3 Ways That Information Presentation Makes You More Persuasive
1)Use Normal Words When writing, don’t make your audience work to understand you. Use the simplest vocabulary necessary to communicate the point without dumbing it down. Words have specific meanings, and big words can give nuance to phrases. However, all too frequently people find the largest word that applies to the situation and use it [...]
It’s not about what you want to say. It’s all about what consumer need to hear.
The other night I was reminded of trends in hospital advertising. While I sat at the dinner table with the television on in the background I heard a hospital ad that highlighted the experiences of patients advocating their hospital visit. It seems that this is the new trend for hospitals today, to have patients tell [...]
The 3 Greatest Missed Opportunities of the Super Bowl
This weekend Americans everywhere will overwhelmingly gather and participate in the cultural phenomenon known as the Super Bowl. Football fans will hope for a good game, non-football fans will hope for good commercials, and I’ll be hoping the Giants and Patriots fans in the room with me don’t get violent. But the biggest missed opportunities [...]
3 Things to Remember About Attention Spans
Attention span is an often under-looked aspect of research, yet its effects permeate everything we do. People are constantly bombarded by new information and their attention is frequently sought in the wrong ways. With that in mind, here are 3 things to remember about attention spans. 1) People are lazy. Most of us will take [...]
Gaining Market Share
In today’s market place the consumer is taking a more active role in deciding the products they purchase, this is especially true for the health care industry. It is expected that more individuals will continue to purchase health insurance or pay more for their own health care costs as a result of federal health care [...]
Should Hospital Advertising Go Viral?
Although times may be tough for hospitals throughout the country, they still seem to be able to come up with millions of dollars for advertisement campaigns. In the first half of 2011 hospitals spent $717.2 million on advertising, which is up 20% from the same period in 2010, according to the New York Times. Traditionally, [...]
Netflix and Customer Satisfaction
The importance of customer satisfaction is becoming increasingly important again, thanks in part to platforms for voicing opinions on the web, such as social media sites. The importance is highlighted this week as we saw Netflix in the news again for its tremendous drop in customer satisfaction ratings, which plummeted along with stock prices over [...]
Data Visualization (or why pretty pictures matter)
As researchers, we often find ourselves immersed in numbers. We’re comfortable with numbers because they are our product. We sell them, wage campaigns with them, fall back on them, and are generally surrounded by them all day, every day. So it’s important to step outside that perspective from time to time and remember that not [...]
Values-Centered Purpose Assessment in Donor Research
Determining what donors believe to be the core purpose of a nonprofit organization is important when making appeals for donations. However, in order to be truly effective in development campaigns it is important to understand exactly what that purpose means in rational real world benefits, emotional benefits, and how those tie into core values. We [...]
Benefits and Trade Offs of “Better” Or At Least Newer Research Methods
Sometimes it seems as if traditional market and survey research practices are under siege these days. Concepts like gamification, neuroscientific research models, and behavioral economics have not just crept into conversations about survey methodology, they practically dominate it. And while that’s partly due to our shorter attention spans and the need to generate product for [...]
Nonprofit Fundraising Tip: Borrow An Idea!
“If you can’t beat them join them” is a common strategy for many marketers. Why? Simple, because its usually an effective strategy. The key is to find the right “team” or campaign in this instance, you want to clone the most effective strategy or campaign. With over 220 current appeal “exhibits”, SOFII or Showcase of [...]
NBA Negotiations
Over the past few years, Oklahomans have become some of the best NBA fans in the country, receiving accolades from the media for their college-like enthusiasm at home games since the Thunder were brought from Seattle. And the Thunder have done their part, moving from one of the worst teams in the league to the [...]
Study Reveals Nonprofit Leaders Optimistic About Hitting Fundraising Objectives In 2012
It appears that nonprofit leaders perceptions of successfully hitting fundraising objectives for 2012 are starting to change. Bucking the trend of pessimism in recent surveys, nonprofit leaders anticipate a rise in giving levels and demand for services heading into 2012. What’s more is that the report reveals even more positive news: an increase in anticipated staffing. Blakbaud’s [...]
Are You Really Connecting With Your Donors?
Whether you are running capital campaign or a nonprofit organization, one thing is obvious in 2011: the donation stream has slowed. Due largely to the soft economy, your goals now seem harder to reach. People simply have less to donate and are busier than ever. How can you ensure the funding of your cause in [...]
Advertising Emergency Room Wait Times – Is it Truly Effective?
As hospitals seek to increase admissions, many hospitals are aggressively marketing their ERs. On electronic billboards or on the web hospitals throughout the US are posting ER wait times. Some hospitals promote short wait times where some other hospitals are promoting no ER wait times. In addition, emergency rooms are now adding texting services to [...]
Moneyball Politics?
Posted by Chris Wilson on Tuesday, October 25th, 2011 at 10:28 AM
John Sides had an interesting piece in the New York Times’ FiveThirtyEight blog earlier this month. The full piece is well worth a read for anyone serious about understanding the latest political science research on campaign advertising. Here are links to part one and part two. Sides is a widely published political scientist and the [...]