As marketers, we often rely more on instinct and perceptions of experience than rational thought. Marketers justify this type of decision making by convincing ourselves that when predicting the future, it's difficult to use the past or historical fact. Analysts on the other hand use historical fact and data as the only basis for decision making. They introduce a bias that often causes organizations to not see what is happening around them. This is how companies such as Folger's Coffee miss dramatic changes in a market, such as the coffee revolution sparked by a company like Starbucks.
In the book "Thinking Fast and Slow" , Daniel Kehneman demonstrates how bias influences decision making and how our minds are subject to systematic errors. As we all understand, but rarely consider, intuitive preferences consistently violate the rules of rationale choice. For example, if you like Ford cars, are you more likely to purchase Ford Stock, even if the stock isn't the best rational choice?
The notion of "Thinking Fast and Slow" refers to two systems in the mind, system 1 and 2. System 1 operates quickly without voluntary control, while system 2 are subject to the amount of concentration and reasoning you apply to a problem. For example, the author points our that system 2 applies to what we think of ourselves, while system 1 is the snap judgement we make when viewing others. Another example is the bias to act on an immediate emotional reaction, even when you are manipulated, instead of assuming or understanding that in fact you were manipulated into a decision, resulting in an error of judgement.
"We can be blind to the obvious, and we can be also blind to our blindness"
The book also explores the two dimensions of ourselves, the experiencing self, and the remembering self, which as noted by the writer, "do not have the same interests." For example, "what makes the experiencing self happy, may not make the remembering self happy." Another important point is that we are much better at recognizing mistakes in others, than spotting errors of judgement made by ourselves.
"Thinking Fast and Slow " is helpful in developing a higher degree of self awareness and promises to have a positive direct effect on your ability to formulate and execute marketing programs.
Sometimes life should imitate art. In this scene from Mad Men, Don Draper demonstrates how belief in great strategy and brilliant creative can be the difference between success and failure. Don knows that sometimes it's not what you can measure, but what you understand to be true. Don knows that when presenting an idea, you need to believe in it to a greater extent than a client's general level of skepticism and discomfort.
There seems to be a change for the better in the quality and production values that are going into some recent TV spots. This commercial from Target just does everything right; visual interest, strategic ownership of Spring Color, speaks to unique Target aesthetics and it's so brand right. Congrats to the creative, production and account teams that pulled it together, as well as to the smart client that made the investment.
This morning in between my orange juice and Kashi I was stopped mid-chew by a new long form TV commercial from Cartier. To understand the impact this had, you have to understand my purposely dull and monetenous morning routine. On most mornings the TV would actually have to explode for me to glance from the endless crime stories in the newspaper to the endless stories on the Today Show. If anything, the mornings are by design meant to unfold according to schedule, with the bits and pieces from my "friends" Matt, Ann, Al and Natalie providing soothing and familiar background noise as they struggle to make the latest update on LIndsay Lohan look like news. This is then followed by an endless stream of advertising that is filled with important updates such as the day for the latest Macy's super de duper sale, or the slightly more interesting new campaign from JCPenney (everyday low prices, but really low prices on every other Friday, or something like that). All this while thinking about the day, checking email and gulping down my breakfast in under 15 minutes so that I can catch the morning train with about 5 seconds to spare.
But not this morning. No this morning, out of no where, came a tiger racing through a dreamscape. Not one of those dreams that last :15 seconds or :30 seconds, but one that took over the entire advertising block. An eternity by today's standards. It was filled with images and music that were telling a story and taking you to a place that was beyond the ordinary. To call it an advertisement is to diminish my appreciation for the craft that went into its' production. To say it was a movie would not fully capture how impactful it was and how far it stood apart from anything I've seen before.... on morning television, let alone on television at all.
The "film" was released to celebrate the 165th anniversary of Cartier. It is a fitting tribute to the brand. The "film" was bold and original, making the programming that preceded it appear trivial, compared to the majesty of what just happended. Congratulations to Cartier and the marketers behind the brand on your 165th. The "film" is a fitting tribute and fresh start for a great brand.
I came across these resources that can help anyone understand the revenue potential of organic keyword ranking and the on page and off page elements required to achieve high rankings. The entire process is referred to as SEO or search engine optimization. Oganic results are those website listings you see in Google, Yahoo or Bing that were not paid for by the site owner. They "organically" rank based on their value to the person doing the search.
