By Larry Bailin, author of the bestselling Internet marketing book,
Mommy, Where Do Customers come From? and CEO of Single Throw Internet Marketing. @LarryBailin - Written for FeedFront Magazine

Social networking giant Facebook recently surpassed Wikipedia as the fourth largest website in the world while micro-blogging powerhouse, Twitter, reportedly handled 5000 tweets per minute when the king-of-pop passed. These announcements have businesses scrambling to social websites like they were, well, the Holy Grail of marketing success.

Here’s the thing about finding the Holy Grail: what do you do once you’ve found it? Companies large and small, although excited over the promise of social marketing, often have no idea what to do in this new and unfamiliar space.

Certainly, there is no shortage of social marketing gurus, experts and even ninjas (yes ninjas), but you can’t rely solely on these social Sherpa’s to achieve true success in your social quest.

A good or even average social media consultant can help you traverse an unforgiving social terrain by creating a sound social media strategy and implementing best practices.  However…

…”You can only be catapulted to success if you have something worth flinging into the air”.

Success is imminent when you realize that the knowledge necessary to succeed, no matter the marketing vehicle, comes from within. You have intimate knowledge of your offerings. You understand your customer’s wants and needs as they relate to your services. Most importantly, you know how to speak to a customer, and that is what will ultimately deliver success in the social space.

 Let the gurus obsess over the perfect formula of re-tweets to tweets and which shortened URL gets clicked the most.  You need to spend more time strategizing the creation of valuable dialogue.

Study your customer’s wants and needs, misconceptions and objections, then create shareable contributions that educate and subtly entice. Contributing, educating and subtly enticing - sounds a lot like selling. Despite popular opinion selling is not a bad thing.

There is nothing wrong with using social media to attract and convert customers, just learn to sell in a friendly non-disruptive way. Learn to join the conversation as opposed to interrupting it. You have to sell without selling.

You may be asking, how do you sell without selling? Let me share a little secret with you: it’s not so much a secret as an often overlooked resource.

 I’m frequently asked to recommend books on social marketing. There’s no shortage of books about the intricacies of Facebook and Twitter, but the greatest book ever written on achieving success in the social space was written 70+ years ago.

Dale Carnegies, How to Win Friends and influence People is the Holy Grail, the secret to social nirvana. This book teaches you to speak, think and write with the intent to persuade. How to Win Friends teaches you to think like a customer and provide value in order to evoke a desired outcome.

Social websites and ninjas come and go. When you master the skills to think like a customer and subtly entice, your next quest for marketing’s Holy Grail will be a short crusade.  You’ll only need to look inside yourself.

For more information about motivational business speaker and bestselling marketing author Larry Bailin, click here.

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“Knowledge is power” an adage that has been instilled in us since birth. Is there such a thing as too much knowledge? 

Back when times were simpler, televisions  only had thirteen channels, local calls required a mere seven digits and only mind-readers were privy to the inner most thoughts of others, you could never have access to too much knowledge.

In the age of tweets, knowledge is an abundant commodity.  Free flowing tweets on twitter, blog posts, podcasts, social bookmarking and Facebook updates have led to a deluge of useful and useless knowledge merged together into an enormous ever evolving amorphous lump of information.

How do we separate the good, the bad and the ugly from the knowledge we so desperately crave?

First, stop contributing to the clutter. My recently college bound cousin who I love and adore dearly has gone into update overload. If her updates were litter she’d have an Indian crying outside of her dorm room (for those under the age of 35, look it up).

 “Chillin”, “clubbin”, “doin laundry” and “sleeeeepy” have crossed over from mundane minutia passing through your mind to mundane minutia that I now have to read! Where else in life would this type of veracious status updating be anything but mind-numbingly aggravating? Invite a close friend to join you at home to watch your favorite television show. Now imagine that every three to five minutes he/she gave you a status update; “Hungry”, “happy”, “comfortable”, “still hungry”, “nothing to say”, “sleeeepy”. You would blow a gasket, so why is this acceptable or of any interest whatsoever when done online?

Maybe I’m old fashioned or just plain old; I still struggle with the term “my bad” even being close to a suitable replacement for “I’m sorry”. If anyone ever catches me reciting this loser mantra please punch me square in the face.

