August 2010

Could wearing a particular color influence the results obtained by a salesperson? If that salesperson is selling to a buyer of the opposite gender, the answer may be, "Yes!"

Marketers gaze in envy at brands like Apple. The firm that built some of the first home computers turned their customers into legions of fanatical evangelists. But, without a Steve Jobs at the helm, or with fewer resources than Apple,…

Big thanks to Johnny Dee of The Guardian for listing Neuromarketing as one of the six psych blogs that made their “Internet Picks of the Week.” Others listed include Mind Hacks and Malcolm Gladwell.

If you were asked to judge a policy proposal for addressing a social issue, which would be more important to you, the content of the proposal or the party that wrote it? Most of us would answer that the specific policies would be much…

Mistakes Were Made by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson does a deep dive into cognitive dissonance, a key driver of apparently irrational behavior.

What if there were five days every month when your customers were unusually receptive to your product? If you market products or services that make women more attractive (apparel, cosmetics, diet programs, etc.), those magic days…

Twitter is a mess. Maybe it's just me, but in the last few weeks the vast majority of my new Twitter followers were bots or people promoting something. Perhaps that's not unexpected. After all, I'm sure an even higher percentage of…

Marketers expend a great deal of effort making it easy to buy their products. They expand distribution channels, offer financing alternatives, and when possible ensure the customer can leave with the product at time of purchase. After…

Targeting Boomers or seniors with your advertising? Keep it simple. While that's usually good advice for any kind of advertising, brain scans show a dramatic difference in the ability of older brains to suppress distracting…

Marketers know that a key element in many purchases is to signal something about the buyer. A Toyota Prius, for example, says that its owner is concerned about the environment. Expensive luxury brands let the world know the buyer has…