Persuasiveness

I am always looking to find new and interesting articles and examples of how consumers are persuaded to believe or act in a certain manner. I guess that's why I'm in advertising. But I truly find it interesting to break apart the process of a "pitch" and understand each of the parts and how they work and interact together to create a desired thought or outcome.

This article is a spectacular example of persuasiveness-in-action and also a good primer on the various "parts" of a pitch.

As the author points out, these are also some good techniques to use with your children.

:)

Enjoy!

Study on Gender & Age in Social Networks

I just finished reading this Rapleaf study.

You know, the cool thing about this, in my opinion, is the demographic occupancy clustering. Take a look at the older profiles on LinkedIn, Flickr and Classmates, for example.

Good stuff ... enjoy the read.

Alltop and Over The Top

Guy Kawasaki's new Feeder-Portal, Alltop is amazing. Pick a category from Autos to Windows and you'll instantly see a selection of 30 - 80 of the hottest feeds in that category from around the web.

For example, I clicked on Careers and found Career Hub, The HR Daily Advisor, The HR Capitalist and Escape from Cubicle Nation among sixty some other websites and blogs on enhancing your career. It's almost overwhelming.

It's so simple, it's sick. But fair warning: it's an enormous time-sucker. You could spend all day and night here reading some fabulous posts. But I'm impressed with how well it is organized and what a wonderful resource it is to have these sites collected in one location ... and I think you will be too.

Voyages of the Starship Socialize

I was reading this post from Pierre Far on Techipedia and was filled with conflicting thoughts. First, it was a well-written piece and logical. It's simply written ... plain talk. Gotta love that. But what bothered me was the thought that there actually IS a final frontier. Mass communication, two-way communication, one-to-one marketing, social marketing ... all simply the same variant of traditional marketing that has been tweaked in some way by technology. And since we truly cannot say there is a final frontier in technology, we must assume that there will no "beam me up, Scotty" moment for marketing either. So, to answer Pierre's question of what the next innovation, leap or Web 3.0 of marketing will be, I would say it will be more of the same marketing foundation, only modified by whatever the newest technology tools will allow. In my opinion, it's not a question of what NEW marketing will emerge, but rather what will emerge FOR new marketing. But I could be wrong ...

Customer Service Evaluation Tool

Very cool article from CRM Daily on understanding the gaps in customer service communications and experiences. I love this handy tool as well

Everyone - I mean, everyone - who has a customer relationship (which is basically everyone these days, right?) needs to read this article and use this tool to help understand where the breakdowns come in their own experience and interactions.

Enjoy....

Innovation vs. Convenience

A newly released consumer-satisfaction survey conducted by Deloitte Consulting reveals U.S. consumers want a more convenient, accessible and innovative healthcare system.

The survey found 60% of consumers want their doctors to provide online access to medical records, test results and appointment scheduling. 34% said they would visit a retail clinic for care and nearly 40% said they would consider going overseas for a surgical procedure if they could save more than fifty-percent on medical costs and be assured the quality of care was equal to or better than what they would receive stateside.

In terms of innovation, one in three consumers said they want more holistic and alternative therapies included in their treatment programs, while 75% said they want expanded use of in-home monitoring devices and online tools that would reduce the need for doctor visits.

Time to Change the Channel

Lots of folks commenting on this newly released study from the IDC, but the most fascinating point made - IMO - is that consumers tend to use the media they grew up with. Simple point, yes? Logical, right?

Then tell me, please tell me, why many in our current crop of CMOs continue to pour dollars into newspaper, magazine, and broadcast. Where and when are we going to focus on the new crop of customers? As Tom Petty said on the Pack up the Plantation tour, "You're gonna put me out of a job."