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Jan 07

Susan Boyle Revisited: Another Great Example of Video Marketing

By Video Production One Comment

A few weeks ago I wrote about why you’re not Susan Boyle and how the more sure bet to being successful with your online video is to use it for product demonstration vs. trying to be the next great thing Hollywood falls in love with.
Here’s another great example some of you may not have seen by Emanuel Rosen, author of The Anatomy of Buzz.  Blendtec was a fairly successful maker of blenders with a strong website.

 

Not only is the site an almost perfect example of optimizing a site for search engines and converting leads but as part of that they had had discovered the power of product demonstration in boosting sales online.

Not a big leap perhaps because they’re in a business not far removed from Ginsu knives and Sham-wow but what they did next was truly inspired.  And better yet, inspired by their customers.

Originally built on their site ‘Will It Blend?’ has become one of the biggest viewed channels on YouTube.

 

And the bottom-line on the bottom-line?  This great blend of product demo first and entertainment second increased sales 700%.  Nice.

The Marketing Garage is an award-winning Toronto marketing company that cuts through the digital marketing hype to deliver real results. Our unbiased, data-driven audits help you understand what’s working. And what’s not. Read some marketing case studies or give us a call to pop the hood on your marketing.

Dec 23

New Tarmac Waiting Limit a Victory for Social Media

By Social Media Marketing No Comments

Social Media.  What can’t it do?

First it helped elect a certain U.S. president.  Then it almost overthrew the Iranian government.  Now it’s getting credit for the new legislation announced this week that limits the amount of time a plane can leave passengers stranded on the runway to 3 hours.

And deservedly so.

Kate Hanni, founder of Flyersrights.org, who used social media effectively to lobby the government, called it a Christmas miracle.  Hanni, profiled in Clay Shirky’s book, Here Comes Everybody, was famously stranded on an American Airlines plane in Texas with her young family for over 9 hours in 2006.

 

But Hanni wasn’t the only social media rock star to have a part in this play.

Canadian Dave Carroll, famed singer of YouTube sensation ‘United Breaks Guitars‘, had a cameo role when he was invited to Capitol Hill by Hanni to perform his song before the hearings.

Social’s Batwoman & Robin prove how Social Media – the tool that connects us with like-minded people – can move mountains. And governments.

If you’ve got a cause, a mission, a passion – either professionally or politically – consider these three lessons from Kate and Dave.

1.  Can you sustain it? Is it truly a passion of yours or your organization’s?  Relationships – even the online ones – take time to build. Kate started years ago, devoted day and night and her persistence and momentum is just now paying off.

2. Are there enough like-minded people? I happen to have loved the movie Ishtar but sadly that’s just me.  Who hasn’t sat on the tarmac for ever or suspected malicious baggage handling?  The power of a crowd needs, well, a crowd.

3. Can you make it entertaining? It doesn’t hurt to have the talent to make a catchy video like Dave’s but use your own superpowers to make your content remarkable.  Or, like Kate, find people in your own network with talents that can add fuel to your fire.

Now if they can just limit the line at the mall tomorrow I’ll be good.

Dec 22

Picking A Brand Name Based On What It Does

By Branding, Uncategorized 2 Comments

My work associates and I have this thing going on about this great new supplier we found.  Every time we say the name of the company we say it a different way.  That’s because, for the life of us, we can’t remember how to say it right and what the name of the company actually is.

I mean we like this company.  We want to do business with them but they took the alphabet-soup approach to naming their business.  Someone found a combination of letters no one else was using and thought it sounded pretty cool.

 

Or, in my brother’s case, upon the birth of the organization the CEO decided to name it after some Greek mythology he was fond of.  A decent company with a great product in an explosive category but, for the life of me, I can’t remember the name of it and that prevents me from passing it on.

What a shame!  Because how you brand your business provides you with an incredible opportunity to turbo-charge your word-of-mouth and win fans and fame.

I was thinking of this recently when I went into the Beer Store.  That’s right…

 

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A decade or so ago, Brewer’s Retail, the retail outlet licensed by the government to sell beer here in Ontario, decided to re-brand itself.  They could have chosen lots of fancy and stupid names but they took the time, did the smart thing and named it after what it does in the words of their customer.  In making this seemingly small but important decision they gained a lot of marketing power by getting the affection of the beer-buying consumer at a time when deregulation threatened to take away their virtual monopoly.  It’s a great name and it wins them fans.

I actually think we’re in a renaissance of great naming lately.  Consider:
 

Each of these brand names says what it does for you.  In these viral times this has been a factor in their success because it allows their story to spread.

Even where the ‘spark gap’ is a little wider, such as in Google’s case where the name basically means a ‘whole lot’, it gives founders and fans the platform to spread the story of the brand’s purpose which is to organize the world’s information (as if you didn’t know).

Some would say, but Bob, all the good names are taken!  I’d say Dude, you’re not trying hard enough.  Because the answer is in the product.  It just takes talented folks to find it.

