Marketing in Real Life

Yesterday I was shocked that a colleague of mine hadn't seen any of the great "sales" movies out there so here is part 1 from a movie that doesn't count completely as "classic" but is still a fantastic watch! "And there is no such thing as a no sale call. A sale is made on every call you make. Either you sell the client some stock or he sells you a reason he can't. Either way a sale is made, the only question is who is gonna close? You or him? Now be relentless, that's it, I'm done. " Probably more relevant than my favorite line when Ben Affleck throws his keys on the table and says "I am a f**cking millionaire."

Yesterday I was shocked that a colleague of mine hadn't seen any of the great "sales" movies out there so here is part 1 from a movie that doesn't count completely as "classic" but is still a fantastic watch! "And there is no such thing as a no sale call. A sale is made on every call you make. Either you sell the client some stock or he sells you a reason he can't. Either way a sale is made, the only question is who is gonna close? You or him? Now be relentless, that's it, I'm done. " Probably more relevant than my favorite line when Ben Affleck throws his keys on the table and says "I am a f**cking millionaire."

The biggest challenge with any marketing initiative or promotional idea is that what looks great on paper often doesn't translate to the real world. This past weekend a cross-promotion between Dunkin Donuts and Six Flags New England worked exactly as it was supposed to. 1. On Friday I was getting coffee at Dunkin Donuts and noticed a flyer on the counter for reduced rate tickets to Six Flags New England. 2. When I got to the office I emailed my wife suggesting that we go over the weekend. 3. On sunday morning we stopped at Dunkin Donuts to get iced coffee and pick up the coupons before driving to Six Flags and paying child rates for adult tickets (love the Dark Knight and Superman coasters!) 4. All week I have been telling people about the experience and the promotion. Just like they drew it up! I am, and always have been a sucker for a good promotion or selling strategy, but this one get my kudos!

The biggest challenge with any marketing initiative or promotional idea is that what looks great on paper often doesn't translate to the real world. This past weekend a cross-promotion between Dunkin Donuts and Six Flags New England worked exactly as it was supposed to. 1. On Friday I was getting coffee at Dunkin Donuts and noticed a flyer on the counter for reduced rate tickets to Six Flags New England. 2. When I got to the office I emailed my wife suggesting that we go over the weekend. 3. On sunday morning we stopped at Dunkin Donuts to get iced coffee and pick up the coupons before driving to Six Flags and paying child rates for adult tickets (love the Dark Knight and Superman coasters!) 4. All week I have been telling people about the experience and the promotion. Just like they drew it up! I am, and always have been a sucker for a good promotion or selling strategy, but this one get my kudos!

One of the presentations I saw at the FEI conference was by the leader of WD-40's Team Tomorrow. They gather ideas from their own employees, publicly reward them for their help, bring together key marketing, product, and research groups to choose the best ideas then test the best ideas with the market. Two things stuck out... 1. They have made it easy for employees at all levels to submit ideas and praise them for doing so. If you're not utilizing your best resources, you're missing out! 2. Even with a low rate of ideas that actually get to market, WD-40 is making innovation a priority and a way of life in a company probably not thought of in that way. What are you doing with your teams to drive the realities of tomorrow?

I go to a lot of conferences and have grown very comfortable with the process over time, whether I am working a booth or attending sessions. I consider them the best way to meet people and the source of my pseudo-MBA. Here are three tips to help you make valuable contacts and get the most out of your time. 1. Its quality not quantity. Focus on having conversations that people will remember when you follow up with them next week. A large stack of business cards does little good if you've made no impression. 2. Take the initiative. Nothing is more uncomfortable to watch then someone who is over eager to launch into their company's sales pitch around the coffee or lunch table. Ask someone what they do and almost every time they will return the favor and feel good about it. This also gives you the chance to adjust your elevator pitch to their needs to start a real dialogue. No one makes a sale at a conference, but lots of people lose them. Also remember that everyone at

I go to a lot of conferences and have grown very comfortable with the process over time, whether I am working a booth or attending sessions. I consider them the best way to meet people and the source of my pseudo-MBA. Here are three tips to help you make valuable contacts and get the most out of your time. 1. Its quality not quantity. Focus on having conversations that people will remember when you follow up with them next week. A large stack of business cards does little good if you've made no impression. 2. Take the initiative. Nothing is more uncomfortable to watch then someone who is over eager to launch into their company's sales pitch around the coffee or lunch table. Ask someone what they do and almost every time they will return the favor and feel good about it. This also gives you the chance to adjust your elevator pitch to their needs to start a real dialogue. No one makes a sale at a conference, but lots of people lose them. Also remember that everyone at

At Invoke, we're in an interesting position regarding Innovation because we are constntly innovating ourselves and often play a role in our clients Innovation process. To learn more we attended IIR and PDMA's Front End of Innovation Conference this week. Three of the top themes I picked up... Ideas are everywhere and in many cases the easy part of the innovation process. Its narrowing the field and actually bringing them to market that is the hard part. Almost every company who presented has some sort of stage gate process in place for new product development. Research can drive this, but in many case its more a valuable input from the consumer perspective that is used at key points in the process. If Innovation is being used to solve problems, look outside your company, outside your industry, and potentially outside man-made products to see what has already been done that can be transferred. Innovation does not necessarily mean invention!

You’ll all enjoy this… I took a call from a salesperson today – prearranged by him – who spent at least ten or 15 minutes of a 20 minute call telling me why my company wasn’t necessarily a good fit because we weren’t focused enough on cpg – despite my saying its one of our top 3 verticals, showing some long term interest in understanding what they do, and asking questions about it. I am big believer in saying that its not a good fit when its not a good fit, but this was absurd and he was excessively blunt about it. He asked a bunch of qualifying questions which I did my best to answer, but never once did he take what I said and try to turn it into an opportunity for himself. And then at the end he had the guts to ask me if I could refer him to anyone else at other companies. Amazing. Thoughts?

You’ll all enjoy this… I took a call from a salesperson today – prearranged by him – who spent at least ten or 15 minutes of a 20 minute call telling me why my company wasn’t necessarily a good fit because we weren’t focused enough on cpg – despite my saying its one of our top 3 verticals, showing some long term interest in understanding what they do, and asking questions about it. I am big believer in saying that its not a good fit when its not a good fit, but this was absurd and he was excessively blunt about it. He asked a bunch of qualifying questions which I did my best to answer, but never once did he take what I said and try to turn it into an opportunity for himself. And then at the end he had the guts to ask me if I could refer him to anyone else at other companies. Amazing. Thoughts?

Cutting through the clutter is a huge challenge, especially if you are creating a new brand. That's one of the reasons River West is reviving Brim, Salon Selects, and other brands that were least seen in the 80's. Through research they found inherent strengths, even where they weren't accurate (see the Stanely Tools section below) but clearly there is something to the notion of leveraging brands that already have a place in your conciousnesss (90% aided awareness) and updating them rather than starting from scratch. Read a sampling below or check out the whole article article from today's New York Times . Can a Tang comeback be far behind? After all, we've already seen Pabst Blue Ribbon come back from the dead. A sampling... "A great deal of what happens in the consumer marketplace does not involve brands with zealous loyalists. What determines whether a brand lives or dies (or can even come back to life) is usually a quieter process that has more to do with me

Cutting through the clutter is a huge challenge, especially if you are creating a new brand. That's one of the reasons River West is reviving Brim, Salon Selects, and other brands that were least seen in the 80's. Through research they found inherent strengths, even where they weren't accurate (see the Stanely Tools section below) but clearly there is something to the notion of leveraging brands that already have a place in your conciousnesss (90% aided awareness) and updating them rather than starting from scratch. Read a sampling below or check out the whole article article from today's New York Times . Can a Tang comeback be far behind? After all, we've already seen Pabst Blue Ribbon come back from the dead. A sampling... "A great deal of what happens in the consumer marketplace does not involve brands with zealous loyalists. What determines whether a brand lives or dies (or can even come back to life) is usually a quieter process that has more to do with me

