We are podcasting. 

You can subscribe to the GrokDotCom newsletter podcast. All the refreshing goodness of our newsletter poured right into your iPod or mp3 device.

-and/or-

you can catch a podcast of our weekly radio show "Wizards of Web" on Webmaster Radio. Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg dishin’ out weekly critques and Persuasion Architecture education and rants. Neato.

...continue to read "Podcastin’"

Aroung here things are ramping up to a formidible buzz, well on their way to a fever pitch.

The book is being printed, videos are being recorded(for the DVD insert that will come with each book of course), promotion plans are being cemented up, and we are all preparing for the big release in June.

We’ve shared bit and peices and sometimes full drafts of the book with trusted friends and respected colleques, each one of them telling us to expect this book…

...continue to read "Waiting For Your Cat To Bark – The Seminar"

You would be hard pressed to find a more competetive industry on the marketing front than automakers.

Automakers spend big bucks building their car brands and promoting offer after incentive to get prospects onto car lots to take test drives.

In this GrokCast we dissect and compare two different marketing campaigns.

Are these automakers getting their marketing money’s worth?  You tell us.

Watch the new GrokCast (21mb Flash movie, 19 minutes)

...continue to read "GrokCast – How are the automakers doing?"

Visa has just dumped their tagline of more than two decades from “It’s everywhere you want to be” to “Life takes Visa”.

As they made the move they unvealed a new mutimedia ad campaign utilizing TV, print, billboards, and of course, online ads.

At the center of the online campaign is a so called ‘viral’ site chock full of over produced video ‘snippets’ of life. These video snippets while cute and occasionally entertaining are not the stuff of viral marketing, the reasons…

...continue to read "Life takes Better Planning"

Bryan Eisenberg just sent me a link to Eric Weaver’s blog Ad-Verse.

I immediately subscribed. 

Today’s post, entitled Direct Marketing: A Science of Stupidities stole my little marketing heart.  Here is just one tasty morsel.

It’s time to stop talking about relevance and start practicing it. Time to stop intruding and start attracting. Time to spell out a clear value proposition. Stop patting yourselves on the back that your unwanted communication got maybe a 5% clickthrough rate. FIVE PERCENT. And consider, just for…

...continue to read "Science of Stupidities"

Future Now would like to extend our congrats to Bazaarvoice for launching their new website today.  Bazaarvoice helps customers build business with word of mouth on their eCommerce website. 

Our very own Chief Persuasion Officer Bryan Eisenberg is an advisor as well. 

We expect big things.

...continue to read "Bazaarvoice.com Launched!"

Well if you were to follow the advice of some, you would think that the key to getting noticed online sits firmly in the hands of a skilled graphics designer.

From a media perspective; great strategy, contextually-relevant placements and low CPMs are not enough. A great media strategy is only half the battle. Understanding how different online creative units directly affect the consumer, and how they react to the exposure, is just as important. Read the entire article at iMedia

What is…

...continue to read "How To Get Noticed Online"

Steve Kaplan aka The Difference Maker, a great friend of Future Now, just released a book bound for the business best seller list.  It’s called … Bag The Elephant, How To Win And Keep Big Customers.

If you serve big clients or desire to sell to bigger clients, this book is a have-to read. It is stuffed with practical advice, and it will have you taking action and making a difference in no time. 

Steve has offered our blog readers a special time…

...continue to read "Get that big client, Bag The Elephant"

When canned customer service happens to good people.  Here is a recent exchange one of our friends had with Target customer service.

> Date: Wed Sep 07 18:18:27 UTC 2005> Subject; Other questions and comments > To:  guest.service@Target.com > From: Brandon > ————— > 09/07/05 11:18:13 > Comments: I work in the ecommerce marketing/conversion industry and I expected that you guys would have a pretty decent checkout. Boy was I wrong. The issues I had trying to purchase a $100 stereo…

...continue to read "Customer Service in a Can"

Will someone help me understand?

Coming from an OFFLINE marketing background this article has got me scratching my skull.

Only one in five respondents indicated they have a complete handle on their conversion, marketing ROI, and revenue metrics. Twenty-three percent reported they don’t currently have any metrics, and 29 percent rely on clickthrough rates alone. Read the entire article at ClickZ Stats.

When I worked in the offline marketing world, every business I consulted was obsessed with marketing effeciency and measuring and optimizing their advertising…

...continue to read "Flying Blind On The Web?"