Study shows Aussies Prefer UK Accent in Video Voice Over Test

An interesting result - and one that shows Australians have a much higher preference than people from other countries for UK accents versus American.

Results come from Which Test Won, a website that reviews website and email marketing split tests.

If we broaden the implication it is useful to keep this in mind for any communication - especially online - that may have American origins.

This preference against US-origin is something I have seen many times in relation to sales training. The American style is often perceived as too 'aggressive' and fast-paced for the typical Australia audience.

What do you think? Your comments are welcome.

The Trading Post Newspaper Bites The Dust

For years the Trading Post newspaper was 'the' place to look when buying or selling any number of goods. It was famous - a market leader, published weekly. Now it is dead. The last issue will be published on Oct 29.

Killed by the internet and the growth of online shopping.

In the space of a few years this iconic print publication has seen its usage decimated.

But it's online version has skyrocketed in popularity. The Trading Post lives on, online.

The publication's readership dropped by one third to 469,000 in the last year.

But tradingpost.com.au, which launched in 1996, averages 1.8 million unique visitors a month. The publication's mobile site, launched last year, attracts around 140,000 visitors each month.

In the past two years, The Trading Post's number of print ads fell by 70% but the number of ads placed on tradingpost.com.au grew by 30%.

The lesson for your business... stay vigilant of trends. Your clients want an easy life. They will take whatever option they think will make it easiest for them.

Of course quality matters. But people want innovation, ease of use... and quality.

Survey Results: Work for less? Most say yes.

It's always interesting to keep abreast of trends and community view points. I thought this article from Human Capital Magazine was worth mentioning here...

The majority of job applicants to non-profit organisations are willing to take a significant pay cut - up to 30% - to secure jobs they see as ethical, according to a new survey.

EthicalJobs.com.au surveyed HR managers and executives 60 Australian non-profit organisations including charities, industry bodies and non-profit organisations.

Seventy-eight per cent of employers surveyed reported applications from people outside the not-profit-sector willing to work for less in an equivalent position.

Of those employers:

• 56% said applicants are willing to work for 10-20% less

• 19% said applicants are willing to work for 20-30% less

• 6% said applicants are willing to work for more than 30% less

"Many people want more than a paycheck and a parking spot - they want an 'ethical job' and non-profits seem to be the big winners," EthicalJobs.com.au founder Michael Cebon said.

Study Shows Cash is Still King for Retail Sales

My training and consulting work focuses on business-to-business selling. But I also keep on eye on changes in consumer trends as this can indicate underlying movements in the way customers think and buy.

The Sydney Morning Herald recently reported that a Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) study of consumer payment behaviour released on Wednesday found cash is still king, accounting for 70 per cent of all transactions.

EFTPOS and MasterCard and Visa debit card payments make up 15 per cent of all transactions, followed by MasterCard and Visa credit card transactions at nine per cent and American Express and Diners Club cards at one per cent.

Cash is overwhelmingly used for low value payments under $10 and for 75 per cent of payments between $11 and $25 for items such as take away food and bar bills.

Credit Card Loyalty Programs Work

The report aso found that loyalty programs offered by credit card companies do work.

For the average consumer, loyalty programs increase the probability of credit card use by 23 percentage points and reduce the probability of cash use by 14 percentage points.

Danger... Danger... 9 of 10 Businesses to Cut Their Marketing Expenditure

A report out this week by PriceWaterhouseCoopers claims that the current economic downturn has severely affected business confidence in Australia. As a result, 9 out of 10 (of the 750 private businesses surveyed) say they will cut marketing costs.

How dumb can you get!

(Aside: they need to attend my marketing planning workshop in Sydney Oct 30)

And I'm not just saying it's a dumb thing to do because I work in marketing.

It is well known that marketing creates new business. To cut back on marketing because it is seen as a luxury, or 'expendable', is just plain poor business management.

Often these decisions are made by the bean counters who control the purse strings within the company.

Now look... I know many nice accountants. But the nature of their profession makes most of them focus on how to reduce costs. Not how to maximise profit.

Don't become a victim to others peoples fears.

Make your own decisions about how successful you want your business to be.

You certainly do need to manage expenditure. But be prudent and make smart decisions to build your business. Don't just throw up your arms and say... we have to cut costs, at any cost.

If you are in Sydney, why not consider attending my 2-minute Marketing Plan workshop on October 30. At the workshop you'll learn all about how to stretch your marketing dollar and choose marketing tactics that will work for your business.

We are in the Informed Age... are you keeping up?

I love Gerry McGovern's writings. His focus is helping organizations to create customer-centric websites by using the right 'content'. He is a world leader in structuring content and writing for the web. Not the salesy, hype-filled writing of the direct response world. But the useful, effective presentation of content - and use of key words - that will help the people visiting your website.

In his latest newsletter he used the phrase...

It is not the digital age. It is not the information age. It is the informed age.

He goes on to write that we are a questioning society. We want to know the answers.

I agree with him.

What are you doing to help your prospects and clients find the answers to their questions?

Do you even know what questions they are asking?

Successful marketing in the Informed Age will be based upon you leading your prospects to become paying clients by demonstrating that you can help them find they answers they seek.

Demonstrate your expertise. Build trust. Have a process your client can understand.

How online is affecting your business. Everyday.

Have you seen the news lately? There are constant stories about how the internet IS changing the face of business. It's not just a fanciful notion coveted by computer geeks. It really is happening. Are you ready to take part?

See these recent stories.

Ringtones Out Sell Singles
A post by AdverGirl (in her advertising industry blog) highlighted that some record labels now make up to 40% of their revenue from ringtones by their artists - not the traditional single. AdverGirl mentioned a report at NPR (on audio) about hip-hop artist T-Pain and how he sells more ring-tones that singles. Don't laugh! This is a serious change in business strategy for the music industry.

The NPR report tells how T-Pain recently released a single:
- His top single had 1.5 million downloads at $0.99 each.
- The same single was downloaded 3 million times as ringtone at around $2.50 each.

Why so many ringtones vs singles? The world is changing... and people want personalised products. Ringtones can give them that personalisation.

Australia Post Loses Mail Volume, but Gains Parcels
A recent report in The Australian explains how the business mix of Australia Post is noticeably shifting. Fewer personal letters are being mailed due to the proliferation of email services. Profit from the letter division was down 8.4% on the previous year.

In contrast, the parcel division (at half the sales volume of the letter division - $1.2 billion vs $2.4 billion) generated nearly $100 million more dollars profit than the larger letter division. Thats a 116% increase on the previous year. And this growth is driven by the delivery of products ordered online.

Adobe Sees Software being Delivered Online - Not CD's in Boxes
Another news item quotes Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen (Adobe makes the ubiquitous Adobe Reader, and is a major player in graphic design software) as saying:

"Running software on the desktop is still optimal for most of its customers, but that will change over time. The desktop is a powerful, powerful machine in which to run applications. Broadband, as quick as it gets, is still going to have some limitations in the short term."

Mr Chizen answered a question about whether a complete shift to web delivery would take five or 10 years and he indicated it would be closer to a decade.

Like many traditional software makers including Microsoft, Adobe must fend off rivals delivering competing applications over the web and it also needs to adopt a new business model after years of selling software in boxes.

Major changes are happening in most industry sectors.

Are you staying up to date with how those changes impact your business?

I hope so.