31+ takeaways from this 93 minute interview:
The amount spent, annually, by U.S. companies on field sales efforts is 3X their spending on all consumer advertising, more than 20X the spend on all online media, and more than 100X what they currently spend on social media. Selling is, by far, the most expensive part of strategy implementation for most firms.
Frank Cespedes. “Sales Still Matters More than Social Media”
Getting noticed is a prerequisite of any good idea.
Storytelling is the most powerful form of communication ever invented.
Through stories we learn, entertain, communicate, and socialize with each other.
When you are intent on putting a great wrong right, creativity will often exceed all expectations.
Out of conflict comes purpose.
For most of us, anger amounts to stress, and the worst type of stress at that.
But for artists, anger can be a positive force.
If focused and channeled into a piece of work, it is capable of producing something of great profundity.
Facebook’s pages platform reaches only six percent of a brand’s followers; and it’s headed down to one to two percent.
If businesses want to make sure that people see their content, the best strategy is, and always has been, paid advertising.
The Golden Age of Bullshit by Bob Hoffman citing Time Magazine and a Facebook spokesperson for Time Magazine
Participation isn’t enough.
Having a more clear-sighted view on people’s real world buying behaviours and thus which consumers actually matter to the generation of revenue and profit begins to gives us a framework for thinking about participation.
The Participation Paradox by Martin Weigel
Snap judgments and rapid decisions often lead to poor work.
The ability to stand back from your thinking and give it what we call ‘the overnight test’ is essential.
Unfortunately, we live in a world today that too often doesn’t allow this.
Recognizing that brands aren’t simply built upon exclusive loyalty but are highly dependent on vast numbers of light, polygamous buyers – and that growth comes from acquiring more of them, not increasingly the loyalty of current buyers – puts the role of the ‘fan’ into proper perspective.
The Participation Paradox by Martin Weigel
The people LEAST likely to engage deeply are the MOST important for growth.
There is a way out of this paradox. But it requires us to embrace two principles:
1) Battle for interest, not attention
2)Fans are actors, not the audience
The Participation Paradox by Martin Weigel
Any great work, regardless of medium, is almost certainly expressing a distinct point of view.
But if that point of view doesn’t contain a truth, then you can bet that the work’s impact will be fleeting.
Advertising is most successful when it seeks to increase penetration, not loyalty.
The Participation Paradox by Martin Weigel citing Charles Graham
The more we are exposed to a brand the more we like it.
The number one drive in human behavior and biology is homeostasis, or the seeking of the same stable, balanced, predictable state.
All consumers find a great deal of comfort and pleasure in what is known and familiar.
7 unconscious errors we make when buying brands by Douglas Van Praet
The importance of occasional buyers who don’t buy you often and aren’t devoted to you is further underlined when you look at which consumers matter most to brand growth.
To grow, you need to recruit lots more new users who buy you just occasionally.
The Participation Paradox by Martin Weigel
When was the last time you mentored somebody who was less experienced than you?
When was the last time you tried to bring together your community and do things for your community?
The purpose of marketing is not merely to secure the attention, participation and purchases of the fans alone.
Brands depend on retaining and attracting legions of buyers who don’t know our brand well, and don’t buy it very often.
The Participation Paradox by Martin Weigel
Customer touchpoint opportunities are proliferating faster than brands can adapt.
With so many platforms on offer, only those brands that pair their products with well-designed services will retain consumers’ affection.
This is blurring the lines between products and services.
James Deakin. Fjord. “Five key technology trends that will hange our lives this year” warc sub req’d (via peterspear)
Advertising works by a process of Unconscious Behaviorism.
We are being conditioned by the media on a deep unconscious level and it is this implicit associative emotional conditioning that drives our brand preferences.
We make decisions by emotional association more so than rational analysis.
7 unconscious errors we make when buying brands by Douglas Van Praet