Archive for May, 2010

Every Bastard Says No has to be one of the best marketing reads in a long time – and a must for any entrepreneur. Written by 42 Below Vodka founder Geoff Ross and his wife Justine Troy it’s the story of a Kiwi brand that could.

I love the contrarian views – all well said in the chapter – "I Hate Marketing". Somewhat ironic coming from a former Saatchi and Saatchi suit and celebrated marketer. “People want to stay in the comfort of their own office and feel important by drawing big diagrams, and fancy documents in Powerpoint, but whilst all that’s happening, nothing’s being sold”.

It’s not out in the US just yet but you can get a copy here.

One of my favorite things to ask any CEO is what they think it is their company does. The answers are as often incoherent as they are staggering.

Michael hits on this phenomenon when asking the CEO’s of Yahoo! and AOL what their respective companies do. There are a few communications lessons here:

1. 1. Get what it is you do down to one sentence. One very short sentence.
2. 2. Get training if you think you can’t articulate this publically.
3. 3. Before you get to all the other standard patter, answer the question. Make it the headline.
4. Never treat any Q&A session casually. Never casually give an answer.

Here is what they had to say:

Bartz:

What is Yahoo?…Listen Yahoo is a great company that is very, very strong in content for its users, uses amazing technology to serve up what increasingly we think is going to be the web of one. For instance, on our today module in the front page, every 5 minutes we have 32,000 different variations of that module. So you don’t even know what I’m seeing in fact we serve a million different front page modules a day and that’s just through content optimization. And that’s just the beginning…Customized because we know the things you’re interested in. Maybe you don’t like light entertainment maybe you like a certain sports team, etc., etc. And our click through rate went up twice. So the point is, people come to us to find out what is going on with the world in a very nice quick fashion to do their communications, email, messanger, check-in on their teens. We all know about Yahoo finance. It’s a places where you can just get it together. It’s collated for you, it’s all the things as you’re moving, you can even get your social information there. Everybody moves through many websites in a day, Yahoo is one they always stop at.

Armstrong:

AOL is planning on being the largest high quality content producer for digital media.

Words matter. Not just to communicate but also to drive presence. Presence is the new currency is messaging. If you can’t get the right words in and around your message – not matter how good it is – people might not find it in an online, search driven world.

Here, The New York Times, points to how some are taking this to a extreme. Here’s a SnapShot…

The Huffington Post knows its way around search engine optimization, or S.E.O. as it’s known. A story about whether the president would play golf with Rush Limbaugh was headlined: “Obama Rejects Rush Limbaugh Golf Match: Rush ‘Can Play With Himself.’ ” It’s digital nirvana: two highly searched proper nouns followed by a smutty entendre, a headline that both the red and the blue may be compelled to click, and the readers of the site can have a laugh while the headline delivers great visibility out on the Web.

The Huffington Post sometimes tests two different headlines in real time to see which the audience is responding to. (“How to Reduce Your Oil Footprint” did better than “How to Say No to Big Oil and Reduce Your Oil Footprint.” Go figure.) The site also uses its Twitter account to solicit reader suggestions on headlines. Arianna Huffington, editor in chief and a founder of the site, rejects any notion that it is dumbing down in search of eyeballs.

Starbucks continue to innovate like crazy in the social media space. Love what they are doing on Foursquare (bigger post to come on FS soon…). Location-based marketing will be a significant play – for anyone with a location – in the coming year.

Starbucks, a company that already rewards frequent customers with the Barista badge on social gaming app Foursquare — is officially turning on the rewards side of its experimental Foursquare loyalty program with the first-ever nationwide mayor special.

Starting today, mayors of individual Starbucks stores can unlock the Mayor Offer and enjoy a money-saving perk for their frequent store checkins.

The deal offers customers a $1 discount on a Frappucino. The special greets mayors with this message: “As mayor of this store, enjoy $1 off a NEW however-you-want-it Frappuccino blended beverage. Any size, any flavor. Offer valid until 6/28.”

Tristan Walker, who heads up business development at Foursquare (), tells us that the Starbucks special is a one-time mayor deal that runs through June 28, but he’s optimistic that Starbucks will continue to experiment with mayor rewards on an ongoing basis. “Starbucks is particularly innovative as it relates loyalty and social media,” Walker noted, “so we continue to be super excited to explore this intersection with them.”

There are a number of reasons why the Starbucks nationwide mayor reward is significant. It’s a first for both Foursquare and the coffee retailer, and will likely bring mass attention to the marketing possibilities of the location-sharing trend.

Nice story and graphic that gets at social rules for building currency. I’ve been hammering away for awhile now that “advocated trump followers”. Advocates being active community members vs. inactive community spectators who simply follow.