Hey kids - do you like marketing? How about coffee? Yeah, me too!
So you'll want to listen to this week's episode of the Marketing Over Coffee podcast. Host John Wall spent the full episode chit chatting with me about my book microMARKETING: Get Big Results by Thinking and Acting Small. In just over 30 minutes, I talk about 7 shifts every marketer must understand to succeed in social media, share my thoughts on how a big company like Samsung and a cool chick like Natasha Wescoat have used micromarketing approaches (even if they didn't know it at the time) to rock the web, the problem with big agencies, and the Dachis Group acquisition of Powered.
And I don't mean that in some wistful but weird romantic way.
Way back in the way (2008 or so), my colleague Joseph Jaffe used to talk about "using new marketing to prove new marketing" - the glides-off-the-tongue UNM2PNM if you will. Essentially, he meant applying the principles he espoused in his books and on his blog to the way he marketed his own stuff (said books, for example), as a means of proving that the stuff really works. Or doesn't as the case may be. But either way it was open, honest and the right thing to do.
So I figured if Joe could use new marketing to prove new marketing (and yes, for the most part his ideas did work when he put them into action), why shouldn't I use micromarketing to prove micromarketing? You see, (for those of you who haven't read the book - ahem...) my thesis is that in this age of microcultures, micromedia and microcontent the best way for marketers to deliver good results for their businesses is to tap into the trends toward microculture, micromedia and microcontent (rather than buck against them) and connect with customers through lots of small but impactful initiatives.
Enter Jason Sadler. A couple of years back, he started a company called I Wear Your Shirt. What does he do? Well, he literally wears your shirt. Companies pay him (and this year, his buddy Evan) a fee to don a logo-emblazoned t-shirt for a single day. Throughout that day Jason and Evan host live Ustream shows, post photos to Flickr and Facebook, video clips to their YouTube channel, and tweet about your product on Twitter.
Although I didn't cover the company in the book - I met Jason at a conference around the time the book was going into edits - I Wear Your Shirt is in many ways the ultimate micromarketing business model. So I bought September 2nd and gave it a go.
The offer to Jason's community of followers was simple: buy a copy of the book from Amazon, email your receipt to Jason and you'd be entered for a chance to win a new Kindle. Total investment? Around $600.
So Jason and Evan blogged and tweeted and Facebooked and streamed. They created a couple of cheeky bits of custom content, like this:
And this:
Nifty. But the real question of course is did it work?
The numbers would seem to indicate it did. Although I'm still waiting for McGraw-Hill to give me firm sales figures (and frankly I'm not sure they can give me numbers by retailer by day), here's what I know:
When I woke up on September 2nd, microMARKETING's Amazon rank was somewhere in the 200,000 neighborhood. Respectable but let's just say Stephen King wasn't losing any sleep. During the day, as the I Wear Your Shirt guys posted and promoted, the book climbed as high as 17,000 (or so). That's a respectable leap and, to put that in context for you, the book hadn't ranked that high on Amazon since the week of its release. I'm happy about that. Even better? Although I can't link this directly to the IWYS push, it sustained ranks between 30,000 and 20,000 for a few days after.
Although I didn't ask Jason to pimp the microMARKETING Facebook Page, he did. And I saw the fan count more than double on September 2. To be clear, we're talking about just a couple hundred new fans but the % growth is still impressive. And again (although it's impossible to directly attribute this to IWYS), the momentum has hardly let up: in the days since September 2 the fan community has grown by another 75 people or so.
One of the things you'll understand as you read the book is that "big results" are relative (and subjective) but I'd say that an Amazon rank that jumps by an order of magnitude and a community count that more than doubles in just one day is a pretty solid win.
What do you think? Feel free to chime in with your thoughts.
Superlatives and dramatic (but ultimately vague, largely unsubstantiated, and often asterisked into oblivion with disclaimers) claims have long been mainstays of traditional marketing. They have no place in marketing anymore…
Not far from my home, there is a restaurant outside of which hangs a massive banner declaring that this place offers “THE BEST LUNCH IN TOWN”. I’ve never eaten there, so for all I know the claim may be true. But I often wonder, best by whose definition? Its customers? Professional reviewers? The owner him or herself? And best by what standard? The finest cuisine, the biggest portions or best prices? The best option for harried lunch hour bite-grabbers or best for leisurely ladies’ luncheons? Is the food simply filling or could the experience actually be more emotionally fulfilling than microwaving canned soup for a quiet Saturday afternoon lunch on the couch with my fiancée and my six year old daughter? I mean, that would be a strong contender for my best lunch.
You see, superlatives might look great in copy decks, but if consumers take them literally they set impossibly high standards that (generally speaking) businesses can’t possibly live up to. There is nothing new about this. Superlatives have only rarely rung true.