Second, when you’ve accepted the fact that no one requires information about your every move start sharing information that your friends and followers can use. Share knowledge that can help better someone’s professional or personal life.  Tweet a bit of knowledge imparted by a brilliant professor during a lecture or a passage from a novel you may be enjoying, even a critique of today’s dinner special in the student cafeteria would be helpful to others on campus. Obviously I’m still talking about my cousin however you can apply the same logic in your professional life as well.

Third and this may be the most beneficial way to acquire a considerable amount of valuable knowledge; only follow and friend people that share and contribute relevant information to the network. My personal twitter page is a treasure trove of information fed directly to me. I follow those that care about what they share. Your feeds can provide more knowledge about your personal and professional interests than any newspaper, magazine or email newsletter could ever hope to deliver.    

The information, articles, stories, comments, videos and events delivered by my social networking feeds are the equivalent of having my own personal newspaper that only prints information relevant to my life, all of my professional and personal interests wrapped neatly in one location. Even if I did have my own personal newspaper, a new edition would have to be delivered to me every fifteen minutes to keep up with the quality and quantity of information currently available to me.

Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are all about giving and getting information and there are far more people giving than getting so why not take advantage of that? Not everyone is hyper connected and most are not writing unique content, articles, blogs or books however, those of us that do write for a living want you to benefit from the fruits of our labor so read, comment, share, subscribe, follow and friend as many experts as you can.

I’m sure that once you’ve honed your friend list and start following the right people you’ll be hooked on the timeliness and quality of the information available and soon you will realize just how tweet it is.

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I’ve always envied those that can speak multiple languages. To be able to communicate with someone in their native language must create an amazing connection. I studied intricacies of the Spanish language all through high school, conjugating verbs and identifying when to use the masculine “EL” versus the feminine “LA.”  After four years of studying this, I embraced the Spanish speaking population with an impressive ability to converse, as long as the conversation didn’t require me to say anything aside from. “¿Como se llama? Me llamo Larry. Mi lápiz es grande y Amarillo.” (How are you? My name is Larry and my pencil is big and yellow.)

I often think about taking my Spanish speaking skills to the next level.  You know, by actually being able to form sentences. Nothing is more frustrating than watching my favorite TeleMundo shows and only being able to decipher a few words here and there, completely unable to comprehend enough to understand the concept of the program. C’est la vie! (That’s the extent of my French, but in my defense, I never studied French).

On a recent business trip to Cape Cod Massachusetts a co-worker and I went to grab a bite to eat before starting our five hour journey back to New Jersey. We stopped at a local Friendly’s restaurant. It was here that my colleague made a rookie road-warrior mistake: he ordered the Reuben sandwich. When you’ve been on the road for as long as I have you learn what’s best to order in any restaurant. For example, never order the halibut filet at a roadside diner, or the Reuben at the local Friendly’s.  The Reuben is a delicious combination of pastrami (according to Seinfeld’s George Costanza, the most sensuous of the all the cured meats), Swiss cheese and sauerkraut.  Order this sandwich in a Manhattan deli and your taste buds will be treated to a true sandwich delight. Order a Reuben at Friendly’s and stomach will be taken on quite a different journey.

Me? I stick with the basics when I order food on the road. When asked by the waitress, (in a distinct Bostonian accent) “Wat’ll ya have?” I ordered the very safe turkey club with waffle fries. I assumed I’d given the waitress all the pertinent information she needed to successfully fill my order.  I was mistaken and surprised when she belted out the word “LOADED!?”. Neither I nor my colleague had any idea what to say. Again she bellowed, “LOADED!?” and then the conversation went something like this:

• Me: I don’t understand.
• Waitress: Do you want it loaded!
• Me: Do I want what loaded?
• Waitress: The fries!”
• Me: What do you mean loaded?
• Waitress: Do you want sour cream, bacon, cheese and chives on your fries!
• Me: No thank you.

Even though I got a C- in high school English, I have no trouble comprehending my native tongue. The Friendly’s waitress assumed I knew what the term “loaded” meant in relation to Friendly’s waffle fries and was very annoyed when I didn’t understand what I now call the language of “Friendles”.

