Marketing

Why Should I Put My Movie On YouTube?

You’ve created a short video telling about your services or giving information to potential customer. How do you share this clip? I say post it to YouTube.

There are two compelling reasons to go the YouTube route: cost and publicity.

Posting videos on YouTube and playing them back on your site is easy. The service has a simple-to-use service to upload your video. Once uploaded to YouTube, the movie is easily embedded in a customized player on your website.
Videos on YouTube will be stumbled upon by the general public who otherwise don’t know who you are and would not visit your site and see your video.

Of course, you can manually upload a video to your website and you can also pre-convert it into the specific file format you want (Flash movie, Windows media file, etc.). And, you can also create (or buy) a customized media player for your site. These options work fine, but they are considerably more time consuming than using the YouTube interface.

Unless you have a business need for a specific look and feel that YouTube cannot accommodate, why spend more time (and money on your web developer)?

In addition to saving money, YouTube has a social media component. YouTube asks you for keywords that describe your video. Then, when you are on the YouTube site, YouTube will suggest other videos on the same topic that you might want to view. When people look at those other clips, your video will be suggested to them as something they might want to watch. By intelligently describing your work on YouTube, you’ll get extra publicity and views for your video.

I’ve helped clients post trailers for their performances, their professional credentials, and simply examples of the fun they have in their activities. Some people have posted just the one video that they came to me with. Others have developed their own YouTube “channel”, have acquired YouTube subscribers to their movies, and regularly post video PR pieces online.

Here’s a fun public service announcement I posted on YouTube for a friend’s project a few years ago:

If Moki will share intimate details of his life on YouTube, you should feel comfortable posting your hot specials, interviews, and clips there, too.

By Ozdachs|2010-08-05T11:09:37-07:00August 5th, 2010|Marketing|0 Comments

Don’t Tell Them — Invite Them!

Does your electronic newsletter read like the bulletin board at the laundromat? Do titles and dates of events fill up the space, but a passerby would have summon the courage to make a cold call to you to get more information?

Posting event announcements with the basic “who, what, where, when, and why”– for either for-profit or not-for-profit businesses — is not enough! Customers (or “participants” or “members”) don’t automatically make the connection between a fact that something is happening and that you would like them to attend. The implied invitation to “join in” is simply not heard or seen by a lot of people.

When I grew up in Los Angeles, one incessant TV advertiser was Cal Worthington Ford. Their commercials featured a sung earworm chant, “Go see Cal! Go see Cal! Go see Cal!” The repetition might have been been tiresome to hear, but it was great marketing. Not only were you told about the week’s special deals in the commercial, there was a clear, unambiguous call to action: Go see Cal!

Your newsletters should be as clear as Cal’s advertisements. When you write about your organization’s activities, tell the reader exactly what you want them to do and how to do it. Buy, participate, donate by clicking, register, or just show up. Bring a form, fulfill a prerequisite, or be a newbie off the street. Say who’s welcome and where they should go.

When I edit my church’s weekly newsletter, I spend a fair amount of time translating laundromat bulletins into invitations to join in. Notices about classes, ceremonies, and concerts contain information about exciting happenings, but unless you’re one of the organizers or have attended similar events in the past, it’s not always obvious that visitors or new people are welcome.

“Why would we tell people about the [name the event], if we didn’t want people to show up?” I get asked. It’s a good question, but a simple statement of what you want people to reduces the emotional risk for newcomers.

You know that the artist reception is a way to get publicity for the unknown photographer exhibiting. But, I may think I need to be a critic or an established art buyer to be welcome to the gallery show.

You know that the monthly hikes around San Francisco are purely social affairs where no business is conducted. But, I may think that I have to already be a member of the sponsoring committee to be accepted on the trails.

You know that the choir is always searching for talented singers. But, I may think that I have to already know a specific repertoire before showing up for the auditions.