The Value of Organic Search Click Through Rates
As you can see in this chart from Market Samurai, there is a significant difference in traffic generated based on your organic search results/keyword ranking. The distance from #2 to #1 represents a 3x increase in organic traffic!!! As an aside Market Samurai has a great tool for ranking and tracking keywords over time so that you can not only check your progress vis a vis the competition, but quickly identify those keywords that will result in the greatest revenue gain.
Organic Search Click through Rates Source: Market Samurai
Methods for Achieving High Organic Rankings
There are many elements that go into achieving a high organic ranking. As detailed in the table, these elements roughly divide into on-page elements such as the quality and length of the content and off-page elements such as trust as expressed by inbound links and social media.
Developing a strong SEO optimization strategy ensures that all of these elements are managed to achieve the highest ranking possible. You can download the Periodic Table of SEO Ranking Factors here.
New data released by Janrain/blue research indicates that 75% of consumers take issue with being asked to register on a website and would change their behavior. That said, 66% like social sign in (using twitter, Facebook etc.) as an alternative. The study shows that those that prefer social sign-in also are more likely to spend more.
As marketers, we can learn a great deal about persuasion and language from the State of the Union address and the Republican rebuttal. The way the conversation unfolds, the tone of the speech, the reaction of pundits and congress all set the tone or context for how Americans will interpret all kinds of messages, from the political to those used by marketers to sell products and services.
In terms of context, it's clear that American's are tired of blame, tired of the lack of respect politicians have for their money, and a need to get American back on track. We want to accelerate our recovery and prepare the country to be successful in the future. What happened in the past shouldn't be repeated, because we're moving on. Take out the pork and replace it with ideas of substance.
When President Obama got up to the microphone, instead of telling us what we didn't do, what we should have done, he focused on the future. How we are going to create more jobs and meet the challenges of education, energy etc. Obama hit his leadership stride by the end of the speech, by taking the highroad, talking about our "Sputnik Moment" and move to renewable energy. He stayed out of the weeds and spoke to our aspirations.
As a listener it's interesting how we all grabbed onto the "Sputnik moment" and can't recall a thing about the bogged down details in the middle of the speech.
For the most part, President Obama read the mood of the country right. The country wants reconciliation, and we want our leaders to work together(or at least pretend). They even sat together for the speech. The country is ready for progress, and for a brief moment, it appeared as if congress got it. In fact, by Congress sitting in an intermingled way, President Obama became our American president instead of a Republican or Democratic President.
That is, until Congressman Paul Ryan's Republican rebuttal. Now, to give him credit, he started big.... for about 5 seconds. My expectations were that he would talk about fiscal conservatism as a way to get the country on a path for growth. He'd be glad to hear about President Obama's desire to do big things, and how Republicans want to go even further. If President Obama was planning to solve the energy crisis, Ryan was going to solve the energy crisis and more.
After rightly acknowledging Congresswoman's Gabrielle Gifford's shooting, he started out strong.....
"As Chairman of the House Budget Committee, I assure you that we want to work with the President to restrain federal spending. In one of our first acts in the new majority, House Republicans voted to cut Congress's own budget. And just today, the House voted to restore the spending discipline that Washington sorely needs. The reason is simple. A few years ago, reducing spending was important. Today, it's imperative. Here's why. We face a crushing burden of debt. The debt will soon eclipse our entire economy, and grow to catastrophic levels in the years ahead. On this current path, when my three children - who are now 6, 7, and 8 years old - are raising their own children, the Federal government will double in size, and so will the taxes they pay. No economy can sustain such high levels of debt and taxation. The next generation will inherit a stagnant economy and a diminished country. Frankly, it's one of my greatest concerns as a parent - and I know many of you feel the same way."
Still not particularly visionary, but nothing to disagree with. Now here's where there was some hope, Republicans and Democrats working together...
"Our debt is the product of acts by many presidents and many Congresses over many years. No one person or party is responsible for it.
There is no doubt the President came into office facing a severe fiscal and economic situation."
After this I said wow, they are really going to step up. To share responsibility (good or bad) for the spending of the past. I'm thinking, I could really like this guy......until he said...
"Unfortunately, instead of restoring the fundamentals of economic growth, he engaged in a stimulus spending spree that not only failed to deliver on its promise to create jobs, but also plunged us even deeper into debt.
The facts are clear: Since taking office, President Obama has signed into law spending increases of nearly 25% for domestic government agencies - an 84% increase when you include the failed stimulus.
All of this new government spending was sold as "investment." Yet after two years, the unemployment rate remains above 9% and government has added over $3 trillion to our debt.
Then the President and his party made matters even worse, by creating a new open-ended health care entitlement.
