Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category
McCain Calls Obama “The One”
Saturday, August 2nd, 2008 |
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Hey, it works for me…
So John McCain does it again… Trying to discredit Barak Obama’s “cool factor”. Why is it that Mr. McCain can’t talk about what he’s gonna do. I used to like him, before he started to take advise from Bush’s cronies… Off shore drilling et al….
A week or so ago, I wrote an article called “Marketing Like a Rockstar!“. What I was talking about was how a good marketer (or sales person) not only makes promises to the audience, but includes them. Barack in this respect is masterful! He has been creating following with “groupie-like” zeal.
John McCain’s answer is to, like I said, try to discredit Barack – not try to improve the marketing of his message.
The following video is the McCain Camps newest. For me, it highlights why I like Barack. Curious to hear what you guys think.
Here is the script of the video:
“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for,” Obama says, in his Super Duper Tuesday speech in California.The narrator continues: “And he has anointed himself, ready to carry the burden of The One. To quote Barack, ‘I have become a symbol of America returning to our best traditions.’”
”He can do no wrong,” the narrator says.
Cut to an excerpt of CBS’s Lara Logan asking Obama, “Do you have any doubts?”
“Never,” Obama says, smiling.
“Can you see the light?” asks the narrator.
When they show Barack talking about returning to our best traditions, this was actually Obama telling House Democrats that the big crowds and enthusiastic receptions he received in Europe had less to do with him than they had to do with a desire for a new U.S. foreign policy. In a way, it was more a statement of humility than arrogance.
Go figure…
Marketing Like a Rockstar!
Monday, July 21st, 2008 |
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Everything I learned About Marketing, I learned From Paul Stanley of KISS!
Not quite but I’ll tell you what. If you pay attention to any great rock front man or woman, you will notice a couple of very clever tactics.
Dateline Sunday July 20th… So there I was indulging in a guilty pleasure… Let me back up. The first concert that I ever attended was a KISS concert in 1977 when they were at their pinnacle (I have seen them 5 times since, twice on halloween!)
Like I said, guilty pleasure… So sunday I popped in a DVD “Kiss w/ the Melbourne Symphony. Kiss, the garishly made up rock band (with tons of pop hooks) with a symphony… Should be interesting, I thought.
It’s amazing what a different perspective will do. The DVD was tons of fun (guilty pleasure, remember…) but I noticed all the sales, marketing and trainer tricks that lead singer Paul Stanley was using and realized that all the great Rock Bands do this to create the rabid, evangelist seeking following.
Acknowledge!
The first thing any good Rocker will do is acknowledge the fans and thank them: Paul Stanley on the DVD, “We had offers from a lot of Cities to play with a symphony, but we had such a great time here last time, we just had to come back!”
Giving your audience ownership: “You made this song popular, we may have written it but this song is yours!” – Yep, Paul Stanley said this too.
Wow that’s powerful!
Setting the Context
If you’re going to sell, let the audience know and get their permission first.
Never, ever lay into your sales pitch without taking the time to acknowledge your audience and getting to know them first!
This was a Tweet I received (sort of, since I can’t find the tweet or who twittered..)
At a bar-b-que: Me: beautiful day isn’t it? Other guy: Heard of Amway? Never, ever, ever!
“We’re gonna slow this next song down a bit. Is that alright with you?
Permission marketing creates loyalty!
What’s in it for me?
Again any decent trainer or marketer will lay out up front what valuable stuff is coming for the audience. “Over the next hour (or whatever) I’m going to give you/tell you about these things that will rock your world!
Paul Stanley: “We’re gonna rock your asses off!”
Now, if you make this promise, you better deliver!
Involving your Audience – leads to inclusion!
Rockers do this: Sing alongs, clap alongs.
Here’s a great example of involving the audience. In the 80′s I saw Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame on tour solo. When it came time to play the Led Zepp classic “Stairway to Heaven” the singer on the tour took a break. On stage a single spotlight stayed on an empty mike. So what happened? A chorus of 15,000 + sang instead. Amazing! At that point, if we hadn’t already, we were all drinking the Koolade. Don’t leave anyone behind.