The solution is simple. Write your newsletters like you are talking to a friend. When you tell a friend, “I am going to see the 11 am Saturday matinee at the iMax” you add, “Would you like to come with me? I’ll pick you up at your house at 10:15.”

Add the same invitation to your newsletter.

By Ozdachs|2010-08-02T07:25:18-07:00August 2nd, 2010|Newsletters|0 Comments

This Email Killed a Deal

This is a picture of a real email message I received this afternoon from a firm wanting to sell services to one of my marketing clients:

Turquoise Email Message (click for original size)

The woman who sent it had sounded very nice, competent, and on top of her work when I spoke with her on the phone.

But, then I got her follow-up email.

The color scheme is unreadable. (Click on the photo to see the original message. I left some unidentifiable paragraphs in it unblurred.)

She sent it with the false “high priority message” flag which only spammers seem to use. She acknowledges that the web site that she had told me to go to for more information was for a different business. There were spelling and capitalization errors in the text.

I am now afraid to recommend her services — which sounded perfectly reasonable on the phone — to my client. I am concerned about the professionalism of the email sender’s company. Part of their job would be to represent my client to prospective new customers. What impression would these prospects get of my client’s firm?

Do I really have to tell people not to use pastel colors in their email? At best it’s cute. At worst, it’s difficult to read and cutesy.
Do you really not know to not mark emails “high priority”? Especially when they are really just a sales call follow-up?
Do people really send business emails out without spell checking? Wrong-word typos are forgivable (maybe because I do them so frequently myself!), but most mail programs will automatically check your emails for non-words, if you let them. So let them!
Does anyone looking for business really not have a website featuring that work? And, if you don’t have a web site that features your business, don’t send people to the web site for another business you work on. Really. I mean, where are you focusing your energy?

This real-life example of a deal-killing piece of email. You’re not sending anything like this out, are you?

By Ozdachs|2010-07-14T05:51:16-07:00July 13th, 2010|Marketing|0 Comments

Cigarette Lighter Sent in Marketing Letter

Last week I opened a letter from a business acquaintance who has put me on his mailing list. The envelope had a lump in it, and I expected a pen to fall out.

Nope. No pen.

This mortgage broker sent through the mail a cigarette lighter with his logo and business name on it.

The lighter fell on my kitchen counter when I opened the envelope, and I jumped in surprise. It wasn’t a good surprise. It was a surprise of horror.

I didn’t think of “Oh boy! What a great guy to send me a lighter for my cigarettes.” I thought, “Isn’t it illegal to send flammable material through the mail? How can I get rid of this without starting a fire? Does he think I smoke? Who uses lighters?”… and on and on and on.

In fact, I am still angry at having something vaguely dangerous and completely useless to me come through my mail slot.

Mortgage Broker Letter

The copy in his letter was strained, too.

He started off talking about a Spanish town where people die of alcohol poisoning and getting gored by bulls. The letter laments that such civic celebration would not be allowed in the US because of prudish politicians, lawyers, and <giggle> “Mothers Against Amateur Drunken Bullfighting” .

And, the connection with the enclosed lighter? (Well, if you follow the narrative, the closest thing in the US to having people die in drunken bull fights is Fourth of July fireworks. And, fireworks need to be lit. And, he’s giving you something to “… to crack open a beer and set something on fire for the 4th of July“.)

My mind struggled to make this letter a rational business tool.

On the plus side, it did get noticed.

But, but, but…

Seriously? This gift and the stories in the mailing are supposed to make me trust this man with my financial arrangements for a new home?

What makes the scenario worse is that I know that before resuming his mortgage brokering, this man sold insurance for a couple of years. In my mind I can see his lighter burning down a house which was insured by a policy he wrote. And, have no fear, as a mortgage broker this Reconnaissance man can now help you finance a new, unburned home.

