antidote to our current troubles, I suppose. This elaborate prank was pulled off by The Yes Men, and detailed here. Even the real New York Times liked it. I guess print isn't dead after all.Found at BrandFlakesForBreakfast

Going Once, Going Twice…

2008-08-21T12:54:00.005-06:00

…Going GreenYou can bid, I mean bet on it. While the Earth may not be your mother, we need to be vigilant (yes vigilantism can sometimes be a good thing) that we try to keep her clean from the inside out! The methods of electronic delivery continue to astonish, but “let’s face to face it” when it comes to the final pitch - we prefer to be sold on it in person. Whether it’s a printed proposal

Girl Power

2008-07-14T08:59:00.002-06:00

Great Writing + Cool Music + Simple Design = Something BeautifulFrom brandflakesforbreakfast

Short Attention Span Theater

2008-06-10T08:32:00.002-06:00

Is it Google's fault?Interesting article on our changing reading habits.Submitted by Steve Barnier.

Money, it's a gas...

2008-06-10T06:40:00.005-06:00

...Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.New car, caviar, four star daydream,Think I'll buy me a football team.Ahh, there's nothing quite like a little Pink Floyd in the morning.I noticed the new, much nicer, interface on Wells Fargo ATMs a little while back. I found this case study on the interface redesign this morning. Found here.

What the?

2008-05-27T13:30:00.004-06:00

Look very closely...Found here, originally from here. More logos here.Mario Amaya was an art critic, museum director, and magazine editor, among other things.

Mass Innovation

2008-05-15T07:51:00.001-06:00

Where we've been. Where we're going.Found here.

What's in a Name?

2008-05-05T08:08:00.003-06:00

Product Naming In The Global EconomyWe love naming products. It’s some of the most creative and collaborative work we do. The process is a fun and productive way to engage with our clients, and we really have a blast in our own internal creative sessions. It’s become one of the best aspects of my job.Much of the naming work is for U.S. products or companies, but we also work with international

Worth Thousands of Words

2008-04-30T12:04:00.006-06:00

Having an interest in photography has led me to search out portfolio sites for different photographers. These sites often give me inspiration to go out and try something new, either with the camera or on the computer.I recently found the Open Eye Photography blog, which has done a lot of that work for me. Here are four sites containing outstanding work (and cool sites to display that work, as

Google Docs Makes Your Work Portable

2008-04-07T06:48:00.004-06:00

GOOGLE DOCS – IT'S FREE!I was working with a client who was at home and her computer was down. She had to use her kid’s computer which did not have the programs or resources she needed to view a word document I was updating for her. With Google Docs the problem was solved! This is just one of the many features that has me touting the use of Google Docs!Create and share your work online

Pretty in Pink

2008-04-02T07:25:00.006-06:00

Building brand awareness through interesting & unlikely channelsAfter 20 years in marketing communications, it is a refreshingly rare occasion when advertising catches me by surprise. In fact, I think those days quickly dissipated after Madison Avenue decided to invade my space in the public restroom arena with in-stall advertisements. Never before had anyone so obtrusively disrupted my private

What Are You Looking At?

2008-03-25T11:23:00.001-06:00

The issue of online privacy is gaining a significant amount of publicity these days. For the most part, this new privacy concern is being driven by the world’s largest online firms who track and aggregate the surfing behavior of all of us. Recently, Democratic New York Assemblyman Richard Brodsky introduced legislation that would make it illegal for any online company to track the surfing

Physical Signs in a Digital World

2008-03-19T13:47:00.003-06:00

Digital technology has had a huge impact on our lives, both personally and professionally. Being in the sign industry for as long as I have makes me wonder: is there still a place in our digital world for "old fashioned" signs?Looking around, you see so many signs that after a while you don't even realize they are there and you start to take where that information came from for granted. From the

Perpetuating Falsehoods

2008-03-17T07:52:00.004-06:00

Here’s a good explanation, I feel, as to why human beings are so susceptible to political propaganda. I think it also helps explain why we might be so susceptible to marketing and advertising, even when it’s false or misleading. -Steve Barnier

Coffee and Apples

2008-02-27T08:32:00.002-06:00

That may seem like an unlikely pairing, but they have something in common. Last night Starbucks shut down all of its 7100 stores for 3 hours to retrain their baristas in espresso basics.Whatever.Did they really need to close all their doors simultaneously? For training?Didn't think so.But, did they get an awful lot of attention for doing so?Bingo.Reminds me of what Apple Inc. has been doing with

The end of the High Definition "Format War"

2008-01-08T17:41:00.000-06:00

The HD format war between Blu-ray and HD DVD has finally come to an end with Warner Brothers (the last major HD DVD studio holdout) signing an exclusive deal to distribute it's movies solely via the Sony-backed Blu-ray format.I'm sure the thousands of people who took advantage of the discounted HD DVD players this last Christmas are thrilled.In the long term however, an end to the format war is

Cool Navigation

2007-11-05T09:35:00.000-06:00

If there's one thing I really have a hard time with it crazy navigation on a Web site. While it might be cool, often it just makes the site harder to use. It's like a graphic design for graphic design's sake. However, I have to say the Leo Burnett site is pretty darn cool. The navigation is really unconventional but it still works. You don't have to think too much about how to use it.It may have

