When Will You Be Spending FaceBook Credits?
When my brother Jeffrey and I wrote “Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?” we explained how in the evolution of sales and marketing history, the trend towards the reduction of friction for the customer is impacted by three factors: transportation, communications, and payment technologies. In my last column, while describing the Future Shopper, I illustrated one of the trends; how communication technology will affect the way that people buy. The other two facets of change are concurrent evolutions in transportation systems…
The Future Shopper
There is hardly anyone who would argue over the impact that search, social, and mobile technologies have had on the customer buying process over the last five years. However, while many companies worry about keeping ahead of their competition, they actually have a much bigger issue – keeping pace with their customers. Indulge me while I explore the changes we’ll see over the next five years. A Marketer’s Job Is Already Hard Enough Jeffrey, my partner and brother, and I…
Digital Sales in a Mobile App World
This cartoon from The Oatmeal blog really summarizes people’s behavior about buying expensive mobile devices but balking at paying $0.99 for an application. Human beings involved in a marketplace are both unpredictably predictable and predictably irrational, which leaves plenty of room for intelligent optimization efforts. Yet much of the research about applications shows people love adding applications to their devices and following the common trend in software they are gravitating toward free. Another evolving trend is that the nature of…
Is Your Corporate Metabolism Killing You?
I read the news and it makes me sad for businesses today. It’s no news that we are in the midst of one of the worst economic crises ever, while working our way through one of the greatest periods of change ever. These two things are not unrelated. We are undergoing a revolution in commerce, logistics, and communications as disruptive as the Industrial Revolution. Some gurus will self-assuredly tell you it is the “social media revolution.” That’s just one strong…
Google, User Experience & Thinking Beyond Conversion
Google is a money making machine; that is why it has tremendous influence in the online ecology. Google has a lot to teach the world about relevance, credibility, value & user experience. However, Google isn’t a training company; it derives more than 90% of its revenues from advertising. It’s fascinating that Google makes most of its money from advertisers (sellers) but is forced, like every media company, to think primarily about the experience of its audience (buyers). When buyers “buy…
The Biggest Lie of Pay-Per-Click Marketing
[standing up] My name is Bryan and I am a screenshot addict. When I fall off the wagon, it happens every so often, I pick a keyphrase and start clicking through PPC ads and their landing pages taking screenshots of the entire experience. It’s hard to imagine how often the experience from keyword to ad to landing page is broken. I fight the urge to call them, yell at them, and beg them to stop throwing away money. I don’t…
#1 Secret of 21 Secrets of Top Converting Websites
Want to know the first secret I share from my 21 Secrets to Top Converting Websites presentation? It’s so simple, so obvious, but yet so many people forget to use it. Do you? Watch the video: Want to know the rest of the 21 Secrets? You can find them out on August 17th in San Francisco as I present the 21 Secrets at SES (part of Connected Marketing Week). If you show up and mention this post I’ll give you…