Too bad marketers don’t have growing noses like Pinnochio! (source of image)
In the world of marketing, there are three schools of thought.
The first is the school of facts. Proponents of this idea hinge much of their marketing on bread and butter issues, focusing on very tangible aspects of their products or services such as cost, value, features, utility, convenience and savings.
Bob Rogers (source of image)
What is the magic behind creating truly memorable and delightful guest experiences at visitor attractions?
According to renowned experience designer Bob Rogers, the secret lies in finding the right story, shaping it for the right audience, and ensuring that it is an original tale.
Wish to improve how you persuade your audiences to buy from you? Begin by diving deep into her brain.
Thanks to a podcast by Derek Halpern of Social Triggers blog, we can gain a fascinating glimpse into the world of neuroscience and its impact on marketing.
The Joneses were portrayed as the ultimate stealth marketers (source of image)
Excuse me, are you an invisible stealth marketer? If you have no clue what this is, perhaps its high time for you to read about this.
My curiosity in stealth marketing was first piqued when I read Martin Lindstrom’s brilliant marketing expose Brandwashed. In the book, the neuro-marketing exponent revealed many of the psychological and neurological tricks employed by marketers to get us to buy more, often without us knowing it.
Wonder why you are perpetually tethered to your smartphone, refusing to put it down even when your kids are yelling at you?
Or started eating that tub of delicious Haagen Dazs ice cream, and couldn’t stop until it’s all gone.
Perhaps you’ve got a 10 year old boy who nagged you incessantly about getting him that latest Play Station Portable (PSP) which all his friends in school have.
New year photo created by freepik – www.freepik.com
What is the first thing which comes to mind when you think of Christmas?
Well, perhaps a Christmas tree surrounded by presents would appear. Or that jolly red guy with a long beard named Santa Claus. Maybe a good time of feasting and merrymaking?
“In a world of extreme clutter you need more than differentiation. You need RADICAL differentiation. The new rule: When everyone zigs, zag.”
That, in a nutshell, is what Zag: The #1 Strategy of High Performance Brands is all about.
Written and illustrated by renowned cartoonist and blogger Hugh MacLeod of gapingvoid.com (he just completed his 10th year in the business), Evil Plans: Escape the Rat Race and Start Doing Something You Love is a business book that reads more like a personal motivation tome. True to MacLeod’s craft, every other page (or more) is peppered with his characteristically abstract and witty cartoons, complete with clever captions.
An example of this is found below:
We all love a good mystery! (courtesy of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows)
Answer? They love to be teased and challenged. Preferably every step of the way until the bounty is unearthed.
Sadly, however, most marketing efforts today hasn’t matched the rise in consumer sophistication and expectation. Our aggregated abilities to captivate and charm a potential customer hasn’t caught up with the explosive growth in always-on social tools and communication networks.
With the subtitle “A Masterclass in Modern Marketing Ideas”, British marketing consultant Kevin Duncan’s Marketing Greatest Hits provides quick summaries of what he considers seminal or interesting titles and their key ideas in marketing. Touted as a “definitive compendium of everything you need to know from the best minds in modern marketing”, the book attempts to encapsulate key lessons from the discipline’s thought leaders.
Neatly organised into six chapters, Duncan’s book systematically dives into the essence of 40 books covering major themes, principles and philosophies, branding, consumer behaviours, creativity and personal organisation. Each section provides a book summary that is further crystallised into an elevator pitch of sorts called a one-sentence summary – the core idea behind a book. Examples of these include the following: