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I was a mere seven when Psycho was first released in movie theaters.
Fifty years later, the film's marketing campaign is still as vivid to me as it was in 1960.
As the grownups lined up in front of our local movie house, Alfred Hitchcock's voice played through a crackly outdoor speaker, advising them to keep the end of Psycho a secret.
Just inside the glass doors loomed a life-size cardboard cutout of the director with a sign that said, "The manager of this theater has been instructed not to admit to the theatre any persons after the picture starts."
Both warnings were echoed on the marquee and the outdoor posters wrapped around the building.
Before the release of Psycho, a lot of people thought it was okay to stroll into a theater at any point in the showing of a film.
Not after 1960. Hitchcock changed the way people went to movies. Theaters playing Psycho actually had to close the box office once the picture started.
Word-of-mouth turned Hitchcock's $800,000 production into a $15 million blockbuster.
What lessons can "the master of suspense" teach?
- Are you offering customers a new experience?
- Are you asking customers to talk about you?
- Are you surrounding yourself with a bit of mystery?
- Are you insisting on time limits?
Harrah's is making big news by pioneering PetStay, a program that allows dogs in three of its properties in Las Vegas.
Canine guests will enjoy many in-room amenities, including a sleeping mat, food and water dishes, and treats.
At check-in, dogs will receive welcome packets that include directions to essential services providers, including groomers, walkers and veterinarians.
Dog owners will be furnished disposable waste bags.
This may be the only time a visitor ever cleans up in Las Vegas.
It's time to take a fresh look at your sales "funnel."
Only executives—comfortably behind the lines in the daily battle for market share—still believe customers are gullible.
Direct-accountability salespeople know they're anything but.
Today's customers are self-educated. And then some.
That's why Joseph Jaffe, in his recent book Flip the Funnel, insists the traditional metaphor of a sales funnel is passe.
Today's customers are "indefatigable researchers," Jaffe writes, who "will do what they can to make informed decisions that disintermediate marketing misdirection, hyperbole, overpromise and hype."
If customers are smarter than ever, what should marketers do?
In a 2009 article, "The Consumer Decision Journey," consultants at McKinsey & Company recommend marketers "look beyond funnel-inspired push marketing" and begin to cultivate customers while they're conducting their research.
"The epicenter of consumer-driven marketing is the Internet, crucial during the active-evaluation phase as consumers seek information, reviews, and recommendations," the authors state.
Wooing customers during the "decision journey" demands that marketers forego old-fashioned media advertising, according to the authors.
They must focus instead on building content-rich Websites and word-of-mouth advertising.
If you want your customer base to grow, Seth Godin famously says, you should turn the funnel sideways.
Let customers use your funnel like a megaphone. They'll broadcast their satisfaction to others.
That would take care of your word-of-mouth advertising.
But what about your content?
That's where you need to turn the funnel upside down.
You need to flip your funnel and fill it with tons of great content. And make the content free and accessible.
So when customers on the decision journey find you, they'll find not a hypester, but a helpful, trusted advisor.
In her recent article for International Association of Business Communicators, Natalie Canavor laments the fact that Millenials' business writing is "tone deaf."
"Beyond having trouble with basic content and writing mechanics," Canavor says, "many younger people appear to be tone deaf: They may get their point across concisely, but with an abruptness that can offend older folks. And since many clients, board members, major donors and other influentials tend to be older folks, this is risky business indeed."
The disappearance of courtesy in business writing stems from four sources, according to Canavor.
First, busy Millenials have no time for tact, she says. According to a recent survey, they lack all patience for "small talk." For Millenials, communication is about passing along facts.
Second, Millenials are wedded to texting, "which more or less demands an absence of niceties and builds a telegraphic habit."
Third, Millenials are the victims of poor schooling. Canavor cites a conversation with Chicago adman Bob Killian, who blames college deans. The professors spot students' writing errors but are forced to let them stand, Killian claims. "They say the students complain and then the dean tells them that it’s not their job to correct grammar and punctuation—and those students are future donors!”
Finally, Millenials are "skeptical of authority." So courtesy just doesn't come naturally.
Ironically, that makes their writing sound (to me, anyway) pretty darn authoritarian.
The New York Times reports that major retailers, spooked by the soft economy, launched their Christmas shopping season ad campaigns a week before Halloween.
"Some retailers and marketers, worried that uncertainty among shoppers might increase as the weeks go by, hope to pull demand forward by moving up the start of their pitches," according to reporter Stuart Elliott.
Retailers who jumped the Yuletide gate are taking a big chance, however.
"The profusion of Christmas campaigns runs the risk of wearing out shoppers who may at some point tire of all the Santas and candy canes," Elliott notes.
I'm feeling worn out already. How about you?
