The marketing highway is littered with advertising icons who were popular with consumers but had little or no impact on sales.  The Taco Bell Chihuahua, lying salesman Joe Isuzu, the California Raisins and Burger King’s Subservient Chicken all got plenty of attention, but failed to move actual product.  Meanwhile, the Dyson folks sold a gazillion…

All too often, sales depend on the efforts of people with little or no sales training or experience.  Bank tellers, retail cashiers and others shape the public’s opinion of their companies and influence buying decisions.  Imagine what would happen if your people understood that there were certain things they could do to increase sales, and…

As you might imagine, November is a big month for the folks at Butterball.  The company has always beefed up (no pun intended) its marketing in the fall, and its toll-free help line has been popular since its introduction.  Now the popular purveyor of poultry is taking it a step further.  This year, people who…

While billboards can be incredibly effective marketing tools, a lot of advertisers put up boards that are too busy or just too hard to read.  Who’s best at making the most of outdoor advertising?  Two pretty different groups.  Fast food chains know that when you’re on the road, all you want to know is which…

Here’s a sobering statistic: about 80% of all internet activity starts at a search engine.  This affects some businesses more than others; for example, over 43% of web users coming from search engines are looking for health and medical information. So if moving traffic to your website matters to your business, 2007 needs to be…

One of the best things about “Boom,” written by Mary Brown and Carol Osborn, Ph.D., is its reminder that women are not one homogenous market.  Even baby boomer women, the main topic of the book, aren’t just one big group, with leading edge boomer gals being shaped by a whole different set of influences than…

Assumptions can be dangerous, especially when it comes to marketing.  Try this simple test.  Rank the following magazines in order of their circulation, with the top-selling magazine first: Better Homes and Gardens, Martha Stewart Living, National Geographic, People and Playboy.  The point is that our ideas about population, popularity, purchases and preferences often stray from…

There’s been a lot of talk around the water cooler about TV spots that depict drivers being blind-sided while chatting with passengers.  While the commercials are promoting safety, they’ve sparked a sometimes-heated debate about how far is too far.  Another automaker is running a spot that shows a family outing  – in which it’s revealed…

One enormous advantage of the internet is that it acts as an equalizer, allowing smaller companies to look every bit as substantial as much larger competitors.  Unfortunately, it can go the other way as well.  Poor website design can undermine a company’s image.  Especially important are color choices, the quality of photographs and a clean…

Women statistically make the vast majority of health care and financial decisions in America.  Single women now make up a significant percentage of homebuyers.  And new women-owned businesses continue to appear at a faster pace than male-owned companies.  Yet most marketing which includes this audience is gender-neutral at best.  If the above trends affect your…