Leading Questions
“Do you wanna Rock?” – what a clever way to involve/include your audience. How about if you are marketing razors… “Has anyone ever cut themselves shaving?”
Demand a response!
Audience participation part deux: Ever heard this one? “Does anyone wanna ROCK!” then after the first response: “What?! I can’t her you!”. This, as any trainer will tell you is called “Demanding a response!”
Do you want to leave your audience out? Next time you are attending a sales meeting, seminar, teleclass, whatever, pay attention to the speaker for, in my opinion, a fatal mistake. The presenter/speaker asks a question and the audience doesn’t really respond but they move on anyway. Guess what, they just left all those non responders behind.
Go to one of T. Harv Eker’s, Tony Robbins or Alex Mandossian’s events and watch masters at keeping the audience involved at work.
Or just go to a great rock show! And when you do, pay attention, you’ll be surprised at all you can learn from a ROCKSTAR!
And remember, it doesn’t matter how many tricks you employ, if you don’t, in the end, deliver the promised “goods”!
The Real Reason for the Net. . .
Sunday, July 13th, 2008 |
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You know, sometimes when you cruise through YouTube you can actually learn something. Today I learned that a cat named Nora really likes to play the piano. If you search youtube for Nora you will also learn that the original Nora Movie has had over 5.5 million views and they now sell Nora t-shirts, mugs & posters. Pretty good marketing if you ask me.
But the best thing I learned today was what the Internet is really for. Enjoy this really clever mash-up!
BzzAgent
Sunday, July 6th, 2008 |
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Maybe you haven’t heard of it and maybe you have. This is an advertizing agency that using the principle of word of mouth marketing. It is ingenious really, and pretty cool. I, myself, am a BzzAgent. How it works is I will sign up to “Buzz” a particular product or service. They send me a sample (free stuff is cool!) I try it and then share my latest product discovery with friends, family and pretty much anyone who will listen.
I mean honestly, this is a great concept. Afterall, my guess is that you tell your friends and family about your favorite restaurant, shoe maker, sports team. . . Guess what, that’s word of mouth advertising.
So my latest product that I am bzzing about. . . Storyville Coffee. I am a coffee lover (snob). Meaning I love really good coffee. This coffee company is supercool. They ship you really freshly roasted coffee. Evidently the coffee gurus at Storyville travel the world to source the ultimate coffee blend – a rare concoction of beans from Brazil, Ethiopia and India, including the sought-after Indian Monsooned Malabar beans. These dedicated masters of the craft carefully roast the beans in their own state-of-the-art facility, built to exacting standards like a boutique winery. But all of this painstaking preparation wouldn’t be worth it if the coffee had to literally waste away on a store shelf.
This is really cool and did I mention that the coffee is awesome!!
If you want to check out BzzAgent go here: BzzAgent.com.
Here’s to GREAT Coffee!
Lennie
Jaguar Goes “Super-Cool”
Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 |
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The 1st time I saw this commercial for the Jaguar XK, I rewound my DVR to watch it again (3 times). It is so GOOD! Styling & style. 90 or so edits in 1:15, still pics, graphics a great sound track. Give it a look.
Chocolate Rain
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008 |
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What started out as a Youtube hit, has hit the big time. The foresight of the singer/composer is pretty nifty too. Right in the description on the original Youtube page it says:
“Heads up to remixers: I’m not sure how the long term commercial rights to the song will develop, but all commercial rights are generally reserved.”
To market Dr. Pepper’s Diet Cherry Chocolate flavor, they launched a viral campaign featuring the already young baritone YouTube sensation, Tay Zonday, 25 in a remake of the song that made him famous, “Chocolate Rain.” The parody used in the ads is called “Cherry Chocolate Rain” and guest stars rapper, Mista Johnson.
