From a consumers point of view, a supermarket is quite simple; Put what you want into your trolley and go through the check-out. Behind the scenes though, psychology is used a lot to define what products and brands you buy in supermarkets. Stands are designed to catch your eye and the store layout is structured to maximise profit.

Through my investigations, I have found the following tactics can be used supermarkets and similar stores.

Eye level marketing

Generally speaking, the most expensive items with high profit margins are placed on shelves that are at shoppers' eye level. This is because you are more likely to see them than the less profitable brands at the very top or near your feet..

Aisle order

Some customers, particularly men, tend to simply shop for what they want, walking down an aisle grabbing what they want, turning back and walking the way they came, this is called the 'Boomerang Effect'. In order to maximise shopper and produce contact time, shops therefore place major items and brands in the middle of aisles ensuring that from any direction the customer has to walk the furthest to reach them.

Product grouping

Items that complement each other are often found close together to entice you to buy more. You'll often find pasta sauces on the same display as a featured brand of pasta.

Food smells make you feel hungry

Another tactic supermarkets use is the smell of freshly baked bread coming from the in-store bakery during the after-work rush. The smell of warm bread makes people feel hungry. When you feel hungry while shopping you are more likely to buy additional items.

Canned smells

Most Supermarkets bake their bread early in the morning, however to entice more custom some have resorted to pumping out the smell of fresh baking bread to add to the illusion that it is constantly baked through the day.

Essentials at the back

Supermarkets hit upon the idea of placing the essentials, such as bread and milk, at the back of the shop. This is in order to make people have to walk past the rest of the produce, and heighten the possibility of impulse buys, in order to get their necessities. Changing rooms in clothes shops are almost always situated at the rear of the shop.

Attracting children

One American supermarket chain hit upon the idea of drawing a hopscotch in the aisle next to the children's cereal in order to make the children play and thus pin Mum & Dad to a point where the children could hassle them for treats.

Irrational Pricing

Irrational pricing is putting the price of items at say 4.99 instead of 5. The reason offered for not instead rounding $4.99 to $5.00 is based on memory processing time. Rounding upward involves an additional decision compared with storing the first digits. Furthermore, due to the vast quantity of information available for consumers to process, the information on price must be stored in a very short interval. The cheapest way to do so, in memory and attention terms, is by storing the first digits. Therefore customers perceive to be getting a better deal than they in fact are.

Order Of Price

Shops will often be laid out in order of price with the most expensive items being encountered at the beginning of your visit and the cheapest at the end. This is done to play on our sense of comparison, we are much more likely to spend money on accessories etc if we have just agreed to buy an expensive item, as in comparison they will seem cheaper than had we encountered them first.

Point Of Sale

Whilst you are waiting to pay retailers often install Point Of Sale displays, this is especially prevalent in Supermarkets who install racks of chocolate to tempt bored children waiting with their parents.

Shuffle

Many shops have a policy of regularly rotating the stock, this happens especially in supermarkets where people regularly shop for the same items. The idea obviously is to confront customers with a variety of items aside from their regulars and encourage them to explore areas of the shop they may not usually visit.

Time

The longer customers spend in a shop the more they are likely to spend. Therefore shops work to make sure customers have to spend the maximum amount of time in their stores, placing obstacles constantly in the way of efficient shopping.

Colour is an aspect of a website that is often picked haphazardly and without any thought from a beginner web designer. The lesser known quality of the colour of a website is that it can greatly affect the mood of your visitors. It is because of this that a websites colours need to be picked carefully.

Other than the mood of the site, the colour can affect your visitors in the more known ways:

• Too many bright colours may miss direct the user attention.
• Too much of one colour many become irritating.

But the first point about colour that is not well known is that colour is extremely symbolic. Just think, how often have your heard the phrases that someone is "green with envy", "blue" or can "see red." These symbolic influences come from when we are growing up. Name something Green, people say trees, name something blue, people say water. We have come to associate colours with where each colour is predominantly found. We can also summarise the traits for each colour.

Warm Colours

Red

Symbolises: Passion, fire, love, lust, war, violence, blood, and aggression
Suitable Uses: Where the aim is to motivate an individual to take action, convey a warning, or stop the user.
Some believe that: It stimulates the appetite and makes objects seem closer and larger.

