tell ten friends::

This Blog Has Moved

2006-07-25T19:02:00.000-07:00

You can find the new stuff at www.telltenfriends.com/blog.

Thanks for reading!

-Jordan.

a new home for tell ten friends

2006-06-09T13:57:00.000-07:00

That's right folks, this blog is MOVING!

I'll point you to the new address is a second, but first I wanted to acknowledge the architect behind our fancy new digs.

Rob Masefield has been a terrific friend and colleague since I met him last year around this time. His eye for design and attention to detail make him an incredibly talented web developer, in addition to his skills as a photographer and world traveller.

He's an Aussie living in Canada, and aside from the charming accent, he has integrated well; both socially and professionally. (He builds great sites for SMBs, and the guy LOVES hockey!) I highly recommend him, and he is Designer #1 in the Tell Ten Friends network of media professionals. Can't say enough about the guy, really. Check out his growing portfolio of client work, much of which has been completed since he landed here a year ago.

Anyway, now that we have given a nod to Rob, it's time to send you over to the new home of the telltenfriends blog: www.telltenfriends.com/blog

Thanks to Rob, the new Wordpress blog is now neatly integrated into the newly designed main site at www.telltenfriends.com. I couldn't be happier with the result, myself; but I still welcome any feedback that you may have.

A note to subscribers:

The current feed for this blog: http://feeds.feedburner.com/TellTenFriends will not change, so you needn't make any changes. (Unless you are subscribed to the blogger atom.xml feed, in which case please update)

For linkers and blog friends:

This blogger site will remain live as an archive, so your links will be honored. As of today though, please point links to the new address.

Thank you all for reading, and I hope the switch-over is relatively painless for you. If you have any issues, don't hesitate to drop me a line and I'll try to rectify them.

Cheers,

Jordan.

light blogging this week...sorry

2006-06-08T16:37:00.000-07:00

I've been busy. That's my excuse.

In the very next post, you'll understand why. Fishing was great btw, photos and a slideshow to come.

Cheers,

Jordan.

if I catch a fish...

2006-06-01T08:08:00.000-07:00

I'll post a picture of it, I promise.

I'm taking a much needed break this weekend (starting this afternoon!) to go fishing with my dad, my father-in-law and my uncle Don.

The weather is supposed to be "iffy," so say a prayer for sunshine. If you're jealous, don't be. You too can charter the Amber Spirit for a weekend of sport fishing in Desolation Sound. Just call my aunt Christine and book your adventure.

Cheers, all. Back early next week with more hot air on the subject of marketing.

web 2.0 program that can get you friends

2006-05-30T14:13:00.000-07:00

It's called Fo.rtuito.us. It's just a soft launch, but I thought this was neat when I saw it on Techcrunch.

Here's a quote:

"When you register at Fo.rtuito.us it randomly introduces you to another member. You have four days to interact with that member via anonymous email to see if you can become friends. If after those four days both people decide they would like to stay friends, they are added to your permanent friends list. You are then introduced to another person."

Who knows if it will have the same traction as MySpace or Bebo, (which is growing as fast as MySpace) but as Michael points out, if it was offered as a feature on those existing social networking powerhouses, it will definitely get traffic.

response from nettwerk's erin kinghorn

2006-05-30T11:38:00.000-07:00

In the comments section of my post about the marketing seminar at Nettwerk Records, Erin Kinghorn has responded. Good for her, and for the label.

In her comment, she says that they already have a list of 100 bloggers that they are in constant contact with. Now, they just need to make JD number 101. And don't forget about Mack.

web 2.0 explained

2006-05-29T11:50:00.000-07:00

I found this via Darren Barefoot, a technology writer here in Vancouver: A head-to-head comparison between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. It's a great list that explains the current revolution happening in the online world

Here's one that Darren added to the already great list that has direct correlations with the company vision of Tell Ten Friends:

Web 1.0 was about advertising, Web 2.0 is about word of mouth.

Not only does that one mean a lot to my company, but it also helps define the line between life before the "bubble," and what's been happening since it popped. I've added my own below, and I encourage you to add yours:

Web 1.0 was about companies, Web 2.0 is user-driven.
Or...Web 1.0 was about them, Web 2.0 is about Us.

Bonus Link:: First, dream up your idea for a new Web 2.0 product or company. Then, enter it into the flickr logo makr. Then start saving your money for the inevitable copyright infringement suit.

mark cuban::a bullet in the heart for print media

2006-05-27T21:46:00.000-07:00

Mark Cuban has a lot of money.

And he doesn't want to spend it on print advertising anymore. In his "quick letter to the newspaper and magazine industries," he says that a lot of his entertainment industry peers feel the same way. I guess he's okay with print for his beloved Mavs, but when it comes to his movie companies:

"It's expensive to advertise movies or TV shows in either newspapers or magazines. Very expensive. Where entertainment is traditionally advertised, you guys know you got us, and it shows in your pricing. The pricing in the Movie and TV sections of print media is outrageous.

"Which means that every single company in the entertainment business is looking for a way to never ever have to spend a nickel with you again. Our entire business knows we have to spend money with you now, but we are experimenting with every option possible to pull that money from you and spend it elsewhere."

Mr. Cuban isn't exactly known for being subtle, so it's no surprise that he's bitching publicly about this, his latest beef. Still, you gotta hand it to Mark, he's an agent of change.

He'll probably end up getting a better rate for all of the display ads he buys for 2929 Entertainment and HDNet, but I'd rather see him prove that you can do it without print, just to put a scare into them. I don't hate print; I still love it. But I think we all know paper's days are numbered, and I for one am ready for the revolution.

why american idol is so popular

2006-05-26T18:20:00.000-07:00

It's the most popular show in North America, and nothing else even comes close.

It embarrassed the Grammies this year when the two were aired on the same night, and in the finale the other day, 63.4 million votes came pouring in to help decide a winner. As Ryan Seacrest announced on the show, that's more votes than any Presidential candidate in the history of the U.S. (Watch the language there, more than any one candidate; not more than the whole election)

Some fans have bragged about voting as many as 100 times each, making some people think that the number of votes is somehow less relevant. I disagree. My wife and I have watched every season, but have yet to vote. WE DO however share our opinions back-and-forth and try to predict what the voting outcome will be. And thanks(?) to her diligence, we hardly ever miss an episode.

Why? Why would I, being of sane mind and body, tune into American Idol along with millions of others, helping make it more of a cultural phenomenon than just another TV show?

Because American Idol does what every other company on the planet should be doing. It gives the audience a voice. It brings them into the discussion, and make their opinions matter.

Taylor Hicks' soulful swagger and Katherine McPhee's physical attributes aside, the reason why fans are so rabid for the show and have put it on top is because it's interactive. As consumers, we want to be involved. We want to be heard. At the very least, we want some proof that our opinions and feedback aren't just falling on deaf ears.

It gives us something to think about when we're running our own businesses:

How can you invent a model that will work in your company? To involve the most loyal of your customers, bring them into the discussion and reap the benefits of their feedback and conversation?

Want people to tell ten friends about your business? Give them something to talk about. Sometimes all you have to do is talk to them at all, (and listen!) and the rest will take care of itself.

Idol fans Bonus link:: JD has made peace with Kellie Pickler, and she wrote back!

all the news that's fit to...buy?

2006-05-26T16:39:00.000-07:00

Via Steve Rubel: Podguide.tv reported today that NBC News is now selling news stories in the iTunes Music Store.

Steve says that this is a sure sign that paid video and podcasts are next. I say it's a sure sign that the slow-to-change mass media companies are clutching at straws to hold onto some market share, as more and more people turn off the evening news in favour of other sources of information and entertainment.

I've hammered NBC before, and here I go again: Wake up! Your business is in advertising first and foremost, and you're on a very slippery slope when what is supposed to be your most objective content (the news) is suddenly being sold as product.

Sell ads, not news. Give the clips away with ad support, and this idea might have a future. If necessary, sell a hi-res version separately (via your own site) to the two people in any given story that will buy it from you; but otherwise concentrate on ideas to deliver value to your advertisers.

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe there really IS a market out there that will actually pay for news stories and NOT turn around and use them for commercial purposes, but my gut tells me this is an idea destined for failure.

NBC deserves an honorable mention for making an effort, but their last two attempts at taking a piece of the new-media pie are failures, imho.

friends, I need your help!!

2006-05-24T20:15:00.000-07:00

You're in a position to really help me out.

As I proceed to plan the future of Tell Ten Friends, I wanted to conduct some very vital market research. I have a survey about marketing, that takes about 2 minutes to complete.

With your help, I'd like to forward it to as many Business Owners and marketing decision makers as possible. (preferably businesses with less than $30 M per year in sales) I can't do this alone, so please help out by forwarding it "ten friends" if you can think of that many.

I realize that the easy thing to do is skip this over, but it would make a big difference in the future of my company, so please forward on this marketing survey.

If it's easier, here's the link in full; so you can copy and paste it into an email:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=628672147583

Thanks in advance, all of you who helped me out on this.

Update: I've gotten a few responses, but I need more. That's why I put in this otherwise useless update...to give me an excuse to republish this post.

all that time on MySpace is not wasted.

2006-05-24T10:40:00.000-07:00

MySpace accounts for 10% of the traffic to telltenfriends.com, and a little over 5% here to the blog.
Not bad for free.

can someone please tell me...

2006-05-24T10:37:00.000-07:00

How in the hell Craigslist makes any money?

It's the single-most effective online advertising tool on the web today, as far as I'm concerned. And it's totally free. It's conspicuously free of any ad support whatsoever, and I use it as the shining example whenever I try to explain to someone why user-driven content is king right now. (MySpace isn't for everybody, after all)

The other night I put on ad in the Vancouver vehicle classifieds on the site, and within minutes my phone was ringing, and I was getting emails like crazy. First thing the next morning, I guy came by and gave me my full asking price for my car; while my phone kept ringing. I had to rush upstairs after he left to delete the ad, but still the calls came trickling in.

I subscribe to the RSS feeds for work leads as well, and if things ever slow down for me, you can bet I'll be posting ads for Tell Ten Friends' services as well.

I just can't believe that after getting so much value from a site, I have yet to pay a nickel, or be subjected to even one banner ad with talking emoticons, etc.

I guess what I'm saying is, I love Craigslist. I even like how when you bookmark it, it leaves a little "peace sign" icon. Maybe it will be free forever.

Peace and love, Craig.

the first step is admitting you have a problem

2006-05-24T00:03:00.000-07:00

If she starts a 12-step program, I might be a "friend of Ann." (AA reference that I hope some of you picked up on)

At Marketing Prof's Daily Fix, Ann Handley posts the Top 10 Signs You Might Be Addicted to Blogging.

I'm guilty of most of them. Are you?

marketing in music at nettwerk

2006-05-18T22:00:00.000-07:00

Ryan and I attended the Marketing in Music seminar at Nettwerk Records/sync tonight, as unofficial representatives of Mack (he really wanted to be there).

