Wednesday, May 28, 2003
Friday, May 23, 2003
Purple Cow
At a webcast talk by author Seth Godin, he talked about his new Purple Cow book. Points of his talk:
At a webcast talk by author Seth Godin, he talked about his new Purple Cow book. Points of his talk:
- Interruption advertising is dead. (This is not a new message from Seth). This is because people are bombarded by advertising on TV, radio, sign, email, phone calls, and on and on. More here.
- In addition, marketer's response is to do even more advertising to break though the noise, further decreasing its effectiveness.
- For this reason, you have to create something remarkable -- That is, it must be worth making a remark about
- People think remarkable is too risky. But safe (leading to irrelevance) is actually more risky. This doesn't mean you have to create a new product or service. In fact, you should work with existing products, where you know there is a demand.
- Ask yourself, "How can I change my proposition so people will talk about it?"
Thursday, May 22, 2003
Fighting Spam
Mailshell (a spam-fighting solution) has a tell-a-friend incentive that has helped it grow to over 800,000 customers. Praised by a very long list of respected publications, Mailshell offers a way to eliminate 99% of all spam. It allows users to "create an unlimited number of disposable email addresses to permanently and accurately block spam from anyone at any time without affecting the rest of your email. You can even set up different levels of filtering for different purposes."
Their ""Tell a Friend option is similar to other's, but is not a third party tool. It is built into their site, and is effective because Mailshell is a good product that users interact with frequently. Mailshell's $9 reward for each new sign-up also helps!
Mailshell (a spam-fighting solution) has a tell-a-friend incentive that has helped it grow to over 800,000 customers. Praised by a very long list of respected publications, Mailshell offers a way to eliminate 99% of all spam. It allows users to "create an unlimited number of disposable email addresses to permanently and accurately block spam from anyone at any time without affecting the rest of your email. You can even set up different levels of filtering for different purposes."
Their ""Tell a Friend option is similar to other's, but is not a third party tool. It is built into their site, and is effective because Mailshell is a good product that users interact with frequently. Mailshell's $9 reward for each new sign-up also helps!
Wednesday, May 21, 2003
Text Messaging
Text messaging (SMS) can be a great way to spread word of mouth (in any step of the process), particularly for teens and pre-teens. Here are tips from Promo Magazine:
DO use it to hype something innovative and easy to understand
DO send short messages; write pithy copy, and use SMS lingo
DO SMS messages of urgency, such as dollars off NOW
DO use SMS marketing to reach 20-somethings and younger
DON'T use SMS to sell the mundane -- keep it exciting
DON'T bombard someone unless they've opted in for regular reminders
DON'T overdo the cure messages, which are tough to decode
DON'T SMS the 50-plus crowd; it'll confuse, annoy, or fall into a black hole
Text messaging (SMS) can be a great way to spread word of mouth (in any step of the process), particularly for teens and pre-teens. Here are tips from Promo Magazine:
DO use it to hype something innovative and easy to understand
DO send short messages; write pithy copy, and use SMS lingo
DO SMS messages of urgency, such as dollars off NOW
DO use SMS marketing to reach 20-somethings and younger
DON'T use SMS to sell the mundane -- keep it exciting
DON'T bombard someone unless they've opted in for regular reminders
DON'T overdo the cure messages, which are tough to decode
DON'T SMS the 50-plus crowd; it'll confuse, annoy, or fall into a black hole
Tuesday, May 20, 2003
Viral Coke
Coke is having good success with viral marketing and teens, generating over a million page views a day!! Although there is a invite-a-friend button, traffic is mainly generated by word of mouth and email. CokeMusic.com's Viral Explosion is the result of using fresh content and a virtual meeting place
Coke is having good success with viral marketing and teens, generating over a million page views a day!! Although there is a invite-a-friend button, traffic is mainly generated by word of mouth and email. CokeMusic.com's Viral Explosion is the result of using fresh content and a virtual meeting place
Monday, May 19, 2003
Highly Caffinated Comedy is Viral
The theatre comedy Triple Espresso is utilizing local word of mouth by asking show patrons to send a post card provided by the theatre. The post card provides a space on the front for the sender to write a comment that starts out, "This show is..." They also provide clear instructions about what to do with the post card, including handing it in at end of the show -- theatre provides the stamp. On the back is the traditional space to write more along with the line in bold, "Just get tickets & Go!"
The theatre comedy Triple Espresso is utilizing local word of mouth by asking show patrons to send a post card provided by the theatre. The post card provides a space on the front for the sender to write a comment that starts out, "This show is..." They also provide clear instructions about what to do with the post card, including handing it in at end of the show -- theatre provides the stamp. On the back is the traditional space to write more along with the line in bold, "Just get tickets & Go!"
