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.

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

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”.

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?

Larry is the best selling author of the marketing book, “Mommy, Where Do Customers Come From?” and is a renowned professional keynote and conference speaker, speaking 30 times per year to organizations across the country.

I recently had the opportunity sit down with him and talk about the Internet Marketing landscape.
Here is the transcript of part two of a two part interview:
(If you missed part one click here)

Steve: One question I get from people thinking about starting an online business is “do I need an Internet marketing plan”? What is your philosophy on this type of thing?

Larry: That’s an easy one. 100% yes. A plan is crucial. You would not build a bird-house without a plan why would you not take the time to create one for your business? The Internet is now and will continue to play a critical role in every company’s ability to attract qualified customers. There are few companies out there that are not adding Internet marketing to their overall marketing strategy. You leave it out and you get left behind. We live in a clickable culture and to ignore that fact would be foolish.

Steve: As a follow up question, what are the typical types of Internet marketing services involved in an Internet marketing plan?

Larry: That would vary depending on the type of business and where potential customers can be found for your offerings. Some people would have you believe if it exists than you need to do it. I could not disagree more. I only want to be where my customers are. If my potential customers are on Facebook I’ll be there. If I cannot identify that there is opportunity for me on MySpace than I will move on.

You need to investigate everything and only take on the solutions that have the opportunity for return. Take note, I said opportunity for return not guaranteed return. If you’re looking for guarantees buy a car.

The one constant that every marketing plan should have is a focus on the website. A company’s website is the center of their marketing universe. Everything points to your website, social networking, blogs. Brochures, whitepapers, email everything. Even handing someone a business card leads to them saying, “I’ll go check out your website”.

Just having a website is not enough. You need to be 100% convinced that it will attract, connect with and convert potential customers. We have taken good websites and made them great by insuring that nothing is left up to chance. Every element, line of text, hyperlink and image exists for one reason, to persuade a potential customer.

If your marketing plan does not contain a hard focus on creating a customer centric website you are short changing every other marketing solution you put forth.

Steve: Since you are both product and service-focused clients, are they different in any way? What are some distinctions in how you focus their Internet marketing strategies?

Larry: Primarily product and service companies are different only in their sales processes and by that I mean the last part of a sale. Product sales are more transaction oriented. Services are more relationship oriented and utilize a consultative selling model.

Contrary to popular belief there is little difference between the two when it comes to Internet marketing. The reason for this is that the customer is the same. Buying behavior is very similar from product to service. I rarely change my buying habits based on what I’m buying. I still need to know I’m making the right choice which means you have to inspire confidence in your potential clients. We have to instill trust, professionalism and expertise. All three of these qualities are vital for both products and services.

Both types of sales end with a success transaction. The product sales ends much sooner as the success transaction is the purchase / ordering of said product. Service transaction success online is a different success transaction, typically a contact choice. At the point of contact the sales process for a service continues off-line.

Steve: To close our interview I would like to get a “Top 5” from you. Since we are facing some tough economic times ahead for possibly the next 12-18 months, what are the Top 5 things you would recommend to companies to leverage their Internet marketing strategy?

Larry: I recently spoke at an Affiliate Summit event in NYC. After the event I followed the chatter about my presentation online via blog’s, twitter, forums and across multiple social networks. My favorite quote was, “Larry Bailin is a brilliant non-traditional e-marketer”. That being said I’m going to apologize in advance because my top 5 are not the average picks I see others pushing such as, video, twitter, Facebook and alike.

1. Strive to put the marketing back into Internet marketing. I’ve watched e-business evolve into business and now I watch as Internet marketing evolves into marketing. Internet marketing is not a technology solution. The technology has become ubiquitous. True results will come from the connection your solutions make with potential customer. Making a connection is a core fundamental in order for any marketing to succeed.

2. When hiring any Internet marketing company you must be sure they do not build anything for you. You are not hiring them to build things to make you happy; you need them to make your customers happy. My company strives to look though our customers. Everything we build or develop is designed for our customers’ customers.

When an Internet marketing company can build solution that makes your customers happy, trust me, you’ll be happy.

3. Measure, modify, test, measure and repeat. Just because your solutions are producing does not mean they cannot be better, in fact I guarantee they can be better. There is no such thing as perfect. Even our country’s constitution alludes to a grammatical fallacy, “a more perfect union”. There is no such thing as, “more perfect” but the concept is sound, never settle for perfect.