Most marketers are guilty of these types of assumptions. We assume that our customers and those with passing interest understand the terminology, or the jargon, we use in our industries day in and day out - they don’t. 

Our jargon is our own, and, more often than not, customers do not understand what we are talking about. Customers may not always tell us they don’t understand as they don’t want to feel stupid, especially in a selling environment. I remember the first time a car salesman told me I’d have to sign the paperwork with the “F and I” guy. The salesmen said “F and I,” but I heard “Effin I.”  I remember thinking, “What’s an ‘I guy’ and why does this man hate him so much?” FYI: F and I = Finance and Insurance.

Communication is the cornerstone of sales and marketing, if we fail to communicate our messages quickly and concisely we fail to connect with potential clients and risk losing a valuable opportunity.  With the economy in its current state of disarray can anyone risk losing any opportunity over something as minor as deciphering your jargon into clear and concise terminology? 

Take a hard look at your customer communications, marketing material and sales presentations.  Put them to the test, by explaining what you offer to someone that has no knowledge of your industry and your offerings.  See if they understand your message and value proposition.  Don’t forget your Internet marketing!  Enlist the help of an outsider to evaluate your website content, website design and any other online materials you may have.

When it comes to connecting with potential customers you only have a split second to make a great connection. Simple messaging always connects, so ensure your marketing message isn’t “LOADED” with jargon.

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In November of 2007, (the fifteenth to be exact) the world experienced an event of historic proportions…

…The release of the bestselling marketing book, Mommy, Where Do Customers Come From?

I’m exaggerating a bit. Historic proportions, no, (fiber yes) however there were two very memorable moments.

• Moment One:
  Within hours of the book’s release it rose to the top of the retail bestseller lists where it stayed for over two months.
• Moment Two:
  All of the proceeds from the first weeks sales went to charity. All said and done sales of the world’s newest bestselling marketing book helped to raise thousands for those that needed it most.

As an author and professional business speaker I’ve had many moments in my life that have given me a great sense of accomplishment but none so gratifying as knowing that I was able to create something that was a catalyst to make a difference in someone’s life.

Help me do it again!

I recently met with a gentleman by the name of Fred Reihl. I’ve known Fred for some time now and a more stadup guy you’ll never meet. Fred is the CEO of Freedom House an organization located in New Jersey that operates a long-term residential treatment program for people in need who are recovering from alcohol and drug addiction and who are at high risk of relapse without further treatment.

Freedom House in short saves lives. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting many of their graduates and seeing firsthand how their program literally gives people their homes, family, dignity and lives back.

Freedom House does amazing work and produces amazing results but like most they have been badly hurt by the troubled economy. When I spoke to Fred he told me that donations were down over 70%!
For a non-profit to lose 70% of their charitable donations is devastating to the lives of those they are trying to help..

Freedom House does great work, they save lives and I want to help them continue to do so but I can’t do it alone, I need your help (again).

·         Mommy, Where Do Customers Come From?  The Second Edition is set to be released to retail bookstores (online and off) on August 1st 2009.

·         I am donating all proceeds from all books sold through Amazon.com for an entire month, August 1st through the 31st to Freedom House.

  All you have to do to help.

1.     Buy the second edition of Mommy, Where Do Customers Come From? from Amazon.com between August 1st and the 31st.

2.   Feel good that you’ve helped give someone in need a second chance.

Not to mention the book is actually pretty friggin good and you’ll learn a ton about sales and marketing in today’s connected culture, but this isn’t about me it’s about raising a little cash for an organization that does great things. You can achieve all of this and make a difference to a person in need for less than twenty bucks!

Here’s what you need to help.

• Here is a link to buy the book on Amazon >
• Here is a link to Freedom House >
  Read their stories, learn about them, view their photos and if you feel as I do that it’s an amazing thing to be able to help people that are lost turn their lives around and give them a second chance at a future, then  please make your own charitable donation.

Pass this post on through your social networks, email and websites. Help spread the word for this cause and I promise you that someday this effort will touch your life in a very personal way.

Thank you for helping me help others. 

Larry Bailin

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Great article written by Dan Beldowicz on the perils and pitfalls of Pay Per Click marketing that I wanted to share.

Recently I have been meeting with a lot of companies about Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Marketing, and none of them seem to be happy with their PPC provider.. I have heard of and seen atrocious campaign management, lack of thought put into phrase selection and too many PPC campaigns sending a potential customer to the homepage of a website.

Here are some of the most frequent complaints and warning signs you should be aware of when considering a PPC provider or reviewing your current PPC provider.

Read More >>>

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Whether you are a current affiliate marketer, thinking about becoming one or just wondering what the heck affiliate marketing is, you’re not going to want to miss the upcoming Affiliate Summit East in NYC.

A former panel com-padre at a previous affiliate summit, Shashi Bellamkonda, wrote a great post on his blog about the upcoming affiliate shindig.

I don’t think I could do a better job than Shashi outlining the conference so you might as well just read his post and I hope to see you at the show!

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Attracting Customers the New Old Fashioned Way.

As I sit here preparing to write another article outlining the fall of the local Yellow Page directory, a call comes into my office and is routed to one of our Internet marketing consultants.  The caller is interested in learning more about our Internet marketing services. Potential leads calling my office is a fairly common occurrence, what’s uncommon about this particular caller is the way in which he found us - the local Yellow Pages. Talk about timing, I didn’t even realize we were in the Yellow Pages!

 So, does this change my opinion of the big yellow lug? No.

The Yellow Page directory is a paper dinosaur and not long for this world. Yes, we did get a lead from it today, one lead, not a very good one and the first lead from the yellow book in seven years!

Are the Yellow Pages completely useless? Not completely, even dinosaurs served a purpose. If not for the mass extinction of the dinosaurs what would all those paleontologists do?  Speaking of extinction, if you market or sell to senior citizens the yellow book may prove to be of some value in attracting customers however, this as well will be short lived. As today’s seniors move on to greener pastures they are being replaced by aging baby boomers. Boomers make up a third of all internet users and they are bringing their Internet know-how with them as they enter their golden years. The one thing these boomers are not bringing with them is their big yellow book.

Another nail in the yellow coffin has been the generation every business is talking about, the “Millennials”.  Millennials are those born between 1980 and 1995 (give or take a year or two) and their numbers on the Internet rival those of the boomers. And guess what? More than three quarters of them don’t remember a world without the Internet and a large percentage of them have never picked up a Yellow Pages directory in their life!

So what’s a local business to do when looking to market to a local audience?

Just like the dinosaurs the Yellow Page directory has evolved (assuming you buy into that evolution stuff).  The powers-that-be at the Yellow Pages believe that SuperPages.com and Yellowpages.com (referred to as “IYP”, short for Internet Yellow Pages) are the vehicles to keep them out of the tar pit.

Don’t go waiving your terrible towels in praise for the yellow mammoth just yet. IYP’s are still fairly new to the online search game and they face some pretty stiff competition. Mega search giants Google, Yahoo! and MSN have invested heavily in developing local search tools and they’re playing to win.

Search volume within the IYP’s for local products and services pales in comparison to the searches done in the major search engines (Google, Yahoo!, MSN etc.). Does that mean IYP’s have no value? Depending on your customers and your offerings marketing with the IYP might be a huge success or a miserable failure.

Here’s an example.

I have a client that operates a small regional chain of NJ car audio stores. They have been in business since the 70’s and have always advertised in the Yellow Pages. Recently they shifted to an IYP marketing solution to the tune of $1,800.00 per month.  Once my company took over the development of their new website and Internet marketing services we began to measure where there website visitors were coming from. We noticed that they were consistently getting 47 visitors per month originating from SuperPages.com. We compared that number with the visitors they were getting from Google and it wasn’t even close. Google consistently delivered over 7,000 visitors a month compared to the 47 from SuperPages.com.

Maybe the 47 visitors per month were high quality leads and worth $1,800.00 per month? We did the math. 47 visitors at $1,800.00 per month is $38.30 per visitor. Their average conversion rate from website visitor to lead is 10%.  Out of 47 visitors they can expect to be contacted by 5 potential customers (rounding up) which makes the cost of acquisition $360.00 per new lead. An average gross sale for one of their retail locations is $300.00 with an average gross profit margin of 20%. If they turned every lead into a sale they would have a net loss of -$300.00 per customer. In this case, SuperPages.com is clearly not worth it.

The success of any Internet marketing solution whether local or global is commensurate with the economics of the products or services you offer. I have another client where IYP works very well.  This particular client is a NJ Mercedes Benz dealer. They generate roughly the same amount of visitors from their IYP marketing as does the NJ car audio dealer however they sell a much larger ticket item not to mention the enormous lifetime value of a Mercedes Benz buyer.  

How can you get the most out of local search advertising?

Marketing in general is not for the faint hearted. In order to prevent your head from exploding you need to be more than a little risk tolerant. I’m sure you’ve heard the old adage, “you win some you lose some”? I have a slightly different mantra, “You lose some to win some”.  Failure is a pre-condition to success. Don’t be afraid to try something new, step out of your comfort zone and you just may be surprised with the results.

The great thing about Internet marketing is that EVERYTHING is measurable. If something is working you can tell. Adversely if something is not working you can try and make it better or cut your losses and shift budget to a program that you know works.  The only way you can truly fail is if you don’t take the time and effort to measure and manage your local marketing. If you have a set-it and forget-it mindset, Internet marketing is not for you.
Go waste your money on billboards.

No matter what online service you use to market locally be sure the service you choose offers statistics and reporting on the activity generated by your advertisement.

Measurement statistics you must have at a bare minimum:

·         CTR or Click thru rate. This will give you a percentage of how many people viewed your ad and then clicked on it.

·         Actual clicks. You need to know how many people in a given period clicked on your ad and visited your website.

Any online marketing service worth it’s salt (what does that even mean)should be able to provide you with these stats and if they can’t don’t  use them.

Measurements you can do without:
Impressions. Ad agencies (my favorite people in the world) and online advertising sites are famous for touting how many “impressions” your ad had. This is how many times your ad is viewed by a searcher no matter if they click on it or not. This number is always large and in any search scenario, irrelevant. No one ever remembers what they don’t click on.

A few tips for succeeding in local search advertising:

·         Get the absolute most out of your advertisement space.  Make sure you put as much information into your ad as allowed. Google Local allows hours of operation, pictures (a logo goes a long way here), videos, links to your website, multiple categories, payment types and more. Use everything offered to you, you never know what will connect with a potential customer.

·         Use as many listing enhancements as budget allows. Most local search sites offer enhanced listings such as bold text, colored background or even preferential placement. With all the choices today’s connected customer has you need to do whatever it takes to get your marketing to stand out in the crowd.

·         Think like a customer. Remember, customers search for problems not solutions so be sure to address their needs in your ads and speak their language. Forgo the industry jargon in lieu of the problems you can help a customer solve.  The better you connect with their needs the better your chances they will connect with you.

·         Utilize your peers and their experience. See what works and doesn’t work for others in your industry. People love to talk about their successes and adversely complain about poor services. Just be sure to take everything your told with a grain of salt (two salt references in the same article) and try to get details. Should your peer have the set-it and forget-it mentality the service was doomed from the door.

I know this looks like a lot of work and that’s because it is but the effort pays big dividends. If you think showing up properly and productively in local search isn’t worth the effort, then gather up all of your employees for a moment of group prayer and pray that your competition thinks just like you.

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Chris Perrin, a food writer who lives near Kansas City, was trying to decide where to vacation with his family this summer.

The destination had to be kid- friendly, have decent shopping and interesting cuisine. So, he asked for recommendations on Twitter, a social networking blog.

Elizabeth Norton of Cape May offered her South Jersey town, known for its quaint Victorian architecture and easy pace of life.

“She told me she would send me a list of restaurants up and down the beach,” Perrin said.

Norton, a 27-year-old mother of two, was happy to oblige. “We have seafood, and there’s a place here that makes hot dogs a million different ways,” she said.

Consumers like Perrin and Nor ton are increasingly turning to social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter to find the best deals on travel, products and services. Cyberspace neighbors are replacing the trusted friend or relative who once dispensed advice on where to go to buy a product wholesale.