When using different shades of red on a website, be careful. Because of the way the eye sees red, pink (which is a light shade of red) does not go with red. Also bright red can be quite irritating if used over large areas.

Pink

Symbolises:  Romantic, calming, cute, candy, soft and feminine
Suitable Uses: When you want to appeal to a users caring or romantic side.

Orange

Symbolises: Vibrant and warm, orange is associated with autumn, pumpkins, citrus and Halloween. It is like a less passionate red.
Suitable Uses: Could be used for food sites, nature sites.
Some believe that: It can convey warmth, assurance, stimulate the appetite, symbolise health, stimulates the mind and provides emotional lift. Also it is believed that it requires the eye to focus, therefore objects seem closer and larger.

Orange is one colour that would be good in moderation, avoid over-use.

Yellow

Symbolises:  sunshine, caution, construction, happy, cheerful, warmth, hope, light, energy, weakness or illness, or symbolize cowardice.
Suitable Uses: To make a webpage seem brighter and more spring like.
Some believe that: It stimulates the nervous system as well as the mind, makes objects seem closer and larger.

Like red, it captivates the eye, but can be an irritant if over-used.

Cool Colours

Green

Symbolises: spring, renewal, fertility, jealousy, inexperience, health, growth (vegetation) and wealth (money).
Suitable Uses: Great for websites about money and growing.
Some believe that: It lowers the blood pressure, relaxes the nervous system, calms the mind and creates a feeling of freshness. Also does not require the eye to focus, therefore objects and walls seem farther away.

Blue

Symbolises:  sky, sea, intelligence, reassurance, and trust but can also signify depression and sadness.
Suitable Uses: Make a website feel formal.
Some believe that: It does not require the eye to focus, therefore objects and walls seem farther away.

Purple

Symbolises: creativity, spiritual and mysterious.
Some believe that: is spiritual, mysterious and a very subduing colour.

Deep purple is associated with royalty and richness while lavender is associated with romance and nostalgia.

Neutral Colours

Black

Symbolises:  power, elegance, and sophistication, death (Western culture), evil, anger and sadness.

Just to be on the safe side, do not use over a wide area.

White

Symbolises: cleanliness, purity, and spirituality. It represents life and marriage in Western cultures, but it represents death in Eastern cultures.

Great as an accent or background colour because it makes other colours seem more vivid and bold

Grey

Symbolises: conservativeness, security, maturity and reliability, but it can also signify gloominess and sadness.

Brown

Symbolises: readability and stability, the hearth, home and the earth.

Web safe palettes

Although modern computers are capable of displaying millions of colours on the screen, Web design is limited to only 216 colours. The reason for this is that Mac computers and PC's both use completely different colour palettes. However, they have 216 colours that are common to both. These 216 colours are considered "Web safe". Using the 216 Web safe colours means that your Web site colours will look fairly consistent on different computers (Mac or PC), different operating systems (Windows or Mac), as well as different browsers (Internet Explorer and Firefox, to name two).

Tips and Ideas

• Use a single colour for your website design, but change the intensity of it to create other colours but to keep unity.
• Try 2 pick 2 colours that are related, but not to similar.
• Create contrasting colour designs with contrasting colours, like a warm and cool colour mix.
• Try a colour that is getting close to white, and a dark colour.
• Use white backgrounds with black text for ease of readability and when in doubt use red to draw the eye to your subject matter. Use caution when using any colours text. You want your content to be readable and easy on the reader's eyes.
• Keep your audience in mind
• There is no one colour that sells better, but the wrong colours can hurt sales.
• Limit your colour palette to no more than three colours to reduce visual clutter.
• Use colours that are appropriate to the theme of your web site.
• Use colours found in key photos or graphics on your web page for added harmony.
• Avoid harsh oversaturated colours. De-saturate colours to approximate colours found in nature and textiles.

Improving colour picking skills

The great fine artists are masters at manipulating the emotions through colour. Many of the principles they employ can be applied to web design.  Learn how to choose colours to set the right mood in your web design from colour principles and methods in fine art.

Every business has one, that little graphic displayed on everything they produce. Although a logo may look just like a stylistic name, it can mean brand recognition to a company.

Brand recognition

Many logos are designed on the cheap, with little thought given to them. Other companies like Macintosh, Xerox, and Lucent spent upwards of half a million dollars each to develop their logos. Then countless millions more to promote them. What they got for their money are symbols that are recognized instantly, around the world. You don't even need to see a name - the symbol is enough.

Polished look

A good logo helps a company have a clean, professional, polished look. The more clean, stylistic and original a logo is, the more chance there is that it will stand out from the competition and help get those extra sales.

Hard to design a good logo

Although it may seem simple, a logo is very hard to design. When you create a logo, you must take an entire company and everything it stands for and refine it down to a simple, graphic representation. It's the ultimate design challenge.

What made Nike choose a single tick?

The Nike tick is simple and clean, but original enough to be recognized by logo alone.

Although a rose by any other name will still smell as sweet, names have an important place in our society. They are important for communication and sometimes for memory.

When it comes to naming a business, you are trying to find a name that is:

• Memorable
• Easy to say
• Easy to spell
• Creates a certain feeling when it is heard

Coming up with a great name is not the easiest thing to do. It takes hard work and a lot of time. Here is a quick how to guide to get you started.

Brainstorm

Write down all the words that you can associate to your business. They might be feelings, ideas, missions or goals.

Relate

Using a thesaurus, look for words that are similar to the words you have used, have a good ring to them and are less common.

Translate

See how you words sound in other languages.

Experiment

Start playing with combinations of your words and partial works. Write down some of the names you come up with.

Reflect

Once you have a large list of words, start to remove the words that obviously do not suit your business. Have a break and see if you still feel the same way about the words when you come back.

Communicate

Get someone you trust to help go over the words and what they think of each one.

Recall

Without looking at your list, see which of the names and words you can remember.

Prioritise

With the help of a friend, make a list of the top words and throw out any that do not fit.

Check Trademarks

Make sure no one is using that name in your line of business. You may be able to use the name in a completely different business, but be aware that it may create confusion for both you and them.

Check domain names

You want to make sure that an appropriate domain name is available. You want YourCompanyName.com, of course. If that's not available, you may want to reconsider.

Search the internet

Even if someone doesn't have the domain, you still want to see what else is out there that has the same name. That doesn't mean you don't use it if you find something, but you need to know.

Check company names

If you're planning to incorporate, check with the Secretary of State (or other appropriate office outside the U.S.) of the state you're planning to incorporate in.

Check assumed names

For sole proprietors, check for local assumed names (also known as DBA). In the U.S., you check this with the County Clerk.

Stake your claim

Register your assumed name or file your incorporation papers right away. Also, start using either TM (trademark) or SM (service mark). You do NOT have to register them to use them.

Get the domain(s)

Find an inexpensive registrar and register your domain and any obvious variations on it. You shouldn't be paying more than $10 a year for each, and at that, it pays to prevent poachers.

Protect your brand

A U.S. trademark or service mark costs $325. It's a drop in the bucket compared to trying to defend it later. It's not really necessary, though, for a small local business.

Tips

1. Avoid generic names based on names, such as Joe's Bar, Sam's Hardware, etc. They're not memorable and are nearly impossible to trademark.

2. Avoid generic names that literally describe the product or service, like Computer Consulting Company, Appliance Sales and Service, Inc., etc.

3. Generally, avoid geographical names. Besides not generally being very memorable, what happens if you decide to move or expand? The exception is if you're trying to create a strong local affinity like, say, a neighbourhood bar.

4. Preferably, don't restrict future product or service lines. Be broad enough to include your wildest long-term vision for the business.

5. Try to keep the name short and easy to pronounce.

Recently I have started to take notice of the small print on television advertisements and have found that many advertisements have a large amount of fine print outlining the true cost of items and the conditions. In some cases the fine print is more than 5 lines long and only shown for 5 seconds.

I would not consider myself a slow reader, but I can not seem to read some of this fine print. At times the impression is given that this fine print is not shown for the user to read and is only there for legal reasons.