The original Chocolate Rain video was sung and produced by the Ph. D. Candidate, whose real name is actually Adam Nyerere Bahner, and hit YouTube on April 22, 2007. Since then, it’s had over 11 million views. View numbers will probably hit another spike thanks to the new Dr. Pepper ad.
Here is the original
Here is the Dr. Pepper viral ad:
Need proof that viral ads work, this was posted on November 28, 2007 and as of December 1st, has 807,348 views
Help be the Change on Zaadz
Wednesday, December 5th, 2007 |
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Zaadz is a social network like MySpace or Facebook. People can create an account, communicate with others, author blogs, add friends and lots of other things. What Zaadz does a little differently is that they have rewritten the concept of “Social” in the social networking world. Social in the sense that they care about our world and it’s people. Social in the sense that are are concerned about the environment. The Zaadz community is concerned about the different cultures of the world. Zaadz mission is to make our planet a better place in every sense and Zaadz motto is: “Zaadz: Connect. Grow. Inspire. Empower.”
Zaadz is the Social Networking alternative. They go so far to have a button on the bottom of every page proclaiming themselves “100% Organic”! You can notice the differences immediately between Zaadz and sites like Facebook and LinkedIn when you start the process of registering for a Zaadz account.
When you click “you! (join now)” link (there version of register for an account), you must in mind agree to the Zaadz concepts. The concepts they set forth are: Harmony, Integrity, Peace, Trust, Truth, Unity and Finally, Love. You agree to these concepts by clicking each word in a series of circles that resembles a flower.
On this page they explain the reason why. They explain that they are different than most other online communities. They are committed to the concepts inside the circles.
They ask tht before you join to take a moment and commit (by clicking the circles), to these principles. Once you do (after all they are all great concepts) you’re in.
So, is there a way to both serve this community and grow your business? You bet there is. Zaadz is the place to take advantage of the growing green economy. Never has there been a place where so many socially conscious and active individuals meet and hang out in one place. The Green Economy, which I will here officially name Green 2.0, is growing every day. Experts predict that the green economy will make the dot com boom seem trivial.
Here are five things you can do to guide these socially minded people to your website:
1. Create a Meaningful Profile – Just like the other social network sites (Plaxo and LinkedIn for example) you can create a profile. The content you add to this profile is very important. Remember this is the first thing other members will see about you and your business. You only get one chance to make a first impression. Make your profile complete. Add a cool title for yourself. Hard to explain but they will give you some examples like (Philosopher or Thinker), just go with it. Add a good description about you and your services in the about me section. Remember be complete.
2. Add Some Friends – Like the other social networking sites, you can add friends. Click the “Zaadzsters” link and use the search feature to find people with similar interests. By adding friends, you increase your reach. Remember the 7 Zaadz principles, you are not here only to benefit yourself, you are here to enlighten. By adding friends on Zaadz, you are connecting with loads of new people that have like interests, goals and dreams.
3. Add an Event – Hosting a Seminar? Build an events page and invite all your new Zaadz friends. On your events page you can add a link to your website and it even add a link to a Google Map. Marketing doesn’t get much easier (or more inexpensive!) than this.
4. Join a Pod (Zaadz Group) – Browse Pods or use the Pod Tag feature to find a couple of pods that you fit into. Join and share your ideas, your goals, your services with the other members. Share consciously, no one wants to be besieged with a sales pitch on the first meeting. That’s not the goal here. The goal is to create a network of like minded individuals, who, once you earn their trust, may very well become some of the best emissaries for you, your message and your products/services.
5. Post a Blog – With your Zaadz account, you get a blog. Here is the place where you get to add really compelling and meaningful content full of startling insight for your fellow community members. This doesn’t have to be directly about you or your business but rather about the bigger picture that your business products/services address. For example, if you are a Real Estate Agent, don’t write about what you offer, and offer some tips about landscaping and curb appeal.
