A recent study published in the Journal of Marketing Research uncovered some useful information about the amount of time people spend visiting any given website.  The researchers found that older people and women tend to spend more time on each site they visit.  They also found that, in general, the presence of a lot of…

New Jersey’s Bare Necessities racked up $15 million in lingerie sales last year, with 80% of that total originating online.  But the company realized that shopping on its website was about as interesting as buying bolts online.  The site was efficient and easy to find, but left no impression or brand identity.  A consulting firm…

Why don’t more companies offer exceptional service?  Partly because so many managers or owners have forgotten what it’s like to be a customer.  Here’s a great way to get a dose of reality.  Set aside a day (that’s right – an entire day) to visit other businesses.  Buy groceries.  Shop at Target.  Go to home…

With outdoor advertising more popular than ever, it’s startling how many boards break the basic rules of outdoor effectiveness.  If you’re using billboards, avoid all uppercase letters, keep your message short (six words or less) and big, keep the design simple and keep contrast high.  Readers get about three seconds to soak in your message,…

That’s no typo.  The complements we’re talking about are products or services that differ from your regular offerings, but increase the value of them.  For example, over a hundred years ago, the Michelin brothers began producing distributing free travel guides that offered ratings for hotels and restaurants.  Why?  They gambled that if people travelled more,…

It’s no secret that TV, especially network television, is rapidly losing its long-held status as the medium of choice for advertisers.  A survey of ad agencies conducted two years ago showed that nearly 70% planned to put less into the networks, while more than 85% planned to invest more in online media.  But not everyone…

Internet access continues to grow, with 77% of Americans (172 million consumers) now online.  A couple of growth trends are significant.  First, the greatest growth is coming from users who are gaining access at home, not at work.  The second is that older users and those with lower incomes are rapidly growing segments of the…

Once upon a time, unless you were running TV commercials, the word “video” kept its big nose out of your marketing plan.  But today, video can be used in a myriad of ways unrelated to television.  DVDs, in-store broadcasts, video content on your website, movie theatre commercials, viral video you send to internet users and…

In the fifties, 80% of all households included a married couple.  Today, it’s barely half.  Nearly half the workforce is single, too, along with 40% of homebuyers.  More significantly, fewer and fewer of America’s 86 million single adults are interested in changing their status.  This has an enormous impact on consumer marketing.  If nearly half…

Few marketers set out to appeal to a consumer’s sense of smell.  But research shows that an aromatic approach to marketing can be extremely effective.  Flowers lead the pack in this regard.  For example, a study underwritten by Nike found that consumers will buy more shoes – and pay more for them – if a…