4 Odd Marketing Thoughts For Summer

It's summer. The middle of summer.  My view of the lake is pretty much perfect, so this blog entry is going to be light and easy.  Just like the days of late July and early August.  So, here are four little bits of info to ponder while you have a cold drink.

1. Lists with numbers in them are a growing trend in Internet blogging.  A recent quick scan of my twitter account turned up the following examples (it took no more than two minutes to find these):

• 14 Types Of Stories You Can Tell On Your Blog
• 9 Latin American Accelerator Programs You Should Know
• 5 Advantages to Using Google Plus For Photo Sharing Over Facebook
• 10 Leaders And The Surprising Ways They Stay Productive
• 20 Extremely Good Online Ads
• 12 Finer Points Of Email Etiquette

I'm told this is a new trend based on the fact that we want bite sized information served up to us in this modern age.  There is just too much out there so we crave short lists.  

I'm not all that sure this is a new trend.  I think this has been used before with some success:

• 10 Commandments
• 7 Deadly Sins
• ...heck there are even 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover.

2. It may seem impressive to have lists that have 10 to 20 items in them, but really most of us can only remember three things.  I don't really recall all the 10 Commandments, the 7 Deadly Sins, and beyond getting on a bus I don't really know all the 50 ways to leave a lover much less the 6 Ways To Successful Sponsorships.  

Do yourself and the world a favor - make your list three items long and make them really good points.  

3. The word "The" is a really complex and weird word, especially when associated brand names or cultural icons.  Here are 3 "the" examples.

• Referring to the Internet as "the Internet" sounds just fine.  But saying "the Facebook", well that's something your grandmother does.  
• I always found it odd when people referred to BlackBerry as "the BlackBerry".  "Do you have the BlackBerry?"  Who says that?  Why?  
• Oddly, putting "the" in front of sport team names always happens and it sounds perfectly fine.  The NY Yankees, the LA Lakers...and Da (the) Bears!

Can someone explain all that to me?

4.  Ahh, forget it.  You'd never remember the forth thing anyway.  Go have a nice cool drink and a swim.