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The Plain-English Guide to Conjoint Analysis

Conducting Market Research
February 24, 2022/by
The Plain-English Guide to Conjoint Analysis Sometimes, commercials really get me. T-Mobile's Super Bowl commercial this year is a prime example — "What's for Dinner?" demonstrates the infuriating process of choosing what to do for dinner for a young couple, and it's gold. The reason T-Mobile's ad was so relatable is because of their market research. They looked at what their target audiences wanted — including their thought processes, what informs their decisions, and the trade-offs they're willing to make for their products. To accomplish all of these important factors in one go, many companies use conjoint analysis. Think about buying a new phone. Attributes you might consider are color, size, and model. The reason phone companies include these specs in their marketing is due to research such as conjoint analysis. Would consumers purchase this product or service if brought to market? That's the question conjoint analysis strives to answer. It's a quantitative measure in marketing research, meaning it measures numbers rather than open-ended questions. Questions on the phone company survey would include price points, color preference, and camera quality. Surveys intended for conjoint analysis are formatted to reflect the buyer's journey. For instance, notice in this example for televisions, the specs are the options and the consumer picks what best reflects their lifestyle: Image Source This direct method of giving consumers multiple profiles to then analyze is how conjoint analysis got its name. These answers are helpful when determining how to market a new product. If answers...
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16 of the Best Job Interview Questions to Ask Candidates (And What to Look for in Their Answers)

Interviews
February 23, 2022/by
16 of the Best Job Interview Questions to Ask Candidates (And What to Look for in Their Answers) When you're interviewing people to join your team, you have to get creative — after all, there's only so much that questions like "What's your biggest weakness?" and "Are you a team player?" reveal about who your candidates truly are. But what are the best interview questions to ask that will help you uncover your candidate's strengths, weaknesses, and interests? To help give you some ideas for the next time you're meeting with a job candidate, here are some of the best job interview questions to ask, plus good answers to each question. Questions to Test a Candidate's Honesty and Sense of Ownership    1. "What single project or task would you consider your most significant career accomplishment to date?" Lou Adler, author of The Essential Guide for Hiring & Getting Hired and Hire With Your Head, spent 10 years searching for the single best interview question that will reveal whether to hire or not hire a candidate — and this was the one. A good answer to this question: Candidates' answers will tell you about their prior success and sense of ownership. A great answer will show they are confident in their work and professional choices while being humble enough to show they care about the company's success. For example, if a candidate built a sales or marketing campaign they're particularly proud of, listen for them to explain how the...
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What Is Brand Perception? How to Measure It and 4 Examples

Branding
February 22, 2022/by
What Is Brand Perception? How to Measure It and 4 Examples If you take a second to think about your shopping habits, you'll probably realize that a majority of the products you buy are influenced by brand perception. You're not the only one — 77% of B2C consumers make purchasing decisions based solely on the brand name. Brand perception, or the thoughts and feelings associated with a company, impacts why people wear a certain brand of clothing or pick one pasta sauce over another at the grocery store. Once consumers adopt an attitude about a brand, it's tough to change. That's why brands work hard to create positive associations in people's minds, rather than negative or neutral perceptions. When you know how people perceive your brand, it's easier to shape its reputation, help consumers understand what sets it apart, and develop brand equity. You do this by measuring brand perception and tracking customer sentiment over time. But before diving into the metrics, it's important to understand what creates brand perception and how it informs company and consumer decision-making. What is brand perception? Brand perception is the sum of a consumer's feelings, experiences, and thoughts about a product or service. It's what people believe a brand represents, rather than what a brand says it represents. Although brand perception is a mental association, it plays an essential role in creating emotional connections with consumers. People consider their attitude toward brands when choosing between competing products. They read reviews, chat with customer...
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What Are Brand Assets? 6 Examples to Inspire You

Branding
February 19, 2022/by
What Are Brand Assets? 6 Examples to Inspire You All companies that want to attract customers and stand out against competitors need strong brand assets. These elements help build an identity, maintain consistency, and create trust. Considering that trust is the second most important factor in buying from a new brand, it's essential for companies to design brand assets that highlight their values, strengths, offerings, and identities. Brand assets let you create customer touchpoints that are immediately recognizable. Think of Amazon packaging, the Pixar lamp, or Apple's minimalist design. But branding assets aren't simply logos and slogans. They're the combination of several elements that come together to create a unique, distinguishable identity. If well-designed, brand assets can build brand awareness, increase marketing ROI, create customer loyalty, and give you a competitive edge in the market. Any company can develop distinct assets that draw in customers and increase sales conversations. To start, let's walk through the basics of brand assets before jumping into examples that show you how to leverage these essential branding elements. What are Brand Assets? Brand assets are recognizable elements that embody a company's identity. From logos and typography to taglines, brand assets make it easy to identify a business, help it stand out from competitors, and cue customer associations. Brand assets can include the following elements: Brand name Logo Color palette Packaging Slogans or taglines Songs or sounds Brand guidelines Mascots Typography Design elements Voice...
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How to Improve Your Communication Skills in 5 Simple Steps