The evening was a success for its intended audience; up-and-coming artists looking for ideas and guidance about how to market themselves. I was hoping to steal a few great ideas, but they didn't discuss anything too out of the ordinary. "Sell t-shirts" was a theme that kept resurfacing, among other ways of "making music while making money."

The most intriguing part of the night for me was when Carter Marshall, the online marketing guy, eluded to the fact that within a year, there will be a monetary system behind the streaming music on MySpace pages. In his brief explanation, third party aggregators will kick a few pennies to an artist any time a song gets streamed, and then provide a click-through system where you can purchase the music through said aggregator (at which point a bigger commission gets paid). It will be up and running by Christmas, he said. I'll believe it when I see it.

Erin Kinghorn was breath of fresh air. She had plenty of great advice for artists to help them plan their marketing, and the highlights of the night it seemed where when she lit up talking about her favorite new band or performer, or the podcasts she just can't live without. The Barenaked Ladies are doing a weekly podcast while they produce their upcoming album, and Erin tunes in religiously.

It was the kind of evening that would have taught a lot to the 30% or so of industry people, and the remaining 70% of artists. J.D. would have been in his element, and would have made a great addition to the panel.

Question period came, and in tandem Ryan and I confronted the issue that Mack was most interested in. As I mentioned, it was geared toward musicians, so our questions were answered as if we were, which was a shame. Ryan's question was something to the effect of: "What kind of plan do you have for using blogs to spread the message?" What followed was an explanation about what a blog was, so I grilled them with the follow-up: "How have you as a label used blogging for promotion; have you focused any of your PR efforts on fan bloggers?" Sadly, I was instructed as to how I would go about doing such a thing, and not given the insider Nettwerk trade secrets. I didn't have the resolve to keep pushing and get into the specifics of 100 CDs for 100 bloggers; it just wasn't the right audience.

Overall, It was great to see a label reaching out to unsigned artists and helping them advance their fledgling careers. It serves as hard evidence that they are striving to reach out to fans and the community to create a conversation rather than "pushing music on them."

Afterwards, we went to the Kingston Hotel for some beer and nachos outside on the patio. I love the summertime.

rookie of the year, mack collier

2006-05-18T16:47:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer:: This is not a ploy to get on the Top 25 Marketing Blogs list. (That's up to Alexa, and I'm too much of fan of most on the list to think that I'll ever be in that category)

Recently, Mack Collier was invited into the fold at MarketingProf's Daily Fix by Ann Handley. The winners in this deal are huge audience that already flocks to DF for the writings of the likes of Handley, Seth Godin, John Jantsch et al. They're gonna love Mack.

As he points out in his post today (a Sunday, btw) Mack has been blogging for exactly eight months. In that short time, he built a huge following at Beyond Madison Avenue, and then expanded his portfolio to include The Viral Garden, a blog that his quickly shot up in the rankings, due to Collier's faithful fan club.

But none of that is much of a surprise to me.

Mack is a great blogger. He's ideas are good, his writing is clear and he's never short on opinion, especially when it comes to how musicians and companies market themselves. But do a technorati search for marketing, and you'll find those traits alone don't exactly make him a member of an exclusive club.

The reason why Mack is seeing so much success is because he practices what he preaches. As he'll tell you, it's not enough to post great content, you've got to get off your own blog, and join other conversations elsewhere. It's great advice (advice I follow religiously; so much so that I can't find time to post as often as I'd like to) for anyone looking to bring their own blog into the great conversation that is the blogosphere.

But even that isn't what makes Mack a terrific blogger, imo.

In a series of posts on both BMA and The Viral Garden, Mack has focused on bringing the readers and commenters on his blog together. He just wanted us to read what we were missing on each other's blogs, and in the process he accidentally created a network of bloggers, discussing different topics but sharing a passion for the conversation. It's how I discovered great blogs like Andrea's, JD's and Chris'.

Today he disclosed how he discovered my blog: He found me at the bottom. And he's been linking to me like a madman ever since.

Not that I'm TOO vain, but I do watch my stats. We probably all do the occasional vanity search, no? Thing is, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I owe a great deal of my traffic and readership to Mack. And if you peek through the comments on any one of my posts, you'll find he's far and away the most regular contributor. I suspect a lot of us could say the same about our blogs; that he's a faithful reader, and takes the time to leave comments often.

So here is what I invite you to do; If you're a fan of Mack the way I am, leave a quick comment about him here, and then fly over to his latest post at VG and give him some love there too. He deserves it.

the difference between spam and a "pitch"

2006-05-17T18:50:00.000-07:00

A lot of the work that I do with Tell Ten Friends is in PR. For the past few months, I've seen some success in pitching stories about my clients to bloggers in addition to the "mainstream" media. The only way to do this right is to follow a certain degree of blogging etiquette, so as not to labeled a spammer.

Most fans of this blog have their own great blogs, many of which have large audiences. As the rest of the world catches up with RSS and the online conversation, those audiences are going to be more and more coveted by PR firms and various other "marketers."

This means two things:

1. Bloggers will see plenty of pitches
2. Bloggers will see plenty of spam

I'm here to help identify the difference, in a blinding flash of the obvious: Spam was written for "them," while pitches are written for you. The principle difference is whether or not they have taken the time to identify you by name, prove that they've read your blog, and leave legitimate contact information for themselves.

I receive plenty of spam- some comes randomly via email, some comes in the form of comments here on the blog, and yesterday I coined a term because I get so much "MySpam" via MySpace. But today I received an honest-to-goodness pitch.

Here's what they did right:

1. Used my name
2. Wrote the subject line specifically for me.
3. Complimented me on my blog and even quoted two separate posts (flattery will get you everywhere).
4. Left his full name
5. Sent it from his personal email address, with a link to it in his signature.

Not because I'm plugging his product but rather because he was so diligent, I'm going to link to him: www.igotnewsforyou.com. And I'll let their site do the talking.

To be fair to "Benjamin" and his project, I won't offer my review of the product here, but rather I'd love to hear what my readers have to say. Follow the link to their site, and please leave your feedback in the comments section here. I'll pass it on to them via email, along with my two cents.

Comment away.

my favorite show is on myspace

2006-05-16T11:34:00.000-07:00

It's been a big week in the MySpace universe; at least from my perspective.

The Good:: For one, I made it to ten friends and counting! Finally I live up to the company name.

Also, I found a great example of MySpace marketing in action. Actually, Steve from Adrants found it for me, and pointed the way. Check out how Entourage (my favorite show) is plugging in to the MySpace community, and using it to promote the show's characters. Not the stars, but the characters they play. For example, check out Johnny Drama's page. Now they just need to create a page for Ari!

The idea behind the promotion is that you create your own MySpace "entourage" and add the show's characters as friends, etc. Huge viral opportunity if you ask me.

As a marketer, and as the target demographic for the promotion, I say great work, HBO (and insert name of agency here). They're giving a car away too. Good incentive for MySpacers.

And now the bad:: I've been "MySpammed" by pyramid schemes and porn sites via friend requests. There's always a couple of bad seeds, no?

hi-tech hello for mother's day

2006-05-14T15:56:00.000-07:00

This is for you, Mom. I tried something new for your Mother's Day "card" this year. Tell Grandma Dot to check it out, too.

I call it the "momcast:"

Update:: Aaaaargh! I think it's the YouTube upload that causes it...But the lip sync is way off!! I'll figure it out and fix it.

blogging::the value is in your fan club

2006-05-11T20:33:00.000-07:00

When I read this post the first time, I thought...duh!

But then it came up in my feeder again (a fateful re-publishing by the Copyblogger?) and I realized that the reason I seemed indifferent at first is because it sounds like the same thing I say to people everyday. Which is why I've fallen in love with it, now. Here it is, in Brian's words:

Where's the money in blogging?

I love the "money" line at the end. Very Swingers of him.

newspaper isn't dead...

2006-05-09T16:36:00.000-07:00

It's just being re-defined.

Perhaps as a means of helping the "old guard" make the transition to online publishing, etc. or perhaps to stir up some nostalgia in people like me...someone clever has built a cool new service that helps you create your own newspaper clippings, Web 2.0 style.

I luuuuuurv it:

Big thanks to Steve Rubel for pointing the way.

This reminds of something else I saw the other day...it's called Better Bad News, a service that allows you to type in your message, then choose the talking head that you want to have read it off the teleprompter. Funny stuff.

new contact info::update

2006-05-09T16:11:00.000-07:00

A quick note: www.telltenfriends.com is now my official and permanent company url, jordan@telltenfriends.com is my permanent email address, and my phone number is now 778.840.TELL (8355)

Please update address books, etc.

Thanks a bundle. Luv ya!

'nuther note: The blog is still hosted on Blogger www.telltenfriends.blogspot.com and the feed address is: http://feeds.feedburner.com/TellTenFriends

*Whew!

blogs equal traffic

2006-05-08T22:01:00.000-07:00

From Davenetics via Brand Dialogue,

Audi spends .5% of their ad budget on blogging…and yet blogging links drove 29% of all their website traffic.

How’s that for a good investment?

thought for the day

2006-05-08T20:53:00.000-07:00

Actually, I think about this all the time, but it was great to see it in print:

The world wide web isn't about pages, it's about people. It isn't about information, it's about the ideas and insights of people around the world.

Regardless of whether you read Salon.com, The New York times online, or any number of frequently updated blogs and personal websites, the true value of your experience, evolution and insight doesn't lie in the words you read on the screen but in the minds of people who write them, as well as your reaqction to their writing. We as readers need and deserve to know who those people are. And we need to recognize, reach out to, and embrace them.

I found it in The Big Moo.

In the spirit of that quote, let me make myself even more accessible, lest you want to reach out and embrace me (digitally speaking). Here's my LinkedIn profile: www.linkedin.com/in/jordanbehan

Let's connect.

i'm on myspace, but i have no friends

2006-05-07T14:20:00.000-07:00

So, I guess it was only a matter of time. I find myself telling people all the time: If you want to reach the "MySpace" generation, you gotta become one of them. It's a state of mind thing, and nothing to do with age.

So I joined the masses so to speak, if no other reason than as an example of how it can work as a marketing tool (And because I really want people to become my friends!).

Anyway, the straw that finally broke the camels back was when I read Steve Rubel's post about how California Gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides is using MySpace as part of his official campaign. They know what the rest of the marketing world is slowly cluing in to: 76 million users can't be wrong. So yes, I finally relented and now I have my very own MySpace.

Now I just have to get Rob to teach me how to jazz it up, the way he did for Nate's page. Hey, if it's good enough for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, it's good enough for me.

Seriously though, be my friend, will ya?

use 30boxes to organize your life

2006-05-02T12:32:00.000-07:00

I used to have a Handspring. Sold it. Then I had a Palm Tungsten C. Sold that, too. I just couldn't be bothered with lugging around another bulky tech-device (the iPod has its reserved belt space as it is).

I'll always have a cellphone, and I believe that I should be able to get anything I want out of the one device. And I don't think it's too much to ask to have it all without having an $80-a-month phone and data plan on my handset (a la Blackberry). So, I check my gmail from my new phone with my included web browsing feature, and forego the cost of the data service. Still, my phone's organizer leaves a little to be desired.