The act of displaying a large amount of "fine print" for a short period of time surely is discriminatory to television viewers that are not as fast at reading as other people.

There have been cases where I would not have taken an action if I or anyone around me had been able to read the fine print.

I guess that in many cases the "fine print" can be read on very large television sets, but most people have TV sets that are not the largest possible. This further hinders the readability of the fine print.

I just wait for some company employee to come back with the line "It was in the fine print" when I was unable to read the fine print in the first place.

Advertising Standards Complaints Board response

Thank you for your email. I note your points in relation to the use of fine print, particularly in relation to television commercials. The Advertising Standards Complaints Board has upheld a number of complaints on this issue and commented in the past on the need for care when using fine print in TVCs. The Fair Trading Act also applies to advertising that may be misleading.

If you have a particular advertisement you wish to complain about you can do so via our website and we will request a copy of the advertisement and consider your complaint.

The ASA Code of Ethics requires that all advertising is truthful. Rule 2 says:

Truthful Presentation - Advertisements should not contain any statement or visual presentation or create an overall impression which directly or by implication, omission, ambiguity or exaggerated claim is misleading or deceptive, is likely to deceive or mislead the consumer, makes false and misleading representation, abuses the trust of the consumer or exploits his/her lack of experience or knowledge. (Obvious hyperbole, identifiable as such, is not considered to be misleading).

I hope this information is helpful.

Regards

Executive Director
Advertising Standards Authority

Through out the commercial world, we are surrounded by marketing that has a strong call for action or requires an immediate response.

Telemarketers

We are cold called by telemarketers, and advertisers.

Hyped up advertisements

All the infomercials on television hype up a product with an extroverted presenter and give discounts for people that hurry and call now

Trends

There is a strong correlation between marketing and being up with the latest trends. Marketing often uses popular celebrities to portray their product as popular

What seems to go unnoticed in the marketing world is that all this hype, trend and celebrity marketing goes unnoticed or even avoided by people with an introverted personality.

An introvert is a person who is energized by being alone and whose energy is drained by being around other people. While extroverts love to be the life of the party, introverts tend to be quiet, low-key, deliberate, and engaged in non-social activities.

Statistics indicate that introverts make up 10-30% of the general population but as IQ increases, the proportion of introverts rises dramatically. Since there is a correlation between intelligence and income, you target more introverts as buying power rises. The greater the price of the product or service you are marketing, the greater the chance you are selling to an introvert. It pays to understand your audience.

There are some critical differences in the way introverts initiate consumer dialogue, process information, make decisions and put their decisions into dollars and cents.

Introverts do not care about trends

Just because you have an image of celebrity X using your product means nothing. Introverts are more likely to do things their way rather than fall into peer pressure and trend marketing.

Introverts care more about facts and details

You will get no where with just a big smile and a charismatic personality. To impress an introvert you need to know what you are talking about. Details, quality and facts impress us.

Introverts are highly territorial

Introverts don't like interruptions, uninvited visits or phone calls. Unlike most people who will get annoyed, but still answer the phone, introverts get an unlisted number, a fancy answering machine and they turn the ringer off. Also they have no qualms whatsoever about hanging up on you or closing the door in your face.

Introverts love to read

Unlike extroverts, introverts are more likely to read the small print on the cereal box, read any material on hand, and prefer to read over interacting with other people. Whoever thought about putting advertisements in elevators and inside toilet doors had introverts in mind. Well ... it's better than having to talk to the other people in the elevator.

Introverts prefer fact-sheets

Although introverts may not say much, they still take things in. They do not like talking to you though, and would prefer for you to just give them a fact-sheet instead.

Introverts are not impressed by personality

Having none ourselves, except the one we drag out on State Occasions :-) we do not put any value on yours. Please don't be cute, peppy, positive, enthusiastic or motivating. Instead, be polite, know your stuff, get to the point, leave written material and invite a response at a later date.

Introverts have being rushed

Not only does it not work, it is exhausting to introverts because we give energy while extroverts take energy. As every introvert in the world is only too aware, people who use hype suck more energy that should be legally possible in 52 states.

Introverts hate small talk

If you would like to make an excellent first impression, be polite and come quickly to the point. Above all, don't ask personal questions and by that I mean things you think don't matter such as how many children I have or what work my partner does.

Introverts hate phones, especially cell phones

Phones provide an interruption and allow people to start talking to you any time. Small talk is bad.

Introverts say what they mean

No means no

Choosing a name for your business is one of the first major decisions you'll make. Dreaming up one may come easy for some, but others struggle with the task. The name needs to be right as the wrong name can actually be the end of your wonderful business plan.

Easy to remember, easy to spell

Obviously, your potential customers and clients need to be able to remember your business name. They also need to be able to find it easily if they’re looking for it in a phone book, directory or online. Choosing a business name such as “Crychalwellyn” is a bad idea. Unique is good but difficult spellings are a bad idea.

Try to avoid words that can be written more than one way. When someone is telling you a name watch out for variations:

• Two can be confused with 2, To and Too
• You can be confused with the letter U

Create a visual element

What popped into your head when you read “Crychalwellyn”? Anything? Most people don't visualize anything when they read this business name that I invented. But generally we are hard-wired to “see” images when we read or hear language, and incorporating a visual element into your business name can be a powerful aid to customers’ memory (and a powerful advertising tool).

So you want your business name to have a strong visual element to it. The catch is that...

Include information about what your business does.

Chances are good that your new business is not going to become an international brand. It certainly isn't instantly going to become as well known as Nike. So you need to be sure that your new business name at least gives your potential customers or clients some clues about what you actually do. That is why you see so many landscaping businesses that have the word “landscaping” in their name, and hair styling businesses that include words such as “salon” or even “hair designs” in their names.

Including information about what your business does in your business name also makes it easier for potential customers and/or clients to find your business in phone books and directories (both off and online).

Keep your name short

Once again this is vital because you want customers and clients to be able to remember your business's name (and be able to tell other people what it is)! But it is also important for promotional purposes. You want a business name, for example, that will fit well on a business card, look good displayed on a sign or in an ad, and perhaps even a business name that will serve well as a domain name and show up well in search if you have an online business. So keep it as short as possible.

Quick tips

Being specific

There really is nothing better than making it obvious what you do. Economy Car Hire, for example, also suggests value for money

Positive associations

Link the name to something well known that is in common usage (so not copyright). E.g. Capability Brown's Garden Store.

Top of the list

Whilst Aardvark Roofing might get you pole position in the Yellow Pages, it'll be suspiciously obvious that you’ve done it on purpose. Better to create a happy coincidence, such as Abbey Roofing.

Generics

You would remember a business called ‘Wellington’s Boot Store. Also, if people are searching for you online, generic names help.

Benefits

Clearly the more your name alludes to a benefit, the easier it will be for people to remember. ‘Sparkling Windows’, suggests just that.

Homophones

These are words that sound the same, but have different spellings. They stick in the mind. The Sauce Source Ltd

Numbers

Adding numbers passes in and out of fashion. Unless there is a good reason (M25 Auto Recovery), numbers are usually best avoided.

Your name(s)

Although Messrs Marks, Spencer, Ford and Woolworth are amongst the best known exceptions, it usually shows a lack of imagination to simply call your business by your name.

Domain name

The internet is becoming more important. Check out the available domain names before committing yourself.

Second opinion

Hours of hard work will lead you to some stunning ideas for names. But, before deciding, ask others for their view.

Many business owners think that salesmanship and marketing are enough to succeed in business. Bzzzt! Wrong answer! There's another level to which all businesses should aspire: Creating a brand.

Branding is not marketing. Rather it is an integral part of your marketing strategy. It's also an important part of how you interact with clients, prospects, vendors, employees, and anyone else with whom you come in contact. Branding creates an image.

Proper branding creates loyalty. For example, what soda do you drink? What supermarket do you use? What's your favorite brand of gasoline? Take this exercise a step further. What image comes to mind when you think of the Sears? Neiman Marcus? Wal-Mart? Chances are that, unless you've had a bad experience at one of these stores, your perception is a result of branding strategy.

