By Kristen Skender from innovations.

“A recent study by Consumer Web Watch found that 65 percent of U.S. Internet users surveyed said they wouldn’t buy from a poorly designed site — even if it offered their favorite brand! Further, nearly half (46.1 percent) of the participants ranked “design look” as the most important component when evaluating site credibility, followed by “design/structure.” ”

When was the last time you reviewed your website? Perhaps even more important, when was the last time you reviewed your competitors websites? If 65% of consumers will not even consider purchasing from a poorly designed site, imagine what they think when faced with two competing products/services, the website can easily be the deciding factor between your product and a competitors.

Keep a list of your top 5 role model companies, whom your company strives to be like and emulate. They can be within your sector, or in other industries even. Then create a list of your top 10 competitors, I do approximately 5 direct and 5 in-direct offerings. Then conduct quarterly web blitz reviews. We keep these reviews in a three ring binder, so you can quickly note changes, new products/services, staff updates, etc when browsing through the sites. Have fun with it, create a ranking system and critiques of these sites.

Your website should stand out among direct and in-direct competitors, the colors, look, photography, content, and features. However, there should be some standardized elements that are comfortable to consumers in your sector. You do not need to become radically different, compared to your competitors, just make a memorable- differentiate(able)- brand. Remember, it is human being on the other side of the computer, so make it personable and interesting!

Buy.ology, by Martin Lindstorm is a easy to read write up of the largest Neuromarketing study ever conducted. This was quite surprising to me, since I assumed that studies such as this had been occurring for quite some time. Given the level of modern technology, research, and most importantly the money being spent on marketing this is a very prevalent topic and Lindstrom’s study is merely the trendsetter in this endeavor. This book analyzes the true impact ads, sounds, brands, and images have on the brain.

Here is why this study is so critical in emerging media and marketing’s evolution to “Marketing 4.0″: A majority of the time the reports from the brain scans in his research greatly contradicted the survey responses the subject reported, regarding their thoughts about an advertisement. This discredits a variety of focus groups, beta tests, and market research methodologies currently utilized.

Lindstrom though didn’t find all of these results to be surprising since 8 out of 10 new product launches fail in the first three months. Which is amazing, since 12 billion was spent in 2007 on “market research” and over 117 billion on, “packaging and displays, TV commercials, online banner ads, celebrity endorsements, and billboards”. He alludes to the fact that if we truly knew what the market wanted, the failure rate would be much lower.

So, Here’s The Readers Digest Version:

Mirror Neurons: Make us want to be like the ads we see and truly believe that we can be like what we see.

Product Placement: Only works if it is integrated into the show plotline where it is placed.

Somatic Markers: Are images, moments, and influences in our life create metaphorical “bookmarks” in our brain that point us subconsciously: towards specific brands or products.

Selling to our Other Senses: Sound, smell, and other senses do have a significant impact on our buying behaviors.

Using Sensual Images in Advertising: Primarily distracts from the message and has a lower recollection of the actual product being promoted.

This is on my highly recommended reading list for marketers to stay cutting edge and evaluate emerging media strategies.

Social media is hard to measure at times and define. In a lot of ways, our activity on these networks defines the platforms each day. Myspace has faded to the background for social networking while remaining strong in the music community of bands, artists, and talent. Linkedin, Twitter, and Facebook are the most popular sites, for general purposes while industry specific social networks expand each day. So far, Facebook is the leader in proven valuation of the mega social media platforms, after selling a 1.6% share to Microsoft for 240 million dollars in 2007. Who really knows how valuable the other networks truly are? There are forecasts, which are guestimates at best, as membership fluctuates daily and our interest as consumers or users seems to jump from one site to another. At times, we are utilizing all three to accomplish our personal social networking needs.

There is even an entire side of social networking for business beyond the companies promoting thru ads, groups, and profiles. Celebs are paid to tweet/post and matchmaking services for you to find a celeb are growing in popularity. ad.ly shows the centers of influence and number of followers each celeb currently has. There are over 5,000 celebs to choose from! Your audience can hear about your product directly from your favorite athlete, actor, or musician. Past clients include Microsoft, The Wall Street Journal, Toyota, even NBC.

