Atomic Ideas - Helping You Sell More Stuff!

New Study: Customer Reviews On Retailer's Websites Have a Major Impact on Buying Behavior.

If you're a retailer and you don't have or allow user-generated reviews on your website, here's some information from an article by Shannon Bryant on the ad-ology Marketing Forecast site that might get your focus off of Facebook and back on your own home page! 

Below are a few of the insights from  the article which covers a new "Social Shopping" study by the e-tailing group and PowerReviews of over 1,000 consumers who shop online more than 4 times a year and spend over $250 annually:

"Retailers’ sites played an important role in the research process, and respondents said the most critical capability for a retailer to have was customer reviews. A lack of user-generated reviews would cause nearly one-half (49%) of respondents to leave a retailer’s site."

"Though the “2010 Social Shopping Study” found that customer reviews had a strong influence on the purchases of 71% of respondents – while only 25% said the same about Facebook fan pages – an earlier e-tailing group study of Web merchants found Facebook had caught on so strongly that more planned a presence on the social networking site in the next year than would have customer reviews."

• The majority (57%) of shoppers begin their online research with a search engine
• The top three places consumers named for finding information online when researching products were retailer sites (65%), brand sites (58 percent) and Amazon.com (33%)
• Social Media sites (e.g. Facebook, Twitter) ranked as the place where consumers were least likely (6%) to research

A few more snippets from the e-tailing group's press release on the study.

• Shoppers today are spending more time reading reviews before making purchasing decisions. 64 percent take ten minutes or more (as compared to 50 percent in 2007) and 33 percent take one half hour or more (as compared to 18 percent in 2007).
• Consumers today are also reading more customer reviews in order to be confident in judging a product. 39 percent read eight or more reviews (as compared with 22 percent in 2007) and 12 percent read 16 or more reviews (as compared with 5 percent in 2007).
• The top factors that degrade trust in product reviews are not enough reviews (50 percent of respondents say this degrades trust), doubt that they are written by real customers (39 percent) and no or limited availability of negative reviews (38 percent)
• Following poor product content (72 percent), lack of customer reviews (49 percent) was ranked as the number one reason a consumer would leave a site when conducting product research.

Food for thought!

What's The Difference Between Marketing and Advertising?

Somebody asked me this question the other day and it's one I've been asked several times before. Seems a lot of people think marketing and advertising are the same thing and the fact is, they're not. Here's an easy (and simplistic) way to look at it.

Marketing is everything you do to connect buyers with what you're selling - answering the phone, advertising, public relations, product pricing, distribution, market research, media planning, customer support, sales strategy, channel strategy, event marketing, sponsorships, community involvement and sometimes... a whole lot more.

Advertising is just one part of the marketing mix. It's how you get the word out, with direct mail, billboards, television, radio, newspapers, events, the Internet or any other delivery channel that reaches your customers where they live.

Advertising is usually the most expensive part of Marketing.

Happy Monday!

Atomic Ideas Friday Funnies. Hilarious Toyota RAV4 Video Kills It... Literally!

It's been a long week, right?

So laugh it up! We love this spot from Toyota... sort of "RV meets War of The Roses" in 60 seconds. Funny stuff to kick off the weekend!

If Your Products Were Free, What Would You Have Left To Sell?

It's an interesting thing to think about, isn't it. And if you think "nothing" is the answer, it isn't.

With last years economic woes and a slow recovery, many retailers, and businesses of all types really, have been forced to become more competitive as customers look to stretch every dollar.

The simplest strategy is to cut prices. Then when the competition catches on and matches you, to cut prices again. On and on until, one day, you can't go any lower without seriously impacting the profitability and stability of your business.

And that's what got us thinking... what if you're products were free, and so were your competition's. What would you have left to sell to set you apart from them? What would customers pay for?

The answer is value, it's the only thing you have left. And value is everything.

Value is the complete, total experience you offer your customers.

Value is what people get for their money when they buy from you; the whole shebang. Not how little they pay. 

So the real question becomes, how much would your customers be willing to pay for the experience of coming to you for your free stuff?

We're not saying don't fight on price. Sometimes you have no choice. But at some point you have to think about the alternative... something we call Customer Experience Optimization.

Figure out what you can do to exceed customer expectations and optimize your business to make value happen. People will pay more for an exceptional experience. Better yet, they'll tell their friends about it!

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lwr/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

What Kind of "Ad Agency" Does Your Brand Need To Succeed?

Maybe you haven't noticed it, but we have. In the marketing and advertising industry these days, everyone seems to be into everyone else's business. "Traditional" agencies  are claiming to be digital experts and "Digital" agencies are claiming to be branding and advertising experts. Even the broadcast production facilities we traditionally make our commercials at are morphing (or should we say mutating) into web, and yes, branding "experts."

