CapCenter recently launched a new phase of our advertising campaign in which we use “real CapCenter customers” to help tell our story of great rates, zero closing costs, and tremendous service.  Early results reinforce the perspective that “people believe people.”  For more on this topic….keep reading…. 

This article has been copied (with permission) from Fred Moore’s blog.  Fred is the founder and CEO of Big River Advertising in Richmond, VA.

There’s a New #1.Posted on January 11, 2011 by Fred Moore

No, it is not Auburn University.

From my perspective, there is a new #1 in the category of most influential and significant marketing articles in the last fifteen years.

The winner – “Branding in the Digital Age. You’re spending your money in all the wrong places,”  By Daniel C. Edelman.  You can find it in the December, 2010 edition of the Harvard Business Review.

This replaces my previous #1 which dates all the way back to September, 1996.  The classic “Building your company’s vision” by James Collins and Jerry Porras.

This article (later to become the foundation for the book “Built to Last” and the sequel “Good to Great”)  was critical in analyzing organizations that “get it” and those that “fake it.”

From our perspective at Big River, this “get it” question was a fundamental examination that had to happen prior to any great and effective marketing strategies.  (This article is also in the Harvard Business Review and no, I am not a salesperson for this publication)

But it’s a new day.  Things evolve.

If you want to seriously make your marketing and communications dollars work harder now– read this December, 2010 article.

It is fundamentally enlightening into why things, from a marketing perspective, are working (or not working) today versus several years ago.

The article concisely demonstrates the change in how, in today’s world, decisions are made and why different communication tactics (social media, smart web sites, transparent access to information) are critical components in helping this process along.  And, it enlightens the reader why other marketing tactics are less effective today.

One slight refinement I would make to my Harvard breathren (if I may be so bold) – they keep referring to the “consumer” decision journey.  It is broader than consumers.  This is how people make decisions today.  Business to business decisions.  Whether to become part of an organization decision.  All kinds of decisions.

It’s not just for ‘consumers’ anymore.

A critcal point in the article is the line: “the single most powerful impetus to buy is someone else’s advocacy.”

Wow, that sounds a heck of a lot like our “people believe people” mantra here at Big River. 

Listen for CapCenter’s customer testimonials on a variety of  Virginia radio stations and cable tv stations.