Fullhouse, a marketing agency from Milwaukee, has created a new way to display video advertising, on people. By advertising on “media tags” companies can equip their waiters and waitresses with a digital display next to their name tag promoting their latest deals.
The first time you see a company utilizing these tools you will certainly have something to talk about and the idea is quite remarkable. But for how long will this method be effective?
Before long the idea will catch on and other restaurants and companies will start doing the same. Much like the guys hired to stand on the corner and do tricks with the sign they’re holding, it will be cool and worth talking about until you get sick of seeing them on every corner, and then it will just be another one of the 37 pieces of flair.
Unless of course, the companies focus on the quality of the content instead of the coolness of the new idea. If you condition me to know that I’m going to find a great deal for my favorite food on the media tag, you can bet I’ll be keeping my eyes looking for a great deal no matter how many companies use it.
1. Make a great product or service
2. Invite those who are interested to become a fan
3. Invite fans to “join the family”, “join the conversation”, “join our community”, “help spread the word”
4. Utilize every social media tool available
5. Utilize every social media tool for self-promotion only
6. Ignore all emails
7. Ignore all private messages
8. Ignore all tweets, retweets, and replies
9. Never reward or even acknowledge your fans for helping you
10. Line up to become the next United Airlines.
Got any more to add to the list? Feel free to add them with a comment to help everyone remember what NOT to do with social media.
As a person with severe allergies to cats I think that people who own cats often overlook the impact their furry friends have on those around them.
Sure they’re cute, fun, and can make you feel at home, but at the same time they’re making everything in your house (including you) smell, they’re shedding everywhere, and they’re keeping people like me from coming over and visiting.
I have a few friends that have cats and it’s a real shame for both of us. I want to spend more time with them and grow our relationship, but they’re not making it easy to do so. Sure we can go out to eat, go to the movies, etc., but after a while the costs start adding up. We can talk on the phone, but that’s usually brief or a game of phone tag and not my preferred choice of communication. If my friend wants to spend time with me, but only gives me the option of going over to their house, it’s not going to happen.
So what do my cat owning friends have to do with business?
Friendships and business are the same really, they’re both relationships. The easier you make it to develop that relationship, the more likely it’s going to grow.
So the question is, does your business have a cat? Something that you’re used to, you’re comfortable with, or maybe even enjoy that might be keeping others from doing business with you?
Maybe it’s your less than generous return policy, your store hours that don’t make sense, your outdated website, or your customer service, but like the cat owner covered in cat hair, there’s probably something you’re not paying attention to that is keeping valuable customers from doing business with you.
Whatever it is, you’re used to it and probably don’t notice it so ask your customers. Your regular customers have probably noticed and your former customers most definitely have, so ask them what you’re currently doing that is making doing business with you more difficult than it should be.
How often in business do we do what pays the bills instead of what we really set out to accomplish? Sometimes we think, “I’ll take whatever business I can get, and then once things are going well I’ll start being more picky with the clients and gigs I take.” When money is tight this can be a necessary, short-term strategy, but if your current activities aren’t in line with your goal they may end up taking your further away from your dream.
Are you currently doing work that is taking you closer to your goal or are you practicing the piano in order to play professional football? What can you do today that will put you closer to your goal?
Word of Mouth is one of the hottest trends that organizations are seeking to create online as Facebook, Twitter, and a cast of other online social media tools are becoming more and more powerful. However, the most well known sports brand, Nike and one of the most well known sports icons, Lebron James are teaming up to break the biggest rule of Word of Mouth.
Never ignore it!
When you open up a dialogue between your organization and your audience you are bound to get negative feedback, it doesn’t matter how perfect your product or company is. What you do with that negative feedback can echo across the globe in a matter of seconds and leave a much longer lasting impression. If and when this inevitably happens the best thing you can do is join the conversation and tackle it head on. If you messed up, admit it and make things right. If someone has a complaint, even if it is a misinformed one, don’t obsess about defending yourself, instead calmly offer solutions to the perceived problem.
The other day Lebron James, arguably the best basketball player in the world, got dunked on by a college kid (who used to play in Indiana I might add) the other day. Two cameramen video taped it, but Nike and Lebron confiscated the tapes so his reputation wouldn’t get damaged. Now, instead of a YouTube video of the dunk being the talk of the town for a day or two and then forgotten, the whole controversy of the confiscation and ensuing coverup is creating an even bigger stir. We’ll see what Lebron and Nike end up doing with the video, but the longer they try to sweep it under the rug, the more damage they will be doing to their image and brand.
Watch some of the controversy below and see how negative the reaction is across the media:
Over the past few months I have become a huge Seth Godin fan. I’ve read as many of his books, ebooks, and pages of blog posts as I can. His insight and writings about business and marketing were enough for me to think that he is remarkable and worth talking about, but now I have personal proof to back up that claim.
