I recently viewed this Hardee’s Ad and thought, “Can this be real?” It seems Hardee’s now sells little breakfast items that compete with donut holes. And this ad takes a blind taste-test theme, wherein the participants choose between the “A-holes” and the “B-holes”. (I swear, I’m not kidding)

Now I’ll be the first to admit: normally this sort of humor is right up my alley — I’m the one in the FutureNow office who sees “giggle-value” every time a new iPhone…

...continue to read "Hardee’s b-holes — do they sell?"

Too many marketers think that great marketing comes from that “fabulous” idea or from the next shiny new object that captures people’s attention. The truth is,  occasionally it does happen. However, just as Thomas Edison tried 10,000 times to make his “fabulous” idea work before it finally did, great marketing takes persistent, continuous execution and experimentation.

On June 18th, I posted a conversion rate exercise on this blog. Two simple exercises to help others understand why they should do business with you.…

...continue to read "They Did It, Did You?"

Today I’d like to give you 2 exercises that will help your visitors get a better sense of why they should be doing business with you.

1. TweetVP – In 140 characters or less, tell me the value of doing business with you. What makes you different than your competitor? This is like writing your Unique Value Proposition or Unique Campaign Proposition, but you are limited to the number of characters, as if you were going to post it on Twitter. If you…

...continue to read "Conversion Rate Exercise: Why Should I Do Business With You?"

Bryan Eisenberg was recently asked the following question via e-mail:

“I know you are very busy, but I would like your help. I have read your blog(s) about Unique Value Proposition over and over (and others too).  I am perplexed.  How do you distinguish between a Unique Value Propostion and tag line. For example Fedex, ‘When it absolutely positively has to be there overnight’ – tagline or UVP? Your site ‘Keep Your Goals On Target: Increase Conversions, Get More…

...continue to read "UVP or Tagline?"

When Michael Lewis wrote his article on Coach Leach and the Texas Tech Football program, that program was known as an offensive powerhouse that relied on sheer scoring power to outgun opponents.  Its defense wasn’t mentioned in that article, and one can only guess the omission was intentional.  Just look at their game results against Texas and OSU for 2005-2008:

What you can see is that up to 2007, Texas Tech continually increased it’s offensive scoring, but to mixed results…

...continue to read "Texas Tech Tuesday – Challenge Organizational Traditions / Assumptions"

Each day it seems there’s a new headline about the latest “amenity” for which an airline plans on charging us, which, of course, causes a ripple effect as every other airline chooses to follow suit with a justification that comes across as, “Well, now that Airline X doesn’t have to give you free water, neither do we.”

Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t this sound like the opposite of the effects competition is supposed to create?

Like us, many of you…

...continue to read "Dear Airline Industry, Being “Least Awful” Won’t Save You"

If you’re already an insider, this won’t be easy. Once you’re “inside the bottle,” reading the label on the outside requires serious mental contortions.

Or an outsider to come and open the bottle for you. In fact, their outsider perspective is a huge part of any consultant’s or outside copywriter’s value – so long as they’re willing to call you to the carpet over your unseen assumptions and un-named elephants.

But if you can’t bring in an actual outsider, any attempt you…

...continue to read "See Like An Outsider In 3 Not-So-Easy (But Worth It) Steps"

Consumer Reports almost never endorses the same products a niche enthusiast magazine would. They rarely pick the same car that, say, Car and Driver might. Likewise, most serious skiers — like those on Ski Magazine’s editorial staff — tend to select different skis as “best buys” than the ones Consumer Reports chooses each winter.

Why is that?

For one thing, Consumer Reports tries to objectively calculate the “sweet spot” on the Quality-to-Price Ratio. Enthusiasts, on the other hand, generally give more weight to…

...continue to read "How to Pitch “Value” to Everyone But Paris Hilton"

The smart people at Twist Image have built a gorgeous video site to showcase 2007’s most valuable online videos, according to their “most influential friends.”

Paula Gignac, Seth Godin, Ken Wong, Joseph Jaffe, David Weinberger, David Usher, Jackie Huba, Shel Israel, John Gustavson, Christopher Loudon, Mary Maddever and our own Bryan Eisenberg were each asked to share their favorite video of the year.

Which videos were your favorites?

(To Mitch Joel, Mark Goodman, Mickael Kanfi, Aubrey Rosenhek and the entire team at Twist Image, joyeuses fêtes �…

...continue to read "12 Marketers Pick Year’s Most Valuable Online Videos"

Lots of people who’ve spoken with either Jeffrey or me know how uncomfortable we are with being called “experts,” despite our books and nearly 10 years of focus on marketing optimization. I’ve said it before: “Gurus are a dime a dozen on the internet.” The problem with taking pundits’ advice is that it can end up costing those who follow blindly a fortune. I need your help to prevent that.

Don’t get me wrong. I believe hardly any of the folks who…

...continue to read "How to Leverage “OPM” (Other People’s Mistakes)"