Maybe it's just me, but I want it all. And I want it for cheap, or free. Don't you?

So it was with much delight that I came across the Google Calendar (no link for you this time, Google!). I was thrilled when Tara Hunt told us that it would SMS you alerts about your events, etc. My joy was deflated rather quickly when I discovered that the SMS service was available in the US, but not in Canada.

Then I found 30boxes.com. This tip-off also came from Tara, and although she says she's using Google Calendar instead, I've decided to switch in the opposite direction, because in Canada, 30boxes WILL SMS you alerts about your scheduled events. This whole idea is far from perfect, but it is certainly handy to be able to share your calendar with "buddies," and buzz yourself when you've got a meeting, etc. I like it, so far. Suprisingly, the text service costs nothing (unless your carrier charges you, and they WILL) so it's really a handy means of time management.

Check it out, it may make your life a little easier. (This handy new Web 2.0 product brought to you by Tell Ten Friends)

Bonus Link:: YouTube, who I'm obviously a big fan of, have really hit the big time. Check out this Washington Post article that explains the significance of user-generated content like YouTube, MySpace, etc. Here's an excerpt, about 21-year-old YouTube user David Lehre, who has become a star on the site:

In an interview, Lehre described a recent series of meetings with the heads of major TV and movie studios. "Every meeting I went into, they were pretty much scared of me," Lehre said. "They were kind of looking to me for the answer. I'm hitting a market they're not hitting anymore, and they're looking for the next big thing."

Lehre believes entertainment executives are looking to the way young people use the Internet to keep their businesses viable. "People connect with my movies because I'm just 21, and all my friends are 18, 19, 20," Lehre said. "Kids our age want to see stuff that we make."

He's right.

the customer is sometimes wrong

2006-04-30T13:27:00.000-07:00

Here I go, linking to Seth again.

I just really liked this matter-of-fact way of saying what most business owners already know to be true:

The customer is not always right.

He's right. They can be very wrong, and cause a lot more trouble than they're worth. And when they do, they're not your customer anymore.

all marketers are liars

2006-04-27T12:21:00.000-07:00

Seth's words, not mine.

Seth Godin's book, "All Marketers Are Liars," is about how successful brands are built on great stories.

From "green M&M's will help you hit home runs," to "Subway can help you lose weight," and everything else in between; most often we buy because we believe in the story behind the product. The one that the marketing department wants you to buy into.

I'm convinced my watch keeps better time than most. It was made in Switzerland. Plus there's an Italian guy's name on the front of it. My $10 Casio digital I had as a boy always seemed to do the job too, in retrospect.

But enough of that. I'm repeating the same stuff I've spewed many times in the past, and the main reason for this post is to send you off to Seth's blog, where he gives a "Cliff Notes" version of All Marketers Are Liars in just a few paragraphs.

Read it, believe it. And buy bottled water only from Canada; it's the cleanest, freshest and tastiest on the planet.

advice from the best in the biz, free.

2006-04-26T10:23:00.000-07:00

One of the things that I like the most about this "new web" world we live in, is that it seems the sharing of information is par for the course. Everyone is doing it; sharing like we were taught to do in kindergarten.

Even best-selling authors, and the kind of guys that charge $1500 plus for a seat at their keynotes are giving their best stuff away for no charge. Some people like to protect their ideas and teachings under lock and key, while others recognize the value of letting their work spread virally, and want the world to know that they can "pass it on," as long as fair credit is given.

In the spirit of that, Creative Commons was created to make this trading of information legal. Essentially, Creative Commons gives authors, bloggers and other content creators a "legalese" agreement with their readers that says that if you give the author credit and a link, you may republish any of their material. Business Owners take note: this content is free when you follow the rules, and it's terrific stuff. Use the CC search engine to find what you need. Cheers to John Jantsch for the reminder.

Disclosure:: I haven't signed up with Creative Commons yet, but consider my ramblings public domain. And you can quote me on that. Getting a licence from CC just went on my "to do" list. Maybe I'll put it into my Google Calendar.

Bonus humour link:: Rob Masefield, my good friend and designer is an Australian living in Canada. Which as it turns out, is not without its challenges.

This is the kind of item that I can see going viral. Vancouver grocery stores, take note!

marketing is evolving

2006-04-23T13:52:00.000-07:00

I'm back from a long hiatus that included several days on the Sunshine Coast in Powell River; to visit family, enjoy Easter turkey and catch a hockey game in the Allan Cup tournament.

As a quick sidebar from the marketing babblespeak, I'm proud to say that my home team boys (and alma mater, if you count the two games they let me play for them) The Powell River Regals are the 2006 Allan Cup Champions. A few years back I got to sip from the revered Allan Cup (it's older than Lord Stanley's pail, and is now presented to the top Sr. Men's team in Canada) and although I was never enough of a hockey player to play on those championship teams, I'm proud to see the old green-and-gold win the big prize at home.

::Now, back to the goods. Since I've returned I've had a lot of action in the Tell Ten Friends universe. Although I can't share too much yet, the good news is that some clients seem quite receptive to web-based PR and using blogs to promote themselves online.

::In all of the reading that I had to catch up on, one thing caught my eye above all else. The folks over at the Church of the Customer blog reported that companies are now adding VPs, Directors and Managers specifically for WOM; including Dow Jones and Yahoo.

Obviously, big business is catching on. I only hope that they get it right. The key is to do something for your customers that is unexpected, or a little bit extra, for which you expect no thanks or recognition. Only then are they likely find it worth telling ten friends about.

I like this quote from Ben McConnell, who sums up this new wave of marketing hires quite nicely:

"When start-ups and two of the world's biggest and most influential content companies are crafting positions specifically for word of mouth, that's evolution. If traditional companies like Charles Schwab, Northrup Grumman or Sysco ever hire VPs of WOM, that's revolution."

::Bonus link: My brother is now using Filmloop to promote listings and recent real estate sales on his blog. He even emailed his example to Guy Kawasaki, and was quickly added to his blogroll. No offense at all to my kid bro, but this is proof positive that this little tool is indeed easy to use. If you haven't tried it yet, you're missing out.

Oh yeah, Rob's using it too on his MySpace page.

every-little-thing you do is marketing

2006-04-13T11:27:00.000-07:00

Again I point my readers to the blog of John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing. He points out that something as simple as answering the question, "What do you do for a living?" can help to position someone as more than just their job title.

Using my brother as an example...Wrong answer: "I'm a realtor." A more correct, value-added suggestion: "I specialize in helping people make smart investments in finding a place that they can call home."

Why not take the opportunity to show people that you're different/better than the rest? Now let's do me...Wrong answer: "I own a marketing company. On the in-ter-nets." Value-added reply this time: "I help other small-business owners discover their company's identity, and grow their profile in their respective markets." Wordy, but unquestionably better.

As Jantsch says, the answer should cause the listener to think, "Hmm. Tell me more about that." Something to think about the next time you're trying to make a memorable impression at a networking event.

Bonus link:: Via Adrants, a new "Barber Blog," created by a men's products company. I don't have time to explain fully why I think this is so cool...Let's just say I wish I'd thought of it myself.

Lastly:: I am taking some time off to be with the greatest family in the world for the long weekend; back sometime mid-next week. Cheers, and Happy Easter!

blog love from on high, via a bonafide A-lister

2006-04-11T18:25:00.000-07:00

More on Guy Kawasaki: He sees marketing, design and execution from a different perspective. The perspective of a Venture Capitalist.

I've seen him speak (via Quicktime, not in the flesh) and gleaned a lot of great info from his blog. "The Art of the Start" has gone on my Amazon wishlist. He's the reason I've decided that I might have to sneak across the border to buy a Scion XB (not available off the lot in Canada!), and plaster it with Tell Ten Friends logos, but that's a story for another day. Let's just say (without sounding too sucky, I hope) that as a fledgling entrepreneur, I'm paying attention to this guy.

He's had a blog now for just 100 days. In that time, he first cracked the Top 500, and now sits well inside the Technorati Top 100, at 86.

He's eyeing the top ten, here's why I think he might get there: Yesterday, I read in his post about Filmloop that if you tested it out, and emailed him the resulting page/post, he would add you to his blogroll. "Pffft!" I thought to myself. "The guy's an A-lister, he'll never make good on that." So I tested him.

Well, he made good. This may not be the case forever, but as of this writing, there it is on the right of his page, in the "Bloop Roll." A link to me. Or in fact, a link to my post from yesterday, containing the "looplet" of photos of my wife. Nice, hey?

His subscription base: 15, 000. Mine: still a secret, due to its modesty. But with help from Guys like, well...Guy, and not to mention Mack at BMA, I might be proudly displaying my feedburner stats in no time at all.

PS:: One thing that Mr. Kawasaki advocates is to avoid using "I" in your blog, wherever possible. Here, I disagree. I created this blog, so I'M gonna talk about ME when the mood strikes. Most of my favorite blogs share that trait: a glimpse into someone's mind; their personal point of view.

PPS:: A special shoutout to my first positive review from the Southern Hemisphere. You know who you are, Brisbane!

Uses of "I" in this post: 13. And no apologies for it.

multi-media that's too sexy for words.

2006-04-10T10:59:00.000-07:00

This is an experimental test of a great little piece of technology that was introduced to me by Guy Kawasaki.

I've heard him mention Filmloop in the past, but the new "looplet" feature that allows loops to be displayed in blogs, and viewed by anyone without dowloading a player? Well, that was just too good to pass up.

The directions in his post made it sound easy, so I gave it a try. Here's my first ever "loop," featuring none other than the lovely and talented Mrs. Behan:

If this works, then it was indeed very easy. If I have to make adjustments (like I do to make a YouTube screen fit in my blog posts) then you'll hear me gripe about it in subsequent updates. Apologies in advance to those of you reading this in a feeder; you'll have to open to the actual url of this post to get the whole effect.

Update:: In the Blogger template, Mr. Kawasaki's measurements of 120x500 is too wide. I changed it to 400, and voila! She fits like a glove. I love it.

the lifecycle of a journalist turned blogger

2006-04-08T21:10:00.000-07:00

"Journalist" might be a bit of a stretch in my case.

At the young age of 16, I took my first job as a weekends-and-evenings sports reporter at the local newspaper. By the time I finished high school, I had two years of experience in the newspaper biz.

Then came college, and later a return to my "beat," only for a different paper. (Please visit the Peak's site. Top story: Powell River is in the top 50 for Canada's most spirited hockey town!)
All tolled, let's call it four years as a notebook-and-camera-totin' reporter/photographer before I segued into advertising.

I tell you this only as a prelude to the two stories I'm about to point you to, to explain why they have some level of sentimental significance to me.

Two of our fellow bloggers have stricken some heavy blows against major newspapers in North America's epicentre of commerce, New York City.