There are said to be 5 levels of brand recognition:

Brand rejection

If someone associates your brand with something negative, they will purposely avoid your product. Have you ever experienced bad service somewhere and swore you’d never return to that chain? Have any of your customers said that about your business? Create a logo and slogan that is filled with great benefits to your customer and put that on everything. If public opinion is turning against you or your product, launch a campaign to alter it.

Brand non-recognition

This is where your customers simply don’t recognize your brand… probably because it is not clearly differentiated from competitors. Boldly state your product or service’s benefits. Always include the full trademark name whenever you refer to your product. Be willing to create brand names for your products or services, just like you’ve done for your own business. Find the differences in value between your product and your competitors and highlight that difference mercilessly.

Brand recognition

This is a good stage to aim for if you don’t have any recognition at all. Brand recognition will help people lean toward your product when given the choice between your product and one they have never heard of. At the same time, though remember that your competitors are also working on brand recognition, which means their brand could be more recognizable. Continue to differentiate yourself and be sure to add value to your product in order to get to the next stage.

Brand preference

This is where customers – given a choice between two brands – will choose yours over someone else’s. It often is the result of a sense of differentiation and that your product or service uniquely serves their needs. As well, you can be sure that any value-added products or services you include help them to choose yours over your competitors. Even though this is a great stage to be in, it’s not the final stage. The stage you absolutely want to be in with your brand is…

Brand loyalty

This is where customers will choose your brand time and time again, even if they experience the occasional poor service or if another product comes along that seems to be better suited to their needs. To achieve brand loyalty, you need to provide a product that is highly differentiated, with plenty of value added, but also you need to offer them remarkable service at a level they will not get anywhere else. Providing this level of service will ensure that they will never switch.

How To Create An Effective Brand Name

One thing you'll notice about many of the most widely known brands is that they're simple and easily remembered, often consisting of just a three-letter acronym such as: IBM, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, BBC, etc.

Others are equally as memorable because they use words we already know such as: Apple, Windows, Brother, Cannon, etc.

However, there are also many more obscure or made-up words used to create brand names. Words such as: Xerox, Compaq, eBay, Yahoo, etc.

This shows that, when it comes to branding, "it ain't what you got, it's the way that you use it" that matters. 

The Logo

Just like brand names, the most effective brands have very simple, easily identified logos. A simple rule of thumb is that if you can't look at a logo for just 10 seconds then draw it with pen and paper -- it's too complex. Good examples of simple but very effective logos are those used by Mercedes, McDonalds, and the Yellow Pages.

If people can't remember what your logo looks like, they won't recognize it and they won't remember your brand. In its simplest form, your logo can simply be the brand-name itself, usually rendered in a tasteful font using contrasting colors.

And don't underestimate the importance of colors -- some companies have even trademarked the colors they're using as part of their branding!

IBM isn't called "Big Blue" for nothing -- and surely you've heard of "The Golden Arches" that identify McDonalds?

In fact, the whole process of designing the shape and color-scheme for a logo can be so critical that you might want to fork out good money to pay an expert to do the job. 

In the world of sales, impulse purchases are the most important. Impulse sales alone can account for over 50% of general purchases. Impulse purchases also help businesses to successfully release new products and maximise profits.

What makes an impulse sale so appealing to businesses is that they are instant sales with the customer giving little thought about:

• Price

• Reliability

• Usefulness

This is important because cost, reliability and usefulness are the main areas where businesses compete. Profit margins will be reduced if a business tries to reduce the price while improving the reliability and usefulness.

Impulse sales are determined by 3 separate factors. These are:

• First impression

• Availability

• Ease of purchasing

By using these 3 factors we can work to encourage impulse purchases. Here are some ways that might help to encourage impulse purchases.

The impressive one-of-a-kind feature

You need to catch your customers attention with a feature that is:

• Impressive

• Attention grabbing

• Marketable

• Cool

Your customers need to be thinking that your product or service is like no other and can do things much better, faster or easier. All your marketing needs to emphasise that what you have to offer is like no other. This will encourage impulse buying.

Marketing to a need

Your marketing needs to also make your customers think that they need your product or service right now. They should have no reason to put off buying your product or service. For example, you will have more impulse purchases if you try to sell winter clothes in the winter.

