Importance of testimonials

Here is an article from Entrepreneur.com on the importance of testimonials. We are big on testimonials and this article illustrates what we already know. So, why are client testimonials important?

Testimonials carry a level of credibility because they come from someone who has direct experience with your product or service. Consumers generally place more trust in testimonials than they do in a business's marketing message. They believe that the average person is unbiased and has nothing to gain from providing a testimonial. The business stands to gain--or lose--everything, so its own words are seen as less trustworthy.

Recognizing consumers' skepticism, some businesses make a practice of asking for customer testimonials. Ditto for businesses that serve other businesses. If anything, a business can be an even more demanding customer than an individual consumer because it has its own reputation and ability to function at stake. Thus, a written testimonial on professional letterhead from one business to another is a powerful word in your favor, especially if the business represented on that letterhead is highly credible.

Google Wave

Very interesting. It's a little long but worth watching. Google Wave is impressive indeed.

Marketing to 50+ year-old women

I found a site I like. Not so much for the content (I'm a 31-year old male, I don't think they even want me reading the site) but because of the idea. When you talk about marketing there is a large group of people that is overlooked: Women over 50 years old.

Women have more purchasing power than ever and in most cases make a lot of purchasing decisions for the household. At least in my folks' house that's the way it goes.

So check it out, it's called VibrantNation.com.

TV business headed for newspaper-like fate?

According to Henry Blodget of Ad Age, the television business is in denial. Since their revenues are still holding strong, they are assuming that they'll be fine. He says that the television industry is where the newspaper is five years ago. And I can tell you that's a bad thing.

Here's the problem, according to Blodget:

As with print-based media, internet-based distribution generates only a tiny fraction of the revenue and profit that today's incumbent cable, broadcast, and satellite distribution models do. As internet-based distribution gains steam, therefore, most TV industry incumbents will no longer be able to support their existing cost structures.

Specifically, TV business models for the past half-century, from broadcast to cable to satellite, have been built on the following foundation:

* Not much else to do at home that's as simple and fun as TV.
* No way to get video content other than via TV.
* No options other than TV for advertisers who want to tell video stories.
* No options other than cable -- and, more recently, satellite -- to get TV.
* Tight choke points in each market through which all video content has to flow (cable company, airwaves), which creates enormous value for the owners of those gates.

And now, slowly but surely, look what's happening:

* Other simple and fun options emerging at home: internet, video games, Facebook, IM, DVDs.
* New ways to get TV content other than traditional TV companies: Hulu, YouTube, iTunes, Netflix.
* Video-story options for advertisers beginning to emerge: Hulu shows, for example (but NBC, et al., make a lot less per viewer than they do on TV).
* More options for getting video content: telcos, cable companies, wireless companies (soon).
* Fewer choke points in each market: With an internet connection anywhere in the world, you will soon be able to get to almost anything. And not just to your computer -- to your TV.

He makes a great point. The internet will eventually run everything and if people don't make adjustments to their business models, then ask the Boston Globe what will happen.

Cleveland promotional video part 2

This one is hysterical too:

Cleveland promotional video

This is hysterical. This is the first of two "hastily made" Cleveland promotional videos. As a comedian, this is exactly the type of thing you should be doing to promote yourself. These things are viral and expose you to wayyyy more people than if you just hammered the club circuit.

Online video is a great ad tool

Entrepreneur.com offers some help in jumping into the fast-growing world of online video advertising. We agree that getting involved with YouTube and the like are great value. And the way things are now, value is a good thing.

1. Get targeted. Online video ads must be highly targeted based on the content being delivered in the video. This is the challenge for advertisers, who must find ways to locate relevant content for their target audiences and then create complementary ads that add value to the viewing experience rather than simply delay or interrupt it. Online video viewers move faster than television viewers. An irrelevant ad can do more harm to a brand than good. Small startups, such as PlaceVine.com, are working to meet that challenge by providing a place for online producers and marketers to connect. Furthermore, ad networks and serving companies such as LiveRail.com, BlackArrow.tv, Brightroll.com and YuMe.com can help you place your ads for maximum return on your investment.

2. Go against tradition. The companies that learn to use out-of-the-box thinking for online video advertising and challenge the traditional online advertising methods will reap long-term rewards. Online video viewing is on the rise, but consumption habits are still evolving. What works on television won't necessarily work online. Instead, throw out the 30-second commercial and get creative.

For example, rather than simply republishing your existing TV commercial in its entirety online, try a short ad that focuses on a single message of less than 15 seconds to appear before the start of an online video (called a "pre-roll" ad). Or try an animated overlay (which appears at the top or bottom of an online video during a targeted portion of that video, where viewers can click on it for more information). Work with a knowledgeable online video production company such as PixelFish.com or TurnHere.com, which can help you create the best type of ad to meet your goals.