The other night I had a question about my business and really wished I could talk to Seth and ask him. After about five seconds I thought, well I’ll just email him. Now keep in mind this is an author that practically lives on the New York Times Bestseller List, has one of the most popular blogs on the internet, and is highly sought after. However, I figured I had nothing to lose so I sent him a brief email around 11:45pm west coast time. The next morning I woke up and checked my email. At 3:49am (6:49am his time) I had already received a personal email straight from him answering my question.
Based on his writings I expected him to respond, but when he actually did I was still surprised. He probably has the same amount of emails coming to him as my local congressperson and by just taking a minute of time and giving it to me not only did he prove why politicians have high disapproval ratings, he also increased my motivation to tell everyone I know about the experience and recommending his books and website. In fact, go to his website right now: www.sethgodin.com.
Last week while on vacation I visited the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. On the plaque next to the panda exhibit read something like this, “Pandas must spend over 50% of their time eating bamboo because they have difficulty digesting it and it has very little nutritional value.”
The panda spends so much time trying to survive on what he’s used to that he doesn’t have time to try something new.
What if the panda stopped eating bamboo and started eating energy bars? What would he do with all his spare time? What could he accomplish with a larger family and a larger network of pandas? Would he still need to spend the other 50% of his time sleeping? Would he still be restricted to living in the jungle or could he get the beach front home he’s always dreamed about?
What are you doing in your business that eats up a lot of your time and produces little results? Make the change now or tell your friends and co-workers they can find your exhibit next to the panda.
Well just two days after my GM bad marketing prediction I saw two new commercials. One was a nationwide commercial where GM talked about GM for 60 seconds. Not about how they are going to help their customers, they talked about THEIR new vision, THEIR new cars, THEIR new company. Not once did they mention a single benefit to their customers.
The second commercial was for a local dealership challenging the viewer to be patriotic and buy GM.
Their biggest problem will probably be winning back the trust of the consumer and the taxpayer who is footing their bill.
If I were them I would take every dollar set aside for advertising and instead use it to help their current customers. I would hold town forums and not only invite GM automobile owners to give their feedback, but actually take note of it and make the desired changes. If they actually listen and take care of their existing customers, the genuine word of mouth it would create may be just what they need to actually survive this mess.
GM probably won’t do this though. They’ll probably run TV commercials and print ads encouraging us to be patriotic and buy American. Or worse, they’ll go the ex-girlfriend route and try to make us remember the good times while pretending the bad never happened. Marketers, business owners, and ex-boyfriends take note.
At some point in just about every relationship I’ve had, someone I’ve known for a while randomly tells me a story that I’ve never heard before. In the past they’ve omitted this story because either they think it’s not a big deal, they don’t like to talk about themselves, that I wouldn’t care about it, or all of the above.
However, because I’ve known them for a while and have never heard the story, it comes to quite a surprise and is quite interesting, sometimes it’s the most fascinating thing I’ve heard them say.
The other day I was around a colleague of mine whom I’m getting to know, a holistic practitioner of sorts. We’ve had several conversations and I thought I had a pretty good feel for who they are and what they do because most of our conversations have centered around those topics and not a whole lot of new information has come to light.
Until yesterday.
We had a few brief conversations and then I overheard them say to someone else that they partner with other practitioners to go to the cancer ward and volunteer their time to give free therapy sessions to cancer patients. As soon as I heard that I instantly changed both my opinion and my interest level in that person. Wow! What a great idea and what a great story.
Now I’m certainly not advocating that you go out and perform good deeds as a PR stunt ala the politician who always has a camera around while he shakes hands and kisses babies, but by all means if you have a compelling story, don’t be selfish, share it with others. You never know who will connect with it and better yet, you never know who will want to become part of the story.
GM has problems. Lots of them to be exact.
Creative Ideas Are Great, Until Everyone Copies Them
Fullhouse, a marketing agency from Milwaukee, has created a new way to display video advertising, on people. By advertising on “media tags” companies can equip their waiters and waitresses with a digital display next to their name tag promoting their latest deals.
The first time you see a company utilizing these tools you will certainly have something to talk about and the idea is quite remarkable. But for how long will this method be effective?
Before long the idea will catch on and other restaurants and companies will start doing the same. Much like the guys hired to stand on the corner and do tricks with the sign they’re holding, it will be cool and worth talking about until you get sick of seeing them on every corner, and then it will just be another one of the 37 pieces of flair.
Unless of course, the companies focus on the quality of the content instead of the coolness of the new idea. If you condition me to know that I’m going to find a great deal for my favorite food on the media tag, you can bet I’ll be keeping my eyes looking for a great deal no matter how many companies use it.