NeuroMarketing - Playing with the consumers sub-conscious mind

In this article, I would like to take you through two brilliant videos by Martin Lindstrom, the author of Buy-ology - The truth and lies about why we buy.

In brief, Martin talks about brands leveraging the subconscious mind of the consumers to buy products. He also talks about how research methodologies produce deviated results, how negativity creates positivity in warning notifications, how your body senses react to whims and fancies Neuromarketing.

Interview with Martin Lindstrom - Part 1/2



Don't miss part two!

How to get students involved in your product?

Children, students, youth – seem to form a distinct market in India, so massive in size, complexity and taste and entrepreneurs, marketers - everywhere are trying their best to grab their fleeting attention. They're part of that coveted 15 to 30-year-old demographic. If your product has a shelf life after college, you're in luck--you're catching them in their purchasing power formative years. But to use an appropriate analogy, selling to college students is never an easy thing.

That's because marketing to college students poses a special set of challenges. They're often transient, skeptical and cash-strapped thus making it a difficult market to penetrate.

So, how do you market to the student community? Here are some tips.

The Kiss Principle

If you’re thinking this is some really new way in the art of kissing, I’m sorry I’ll have to disappoint you. The ‘Kiss Principle’ is especially for marketers and it stands for ‘Keep it simple, stupid’.

‘Being quick’ is in, and marketers should take note. The ‘Kiss Principle’ is something that all of us can learn and act on every day. But in our 140-character world, let’s adjust and go with “keep it short, stupid.” I won’t pretend to be the first to use this acronym, but I’d like to apply to it to social-media marketing practices. At this point, I would also suggest that you might be interested in reading the 4 C’s that have replaced the 4 P’s in Marketing 3.0 before learning the ‘Kiss Principle’ for your understanding.

5 Tips To Communicate Better & Build Stronger Relationships

by Misty Belardo

Do you have friends that you have not seen for a long time and yet, when you see each other, it feels like it was just yesterday? Some people are quite amazed at that, and do not believe that type of friendship or relationship is still possible. The key is all in how you communicate and thus help build a better relationship. The rules apply to business as well as your personal life.

Communication is key to be successful in whatever field we are in. It is our way to express our thoughts and ideas to people around us. I am very lucky to have great teachers in the field and I am happy to share some tips that have helped me in both aspects of my life.

1. Be sincere – People will know if you are pulling their leg. Tell it how it is and people will appreciate you more and will be more interested in what you have to say.

2. Look at the person when you speak with him or her – This is good for a one-on-one or face-to-face conversation. Look the person directly in the eye. Don’t wander off. I think it is bad manners, by the way, plus the person you are speaking with will think you are not really interested.

3. Listen before you speak – Listening is important, this will allow you to reply with the best answer or advice that you can possibly give.

4. Tell a story – As my mentor always said, what you are trying to communicate will be easier to digest if you try to tell it like a story. People like to hear analogies and facts, it is much easier for them to truly understand your point.

5. Give Value - Make sure that when you communicate, you also try to educate and give value to your listener. By doing so, they will feel your sincerity.

Maybe you have some more tips that you can add to this. We would love to hear your views.

Welcome to the ‘Decade of Games’

For those of you still trying to wrap your head around the meteoric rise of social networking over the past decade, this post might hurt a little bit. Because just as you and most of the world were getting a handle on it, the decade of social abruptly ended.

Why? Look around. When social networks have been around in the last decade 2001-2010, there has been an evolution. There has been a layer of games created on them so as to keep the users entertained. As more and more people tend to spend time on the net playing these games ‘the decade of being ‘just social’ is evolving.

This doesn’t mean that we will stop using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr to share with our friends, colleagues and families. In fact, quite the opposite is true, our combined usage of these social networks will continue to increase. Rather, the decade of constructing the social layer is complete. The frameworks that we'll use to share socially are built, defined and controlled. Construction on the social layer ended with the launch of Facebook's Open Graph protocols over the last several months. All the interesting social stuff that will occur over the next decade (and there'll be lots, I'm sure), will exist within this predefined framework built and controlled by Facebook. In short, the decade of social is over.

How great leaders inspire action

Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership all starting with a golden circle and the question "Why?" His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers -- and as a counterpoint Tivo, which (until a recent court victory that tripled its stock price) appeared to be struggling.

Five Communication Tips for Leaders

by Mike Myatt

Regardless of your station in life, both what you say, and how you say it matter…It matters to an even greater degree for those in positions of leadership. Leaders simply don’t have the luxury of choosing their words in cavalier fashion. Whether in written or oral form your vocabulary matters. Few things make an impact, or lack thereof, like the words you allow to flow from your lips or from your keyboard. Even when you think they don’t, people really are listening to what you say, reading what you write, and making important decisions about you based upon your choice of words.

Do not make the mistake of taking the importance of communication for granted – communication matters. Put simply, the ability to effectively communicate with others is often the difference between success and failure. Don’t be fooled into thinking your title, education, influence, or charisma can take the place of sound communication skills. While the aforementioned characteristics certainly won’t hurt, they can be quickly eroded and/or undermined by making poor choices in the words you use.