Always measure, modify, test and measure again. Push your solutions to the limit. Now more than ever you need to insure you’re getting the most from your budget, nothing is ever perfect.

4. Step outside of your comfort zone. I did a podcast with eight (8) time Mr. Olympia winner Ronnie Coleman a couple of years ago. Ronnie is considered one of the best in the sport. He has won eight (8) consecutive Mr. Olympia titles in a row and is tied with Lee Haney for the most wins ever. No one has ever won nine (9) titles (consecutive or otherwise). When Ronnie went for his world record ninth win he lost to Jay Cutler.

When interviewed in my studio he was asked if he was going to retire. He answered, “no way! I’m going back to win number nine”. When asked if it was possible to be bigger and better than he currently was, without missing a beat he stated, “absolutely! I just can’t keep doing the same things that got me here and expect to grow. I have to add more weight to the bar”. As marketers we have to develop what I now affectionately call, “Marketing Muscle” and like Ronnie Coleman, add more weight to the bar.

5. Make time before all you have is time. More often than I care to hear I’m told by my customers that they do not have the time needed to do everything I recommend. My answer is always the same, “You need to make time before all you have is time. If your competitors find the time they will take your customers and then you will have more time”.

To read he original interview click here

On October 5th I was a marketing speaker at an Affiliate Summit on Social Media in NYC. My topic was, “Making Money with Social Media”. I had my presentation all planned out but ended up changing it at the very last minute.

While waiting to speak I was reading Feed Front magazine (the official magazine of Affiliate Summit). An article caught my attention.  The article mentioned that, “marketing” needed to be put back into, “affiliate marketing”. I thought the article was on the right track but had not taken the concept far enough. Before you can put the marketing back into affiliate marketing you have to a step back and put, “sales” back into, “marketing”.

Once I stepped onto the stage and took the podium I began to discuss the concept of sales and marketing and how they related to making money with social media. I was not sure how it was going to go over with the audience. Based on the feedback I received as well as the buzz on Twitter and across the blogosphere I’d say it went well. One attendee went as far as to post a tweet stating, “Larry Bailin is a brilliant non-traditional e-marketer”. I guess the message resonated with the crowd.

After my presentation I was approached by Shashi Bellamkonda, Social Media Swami (that’s what’s printed on his card) for Network Solutions. Shashi was a speaker at the event as well. Shashi asked if I would do an interview for the Network Solutions blog, “Solutions are Power”. The interview ended up being a two part series with Steve Fisher. Here’s part one.
—————————–
Larry Bailin is the founder, CEO and thought leader of Single Throw, Inc. Larry is involved in the day to day sales and marketing activities as well as spearheading research and development of new Internet marketing services. Larry founded Single Throw Internet Marketing in Late 2000 and opened the doors of the company’s first office in Lakewood, New Jersey in early 2001.
Under his leadership Single Throw has grown to be the top Internet marketing companies in New Jersey and one of the best Internet marketing companies in the nation. Single Throw has provided Internet marketing services to some of the top companies in the world.

Larry is the bestselling author of the marketing book, “Mommy, Where Do Customers Come From?” and is a renowned professional keynote and conference speaker, speaking 30 times per year to organizations across the country. I recently had the opportunity sit down with him and talk about the Internet Marketing landscape.

Here is the transcript of part one of a two part interview:

Steve: Your firm has been doing a lot of pioneering things in the Internet marketing space. Could you tell us your vision and mission for Single Throw?

Larry: I’ve never been a big proponent of corporate visions and missions. In my experience they are written for the corporation and not the customer. Missions seldom seem to be followed and end up being a valueless proposition that no one believes or adheres to.

If I had to pin just one philosophy to my company, I guess it would be to never take on a client we cannot help and never sell a solution where we profit more than the client.

I’m sorry for the limited answer but my company’s vision is ever-changing and always evolving so I guess my mission is to always improve my vision.

Steve: What are the Internet marketing services you provide customers?

Larry: We have quite a wide breadth of services we offer. Primarily any type of marketing that uses the Internet to help our clients connect with a customer we handle. We do everything from customer centric website development, conversion enhancement, application development, search engine optimization, social media / networking campaign development etc.
What we won’t do is anything we cannot completely support in-house. That’s not to say we don’t recommend services we don’t offer. If we feel that a client will benefit from a service we will recommend it even if we don’t offer it. We won’t do something just because we can. Sometimes we can best serve a customer by referring them elsewhere. An example would be affiliate marketing. There are so many great people out there that specialize strictly in affiliate marketing that we refer our clients to the people that can help them the most.

