First of all, I’d like to congratulate the Saints on their first Superbowl championship. As a matter of fact, congratulations are in order for both teams for delivering one of the most exciting Superbowl games I’ve seen. Yes, the game was exciting, but what about the commercials? It’s a fact that many viewers only watch the game for the ads. According to various online sources, advertisers spent about $2.6 million on a 30 second spot during the game (which is viewed by an estimated 150 million people). With that much money being spent for 30 seconds of marketing, I’d expect to have my socks blown off, but yet, they are still here on my feet. As a matter of fact, the ads were so lackluster, that I can only really recall the ones that were so bad that I made mental notes.

I’m not a fan of big money ads. I’ve said it again and again that I’d spend that money a little differently. This “let’s spend millions of dollars to reach the largest possible audience” mentality is ancient history. It’s the old way of marketing, and it’s a waste of money. Like I said before in my discussion of old marketing versus new marketing, you can make more of your efforts by telling a story directly to customers interested in what you are offering. Why then did Dove advertise a soap to make a man’s skin silky smooth DURING THE FREAKING SUPERBOWL!? You know, one of the most macho events of the year. Wow, great job there guys. You really did your homework. If you were going to waste $2.6 million dollars, you could’ve just given it to me. I would’ve turned that money into a profitable company (or early retirement, hahaha). If you’re going to make a product like that, advertise during figure skating or something.

So why do I think the Superbowl ads were garbage? Because they completely missed the opportunity. You are in front of millions of people. It was an opportunity to launch a new product in an exciting way. It was a chance to pull off a promotion that is so original that it would move millions of people to take advantage (well, to be fair, Denny’s kind of did this, but they already ran that promotion last year, so it wasn’t as exciting). It was a chance to launch a new viral campaign. No one really took advantage of this opportunity; instead all of the companies focused on the old rules of marketing: make an average product for average people and reach the widest audience possible to promote it. Not very exciting. That worked back in the old days when advertising was one of the more important aspects of marketing. Back then we had effective ads like the 1984 commercial and the classic Budweiser frogs campaign. But those days are history, and it’s time that companies get with the new program.

You know there is one ad that I kind of liked. The Miller High Life ad were they promoted some local businesses was interesting. In these kind of tough economic times, it really spread a bit of goodwill out there, and I think it was very cool of them to do that. Of course, Miller High Life still gives me massive headaches and tastes like… well, let’s not go there. My brand of beer will probably always be Rolling Rock. Not because of their marketing (or maybe it is, but they are just so good at it that I don’t realize it), but because it tastes the best to me.

What do you think of this year’s Superbowl commercials? Thumbs up or down? What was your favorite or least favorite ad during the game? Hit me up in the comments below or email me privately at edwardviator@evil-marketer.com

There used to be only a few channels out there for businesses to communicate with their customers: radio, television, and print. Now there are an infinite number. The eighth trend in Seth Godin’s Meatball Sundae is “Infinite channels of communication.” Today, every interaction with a customer is a channel of communication. Sure, your Facebook page is a channel, so is your Twitter account, but so also are the interactions your customers have with each other and with potential customers. Let’s face it, people talk to each other, and in today’s marketplace it’s easier than ever for people to have discussions about your company and your brand. In the wise words of Luke Skywalker, “you can either profit by this or be destroyed. It’s your choice, but I warn you not to underestimate my power.”

So what does this have to do with you? Everything. Before, companies had to broadcast their messages to anyone and everyone out there in the hopes that the message would reach their target demographic. This meant that it just wasn’t economically feasible to market niche products. Why spend a fortune marketing something using mass media that has limited appeal? Sure, there are specific demographics for specific programs on TV, radio, or print articles, and so it’s not impossible to reach your target demographic in this manner. However, you will waste alot of money reaching people that don’t care about your product. Not only that, but people are actively trying to avoid these types of interruption messages.

On the internet, it’s not only possible to reach these niche audiences, it’s actually preferable. You don’t need to interrupt anyone; customers will look for you and your products if they pertain to them. You can succeed with a smaller market, but a larger market share. All you need to do is stay relevant, and treat every interaction with your customers as a channel of communication.

Notable quotes from this section:

• “In order for a customer to make a decision, two things need to happen. The second is that she needs to determine that it’s worth the time or money or risk to take action. But first, she needs to know about the opportunity.”
• Instead of reaching everyone (because you have no other choice) and creating generic products for large audiences, you can now reach a tiny slice of the market - just the people who are passionately interested in your products and services.”
• “The product is everything the company needs to spread the idea itself.”

For years, companies have searched for ways to “eliminate the middleman.” Well, we’ve gotten to the point where this is a reality for many types of businesses. Unfortunately, many companies mistakingly see this as a problem, not a solution. The first trend that Seth Godin discusses in Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync? is “direct communication and commerce between producers and consumers.” Basically this means that consumers now have (and expect) the ability to communicate directly with companies. This also means that it’s possible for companies to market and sell directly to consumers.