Limited time offer or discount

Discounts, special offers and sales are a great way to catch the attention of your customers. Deals make people think that they are getting something worth more than what they are paying for it. A well placed 3 for the price of 2 deal can have you customers walking out the door with 3 items when they only came in to buy one.

Easily accessible

You need your product or service to be very accessible to your customers. This includes:

• Having the product or details in a very prominent position that makes yours easier to find than your competitors.

• Place the product or details of the service everywhere people might look.

• Be able to deliver if the customer needs help to transport the product.

• Be able to provide the service on time.

Direct affect on customer

In your marketing, you need to cater for two types of audiences:

• Those who understand the features

• Those that do not understand

You will rarely get an impulse purchase from someone who understands the features. As long as the features and details are available, they will compare your product with others. Just make these details easy to spot.

For the rest of us, we are often overwhelmed by features and numbers. We are put off when we have to consider technical features as we automatically class the product as complicated and not easy.

To appeal to those that do not understand features and the details and make more impulse sales we need to state the benefits more prominently than the features. This means stating the direct effect on the customers. For example:

Feature that customers use to compare your product:

100 gigabyte per second transfer rate

Benefit that drives impulse sales:

No waiting

Rated fastest by [technical sounding magazine]

Feature that customers use to compare your product:

Double Glazing

Benefit that drives impulse sales:

Warm in the winter

Save on your home heating costs

Peer pressure

Potential customers are more likely to make impulse purchases if they can see that others are also buying your product. When your customers walk away with your product, you need others to be able to see what they have brought. This will get your next customers interested and thinking that they are missing out on something.

Every season has its colors. I love driving in New England in the early autumn to appreciate the aesthetics of their foliage with my radio tuned to WCRB, a classical music station. The colorful sights against the background of classical music seems like watching a ballet performance all around me. How can it not cheer me?

Every plate of food has its colors. Many chefs prepare food not only to tease you with the aromas or please your taste buds when eating, but rather to make you conscious of the final presentation of colors on the plate that the various foods represent to the naked eye. How about those fancy desserts with colorful designs mixed on the plate? My favorite restaurant to catch eye candy in all their dishes reflected by stain glass windows is The Abby located in Atlanta. I just wish the lights inside were a little brighter.

Every school has its colors. School Bus Yellow. Red Brick Buildings. Blackboards— although there are electronic whiteboards too!

So does marketing have its colors. You may not realize the psychological impact colors have on our lives. I once played the role of George Washington in Stan Freeberg's 1776 satire where I sang off-key to Betsy Ross while she was creating the American flag: “Take note of the colors you choose...the best you could do I suppose.”

Below is a guide to help you pick out the right colors for your logos, ads, and literature to represent your company. At least you don't have to worry about representing a country.

YELLOW – Stimulating. Expansive. This bright color is frequently used when highlighting knowledge, displaying ideas, and supporting creativity. “School bus” yellow provides great eye-catching appeal to educators. Ads from FirstStudent generate high attention-getting scores!

ORANGE – Reflecting. Pleasant. This warm hue is often seen when a subject is explored in depth or a structure is created. District Administration recently published a customized supplement for Aramark Enterprises called Partners for Progress. “Carrot orange” was effectively used on the cover to symbolize the structure of the healthy choices menu available for schools from this food service division. It may also be used when the intent is to show a “search for solutions.” SolidWorks recently used the color orange quite successfully in their ad as a highlighter to mark classified ads in a newspaper.

RED – Activating. Dynamic. “Seeing red” is effectively used when defining measures, setting rules, and working with emotional topics. Stop sign red cannot be overlooked in Brother International’s recent ad to help promote a special education offer.

BLUE – Concentrating. Restful. This serene color is often utilized when presenting and explaining facts, giving information, and working as an individual unit. Think cool IBM Blue!

GREEN – Harmonizing. Hope. Green is a popular earth color that is great to profile science topics or themes! LeapFrog SchoolHouse uses the color green to grab the reader's attention and match their mascot at the same time.

WHITE – Orderly. Clarifying. Edison Schools has been running black-and-white ads with classic photography in four-color magazines to stand out from the clutter! Extra white space always seems to give an organized feel to a marketing piece. And just for fun…how about those black-and-white cow boxes from Gateway?