A swing and a miss. We went from President Obama and his vision for a great America to Paul Ryan giving us a history lesson on past mistakes. Instead of telling us of what is possible (how about growing GDP so that tax rates naturally rise), he told us what we will lose. His speech was about the bad Democrats and how Republicans were going to undo what they did....a message exactly contrary to what we were hoping to hear.
I"m not trying to espouse the Democratic or Republican agenda or point of view. Simply to point out that context drives acceptance and persuasion. Here, the context was achievement and fatigue with blame. Into that context Congressman Ryan failed to deliver. He failed to anticipated what his audience was willing to accept. His failure is the failure of the Republican party (check out GOP.com, the Republican National Committee website, anyone want to buy a "I Fired Pelosi" T-shirt).
What does the future hold for Paul Ryan? I bet that instead of being invited to the next Tea Party, he'll be sitting on the sidelines, wondering why the next Reagan of his party passed him by.
Great post by Seth Godin today where he suggests that every company appoint a meeting fairy. The idea is to appoint someone in the organization who is charged with organizing and managing meetings. It ensures that that best practices for meetings (clear purpose/agenda/handouts, presentations/outcomes) are assigned.
I bet it could save companies millions and save employees the wastful pain of meetings that go to long and accomplish too little.
Once again, the affiliate marketing industry shows its' strength with a sold out conference to start the new year. Affiliate Summit West, the bell-weather of the affiliate marketing industry, is sold out 10 days before the January 9th start in Las Vegas.
The show is the bi-annual event where a who's who of affiliate marketing come together to discuss the lastest SEO/PPC and monetization techniques. In this meeting of advertising networks, affiliate networks, and tacticians, ideas are exchanged in terms of how to generate and monetize traffic.
This year's show is no exception with keynotes by Drew Eric Whitman, on the psychology of advertising response (one of my favorite topics) and Brian Solis, a principal at FutureWorks, who will discuss the latest trends in media and branding.
Althought the show is sold out, last minute cancelations crop up. If interested in attending, just check the Affilliate Summit site. If you are going to attend one digital marketing conference in 2011, I'd suggest making it this one.
Congratulations to the shows organizers, Shawn Collins and Missy Ward, for planning another great event (and be sure to say hello as of course, I'll be covering the event in this blog and via Twitter @JeffGrill).
On Long Island, my home, buying without a coupon is heresy. If you don't have a coupon in hand at Shop Rite, Kohls, or Macys, you can easily be voted off the Island for failure to demonstrate that you are frugal. I expect to be stuck behind someone at the supermarket checkout arguing that their out of date coupon for the product that kinda sorta matches the one on the coupon, is valid (my favorite was the woman at Dunkin Donuts that insisted on using the "free small coffee" coupon as a down payment against a medium coffee).
On Long Island It's common to over pay for whatever the latest "it" item is, but then feel good about the purchase since you bought it with a coupon or on a secret,that everyone knows about "friends and family" sale that just happens to be available to everyone. Bloomingdales will even hold your purchase so that you can come back and buy it on a sale day.
Unfortunately this coupon hysteria is now spreading on-line. The recent news that Google was trying to acquire Groupon was a wake up call to marketers that coupon marketers are starting to dominate PPC results and may start to influence SEO rankings as well.
Long story short, the coupon sites such as Groupon, ebates, Living Social etc are buying PPC keywords that say something like <your brand here> discount coupon. The consumer than clicks the link back to the coupon site for the offer. Given the millions being spent in PPC by the coupon sites, and the quality of the information provides, a consumer discount, these sites are supposedly getting high quality scores from Google. This translates into lower PPC pricing and a competitive advantage for these sites. Said another way, a company's acquisition costs can potentially be lower by working with a coupon site.
No where is this change more pronounced than in the affiliate marketing space, where coupon sites are quickly becoming the go to affiliate partners. For those just catching up to the affiliate conversation, affiliate marketers pay a percentage of sales to the affiliate partner in exchange for the lead or sale. It is estimated that 10% - 20% of all ecommerce moves through the affiliate channel. Affiliates promote product via PPC, SEM publishing, email, twitter, newsletters etc.
The coupon sites are also teaching the consumer not to buy before searching for and using a coupon. This is further reinforced by the ubiquitous "coupon code" request on the check out screen of most major on-line retailers.
Coupons are going be a top story in 2011. Marketers need to get on board fast...l..as in now.
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Derek Sivers: Anything You Want Great 77 page read on the philosophy that drives CD Baby's success. Well written, honest and great reminder of how to build a great company. Perfect business book for a plane ride. (*****)
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Think fast (Photo credit: freddie boy)
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