The BYU Marketing Lab values learning and personal growth, so we decided to compile a book list of our favorite reads! After spending a year collecting book recommendations from our lab consultants, we’re excited to present our 2021 favorites. May they help you become wiser, happier, and a more complete professional.

Just like most business trends that see their time in the sun, there seems to be a general decline in the excitement around traditional crowdsourcing. However, there are two new and interesting trends that are challenging the way we think about crowdsourcing.

We could use polls for so much more. As a forecasting tool polls aren’t that great – they set some expectations, and then we still have to wait for the votes to be counted and find out if expectations were met or dashed. But polls are one area where we can actually seek to understand the reasons people vote the way they do. Polling should be a source of insight and empathy. Rarely are polls used that way, and it’s a missed opportunity.

7 marketing truths that I didn't believe in when I was a green associate brand manager. Oh the fragility of youth...

What is groupthink? It’s when a single opinion is expressed, and the group rallies behind it without developing opinions of their own, meaning they don’t express those opinions. Sometimes groupthink is a result of the loudest or most persuasive person making others feel like their own opinion isn’t worth sharing. When a person feels like they might be the only person in a crowd who has their particular thought, they aren’t likely to share it. In fact, they’ll change the opinion they express to conform to the group’s. Individuality disappears, and with it the valuable insights of the individual.

Step aside Bob Barker (you too Drew Carey). “The Price is Right” could potentially be the top four words that dominate the mindshare of business managers, product marketers, and aspiring entrepreneurs within business. Why you ask? Is it game-show infatuation or is it because so many lose sleep wondering about a variation of those four words: “Is the Price Right?”

We recently had Jeremey Wright, experienced Wavetronix, Conagra, Nestle marketer come and speak to us. He explained an excellent analogy that we share here with his permission.

We think a lot about marketing strategy, obviously. There are a lot of frameworks and theories about how to go about it. Here’s Jeremey’s approach to hitting a great wave and marketing for success:

If you draw a box that says that the focus of your brand is premium meats from American-grown beef, you’re not going to start selling toilet paper, trips to space or grade B meats. Even if you did, customers wouldn’t accept it. Think about it, if you’re going to space, are you going to catch a ride on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, or the Oscar Meyer sausage rocket? Obviously you’re going to catch a ride to space with SpaceX (though option two does sound fun and exciting). Likewise you’d choose Oscar Meyer sausage over a SpaceX sausage.

If you need a quick refresher, the 4 Ps of Marketing are Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. But we found some gaps in the 4 Ps and we’re here to add two more Ps to your list of things to think through as you’re developing new products.

Steps to positioning your brand well: Understand what your consumers want, and who they are. Understand what your company and brand capabilities are. Understand how competitors are positioning their brands, so you can be unique

Here are the three main reasons why quantitative data could save the life of your business, just like Data saved Jean-Luc.

The problem with the freemium model is that a lot of the time, consumers get stuck on the free version and don’t want to pay for the premium version (think: constantly deleting old files from your Dropbox account so you don’t have to upgrade to the paid version).

In an era when just about anything can get politicized overnight, it is more important than ever to follow the Stephen Covey’s habit, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” Brands are facing new risks because our culture is shifting, with brands feeling the pressure to take on social responsibilities.

When BYU Independent Study decided that they wanted to expand their reach, we knew just the marketers for the job! We were tasked with creating a robust social media marketing strategy in a very fun and unique project!

For superfans, football is life. (Or is it soccer?) Who are your brand’s superfans? Would any dress up as YOUR mascot? Maybe not, but thinking about how to develop brand love is vital. Think of a brand you just LOVE. Why do you love that brand? What does that brand do for you? Why do you feel a connection with it?

Burger King made major headlines by launching an ad campaign that made our mouths pucker in disgust rather than water in delight. Before you go and ‘break the mold’ by launching a campaign like Burger King’s, let’s look at a framework to help you evaluate your next ad before launch.

There are typically four categories that are used when dividing your consumers into segments: geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral.

Why Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Jake Peralta might be good at conducting a marketing focus group.

We are anxious and eager to help our clients succeed during this time, and we look forward to offering our low cost, effective services to help even more recover from the effects of COVID-19.