Fun trick for ecomm competitor analysis

Landing page research hack.

Go to /sitemap.xml on any Shopify store. That gets you the list of each of the sitemaps on that store.

Go to /sitemap_pages_1.xml to see /pages specifically (often used for LPs). It's like ads library for landing pages except it's comprehensive.

— Dave Rekuc (@DaveRekuc) April 28, 2023

People are addicted to escape

-Abass Wurie

This was said about drugs, but drugs are are just one avenue of escape.

via Marginal Revolution

Thanks to Gabe the Bass Player, I’m beginning to see that I think of brands like songs.

Some are transient hits and others classics.
Some are pop sensations, others underground faves, others niche anthems. There’s usually a song of the summer.

Regardless, a song is the same combination of parts for everyone who hears it. But the way we each hear it is different.

Once it’s all there it will be powerful enough to let the audience think they have it memorized even when they don’t.

The sweet spot is caring deeply about the process while not caring too much about the outcome.

-Rohan Rajiv

Process over results.

This is key to doing good marketing work.
The process is the same regardless of client or project.
Outcome is largely reliant on the client/project.
Relying on external forces for satisfaction is a recipe for discontent.

The age of multi-media brands is here

findings revealed a strong preference across the board for the addition of sonic to visual logos, and this contributed to the commissioning of a second study to investigate the role of motion synchrony between the mediums. Once more, the results confirmed the power of properly combined branded visuals when matched with audio and synced motion.

Ambient computing will only increase the importance of modular multimedia brand assets.

via amp

Good news:

Fourth of July gas prices are set for a three-year low

Adjusted for inflation, US gas prices are almost exactly where they were in July 2018, according to federal data.

Bad news:

Your cookout will cost more

record high: 5% more than last year and 30% higher than in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic.

The biggest driver of the pricier supermarket bills will be the cost of meat, which accounts for about half the total cost.

Maybe double up on beans?

When it comes to naming in the branding process, we regularly talk about how a name is an empty vessel and doesn’t need inherent meaning to work. What matters is what you fill the name with.

So I love this post about Good Band Names.

it’s impossible to separate the name from the music…because in real life the music can make any band name a perfectly accepted name.

Pick a name. Any name.
Be far more choosy about your value.

Pinterest will now allow users to create short videos of their curated Pinterest boards, designed to be shared on social media.

Pinterest dubs this type of sharing the “mecore” trend, noting that it has seen a 565% increase in searches related to this activity on its platform annually. Boards titled “mecore” also increased by 255% since last year

Pinterest has fully pivoted away from being a social media platform to being a discovery platform, and is now adding features for off-platform sharing.

It’s a search engine meets bookmarking tool with robust social sharing.

via TechCrunch

People want ads that make them laugh

Humor is a more prominent factor than purpose, surprise, or novelty when looking at the most popular commercials in modern history

It’s also more fun to work with.

large groups of people don’t always share a sense of humor

I wonder how much algorithmic platforms and personalized ads change this. You’re not making an ad to reach everyone, you’re making an ad to reach a subset of your audience that it will resonate with.

via Behind the Numbers podcast

Robert Greene defining the curiosity gap:

People love mysteries and enigmas, so give them what they want.

via The Daily Laws

Love these quotes from AriZona Iced Tea’s founder about the 99 cent cans

People say, ‘How do you do it?‘ We make it faster. We ship it better. We ship it closer. The cans are thinner.

&

Why have people who are having a hard time paying their rent pay more for their drink?

&

I tell people every day I go to a gunfight with Coke and Pepsi. I have a water gun and they have machine guns.

&

We’re going to fight as hard as we can for consumers, because consumers are my friend.

Find a value prop you can make synonymous with your brand.
Make it the center of everything.

via CNBC

consumers form more negative impressions of and are less persuaded by influencers who disable social media comments. These outcomes are driven by the perception that the influencer is less receptive to consumer voice

I wonder how this translates to brand accounts.

On the other hand, negative comments can act as rallying points for fans.

You can’t be for everyone, so your brand should actively turn some people off.

from the paper No Comments (from You): Understanding the Interpersonal and Professional Consequences of Disabling Social Media Comments

Eventually, a promo heavy strategy becomes your brand position. See: JCPenney

via Bad Machinery

Cue the Khaled memes:

PayPal announced plans to create a new advertising platform rooted in transaction data generated by its nearly 400 million active accounts

via Marketing Dive

Of course, there are times where sharing your strategy may be unproductive. Like when signaling to competitors.

Seem to want something in which you are actually not at all interested

Robert Greene expands:

hide your intentions not by closing up (with the risk of appearing secretive and making people suspicious) but by talking endlessly about your desires and goals—just not your real ones. You will kill three birds with one stone: you appear friendly, open, and trusting; you conceal your intentions; and you send your rivals on time-consuming wild-goose chases.

via The Daily Laws