Anyone that knows me, knows that I’m a gamer. You can read all about it on my other blog. Sometimes I spend some time looking through videos on YouTube of games that I’m interested in buying so that I can see if they’re worth the purchase or not. Why then are video game companies forcing YouTubers to take down videos of playthroughs and such? Don’t they understand that this is how gamers find their products? I just saw a video by a well known YouTube commentator that pretty much sums up my feelings as well. He uses some vulgar language so it may not be safe for work, but here’s a link to the video anyway.

This is what happens when you let accountants and financial folks take control of your business. They do a great job of organizing, and re-investing your money. But why are marketers letting them do their job for them? As a marketer, it’s your decision as to how your products and / or services get promoted. I’m of the philosophy that you should use any and all tools in the box to get your message across.

In this day in age where consumers (especially gamers) are spending less time watching / listening / paying attention to commercials, why would you want to take your products out of a media that they are paying attention to? It makes no sense to me. I was just talking to a friend yesterday about how video game marketers usually do a horrible job (someone please hire me, I won’t let you down), and today I see yet another example of that.

If you are a decision maker at your company, please do not limit your marketing opportunities, or alienate your customers by trying to stop them from using current technology to promote your products or services. Use these guys to your benefit, and profit by them. 

What do you guys think? Agree, disagree? Are there any other examples out there that you can think of where companies have done this? Let me know in the comments below. 

Check out any marketing blog today and you’ll see pages of posts about social media and relationship marketing. While social media is a very important and effective tactic, I think we all need to step back and realize that it will take more than one tactic to win in this game called marketing. While you may say that traditional marketing is not as effective as it has been in the past, I would argue that these tactics are the foundation of a solid marketing plan. Perhaps they need to be applied in a different way to be effective in this new era of marketing, but whatever. Anyway, I’m beginning a new series: Traditional Weapons of Marketing, starting with my favorite subject marketing research.

Marketing research is my favorite of the traditional tactics, but that’s not the only reason why I’m discussing it first. Your marketing plan begins with solid research. Let me be very clear, all of your marketing decisions should be based on facts (I didn’t understand this when I first started my career, but it is in fact true). Research is where you get those facts. You can either collect and analyze the data yourself, or you can take it from a 3rd party’s already established results. This breakdown looks like this:

- Primary Research: If you need to know something specific, sometimes the best way to find out is to conduct your own research. There are alot of elements to gathering quality data, such as your collection methodology, survey design, incentives, analysis methods, and so on, but I’ll leave that for the research pros to discuss… or maybe for a future discussion.

- Secondary Research: Why go through the expense and effort of conducting your own research when the hard work may have already been done by someone else. There are tons of research findings, reports, and statistics out there for you to find. Sometimes it seems like these findings have nothing to do with you or your business, but you still may be able to apply them somewhere. The new US Census data for example is invaluable to marketers in that it describes what the standard US household looks like in each geographic region. Pretty handy if you’re looking to open a new market, or simply gain a better understanding of your current market.

All research is either quantitative or qualitative. Meaning that it can either be expressed in numbers or in a more abstract way. I’ve seen many companies only focus on quantitative research, or statistics. This is a mistake and is the reason why focus groups exist. Talk to your prospects and customers and try and understand their mindset. You may have a great product, but it may not be practical for the common user. Your inexpensive food may taste excellent, but perhaps your customers want a healthier choice. You need to know the right questions to ask so that you can get the information you need to make a good decision.  

Just one type of research isn’t going to cut it. So you put together an excellent survey, and collected data from a very good sample. You’re still only looking at the results of one study. You should also look for existing data (like the census), conduct focus groups (have a discussion with your prospects and customers), and in general find ways to conduct research in your everyday business (go to a fast food restaurant and look at your receipt… you see that phone number to take a survey?). Research is not something that you do and then forget about, it should be conducted year round so that you can be sure that you are making sound business decisions.

So how can I use social media to conduct research? In this era, people are more connected than ever before, not just to each other, but to your business as well. Use this connection to open discussions with your customers. Ask some questions, and you may find some eye opening points that you never realized before. There are more obvious ways to use social media to your benefit (emailing surveys to people and so on), but you should look at the non-obvious and most importantly the non-intrusive ways to getting your information.

