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Why Your Conversion Rate Matters More Tomorrow
Roy Williams, the Wizard of Ads, shares a brilliant insight from one of his fastest growing retail clients today in his Monday Morning Memo: I asked, “How is traffic trending? Are we ahead of last...
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Should You Cancel All Your Advertising?
In February 2003, Amazon.com canceled all their advertising and put that money towards free shipping as a word of mouth strategy. Many thought Jeff Bezos was crazy and that Amazon.com would never turn...
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Wasting Money Targeting Influentials? Another Tip…
I’ve never been a huge fan of Gladwell’s book, The Tipping Point, because it oversimplifies how ideas spread. I intuitively knew that idea spreading was more complicated than that. In the February 2008...
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How to Elf Yourself Out of Millions
One might think having the year’s biggest viral marketing hit would be any business’s dream come true. Unfortunately, though, not all Web traffic is equal, and popularity contests don’t pay the bills....
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The Good, The Bad & The Pay-Per-Click Ugly
A few months ago, I showed how Dell had bought a PPC ad for “bestbuy Sony DSC-W80,” and although they were smart to buy this highly-targeted search term, there was no follow-through on the landing...
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Are Friends More Influential Than “Influencers”?
This may not come as a shock, but new research suggests that, yes, our friends are more influential than so-called “influencers” like bloggers. According to MediaPost, …a new study from Canadian...
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Yes, Googlers, Dunkin Donuts Has Free Iced Coffee
More than any other brand, Dunkin’ Donuts has popularized iced coffee in the United States. So when a friend reminded me of their “free iced coffee” promotion happening today (Thursday, May 15, 2008),...
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“Green Marketing”? Save Some for the Fishes…
Here’s a great opportunity: The oceans are dying. Seriously, the oceans are in horrible shape, and it’s your fault. You did it, Supply, Demand, Pollution and Overfishing. And if we don’t take ownership...
View ArticleIt’s Not YouTube, It’s Me…
Last year, Geert Desager produced a short film called “The Breakup” for Microsoft that made all of the marketing circles, was presented at conferences of very smart people and applauded widely. My...
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Can You Bring Fireworks to Your Business?
Fireworks are synonymous with July 4th and celebrating the day. While watching the festivities this year with my family, I wondered why do we keep coming back year after year? Why do we feel we haven’t...
View Article14 Best Business Fiction Books
I’m always looking for another good read, especially if it’s on my Kindle. My friend, Patrick Sullivan, Jr. spoiled me by giving me a Kindle as a gift. How did I ever live without it? Joe Nocera lists...
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One-shot Videos Miss Target While Campaigns Hit Bull’s-Eye
Viral videos are typically one-off affairs: Numa Numa, The Machine is Us/ing Us, and The Inner Life of a Cell – stand alone videos, one and all. But the only successful viral marketing effort I am...
View ArticleWhy You’d Be Smart to Let a Stranger Select Your Baby Stroller
There I was at Babies”R”Us, way back in 2003, manhandling different strollers and finding myself more eager to read the amazon.com reviews than to kick the tires myself – and it had nothing to do with...
View ArticleNow THAT’S How You Announce a Contest Winner
We all run contests – you know- giving away cool things, like a free pass to a conference. But how do you announce the contest winner? Brains on Fire came up with a unique, and I would guess viral,...
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Music to Work By
If you were alone in the office, had a grueling task ahead of you to finish up your work, you’d start your iPod and crank it up… My colleagues at FutureNow have an eclectic love for music and are...
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It Ain’t About the Technology
That’s my standard response when asked about Social Media. That’s not to say technology is unimportant, but that technology never really changes how people behave, think, and feel. Human nature...
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Money For Nothing & Clicks For Free
As a young teen I heard Mark Knopfler sing about “money for nothing and chicks for free” and I remember fantasizing about how good that sounded but even then I knew that it was too good to be true....
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The Do-It Yourself Syndrome
Patrick Sullivan Jr, describes himself as “a professional UI fixer constantly striving to make the cow more purple-er so the sneezers keep sneezin.” Some of you may remember Patrick’s name from our...
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To Be or Not to Be Transparent, Part 2
In part one, I shared my sordid story of buying a battery for my MacBook Pro from a third-party. In short, I went to Fastmac.com and bought a battery on a recommendation from a colleague. Impatient to...
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Strong Copy vs. Cheeky Design
My previous post comparing billboards to online banner and space ads garnered positive comments and reviews – for the ads rather than my analysis! Still, there was an unmistakable cry for more, and...
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Credibility: Yours to Loose
Show of hands: How many people noticed the typo in the title? My guess is that those who did were ready to jump all over my mistake. It was done intentionally to help prove my point: Visitors notice...
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When Customer Reward Programs Backfire
Ahhhhh, yes… those ever-so-compelling customer rewards and points. In addition to discounts and freebies, many companies now offer points as a system of rewards for their customers and clients. While...
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True Customer Care Pays Dividends
Many online retailers have an endless stream of gimmicks and promotions to hook the customer. But sometimes all you need is a little good word of mouth to help you gain the advantage. Recently, my...
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Diagnosis CRO: health insurance for your site
I have the privilege of meeting a variety of business owners in a casual, unobtrusive environment I think of as my own personal research vault. I delve into their current and working knowledge of CRO...
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12 Days of Conversions: Day 2- Social Media
You may believe that social media can’t have a real impact on your site’s conversion rate this holiday season. Think again! Social media can be a highly targeted way of increasing valuable holiday...
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