Watch this amazing TED Talk from Derek Sivers.
It’s not about social media, it’s not about your marketing strategy.
It’s about inspiring people to follow.
Best line: “The first follower turns a lone nut into a leader.”
Archive of tag "word of mouth marketing"
On hot summer weekends, running-gear store Fleet Feet Sports goes to the main running trails in Chicago and hands out water.
This is great simple marketing.
What could you do?
Share This Post
I clicked “Terminate Account” and the account was deleted.
We’d been hosting with them for 11 years. $300 per month.
And in 5 seconds it was over.
They never called, they never asked why, they probably didn’t notice.
Until one day, they stand all alone. No friends, no money, no hope. And they’ll wonder how it all fell apart.
Fight for that relationship. Or at least have the self respect to ask what went wrong and learn from it.
Share This Post
Welcome back to the Damn, I Wish I Thought of That! newsletter. This is text of the great issue all of our email subscribers just received. Sign yourself up using the handy form on the right.]
None of your customers wake up saying, “Man, I wish things were more complicated.” Great marketers remember this before adding new features, rules, and complications. A few examples here:
1> Your product line
2> Your shopping cart
3> Your membership program
4> Check it out: I Write Like…
1> Your product line
Selling a million different versions of the same product will confuse and frustrate your customers. Think ink cartridges — every printer ever made comes with its own specific cartridge, identified only by some cryptic code of letters and numbers you can never remember when you’re in the store. But Kodak on the other hand sells just three ink cartridges, and they each work in any Kodak printer. Their focus on simplicity is really setting them apart, especially against competitors with 40 to 50 different cartridges in their product line.
The lesson: What can you trim, cut, and remove that can make life simpler for your customers?
Learn more: Rohit Bhargava
2> Your shopping cart
Never make it hard for a customer to give you money. Simple purchase processes will always beat complicated ones. For example, in an A/B test of the Official Vancouver 2010 Olympics Store, a simple single-page shopping cart increased overall conversion rates 250% over a two-page shopping cart. Look at your check-out lines, your invoices, and your online order forms for opportunities to make them more frustration-free.
The lesson: Even the tiniest of simplifications to your purchase process can lead to dramatic increases in conversion rates.
Learn more: GetElastic
3> Your membership program
If the rewards of your membership or loyalty program are difficult to redeem, why would anyone sign up? InterContinental Hotels Group lets you use your points anywhere — even competitors’ hotels. By removing all the layers of rules, regulations, and fine print in their rewards program, they’ve made it much easier for travelers (and a whole lot more desirable to sign up).
The lesson: Nobody wants to sign up for more hassles.
Learn more: InterContinental Hotels Group
4> Check it out: I Write Like…
Using their “statistical analysis tool,” I Write Like will analyze your latest blog post, journal entry, or book chapter and tell you which famous writer your style is most like. This newsletter issue, for example, has a very Cory Doctorow feel to it according to I Write Like.
Check it out: I Write Like
Share This Post
On the front page of the June 19 New York Times:
A self-described “fat redneck,” he speaks in a marble-mouthed Mississippi drawl, loves Maker’s Mark bourbon, resembles an adult version of Spanky from the Little Rascals, and fits no one’s ideal of a sleek new political model… (A description of Haley Barbour.)
When they wrote (and when you read) “Maker’s Mark” you had a specific feeling. If it just said bourbon, or whiskey, or a different kind of whiskey, you would have had a different feeling.
That feeling is a brand.
I often wonder what it would be like to be the Samuels family, who have had the privilege of caring for a single product, a single brand, for 50 years. I can’t imagine having that kind of focus, but I’d love the chance to take the time to do one marketing job really, really well.
PepsiCo: Recruiting talent with social media
Radian6: An exclusive chat with CEO Marcel LeBrun
BlogWell: How Big Brands Use Social Media
