James Archer, Managing Director at Forty (a design and marketing consultancy), posted a great webcast explaining how people make purchasing decisions and gives some very practical advice for designing websites seeking new users and customers. Potential customers fall into four different categories (called Decision Modes): spontaneous, competitive, humanistic, and methodical. The categorization depends on two scales. The first, fast or slow, and the second, logical or emotional. By taking into account the information each of these consumer types look for, you can ensure success in communicating the value proposition and convert more customers.

Robert Cialdini, professor of marketing at Arizona State University, studied for 3 years working in the fields of sales, fundraising, and advertising. In this short excerpt from the documentary “Social Reality” with Philip Zimbardo, Cialdini shares the 6 universal principals of influence he distilled from his experiences. If your interested in learning more, his book Influence: Science and Practice is a good quick read with practical advice and great anecdotes about his experiences researching this topic.

In an on-stage interview at the San Diego Ad Club, Alex Bogusky of Crispin Porter + Bogusky provides a behind the scenes look at many of the campaigns his company has worked on and shares some of his thoughts on various aspects of marketing. From Coke suing itself to Volkswagon’s Safe Happens, Alex has been constantly looking for ways to bring authenticity to messaging by “showing”, not “saying”.

Lee Clow and Alex Bogusky discuss the trends in today’s marketing and brand building. Specifically they discuss how integrating today’s culture of gaming is becoming more prominent in advertising and how they have incorporated the use of multiple forms of media to communicate brand messages. Lee Clow had famously worked on Apple’s advertising for years and Alex Bogusky is a rising star who’s worked on campaigns such as the Truth campaign and the Burger King games for the Xbox.

Seth Godin gives an entertaining talk depicting various types of brokenness people run into every day and the inspiration behind the website This Is Broken.

As part of the Authors@Google series, Seth Godin talks about the importance of permission marketing, telling a story, and making something remarkable.

People don’t believe what you tell them. They rarely believe what you show them. They often believe what their friends tell them. They always believe what they tell themselves.
-Seth Godin