In the first, let's call it the Warm Up: Sex Columnist, erotica author, editor and blogger Violet Blue (careful, NSFW) drags a New York Times journalist through his own muck, by publishing an email he sent to her that he marked "not for publication." She didn't agree with a piece he wrote about a blogger who was threatening violence against Boing Boing's Xeni Jardin. So she posted about it, and put his rebuttal online, including her critique of it. Ouch! Score one for the power of blogs, and I'll tell you why. You can sense from this cat's letter that he cares very much what Violet says about him, and fears her influence. Violet wins this one, in the name of defending her friend, and society's nonchalance toward violence against women.

Ding ding! In round two: Jeff Jarvis (a crowned king of influential bloggers after his lash-outs against Dell) has published a link to a story about a gossip columnist involved in a payola scandal, and later goes on to elude to the death of the power of journalism. Push aside the notion that celebrity publicists have the power that Mr. Jarvis gives them credit for. It's the audience that matters, and now we have to the tools to fight back when we see something we don't agree with.

Does this mean that newspapers are a dying breed? Yes. And no. Their days are numbered, sure. But people still want their news, and some of them definitely prefer to see it in print. People from places like the "Big Apple" and places like Powell River still want their newspaper, same as always.

That's not likely to change for a good long time. So that's where ad dollars still go; plain and simple.

Update:: Jarvis has more on the subject today, including a link to a NYT story about the behind-the-scenes trading of the valuable commodity known as gossip.

celebrate RSS Appreciation Day, by...

2006-04-07T17:36:00.000-07:00

Doing the same thing you do all the time.

Steve Rubel has come up with an idea to celebrate what he calls RSS Appreciation Day on May 1st.

I spotted the movement on Brand Dialogue, and it seems like a pretty good idea. The truth is, those of us who get our news, classified ads and blogging entertainment through RSS feeds are still considered early adopters, and we remain a major monority in the online world.

Hell, those of us who use Firefox are still an overwhelming minority. While we're on that subject, if you're viewing my blog with Internet Explorer, join the movement. You won't regret it. Follow the link; it's a fun way to make the switch. (Here's a bonus for current Firefox users: Rob's list of his favorite plug-ins)

I'm not sure about the rest of you, dear readers, but it seems that nary a week goes by that I don't try to verbalize to a friend or family member what an blog is; followed by an attempt at defining RSS. Blank stares, that's what I usually get. Some people humor me, but I know that barely any of what I've said has hit home. Often impatient, "Look it up on Wikipedia," I'll say. Same blank stare.

For the uninitiated: Here, once and for all is the aforementioned site's community-built definition of Really Simple Syndication. (Read the whole page if you're a feed newbie)

But on May 1st, I pledge to be infinitely patient, and take every bit as long as necessary to explain RSS to a complete virgin, or two. Pass it on, people. It's our responsibility to share our knowledge; to shed light on a piece of technology that could change someone's life. Or at least make it a bit easier.

find a need and fill it.

2006-04-06T10:34:00.000-07:00

Marketing never gets any easier than when you can identify a problem that a lot of people have, and then present a viable solution.

Forward-thinking Toyota has done just that. Not only is the Prius already an enviromentally friendly(er) hybrid, but it will now park itself for you. Well, at least in the UK and Japan it will. And I mean, IT WILL PARK ITSELF FOR YOU. Not beep, or call out steering/braking directions, but you control the brake, and nothing else.

The folks over at Engadget and Slashdot are reporting that the estimated $700 factory option will soon be available in North America.

For $700, anybody whose brow gets sweaty at the very thought of parallel parking would be crazy not to add this seemingly futuristic option. In fact, I'll venture even further and say that insurance companies should get on the bandwagon here: When you buy a hybrid-electric car that takes the guesswork and risk out of parking, there should be some serious incentives in the form of savings on your auto-plan.

But even without the insurance companies' help, these things will sell faster than you can say, "Go- go, Gadget Parking Machine!"

Watch a video of the crazy Japanese innovation in action here.

get your 'tell ten friends' schwag

2006-04-05T00:36:00.000-07:00

As some have already noticed, I have added an extra link at telltenfriends.com. It's to the official Tell Ten Friends Store, where you can order your favorite TTF schwag:

I'm gonna opt for the golf shirt myself, and maybe the matching white cotton hat. Huge thanks to cafepress.com for letting me build it all for free, impressing friends and family in the process.

how to launch a new beer

2006-03-31T21:53:00.000-08:00

Sunday night we were invited by my friend Jeff to a launch party for a new Brazilian beer called Brahma. The bash was hosted by Labatt's, who are the new domestic bottler of the brew.

Maybe it was the free beer, or the beautiful people, or the cool venue (the Rocky Mountaineer train station) or the free beer, but I sure felt like telling ten friends about this one.

Sure, we did the right thing and talked about the taste of the beer (which I really enjoyed, but the free stuff always tastes better) but for the most part people just mingled and had fun. My wife and I ran into an old friend (who works for Labatts, oddly enough) and everybody had a great time. Brazilian Capoiera dancers were there performing, and break dancers as well. I couldn't see much, but I managed to shoot this quick, shaky video of the action:

Sadly, I didn't capture any of the Capoiera folk doing any of their crazy flips, but it will give you an idea.

The event must have cost a small fortune, but I'd reckon very few of the guests came away with any complaints. I for one came away with a fondness for the bubbly brown stuff, as they intended.

jordan, what have you been up to?

2006-03-30T20:07:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since I've posted, so I guess I have some 'splainin' to do. Well, in what some might consider to be my "off time," I've been quite busy.

For starters, I've just finished a re-design of my site, the soon-to-be telltenfriends.com. It's still hosted at yobomedia.com, but expect that to change any day. Big, huge thanks to Rob Masefield for the pretty pictures. I think we can all agree his logo design (seen in the header of this blog) is nothing short of brilliant.

He also took this shot of me at the 2010 Olympics shrine at the peak of Whistler:

For the last few weeks, Ryan and I have been working on the launch of the Vancouver Blog, a new hub of blog activity for the greatest city in the world. It is now up and running, and will grow exponentially any minute, I'm sure. Another nod to Rob for the excellent Vancouver skyline photo in the banner.

Also, I've taken some time to work on some projects for some friends. First, I edited a demo reel for one of my good friends, Jeff Leyland.

(click to watch. runtime 4 min.)

I also went Squidoo crazy and built lenses for Jeff, Sandy and my wife. (Who has since beefed hers up considerably) Then I did a bit of work to my own, as well.

Alas, with my lack of blogging activity of late I might not crack the Technorati Top 100, but as of this writing my Squidoo lens is ranked inside the top 500, at 438.

My golf swing is pretty smooth these days too, I must admit.

update: Marathon 2007

2006-03-25T17:51:00.000-08:00

I ran again yesterday; about 5 miles or so (8 km). Still a far cry from the 26.2 miles of a full marathon. I've also started a "yoga for runners" program that I do a few times a week in addition to my time on the tennis court and golf course. Once I got past the hippy-esque side of the yoga, I realized it was quite challenging and really good for me, so I'm gonna keep it up.

Thanks to the good folks over at the Spargo blog in London for the link to the Hal Higdon marathon training program. I've tenatively scheduled a few competitive runs for this year (none longer than 10k) but it looks like the Vancouver Marathon In May of 2007 will be the end goal.

Also, Ryan has signed on train with me. If you're just tuning in, this is an update of a challenge I made for myself recently.

I'll update again closer to the Vancouver Sun Run, April 23; my first race of this year.

time to go to the bookstore.

2006-03-22T15:37:00.000-08:00

Today, trucks full of Nathan Sellyn's book "Indigenous Beasts" made their way from the Raincoast Books printshop to bookstores across Canada.

Yesterday, fans of the book started receiving their pre-ordered copies from online booksellers in the mail.

As you can see, I've got mine. They didn't keep the clever fake quote on the cover as was originally predicted, but it is still posted on the publisher's promo page for the book.

If you want to read a collection of hard-hitting short fiction stories by a young author with a real voice, then you can order your copy online now. The first person characters in Sellyn's book are incredibly real. It is hard to fathom how an author so young (just 23 now!) has created such believable and often quite disturbing heroes and anti-heroes; some of whom are much older than the author himself. Yet he has, and it's no wonder the book is getting so much publicity.

But don't take my word for it...Listen in on the Raincoast Books podcast, featuring Sellyn reading from one of his more chilling tales. A shorter, preview version can be heard here.

UPDATE: In the comments, Rob asks about his signed copy. A small note on the publishing information page reads: Author photo by Rob Masefield. (photo below)

how to become an instant celebrity

2006-03-20T18:18:00.000-08:00

From a marketing standpoint, it's pure genius.

Although Google Video is arguable getting their hindquarters handed to them in the battle against YouTube for dominance in the online video share category, they have invented a contest that just might tip the scale.

It's called GoogleIdol, and it doesn't need much more introduction than that, so follow this link and vote often. Remember, standard text messaging rates do NOT apply.

Seacrest, OUT!

is there a market for word-of-mouth marketing?

2006-03-16T10:29:00.000-08:00

My answer? Sort of.

What I mean by the question is, will businesses pay a marketing company to initiate a "buzz" campaign on their behalf, in hope of starting the whispers among friends? Of course they will. BzzAgent (whose home page isn't working as of this writing, link is to blog) has built an enterprize around the belief that they will, in spades. Will it work? Sometimes, perhaps.

The key to word-of-mouth marketing and its awesome power, is that it's nothing more that fans of a company or product that spread the good word, because they truly believe in what they are promoting. If these people can be trusted by their audience, then the story gathers momentum and results in a spike in business for the company in question. The word of a marketer is of little value in those conversations. Buzz Canuck's post on this very subject highlights how and when it happens, and how much control marketing initiatives have over the process (hint: not much). But how does one harness that power, or better yet, how do you start that kind of viral discussion among your prospective customers?

I'm repeating myself, quoting Seth and paraphrasing Ryan when I say that there is only one answer. By being remarkable. And that means only one thing: that someone deems you worthy of making a remark about. The power to be remarkable is in the hands of the business, and not a marketing company. Because being remarkable can't be defined in any simple form; it can hardly even be predicted. But like all marketing, with the right idea and some adventurous test-and-measure execution, it is certainly possible.

I've been thinking on this very puzzle for some time, as the future of Tell Ten Friends will most likely be heavily involved in word-of-mouth campaigns and ideas. But just like a business can't survive with word-of-mouth marketing alone (at least, not often) neither can a marketing company expect to make a go of trading on word-of-mouth as its only product.

What is the value of an idea?

It's impossible to quantify. But, in the true spirit of being remarkable, a marketing company could (hypothetically) use word-of-mouth ideas as a calling card, even a loss-leader (I shudder as I type those words) and still profit from handling all of the peripheral online and traditional marketing initiatives for the client.

That's the way I see it at the moment. I'll be looking deeper into the viability of word-of-mouth as a revenue model in the coming months, but If I had to wager I'd say I'll keep coming to the same conclusion: That popular opinion might be something that can be persuaded, but not bought and sold.