Steve: You have been building Single Throw for the last few years. Since this not your first startup, what are some lessons learned, good or bad, which you have applied to this venture?

Larry: One major lesson I learned early on is that failure is a pre-condition to success. We have failed more times than I care to count but each time, each failure contained lessons that lead to great successes.

Steve: Since you are a serial entrepreneur and have been through many business cycles, with the economy in a tough spot these days, do you feel it is a good time to start a business?

Larry: That is a very difficult question to answer. I was moving furniture into my first office at 9:00 am on September 11th 2001. Living and growing up so close to the twin towers at the end of the day I had many emotions flowing through my head related to the tragedy of that day, I also wondered if I would be able to sustain my fledgling business in most uncertain times I’ve ever experienced. To make matters worse I had to overcome the stigma of the dot-com bubble bursting and the fact that very few people knew what Internet marketing was or believed that they needed it.

As someone that started their business at one of the worst times in history to do so I’m a big believer that if there is a need for the services or products you offer than there are no other factors that matter.

All a bad economy is going to do is make it harder to sell your services. I know that sounds like a big thing but it’s not that it just means that you have to be a better salesperson and work harder. If you’re adverse to enhancing your sales skills or working harder then you shouldn’t be starting a business in any economy. Case in point, my business will be up over 25% this year and the third quarter is shaping up to be the best in our six year history. I have to work harder, longer and smarter but we’re thriving. As far as sales skills go I’m proud to say I’m not someone a competitor wants to go head to head with. I never stop working on my sales skills and I have yet to ever lose a deal to a competitor, good economy or bad.NEXT TIME: In part two of this two-part interview, we discuss Internet marketing plans, differences between marketing product and service-focused companies, advice for the next 12-18 months.

Original Interview Can Be Read Here>

My office is a two story building located on Route 34 in Wall New Jersey. My Internet marketing company occupies most of the second floor and there are three other companies in the building.

For the last eight weeks, each day I enter the first floor lobby I see four plastic bags sitting inside the front door.  Can you guess what’s in the plastic bags? Garbage? Not exactly but very close.

If you were to open the bags you would find the most recent Yellow Pages or Yellow Book or whatever the hell their calling it these days. These bags have been littering the lobby floor for over two months – nobody wants them! It’s just a matter of time before they end up in the recycling dumpster in the back.

It appears that no one wants their fingers walking anywhere aside from a mouse and keyboard and I have not met anyone in the past 5 years that can answer the burning question, “why be yellow?” When will this book die?!?

We live in a clickable culture where everything we want is just a click away. Whether local, national or global our connect customers turn to the Internet, search engines to be more specific, for everything they want. Companies are spending their former Yellow dollars on Internet marketing such as search engine optimization, Pay Per Click, podcasting, blogging, email, social media and alike, and rightly so.

The yellow pages failed to adapt quick enough, they rested on their laurels and now they are paying the price. Back in the day the Yellow Pages controlled all the information and companies’ payed big money for their coveted listings. Along comes the Internet and the Yellow people decided that they were not going to give away their information. The thought process was that their reputation and market share would keep the book at the top of mind of consumers. They were wrong.

Along came search engines like Yahoo!, Google and MSN. These search engines began to categorize and index businesses for free. Consumers began to see the benefit of having the world (not just their county) at their fingertips. Yahoo! launches local search and put yet another nail in the Yellow coffin. Now all search engines have a local component complete with detailed maps and driving directions. In just a few short years the market completely shifted from Yellow page lookups to online queries.

The yellow response to all this change, Superpages.com and YellowPages.com. Too little too late. Even with big budget advertising campaigns featuring Kung-Fu star David Carradine (I liked him better in Kill Bill), the Yellow online movement never takes hold and now just like their spokespersons Kung-Fu character,”Caine”, they are destined to aimlessly, “walk the earth”.

Contrary to what business people are being told by Yellow sales reps, no one goes to SuperPages.com or YellowPages.com to find the products and services they need. If we did, we’d be, “Yellowing” people as opposed to, “Googling” them.

I personally deal with businesses of all types and sizes and I hear the inflated claims made by Yellow reps. I’ve heard it all from inflated numbers of searchers to claims that SuperPages.com powers Google! Some businesses fall for it but far more have and continue to shift budget to online offerings. At best companies are hedging their bets by keeping a very small ad in the book and a listing within the online Yellow counterparts.

Here’s a quick little fact. One of my clients is Zippos Car Audio. Zippos is one of the top car audio dealers in NJ. They own four car audio stores in New Jersey. In the past they have been big Yellow Pages advertisers in multiple books. The budget was staggering. They were convinced (by their Yellow rep) to add their listing to SuperPages.com to the tune of almost $1,800.00 per month. The Yellow rep told them that they would get tons of traffic to their site because SuperPages.com is the largest shopper’s portal on the Internet.

Once my company was hired we re-developed their website and began an intense search engine optimization program. We started watching where traffic was actually coming from. On average Zippos.com receives 3,700 visits per month from search engines (Google, AOL,Yahoo! Ask and MSN). SuperPages.com delivers a whopping average of 42 per month. Not 42 hundred or 42 thousand, just plain old 42.

How much do you think Zippos spends with SuperPages.com now? Zero. How much has it impacted their business when they stopped spending almost $22,000.00 per year on SuperPages.com? Again, zero.

All this being said I don’t want the Yellow Pages to go away. There are plenty of great uses for the Yellow Pages. Makes great kindling, can be used as a booster seat for children, doorstop, origami paper supply and that’s just off the top of my head! Plus what would all those tough guys at the gym rip in half to impress women if the Yellow Pages went belly up?

On a personal note I just hired a new landscaper. Guess where I found them?

The Better Business Bureau reports that car dealerships are the most complained about business type with cell phone sales a very distant second. No big surprise that car dealers are the brunt of consumer complaints. Car dealers have historically had a reputation for underhanded dealings which is why the term, “car salesman” evokes images of plaid jackets, patent leather shoes and toothpick sucking shysters.

To be fair, not all car dealerships are bad and not all car salespeople are scam artists, in fact most of them are quite the opposite. There is no shortage of bad salespeople and unscrupulous businesses in every industry, car dealers just seem to have gotten permanently tattooed with an unethical moniker.

In my marketing book I rant about the uselessness of car dealer websites. I ramble about the absurdity of practically every car dealer on the planet using one of three companies to develop their websites, email marketing and just about any other type of online advertising a dealership does. 

When it comes to marketing why would you use the same company that your competition uses? Every car dealer website seems to be a variation on every other car dealer website. The same useless information used over and over again.So why do car dealers do this? I’ll tell you why, because it’s easy. They have to put zero effort into it. They pick a template and all the content is created automatically. Even in their email marketing they just have to choose a few canned articles and voila! Instant email!  Sounds pretty easy right? When was the last time anything easy produced worthwhile results? The same car dealers that have been accused of scamming consumers seemingly have forgotten one of the oldest rules in the book when it comes to sniffing out a bad deal. “If it sounds too good to be true…”

With the car sales industry taking a major hit due to our current economic landscape it seems that dealerships are taking a second look at the web as a marketing tool and an even closer look at the services they are paying for. Recently I was called into a very prestigious Mercedes Benz dealer in New Jersey to take a look at their Internet marketing efforts.

After looking at their website, pay per click programs and email marketing it became abundantly clear that they were being ripped off. First off their website was exactly what I expected it to be, useless information. What I didn’t expect to see was a search engine spamming technique called, “cloaking”. Cloaking is where you use technology to show a search engine spider one thing and a website visitor another. This type of tactic is what got BMW banned from Google a couple of years ago.

On the Pay Per Click side of things they were paying for a ridiculous amount of irrelevant key phrases. One of the first questions I asked was, “do you sell Mercedes Motor Homes?” the answer was no so I wondered why they were paying to show up under that search phrase? The company handling this program for them gets paid on the clicks so they targeted lots of phrases even if they had no relevancy or benefit to the dealership.

Their email marketing program was no better (big surprise). Again, they are using the same service as all of their completion. Here’s how it works. Every month they select a few canned articles and an email newsletter is sent out to their list of 27,000 names. I asked if all the email addresses were people that purchased vehicles from their dealership. Half were and half were just people that requested information or stopped in while shopping for a car and end up purchasing elsewhere.

At first glance you may not think this is a big deal especially since they told me that they are getting some response. Here’s the catch. If I did not purchase a car from them and I’m on their mailing list chances are I’m on the mailing list for other dealerships as well. If they are all using this email marketing service that means I’m getting the same content from lots of dealerships. This is not only annoying but shows a lack of effort on the part of the dealership. They can’t event take the time to create something original? Here’s an opportunity to show your expertise and all you do with it is show that you’re the same as every other dealer and that I’m not worth the effort.

