|
|
Sex and the Gods of Internet Marketing
Whenever I mention my occupation to a non-wired person, it seems to generate the same response: "Isn't there an awful lot of porn on the net?" The question floats toward me like a smoke ring and forms a halo around my face, framing me as a...
Small Business Marketing, According to Seinfeld
What could Seinfeld possibly have to do with marketing a small business? As it turns out, all small business owners could take a few lessons from the show that brought us such popular phrases as “Man Hands” and “master of your domain”. The Coffee...
The Process of Change in Marketing Approaches
In a world economy that is in constant flux and undergoing turbulence, more companies are realizing that their most precious asset is their customer base. An even more important realization is the need to satisfy the whims and fancies of these...
What Are You Afraid Of: Marketing Survey Results About Business Owners Going Cyber
After two weeks of surveying my visitors, I am finally making an attempt to draw some conclusions. Reading my visitors replies to the survey questions, I sense one common concern in one way or another: lack of money and lack of profits. One...
What the Heck Does Vincent van Gogh Have to do With Internet Marketing?
What the Heck Does Vincent van Gogh Have to do With Internet Marketing? Everything and Nothing! On my modest marketing web site I have a copy of a Vincent van Gogh portrait I created for a charity fund raiser some years back. It makes my main...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Marketing as a Second Language
One of the defining features of Western civilization is that we're all amateur marketers by default. Regardless of what our mother tongue is, the second language we are most exposed to is invariably Hype.
By the time a child is five years old he is probably able to sing more jingles than songs and identify more corporate logos than letters of the alphabet. No wonder, since it can be very difficult to tell where a hamburger or a toy or a movie leaves off, and where a global marketing juggernaut begins.
Consider an average day in your own life. Because the most precious commodity in our marketing-based society is Consumer Attention, the fast and furious battle for our awareness clobbers us during every waking hour.
Rather than list all the places and ways in which marketers grab our attention, it would be easier and more poignant to list the places and situations that are free of any marketing message: to wit, none.
You pretty much have to leave society and head off into nature to get away from it all, right? Wrong. The average person dressed and equipped for the great outdoors displays more corporate emblemry than a Nascar racer. If that's not enough, they're probably imprinting the earth with a shoemaker's logo with every step.
The point isn't to decry this arguably greed-warped and spiritually bankrupt situation, but rather to sharpen our own marketing skills from it. For instance, don't be
fooled by the name - junk mail is a goldmine of marketing intelligentsia. Collect it. Become a student of it. Ask others to save theirs for you, especially those items that they like and dislike most.
Then, reverse engineer it.
By reverse engineering, I mean try to figure out the reasoning behind every decision. Why this envelope? Why this headline? Why this message to this recipient?
That's the great thing about marketing - there are no secrets. If it works, it's out there getting in all our faces. If it doesn't, you won't see it... at least, not twice.
Try to get in the habit of reverse engineering all the marketing messages that hit you throughout the day. Each of those messages cost someone money - they weren't taking potshots.
That's not to suggest that it's all good. Actually, you can learn as much from bad or inept marketing as from the good stuff, so don't dismiss schlock too quickly.
If marketing is the second language of the Western world, then speaking it fluently is just a matter of developing some good listening skills. As with any language, there's a science behind the art. Master the underlying structure, and all the power-packed headlines and spiffy taglines will follow.
About the Author
Jed McKendrick is involved with several marketing-related products and sites, but the one that really pays the bills is: http://www.ngtools.com/fmain.php?D=omnicomm
|
|
|
|
|
KnowThis: For Marketing, Market Research, Internet Marketing ... |
KnowThis.com offers a wealth of information, forums, and resources for professionals, academics and students in traditional and internet marketing, ... |
www.knowthis.com |
  |
Marketing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
Marketers depend on marketing research, both formal and informal, ... The next big thing is a concept in marketing that refers to a product or idea that ... |
en.wikipedia.org |
  |
Marketing - Marketing Strategy - Marketing Plan - Marketing ... |
Learn about marketing careers, the stages of developing a marketing plan, how to begin marketing research, create a marketing strategy, and how to market ... |
marketing.about.com |
  |
Marketing.org - Home of the Business Marketing Association |
Serves the professional, educational and career development needs of business-to-business marketers. |
www.marketing.org |
  |
Welcome - American Marketing Association - www.marketingpower.com |
Dedicated to serving the educational and professional needs of marketing executives. |
www.marketingpower.com |
  |
Advertising, Marketing, Media and PR News - Brand Republic |
Find the latest Advertising, Marketing, Media and PR news from Brand Republic, the online resource for up to the minute advertising and marketing news and ... |
www.brandrepublic.com |
  |
Marketing Magazine - Marketing News - Brand Republic |
Marketing Magazine - Marketing News - Brand Republic. |
www.brandrepublic.com |
  |
Marketing (Canada) |
Offers a Canadian source of news and articles on marketing, advertising and media. |
www.marketingmag.ca |
  |
BidVertiser - Pay Per Click Advertising On Sites Of Your Choice. |
Pay per click advertising - online advertising directly on sites of your choice, internet marketing solution for online advertisers. |
www.bidvertiser.com |
  |
Online Behavioral Contextual Advertising and Marketing. |
Promote your business with today's most effective online advertising technology, contextual advertising at a cost effective metric of CPC, PPC, CPM or CPV. |
www.clicksor.com |
  |
Sales Jobs / Marketing Jobs / Advertising Jobs - MarketingJobs.com |
Employment site for marketing and sales professionals. |
www.marketingjobs.com |
  |
The Chartered Institute of Marketing |
The Chartered Institute of Marketing is the world's largest international marketing professional body and helps with career support and information ... |
www.cim.co.uk |
  |
Marketing: See what people are saying right now on Technorati |
See all blog posts tagged with marketing on Technorati. |
www.technorati.com |
  |
Marketing Profs - Marketing Concepts and Strategies: Expert ... |
Marketing knowhow from professionals. Newsletter, articles and how-to's. |
www.marketingprofs.com |
  |
Guerrilla Marketing Online - The Official Site |
Guerrilla Marketing Online is anonline magazine for small business, entrepreneurs, sales people and marketers of all kinds. |
www.gmarketing.com |
  |
Business Marketing - Small Business Marketing |
Business marketing - Read everything your need to know about small business marketing. |
www.entrepreneur.com |
  |
All About Marketing |
Adapted from Field Guide to Nonprofit Program Design, Marketing and Evaluation ... Inbound Marketing Includes Market Research to Find Out: ... |
www.managementhelp.org |
  |
Pages tagged with "marketing" on del.icio.us |
USA Network Announces a NASHVILLE STAR Marketing Partnership With ... - Yahoo! ... Direct Marketing Association: Telephone, Mail & Internet Marketing ... |
del.icio.us |
  |
ClickZ Internet Marketing Solutions for Marketers |
Includes columns with commentary and analysis on a wide variety of internet marketing subjects ranging from B2B marketing to search engine marketing. |
www.clickz.com |
  |
Direct Marketing Association: Telephone, Mail & Internet Marketing |
Trade association for users and suppliers in the direct, database and interactive marketing fields, offering seminars and resources, and lobbying for ... |
www.the-dma.org |
  |
|