Brand Autopsy

Retail Reality

Thanksgiving was yesterday. Black Friday is today. Cyber Monday is around the corner. It's official, the 2010 holiday retail shopping season has begun.

Here's a shopping statistic that will surprise most of us, especially those of us whose world revolves around everything online from social media to social shopping.

93% of all US retail sales occur in the real world.

Ninety-Three Percent.

Which, of course, means, only 7% of US retail sales occur online in the digital world.

Yes. The shopping trends clearly reveal online sales are growing in importance. But what is important today and important for the foreseeable future is offline sales occurring in a physical store.

This marketing wake-up call statisitic comes from Forrester Research ...

Words Matter when Marketing Yourself

Your resume is your personal sales sheet. It lists your experience and expertise. It should also excite a potential employer to schedule an interview with you. According to Karen Burns, your resume shouldn't contain tired and trite buzzwords that look professional but read comical.

Karen lists 50 buzzwords to avoid when marketing yourself on a resume because they will "make your resume look like everyone else's" and "they're probably not among the keywords employers search for."

Buzzwords Karen advises us to avoid include:

• Team player
• Detailed-oriented
• Strong negotiation skills
• Results-oriented professional
• Strong work ethic
• Results-focused
• Proven ability
• Motivated

Consider applying the same thinking to the word choices you use in any marketing materials designed to drive awareness and preference with customers. Drop the tired and trite words for those with personality and punch.

Perhaps a visit to Unsuck-It is needed to improve your personal sales sheet and your company's marketing materials.

Economics Lessons Learned from Seinfeld

This is cool. Economic professors from Eastern Illinois University are using classic scenes from the Seinfeld television show to teach us economic lessons.
(Hat tip: BusinessWeek article)

For example, we can learn about cost-benefit analysis and game theory from the episode titled, THE BARBER. From THE MUFFIN TOPS episode, we learn about economics bads and substitute goods.

---

---

Most of the episodes are listed. Have fun learning about economics at...

YadaYadaYadaEcon.com

Sampling (with a Story) Sold Me

I'm not someone who buys Cheddar Snaps. Yeah, I like the taste of these baked cheese wafers but they are never on my shopping list. However, I bought a bag of Texas Cheddar Snaps the other day. They weren't on my list but they ended up on my lips.

As I was heading to the beer aisle while shopping, an elderly lady stopped me and quietly asked, "Would you like to sample a Cheddar Snap?" Usually I would politely pass. This time I couldn't refuse the offer. She looked like anyone's Grandma and how can anyone turn down Grandma? I couldn't.

Before I snapped into a Cheddar Snap, I asked her if she liked them. Grandma replied, "I'd better. They're my recipe."

With that, Grandma had me ... I was in.

I snapped into the Cheddar Snap. And as I started chewing, she rattled off the wave of flavors my taste buds were experiencing from the type of cheddar cheese to the pecan flavor to the spicy kick at the end. She went on to tell me she's been making these Cheddar Snaps for fifty-plus years.

After that, Grandma had sold me ... I bought a bag.

We all know sampling can sell a product. What we forget is a customer also needs to sample a story when they sample a product. Grandma sold me some Cheddar Snaps when she told me a story.

Advertising and Word of Mouth

As part of my project work with The Keller Fay Group, I'm digging into their archive of research findings and providing insights, which marketers can use to better tap into the power of word of mouth.

Keller Fay recently released new data showing the virtues of advertising on Television, in Magazines, and Online to spark word of mouth conversations. The data shows how TV, Print, and the Internet all work differently when it comes to sparking word of mouth conversations about brands, products, and services.

The following presentations explaining the virtues of advertising to trigger word of mouth first appeared on the Keller Fay WOM MATTERS blog. If you're interested in learning more about how advertising can spark word of mouth, read and watch below.

---

Television
While overall television viewership is down, that doesn't, by any means, diminish the impact television advertising has on sparking word of mouth conversations.
LEARN MORE below:

Word of Mouth Virtues | Television Advertising

---

Magazines
Advertising in print magazines will help a brand reach consumers who are more inclined to be talkative influencers, those folks who actively and passionately keep up with what's new and interesting in the world and share it within their large social circle of friends.
LEARN MORE below:

Word of Mouth Virtues | Magazine Advertising

---

Online
Online media triggers about 15% of all brand-related word of mouth conversations. That's a higher percentage than print media, radio, and billboard. Only television is a bigger trigger of word of mouth, but not by much.
LEARN MORE below:

Word of Mouth Virtues | Online Media