3. Be integrated. Online video advertising can't be a stand-alone effort. Instead, it must be part of an integrated marketing plan to achieve maximum effectiveness and success. It's just one small piece of the puzzle, but that piece is growing in importance every day as more and more consumers shift to online video from other media. The question is whether you're going to get creative and be first to catch their attention through online video advertising or if you'll have to play catch-up later. Consider Miller Brewing Co., which stirred up buzz after airing a one-second commercial during the Super Bowl that was closely integrated with the brand’s online video advertising, website, social media support and other promotion efforts for the Miller High Life brand. In other words, create an online ad that works with your other marketing efforts to develop a seamless, targeted message to boost response rates. Repetition and consistency through various media can deliver big results.

Air America reaches agreement with Bonneville

Liberal talk radio network Air America has reached a local agreement with Bonneville International Corp in Washington, DC.

Under the terms of the agreement, Air America will be begin broadcasting their programming on local 1050 AM in mid-June (or thereabouts). Air America will essentially lease the call-letter-less station from Bonneville and handle all programming, management and ad sales.

Conservatives in Washington rejoice!!!

Eight helpful networking sites

Entrepreneur.com has listed eight websites to help you network. As for Entrepreneur Connect, I can already tell you that sucks. Here are the others they list:

1. APSense.com: Tap into an affiliate marketing revenue stream by promoting products and sites on your business profile, and get paid for the friends you refer.
2. Biznik.com: Join your local business community to connect and collaborate with nearby entrepreneurs, and find out about local seminars and events.
3. Entrepreneur Connect: Share ideas, join groups, publish content and promote your business on Entrepreneur's own network.
4. FastPitchNetworking.com: Create a profile, product listings and blog, and take advantage of e-mail marketing and virtual trade shows.
5. GoBigNetwork.com: Get serious about fast growth in this startup community focused on finding funding, talent and expert advice.
6. Konnects.com: Build a network among other startup entrepreneurs and launch your own branded network when you're ready.
7. Marzar.com: Connect with other business owners while promoting products and services in the marketplace.
8. Xing.com: Search this global site for business partners, contacts and professional opportunities.

Because sometimes we just need to be entertained...

Would you want this guy doing promotions for your car dealership? In a weird way, we think we would (language not remotely safe for work. Or kids. Or little kids AT work):

Dodgers face marketing crisis?

The Dodgers are certainly pissed off about the Manny Ramirez steroids situation. Not only is he suspended for 50 games (at least they'll save $7.7 million during that time), but the team now faces a marketing crisis.

Photo Caption: "Hey Manny, did you ever take steroids?!"

Since acquiring the mercurial slugger last season, the Dodgers had built their marketing campaign around him. They got into this Mannywood stuff and then the big, long wigs. You don't need to know anything about baseball to know that Manny is the difference between the Dodgers dominating the NL West and the Dodgers merely competing in the NL West.

“It was just starting to gain momentum,” the team president, Dennis Mannion, said of Mannywood.

So what now?

Well as pissed off as they might be, they aren't distancing themselves from him (probably because they know he has them bent over a barrel).

“You’re thrilled to have a Manny Ramirez,” said Charles Steinberg, the team’s executive vice president who oversees a wide range of the marketing. “And we’re still thrilled to have a Manny Ramirez.”

According to one fan, it really doesn't matter all that much.

“He’s brought enthusiasm to the stadium that I haven’t seen in 15, 20 years,” one fan, Louis Craner, said before offering a popular prediction among those in the crowd. “The day he comes back, it will be a sold-out stadium and he’ll get a standing ovation.”

I guess hitting is more important than morals. Maybe the Dodgers aren't in that big of a marketing pickle after all.

Online marketing budget outlook

Apple to buy Twitter?

While Twitter has maintained its stance that it does not want to sell (they rebuffed Google's attempts recently), there are reports on sites like TechCrunch that cite sources who say that Apple is trying to buy the microblog for $700 million.

"Apple is in late stage negotiations to buy Twitter and is hoping to announce it at WWDC [Apple's World Wide Developers Conference] in June," said TechCrunch's unnamed but "normally reliable source."

New ad for opposition to same-sex marriage features beauty queen

A new ad opposing same-sex marriage spotlights the firestorm that was created when Miss California beauty contestant Carrie Prejean answered a question during the pageant saying she was against same-sex marriage.

The ad is titled "No Offense" and says "Gay marriage activists attack people for supporting marriage because they don't want to debate the consequences of same-sex marriage. They want to silence opposition."

Consequences? That is hilarious. We would probably lose in Iraq if gays were allowed to be married. I wouldn't be able to make my credit card payments either. The environment? Forget it.

The ad is the second spot in a $1.5 million campaign by National Organization for Marriage. Soooo....we're in a recession and times are tough, yet we are spending money on this??!!! Unreal.

"Our mission is to protect marriage and the faith communities that sustain it," the group's executive director Brian Brown said Tuesday. "We want to highlight the very real effects on our liberties and especially on religious organizations, businesses, and individuals."

If it wasn't so sad it would be utterly hilarious.

Should you market to baby boomers?

This article on Entrepreneur.com says you absolutely should, and we would agree with them. These people are a huge market and they have money!....or whatever is left of it.