Since it’s inception, Zaadz has been tagged with a “New Age label. In my opinion, this is not a bad thing. After all, we are in a New Age of Green and Social Consciousness marketing and business. Go Green 2.0.
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Lennie Appelquist is the Owner of FreeMarket Media Group. FreeMarket Media Group is dedicated to helping individuals and small businesses generate leads, convert those leads in customers/clients and build a web presence that works for them. We can show you how to make your online business profitable – IMMEDIATELY. Wanna open a FREE account on Zaadz? Click here to join me on Zaadz!
Mix Sherpa
Saturday, August 18th, 2007 |
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OK. . . The truth comes out. Ian Westbury’s one hit wonder from the 80′s was actually a viral marketing campaign for Sprint conceived by Organic.
Back in August of last year, Sprint came to the ad agency Organic looking for a way to create buzz and raise awareness for their recently launched Music Store.
They started the process knowing two things:
1. the space was very crowded – Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T/Cingular, Walmart and even my very first web design client FindBliss.com offer music downloads. Whatever we did, it had to stand out.
2. the audience they wanted to reach, called “Advanced Connected” in Sprint terminology, is extremely averse to traditional advertising and blatant promotion.
Their solution was to create an entertaining and engaging online destination featuring two “music experts”: Ian and the DJ. Each has a back story – Ian is a washed up pop star from the 1980s running a record store on Melrose and DJ is an aspiring turntablist, working in Ian’s store. Users participate by creating playlists and getting a personalized “expert” review of their choices.
To further embellish the story they created a music video for Ian’s one and only hit from the 80s, “Under the Moon”. Launched simultaneously on YouTube and Ian’s MySpace page, the video has gone viral, currently appearing on 25 sites. Music video legend Nigel Dick, (Tears For Fears, Guns N’ Roses, Britney Spears) directed both the “Under the Moon” video and the Mix Sherpa video performances.
The added value to the user – Sprint integrated a discovery and recommendation engine into the story about Ian:
Users engage with Ian and the DJ by creating their own playlists and in return getting an “expert” review of their choices. Users also get recommendations based on the newly created playlist. The added value for the users is the discovery of new music that fits their tastes and the reaffirmation of who they are and what their musical taste says about them.
Finally, piling a playlist and getting exposed to new music while interacting with a cool character will (hopefully) generate Sprint music downloads! Who wouldn’t want to take the playlist to the mobile? Especially if the recommendations will prove themselves as precise, or in Ian’s words:
You go to the site and select your own custom playlist. Through the magic they call a “logic engine” –
“I’m able to analyze your playlist – and maybe analyze what’s going on in that head of yours too. I’ll offer you everything in my arsenal with humor, wit and charm – naturally. My longtime employee DJ Supahboy5 is also online to interject with his own opinions on songs and styles. We’ve got information on bands and songs, and links to download everything you need to take your mobile phone to the next level“.
Visit the site:
http://www.mixsherpa.com/
See the entire Ian experience:
http://www.sprintspecialoffers.com/ian/index.html
Increase business with a blog
Tuesday, July 10th, 2007 |
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For businesses the blog can play a huge part in the success of the web-site, both in giving useful information and driving visitors to your site. It is a fantastic business tool to create content for your website, without knowing anything about web design or development.
Why do we want content on a web-site? Two reasons:
Makes your visitor do what you want them to do
Firstly, meaningful content on your website gives your business credibility, provides valuable information to customers and potential customers. Simply put, a website with a lot of interesting and relevant information represents an interesting, relevant and important company (this of course may not always be true, but stay with me on this!). This in turn increases the chances that a potential customer will do what you want them to do – pick up the phone and call you, purchase a produce, fill in a form – whatever.
Increases search engine rankings
Secondly, search engines love good content. They gobble it up, index it and give you good behaviour marks. However it must be good content, unique, and relevant to your business with pages that are structured correctly. If it is all of these things, those good behaviour marks can lead to what Every Company Wants – higher search engine rankings!
