On The Go

So...I recently got with the times and got an iPhone. It's an awesome phone, apps nonwithstanding. Social media and marketing definitely benefits from being on the go, and being able to check all of your pages and other places. I'm currently posting from the free version of the blogger/blogspot app, and I love it now that I'm used to the touch keyboard.

This, along with Twitterific - are becoming very important tools, and I'm assuming not just to an amateur player such as myself.

What are your favorite portable social media tools?

Thanks for reading!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Growing Social Media Presence By Not Using It

I've been interviewing a lot of places lately, and I know a lot of people working in corporate marketing positions of all kinds.

Many of these people, and some of the places I have interviewed at, have fairly aggressive blocking software on the employee work computers. This I understand, as you need to be able to make sure your employees are actually doing their work, and not farting around on Google or checking their fantasy teams, etc.

But the new trend seems to be blocking social networking sites. Yes, these can be addicting to some types of people, so in a way, I can understand it. But on the other hand, the people addicted to social media are usually the ones USING IT CORRECTLY. They're constantly updating their status on FaceBook, leaving comments on friend's pages, and probably updating Twitter along the way.

To my surprise, many of the companies who are claiming to be all about social media, or are attempting to grow their online presence and connect with people are blocking their employees, and that includes everyone from sales and marketing to the president,etc from using social media on the clock. Yeah, some of them have a person who sits and does update Twitter or put news on their Facebook fan pages...they damn well better have that person.

But is that one person really enough? Not when that person has no clue what they are doing. It seems like they just take someone from the marketing department and say "You're the Twitter person now. You also maintain our FaceBook fans page" and just let them do it, no matter how good or bad they may be at it.

You can learn social media as you go along, and in fact, that's pretty much how most of us have done so...but someone like me who doesn't have a corporate reputation behind him can fuck something up and be able to fix it and leave it behind...but if someone screws up the social media reputation of a major company in ANY industry, its possible that they may NEVER recover. They may hit the jackpot like Skittles, and get tons of publicity - or it could fizzle out and pop with a whimper like the dot com bubble back a few short years ago.

Do what you have to do to avoid the latest trend of developing social media by ignoring it. Social media is not the pet rock...social media is the hula hoop, the frisbee, the yo yo. Something that comes in as a fad, but rather than going away in spectacular fashion, it stays around, and will always be there. Maybe a different form sometime down the line, but still there.

Where do you work, and what is their social media policy?

Instant Marketing - Just Add Water...Oops, Twitter.

This should come as no surprise to anyone who reads this blog, since chances are that you found out about it via Twitter to begin with...

But, Twitter has and continues to show itself to be a trendsetter in marketing. Not the service itself, but the users. Thanks to the trending topics slot now in everyone's sidebar by default on the web based client, certain trends can be tracked. In recent times, obviously Michael Jackson, Iran, AT&T, and several other topics have come, stayed and gone, and maybe come again. But the major stuff isn't what I'm actually talking about.

Every once in a while, you get something completely random. Sometimes a meme will crack the list, or sometimes a pro athlete, or whatever. They don't always stay for very long, such is the nature of motion, and a fickle public.

But, if you were good enough about crafting the right kind of message with your 140 characters, imagine the number of people who would possibly see your name, your product, your whatever. Even if you were only on the list for a short time, a rediculous amount of people would possibly see your topic.

I'm definitely not calling for tweets being advertising or anything like that, NOBODY wants that. EVER. What I mean, is there are larger companies (Zappos, Ford, etc) who have enough clout to wrangle a trending topic if they do something big. What's stopping you from crafting something good enough to be picked up by Robert Scoble, or Chris Brogan, or Leo Laporte, guys who have tremendous reach in the Twitter sphere? NOTHING. You just have to do it. If you get the right people or enough people talking, just imagine the possibilities...

What do you see?

Thanks for reading.

Planned Obsolescense Is Not A Marketing Technique!

I've never really been inspired to write a blog entry so quickly after I hear something, but the newly released info on the new iPhone has inspired the heck out of me.

When I was in computer sales, I really was at a disadvantage - I knew too much. I knew that the printer that I sold that customer wouldn't be around in a couple years and stuff would have changed so much they would need to buy another one. I knew that the laptop that I sold the other customer would be in need of several upgrades, both internal and external within the next year or so. Mind you, I'm not stupid, I didn't turn any customers away, but I was honest with them, and many of them appreciated it.

What's that got to do with the iPhone? Technically, nothing. But a lot, at the same time. Its nothing in relation to the products themselves, even though an iphone is pretty much a computer in itself.