Remember when Snapple was made from the “best stuff on earth” – at least until complaints from their customers or innovations in their lab (I don’t know which) led them to unearth “better stuff”? Not to argue semantics, but what exactly is better than best?
Or how about this one? Even the most maniacal Mac monkeys chuckled at Apple’s use of over-the-top hyperbole in the iPad launch announcements (magical???), even if they fundamentally believed that the device would be the game changer it might actually turn out to be. Case in point:
[Feed and email readers click through for the embedded video.]
None of this would be much more than philosophical pondering if it weren’t for the fact that dissenting – or at a minimum, less biased – opinions are always a click or finger-swipe away.
This morning, as I rode the commuter train into New York City for a day in the office I passed the neighborhood eatery with the big, bold banner. This time, rather than just wondering what BEST really means, I grabbed my phone and Yelped it. Sure enough, the ratings are fair-to-middling; the reviews themselves are (predictably) mixed; the reviewers not shy about airing their gripes about shoddy service, dated décor or mediocre munchies.
Now that doesn’t sound like the BEST LUNCH at all…
I’ve not yet been so fully absorbed into the great and mighty hive mind that I can’t recognize that Yelp reviews are just as subjective as a restaurant owner’s (or product marketer’s) assertion that their own offering is top notch. The likely truth is that this restaurant is just fine – no better and no worse than dozens of other places like it. So maybe I’ll give it a try sometime (hell, I may even spring for an iPad soon), but in the meantime I wonder if the folks who see the sign and wander in today will spend the rest of the afternoon raving, regretting or retching. Or – most likely – if today’s BEST LUNCH will turn out to be just another lunch on just another day.
The superlative is dead. Long live the superlative.
Is this the best post you’ve read today? Like it, link it, tweet it, share it. ;-) Is it the worst? Well, that’s what comments are for…
But either way, the next time you‘re writing that ad, press release, website copy, banner headline (for banners of the real or digital varieties), or marketing whatever, think about all the ways you can replace the superlative with substance.
I sent my colleague Amadeo Plaza to PSFK Conference 2010 last week and he has repaid me by suggesting I bust out my synthesizers and cut some new tracks. Well, sorta... Over on his blog (you
should subscribe) he has published a great post inspired by what sounds like a great talk by advertising creative guy Erik Proulx. The theme? Being true to yourself, discovering (or rediscovering) your passions and doing the thing(s) you love (which isn't necessarily the same as loving the thing you do.)
Here's Deo's post in its entirety, cribbed from RockMeAmadeo.com.
At the PSFK Conference 2010, Erik Proulx, creator, executive
producer, and writer of the short film Lemonade, as
well as the founder of Please Feed the Animals, spoke in front of the large
crowd at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. It goes without saying that all
of the speakers were inspiring, forcing ideas to spark off in my mind.
But after hearing Proulx speak, and watching Lemonade
during the lunch break (also available on DVD and through Hulu),
a swirl of emotions stirred inside me.
He didn’t speak about a new technological advancement; or acknowledge
some growing trend that marketers should heed. He spoke about something
so basic in nature, that I think its simplicity has been lost: doing
what you love. The film Lemonade is a nice accompaniment to Proulx’s Please Feed the
Animals website; a blog for members of the advertising community who
have lost their job to vent and look for a new one at the on-site job
board.
The film highlights a number of former advertising executives who
lost their jobs over the last year or so, and the moment of clarity they
had afterwards that convinced them to uncover and take up the things
they forgot they loved.
The title of this post is a quote that Proulx shared during his
presentation and was something that really stuck with me. I look at my
friends and family members’ lives and I wonder if they’re really doing
what it is they love. My father wanted to be a marine biologist when he
was younger. He affirms to me that he enjoys his job enough, but is
“enough” adequate? I think of one of my best friends, who went from
dreams about being a music producer to pulling all-nighters at a local
Trader Joe’s. I’ve been fortunate enough to land a job, doing more or
less exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I couldn’t be happier to
be honest.
I wanted to promote Lemonade because it reminded me of something
that I think people tend to forget, or think of lightly: do what you
love. It wasn’t long ago that Greg (Verdino) told me that he actually
wanted to work in the music business. There’s nothing wrong with doing
what you’re good at (he happens to be good at marketing), but I
challenge him to pick music back up again. Even if it’s something he
only does on the weekend. In fact, I challenge you all to do the same.
Dig deep down inside yourself. Write down all the things that make
you happy. All the things you’re passionate about. And find a way to fit
it into your life. One of the women in the film, Michelle Pfennighaus,
made the apt point that you don’t have to quit your job to make a
profound change in your life. Whether it’s home-brewing coffee,
practicing yoga, or painting, take a step back and do something for
yourself. Find out whatever it is that makes you smile, and hold on to
it; because it’s easy to lose yourself.