At least, not successfully.

file under: Marathon 2007

2006-03-13T14:28:00.000-08:00

(Photo: Vancouver Marathon)

I'm waiting for my pulse to return to normal before I take a shower. I just got back from a 9 km run (conversion to miles, anyone?) on the "Terry Fox" Trail in Central Park in Burnaby. First run in ages. I feel surprisingly good. I thought it would be a struggle, but it wasn't.

So now, still reeling from the all the activity, feeling somewhat bullet-proof after my attempt at athleticism, I'm taking a huge risk (by my standards) by making a major announcement. I told my wife already (probably only half seriously), but now I'm going public with it:

Here's MY social blogging experiment. No milliondollarhomepage, no $39, no lucky list. (link from mom)

I am going to finish a marathon before I turn 31. A real one. 26.2 MILES (conversion to km, anyone?). That means before July of next year.

And now that I have posted it live, by my own admission, I am accountable to that goal. Because you're gonna hold me accountable. I've been tested already; my computer froze while writing this post (providing a great opportunity to back out), but then the Essential Mix I was listening to in iTunes came back to life, and the cursor started blinking again. A sign.

Certain recent developments in my life have sparked a new sense of freedom, of choices and future considerations. Now is the time to make them, and this is the first of several big ones that will shape my future and that of family. But I'm rambling. Back to the plan:

I have no training schedule yet. No end race in mind. No training partner (Ryan? Corrie?) But I have a goal. And I've devised the system for updates:

1. Each update post will be short, and include the date and training distance, a link to this post, and not much more. Light reading that I hope my audience will check in on, in addition to my marketing babblespeak.

2. As I schedule training runs, secure dates, up the mileage and learn how to convert metric to imperial, I will update.

3. I will always use some form of self-deprecating commentary in hopes of generating some words of encouragement, links and comments, and nothing more.

4. I WILL ask readers for pledges for charity training runs, etc. but my Mom and Grandma are readers, so I'll surely see at least SOME response there.

That's it. If you're not super stoked for me...then act like it, please. An undertaking like this takes a LOT of will power; I may need to borrow some of yours, at times.

why blogs are so powerful, popular

2006-03-13T10:59:00.000-08:00

It seems as if I have this conversation a lot, so it was high time I wrote down my thoughts cohesively. (For reference sake, and for the world to comment on)

I am a former newspaper man; as a reporter and in display ad sales (both sides: art and commerce). Do I still have allegiance to my journalistic background? Of course I do. As a blogger, this is evident in the fact that I faithfully credit my sources when I'm writing a post and I try (maybe not as hard as I should, but that's MY business) to keep an eye on spelling. So I'll start there, with my sources, and then we'll get to the meat-and-potatoes of this post.

First I'll point to a post by John Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing. He's encountered clients that don't see the value of blogs and have dismissed them as useless online diaries, so he's not using the "b" word anymore. As he points out, this "new marketing strategy"...

Will bring you a substantial increase in search engine traffic

Will greatly enhance your ability to communicate with your market

Will increase your odds of being interviewed by the media

Will allow you (or someone you designate) to instantly post news updates to your web site

Will guarantee that your web site has fresh reasons for people to come back

Will allow you to be seen as a thought leader in your industry and

Will give you a tool to help cement strategic partner (Jordan adds the word 'customer') relationships

With evidence to prove that all of this is true, why are there still non-believers out there? Because people fear change, but that's a post for another day.

Get out there, share some information, start a relationship and really LISTEN to your customers. Period.

Shifting gears a bit, from corporate blogs to what I'll call "consumer blogs" (that's still everyone, technically) ::

Steve Rubel (he's a PR man, and arguably the most influential of them all) wrote a simple post today about how bloggers aren't reporters (duh!). He's right, and has the stats to prove it. This is the one that lit my fire today, so this is where I'll take the one-step-up onto my proverbial soap box.

Bloggers aren't reporters, and most don't aspire to be. It would be fairer to compare bloggers to columnists than to traditional news reporters, if anything.

In the newspaper business, only the most opinionated, respected and influential scribes get the honor of sharing their opinion in a column. News journalists are (supposed to be) restricted to the facts and objectivity.

In the blogosphere, everybody has a voice and are free to share their opinion with the rest of the world. Instantly. Popular opinion then spreads like a virus, gains momentum and has the power to create over-night success stories and crushing defeats with its influence.

In these days of media outlets with political agendas and PR firms jockeying to control public opinion, a blogger's word is (arguably) more sacred. Like the difference between the word of a salesman and a testimonial from a customer, for eg. (Corporate blogs excluded)

What I love about blogging is that on here, I am the Publisher. I am the Editerr (sic). And I am Chief Reporter and Head Columnist, all rolled into one. I have made it possible (a little late, mind you) for the entire world to leave their two-bits on what I have to say. To hold me accountable to my words and beliefs, if you will. It's 100% democratic and the whole thing is a lot of fun, too!

If you're a business owner and you still don't see the power of blogs, try reading a few. Read the comments. Read how fans of an idea or product become evangelists and spread the message to their readers and-so-on-and-so-forth, ad infinitum. Then if you like, refer to the "bottom line" of your marketing budget, and try to calculate how expensive it is to create that kind of buzz even ONCE through the traditional means of marketing that you're using.

When you've done all of this and you are a true believer, drop me a line. We've got lots to catch you up on and I'd be more than happy to help.

Thank you for reading. And for commenting.

~Jordan

if Seth said it...

2006-03-09T18:52:00.000-08:00

Seth said today what I said a few days back (roughly) about who else but Tom Locke, his $39 experiment, the companies he's corresponding with and the opportunity they are being given.

I'm not saying that I'm smarter, or quicker or anything like that...If anything it serves as proof that he's managed to teach me something.

And I think he's got Ryan hypnotized as well. If you don't want to catch the same fever, then don't visit my Squidoo lens and don't go to the bottom of the page and click through to buy his books. In fact, don't go anywhere near Squidoo at all.

one link to rule them all

2006-03-08T10:18:00.000-08:00

Forget about the so-called "A-list." Ignore the Technorati Top 100. Even the "Blog 50" is irrelevant now.
So what is the new high water mark for a blog; the highest honor that a blogger can have bestowed upon them?

When they get linked to by God. I am honored, Yaweh.

proof of the power of blogs

2006-03-07T17:06:00.000-08:00

Raincoast Books gets it. They really get it.

Nathan Sellyn is a friend of mine, and a brilliant young author from Vancouver. His first book (a collection of short stories) is just a month from release and the marketing is still falling into place. In fact, his publisher, Raincoast Books put this promo page live with a pull-quote "sample." Oops!

Then, savvy blogger Ryan Bigge from Toronto spotted it and subsequently wrote this post. To quote him: "I will buy five copies of his book if the final, printed book cover actually says that."

Mr. Sellyn knows about the error. Raincoast? Yes, they're wise to the boo-boo too. (say that three times fast while dancing!) Yet it remains. Rumour has it Raincoast is considering doing exactly what Mr. Bigge joked about. I love this idea to pieces. Why? Because I can't wait to tell ten friends, that's why. And I think others will, too, and my friend will sell some books.

If I know Nate as well as I think I do, it's a perfect fit for his sense of humour...and trust me, it's not hyperbole, even in the least.

Big thanks to my wife for the links.

my sincerest apologies

2006-03-07T12:57:00.000-08:00

Mack just brought to my attention that I (FOOLISHLY) had my blog settings so that only Blogger users could comment. I was beginning to wonder why Mack and Ryan and my wife and occasionally Rob and my Mom were the only commenters.

I am sorry. To Andrea, especially, who writes a great PR 2.0 blog (is it okay to call it that, Andrea?) and who brought it to Mack's attention.

Maybe THAT is why nice people like Justin link to me, and have never left a comment.

I have changed it, folks. Comment away, svp. And again, je suis tres desolaits!

youtube vs. google video

2006-03-07T12:34:00.000-08:00

The folks over at "Church of the Customer" explain in back-to-back posts why YouTube is the go-to Web 2.0 application for uploading video. The short synopsis: YouTube lives up to its clever name and is cleaner, easier and more functional to use, with YOU in mind.

First, a top ten of how YouTube beats Google Video. Then a post about how YouTube has been responsible for some of the greatest viral marketing success stories. And how NBC, one of the lucky recipients of all this digital attention, don't fully understand the value of it all. I guess actually, they DO see a value, and they mistakenly think that there is a revenue model there that they can exploit.

Take it from me NBC (yeah, they're listening!). Let the kids share your funny clips, like Natalie Portman cussin' and fightin' and fornicatin'. It's a great way to create buzz for the show and boost viewership. It's the only hope you have of continuing to charge massive amounts to advertise during the show. Leave the iTunes sales to the starving artists in the recording industry who actually need the revenue.

the thirty-nine dollar update.

2006-03-04T15:09:00.000-08:00

He's getting some responses. Some of them are even "no's."

[Update:] As Mack points out in the comments, the responses would be a lot different if companies knew about the blogging, and I agree. In actual fact though, it shouldn't matter.

These companies are being handed a golden opportunity to do something extraordinary for someone who (at least on the surface) appears to be a loyal fan of their product. Customers are expensive. We spend loads of money trying to get our messages in front of prospective customers, in the hopes of connecting with just a few. When we're lucky, some of those customers become evangelists, and then they start telling ten friends; or fifty.

Any marketer worth their weight in salt should know by now that the "secret" to creating a great brand is in making the product remarkable. As Seth pointed out in his talk to Google, there is only one criteria: That it is worth making a remark about.

I'm completely baffled as to why a company would spend the time to write a letter, lick a stamp and make up some yarn about how they don't have a mailing list or whatever and can't send free product to someone with (seemingly) a legitimate request. I realize that if they did, it would set a dangerous precedent, but it's a risk vs. reward situation. This guy didn't complain about their products, he stated matter-of-factly that he is a huge fan. Risk: One jar of pasta sauce. Possible reward: A customer that makes a habit of telling ALL of their friends (evangelizing) about your great product.

I guess I think it's a no-brainer. Send the guy some swag, regardless of who's watching. It's a much better way of making your product or company remarkable.

Also: he got his first response from a company rep that found him online. The company: Eden foods.

i was "job-spammed"

2006-03-02T16:35:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I'm coining a new term: job spam.

job spam- n. v. (JAHB-spam) 1. n. the means by which a prospective employer mass-mails or telemarkets job candidates to seduce them into taking what will inevitably be a crappy job.
2. v. The act of dispatching a form letter email or uninformed telemarketer to attract employees based solely on the fact that their resume is posted online.

In the past three days I have been emailed and called by three seperate companies in regards to my resume, which I posted at Monster.ca. None of them had any idea about me, except that my resume had the word marketing in it. The girl who phoned me last night (around 8pm) had no idea about work experience. My resume obviously wasn't in front of her, whereas her list of scripted questions must have been very handy indeed.

Not sure how I feel about all of this, just wanted to put it out there and see if anyone else has experienced the same thing.

what can you get with $39 these days?

2006-03-01T14:52:00.000-08:00

It was Steve Rubel who found it, now I'm passing it on. Likely, plenty of others will do the same.

It's called the $39 experiment, and it's simple: Take $39 worth of stamps, mail 100 letters to 100 companies asking for some free stuff, and see what happens. There's more to the equation of course; visit the link and read to the bottom, where he (Tom Locke) has his often hilarious letters written- and the status of the response from the companies.

Since it's obvious that this cheeky concept will make its rounds of the blogosphere, it will be interesting to see which companies respond at all, which respond the quickest, and whether their responses reflect the fact that they know they have an audience of a LOT more people than just the letter writer.

How blog savvy are the makers of the products in your home? Stay tuned to find out.

the rest of us are b-listers, i guess

2006-02-28T13:39:00.000-08:00

Well, now there can be very little debate as to who the A-list bloggers are, now that there's the Blog 50. It's a list of the best/most influential bloggers in the blogosphere...Sadly I didn't make the list. Hugh brought it to my attention (of COURSE he did, he's #31 as of this writing) and for once I agree with him:

"At least they have a sense of humor about it."

Much fuss has been made about the relevancy of traffic, links and profile when it comes to classifying someone as an "A-lister." (see: Technorati Top 100) Until now, I found the whole thing quite trivial. But I'm coming around now, since this site is almost lampooning the triviality of the idea and making a name for himself along the way. Jeremy Botter. That's his name. I know, because I was so curious I had to find out who was adjuticating this list, and on what criteria. I was pleased to find out that it is essentially the brainchild of an average blogger like you and me who had a great idea.

Well done Jeremy. The Blog 50 "algorhythm" will now become as mysterious as Google's; I for one will be tuning in to see when you make it onto your own list, because it shant be long. And when I will, of course!

Asides: This is how I found out Margaret Cho has a blog, and many other cool ones. My only critique is that only the top 10 or so have links. (Take the time and do it, Jer. It's more "influential" to do so)

another house-cleaning post

2006-02-25T17:19:00.000-08:00

John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing brings up an interesting point: we're not all on the same level of understanding when it comes to technology.

Sometimes, even when people know what blogs are and can wrap their heads around what an RSS feed is (Mom), they still haven't made it part of their daily lifestyle. With that in mind, a while back I installed that clever little button on the right (an idea that came to me from Ryan) that allows you to subscribe to my blog via email. In fact, you can have Blogarithm update you on several feeds at once, if you're savvy. (Note: if you're savvy, get a feeder. Geez!)

So, to sum up: visit often, and stay in touch any way you like. Your terms. (Grandma, just click the botton on the right and enter your email address)

Yes, my Grandma surfs. Has for almost a decade.

you can just feel the love...

2006-02-24T21:09:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm in a great mood. I just showered up after a full day of snowboarding in the sun at Cypress with Rob (read on for link to masey).

Now that I'm done rubbing it in, I'll tell those of you NOT from Vancouver why I'm so "chuffed" as Rob would say. I came home to this delightful post from Mack at Beyond Madison Avenue. He's just saying thank you to some people who enjoy his blog, and leave comments. ("Brilliant!" I thought.) I began to think of you, dear readers and those of you that have helped make all of this possible. It made me smile to think that people return here time and time again to read my ramblings. Welcome and thank you, all.

Also, a city-wide white guy high five to the great Ryan Ashton, and a nod to Justin (who I have never met. Hi, Justin.) who have bestowed upon me the highest blogger honour, and added me to their blogrolls. Gentlemen, a-thank-you.

I can hear the band wanting to play me off the stage, so I'll quickly thank my wife in true celebrity awards show fashion, in her honour.

Now. For those of you still with me, here's what you've been waiting for: My pick for best marketing idea I've seen since magazines on water bottles: A whole nation, wearing their world-famous casual attitude on its sleeve, and inviting the world to join their conversation.

I point you now to the Aussie himself, with a post about how Australia is betting big that cussing, drinking and golfing in their tourism ads will see a boon in the industry. Great spot, and not a bad bikini, either.

(any anti-American views expressed in the above link are the views of the author himself. Cheeky bugger. I pray I don't have any readers from Wisconsin)

how to add value to water

2006-02-21T11:40:00.000-08:00

I'll say it right from the outset: I love this idea. (Thank you Adrants) I hereby bestow upon it the highest honor I can, by wishing it was MY idea.

For decades now, water companies have been making us pay dearly for what should be free; two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen (you know the stuff). Of course, the marketer in me believes they deserve to, because they've done a good job making the world believe that water is worth more than oil. Want to have a heart attack? Try buying a bottle of the stuff after dark in Ibiza (so I hear).

But the story in the link above shows a great way to distribute a magazine (read= sell advertising) and add extra value to what we're supposed to be drinking anyway. The right way to do this is to make the profits on the magazine and give the water away, imho, but the reading material will take the sting out of the two bucks they'll likely end up charging.

This is a big win for print advertising if you ask me. Hooray for for Joanna Wojtalik, the Aussie girl with the big idea.

a cute story for Valentine's day

2006-02-14T12:08:00.000-08:00

When an eight year old can start a business with less than $10 US a year, you know that these are indeed exciting times.

The Business 2.0 blog points us to a funny post written by a VC, who had to deflect requests from his eight-year-old son to fund his company. The kid kicked and screamed, and got Mom on his side, and then Dad had to comply. He went to Godaddy.com, (pun accidental, I assure you) bought a URL for a couple of bucks and just hours later, the kid was in business.

Take note, would-be entrepreneurs: Your excuses for in-action just don't wash anymore. Eight-year-olds are kicking your ass.

This winds up being a nice plug for cafepress.com, an great web 2.0 application that brings the power to be a retailer to us all. I've always wanted to design my own t-shirts, (Who doesn't?) so I'll inevitably be pimping my self-made gear soon enough...

On the subject of Web 2.0, Steve Rubel's post from yesterday caught my eye. If you want to skip over his post, just jump directly to listible.com, which offers an excellent list of great new web applications. I can proudly say I use a good deal of the top ten on the list, but there are plenty more than I'm now pretty stoked to look into a little deeper.

I love the web. And if you're reading , I love YOU. Happy Valentine's Day.

new media doesn't always win

2006-02-13T11:50:00.000-08:00

I met with a client today to build a direct mail piece.

Normally I would feel nauseous at the thought of an intrusive mailer sent randomly; but in this case I didn't flinch. Before you jump to conclusions and call me a marketing whore, I should inform you: the job is pro-bono. The fact is, direct mail was simply the best option for the client, his business and potential for ROI.

We considered newspaper advertising, even with special publications. The mailer came in at way cheaper, considering it can be made much more area-specific. We've implemented web-based initiatives, but they can't measure up to a mailer in terms of potential response. So, a mailer it is.

Those who know me have already guessed who the "client" in question is. For him, it's important to market to people at their homes, where he wants to do business. He's staying proactive in an abnormally slow time for the Vancouver real estate market, and the message is extremely soft-sell. Just a thank-you note for a good year in 2005 and reminder of who they can call if they have questions about buying or selling.

It is also how he is introducing a new level of service to his customers, with some of the new ideas we've been throwing around. (Ideas so good I'm still not sure I want to share them here) Essentially, he wants all of the right neighborhoods to know that when it comes to customer service, he's the best around.

Important note: the mailer is a form of marketing, yes. But we started at the most important stage of marketing: Being unique, excellent. Giving people good reasons to tell ten friends. Without leaking too much, the plan is to give new customers (new listings) a few small, affordable and carefully chosen gifts to help them (together) sell the house. New buyers will receive a clever gift too (he's not alone in this category, but he intends to be better than the rest). In the hustle-and-bustle world of real estate, it won't be too difficult for him to be an absolute stand-out. The bar is set pretty low; everyone's busy and not taking the time to care.

Sometimes, you have to be the first one to start telling the story. Just make sure it's a good story, one that others will want to hear. If it's a good enough story, people will start to tell it for you.

better than any superbowl ad.

2006-02-07T14:34:00.000-08:00

I found this great commercial on Adrants today. (follow the link)

I'll tell you why I love it. For starters, it's for a "product" that is near and dear to my heart. Secondly, I used to work for Reginald Pike (as a lowly PA), the guys who made it. I mean MADE it, since they were the film company, not the agency.

Also, it has a great use of a celebrity (sort of). Actually, they just used a red jersey with No. 9 on the back, but we all know that means Gordie Howe.

I wouldn't wash my hand either.

Kudos.

super letdown XL

2006-02-07T12:45:00.000-08:00

I suppose it only makes sense that I should sound off on the super bowl, since everyone else seems to be doing so. I do SO love to fit in, so here goes:

The first game I ever cared about, and the first time I've ever been disappointed. Wanna know why I'm less than chuffed? Read Eric's post. We're both from the Pacific Northwest. Do the math.

Anyway as for the ads, I was pleased to find that with my digital cable box, I could watch the game on a US network and catch all of the ads as they appeared. Needless to say, I wasn't blown away. Budweiser clearly owns the game, they even sponsor the entire collection of commercials (via Rob) online. Some are good, most are average, if you ask me.

I agree with Mack. (Who gave a blow-by-blow as the game unfolded!)
The best ads, imho, were the Budweiser "Magic Fridge," and the Macguyver ad made me chuckle a bit too. I'll give a special nod to Blockbuster too. Their ad made me want to take action, and there's no better criteria to measure an ad with than that.

In all though, it felt like any other commercial break most times; Godaddy.com's ad did end up a bit "limp" after all the hype.

Btw, next year I'm getting a fresh beer during the breaks, and watching the game.

a little goes a long way

2006-02-07T12:16:00.000-08:00

Every night before bed (oh alright, MOST nights) I try to read something that makes me smarter.
I'm not referring to blogs, either. I mean I take some time to read off that beloved old mistress, the printed page.

Lately (if you've been reading you know this already) I have a certain affinity for Seth Godin's books. Right now I am reading "Free Prize Inside," and I have some fresh new ideas for my number one client. (My brother)

I'm adding these new ideas to the list I've already made, and I'll keep you up to date on the progress of implementing them. More on that later.

P.S. To be a better blogger: Post content people want to read, share the information, and share the love. Oh, and always credit your sources. When you do, good things happen; as Mack Collier from Beyond Madison Avenue reports here. I am especially fond of his post, as he links to me.

Smart. And Friendly.

not just a superbowl ad

2006-02-03T14:09:00.000-08:00

Superbowl ads are expensive. REALLY expensive. I think it's up to $2.5 million a spot, so if you're in that league, you want to make it count.

The last thing that I would ever do is encourage somebody to dole out that kind of cash for a mere 30 seconds of air time, but if you must, then you better milk it for all it's worth.

I happily admit that I am a customer of godaddy.com (three domains and counting) and I got a kick out of the controversy over last years Bowl ad, where the girl's tank-top strap bursts open in the courtroom...you know the one.

Anyway, this year, they wanted to run another ad during the game. So they shot a bunch of them, knowing full well that they would not be approved for the Sunday afternoon audience on a major US network. Then they sent out a press release that they had been denied. Then, they held a press conference. Then, they tried no less that 14 times to get their ad ok'd by the network brass, and finally were approved.

I'm no dummy, I realize this was part of the plan all along, but I can really appreciate that they created so much hype over their thirty second ad; the resulting publicity is arguably worth the investment.

I have to give Adrants credit for keeping me up to date on the saga, but it's godaddy.com themselves that are hosting the complete timeline of the process, including all of the rejected versions. (enter the code and you can watch 'em all)

Budweiser has been putting their Super Bowl ads online for years. No news there. But godaddy.com just made buying a superbowl ad a news story. Several times over. Clever boys, clever.

Admission of guilt: I'm trying to break this post down as marketing and advertising science, but in truth, I had a much more testosterone-driven motivation...watch the ads, you'll catch my meaning.

direct marketing bad, permission-based marketing good.

2006-02-02T12:30:00.000-08:00

I read a very good, very epic post today by Eric Weaver, about what I do for money.
This post is mostly for my own archiving purposes, but if by any chance you really want to know what's wrong with direct marketing, read the whole post here.

cross promotion: husband links to wife

2006-02-01T14:01:00.000-08:00

This could just as easily have popped up in Alex's blog, but it's me who reads Adrants faithfully, so it was me who spotted their post of this Ben Affleck ad from the UK for Lynx. (We call it Axe in N. America)
Ben Affleck might be the most heavily hyped actor walking the planet today. Those are big shoes to fill. I can't help but really like the guy. If you've ever seen a Kevin Smith movie, you know that Ben's a pretty funny chap. He's not afraid of a little humor at his own expense, as you can tell by the look on his face for most of this spot.

new digs

2006-01-31T23:33:00.000-08:00

I'm no designer. Not even by a long shot. I'm even color blind. Perhaps that's why I'm so proud that I made this site, and then made the blog match. Pretty much by accident, they happen to look good next to the Squidoo lens, too.

I'm tired though. Going on 15 hours staring at a screen. I don't know how Rob does it.

Update: Rob's very honest feedback wasn't particularly glowing. Expect changes to the whole works.

superbowl XL, not all hype for me this year

2006-01-30T12:30:00.000-08:00

For as long as I can remember, I have treated SuperBowl Sunday like a holiday. In all that time, I can't remember even once caring about the outcome of the game, only that I've always been pissed that the Canadian stations I'm forced to watch pre-empt the million-dollar ads in favor of Canadian content.

Well this year's different, for several reasons. For one, I just got back from Seattle. The Seahawks are making their first appearance at the big dance and I got wrapped up in the romance of it all, in just two short days. The Space Needle has a large flag on top, with "12" on it; nothing more. Why? Because the fans of Seattle are considered the 12th man. I was listening to a Seattle radio station this morning (Vancouver's just a short hop away) and they have even written a clever little rap song about the most feared audience in pro football. Too bad only a few will be able to make the trip to Detroit, where the Steelers are likely to have a larger fan contingent by geographic default.

The other reason why I feel better about the Bowl this year is not just my wife's chicken wings (every year, and I love her for it) but the fact all the best ads are already available or soon to be, as Adrants reported today. Maybe they didn't hear ME say it, but they obviously understand that the 'net is the place to get a better ROI for a massive extravagent expense like a Superbowl ad.

So, to sum up: I'm publicly admitting that I'm the latest passenger on the Seahawk bandwagon. And I might even download one or two of those ads, if I hear enough people raving about them.

Go Seahawks.

the essence of new media...way to go Honda!

2006-01-27T12:44:00.000-08:00

Let us all stand together and cheer collectively for Honda. These guys get it.

The last three really good ads that I've seen were all from Honda. Their latest is a clever spot featuring a choir, a car...I won't play spoilers, watch it for yourself.

So, why am I so excited about just another tv ad? It's clever, sure, but is that good enough to get my gold-star-seal-of-approval? No. What I love...is that I read in a post today from Adrants that Honda's ad has been viewed on the 'net over 800, 000 times. Know what that means? That means it's NOT a tv ad. Instead, it's a viral marketing success story; not unlike Hugh Mcleod's Stormhoek wine-blogging success, or the lonelyisland.com boys, who now work on a little show called Saturday Night Live because of their use of the internet as a marketing tool. What did they do on their first month on the show? They made a short film called "Lazy Sunday" that has been seen by millions, on the show and especially online; a piece of art so heavily hyped for its number of downloads that it earned talk-show appearances for the likes of Chris Parnell. (That guy rules. He's today's answer to Phil Hartman, a true legend)

These days, there are thousands of examples like these and the main reason I love them is (sorry, Ryan) that they succeeded without the use of mainstream media.

So...what of those two other Honda ads? Well, here's your gratification: The first is actually a series. (bottom of page) Rob saw the "crab" version in the theatre and couldn't stop laughing, then came in to work on a Monday to show it to me. (I love the 'Napoleon Dynamite-esque' dialogue, and the fact that they clearly cost almost nothing at all to make)

The second is talked about by many because it is so incredulously epic, (click "skip intro" and then "watch the tv ad") it acts as a complete chronology of the success of Honda as a brand, with a little schlocky 'spy movie' flavor thrown into the mix.

Anyway, my message to the advertising world: Think outside of the box. If you absolutely insist on making an expensive ad for tv, at least hire a forward-thinker like Ernie Mosteller of Tangelo Ideas. Why? He understands viral marketing. In fact, I bet his clever little "navel oranges" ad is starting to get its share of download views too.

Happy viewing!

drop bomb here, please.

2006-01-19T12:25:00.000-08:00

Need proof that Google rules the world? I originally saw this on Adrants a couple of days ago, but the source was the MIT advertising lab.

The quick lowdown: GoogleEarth makes it possible to see the roof of your house from outer space, and as we all know, if people can see it, someone will advertise on it.

Here, you can see Target taking advantage of this technology with their very recognizable branding.

Hint: Don't climb onto your roof with a can of paint just yet, friends. Only a simple, well-known symbol like the one you see here will work with this trick, and then you still have to rely on Google to update their sattelite images in the massive GoogleEarth database. Stick with what already works for you for now, but watch for this phenomenon to evolve in direct proportion to the growth of the technology.

Sometimes I miss the simpler times, when all you had to do was climb onto a soapbox and you could sell cases and cases of snake oil. Kidding, of course. Secretly, I LOVE this tactic, I just wish it was me that owned a chunk of real estate big enough to take advantage of it.

Prediction: Large companies like Coke will pay a premium to corn farmers to carve their logos into their fields. And the crop circle phonomenon becomes the next big marketing idea!

Anyone else feel dizzy?

just as an afterthought on advertising...

2006-01-18T13:03:00.000-08:00

For anyone out there who is nodding their head in agreement at the last post because they know what it means to sell advertising (to people who really NEED it, I might add) , I have a quick anecdote for you, but first some more preaching:

The message in your advertising is always the most important thing. Not whether you paid Kiefer Sutherland to voice it, or if you secured the back cover of Vanity Fair, but rather: What is it about your message that matters to the customer. If you use this rule as a guide, you'll have much greater success.

Now the juicy bit: I used to have clients that would try to tell me that advertising didn't work. I would always politely disagree, stifling my laughter, then I would offer to PROVE that it works, as long as the message was something that your customers will respond to. My Sales Manager at the time, a hyper gent named Bob Inglis, shared this little nugget with me; I used it in my arsenal any time I was faced with the ignorant "advertising doesn't work" statement. He taught me to respond with something to the effect of:

"I can prove that advertising works. In fact, I'll even give you a free ad, as long as I can write it for you, carte blanche."

"Free ad?" They would inevitably respond, "Sure. What will it say?"

To which I replied: "Well, it doesn't have to be very big, and I think I can fill your store with just four words of copy, actually."

"Oh? What four words are those?"

"Today only, everything free."

TV could learn a lot from radio

2006-01-17T13:15:00.000-08:00

For a brief period before the turn of the millennium, I was an advertising sales rep. I worked for a small newspaper and being a rep meant you were also the agency; the budget, the campaign, the copy and everything in between came from the me, the client and the graphic designers (who cranked out dozens of "original" ads a day).

I learned a lot. The learning curve is still a steep incline disappearing into the clouds, but this I know for sure: If you want to understand advertising better than anyone, try selling it. I don't mean this (intentionally) as a slight to my friends with their cushy agency jobs that make obscene amounts of money to write lame ads (It's not always their fault... is it, copyranter?) with their fancy ivy-league degrees and their Madison avenue addresses on their business cards. And I don't mean to brag either. Humbly, I admit I still have plenty to learn.

But when your livelyhood depends on keeping all of your clients happy (read: RICH) then you quickly learn what works and what doesn't. Not what wins awards and accolades, but what drives SALES.

One of my friends, who in his blog calls himself "Radioboy," knows the business of radio advertising (one area where I have NO experience at all) , because he lives it. In this post, he defends "terrestrial" radio against the inevitable growth of sattelite radio. He invites your feedback too, so check him out and feel free to comment.

Radio, be it free on the airwaves or by subscription, is a medium that won't die. In the past I've said that TV is dying, and that's not entirely accurate. My apologies. I used to produce TV commercials, so I should be more understanding, I suppose. Rather than dying, TV is slowly evolving into a situation not unlike the one radio has enjoyed for ages. People who listen to radio stations have brand loyalty toward their favorite station. The demographics for radio stations are clearly defined, a fact that makes an advertiser's buying decision much easier.

In the past, (and for at least a while longer) TV stations have been able to get away with charging BIG MONEY for spots that are geared at a very broad audience. This system can't last forever, no matter how badly the big agencies want it to. Smart money is investing in niche-specific markets; sell to guys on ESPN (or better yet, even more specific stations, like the Golf Channel or Outdoor Life Network) and sell to women on Oxygen or Home and Garden. The 500 channel universe is forcing (helping?) marketers to get directly in front of their desired audience, a feat that radio has boasted as long as I've been alive.

So, expensive though it may be, there is a way to make a TV ad budget work for you, if you approach it right. I was going to wait to admit all of this until after I had a client that wanted to invest in TV, but alas, now will have to do.

Want to know the real way of the future though, at least as I see it? Viral marketing. Word-of-mouth may sound like a strategy based on waiting for someone to say something nice about you, but it doesn't have to be. Start telling your "story" the way you want it told, and give (the right) people every reason in the world to help you tell it. Then, use your ad budgets (gleaned from your ballooning profits, of course) to support the story that started right where the message should start: with your happy customers.

how to add value to your business

2006-01-12T08:35:00.000-08:00

By Jordan Behan

Some companies have had tremendous success with adding value to their products and services. The language is a bit fuzzy here, so let me make this statement a little clearer: With the right marketing, some companies have been able to get away with charging WAY more for their product or service, by creating the illusion of value. Telling a good story, and getting a contingent of people to play along.