I hate that companies will make a product, knowing full well that within 6 months to a year or so, they'll be putting out another one that's bigger, smaller, faster, lighter, whatever, as long as its better. I hate that they'll make a huge deal out of it, like they made some sort of gigantor discovery that made the new one necessary. Its like you're calling your current customers suckers for daring to buy your product. "hey, remember that cool thingy you paid $499 for six months ago? You can now get it for $99, and this new one that's so much better than yours is now $399!!!! Don't you want to buy it? You know you do! Come buy it!!"

And people do. Just like people pay all the overcharges for concert tickets, and every other thing that the market will put out.

Look - I'm all for making money, shit, its what I do, I'm in sales. But the joy over making something new so quickly after making it in the first place has got to go. I'm all for letting me know that this or that product now does something else, or does what it did but better. But its not worth a major event.

I'm not going to tell you not to buy anything new, because that's not my point, and I'm not here to tell you what to do. Unless I end up working for AT&T, Cingular, or Apple, I'm not gonna fall for it. If you want to buy the new one, cool, do that. If you want to buy the new one and you just got the last one, just think about it, that's all.

Think.

Comment, too...I like comments.

Know When Not To

I'm definitely not breaking any new ground here...but this is something that needs to be said every so often.

Everything you're taught when you are learning ANYTHING, not just marketing or advertising, is to help you figure out what and when things need to be done.

What you aren't taught is NOT doing. These days too much emphasis is placed on putting out as much as possible as often as possible, no matter what.

Sometimes its better to not do something. I've been living that idea with this blog lately, because I've been trying to post something for weeks now, and I hate almost everything I come up with - therefore I don't post it, because I know not to - I have standards and a quality level in mind in regards to this blog, and I haven't been meeting it lately.

If you don't hear from me as often as you should - its because I know when NOT to talk. I do know when TO talk, but knowing NOT to talk is just as important.

In The Palm Of Your Hands

side note - the winner of the contest in my previous post will be revealed tomorrow.

Now, onto the main attraction. As a music fan, and a guy who will hit a live concert at just about any opportunity, I am fascinated by the rare breed of artist that can take the audience and put it in the palm of their hand, and basically play with it because they can. It really is a very small percentage of people that have that level of charisma and talent. It's scarily small when you take into consideration the millions of musicians and singers and such out there.

Is the same true for marketing/advertising, etc? Are there a very very small percentage of people that can take control of their audience and pretty much make them do as they please?

Yes.

The same kind of person that is a rarity in the entertainment world is just as rare in the marketing/advertising world. Sure, there are plenty of people who can do it good enough to get the job done, and people that are good enough at it to be among the top in the industry. But just like in the music industry, there is that extremely small percentage that transcend the marketing industry.

Is there an exact formula to it? I have no idea, if I did, I'd be rich as shit from selling said formula, and I'd be among the elite myself.

What do YOU think?

Thanks for reading...

Oddball Or Interesting Places For Promotional Material

I've always been a fan of finding new and interesting places to put advertising or marketing materials or logos and such. In fact, it was one of my duties when I interned for my local ampitheatre several years back - to assist the corporate sales team in coming up with ways to take advantage of unused space for advertising purposes.

I haven't seen much that really caught my eye or surprised me in quite some time, other than those that you see in articles around the internet that were for contests or what have you. Until this morning. I was depositing my unemployment check (yes, I'm unemployed. I'm not the only one) at my Webster Bank near my house. On the back of my receipt was an advertisement for discount tickets to a professional golf tournament that has been in Cromwell, CT for decades now, the former Greater Hartford Open, formerly sponsored by Canon, and most recently Buick.

All the needed information was present...the tournament name, dates and location, and the website to buy the tickets, along with the discount code, and a short bit of advertising copy.

Why had noone (that I am aware of) thought of this yet? Its freakin' brilliant! You have a captive audience, because everyone needs to use a bank for something or other fairly often these days. Why is it that only banks seem to advertise on their ATM slips? There's got to be plenty of related things that could be on the backs of those....fer chrissakes, grocery stores have advertisements on their receipts, that probably one person has ever used, especially since they have the seperate coupon printers nowadays.

What's your favorite random place you have ever seen an advertisement?

Thanks for reading.

Advertising within java/flash games

No, not product placement, that would be a huge waste of time. Nobody needs to see the Bloons monkey drinking a Coca Cola, or the tilty motorcycle actually be a Harley Davidson. I mean companies actually producing java games with their stuff in them.

I know a while back that Nabisco did a whole lot of childrens' style games with very little going on in any of them, and a large amount of product placement. This is a really unexplored thing, I believe. We're so concerned with viral videos, and getting our customer service departments on Twitter, that something like this is being left behind, for the most part.