As regular readers know, I've been hard at work on the manuscript for my first book microMARKETING: Get Big Results by Thinking and Acting Small (that's a new subhead by the way, for those of you paying close attention.) It's due from McGraw-Hill in August 2010 and seems to be shaping up nicely. Although the complete draft was due to my editor on December 31st, I'm still pecking away at the last few chapters.
Of course, my inability to meet deadlines haven't halted the wheels of progress altogether. McGraw has delivered a cover treatment -- so when the book hits stores you can expect the cover to look more or less like the shocking yellow rectangle you're seeing at the top of the post. Seeing the actual cover -- especially when it pops up on Amazon or in the publisher's Summer 2010 sales catalog -- certainly makes the whole thing feel a hell of a lot more real.
The cover itself will no doubt go through some tweaks but I'm pretty happy with how it looks and would love to hear your thoughts too. So chime in.
As far as what the inside of the book look like... well, right now it looks something like this:
The first 30,000 words are in the publisher's hands for review while I hammer away at the last three chapters and a bunch of front matter. We're getting there people... This undoubtedly means much more to me than it does to you, but I had to share my progress with you.
Ostensibly, not much -- although did I ever tell you I once saw Chaos Scenario author Bob Garfield standing outside TRL, flashing his pearly whites as he texted his bff that he just caught a glimpse of Nick Lachey?
And yup, I join cool bean Bob Knorpp, Adland.tv's Ask Wappling, Mediassociates'Ben Kunz and Mr. Make-the-logo-bigger Bill Green in a fun filled hour-long discussion of this past week's most interesting industry news items.
This morning I noticed a few of my Facebook and Twitter friends linking to StopWritingOnMyWall.com, a site for the Social Media Addicts Association. The SMAA aims to break addicted social media dorks users of their habits and their decidedly low-rent site gives members plenty of ways to express support and spread the word -- from buying anti-social media t-shirts to uploading their own stories of social media addiction for the organization's YouTube channel to tweeting and updating their Facebook walls with pro-SMAA and anti-social messages.
After all, what better way to kick your social media addition than by Tweeting about it. Ummm... At crayon we talk about using new marketing to prove new marketing (in other words, we walk the talk) so is it possible to kick social media by using social media? Or more accurately, embrace social media by poking fun at social media?
Because of course it's all tongue-in-cheek. There is no SMAA and the effort isn't really an anti-social media campaign, but a social media marketing campaign aimed at the social media community it lampoons.
A subtle "powered by" link at the bottom of the page, a 300x250 Vaio ad in the right-hand rail and a not-so-subtle Sony tagline at the end of the video in the hero position should be enough to tip off even the most casual observer -- the SMAA is a European marketing campaign for the Sony Vaio.
So can Sony win the hearts and earn the dollars of members of the social media community by poking fun at them?
From what I can see, the program isn't exactly setting the web on fire but, as I write this, it's barely a day old. So we'll see. The humor has a certain geek appeal and the program certainly seems to be less dubious that that fake PSP blog from a couple of years back.
Chime in with your thoughts.
As a side note, the whole program seems to be a spiritual sister of the equally tongue-in-cheek Social Networking Rehab blog by Jeff Sass. Also, for what it's worth, I am blogging this from my Sony Vaio.
I feel like it has been a while since I've written a nice, meaty blog post here -- but I've been tweeting and posting regularly at Verdino Bytes. As a reader, you know that my posts focus mostly on the future of marketing or, at least, the present with one eye trained on the horizon. So tonight, I laughed when I realized that three of my most recent Bytes dug deep into the past of media, marketing and branding.
I thought I would share the links here -- hope you enjoytheposts. I think they're kinda fun and, of course, you need to know where you've come from to truly understand where you're going.
Evolution vs Consistencypresents the work of an anonymous snarkster who recently contrasted the frequent changes to Pepsi's logo over the years vs. the consistency of the Coke logo since the 1800's.The graphic shown here is edited down from the original. Check it.
The DVR's Grandfatherhammers home the point that clutter and the consumer's desire to avoid advertising are hardly new. This post presents a 1930s ad for a device that allows users to skip radio advertising, automatically re-tuning the station to music or other interesting content. Well worth reading the copy...
Delicious Ad Geek Goodness for Breakfast looks at a batch of original package design art -- illustrated by hand or mocked up with good old cut-and-paste -- for Post cereal boxes (including some for cereals that evidently didn't make the grade: Digits anyone?) Here are just a few:
Last night I joined George Parker, Angela Natividad (of MarketingVOX and AdRants) and host Bob Knorpp to record Episode 63 of the BeanCast, Bob's marketing podcast that features commentary on some of each week's biggest industry stories. Even though I'm fairly certain sleep deprivation is getting the best of me as I try to balance my day job and my writing schedule, I think my part in the show passed my podcast golden rule:
Try to sound reasonably intelligent at least 50% of the time my mouth is open. I'd give myself a 52% passing grade, but George, Angela and Bob hit it out of the park. Well worth listening.
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