Anyways, enough of that. You get the idea. To paraphrase one of my favorite lines from The Godfather, a marketing plan that doesn’t include research is not really a marketing plan. (the original line is “A man who doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man.” and is my favorite line of that great film).

I read an article in the Dallas Morning News today about retailers using Facebook as a platform for building online stores. You can read the article online here. People have been attempting to monetize social media since the phenomenon began, but this is the most direct effort I’ve seen. With over 50 million people active on Facebook, there’s plenty of incentive for retailers to get in on the action. However, I think that it would be a mistake to only focus on sales, and therefore overlook the social aspects of Facebook.

Why are retailers doing this? According to the article which quoted Henry Wong (CEO of Adgregate Markets) “Because this is where the customer is hanging out. They’re not hanging out on websites.” Hmmm, why could it be that customers aren’t hanging out on websites? Could it be that mindset which refers to visitors as customers? I think that has alot to do with it. It’s been a while since I’ve visited a website with no advertising; one that isn’t just trying to sell me something. Facebook is a place where people go to goof off and check in on friends that they may not see on a daily basis. No one goes to Facebook thinking, wow, I hope I can find something to buy. Retailers need to be aware of this and remember not to press the sale too hard. Otherwise, they could force visitors to move on to other time wasting websites.

The big boys are doing it, but what about small business? I think that Facebook and social media in general could be a fantastic avenue for small businesses to create awareness and even sell their products (or services). Why? Back in the old days, if you wanted to sale something, you advertised. If your advertising budget was substantially larger than your competitor (and you weren’t a total buffoon) then you would take home more profits. Today though, when a youtube video of some kid playing a video game can go viral and generate hundreds of thousands of views, it seems like there’s a more level playing field. There’s nothing to stop small businesses from taking advantage of social media to generate sales, and if they are creative about it, they could even outsell some of their bigger and badder competitors.

So, is “social retailing” the obvious next step in monetizing your social media success? Actually, I think it is. It’s a fact in business that if business can make money doing something that isn’t against the law (even that doesn’t stop some) then they will do it. Retailers can and will sell on Facebook, and they will generate some income. The bottom line though is that people only have a finite amount of disposable income, and I don’t think setting up another sales channel (which incidentally will compete with your own storefront / website) is going to have a dramatic effect on sales unless retailers start getting creative in leveraging the social aspects of social media.

Think I’m full of it? You know what to do.

By now, most business people understand the benefits of social media and especially blogging. A blog can help turn you into an authority on your given subject, it provides useful information to your customers that will keep them coming back to your site, it provides a way to interact with your customers, etc. When you are developing a blog for business, rather than just a hobby project, there are some things that you need to keep in mind. The folks at Problogger.net have compiled a list of the 9 (really 10) things you need to do before launching your small business blog. Here are my thoughts on this list…

1. Define your customer: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Rule #1 of marketing is to segment the market (aka define your customer).

2. Determine if you’re going to create a blog within your business website or on its own: It depends on the situation / company, but in general my thought is that you should keep your blog separate from your business site. This way you have multiple ways for your customer to find you, and also so that you aren’t seen as someone just trying to sell something, but as someone that is offering value. This is definitely not a one size fits all decision though so what do I know?

3. Keyword research for domain name: I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t do this before setting my domain. I just thought that Evil Marketer was a cool name. But just like your parents used to always tell you, do what I say not what I do. The Google keywords tool (this can be accessed by signing up for Adwords, which you should do even if you don’t use the ads) is your friend. Use it.

4. Choose a blogging platform and select a design or theme: We’ve talked about choosing the right platform before. Obviously I like Tumblr (especially for a beginner), but do some research and find out what will work best for you.

5. Register your social media accounts: Social media is a great way to promote your blog. Use it. Sign up for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and whatever else you’re going to use (then come back here and use that share button at the bottom of my posts). In the immortal words of Arnold Schwarzenegger “Do it! Do it now!!”

6. Measuring ROI, listening, and your blog’s feed: There are tons of tools you can use to keep track of your success. I’ll probably talk about this in more detail in the future.