In the past businesses relied only on mass media to reach customers, but today the average consumer is going out of their way to avoid these interruptions (commercials are skipped, radio stations are changed, ads are forgotten). So much money has been wasted, and continues to be wasted on marketing to masses of people. Only a small percentage of people will even pay attention, much less be moved, by these mass marketing messages. So why do companies spend so much time and money on these methods? Because it’s the way it’s always been done. Like I said in an earlier post, instead of spending a ton of cash on ads, I would instead hire a team of excellent marketers that can take advantage of the free and cheap tools on the internet… but (you guessed it) that’s another story.

So, how can you take advantage of this new trend? Well for one, you should be immediately responsive to your customers. When they send you and email, they expect a reply. And fast. I’ve been guilty of leaving email unanswered for too long, and I’m sure you have too. It’s a mistake, and smart people learn from mistakes. Be smart, and remember that every unanswered email is a missed opportunity for you. Every interaction with the customer matters, and yet many companies seem to go out of their way to avoid customers (how many times have you been given the runaround?). This is a big opportunity for you to differentiate yourself and your company. Instead of ignoring those emails, answer them; engage yourself with your clients.

One of the advantages of this type of communication is that you can learn more about your customers, and even begin designing products based on their needs. In the past, companies created products and then used marketing to find customers. Now, you can communicate with your customers and create products and services that are specifically tailored to their needs. Pretty cool, huh? Godin has tons of examples in his book, and I’m sure you could think about many more.

Another way to take advantage of the changing relationship between companies and consumers is to begin taking part in permission marketing. Godin talks alot about this, and it’s easy to see why. With mass media becoming less and less effective (and therefore more and more expensive), permission marketing is the way to go to reach customers. Here’s how it works, instead of spamming tons of people with a message that may or may not pertain to them, you should find (and eventually build your own) communities built around the types of people that your product appeals to. Talk to them, respect them, don’t waste their time. Godin outlines some basic rules for permission marketing. Here’s the short version…

1. Serve your customers, not yourself.
2. Permission is not to be bought and/or sold.
3. Keep your message relevant. If it has nothing to do with the customer and their life, they will leave.
4. Legal print and privacy policies are meaningless. If you do wrong by your customers (even if you are legally correct) they will leave.
5. Respect your customers.
6. Strike first, strike hard, no mercy sir! (okay, I just made that one up)

Next we will discuss trend 2, “Amplification of the voice of the consumer and independent authorities.” See you then.

Notable quotes from this section:

• “The fact cannot be denied: Your people (customers, employees, prospects, readers, whatever) want to be heard. They demand it.”
• “An inbound e-mail is not (just) an expense; it’s (also) an opportunity - a chance for your organization to eliminate barriers and have a dialogue with a prospect or a customer.”
• “The job of marketing is to grow the organization, and growth comes, obviously, from putting yourself in front of people who didn’t know about you before you got there.”
• “Outbound marketing now demands respect for the people on the receiving end.”

It’s time for another book discussion. This time, I’m reading Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync? by Seth Godin. The general idea is that not all organizations are optimized to take advantage of the new marketing opportunities out there today. Instead many companies are still focused on old marketing techniques. Godin discusses 14 trends that have re-shaped marketing, and illustrates how you can optimize your business to take advantage of these trends. Since the organization of the book is a bit different (and you really should read it yourself), I won’t be discussing the book chapter by chapter. Instead, I’m going to discuss each of his 14 trends in turn.

Let’s start the discussion by defining old marketing vs new marketing. Godin describes the era before advertising as a time when small and local businesses thrived. Products were usually made by hand, and sold locally. Many of these companies failed to invest properly in marketing to the masses and therefore died out when the advertising age hit. The era of advertising is what really describes “old marketing”. Godin define’s old marketing as “the art of interrupting masses of people with ads about average products.” (reminds me of those old toy commercials when I was a kid) Many companies are optimized to take advantage of this approach. However, we are in the era of “new marketing”, and many companies aren’t set up to take advantage.

“New Marketing” Godin says, “leverages scarce attention and creates interactions among communities with similar interests. New marketing treats every interaction, product, service, and side effect as a form of media.” See the difference? Let’s break it down a bit. Old marketing relies on a limited number of media outlets (print, radio, television, etc); new marketing has unlimited media outlets. Old media is focused on appealing to masses; new marketing focuses on appealing to niche audiences. Old marketing is based on marketer-to-consumer communication; new marketing is based on consumer-to-consumer communication. Old marketing sells with features; new marketing sells with stories. The book outlines many more differences, but you get the idea.

Think about it for a few minutes. From the ground up, many companies are designed with this old marketing approach in mind. They create average products for the average consumer, and use mass media to let the world know. If this describes your approach to marketing, then you will not be able to take full advantage of all the new marketing opportunities available. I’ve talked about companies using social media poorly. Many times, it’s because they focus only on the new toys and not enough on organizational changes. If you want to take advantage of new marketing opportunities, you need to create outstanding products and then tell stories directly to the people that you’ve gained permission to talk to.

What do you think defines old marketing and new marketing? Do you agree that we are in a new era? Discuss in the comments or send me an email.

Next time we’ll discuss the first trend, “direct communication and commerce between producers and consumers”.