Babies & Bathwater - The creatives that don't get used

2007-10-24T00:03:00.000-06:00

I was talking recently to a colleague about how ads are designed and approved. Usually an ad agency or a design team comes up with a handful of ads, usually 3 and presents them to a decision maker. The decision maker makes a decision about what he or she likes based on… what they like. In other words, if everyone in their target market were like them, they would choose this ad over the other

Now These Are Some Shoes I Can Dance In

2007-07-16T07:04:00.000-06:00

You may have heard the old saying "the cobbler's kids are always barefoot." It often applies to firms who spend all of their time providing services to others that they shamefully fall short of themselves. Like, oh...I don't know...a marketing and communication firm trying to update their own Web site. Those of you who have never been in this predicament...go ahead and cast the first stone. And

Flashbelt 2007

2007-06-22T12:23:00.000-06:00

Flashbelt was held again this year in Minneapolis, complete with a new location and a bigger presence all around than previous iterations of the event.To sum the conference up:"If you or your company uses Flash or Flex, in any capacity, you should have been there."Every year Flashbelt gets bigger and bolder, the list of presenters grows larger and more distinguished. This year could have easily

Got Originality?

2007-06-01T15:36:00.000-06:00

Today I witnessed what is surely an indication that we are swiftly approaching the end of the world - a bumper sticker, on an idling blue Honda, that read "Got Death Metal?" Not that I particularly have anything against death metal – actually, sometimes it’s just what I need to spur me on that last quarter mile of my weekly run. It was the tagline. The all too often ripped off version of the

Just Scratching The Surface

2007-05-31T08:32:00.000-06:00

Yesterday on my way home from work, I heard about Microsoft’s new innovative product “Surface." It’s a coffee table ala Minority Report. I could just see Steve Jobs pacing and thinking “I introduced the iPod, iTunes, and the iPhone… they introduce a coffee table!” But what a coffee table it is. Not that it, or anything Apple has done, was concieved in a vacuum. The technology has been around for

Thank You YouTube

2007-05-02T23:32:00.000-06:00

Once upon a time if you produced something and you wanted people to look at it, you had to invest a lot of time and money in “production quality.” It’s still true that for certain segments and purposes you still need a polished look but in some ways, creatively, we have more freedom than we ever have. These days, the more “raw” and “homegrown” a piece of creative is the more credibility it might

Finding your place in your customer's value chain

2007-04-17T10:29:00.000-06:00

It is always interesting to listen to different people who are participants in the sales process for any given company. Always interesting to hear about the types of activities that different sales people are investing their time with. What some call selling, others think of as order taking. What some call writing proposals are really just simple quotes. Point being that many different types of "

The Stickiness Factor

2007-03-29T07:10:00.000-06:00

GIANT GRASSHOPPERS EATING YOUR OAK TREESWhy do some headlines grab our attention, while others simply go unnoticed? Each morning I get up and open the powerbook and start surfing the online editions of the local news papers. Yea, I know I am a sick person -- what can I say? When I do, I tend to surf the online websites the same way I would look at the paper copy - I scan the headlines starting

A Trillion Dollar Opportunity

2007-03-26T21:22:00.000-06:00

In a recent interview, Dr. Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google was asked what industry he would focus on if he were graduating from college today. His answer was quite surprising. He said that he would focus on the advertising industry. When the interviewer asked why, he commented that the Advertising Industry represents roughly $1 trillion in marketing spend that has very little targeting associated

Sony brings Marketing and Commerce to the next evolutionary level

2007-03-09T14:51:00.000-06:00

Sony's newest marketing/commerce venture is a 3D virtual world called simply: "Home".Yes, it's on a video game console (Sony's own PS3), but don't let that fool you into believing this is kid's stuff.To Sony Online Entertainment of America and the now 30 billion dollar a year video game industry, it's anything but."Home" is a free virtual world for all PS3 owners that allows them to create and

How Companies Are Building Their Prospect Databases

2007-03-08T08:54:00.000-06:00

It might be surprising to hear in our “new media” age that marketers would largely turn to traditional offline media to build their email prospecting lists, but that’s what a recent survey by Silverpop found. 64% said offline advertising and direct marketing were their primary email list growth tactics. The constraints created by anti-spamming legislation probably have a good deal to do with

How To Make The Most Of A Corporate Web Site

2007-02-21T23:10:00.000-06:00

About a month ago, I was part of a panel discussion for medical industry companies that wanted to give their websites a makeover. There were a lot of great ideas and I was honored to be part of the panel, but over the last few weeks I’ve had some more time to digest some of the questions asked and to form a firm opinion on one of the biggest challenges posed by the attendees.Many people wondered

Is Usability & Complexity Always A Tradeoff?

2007-02-08T08:03:00.000-06:00

Recently Don Norman, author of The Design Of Everyday Things and highly respected figure in usability circles, wrote an article called "Simplicity is Highly Overrated." In this article he talks about his recent encounters with consumer goods and products where he noticed that the more complex something appears to be, the more desirable it is to the customer. For instance, washing machines that

Diesel Hijacked

2007-01-25T21:13:00.000-06:00

The other day an international consumer web site was hijacked! Well, not really. Diesel's latest and possibly risky marketing campaign is an interesting implementation of an idea that is catching on. Fake hooliganism.If you look at this site at work, your coworkers may get the wrong idea so check it out in private (diesel.com).The original hooligan campaign is the "Stay Free" campaign for Echo