With the one possible exception of Comedy Central, I suppose. Take a look at their website sometime. If you're at all familiar with any of their programming beyond the standup comedy specials, you will recognize a ton of stuff if you wander into their game section of their website.

Small companies...find a game developer that can do a java/flash game for you....even something as simple as a choose your own adventure or a madlib, if done well will bring you lots of traffic, and people will have fun, and remember you.

Thanks for reading...

Web 2.0 = Marketing 2.0??

For some reason, lately the need to classify things has been bouncing around in my head. Not trying to classify my own stuff in my house, but why its done. Of course, general classification is obviously and correctly used to differentiate things that for the most part are blatantly different, with small variation.

Animal. Vegetable. Mineral. Mammal. Fish. Arachnid. Whatever, they're for the most part useful.

But what is Web 2.0? What is new marketing? For that matter, what compromised Web 1.0? What exactly is included within traditional marketing? Who's traditions? Mine? Yours? Nostradamus? Bill Clinton? Dave Chappelle? Where do you draw the lines...is it really necessary to draw them?

No.

To concentrate on marketing for a moment...how do you know when to draw the line? Was it when the first spam email went out? Was it when the first banner ad was clicked on? Was it the first television commercial? Was it the first magazine ad? The line is useless....marketing is marketing is marketing. The music industry is full of the same bullshit...everything has to have a label to make it digestable to the latest and the greatest of whatever. Fuck it. Music is music is music. Its all music....leave it at the general classifications that you see in a record store. I don't need new this, or post that, or cross genre classifications. Its music. Get over it. Its marketing. ITS ALL THE SAME! The method of delivery is the difference. Since day one, marketing has been about getting your product or service in front of as many of the right people as often and as cheaply as possible without pissing them off. Thats what it is, thats what its been, and thats what it will always be.

Same with the internet. If you really want to get technical, Web 1.0 was the millitary defense network before any of the concepts of the internet beyond BBSs was even a thought in Al Gore's mind. Which would mean by classification of evolutionary ideas, we'd be on like Web 9.2 at this point. So why aren't we? Because the classification doesn't mean a damn thing. Its subjective, its made up to pigeonhole stuff, much like what I spoke about above. Its the internet. It has a wide variety of uses and has gone through a wide variety of generations...but its still the internet. No need to call it anything else...no more classifications needed. Just leave it alone.

What are your favorite useless classifications?

Thanks for reading...

Depression and Social Marketing

I often wonder how different my views on social networking and social marketing would be if I wasn't on anti depression medication. There are times when I curse social networking, when I really kind of need to talk to someone but nobody's around to chat with....but when people are around and sharing thier ideas, experiences and such, its invauluable.

I'm sure there are times when I hesitate and miss making a connection or replying to a twitter post or a facebook group message...but I'm thinking everyone is like that. Because with social networking and marketing, the whole idea is that there are connections everywhere and if you miss one, you will be able to make another one.

Has anyone else wondered if their social networking or marketing experiences are clouded or heightened by anything??

Thanks for reading...

Don't Be Afraid Of The Unknown

Last time I wrote, I wrote about making sure to use what you know. Use what you have, you never know what may work until you try.

However, there is definitely something to be said for what you don't know. In this day and age, you cannot be afraid of learning new things, of going out on a limb and trying something different. You just have to make sure that the base you are stepping out from is strong enough to support you.

As much as we all love all of this new technology and all of these crazy new advancements that are coming along at an alarming pace these days, we cannot forget the past. We cannot forget where we came from, and what we learned while we were there. Use what you know, but don't be afraid to take a step or two out of your comfort zone.

Thanks for reading...

Can Marketing Really Be Taught In School?

Oddly enough, as a person with a bachelors degree in Marketing, I'd have to say I'm not sure.

There's only so much that can be taught. Obviously you've got to learn the basics, and when you learn the basics of a lot of different concepts, it helps you refine what you are actually interested in. But so many things that are needed to be successful in marketing, advertising and such cannot truly be taught. Imagination and creativity for one, would be hard to learn. Every person has a different view on what is creative and/or imaginative, its too subjective of an idea to really be taught. Unfortunately, you need both to really be good. You can take a class in ad design, or ad writing, or what have you, but that only shows you what to do, not how to do it. I'm honestly proud that I can say that I have a bachelors in Marketing, but it doesn't automatically get you somewhere like it used to. Not to say that its worthless, because in no way is it. You need to get the basics. But with how fast things are changing in our industry, are those basics from long ago still the same? Hell, are the basics from LAST YEAR still the same as you need today? I don't know.