Everyone knows how hard it is to create brand awareness today if you're not the latest greatest thing in a fast moving industry. As pointed out in this article from today's New York Times , there is an inherent value to well known brands of the past. In this case Brim, which through research that stated they had 90% aided awareness and the push of River West in Chicago, is being relaunched in the marketplace. Fill it to the rim! A sampling... "A great deal of what happens in the consumer marketplace does not involve brands with zealous loyalists. What determines whether a brand lives or dies (or can even come back to life) is usually a quieter process that has more to do with mental shortcuts and assumptions and memories — and all the imperfections that come along with each of those things. Stanley hired Beanstalk about nine years ago. Stanley conducted “consumer permission research” to try to determine where the Stanley brand could go. “I remember looking through the focu

I am attending IIR's Front End of Innovation Conference this week and am very excited about it. The vast majority of conferences I go to are marketing or research centric, but this is much more about the steps that go into innovation, only one of which is market research. We do a lot of innovation related work ourselves, so I am curious to see where it fits in the eyes of clients and what they are really looking for. Our clients tell us we're invaluable for two main reasons. We don't slow down the other processes We get the qualitative and quantitative insights they need at once so they can really understand what people want, need, like or dislike and why in a single research environment. I'll have more thoughts as the week progresses!

Just had to share the response from a VP of Marketing at retail company when a colleague of mine tried to start a conversation about using Invoke's research methodology. "As it is we do not do any advertising so consumer reaction is moot." I'm sure it came out wrong and I still shop there, but it does explain some things!

Just had to share the response from a VP of Marketing at retail company when a colleague of mine tried to start a conversation about using Invoke's research methodology. "As it is we do not do any advertising so consumer reaction is moot." I'm sure it came out wrong and I still shop there, but it does explain some things!

For the past few years I have been very intrigued by the power of word of mouth, starting from work I was involved in at Chadwick Martin Bailey creating presentations about advocacy and conducting a “marketing” project that attached dollars to word of mouth in the travel and hospitality industry. Soon after I was hoping to work at BzzAgent , a leading WOM marketing agency before joining Invoke. There are many good companies that are focused on measuring word of mouth or at a minimum embed it in their research designs. But without using a mix of qualitative and quantitative research its impossible to really understand what people are doing and why. Download the 13 page report here and let me know what you are doing to drive word of mouth for your business.

For the past few years I have been very intrigued by the power of word of mouth, starting from work I was involved in at Chadwick Martin Bailey creating presentations about advocacy and conducting a “marketing” project that attached dollars to word of mouth in the travel and hospitality industry. Soon after I was strongly hoping to work at BzzAgent, a leading WOM marketing agency. Recognizing WOM’s role in marketing today, I thought it was import to examine it further using one of our Invoke Live sessions. We explored a bunch of different verticals and have pulled together great insights on why people provide positive and negative word of mouth and where its most important. Download the 12 page report here and let me know what you are doing to drive word of mouth for your business.

For the past few years I have been very intrigued by the power of word of mouth, starting from work I was involved in at Chadwick Martin Bailey creating presentations about advocacy and conducting a “marketing” project that attached dollars to word of mouth in the travel and hospitality industry. Soon after I was strongly hoping to work at BzzAgent, a leading WOM marketing agency. Recognizing WOM’s role in marketing today, I thought it was import to examine it further using one of our Invoke Live sessions. We explored a bunch of different verticals and have pulled together great insights on why people provide positive and negative word of mouth and where its most important. Download the 12 page report here and let me know what you are doing to drive word of mouth for your business.