Communication
February 18, 2022/by
How to Improve Your Communication Skills in 5 Simple Steps In the workplace, each employee may have their own tasks and targets, but together, you are all working toward the same end goal. But with so many different people coming together, there’s bound to be some friction on how to implement ideas and strategies best. The key to helping your team succeed is communication. Communication is a collaborative effort, and everyone can stand to work on their communication skills. While some workers may feel shy and won’t share their brilliant ideas, other team members may struggle to see or understand different points of view. No matter where you are with your communication skills, you can improve them with five simple steps, leading to a more collaborative and productive team. How to Improve Communication Skills in the Workplace Improving communication skills in the workplace can involve many different elements. Whether you want to be a better listener or check in with each employee, there are several ways to help your team communicate more effectively with each other. Here are five easy ways to start bettering your communication skills. 1. Be an active listener. Are you truly listening to your team members? If you’re doodling away in a meeting, writing emails during a Zoom call, or interrupting with your own ideas or solutions, you’re not actively listening. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to improve your listening skills to ensure your co-workers feel heard. Make eye contact when...
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Brand Logos: 19 Logo Examples, Samples, & Sources of Inspiration

Slogans & Taglines
February 18, 2022/by
Brand Logos: 19 Logo Examples, Samples, & Sources of Inspiration When it comes to your business' branding strategy, establishing a logo is one of the most critical tasks. Your logo will be pervasive throughout your marketing campaigns, and it's one of the most prominent branding elements people will think of when someone mentions your company. Mounting research backs up how important a logo can be to your brand. In fact, a recent study from the Journal of Marketing Research found that an effectively designed logo can "influence brand evaluations, purchase intentions, and brand performance." Not sure what it takes to create a killer brand logo? To give you a better idea, check out our list of stand-out logos below. Logo Examples 1. Geometric Logos Geometric shapes are highly effective at creating stylish and fun designs. Some can even evoke feelings of movement. It's particularly popular amongst big brands from Google to Adidas — also proving that you don't need to belong to a specific industry to use it. The final result is often a clean and modern design. 2. Negative Space Logos Negative space logos are all about leveraging what you don't see. Because these logos take more thought to execute, you can typically spot subtle meanings. For instance, you may see hidden letters, icons, or names. A great example is the FedEx logo which uses negative space to create an arrow between the "e" and "x" letters. Image Source You don’t have to be super...
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The Ultimate Guide to Advertising in 2022

Advertising, behavioral targeting
February 18, 2022/by
The Ultimate Guide to Advertising in 2022 When you hear the word advertising, what comes to mind? Do you think of banner ads on your favorite website? Those hilarious Super Bowl commercials? The billboards along the highway or posters in the subway stations? While most of us have a pretty good idea of what advertising looks like, we often struggle to nail down exactly what it means — and how to do it well. From the printing press to pop-up ads, advertising has certainly changed with the times. Despite this, though, the need for advertising hasn’t changed, and neither have the techniques and best practices that make for quality advertising. That’s what we’ll cover in this guide. Advertising is one of the oldest types of marketing and aims to influence the actions of its audience to buy, sell, or do something else. Good advertising is designed to be extremely influential, memorable, and, at times, risqué. But, how does advertising work? How does advertising work? Advertising has a simple principle — get people interested in a product being sold. After arousing interest, the goal is to persuade people to purchase the product, even if they hadn’t previously thought about buying it. Ads work by using psychology to influence the way people think and feel about a product or service. Depending on the goals of your ad campaign, advertising can go to work for your company in a variety of ways: To raise awareness of your brand...
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What Is B2B Marketing Automation Plus the Best Software

Marketing Automation
February 17, 2022/by
What Is B2B Marketing Automation Plus the Best Software Marketing automation allows your team to increase productivity while simultaneously nurturing more leads. Within the category of marketing automation tools are B2B marketing automation tools — software that's ideal for the B2B marketer. B2B Marketing Automation B2B marketing automation allows you to streamline marketing tasks and role responsibilities through workflows and triggers. B2B marketing automation is meant to help your team stay productive and efficient while nurturing your leads. B2B Marketing Automation Examples Here are some examples of how you might use B2B marketing automation on your team. Trigger follow-up workflows after leads visit high-intent web pages (e.g. product page, pricing page). Create educational workflows to send to your new customers — included educational resources may include videos, how-to articles, and knowledge base articles about how they can accomplish basic tasks. Nurture leads with content that shows you're a thought-leader in the industry and is also tailored to their specific needs and goals. This will help you show your prospects that you're the right solution for them. Set up rewards for loyal brand advocates — for example, send a discount code to a customer after they successfully refer a new customer or complete a certain number of purchases. Set up email campaigns with lead nurturing so you can better understand which campaigns work best among your audience while also having the ability to manage a higher volume of leads. Trigger notifications to...
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What Is Content Operations? A Straight-Forward Guide

Marketing Operations
February 17, 2022/by
What Is Content Operations? A Straight-Forward Guide In a 1996 essay, Bill Gates wrote, “Content is king,” and what was true then is still true now. Content is necessary to the success of a business. If the content is the king, we could say its operations are the queen — or at least a knight. Imagine a startup that wants to create a blog post. It’s a timely post that needs to be up before the end of Q1. Because the startup is new, it hasn’t established concrete operations for blog content. So, the post sits in a Google document with no plan for who uploads the content or what blog platform will host the information. The business has a content writer, but operations don’t typically end there. Blog posts aren’t the only content option there are. You can incorporate over a dozen different content types, including email, videos, social media posts, podcasts, infographics, and other visual content to increase brand awareness. Without content operations, though, this content likely has no plan for production, publication, or distribution. And what good is a blog post if no one reads it? If the goal is to post content daily, then you’ll need to identify who is performing the work? What methods are they using? What systems are necessary to get the job done? One department is the solution to these questions — content operations. Content operations focus on three elements: People: who is performing a task and...
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