The fact is boomers spend far too much money to be ignored during tough times. By some estimates, they spend $400 billion more per year on goods and services than any other generation. The numbers tell the tale: According to our analysis of U.S. Census data, over the next 10 years, the 18 to 49 age segment is projected to grow by only 1 percent to about 137 million. Meanwhile, the 50-plus age segment will swell 21 percent to 116 million.

Five tips to avoid in SEO

Janet Meiners Thaeler of SmallBizTrends.com offers five helpful tips on what to avoid when doing search engine optimization on your website:

1. Putting too many keywords on your web site. If a website repeats words or phrases so often that it’s unnatural to read, it’s called keyword stuffing and could get the site penalized. Some sites hide keywords in the text or code of the site which have nothing to do with their site. They might use the same words over and over but otherwise give very little information and no news value. You might find web sites that have hundreds of keywords in the footer or bottom of a web page - this is ineffective and your SEO company should not employ these techniques.

2. Overuse of bolded text or too many links. Not only does this look terrible but it also doesn’t build trust with people or help your search engine rankings over time. Again, while it’s important to create search engine-friendly content, writing for people will be better in the long run.

3. Hidden links. Sometimes these links are hidden in the code of a site or in the footer of a website. They code the site to hide the links or they are the same color as the background so you can’t see them. The links are often unrelated to the site but even a huge list of related links that are hidden can hurt you. My blog was recently spammed so that every time it loaded there were links to viagra sites. You couldn’t see them but they slowed down my site considerably. I got it cleaned fast because a friend of mine recently had his site banned by Google for the same problem.

4. Complicated link schemes. Google can detect unnatural linking patterns and there are many variations of link schemes. An example is that overnight your site has thousands of links when you did nothing to deserve those links. Some people build programs that add links automatically or that create new web pages or blogs (splogs) full of spam content and links.

5. Multiple domains or subdomains with essentially the same content. These sites or pages have practically the same information but with different keywords. Here’s an example I saw when I was looking for a locksmith. When I type in a city name the same site comes up again and again. The only difference is they have a different domain for each city or state. They are not regional but contract out to various cities. The page for Denver is the same as the page for Las Vegas, only with the words “Denver” swapped out for “Las Vegas.” There are many variations on this tactic which may work short term but long term they are risky. Example of duplicate content:
www.completelocksmith.com/locksmith_city.php?cid=denver
www.completelocksmith.com/locksmith_city.php?cid=las vegas

How to add humor to marketing

Entrepreneur.com has some tips how you can add humor to marketing. They always make it seem so much easier than it really is.

Don't initially set out to be humorous. That may be the most important aspect of humorous marketing. You don't want to force anything, says Linda Kaplan Thaler, whose advertising agency The Kaplan Thaler Group's clients include Procter & Gamble and Continental Airlines. The company is responsible for the Aflac duck and the Swiffer ads, where a mop and broom stalk their ex-owner and try to woo her back.

"You need to not have a preset idea that something's going to be heartfelt or funny," Thaler says. Marketing "needs to be emotional in some shape or form."

The humor should fit your product or service's personality. It sounds obvious, but even some brands that seem as if they could easily fit into humorous marketing don't--or at least as well as you might expect. Cult branding expert Bolivar "BJ" Bueno believes Miller Lite's humorous ads are lacking compared to others like Budweiser. "People drink to have a good time, and Budweiser has spent a lot of money to say, 'We're about entertaining you,'" says Bueno. In contrast, Miller Lite's message has always been that it's a lite beer. Calorie count is a serious topic to anyone concerned about weight, so wacky ads revolving around being lite don't really work in Bueno's opinion.

Humor can work in even the most unlikely places. Lately, banks have been going with gallows humor in light of the economy. Last Christmas, Denver-based FirstBank offered tongue-in-cheek gift ideas on billboards: It suggested you take photos of yourself next to the signs, which featured a picture of a seascape. Then you could frame it and send it to your friends.

The humor can't overpower the brand. The best humorous marketing ads take risks. Take Nationwide's "Life Comes at You Fast" ads. In one, a young man bumps the car of an elderly couple and apologizes. Then the elderly woman starts beating him up while a narrator somberly observes that not everyone handles "accident forgiveness" as well as Nationwide.

Google TV ads

Have you seen Google TV ads? Could be a very powerful tool for getting your word out through the medium of television.

Finally some good economic news?

The London Telegraph says that according to the Bellwether Report, a quarterly survey for the advertising industry trade body IPA, business confidence has rebounded from the all-time low in 2008's fourth quarter. The report seems to indicate that a bottom has been reached in the slashing of marketing budgets.

The proportion of companies reporting that prospects had deteriorated fell from 63pc in the fourth quarter of last year to 44pc in the first quarter of this year.

Those who said prospects had improved rose from 5pc to 14pc, suggesting confidence has improved

"This data supports the view that the bottom of the market has been reached," said Moray MacLennan, IPA president and M&C Saatchi's European chairman.

"It will be a long road to full recovery, but this may be the turning point. It is good to see a graph going in the right direction for a change."

Italian newspaper gets creative

While the newspaper industry is getting hammered, many newspaper execs have decided to complain. Others, like Italy's Il Sole 24 ORE is being creative. Here are some shots of their new magazine, IL: