Social Networking is necessarily the big buzz word for businesses. But, who/where can like-minded small, brick and mortar businesses owners go to for peer advice?
I'm talking about the type of advice that's centric to owners of small restaurants, car washes, dry cleaners, etc. etc. And ideally, a platform for forums, advice sharing that comes from peers within the same or nearby communities--the ones that share the same customers.
We've looked around the Web, and whether we haven't looked hard enough or deep enough, we actually haven't found anything that meets the above description.
We actually proferred this idea up to a web-based 'business broker' that specializes in bringing small business buyers and sellers together. They have a captive audience of more than 3000 "sellers", and 20,000+ qualified buyers seeking to buy an established business within their geographic area, and the value added this broker can provide by creating a forum for their audience will only make their business stickier...We'll let you know if they actually implement this idea..but its a good idea for any B2B facilitator...
Speaking of small business ideas...In a previous career, one that was considered to be a high-pressure pressure cooker (think Wall Street trading desk), several of us with glasses half empty would fantasize about a better quality of life career, and the idea that we kept coming up with was opening a franchise of bikini-waxing store fronts.
Of course, that type of idea is not surprising considering the testosterone-tainted trader mindset. And it should come as no surprise that several of us actually enrolled and became certified in the art of bikini-waxing.
But wait, before anyone lambastes us for being sexist, .now we've really hit on the next brilliant idea for brand marketers that like to baste ideas to the max: leveraging the new, and hottest trend in the bikini-waxing industry: Vajazzling..
Never heard of it?? Well, Jennifer Love Hewitt has recently become the unpaid spokesperson for a personal styling strategy that is, for lack of a better expression, re-purposing the most personal real estate.
Think about belly-rings in the navel, and move down a few inches. We've profiled shaving heads for advertising messages in this blog; and now...ta da!...Watch this video, and put on your brand marketing hat. Instead of simple Swarovski crystal, I'm thinking pre-packed crystal kits that are designed with corporate logos..Godiva, are you watching and paying attention?
Monday, April 19, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
See Me, Hear Me, Buy Me....
I'm violating rule #1; never blog more than once a day, at most. In fact, more than 2x a week is stretching the limits. Why? Your audience will be convinced that you are either (i) unemployed (at least 1 out of 10 are, so you're not alone) or (ii) under-employed (who isn't?) and/or (iii) a narcissist that craves attention and is suffering from the delusion that people want to actually tune in to your blog and read what you have to say.
But, when it comes to a topic that we're particularly passionate about, we find ourselves pontificating more frequently.
Web-based Video (for corporate application). How many times have we shouted out about this? You can search the blog archives, but I'd think you'll be seeing postings on this topic going back to the early 2000's, or thereabouts. In any case, we're compelled to point out a watershed moment from within the sometimes illiquid realm of financial services.
You see, banks and brokers haven't easily embraced web-video for several reasons. We'll overlook the issue i.e. network security, so perhaps the most relevant is that regulators that regulate the advertising of registered broker/dealers are pernicious when it comes to advertising collateral, and compliance departments at respective firms are sensitive when it comes to approving advertising content that don't have easy-to-understand rules to guide them.
To date, FINRA hasn't been able to come up with guidelines for brokers or for hedge funds when it comes to the approval process of web-video content..but now they apparently have...as illustrated by a press release put out yesterday by BarclayHedge...a media company that provides a range of services to the hedge fund world. Here's the excerpt:
BarclayHedge, Ltd., announced the launch of BarclayHedge TV – a web-based capability that allow registered managers of hedge funds, fund of funds and managed futures funds to create and make available videotaped presentations online for current and prospective investors. BarclayHedge, which had begun accepting applications for its new BarclayHedge TV service, will arrange and oversee all aspects of its new video service, from scripting assistance to professional videotaping & editing to online hosting and updating.
“We believe this is an opportunity for funds to provide a higher level of transparency and interest among prospective institutional and high net worth investors.” Sol Waksman, founder and President of BarclayHedge, said, “We think regulators and investors alike will welcome a tool that allows them to see, hear and evaluate the people and the thinking that drives various alternative investment strategies.”
We don't know that much about Barclay's capability i.e. producing content, but we do know that NYC-based MediaPlace knows how to do this stuff better than most.
And while we're on the topic of video: today's NY Times Business section includes a half-page article profiling the evolution of Out-of-Home and In-Store Video: "The Incidental Video Screen is Seen By More Viewers Than Prime Time," and asserting the fact that those little (and sometimes big) drop-down flat panels in doctor's office's, health clubs, lounges, and retail stores are capturing more valuable eyeballs than prime time TV--which makes that genre a superb channel for advertising to captive audiences.
Last: for those that missed the above points, sit back, watch and listen to this:
But, when it comes to a topic that we're particularly passionate about, we find ourselves pontificating more frequently.
Web-based Video (for corporate application). How many times have we shouted out about this? You can search the blog archives, but I'd think you'll be seeing postings on this topic going back to the early 2000's, or thereabouts. In any case, we're compelled to point out a watershed moment from within the sometimes illiquid realm of financial services.
You see, banks and brokers haven't easily embraced web-video for several reasons. We'll overlook the issue i.e. network security, so perhaps the most relevant is that regulators that regulate the advertising of registered broker/dealers are pernicious when it comes to advertising collateral, and compliance departments at respective firms are sensitive when it comes to approving advertising content that don't have easy-to-understand rules to guide them.
To date, FINRA hasn't been able to come up with guidelines for brokers or for hedge funds when it comes to the approval process of web-video content..but now they apparently have...as illustrated by a press release put out yesterday by BarclayHedge...a media company that provides a range of services to the hedge fund world. Here's the excerpt:
BarclayHedge, Ltd., announced the launch of BarclayHedge TV – a web-based capability that allow registered managers of hedge funds, fund of funds and managed futures funds to create and make available videotaped presentations online for current and prospective investors. BarclayHedge, which had begun accepting applications for its new BarclayHedge TV service, will arrange and oversee all aspects of its new video service, from scripting assistance to professional videotaping & editing to online hosting and updating.
“We believe this is an opportunity for funds to provide a higher level of transparency and interest among prospective institutional and high net worth investors.” Sol Waksman, founder and President of BarclayHedge, said, “We think regulators and investors alike will welcome a tool that allows them to see, hear and evaluate the people and the thinking that drives various alternative investment strategies.”
We don't know that much about Barclay's capability i.e. producing content, but we do know that NYC-based MediaPlace knows how to do this stuff better than most.
And while we're on the topic of video: today's NY Times Business section includes a half-page article profiling the evolution of Out-of-Home and In-Store Video: "The Incidental Video Screen is Seen By More Viewers Than Prime Time," and asserting the fact that those little (and sometimes big) drop-down flat panels in doctor's office's, health clubs, lounges, and retail stores are capturing more valuable eyeballs than prime time TV--which makes that genre a superb channel for advertising to captive audiences.
Last: for those that missed the above points, sit back, watch and listen to this:
Tweeting For Dollars...Blowback Mountain out of Molehill...
Even though Twitter announced its plan to push into paid-for-advertising back in November of last year...(we opined on that strategy on Nov 22..), according to one news media outlet, the blow back from the formal announcement yesterday illustrates that we tend to be slightly ahead of the curve..
"...Reactions to Twitter's plans to introduce adverts broke into two broad categories: relief that the site had announced a business model which might allow it to continue as a free service; and some doubts that they would be effective or popular..."
Since I'm not a shareholder in Twitter, nor do I have any investment stake courtesy of my multi-million dollar investments in private equity firms, I'm certainly not "relieved" that Twitter has finally gotten around to introducing a revenue scheme.
For those (including myself) that remain dubious as to whether the strategy will prove effective for advertisers, or popular for those that eat tweets throughout the day, similar half-empty glasses that were around when Google introduced its advertising strategy were equally cynical when that plan was unfolded.
Like it or not, for brand marketers, Google is to advertising what what oxygen is to breathing. You can't have one without the other. And that's what makes Sergei so happy.
Twitter says it will start with an impression-based rate card. I hate those.
Aside from the fact nobody can actually audit impressions with any real integrity or credibility, if I wanted to pay for a mili-second's mind share, I'd buy a bill board on the FDR, on an I-95 section somewhere in between Westchester NY and Stamford CT, or similar, high-traffic stretches in LA, or maybe even Florida (The latter is a coin-toss idea unless targeting geriatrics, and unless you're smart enough to use 3 foot fonts for the shout out message).
But for whatever reason, Twitter is following the lead of other high traffic web sites by introducing a CPM model to start, and at some point, they'll figure out how to introduce PPC; a model that smart advertisers will insist upon.
Which brings us to the topic of whether this new model will be embraced by advertisers. Of course it will.
First of all, "social networking" is the marketing cats' pajamas. Sheep travel in packs, and those responsible for ad buying are frothing at the mouth in anticipation of sending out that memo to the EVP of Marketing to update them on the implementation of their Twitter ad campaign, and how they've already spent the first $50k allocated for Twitter ads.
Do I think it will be an impactful way to promote a product or a service [from the consumer's perspective]?
Nah.
Everyone that I've canvassed has said they would never follow (click) a link to a product ad. Explaining why email marketing typically only makes money for the people that get paid to send out the messages. The ROI on email marketing has been dropping year after year for the past five years, partly because most people that have clicked on a link have found their identities lifted, or their PC's infected with malware.
I'd also argue that people that consume tweets are consuming upwards of 100 lbs of bytes a day. As a result, I'd insist their receptacles are overwhelmed, presuming their brains haven't already turned into mash potato.
That said, and as pointed out by a large audience of developers that create Twitter-compatible apps, The Kingdom of Twitter is rapidly moving away from open source to "Open-wide, it won't hurt a bit when we take it out..[for our proprietary use], and then you can close your mouth..[and fuhget about making a penny off of us..]"
There is one Twitter ad strategy that I think is great; famous and infamous celebs are charging thousands to incorporate a product pitch into individual tweets. Brilliant idea! I know that my client will want to pay Paris Hilton $10k for tweeting about one of my favorite products
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Marketing Makeover: You Change Your Shirt; You Should Change Your Web Presentation!
After noticing a NY Times story that profiled various companies in the midst of managing a PR crisis (can you spell Toyota?), it was interesting to note that the companies in question have made dunderhead updates to their respective websites, whether via downplaying widely-publicized recall notices, or inserting gratuitous comments that failed to fully accept responsibility for whatever it was their company did to inspire the respective PR crisis and the angst of their customers.
The article didn't intend to, but it did include subliminal observations about the importance of refreshing your corporate image, as displayed via your company website. Obvious? Of course. Another hit to the operating budget? Actually, it doesn't have to cost an arm, or a leg to make changes to your company website. If it does, you're doing something wrong.
Let's face it; we're in a makeover world. Our audiences wants to be refreshed, reminded, re-stimulated. After all, we get face lifts, body tucks, new hairdo's, we paint the house a different color every once in a while (forgive me for offending those that have been evicted after failing to pay their mortgage), we buy a new tie, we buy a new handbag, etc., etc. All with the objective of projecting a fresh, updated and uplifting message. And presumably, we're incorporating the current 'trend'.
This isn't to suggest you need to re-do your corporate logo, or your corporate corporate "tag line." Some tag lines are timeless. Case in point: ten years ago, we crafted the tag line for a global financial services company ("The Professional's Gateway to the World's Markets") and that tag line is still flying on the masthead of every single piece of the company's collateral (print, radio, tv, web, correspondences, etc.)
Makeovers don't need to be extreme. For example, installing an elegant video element within your website doesn't require rocket science, but its consistent with the current trend i.e. presentations. We love video. It captures the essence of our virtual/mental touch points.
Sight and Sound Sell. Its that simple.
There's no shortage of vendors--in NYC alone there are literally dozens of shops that can produce great stuff; my choice is MediaPlace, simply because I've worked with them for years, and they know how to re-purpose a corporate message better than most.
Yes, we make it a point to introduce changes to our firm's website on a regular basis. Sometimes we incorporate a timely 'satisfied client story'. Sometimes we tweak the front page so as to incorporate the most current phrases within our value proposition; that shows visitors we're on top of our game, and at the same time, it gives a boost to our SEO objectives. Sometimes we modify the layout and change the fonts.
Changing your presentation is good..just as long as you're not shaving your head or growing a mullet.
The article didn't intend to, but it did include subliminal observations about the importance of refreshing your corporate image, as displayed via your company website. Obvious? Of course. Another hit to the operating budget? Actually, it doesn't have to cost an arm, or a leg to make changes to your company website. If it does, you're doing something wrong.
Let's face it; we're in a makeover world. Our audiences wants to be refreshed, reminded, re-stimulated. After all, we get face lifts, body tucks, new hairdo's, we paint the house a different color every once in a while (forgive me for offending those that have been evicted after failing to pay their mortgage), we buy a new tie, we buy a new handbag, etc., etc. All with the objective of projecting a fresh, updated and uplifting message. And presumably, we're incorporating the current 'trend'.
This isn't to suggest you need to re-do your corporate logo, or your corporate corporate "tag line." Some tag lines are timeless. Case in point: ten years ago, we crafted the tag line for a global financial services company ("The Professional's Gateway to the World's Markets") and that tag line is still flying on the masthead of every single piece of the company's collateral (print, radio, tv, web, correspondences, etc.)
Makeovers don't need to be extreme. For example, installing an elegant video element within your website doesn't require rocket science, but its consistent with the current trend i.e. presentations. We love video. It captures the essence of our virtual/mental touch points.
Sight and Sound Sell. Its that simple.
There's no shortage of vendors--in NYC alone there are literally dozens of shops that can produce great stuff; my choice is MediaPlace, simply because I've worked with them for years, and they know how to re-purpose a corporate message better than most.
Yes, we make it a point to introduce changes to our firm's website on a regular basis. Sometimes we incorporate a timely 'satisfied client story'. Sometimes we tweak the front page so as to incorporate the most current phrases within our value proposition; that shows visitors we're on top of our game, and at the same time, it gives a boost to our SEO objectives. Sometimes we modify the layout and change the fonts.
Changing your presentation is good..just as long as you're not shaving your head or growing a mullet.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Marketing: Its All About Selling..I've got a great brick for sale!!
While this blog is necessarily focused on (among other things) "marketing" and related communication techniques, the fact of the matter is, its all about selling. However entertaining it is to read about/hear about people that position themselves as "marketers", if you can't sell, then marketing is meaningless.
Its all about connecting the tag line to the bottom line, which means its all about sales.
So, it was equally entertaining to notice a contest searching for "the world's greatest salesperson," promoted by OgilvyOne, a division of the icon ad agency WPP.
Contestants are being solicited to upload a video to a dedicated YouTube.com channel in which they demonstrate, explain, illustrate, or otherwise present the best way to sell a brick.
No, not the kind of brick that's slated to become legal in California as a means to increase the tax revenues; just a simple run of the mill brick. Accordng Ogilvy, the most creative brick salesperson will win a trip to present in a live shark tank, and be hired for a 3 month internship.
Not a bad way to capture video resumes, although some will likely game the system and go back to research the history of Pet Rocks.
Here's my submission on the product value proposition, the video elements can be based on the following narrative:
"We have It. You Want It! And it won't cost more than a handful of cement!"
Its all purpose, eco-friendly, non-destructible and here's just some of the things that it can do:
Ok..maybe those are silly ideas, maybe note...But, if you want to win the "best salesperson" prize from Ogilvy, they say that you should go to their channel on YouTube
Its all about connecting the tag line to the bottom line, which means its all about sales.
So, it was equally entertaining to notice a contest searching for "the world's greatest salesperson," promoted by OgilvyOne, a division of the icon ad agency WPP.
Contestants are being solicited to upload a video to a dedicated YouTube.com channel in which they demonstrate, explain, illustrate, or otherwise present the best way to sell a brick.
No, not the kind of brick that's slated to become legal in California as a means to increase the tax revenues; just a simple run of the mill brick. Accordng Ogilvy, the most creative brick salesperson will win a trip to present in a live shark tank, and be hired for a 3 month internship.
Not a bad way to capture video resumes, although some will likely game the system and go back to research the history of Pet Rocks.
Here's my submission on the product value proposition, the video elements can be based on the following narrative:
"We have It. You Want It! And it won't cost more than a handful of cement!"
Its all purpose, eco-friendly, non-destructible and here's just some of the things that it can do:
- Open car doors if you've lost your key
- Gain entrance to back door if you've been locked out.
- Be used as weapon (no license required!!!)
- Decorative device/paper weight
- Door stop--or the Perfect Book End (for those that still buy books..)
- The first ingredient to building your $2 million mini-mansion!