You can also use shapes to communicate information about your company’s objective for a particular promotion. Below is a guide using shapes and their effects:

RECTANGLE – This is a popular shape for cards used in visualized discussions (i.e., flash cards). It's also seen when the objective is to explain details.

OVAL – This shape is often used to show headings of clusters and for emotional statements, as in cartoon bubbles.

CIRCLE – This form is used to present ideas to substructure topics and to mark individual contributions. Try using circles next time rather than squares to highlight an educator testimonial with a picture and comments. You’ll be surprised at how effective it will be.

RHOMBUS – This quadrilateral shape is an effective way to illustrate structures and show interdependence between topics. It’s ideal for publishers to display teaching across the curriculum.

HEXAGON – This six-sided shape can illustrate variations of a topic by clustering them as a honeycomb to explain ideas or profile solutions.

Many of the most memorable advertising campaigns around tend to be funny. Advertisers use this strategy to attract customers to their product. Audiences like to be entertained, but not pitched. People will pay more attention to a humorous commercial than a factual or serious one, opening themselves up to be influenced. The key to funny advertising is assuring the humour is appropriate to both product and customer. The balance between funny and obnoxious can often be delicate; and a marketer must be certain the positive effects outweigh the negative before an advertisement can be introduced.

The best products to sell using humour tend to be those that consumers have to think the least about. Products that are relatively inexpensive, and often consumable, can be represented without providing a lot of facts, and that's where there's room for humour. Candy, food, alcohol, tobacco and toys/entertainment related products have proven to benefit the most from humour in their campaigns. One of the most important things to keep in mind is relevance to the product. An example of an extremely successful humorous campaign is the series of "Yo Quiero Taco Bell" commercials. The star, a tiny talking Chihuahua who is passionate about his Taco Bell got people repeating the company's name across the country. The repetition of the company name and the actual content of the commercial reinforce the message in a relevant manner. Taco Bell saw a substantial rise in sales and their own mascot became a pop icon.

Another point to consider when using humor in advertising is that different things are funny to different people. A commercial that may leave one person gripping their sides from laughter may leave a bad taste in another's mouth. The target market must always be considered. What's funny in a client presentation may not be funny on an air plane, at a country club or in a hospital. An example of a recent humorous product introduction is Mike's Hard Lemonade. These commercials feature over exaggerated and comical violence with the underlining message that no one's day is hard enough to pass up a Mike's. It failed, ranking as one of the year's most hated campaigns by both men and woman according to 2002's Ad Track, a consumer survey. The series of commercials are aimed at 21-29 year old males and the repetition of comical violence (such as a construction worker being impaled on the job and a lumberjack cutting off his own foot) gets less and less funny every time it's viewed. Eventually the joke just wore out and the commercial became annoying and offensive.

Getting your articles read is the most important step. For years submitting articles was all about getting a website to rank higher in Google. Now that Google has reduced the importance of such articles in website rankings, an opportunity has opened up for savvy marketers.

Visitors not links

Getting your article read is important as it is about getting people interested in what you are selling, your ideas or encouraging them to seek you out for more. A great article will leave the reader wanting more. Even without a link, they will notice your name or business name at the bottom of the article and seek you out.

Hidden effect

The issue with this is that it is hard to track with analytics tools like Google Analytics. If visitors see your brand name or personal name, but not a link, they might Google for your site. You will not be able to tell that they looked for your site after reading one of your articles.

Brand name

Writing such articles will definitely help establish your brand name. Even if people do not visit your site, they will remember the name. If they visit your site later, they may not remember where they heard your name, but they will be more confident that your site is legitimate and a good site to buy from.

Site fit

Sometimes articles do not fit well with your site. It is not a good idea to be seen making bad comments about the competitor’s site. If you know of issues with the competitors’ products or services, make this known by publishing an article about it on another site under another name. Just make sure the issues are legitimate as you do not want to be recognised by the competition.

Where to submit articles

This site is accepting articles now. Just head over to the submission form, and submit your article. Be careful when submitting your article to other sites as some sites will remove your brand or by-line.