Long story short (too late) make sure you are involved in your marketing efforts. Know what people are doing on your behalf and stop being lazy! Nothing good happens without effort. If you truly want to connect with your customers show them that you care enough to put the effort in.

Some of you may say that it’s poetic justice that car dealers are being ripped off. Keep in mind each time they rip off a car dealer we the consumer end up paying for it in the end so if you happen to run across any of these car dealer centric marketing companies be sure to show them your appreciation.

I travel quite a bit for business. Whether I’m a speaker at a marketing conference, doing a book signing or I’m meeting with clients it seems I’m on the road or in the air a lot. Recently I found myself in Florida to meet with a potential client and had an opportunity to go to dinner with a business legend.

I met with, “The Worlds BEST Negotiator” Herb Cohen. Herb is credited for coining the terms, “Win Win”, “Win Lose” and, “Lose Lose”.  He has been involved in more high profile negotiations then practically anyone on the planet! He’s been an advisor to presidents Carter, Regan and Clinton. He’s been involved in negotiations from the Iranian hostage crisis to the NFL football strike. When it comes to negotiation skills there is no better.

Herb and I hit it off very well. He has lived in New York and New Jersey for a good part of his life and after listening to his New York accent it was like being home during my southern visit.

After dinner Herb and I sat down and created a Podcast (I always have my recording equipment with me for just such an occasion) and that’s when the magic came out. Herb is a master story teller and truly enjoys teaching others how to develop negotiation skills.

Herb is going to be appearing live in New Jersey at a Move Ahead 1 event on Thursday September 18^th 2008. I highly recommend that you get tickets to this event. Seeing Herb Cohen speak is a true treat not to mention the impact it could have on your business and life.

Take a listen to the podcast I’m sure you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.

My favorite fast food franchise maybe making a, “Whopper” of a marketing mistake and I can’t figure out why they’re doing it.

Burger King had a marketing hit on its hands when in 2004 they reintroduced, “The King” as an incredibly spooky plastic faced character. The launch could not have been timed better. The new mono expressive King character is as popular as he is creepy and in 2004 the marketing world was well on its way to being entrenched in web 2.0 media sharing sites like the popular video site, You Tube.

People all over the world began making hysterical videos playing upon the creepy and the cool nature of the King character from having him appear at sleeping children’s bedsides to applying tanning oil to scantily clad women on the beach. King videos and doctored images were popping up everywhere and Burger King Restaurants were reaping the rewards of this viral marketing.

The new king was proving to be the best marketing decision BK had ever made. They finally had a mascot that could compete and even beat that friggin clown at,” arch” rival McDonalds.

None of the pervious BK mascots have had anywhere near the acceptance or charisma of the new King. In actuality they were all pretty forgettable. In the early 70’s, when I was a kid, the King was a cartoon character that really had no pizzazz. In the late 70’s the King became a real man. He was magical and performed tricks at Burger Kings all over the country. This new live king was a marketing flop. Grown men with onion ring breath and scraggly red beards just didn’t appeal to little kids – go figure.

Burger King was not the only fast food chain to struggle with creepy marketing mascots. McDonalds introduced their first mascot in 1963. Former Bozo the Clown actor and now famous weatherman Willard Scott portrayed the very first Mickey D’s clown. As a weatherman Scott is lovable and kind, especially to century year old women around the country who get a shout-out on their birthdays from the jolly weatherman but as a fast food clown though he hit the disturbing scale on a level that would only be topped by John Wayne Gacy.

We’ll now that BK seems to have a winning mascot on their hands they may be fazing him out to be replaced with the 70’s cartoon King. To make matters worse they seem to be using both Kings at the same time.

On a recent visit to a Burger King in Connecticut I noticed that the old King was appearing on Kids Meal bags while at the same time the current King was on signage around the restaurant. What is the point of this? From a marketing perspective it seems counter-productive. You’ve got a King that is a viral marketing phenom. Hordes of people are marketing for you – why screw with that, especially to return to such an insignificant character?

I wonder if all this viral marketing is gong un-noticed by the franchise or is it just another case of an ad agency not understanding the power and potential of the new Internet culture. Well Burger King, if you want to throw away a good thing – have it your way.