Latest Brainy Marketing at Forbes

It’s been a while since I recapped my Forbes Brainy Marketing activity here, so here’s what you may have missed. And, be sure to add a comment if you visit. I can “call out” quality comments, and site admins sometimes expose these in different parts of the site.

What Your ‘About Us’ Page Is Missing

Just about every business website has an “About Us” page or section, but most of these are missing a key ingredient that will help turn visitors into customers. Persuasion expert Robert Cialdini gave some “about” page advice at Pubcon Las Vegas 2012, and

I’ve expanded on that into a case study. The study looks at a fast-growing Inc 500 firm, PetRelocation.com, and how they use their staff bios to establish likability and commonality with potential customers. Read More…

2 Total Comments.

Why Ignoring Social Media Complaints Is a Huge Mistake

It amazes me that even in today’s social media savvy business environment there are still big companies that fail to engage with their customers, particularly customers that are frustrated and unhappy. In fact, a variety of research shows that ignoring those customers is the worst possible strategy. Read More…

21 Total Comments.

Conquering Death by PowerPoint

This is a book review of Five Steps to Conquer ‘Death by PowerPoint’: Changing the world one conversation at a time by Eric Bergman. The book is NOT a guide to creating killer slide decks like Nancy Duarte’s, nor does it turn you into a PowerPoint Jedi master like Lawrence Lessig. In fact, Bergman doesn’t even like PowerPoint (or other slide software like Keynote and Presi). Bergman does provide a blueprint for highly engaging and interactive presentations.

One of the more interesting concepts Bergman proposes is a “Q ratio” of at least 1. He defines this as the number of questions asked by the audience divided by the length of the presentation in minutes. So, a 40 minute presentation should have at least 40 questions. Read More…

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Why So Much Market Research Sucks

My first brush with bogus market research came as a young product manager in a large metals company… The argument over whether or not to keep matching the competition in price continued until our ad agency came back with the results of a survey of our customers and potential customers. “Price” came in dead last, after factors like quality, performance, delivery speed, and customer service.

This story segues into a discussion of how apparently solid market research can lead to poor business decisions. Read More…

14 Total Comments.

Sam Adams’ Secret Weapon

Most of us probably don’t think much about the shape of the glass we use to drink a beverage. If we’re having a beer in a bar or restaurant, it will likely come in a tapered pint glass, a flute-shaped glass, a mug, or sometimes a glass branded with the name of the chosen brew. We SHOULD pay more attention, because new research shows our rate of consumption is dramatically affected by the glass that beer is served in. Read More…

6 Total Comments.

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