Then there are the PR agencies and, well, they apparently can do it all, too... logos, ads, social media, events, brand strategy, janitorial services and catering (all within the context of your business objectives, of course). If I'm a CMO, I'm either confused, or thinking everyone at every company is desperate and full of excrement.

The truth is a little or a lot of both. Which is why, for better or worse, the gang at Atomic Ideas is not playing the game.

My partner Gene Brady gave a presentation the other day on "Telling Your Marketing Story." It seems to me that a lot of the companies in our industry are making their stories up these days. In other words, they're saying anything they think might resonate to make a buck. They're not being honest... with themselves, or with their prospective customers. Gene's major point was that you have to figure out what you are the "most of" as a company, and then walk that walk.

Atomic Ideas is above all honest. What are we the most of? Simple. Every single one of us has a proven track record of helping brands define who they are, what they are, why they matter, and who their best customers and prospects are... and then translating their "marketable truths" into smart creative that connects with those customers and prospects to make the cash register ring.

It's still the ideas and the messages that count; whether it's delivered via traditional media, digital or PR. The delivery mechanisms are just tools. So if you don't understand your customers and what they want from you, and if your marketing message to them is wrong, it doesn't matter how you deliver it.

A great example of this is Palm and their agency Modernista's introduction of the Palm Pre smart phone... literally Palm's last-gasp effort to pull itself back into prominence as a smart phone manufacturer.  We commented on what we believed was the esoteric inanity of the advertising in this post. Turns out we were right. The product didn't sell and Palm ended up selling out, to HP. The alternative was going out of business.

We've been proving we can deliver brand strategy and smart creative, individually and collectively, for over two decades. We don't claim to be anything else or do anything else. it's truly and honestly what we are "the most of".

We don't aspire to be a traditional ad agency or a digital ad agency. We're a Marketing For Sales firm. We believe brands aren't built in the mind, they're built with the wallet. We help clients sell more stuff, that's it... with smart insights and smart creative. At the end of the day, that fundamental, low-tech stuff still counts more than any shiny new delivery tool to help your company succeed.

Before you hire an expert or a guru, or anyone else to help you achieve your marketing goals and grow your company, ask them to tell you... and prove to you... what they are "the most of." If they can't give you a believable answer, give us a call.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/inju/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Baseball, Hot Dogs, Escargot and Chevrolet!

See the USA in a (French Advertised) Chevrolet!

Is it just me, or does it seem like a disconnect for an American Icon (Chevrolet) to pick a Paris-based French conglomerate, Publicis,  to do their advertising?  I mean sure, the creative and day-to-day servicing of the account will be handled  by Americans in San Francisco (even though Chevy Headquarters are in Detroit), but the profits still head home to the land of baguettes and brie.

Now don't get me wrong, I like French toast, French fries and French's mustard as much as the next American, but at the end of the day, I'm an AMERICAN.  And as an AMERICAN, I along with my fellow AMERICANS just got finished lending Chevy, via GM (an AMERICAN company), billions of AMERICAN dollars to bail them out. All so that they could continue to sell millions of vehicles to...who are those guys again?....Oh yeah, AMERICANS! 

Chevy prides itself on being the car for the average AMERICAN. You'd think that when it came to picking an agency to advertise their AMERICAN cars to AMERICANS that they'd  heed the wisdom on the bumper stickers of their best customers (ie AMERICANS) and "Buy American." After all, those best customers have been putting "Buy American" bumper stickers on their cars for decades to protect AMERICAN jobs and encourage sales of AMERICAN autos. 

I say, next time GM needs a bailout, they should ask the French people si vous plais. 

And next time we buy an AMERICAN car, we buy it from an auto company that "Buys American."

SIDEBAR: Not only has Chevy slapped America in the face, they've also kicked their hometown, Metro Detroit, in the gut. They've moved their account out of this area, already one of the hardest hit by the automotive downturn, which will cost hundreds of badly needed jobs. There are great agencies here in Detroit. Other car companies like Lincoln, Ford, Mercury, Mazda, Buick, etc all find what they need, right here. Not to mention the thousands of other leading companies and corporations who get all of their advertising/marketing help here. After all, Chevy did too, for 90+ years. I'm sure if they cared to, they could have found a Detroit agency that is more than up to the challenge, and barring that, an AMERICAN agency in New York, Chicago, LA, or even San Francisco that could easily handle their needs.  

Heineken Football Prank Reaps Amazing Results.

What happens when you coerce over 1000 rabid AC Milan football (soccer) fans into missing a huge Champions League match with Real Madrid and force them to go watch a string quartet and some poetry readings instead? Something really big, that's what... millions of people exposed to a really clever stunt.

Maybe the bigger question here is how they got these men to give up one of "the most sacred moments guys have left watching football with friends" in the first place.

Watch the video to find out and see what happens after the concert starts. Brilliant!