Often times researchers sadly forget to think like marketers, business people, or consumers when evaluating what needs to be measured and how. Here are some great marketing principles you can embed in your mind when you're designing your research projects, programs and budgets (courtesy of Seth Godin ). People don’t buy what they need. They buy what they want. If you are marketing from a fairly static annual budget, you’re viewing marketing as an expense. Good marketers realize that it is an investment. Conversations among the members of your marketplace happen whether you like it or not. Good marketing encourages the right sort of conversations. Products that are remarkable get talked about. Marketing is the way your people answer the phone, the typesetting on your bills and your returns policy. You can’t fool all the people, not even most of the time. And people, once unfooled , talk about the experience. You’re not in charge. And your prospects don’t care about you.

(Stolen from my Better Research Blog ) Often times researchers sadly forget to think like marketers, business people, or consumers when evaluating what needs to be measured and how. Here are some great marketing principles you can embed in your mind when you're designing your research projects, programs and budgets (courtesy of Seth Godin ). People don’t buy what they need. They buy what they want. If you are marketing from a fairly static annual budget, you’re viewing marketing as an expense. Good marketers realize that it is an investment. Conversations among the members of your marketplace happen whether you like it or not. Good marketing encourages the right sort of conversations. Products that are remarkable get talked about. Marketing is the way your people answer the phone, the typesetting on your bills and your returns policy. You can’t fool all the people, not even most of the time. And people, once unfooled, talk about the experience. You’re not in charge. And your prospe

(Stolen from my Better Research Blog ) Often times researchers sadly forget to think like marketers, business people, or consumers when evaluating what needs to be measured and how. Here are some great marketing principles you can embed in your mind when you're designing your research projects, programs and budgets (courtesy of Seth Godin ). People don’t buy what they need. They buy what they want. If you are marketing from a fairly static annual budget, you’re viewing marketing as an expense. Good marketers realize that it is an investment. Conversations among the members of your marketplace happen whether you like it or not. Good marketing encourages the right sort of conversations. Products that are remarkable get talked about. Marketing is the way your people answer the phone, the typesetting on your bills and your returns policy. You can’t fool all the people, not even most of the time. And people, once unfooled, talk about the experience. You’re not in charge. And your prospe

I love my better research blog , but its for me and my company and a bit research focused to keep me "completely satisfied." (which of course means very little compared to loyalty and advocacy) Whether you're a researcher or advertising rep, in operations or a sales person you' re also a marketer. You market your company, your product or service and most importantly yourself. And I think you could do it better. I know I could do better. So here is a place for tips, for stories, for distractions... I love all three!

I love my better research blog , but its for me and my company and a bit research focused to keep me "completely satisfied." (which of course means very little compared to loyalty and advocacy) Whether you're a researcher or advertising rep, in operations or a sales person you' re also a marketer. You market your company, your product or service and most importantly yourself. And I think you could do it better. I know I could do better. So here is a place for tips, for stories, for distractions... I love all three!

I did the unheard of this weekend for today's professionals... I didn't check my email. Not once. But apparently I was in demand because one panel company sent me 23 invitations between the time I left work on Friday and when I arrived this morning at my desk. 23! Even if I chose to participate, where would I begin?

While some people still are still hesitant about online qualitative research, our friends at Maritz Research have layed out some of the most viable options, including their qual-quant Dynamic Insights (powered by Invoke) offering. Certainly there are still times when focus groups or one on one interviews serve the need, but don't forget that as the internet and internet usage evolves it is creating more and more opportunities to get great insights from consumers online. Read the article here.

Often times we hear objections about how qual-quant doesn't really work or isn't truly blended, which is true in many cases when its cobbled together, but not when the methodology is designed to be used for this purpose. In the latest issue of C&R Research's KidzBeat newsletter there is a nice piece from Kelley Styring of Insight Farm about how their IQ offering (powered by Invoke) really does the trick... Here is a sample (you can read the whole thing on page 11 here ). As a Consumer Strategist, I struggle with this daily when it comes to Market Research tools. My clients want and deserve to get the most value they can from every study, sometimes pushing what a technique can do until they break it – or under-serve their learning needs by compromising what a tool is intended to do. We ask people in focus groups to raise their hands and count the numbers. Ugh. We ask people in online surveys to describe the feel of their hand on a suede jacket. Really? While we design