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| Thursday, 18 January 2007 | |
Our Most Popular Quotes:"With each passing nanosecond, consumers are growing more and more jaded. It is difficult to fathom just how skeptical this generation has become... skeptical and wary." "The Post Modern Consumer just doesn't believe us anymore. They have endured too many empty promises, too many exaggerated benefits, and too many artful disclaimers." "Credibility translates into trust; trust translates into relationship, and relationship can translate into sustained sales." "Technology has empowered this new generation with far more options than in times past. Marketers are often held hostage by a single click. And whether the weapon of choice is a mouse or remote, we have but seconds to initiate a relationship." "If the Post Modern Consumer can't instantly verify a claim he will assume that it is false." "To the Post Modern Consumer, nothing is more nauseous than the sound of someone singing their own virtues. If you must convey subjective information about your product, then do so through the voice of your customers, peers, or reviewers." "The Post Modern Consumer is not looking for perfection. He is looking for honesty. He wants to build a relationship with someone or with some company that he can trust.... When a company is humble enough to admit a weakness, they immediately distinguish themselves from the competition. It opens the door for a trust relationship." "Knowing what we DON'T need to measure is at least as important as knowing what we DO need to measure. The key is focus. Effectiveness is not the result of measuring the numbers right; it is the result of measuring the right numbers." "Consider the demographics of your users. Customers do NOT generally think like merchants.... Often, advertisers war over [search] terms that are valuable only to each other." "Remember that over 25% of the search phrases typed into Google have never been used before. Be creative and anticipate the thought process of your potential customers." "Avoid bidding wars. Resist the psychological need to play 'king of the hill.' Let your competitors support Google with their unintentional philanthropy while you find a way to get the same results for less money." "Calculate the annual value of your customers. The acquisition of a customer can be worth an expensive pay-per-click term, even if you only "break even" on the first transaction. Consider ancillary offers, and follow-up sales as part of your ROI equation. Look for ways to increase your customer value." "Create an aggressive (permission-based) email capture program. It makes no sense to pay for the same click-through twice, yet that is what most Google advertisers are doing. If you can capture the email address of your visitors, you can continue to market to them after their initial visit. This can dramatically reduce your campaign cost and increase your (long-term) conversion ratio." "In DealTime's pay-for-performance model, it makes sense to put everything you sell online, including obscure products. If shoppers aren't looking for it, you lose nothing. But if shoppers are looking for your obscure items, you will benefit from a higher rank and a lower cost-per-click." "Start with minimum bids in each category, then gradually increase the amounts to the maximum level within the constraints of your ROI objective. Monitor results aggressively during the first few weeks and increase bids where appropriate. It will pay off in the long run to optimize early based on what's working and what's not working." "Think broad NOT deep - Eager marketers are often victims of a pervasive, viral mania: We call it Top Position Syndrome. Top Position Syndrome occurs when a delirious marketer spends an inordinate amount of money to prevent a competitor from seizing a coveted first ranking." "Carefully monitor your listings. Bids have a way of decreasing at month's end and increasing again at the first. Often you can reduce a bid and still retain your position at months end. This fluctuation is caused mainly by advertisers on a fixed budget who drop off towards the end of the month." If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at: |
