http://www.thescienceofmarketing.com This site and its comments reflect our approach to the world, that while marketing is definitely an art, it must also be underpinned with reason, logic and science. Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:52:22 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Almost every comedian starts off by asking something like, "I'm from Chicago. How many here are from Chicago?" The comedian is making a connection with members of the audience before launching into his act. By making this connection, the audience will be more receptive to what follows (and more ... http://www.thescienceofmarketing.com/index.php/public-relations/communications-connection-before-business/ On Monday, my wife and I found ourselves in New York at the XM Radio studios - sitting in on a live broadcast of The Opie and Anthony Show.  As I peered into the studio and listened to the hosts assuming their contrarian stances on the events of the day, ... http://www.thescienceofmarketing.com/index.php/public-relations/controversy-room-in-b2b-marketing/ Setting price in the high tech marketplace, where solutions are new and value is not clear, is always a challenge. And I'm often asked, "how should we price this thing?" Well, I have to admit that I am far from being a leading expert in this area. ... http://www.thescienceofmarketing.com/index.php/messaging/pricing-stragegy-in-uncharted-waters/ Thanks to David Armano, the much anticipated cover design for the future best seller, The Age of Conversation 2: Why Don't They Get It, is locked and loaded. And I think it's a beauty. I know I can speak for my fellow TSOM contributor, Jeff Gwynne, when I ... http://www.thescienceofmarketing.com/index.php/blogging/bloggings-little-black-book-the-age-of-converation-2/ The marketing consulting firm I work for sends out an e-newsletter, Foundations, every month or so to a list of prospects, customers, partners - the usual. A couple of months ago we started a lead feature called "The 1-Second Survey". The idea is to gather market information quickly ... http://www.thescienceofmarketing.com/index.php/messaging/how-to-the-secret-of-the-1-second-survey/ Last week, I wrote about some basics of marketing strategy, and how segmentation, positioning and differentiation can improve the sales effort.  The comment that followed that post, from Ardath Albee of Marketing Interactions, got me thinking that I should be writing a bit more on the implementation of marketing strategy, ... http://www.thescienceofmarketing.com/index.php/public-relations/strategy-in-action-segmentation-on-the-web/ I really like Chris Brogan's latest blog post, "Twelve Ways to Sell Social Media to Your Boss". If you are considering launching a B2B blog or you are getting push back from management about starting a blog, it is well worth the read. Chris's #1 way to sell ... http://www.thescienceofmarketing.com/index.php/blogging/blogging-expand-your-brand/ OK, this may not be the kind of post that you print off and bring on vacation, but summer isn't just about the light reading we stuff into our beach bags.  It's also a good time to take a deep breath and ponder some heavy stuff.  With that in mind, ... http://www.thescienceofmarketing.com/index.php/differentiation/summer-reading-marketing-strategy-lifts-sales/ Jay Ehret wrote a good post on Starbucks "loyalty" programs. I say "loyalty" because, as Jay points out, most of these benefits - cards, free WIFI - are more of a pain in the java bean than anything else. I'm not a huge Starbucks fan, anyway, so reading ... http://www.thescienceofmarketing.com/index.php/differentiation/customer-loyalty-how-do-you-do-it-in-b2b-world/ Any good web developer will tell you that search engine optimization (SEO) is priority #1 for your web site.  As one web specialist put it so eloquently for me, "SEO is all about making your site a destination for Google."  But assuming you don't have an SEO expert on hand ... http://www.thescienceofmarketing.com/index.php/marketing/your-website-making-the-seo-grade/