According to a new publication of the Harvard Business Review, “In online social networks, 62% of all messages about products and services are posted via just one platform: Facebook.” Which, it is interesting since Facebook does not take the lead with the celeb matchmaking masterminds, which focus more on twitter to get the word out.

To expound upon this, I will be reading the newly published HBR book, Empowered by Josh Bernoff and Ted Schadler of Forrester Research. Which describes the use of “HEROS” AKA Highly Empowered and Resourceful Operatives for social media within your company. More to follow on my thoughts of this book.

Companies are getting ready for the holiday season with their ads increasing, new toys launching, and preparing to supply a large volume of inventory really kicking off for Black Thursday, the day after Thanksgiving sales. Toys R Us published their Hot Toys for 2010 list a few weeks ago, you can view it here. Topping the list, Lalaloopsy, Pillow Pets, Play Station “Move”, and Playskool Alphie. I found it interesting that the new X-Box, Wii Party, Black Wii Console and controller that comes in pink and blue as well were not included in the list. Also, the hot toy of 2009 the zhu zhu pets failed to make the cut despite their new line.

They are now promoting a full line of hamster pets, accessories, play mazes, and more. They previously had five different colors of Zhu Zhu Pets, “the pet without the mess” and now display a sneak peek at what must be their holiday line. Check them out. Each pet has a profile page with their name, photo, bio, birthmark, and collector number. They are looking to expand this year with the collect them all mentality as opposed to having one pet and done, much like the beanie babies of the late 90’s.

I find their marketing strategy to be somewhat unethical, mostly because they are marketing to children. If they were marketing to grown-ups, different story. Here is why, last year they truly did not expect these toys to be a hit phenomenon so they did not have the manufacturing power and distribution network to meet the demands. I feel that this year, despite the necessary funding and growth they have not scaled up appropriately to intentionally be short on supply this year to create a greater demand.

These things became so popular, because not every child could own one. Kids would come to school with them, but could not have one of their own with instant gratification, long before the holiday season. These tiny hamsters had parents on a scavenger hunt and waiting in long lines at the wee hours of the morning, which most American children hardly have to wait for their toys like that. I believe that the scarcity of them were what set them apart from competitors with similar products. This is certainly not the first robotic “pet” creature on the market. Should they hold back inventory to replicate the same supply and demand cycle this holiday season I would find that to be unethical in marketing to children.

What do you think? What are your bets for hottest toys for 2010?

As the internet continues to expand, intellectual property rights online continue to be defined on a case by case basis. Setting guidelines as issues are broached in court. Prior to the world wide web it was easier to keep a name, idea, sales strategy, or product under the radar until you completed the patent/trademark/copyright processes, whichever are appropriate to your product. A majority of the research on the subject, is conducted by other countries and posted online.

I think that even more so, intellectual property protection online is necessary, because it is that much easier to find out about your competitors just takes a simple google search. Protecting what you have created is even more challenging due to the ease of others finding and replicating it.

We have had challenges to create under the radar start-up beta tests without a web presence, because the high-end customers we seek to have participate in the pilot group would want to check it out online first. It took quite a bit of explaining to make them understand we were not displaying this for the world to see yet. There is something to be said for a launch at your selected timing, as opposed to when your competitor discovers you. Which is hard to pull off now a days!

I did read an interesting blog from a blogger advising other bloggers on ideas to protect their online content here.

Now, as far as what you post online and when:

There is something to be said for the privacy obtained, by not posting news online immediately. I hear frequently, that as soon as we hear something it should be sent as a press release or posted on our website. At times, our team has to make a judgement call on the appropriate timing, of course we want to be first out with the news. However, the consequences of being first in and then having issues can be even more hard to repair than being a second entrant into the marketplace. I have had countless experiences of announcing new team members to have them resign, announcing new programs that didn’t last more than a few weeks, and having the wrong information published. There is something to be said for a well thought out launch story, with a track record. Your consumers will accept updates to online announcements so many times, as we are all human. A track record of false reporting though will damage both consumer and media relations.

So, the moral of the story is take a few extra pauses before you launch and plan your launch strategy. As soon as it is online, you are fighting to protect your intellectual property and hoping it sticks. Now this is coming from a team that launches new products online in under 24 hours, so our timeline to go public with information is fast. That extra 48-72 hours of refinement, is what takes us to the next level with our product and staff training to be prepared for the launch and inquiries to follow.