If you haven’t seen it yet, you’ll want to check out this YouTube video of two (former) Domino’s employees:

So, do you think that might have some rather profound effects on Domino’s marketing efforts?  Think you’ll be eating at Domino’s anytime soon?

What’s interesting is that the basic principle behind this was predicted not by some far-seeing futurist working in the technology field, but by Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Charles C. Krulak.

Gen. Krulak coined the term “strategic corporal” to refer to the…

...continue to read "Marketing in the age of the “strategic minimum wage worker”"

If you’ve been to one of our trainings over the past few years, or seen any of us present at a conference, you’ve probably heard the line about the average tenure of a Chief Marketing Officer being less than the gestation period of an elephant.  Well, it’s time for some new material.  New research from executive search firm Spencer Stuart shows that CMOs are making it into their 3rd year with the same organization, on average, based on a…

...continue to read "On CMOs, Customer Service, and Birthing Elephants"

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 wanting to avoid the in-store shopping experience and everything to do with wanting to make the best purchase decision possible.

So why would I want to read reviews when I could examine the stroller first hand?

Because I was a yet-to-be-first-time parent and I knew that what…

...continue to read "Why You’d Be Smart to Let a Stranger Select Your Baby Stroller"

Sunday’s New York Times surprised me with ” Fox News Joins a Social Network, but Not Its Parent’s Site”

“Fox News Channel wants more friends. But instead of reaching out on the News Corporation’s own social network, MySpace, the cable news channel is choosing to network on the site’s chief rival, Facebook.

Think it has anything to do with MySpace’s existing partnership with MSNBC? Fox says it has more to do with audience.”

This is a sign of the maturity of social media,…

...continue to read "Is Facebook The Right Choice For MySpace Owners?"

Hat tip to Sam Decker for pointing out this anthropological introduction to YouTube by Prof. Mike Wesch who presented this lecture at the Library of Congress on June 23rd, 2008. This is fascinating for those interested in understanding why people do the things they do.

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...continue to read "An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube"

Sitting down to the watch the Sox game last night, I surfed over to my hometown paper and found an absolute gem of customer-centricity in the most unlikely of places – a cable television company. As someone who’s lived in a few different markets over the years, I’ve experienced Time-Warner, Comcast, Primestar, Cablevision, and Verizon, and I can tell you there is one common bond that stands out amongst all of Big Cable – the privilege each of the CSRs allowed me…

...continue to read "Case Study: Comcast uses Twitter to delight"

Testing and optimization are a necessity in any marketing endeavor. I’ve gone deeper into the subject in several columns, such as “Conversion Folly Funnel” and “We Tried That Already.” Today, I want to focus on one aspect of optimization: customer insight.

Success in testing doesn’t necessarily indicate success in customer insight. For example, you can test landing pages, determine the best landing page, and enjoy an increase in conversion. But do you know why it converts better? Oftentimes marketers gain knowledge…

...continue to read "How to Gain and Act on Customer Insights"

An e-tailing group study commissioned by PowerReviews has further revealed the necessity for customer-generated product reviews on e-commerce sites.

It seems the majority of online shoppers want to hear what people like them have to say about the product they’re researching. Almost 70% of customers looked at more than 4 reviews before making a purchase.

The study also gives a sense of how long visitors spend reading reviews before their purchase (50% spend over 10 minutes) and found that most people read reviews once…

...continue to read "70% of Online Shoppers Read Multiple Product Reviews"

Heidi Dangelmaier has a problem.

Heidi runs 3iying, a marketing company that specializes in reaching girls age 15-25. I met with Heidi in her NYC offices last summer to talk about an exciting new idea she was working on. When Heidi speaks with agencies and companies targeting this group, she tells them about the less than stellar job current advertisers are doing trying to speak to girls. The problem is, these companies and agencies haven’t believed her.

So Heidi took it straight…

...continue to read "Girls Give Advertisers “The Flip”"

eMarketer reports on a new study by e-consultancy and Bazaarvoice, suggesting that customer reviews boost conversion, traffic, and average order value in a big way.

Nearly all survey respondents thought ratings and reviews were either extremely helpful or very helpful “as consumers.”

“Tapping into social commerce can be a great way of gaining a competitive advantage, for example through ratings and reviews,” Linus Gregoriadis, E-consultancy’s head of research, said in a statement. “But apart from the early adopters, this is something a large proportion of online retailers…

...continue to read "Study: Customer Reviews Boost Conversion"