The one thing that truly leads to education is experience. Its a shame that its so hard to get experience these days, unless you're working with very unconventional means. To get a job, you need experience. To get experience, you need a job. To get a job, you need experience. To get experience, you need a job. How are you supposed to break that?

Marketing and advertising is too important to a company to trust to some kid right out of college...which is harsh, because these days, more often than not its the kid just out of school that has a handle on what's going on, especially with all the new stuff coming around on the internet and such.

Experience cannot be taught, only gained and used. Maybe its time that all of us younger folks who are struggling to get a foot in the door somewhere to make our own doors...or start kicking out windows instead. Maybe the good way in isn't through the door, its over the back fence. I'll bring the bolt cutters if you bring the shovel.

Thanks for reading...

Purple Cows and Outliers

Are all these authors and bloggers that write about being innovative, and the how and why of certain people becoming sucessful all writing about the same thing? Do they all have the same ideas, but explain them in different ways?

Yes. But that's not a bad thing, and let me tell you why.

Not all people learn the same way. Some people are visual, some are aural, and some learn by doing...I could go on. In the same vein, not all people respond to advertising or marketing the same way. That's why there are so many companies that need to find more than one way to say what they mean - to attract as many people as possible.

The obvious example of people coming at the same idea from two completely different directions are ones that I referenced in the title of this entry. Seth Godin's Purple Cows, and Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers. Seth uses the term purple cow to describe that one thing about an entity that makes it special. It can be almost anything, tangible or intangible. Malcolm uses the mathematical term outlier to put more of an analytic spin on the same idea, but by being a bit more specific. Seth relies on thought and creativity and using the mind to think for himself. Malcolm relies on mathematical calulation and statistical analysis from many different angles.

Yet, they're both coming to the same conclusion. What makes you stand out is not what makes you the same as everyone or everything else, it's what makes you different. That seems pretty obvious, but in reality finding what makes you different is very difficult, no matter which angle you come at it from. Why would you want to be the same as something else? Why not? If that something is successful, why not try to be as much like it as possible? That's now things work these days...find a similarity, use it, but exploit your differences, provided they're positive. If your differences aren't positive, find the similarity and fix it.

Seth Godin and Malcolm Gladwell set out to put to words the way that they do things. Did they intend to provide the same message in entirely different ways? Probably not, but as we all know, eventually, the quickest way between points is a straight line. There is no one way to accomplish something, but to be done correctly and successfully, there must be a legitimate base, and both gentlemen had the idea to write about their thoughts on what goes into making something unique. Both men have written on many topics, but intentional or not, they both wrote great explanations of the same topic, by coming at it from completely different directions.

Thanks for reading...

"Traditional Marketing" Gone Forever?

I think not. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person who's ever thought so, either. Hell, I'm probably late to jump on the bandwagon as it is.

The world we live in is to cyclical for traditional, or older style marketing to disappear. Clothing styles go in and out with astonishing regularity, and tend to circle back on a generational term. Music does the same thing. Look at the ska, swing, and psychedelic periods that the music industry went through. Popularity comes and goes, and yet there are things that are always there. Good old standbys, if you want to think of them that way. Jeans and tshirts. Manufactured pop music. Even the movie and television industry falls into cycles on occasion.

Why would marketing and advertising be any different? Word of mouth, viral marketing, and banner advertisements are great, and have many plenty of people tons of money...but so have traditional advertising means. There was a point in time as all of this next generation stuff was coming along, that Yahoo! was running television commercials. They aren't anymore. Yeah, probably because everyone who uses the internet knows what Yahoo! is. Now people are all excited about Google. With good reason, of course, because Google is growing into a category and an industry all to its own. I can't for the life of me remember a tv commercial or a magazine ad, or any kind of other "traditional" advertisement for Google. Or Blogger. Or Twitter. Or MySpace. Facebook. Sure, they got written up in technology magazines or computer magazine or stuff like that...and it probably did them a world of good. But abandoning what was once traditional advertising is a bad idea.

Why? Because sooner or later, the cycle will come around again, and for some it will be too late. Maybe they just sunk a ton into whatever newfangled promotional thing that just came down the pike, and they have nothing left for print or television. Maybe they just didn't think the cycle would come around again.

I've yet to see a company that does more than a slightly passable job (if they even attempt it) at balancing new and traditional marketing and advertising concepts. At least not to the point where it's all that noticeable. Is it being done? I hope so, but I'm not really sure. Will it be done? That's for time to show.

Thanks for reading.