7. Draft at least ten posts in advance and have them loaded with preset publish dates:  I don’t really agree with this, but I guess it’s sound advise. In my opinion, if you already have 10 posts ready to go, then you may get lazy and skip days that you know you should be writing. I would say, instead of this tip, that you should come up with topics to discuss, and come into blogging with a commitment to continue for some period of time.

8. Spend some time in forums: This is great advice. Whatever your subject is, go out and find the online communities and forums that relate to what you’re doing. Don’t just spam them with links to your site. Instead you should interact with the community and participate. 

9. Reach out to key influencers: I totally didn’t do this, but perhaps I should have. Who knows, try it out, and let me know how it worked for you.

10. Draft a web optimized press release:  I thought there were only 9 tasks. I guess this one was a bonus. Anyway, if you’re running a business get in the habit of writing press releases. It doesn’t hurt and can only help.

Well there are my thoughts. What do you guys think?

So I was at a baseball game with my dad last week, watching the Texas Rangers against the Chicago White Sox (Texas blew the sweep). Since we got to the game early, I started flipping through the program and found something interesting. One of the articles promoted the blog of the team mascot, The Captain (a big furry horse). Wow, what a great idea! I wonder why more companies don’t have their mascots post using social media to promote themselves and the company brand. It seems like a no brainier. You create a mascot that embodies the brand, so why not use the mascot as an online personality to promote the ideals that your business stands for.

When I got home I took  a look at The Captain’s blog. It wasn’t fantastic. The updates seem to be sporadic, but I did like that he stays in character the whole time. It seems that kids like to email him and ask him questions (some of these questions and answers are printed in the program), which is a fantastic way for a brand to interact with their community. I can’t help but think, though, that they could be doing a better job of using online media to promote The Captain as a genuine personality. It may not translate into a huge increase in ticket sales, but it’s free, and can help shape the Texas Ranger’s brand name.

What do you think? Have you seen any creative uses for mascots lately?

Here’s a link worth checking out if you are involved in social media. I’ve seen alot of corporate social media pages, and I have to agree. Most companies still don’t really get it. There’s so much that you can do with social media, but most just exist. Check out what Mikal Belicove on the American Express Open Forum has to say about it.

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.”

If you blog, podcast, create videos, whatever, check this out. Some very good tips in here. Thanks Chris.

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”.

I’ve been talking alot about social media and online marketing. Why not? Everyone’s doing it now. Unfortunately many are doing a poor job at it. It’s not enough to just have a facebook fan page, twitter account, a youtube account, etc. You must create community, otherwise it’s a waste of time. So what if you post videos of satisfied customers, or announce a new promotion. It doesn’t matter if no one is looking at your content. I’ve visited many corporate social media sites, and many of them simply post commercials, promotions, and/or testimonials. Who cares really? I mean, the only reason I look is because I’m a marketer, and I’m interested in how companies are promoting themselves online. However, as a consumer, I don’t care.

I was going to post something about one of my favorite brands, but I think I’m going to go in a different direction, ‘cause I’m just evil like that. Let’s take a look at one of my “favorite” booksellers, Barnes and Noble. They do some decent marketing every now and then, but their youtube site is garbage. So what do they have on their youtube channel? Exactly what you’d expect, interviews with authors, and not much else. It’s no secret that Barnes and Noble is a huge brand, so I’d expect them to have tons of subscribers. As I write this, they have a total of 287 subscribers, and I’m wondering just how many of those subscribers are actually employed by the company. This is what happens when you post the most boring content known to mankind on your site.

So what should they be posting? Well, in this case, I think they could post some interesting employee interactions, video of excited fans meeting their literary heroes in the store, a review program where they get random customers’ opinions, book recommendations (if you enjoyed this bestseller, here’s some other lesser known books you may enjoy), people getting busted for shoplifting, whatever really. As long as it’s interesting. If the content is good, maybe they would have more subscribers, and might actually be on their way to creating community.

It’s not just a problem with the big boys, smaller companies are also guilty of this. If you’re not going to post good, creative content then you really are not taking full advantage of the social media tools available. I could go on and on, and will probably discuss this again in the future, but I just got a new batch of books from the library and am ready to dig in. The bottom line, just having an account with these social media sites is not enough, doing what everyone else is doing with these sites will not differentiate you. Create excellent content

What’s the difference between Barnes and Noble and Borders? Comment below or email me. You know the address.