So, next time you’re naming your business or a new product, take a little time, think of the customer and name it after what it does.

Dec 17

Santa Billboard Lets Kids Be Naughty, Not Nice

By Branding No Comments

Check out this billboard I came across the other day.

Really?  Fast Pass for the Santa line?

I mean I once helped British Airways successfully market a ‘fast pass’ product to get first-class travelers through the customs process faster.  It worked well there but jeez this is a whole different category.

How would you feel walking your kids past all the other kids waiting in line?

And as a marketing tactic, while you may win over a few customers who like the service, what kind of experience are you creating for all those who have waited patiently in line only to be passed by others?

Google and Zappos are just two of the marketers who have shown us the growth you can enjoy when you use customer insight to create an amazing experience for everyone.

Maybe I’m wrong but at the end of the day I think this marketer is going to be minus a few fans at at time when happy shoppers are sacred.

Your thoughts?

Dec 15

Social Networking or Social Not Working?

By Social Media Marketing No Comments

Many of the execs I’m talking to lately are questioning the value of social media at work.  They say, ‘yeah, yeah, I can see what it’s doing in Iran but is it just a waste of time by my staff?’ They’re skeptical about whether the effort to maintain a social program is worth it in terms of driving business forward; particularly when you’re not making mass consumer goods.

Well, suppose your company made soldering material and electronic assembly equipment.  I mean social media there would be a waste of time, no?  I mean who could possibly be interested in tweeting about that?

Well Rick Short, Director, Marcom, Indium, has a target audience that is extremely sophisticated, well-educated and technologically astute and he has 10 of his staff blogging to reach them!

How the heck does he justify it?  How do you measure it?

Here’s 6 simple steps you need to spark your own social revolution:

1. Is your target audience into it?
Take it for granted that they’re using some kind of online media by now.  Well, which one?  A recent study showed very few CEOs are on twitter.  So is it email that can get thru to them?  Or LinkedIn? Because it’s all social and you need to know where the conversation is going on.

2. There’s no knowing without going.
Take 80% of your time/money and spend it on what’s already been proven to work.  Spend the other 20% on emerging social media like blogs.  If it works, WOW! you’re a change agent!  If it doesn’t, so what?  Now you know.

3. Set a goal.  Any goal.
It could be broadening and deepening the meaning of your brand beyond your core product by becoming the ‘thought-leader’ in the category.  But I don’t want to put goals in your mouth.  You set it.  Just make sure that it’s tied to your business plan and helps you overcome a primary obstacle to success.

4. Skip the ghost-written CEO blog route.
Instead appoint an approved subject matter expert blogger for each distinctive target group you have.  Make sure they’re clear on the do’s and don’ts and let ’em at it.

5. Multi-purpose your content.
It’s amazing; almost every company I’ve worked with was producing tons of valuable content and didn’t even know it! Today, content is a huge asset to leverage to optimize your marketing so once you’ve mined it, start distributing it.  And don’t think of social media as one tool but rather a top-to-bottom distribution system. I think of it as a ‘fan funnel’ with social media as the top of the pyramid and stickier media like email below.  Twitter = headline. Blog = tasty sample. Full white paper = lead capture etc. etc.

6. Measure the hell out of it.
Some will tell you it’s not measurable.  Make them go sit in the corner.  I count at least 11 different ways to measure the way fame-generators like blogs contribute to lead generation.  Rick focuses on money/contact and time/contact.  But come up with your own.  That way, things won’t get out of hand.

Now go out and see if it works for your brand.  Because it’s a great time to test.

Dec 14

Why Your Video Marketing Is Not Susan Boyle

By Video Production 2 Comments

Online video is a new power tool for marketers.  It can boost conversion of your site twofold and give your business the multi-media personality previously only big companies could enjoy.

But you’re not Susan Boyle.

You make look like her (I do) but you don’t sing like her.

So don’t waste your time trying to go viral purely on entertainment value.  My friend Chris Carder over at ThinData calls it ‘lightning strike’ marketing.  You do it because, hey, it struck over there.  Good luck with that.

Instead, if you’ve got a remarkable story, a more surefire way to get online video working for you is pure & simple product demonstration.  Here’s great example I came across recently.

Working with a U.S. sports retailer last week our keyword analysis showed a huge amount of traffic going to the used gear section of his site likely driven by these economic times.  By adding an online video with tips on what to look for when buying used he’s more likely to get found by the search engines and increase the conversion of visitors to customers.

Then once you’re done doing your Scorcese thing and it’s up on your site, take it and put it out there on the world wide web and see what happens.

This way even if Simon Cowell doesn’t like you, you’ll win over your own fans.

A follow-up to this post with more examples can be found here: Another Example of Good Video Marketing

 

The Marketing Garage is an award-winning Toronto marketing company that cuts through the digital marketing hype to deliver real results. Our unbiased, data-driven audits help you understand what’s working. And what’s not. Read some marketing case studies or give us a call to pop the hood on your marketing.

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