“You have a built-in group of experts whose opinion is more valuable to you than a professional product reviewer,” said Allen Weiner, an analyst for Gartner, a technology research firm in Stam ford, Conn.

Savvy companies are also finding ways to join the virtual backyard discussions.

“More and more product companies are going to these sites and trying to get feedback on their products,” Weiner said.

For example, Starwood has a Facebook account that asks members where it should build new hotels. Hertz, the Park Ridge-based rental car company, has a blog on Twitter for ConnectbyHertz, a new service that lets customers rent vehicles by the hour.

“A lot of the people we are trying to reach with ConnectbyHertz are young urban professionals who are into social networking,” said Don Serup, Hertz vice president of internal audit. “It’s a really good way to get the word out about what we’re doing.”

‘CUSTOMERS ARE IN CONTROL’

But tapping into social media sites can also pose risks for compa nies. A clumsy pitch or false move can put a company at the mercy of other bloggers who can instantly criticize their brand and mobilize public opinion against them.

Successful social networking re quires relinquishing control of your company’s message, brand and even logo, which is something many marketers are loathe to do, said Larry Bailin, chief executive of Single Throw internet Marketing, a Wall Township firm that advises companies on social media.

“Most companies are afraid to fail in social networking, or if they are really big, they just throw money at everything and hope it works,” Bailin said. “Customers are in control of the medium and the message, and they know more about your product than you do.”

Wal-Mart was criticized in 2006 when it put out a blog called “Wal- Marting Across America,” that ap peared to be written by a couple who were traveling the country in a recreational vehicle and staying in Wal-Mart parking lots. The blog was actually written by two employees for Edelman Public Rela tions, which represents Wal-Mart.

Sony and its ad agency, Zipa toni, also ran afoul of the blogging community that same year when they created a fake blog about a guy who was hoping his family would buy him a Sony PSP gaming station for Christmas.

Companies have to maintain credibility when they create blogs and provide useful information rather than another marketing message, according to Bailin.

“Sony and Wal-Mart tried to trick people,” he said. “Companies have to remember that if you make somebody unhappy, they can tell thousands of people with a keystroke.”

Social networking can prod companies into taking action.

For example, Toys “R” Us was mentioned in the best-selling book, “Groundswell,” by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, which chronicled how social media is changing commerce.

The authors pointed out that while shoppers on the Toys “R” Us website were active in social net working, the Wayne-based retailer was failing to tap into those discussions.

In October, the company changed its website to give more prominence to its “Mom’s Favorites,” so mothers “can rate products and share valuable information with others,” said company spokeswoman Jennifer Albano.

The retailer also created a “My Deals” section designed to give customers access to special offers and the ability to sort deals by category.

MOTHER KNOWS BEST

Mothers carry a lot of weight on the internet, according to Melissa Garcia, a self-described mommy blogger and founder of consumerqueen.com, a social networking site for women who are looking for good deals.

“Moms want to hear from other Moms,” said Garcia, who lives in Edmond, Okla. “If a Mom sees the Gap has clothes for 50 percent off, she can share that because everybody is looking for ways to save a buck.”

Twitter is important to her “be cause companies are contacting me to do product reviews,” she said.

Last month, Dirt Devil gave away a dozen free vacuum cleaners on her site as part of a contest, she said. Garcia also said she received a free laptop from Dell in return for reviewing a computer.

“There were no strings attached,” she said. “I just have to tell my readers if I like it or not and what I would change about it. I post reviews, whether they are good or bad. So, companies know my good reviews are all the more real.”

Community networks can also help consumers engage with each other, according to Jim Willis of Red Bank.

“I think most everyone who uses social networking sites has at one point used them to get recommendations on products or services,” Willis said. “I don’t know anyone who uses those sites exclusively for recommendations, but it is a typical use of Facebook or Twitter to solicit feedback.”

Willis, who has a website at http://jimwillis.org, runs a Red Bank newsletter called redban keastsideparkneighbors. It has 120 subscribers who trade information about everything from baby sitters to carpenters and tree cutters.

He turned to his newsletter friends when he wanted to waterproof his basement this month. Another neighbor had received bids from several contractors and for warded them to Willis.

A neighbor’s recommendation carries a lot of weight, he said, be cause group members must iden tify themselves.

“Because there are names and addresses attached, there is an implicit sense of credibility because it is not anonymous,” said Willis, who formerly worked as chief information officer for the state of Rhode Island. “I’m associating my reputation with any recommendation I make.”

Not every internet champion is going on-line to get the best deals. Debbie Galant, who runs the popular Baristanet.com website, an Essex County blog, said she prefers to patronize local merchants.

“I can’t think of anything I bought because someone recommended it on Facebook,” she said. “I’m not one of those people who sits at a computer and is trying to shave $5 off something.”

Joseph R. Perone can be reached at jperone@starledger.com or (973) 392-4262. [

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Once a year I make a pilgrimage to Giants stadium (not much of a pilgrimage, the stadium is only an hour from my house) to watch my favorite NFL team. This year I watched the Giants trounce arch rivals the Dallas Cowboys 35 – 14 (NICE!)

As a marketing author I tend to be hyper-aware of the marketing surrounding me. From the minute I entered Giants stadium my mind switched to overload. Talk about marketing noise! Everything is sponsored from the tickets to the garbage cans.  If they can squeeze someone’s logo on it they will.

Easily there were hundreds of sponsor companies marketing throughout the stadium, so why can I only remember two? 

Dunkin’ Donuts was everywhere. They have a huge presence with signage all over the stadium. Dunkin’ Donuts mentions over the PA system after plays and they sponsored at least three in stadium giveaways that I can recall. They are on the ticket, program guide and team photo. I remember them because they made themselves memorable. Every mention of Dunkin’ Donuts was followed by their tagline, “America Runs on Dunkin’”.

Dunkin’ Donuts was so memorable that during half-time I didn’t want a cup of coffee, I told my friend Bruce that I needed a cup of “Dunkin’ Donuts coffee”.  I’m not a huge fan of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee (If you read my book you’d know that I’m more of a Starbucks guy) but I really wanted it!

Dunkin’ Donuts used every element at their disposal to insure their marketing connected with me. They executed very well. I left the stadium with, “America runs on Dunkin’” echoing through my head.

The other sponsoring company is memorable for quite the opposite reason, they were non-memorable. They made no attempt to be memorable or drill anything into my head and they had a better opportunity to do so. In fact they could have had everyone talking about them long after they left the stadium.  The only reason I remember them is because I’m a marketer and noticed the missed opportunity.

The company was Pfizer and the product was Viagra. There were a few Viagra logos around the field and a few mentions over the PA system but they went completely un-noticed. Every now and again I’d hear, “this replay sponsored by Viagra”, that’s it, no tagline, no memorable elements just a product name.  

Viagra had a HUGE opportunity to be memorable and they blew it! Viagra is sponsoring an event where 90% of the attendees are men. Where can you get a better opportunity to market to your prime demographic!

The Viagra tagline, “E.D. is more common than you think” is a bit of a downer for the hordes of testosterone filled football fans so I understand why they didn’t use it but the game of football is filled with opportunities for memorable euphemisms.

·         Viagra, makin’ the hard plays!

·          That long hard throw brought to you by Viagra!

·         Viagra, bring the goalpost home!

·         Viagra, don’t wait till your fourth down.

·         Viagra, kick it through the uprights!

They’re sponsoring a team called, “BIG BLUE” for God’s sake! How do you let that one get away!

I think you get the idea. I know that I’d be laughing my ass off and telling everyone in the office about the Viagra spots.

Sponsor the goalpost; put the Viagra logos on the urinals in the men’s room, could there be a more perfect time to have your primary targets attention? (Could I sound more like Chandler Bing?).

How about the snack bar? All drinks purchased at halftime will be supersized courtesy of Viagra.  The list gets longer and longer (pun intended).

The marketing landscape is overcrowded and riddled with noise. Getting through to consumers is a challenge that most companies fail to meet.  Sex sells, humor sells and when you can combine the two and don’t, you’ve missed a golden opportunity. Is Viagra too serious a product to advertise this way? Are they above this type of humor? Comon!  It’s a football game!

Whose sensitivities are we worried about? This guy???? Sponsor him too!