How do we do it?
OK, let’s assume that you have can write good, industry related articles for your business – how do you get going? The three key aspects for businesses when it comes to using blogs positively are publishing the articles and letting the search engines know about them. To address each of these we use:
1. The blogging software
2. The blog directories
3. The article directories
The blogging software
From a business perspective, think of blogging software as an article management system. All the leading blog software providers give you a range of features that include:
- Word processor to enter and edit the articles
- Database to store the articles
- Category system to group the articles
- Archive system to group articles by date
- Security system to guard access to your articles
- Search facility to find articles
- Discussion facility for visitor comments
- RSS newsfeed (so subscribers will automatically get new articles
Most blog software is quite customisable, so some features can be switched on or off. For example, we usually switch off the visitor comment facility because it can attract spammers who leave non-relevant comments purely to get a link back to their own site.
So blog software provides a very sophisticated article management system, and some versions are free! There are two main versions of blog – hosted and integrated to your own site.
Hosted versions
Hosted versions of two of the most popular blog software WordPress and Blogger (owned by Google) are available, free of charge. Hosted versions of the software mean that the articles are stored on a website provided by the software company. The website address of the articles will not be your website but something that might look like http://yourname.blogspot.com/. While this will give you a site for your articles, the downside to this is that it does not enhance your site particularly because the content is on another site.
Integrated versions
An integrated version of the blog software means the articles and the management software all live on your website. The benefits of this are that your site grows organically as you add articles and the search engines rate you higher (they love content, remember). It also means that the presentation of the articles is consistent with the rest of your site – i.e. it looks professional and businesslike – adding to your business credibility.
WordPress again provide a free version for integration. The other widely used blog integration software is Movable Type for which a fee must be paid.
We prefer to use WordPress, not only because it is free. It is also Open Source software, which means it constantly benefits from the thousands of people contributing to its development. It is also very customisable to fit with a web site design.
Integration is not something that should be undertaken lightly. It requires good web design and development skills, not just HTML, but CSS and programming. However, if you know what you are doing, you will end up with an article section on your web site that will match the rest of your site, that can have articles added to it in seconds, and are categorised and indexed for searching.
Most of all though, you will be achieving the two business objectives; displaying your credentials to potential customers and providing fodder for the search engines.
In our next article about blogs, we’ll discuss how to get even more search engine benefit from your articles.
About the Author
Iain Wilson is director of Edinburgh web design and marketing company Blot Design Ltd. He has worked in IT and marketing assignments in UK, US and Australia.
If you are interested in a little web design check out FreeMarket Media Group
Fierce Blue Ascot
Friday, April 13th, 2007 |
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In a hedonistic decade of excess, “Under the Moon” tells the simple and innocent story of a handsome, sensitive and incredibly talented young man looking for love.
With backing from Fierce Blue Ascot’s label, Gold Lamé Records, the video was shot over a two week period in a little recording studio in Leicester. Famed British prop designer Nigel Nunn Taylor, commissioned to create the moon, handcrafted it from imported polymer laminate. The material was delayed at customs due to its volatile nature. A stand-in moon was required for the initial takes and if you look closely at the first few frames of the video, you might recognize the backside of a frying pan shining down on the band.
Visit myspace.com/ianwestbury for more information
But wait, there’s more to the story. . . If you look closely at Ian Westbury (Fierce Blue Ascot’s lead singer) he unmistakenly resembles Dominic Keating, the star of Star Trek Enterprise. If you google “
Ian Westbury” you get a lot of links to the “new Fierce Blue Ascot’s Video and if you look hard enough you’ll find a link to Dominick’s own message board.
On the board there is a ton of speculation as to what the real story is. There is even discussion on the Star Trek Fan Forums.
Actually, I know the truth but I’ll never tell. . . I have been sworn to secrecy. All I can say is that there is a reason that I posted this under my “Marketing” Category.
Check out the 80′s classic video:
