I just finished listening to Blink (by Malcolm Gladwell) on audio book. Yes, I said audio book—a technology I once found to be quite silly; however, en route to work, they are wonderful (I’m on my third of the same week!). Gladwell spoke of a study: Researchers were interested in whether the number of product…
Google is a great paradigm-breaking example of how “just doing it better” leads to success. Co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page had a plan: Take “search” and make it not suck. It’s easy to forget that, before Google, search engines already existed. What Brin and Page sought to do different—to make search not suck—was supply…
Word-of-mouth has always been the most effective form of marketing. People trust their friend’s opinions. Ask yourself: What was the last movie you went to see? What was the last fancy restaurant you visited? What was your last purchase above $200? With those answers in mind, how many of these purchases were influenced largely by…
The importance of research is nothing new to the blogosphere, much less the marketing world; however, despite how often we are shown the huge potential research has for our yearly goals, the majority of marketers sweep the idea of research under the rug. Whether marketers don’t know where to start, or don’t have the time…
Ries & Ries Chairman Al Ries (say that five times fast) wrote a post a while ago, “In Marketing, Freakonomics Trumps Logic,” for AdAge. In the post, Ries cites a number of marketing ventures that yielded unexpected results. While it is nearly impossible to argue with the given examples, the idea that we should disregard…
I’m heading into my senior year of college (for those of you that have not clicked the “Back” button yet, I thank you). I’ve held internships here and there and, modestly, I do a good job keeping up with all the “it” marketing blogs; however, when it comes to “knowing how to market,” I make…