To summarize this extremely long (pun intended) article, marketing is all about making a connection. In order to connect with customers you have to separate your message from the noise. Being different like everyone else just won’t cut it anymore. Make some noise and get people talking about you, your company, your product, your service any way you can. Strive to make your marketing different and you’ll connect every time. 

 I’m confident you can “rise to the occasion”.

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Legendary rock band AC/DC just released, “Black Ice” their first new album in over eight years. Black Ice was released on October 8^th and rocketed to the top of the charts selling nearly 800,000 earning it the distinction of being the year’s best-selling rock debut.

Black Ice marks the band’s second stint at #1 (1981’s For Those About to Rock … We Salute You reached the peak several weeks after its initial release), and the first chart-topping debut of the band’s more than 30-year-career.

So why am I writing about AC/DC on my marketing blog?
One, I’m a head banger from back in the day and a huge AC/DC fan.
Two; it’s not every day that a marketing strategy can easily be classified as both insane and brilliant, this one has me torn. I may just have to put it in the things that make you go, “hmmmm” category.

The marketing strategy was to go low tech or as AC/DC’s website boldly states, “Low Definition™”

1.     In the U.S. this album was sold exclusively through Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club and the band’s official Web site. You cannot find the album for sale or download at Amazon or iTunes in fact I can’t find it for download at all. You have to buy the physical CD. In today’s iPod centric culture this would seem to be a very risky marketing plan.

2.     A viral video campaign was launched post album release, October 23^rd to be exact. The video which can be viewed on YouTube or downloaded is done completely in Microsoft Excel and being described as, “The world’s first music video in an Excel Spreadsheet. AC/DC smashes through the corporate firewall with real rock ‘n’ roll. Watch the video playing back as ASCII art in Microsoft Excel!”  - Excel? Really? Maybe I can order a cool AC/DC tape dispenser or desk caddie??

My first reaction to this marketing campaign was disbelief. AC/DC sold out! Selling exclusively in Wal-Mart!?! A video created in Excel designed to, “smash through the corporate firewall”? What’s next, a concert at Disney? Who are they trying to reach? Head bangers don’t hang out at Wal-Mart! We go to the local record store to get our…oh wait a minute…there are no more local record stores and head bangers are now in their 40’s with 2.3 kids, 9-5 jobs, safety rated vehicles and a house in the suburbs. Oh crap! We do hang out at Wal-Mart!

When you ponder the fact that AC/DC achieved critical mass in the 80’s you soon realize that the average fan has become just that, average. The days of dreaming of Tawny Kitaen writhing around on the hood of a jaguar in Whitesnake’s, “Here I go again” video are long gone. The rock anthems that played over and over in our minds, songs like Twisted Sister’s, “We’re not gonna take it” and Ozzy’s, “Crazy Train” have been replaced with the Sponge Bob Square Pants theme.

Guess what else? It turns out we use Excel too. Not only do we use it, most of us like it. Think about all the cool things we do with Excel like calculations, equations and rockin’ macros! No one rocks a spreadsheet like we do, always trying to get our forecasts, “back in black”.

AC/DC didn’t leave the current generation of rockers out either. AC/DC will be the first band to get to get its very own version of MTV’s video game phenomenon, “Rock Band,” which is due out November 2nd for the PS2, PS3, Xbox and Wii and will be sold exclusively (where else) at Wal-Mart /Sam’s Club.

It doesn’t hurt album sales (are they still called albums?) that just about anything from the 80’s is popular again, you know, “what’s old is new”. AC/DC is cool (do they still say cool?) again for a whole new generation to rock out to. Maybe buying a CD brings back fond memories for the current generation the way buying an 8-track would to mine.

Okay, so maybe AC/DC is on to something with their Wal-Mart sellin’ spread sheetin’ ways. I guess I should be happy, one of my favorite bands didn’t sell out, they sold in, sold in to my surroundings making it easier for me to find and enjoy a great band with a great brand at an everyday low, low rock ‘n’ rollback price!

The only question I have now is how AC/DC will market to me in the next chapter of my life? Maybe my pacemaker will have download capabilities and be able to beat my heart to dirty deeds done dirt cheap?

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