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The attributes and benefits of your brand can vary in how tangible they are to consumers. And that can affect buying decisions. A product's intangible attributes are abstract—like quality, prestige, sentiment—and can't be experienced directly. For example, a new wine's ads can speak of romance; its label can evoke a ... more
YES! Thanks for clicking! Question: Did you open this because the subject line was just too good to ignore? That's what every emailer hopes for, anyway. After all, an email campaign can live or die with its subject line, correct? LaTease Rikard certainly thinks so. "Fifty characters could be all that stands between ... more
You've just used the restroom at Disneyland, and are approaching the sinks when you have a slight moment of anxiety. What exactly are you supposed to do with the faucet and the soap? Fortunately, there's a small placard, sponsored by a paper-towel manufacturer, that explains how to apply soap, rinse ... more
More than 50 years of consumer research suggests that when dealing with product types that consumers really care about, there are at least 5 ways marketers can encourage customers to develop favorable attitudes toward their specific products. Whether you appeal to their imaginations, their values, their feelings, their analytical minds, ... more
In a pair of posts at Email Marketing Reports, Mark Brownlow discusses the subject of spam traps. He says there are two main types: Honeypots. "Some [anti-spam] organizations put specific email addresses on a website for the sole purpose of attracting harvesting software," he explains. Spammers may then capture these ... more
New Media Monetization Series, Part I: Web Advertising Online advertising spend continues to increase, but the process remains fraught with doubt. This year, NBC paid $894M for the programming rights to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This "most ambitious single media project in history" will deliver 3,600 hours of coverage over ... more
It's an ugly truth, but a truth nonetheless: Marketers are sinners. We're not talking lying or cheating or stealing or coveting here. We're talking about the sin of assumption. And many of us commit that sin on a regular basis, from assumptions about what to say to assumptions about how ... more
As video continues its great migration from the television set to the Web and smartphones, advertisers face a new challenge: how to reach customers in three places at once. The so-called "three screens" (TV, PC, and wireless devices) require different ad strategies to engage audiences. The 'lean back' TV viewer's focus ... more
Anyone who has witnessed a Wii bowling tournament at a senior center knows it: video games are not just for kids anymore. They are big business. And they are early indicators of tomorrow's interactive media products and services. When the first big video game success, Pong, was invented 35 years ... more- The modern email inbox is a perpetual promotion machine of colors, styles, and sales pitches all fighting to be seen. In an attempt to break from the herd, many email marketers ironically adopt a herd mentality of more clutter, more content, more, more, more. This misguided pursuit of increased visibility merely ... more
- What is advertising's most important word? The simple, innocuous word "like": a nondescript word that carries with it all the conceptualization power you need to create a business identity, to form a brand personality, and to position your product or service in the mind of your audience. more
- In this MarketingProfs Classic, originally published in April of 2003, Suzan St. Maur highlights 10 online writing concepts that also kick offline. "After all the agonies we suffered some years ago when some tried to make offline text work online, we've finally turned the tables," she writes. "Now we can borrow ... more
The hearing aid industry has suffered from an image problem, because the devices were perceived as ugly and just for the elderly. As a result, just 23% of those who needed hearing aids actually bought them. But based on extensive market research, Oticon, Inc. built a cool hearing aid that ... more- What's the most common mistake companies make in crafting collateral? What are the keys to creating content that reflects a company's credibility? And how does a company stop talking about itself... and focus on its customers? Here, the author of "Writing Copy for Dummies" shares his insider secrets and ... more
- Jerry Bader doesn't drink. But if he did, he'd start with Reyka Vodka—not because it's better or worse than any other vodka, but because the company has an extraordinary marketing campaign and an equally clever integrated Web site with an enchanting (if somewhat bizarre) Icelandic spokeswoman. The video commercials for the ... more
- You're rolling out a marketing campaign. Launching a product. Revitalizing your brand. What's the big idea? Not to sound flippant, but you need one. Because without it, it's likely your campaign, product launch, or brand repositioning won't be memorable—or particularly effective. Here's where to start. more
- The Search Engine Optimization market is over $10 billion in North America alone. The biggest question isn't whether you should utilize Search, but rather who will manage your campaigns. What should your organization do? It depends. When you review your options for in-house or outsourced Search or pay-per-click bid management, consider ... more
- If you practice Internet marketing, you know the importance of a high-converting "landing page"—also called a promotional page, jump page, or squeeze page. Regardless of the specific purpose, one fact remains the same—you want the user to take some type of action. Here are seven landing-page best practices for increasing ... more
- Everyone has heard the common complaint that America is becoming less literate, but the onus for this alleged circumstance is nearly always placed on the reader (or, rather, non-reader) instead of where it often belongs: the writer. Many professional writers seem to have lost the ability to write clear, comprehensible copy ... more
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