Ranting aside, the letter and “gift” are great examples of what not to do:

Don’t send dangerous materials in the US mail.
Don’t send out things that assume that your clients have socially unpopular vices (“bad habits”) like smoking. My reaction was, “Do I look like a smoker to you?” But, I think even smokers would be put off and think that their weakness was being pandered to. In any event, sending a neutral gift would have avoided any potential of negative reactions. (Smokers –> am I right about this??)
Don’t make fun of people dying for your commerical purposes. Violent deaths in particular don’t sell soap.
Don’t write smirking, cleaver text. The humor usually doesn’t translate outside of your office. Snarky comments don’t sell soap, either.

I am still shaking my head over this mailing. Have you ever received anything worse?

By Ozdachs|2010-06-30T14:08:15-07:00June 22nd, 2010|Marketing|1 Comment

Everything Is Incremental

The bad economy has generated desperate calls from owners who are begging for the Internet to save their business.

I wish it were that simple. When I talk to these potential clients, I first have to set their expectations.

Internet Magic The fact is that a web site and the Internet are not magic. They very, very, very rarely make a site owner a lot of money quickly.

Even if you plot, plan, and work to optimize your web site to return high on Google’s search results, you’re not likely to get rich overnight.

Distrust anyone who promises riches if you hire them to promote, design, or advertise for your business on the Internet. (Or anywhere else!)

Like every other real-world marketing effort, each action you take to market on the Internet will yield incremental results. This is not bad, but it is not magic. For every step you take, you’ll get a few more calls, a few more visitors to your business.

Want a marketing push? Then commit yourself to play in as many of these areas as you can:

Create or update your web site.
Your web site is your primary electronic calling card. Potential clients check it for your style and personality, in addition to looking for concrete information like services offered. People expect your business to have a site, and they expect it to look like 2010 and not 1999.
Optimize your web site for search engines (also called “Search Engine Optimization” or “SEO”).
You’ll want to do some research or hire a professional for this step, but showing up better in Google is well worth it.
Advertise your goods or services on Craigslist.
Really! Craigslist listings are free, and you can use them to point to your web site for more information. Don’t forget to repost the listing or update it every three days so that you’re not lost too deep in the clutter.
Identify a target client group and create a direct mail campaign.
Really, again! This low-tech approach to an identified group of potential customers should get their attention and invite them to check you out on your web site. Start off by use your local chamber of commerce address list or even the membership list of an affinity group (such as a business exchange network like BNI.)
Claim and spruce up your local business listing in Google and Bing.
These are the two major search engines which show maps of businesses when people search for goods and services. You want a link to your business on the map — this is especially important if you’re selling impulse or food items like pizza.
Run a Google Adwords campaign.
Adwords are the “sponsored listings” which show up on the top and right of the normal search results. You can get new visitors to your site for a couple dollars each.
Send out a monthly electronic magazine.
Even if you’re not selling anything people can click on and buy, touching your clients regularly is essential to growing your business. Your monthly message doesn’t have to be very long, and it should not be about you! You want to give your contacts some helpful information that will get them to smile and remember that you’re available to help them. Of course you can help them with a special or coupon in the newsletter, but don’t talk too much about you, your services, or your own wonderfulness.
Join and attend regularly a business referral group.
The best new clients can be the ones that people who know you and your business pre-screen and send to you. So, spend a couple hours each week talking with other business owners. In addition to the straight-forward benefits of a referral, you’ll learn about your strengths and weaknesses when you answer standards questions — such as who is a perfect referral for you — as part of the program. Moreover, you’ll learn about trends and area-wide concerns of people outside your industry. Valuable stuff!

There’s more, of course. Almost all of the pre-Internet marketing options remain marketing weapons in your fight for profit.

Each action is helpful. And, none of they is enough by itself!

By Ozdachs|2010-03-22T07:48:24-07:00March 22nd, 2010|Marketing|2 Comments

Previous 345 Next

Why Should I Put My Movie On YouTube?

Don’t Tell Them — Invite Them!

This Email Killed a Deal

Worst Marketing Mailer… Ever!

Everything Is Incremental