- Anchor for your mini-yacht (anchor rope available for slight additional charge..)
- Tire stop for your golf-cart.
- Message carrier for industrial strength sling shots.
Ok..maybe those are silly ideas, maybe note...But, if you want to win the "best salesperson" prize from Ogilvy, they say that you should go to their channel on YouTube
Friday, March 26, 2010
Back to Business of B2B Web-Video Chat : Oovoo
We can't explain how/why we overlooked Oovoo.com, and we won't bother telling you how we tripped over this company...
The first glimpse of the application and the platform suggests that it looks good, its priced right (there's a free version and options i.e. enterprise version), but also reminds us that when it comes to B2B technology applications, the first-movers' disadvantage is the notorious obstacle that is increasingly prevalent: firewall.
That said, we think this platform is a good one..notwithstanding the fact that for broadcasting, its powered by an executable that needs to be downloaded...and that element might introduce some hiccups..but we haven't kicked the tires hard enough or long enough to determine whether or not your computer might have a digestion problem....
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Seeing (and Hearing) is Believing; How to Rise Above the Clutter
Video, video, video..we've been playing this harp and harping on the subject of businesses needing to leverage new media apps while their competitors are languishing in the world of traditional messaging techniques.
The proposal below was prepared by an agency that's been around the block more than a few times, and in our opinion, they hit the bulls eye when crisply condensing the client's already nicely configured value proposition. Equally appealing, the agency formulated a very cost-sensitive strategy that provides the client with an approach that will have extended shelf life, and can inserted in multiple applications.
Corporate Marketing Communications Proposal From Media Place & JLC Group to WallachBeth Capital
The proposal below was prepared by an agency that's been around the block more than a few times, and in our opinion, they hit the bulls eye when crisply condensing the client's already nicely configured value proposition. Equally appealing, the agency formulated a very cost-sensitive strategy that provides the client with an approach that will have extended shelf life, and can inserted in multiple applications.
Corporate Marketing Communications Proposal From Media Place & JLC Group to WallachBeth Capital
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Social Network Advertising & LinkedIn.com Before You Buy In...Read the Warning Label
To: Steve Patrizi, VP of Advertising Sales
After establishing a PPC ad program via LinkedIn at beginning of week, it took less than two days to recognize that the campaign in question has been charged for noticeably more clicks/visitors than we have documented for the same period of time by two different site traffic applications that are installed on the destination website.
One of those meters is google analytics, the other is a tool provided by AMZN.
After presenting this to LinkedIn advertising "online support", and requesting explanation or otherwise a credit, we were disheartened to receive a canned email reply indicating someone would eventually send another canned reply. Surprising that you don't have a live chat staffed by people to service paying customers, but I suppose that would be a reach..In the mean time, it would be nice if someone were to actually reach out and address the issue. Would hate to instruct credit card company to dispute the charges...or to be the source of 'unhappy customer testimonial'
Thanks in advance for your reply.
To customer support:
This is the second attempt to contact support re: what definitely appears to be your double-charging us for clicks on recently-implemented PPC program.
After noticing that you have charged us for almost 2x the number of clicks than the number of actual LinkedIn referrals reported by two different traffic logs that we maintain, we immediately reported this issue and we scaled back our program by half. Six hours later, we noticed you reported 2x the traffic than what our traffic logs reported for the remaining ads that were 'live".
Dear ,
Thank you for your quick response.
We do not provide support for third party web tracking or analytics software. Because of this, we are unable to supply information regarding possible differences.
We are confident in the information provided by reporting tools that monitor the clicks redirected to your site as well as our other reporting tools across the entire LinkedIn platform. At this time, we would encourage you to contact the third party vendor directly for questions related to their software or potential discrepancies in reporting.
Thank you for your continued use of our DirectAds product.
Regards,
Stephanie
LinkedIn Customer Support
After establishing a PPC ad program via LinkedIn at beginning of week, it took less than two days to recognize that the campaign in question has been charged for noticeably more clicks/visitors than we have documented for the same period of time by two different site traffic applications that are installed on the destination website.
One of those meters is google analytics, the other is a tool provided by AMZN.
After presenting this to LinkedIn advertising "online support", and requesting explanation or otherwise a credit, we were disheartened to receive a canned email reply indicating someone would eventually send another canned reply. Surprising that you don't have a live chat staffed by people to service paying customers, but I suppose that would be a reach..In the mean time, it would be nice if someone were to actually reach out and address the issue. Would hate to instruct credit card company to dispute the charges...or to be the source of 'unhappy customer testimonial'
Thanks in advance for your reply.
To customer support:
This is the second attempt to contact support re: what definitely appears to be your double-charging us for clicks on recently-implemented PPC program.
After noticing that you have charged us for almost 2x the number of clicks than the number of actual LinkedIn referrals reported by two different traffic logs that we maintain, we immediately reported this issue and we scaled back our program by half. Six hours later, we noticed you reported 2x the traffic than what our traffic logs reported for the remaining ads that were 'live".
Dear ,
Thank you for your quick response.
We do not provide support for third party web tracking or analytics software. Because of this, we are unable to supply information regarding possible differences.
We are confident in the information provided by reporting tools that monitor the clicks redirected to your site as well as our other reporting tools across the entire LinkedIn platform. At this time, we would encourage you to contact the third party vendor directly for questions related to their software or potential discrepancies in reporting.
Thank you for your continued use of our DirectAds product.
Regards,
Stephanie
LinkedIn Customer Support
Thank you Stephanie…
We didn’t suggest that you do support third party traffic log reporting software.
But the fact is, when two independent applications report exactly the same thing and completely contradict your reports and you respond to customers by insisting that your charges are accurate, and that your reporting meter works better, or is more accurate than Google Analytics, or Amazon’s vendor tools, any reasonably experienced advertiser would take exception to your reply.
After noticing that you had charged us for almost 2x the number of clicks than the number of actual LinkedIn referrals reported by two different traffic logs that we maintain, we immediately reported this issue and we scaled back our program by half. Six hours later, we noticed you reported 2x the traffic than what our traffic logs reported for the remaining ads that were 'live".
Needless to say, we will be terminating our ad program with LinkedIn immediately, disputing the charges with our credit card company, and we’ll look forward to sharing this experience within the various LinkedIn groups that we participate in, as well as the various industry blogs that we contribute to on a regular basis.
Best of luck in your career!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Video Ad Messages Now Playing on Your PDA--Duh!!
If you've been following this blog for more than the last 5 updates, you'll know that I've always been a big proponent of video-centric marketing and communication applications for corporate, B2B and small businesses.
We're not newbies when it comes to digital communication, as this writer was arguably among the first wave of pioneers that advocated internal corporate instant-messaging applications when most Fortune companies were still busy trying to figure out how to leverage enterprise email.
Then came blogs, next came Twitter, and while "Marcomm Guru's" imbedded in corporate cubicles are still trying to get their arms around what works and what doesn't work, the Rich Media train keeps on rolling over those that haven't figured out which "best practices" are best vs. those that make the bean counters barf when attempting to monitor how the EVP of Sales and/or EVP of Marketing are working to connect the tag line to the bottom line.
Click on the link to the title of this posting--and then read in between the lines. If you can't understand how this story underscores how to leverage existing technology with your "social media strategy", give us a call and we'll paint a connect-the-dots picture so that even your CEO will "get it".
Post script reminder: "Cutting Edge" initiatives often result in a little bit of bleeding at first.
We're not newbies when it comes to digital communication, as this writer was arguably among the first wave of pioneers that advocated internal corporate instant-messaging applications when most Fortune companies were still busy trying to figure out how to leverage enterprise email.
Then came blogs, next came Twitter, and while "Marcomm Guru's" imbedded in corporate cubicles are still trying to get their arms around what works and what doesn't work, the Rich Media train keeps on rolling over those that haven't figured out which "best practices" are best vs. those that make the bean counters barf when attempting to monitor how the EVP of Sales and/or EVP of Marketing are working to connect the tag line to the bottom line.
Click on the link to the title of this posting--and then read in between the lines. If you can't understand how this story underscores how to leverage existing technology with your "social media strategy", give us a call and we'll paint a connect-the-dots picture so that even your CEO will "get it".
Post script reminder: "Cutting Edge" initiatives often result in a little bit of bleeding at first.
Friday, February 05, 2010
Why KISS Makes So Much Sense
We don't typically re-print other people's work, but this makes for a good read if you're taking a long sit, or especially if you've got one of those new e-reader/tablets that look like Etch-O-Sketch devices and find yourself reading more on the porcelain porch..
Courtesy of Boston.com's Drake Bennet (click on the title link for the full article):
This would probably not strike you as a great idea. But, if recent research is to be believed, it might just be brilliant.
One of the hottest topics in psychology today is something called “cognitive fluency.” Cognitive fluency is simply a measure of how easy it is to think about something, and it turns out that people prefer things that are easy to think about to those that are hard. On the face of it, it’s a rather intuitive idea. But psychologists are only beginning to uncover the surprising extent to which fluency guides our thinking, and in situations where we have no idea it is at work.
Psychologists have determined, for example, that shares in companies with easy-to-pronounce names do indeed significantly outperform those with hard-to-pronounce names. Other studies have shown that when presenting people with a factual statement, manipulations that make the statement easier to mentally process - even totally nonsubstantive changes like writing it in a cleaner font or making it rhyme or simply repeating it - can alter people’s judgment of the truth of the statement, along with their evaluation of the intelligence of the statement’s author and their confidence in their own judgments and abilities. Similar manipulations can get subjects to be more forgiving, more adventurous, and more open about their personal shortcomings.
Because it shapes our thinking in so many ways, fluency is implicated in decisions about everything from the products we buy to the people we find attractive to the candidates we vote for - in short, in any situation where we weigh information. It’s a key part of the puzzle of how feelings like attraction and belief and suspicion work, and what researchers are learning about fluency has ramifications for anyone interested in eliciting those emotions.
“Every purchase you make, every interaction you have, every judgment you make can be put along a continuum from fluent to disfluent,” says Adam Alter, a psychologist at the New York University Stern School who co-wrote the paper on fluency and stock prices. “If you can understand how fluency influences judgment, you can understand many, many, many different kinds of judgments better than we do at the moment.”
A handful of scholars have already started to explore the ways that advertisers, educators, political campaigners, or anyone else in the business of persuasion can use these findings. And some of the implications are surprising. For example, to get people to think through a question, it may be best to present it less clearly. And to boost your self-confidence, you may want to set out to write a dauntingly long list of all the reasons why you’re a failure.
Courtesy of Boston.com's Drake Bennet (click on the title link for the full article):
This would probably not strike you as a great idea. But, if recent research is to be believed, it might just be brilliant.
One of the hottest topics in psychology today is something called “cognitive fluency.” Cognitive fluency is simply a measure of how easy it is to think about something, and it turns out that people prefer things that are easy to think about to those that are hard. On the face of it, it’s a rather intuitive idea. But psychologists are only beginning to uncover the surprising extent to which fluency guides our thinking, and in situations where we have no idea it is at work.
Psychologists have determined, for example, that shares in companies with easy-to-pronounce names do indeed significantly outperform those with hard-to-pronounce names. Other studies have shown that when presenting people with a factual statement, manipulations that make the statement easier to mentally process - even totally nonsubstantive changes like writing it in a cleaner font or making it rhyme or simply repeating it - can alter people’s judgment of the truth of the statement, along with their evaluation of the intelligence of the statement’s author and their confidence in their own judgments and abilities. Similar manipulations can get subjects to be more forgiving, more adventurous, and more open about their personal shortcomings.
Because it shapes our thinking in so many ways, fluency is implicated in decisions about everything from the products we buy to the people we find attractive to the candidates we vote for - in short, in any situation where we weigh information. It’s a key part of the puzzle of how feelings like attraction and belief and suspicion work, and what researchers are learning about fluency has ramifications for anyone interested in eliciting those emotions.
“Every purchase you make, every interaction you have, every judgment you make can be put along a continuum from fluent to disfluent,” says Adam Alter, a psychologist at the New York University Stern School who co-wrote the paper on fluency and stock prices. “If you can understand how fluency influences judgment, you can understand many, many, many different kinds of judgments better than we do at the moment.”
A handful of scholars have already started to explore the ways that advertisers, educators, political campaigners, or anyone else in the business of persuasion can use these findings. And some of the implications are surprising. For example, to get people to think through a question, it may be best to present it less clearly. And to boost your self-confidence, you may want to set out to write a dauntingly long list of all the reasons why you’re a failure.
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