Case in point: Designer clothes. Sorry to disappoint, but Louis Vuitton doesn't hand-stitch those $800 purses himself. And here I go playing spoilers: The Porsche Cayenne and the Volkwagen Touraeg are practically the exact same car, with a difference in price of almost $40 K. How do they get away with it? Their customers believe the story they've been telling, and they'll pay the premium to be associated with that product. I'm guilty of this too so I'm not judging, just making a point; a point that has been made before, by Seth Godin and many others, no doubt.

But what if the margins in your business are locked down, either by law or an industry standard? A gas station would have very little success trying to justify doubling their price on fuel because their full serve gas jockeys are more efficient and thorough. And what about a realtor, who's commission has to be extremely consistent with the status quo; raising it would be career suicide, if he/she were the only one who did.

In the case of the realtor, only the number (and selling price!!) of the listings they get can differ, depending on one's positioning. So back to the question I asked in the headline for the post: How do you add value to something with a fixed cost in order to distance yourself from your competition? Answer: with service. With positioning. With terrific referrals from your past customers. (The backbone of most realtors' business)

"But Jordan," you say, "Whatever do you mean by service and positioning? And how can one guarantee that they've done the job well enough that an existing customer will tell ten friends?" (I've been waiting to use that in a post)

Well, I have an answer for that, too. If you don't already have the benefit of a reputation, build one. Recently I had this same discussion with a certain realtor who I know well, who is in this very predicament. He's seen some success, but he wants to keep the momentum and see even more success this year. It's January and times are slow, and he's smart enough to know that now's the time to start a great campaign, before his dance card is full again. (Gratuitous plug: If you live in the Vancouver/Lower Mainland area, and you're buying or selling...visit his site or his new blog and drop him a line)

He's already plugged into the various real estate listings, and distributes goodies like notepads, calendars, fridge magnets and the like. Now he's looking for "out of the box" ideas that other realtors haven't picked up on. So, some ideas I gave him:

Start a blog. Predictable, coming from me perhaps, but there is definitely value in the idea. Plus he might just be the first in this neighborhood to do it. He jots down a few stats about current market conditions, "how-to's" about listing and buying (and a lot of "what NOT to do's") and poof! He's an instant "expert." Who wouldn't want to list with the expert they've been reading about. (I've already started one for him, see it here)

Write a book. This sounds like a massive undertaking, but it doesn't have to be. My idea was to create a short but comprehensive e-book about how to stage your home when it's for sale, for open houses, etc. (Many realtor's he's encountered clearly don't take the time to share this insight with their customer's, so there is definitely a market there) Same as with the blog, an "author" of such a book is clearly heads and shoulders above the rest, and worthy of your business. It makes a nice gift when it's time to hand over the listing package to a new client as well.

Start a PR campaign. In Vancouver, real estate has been one of the hot topics, with prices soaring and record turnover of properties. It makes news all the time and realtors are the best sources to comment on the action. A regular press release sent to the neighborhood semi-weekly paper citing some unique statistics (the record number of townhouses sold in one neighborhood, for eg.) would likely be enough to warrant some free ink for the realtor who it came from.

Network. This one is obviously not an original idea, by any means. I told him before, that he would never have to worry if he could just get his business card into three brand new hands, everyday. He walked away from our meeting with some new ideas about crowds he can put himself in to accomplish that goal.

Okay, that about sums up my thoughts for the day...apologies for the fact that the post is so epic, but I wanted to get all of this out while it was still fresh. One thing that I wanted to point out: The ideas I shared here have low (some have NO) cost associated with them. The require a bit of time and preparation, but nothing more. And they are all concepts that might encourage people to help spread your message. At the risk of sounding like a broken record: Word of mouth is the best marketing there is, so work on telling a story with your business that will get people talking.

Hey, maybe they'll tell ten friends. (Wow I did it again!)

geek is the new chic

2006-01-09T19:44:00.000-08:00

Everytime I start getting excited about something, like the fact that I set up a blog for my mom, or that my wife's Squidoo page comes up in a Google search, or that Nicholas Negroponte is building $100 laptops for kids in the third world, inevitably someone will call me a nerd.

And by someone, I mean the beloved members of my family. Sure, they think it's cute that Engadget is my porn; and they even try to act amused when I try to explain one of Hugh Mcleod's "cartoons on the back of business cards," even when they haven't a clue what blogging is.

That's because they don't know what I know; that being a "geek" is the new cool. If for some reason this isn't true, and the fashion and pop culture experts (Queer Eye Guys??) of the world tell me I'm dead wrong, I don't care. I'm ahead of time maybe, in saying this, but nerds rule the world.

I mean, why else would Wired (also porn for me) release a top ten Sexiest Geeks of 2005 list? Because nerds are sexy, that's why. Cool people dress like nerds because they know it's cool. And nerds wear their nerdiness like a badge because they realize that in this ever-changing world that individuality and having skills at something makes you desirable. Did you see Napoleon Dynamite? Run-away. Low budget. Cult. Hit. Why? Because Napoleon's the coolest son-of-a-bitch ever to wear a terra-cotta colored polyester suit, that's why.

More proof? Geeks were the first ones to have ipods, carry a Blackberry (in fact they talked about RIM like it was a company touched by God) and use digital cameras, too.

Marketer's take note: You heard it here first. Whatever's the opposite of cool is the new cool, which in turn will eventually make it uncool, because everyone's doing it. (But isn't that always the way with fads?) Forget I said that. I hate fads. Fads suck.

I'm not even sure why I wrote this.

talkin' politics.

2006-01-05T12:08:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to politics. The media basically feeds me my belief system (I choose what I want to believe, of course) and I know how very wrong that is.

On Christmas eve this year, my 18-year-old cousin was giving the family a lesson in Canadian politics. He knows his stuff, but he supports the Conservatives. I'm a bit of a Liberal man myself, even after the corruption, the non-confidence vote, etc.

I loved Jean Chretien. He talked funny, and he didn't take any shit from protesters, or even Dubya. Like Clinton, he gracefully dodged controversy and is still very well-liked. I'm not too stoked on Paul Martin, but I can't be bothered to learn all of the facts and decide whether it's time to change my mind.

Anyway, this wasn't meant to be a discussion about my political beliefs. The fact is, I'm as proud today as ever to be a Canadian. If I cared enough to do so, I could air my anti-government beliefs here, and go undetected.

That is not the case in China, where MSN is censoring Chinese bloggers to appease the Chinese government. Poor guy made the mistake of having an opinion. A different opinion.

Also, some unlucky party-goers and innocent by-standers were nicked by local police in Malaysia for so-called Satanism and other supposed mis-deeds. Their crime? Trying to enjoy a New Year's party.

And last but not least, our neighbors to the South, who's FCC has chased Howard Stern to sattelite radio (expect a boom there) and since the "Janet incident" have made every single live television event worth watching so sickeningly watered-down (don't forget about the 6 second delay...) that they might as well be taped. I even heard they were trying to put pressure on the Turino Olympic committee to promise that there would be no suggestive imagery in the Olympic ceremonies. After all, the Greeks managed to sneak some (very traditional) nude figurines onto some of the floats when they threw the party a few years back. Who do these Greeks think they are? You'd think they invented the Olympics with the way they try to force their culture on the rest of the viewing world. For shame!

Seriously though...I've never been an activist type, but it's nice to know that if I was, my goverment would protect my right to voice my opinion.

'Nuff said.

isn't the new economy great?

2006-01-04T20:36:00.000-08:00

A while back I did some contract PR work for an international firm. One of the Master Franchisors is formerly from Vancouver. Now, he's based out of Las Vegas. From here in my apartment, I connected with him and one of his franchisees in Chicago. We conference called, emailed and voice-mailed away until I got them into a Chicago daily. I won't lie, it felt good. Yankee ink on the first try.

There's nothing particularly groundbreaking about that, except that is was a first for me...making the world feel smaller by using technology to do business from across the continent.

The only non-new-economy side to the story: The check is in the mail. Next time I'll tell them about my Paypal account.

The only real downside: One of the reporters actually said that I talk a bit funny. I thought us West Coasters had a homogenized, middle-of-the-road accent, but this guy said he could tell I was Canadian because I say "about" funny. (Truth is, it does sound like I'm saying "a boat" sometimes)

Oh well. He ran the story I pitched, eh.

What will they think of next?

2005-12-30T11:32:00.000-08:00

First it was tattoos. Then some dude sold his forehead. Since then, people have been selling adspace on their various body parts in search of a quick buck. Here, (thanks Adrants) a couple of women display corporate colours on their fingernails. First pixel ads, now this.

Do I think this is clever marketing? No, not particularly. But, let's not lose sight of the fact that although only a few people will shake hands with these gals, I wrote about it here, and I'm not the only one.

branding v. results...who wins?

2005-12-30T08:58:00.000-08:00

I got into a discussion about this the other day, and it's been nagging me ever since.

It was a debate about the importance of branding, as it pertains to results in your business. In fact, I squared off on this issue with two different gentlemen, both of whom were trying to justify their belief that branding isn't important. Results are what's important, they said. Execution is important.

Well, I would have to agree, results are king. But how do you make massive sales and grow your company like a virus? By being remembered. One begats the other. Establish a great brand, and people will fall in love with your story. Only by telling a great story will your business get the results you've dreamed of. Your brand is the headline of that story, and it goes beyond the look of your business card, the colour on your sign or the cleanliness of your uniforms.

Branding is about positioning. Being unique, and memorable. Execution (great service, a clean shop, a commitment to excellence) plays a huge part in your branding, and the whole package is what determines great results.

I'm starting my own company, specializing in building brands for small business. By small, I mean the independantly (and expertly) owned operations who know their craft, but find themselves lost when it comes to marketing. They've got some cash to get the word out, but not the kind of BIG AGENCY budgets that are necessary to squander all of one's profits on mass media. (ouch, was that a dig? Tv's dying kids, at least as far as ROI for your ad dollar is concerned)

In planning my endeavor, I have been stewing over trying to create a great brand, one that is exempliary of the kind of image, story and success that I wish to project onto my customers. Can you believe that I actually had a marketing student tell me that the name of my business, logo etc. weren't important? I'd like to meet the crusty old professor that taught him that phooey.

If I'm going to be selling branding, I have to be able to prove that I know what I'm doing when it comes to my own story. Half-way might keep you in business, and likely it will get the student in question at least a B on his exam, but this is the real world. In order to run an exceptional business, you have to be exceptional in every way.

But then again, I'm just ranting. And I, too am just believing what I've been taught. I guess this is a good time to thank Mom for getting me the books I asked for Christmas.

"finish your homework before you sneak away to the warzone, son!"

2005-12-29T21:22:00.000-08:00

Crazy. And not just a little bit. I know this has little to do with marketing or advertising, but this struck me as being odd.

I point you first to the good people at Boing Boing, who will redirect you to a story about a kid from Florida who's taking the idea of extra-curricular activities to a whole new level.

He's 16. He's in Iraq. He didn't tell his parents he was going. Oh, and it looks like he forgot to buy one of those "immersion reporter" vests on his way to the airport.

at long last...

2005-12-29T16:53:00.000-08:00

I’ve been talking about doing this for so long. Now, I'm pre-empting my commitment to myself to have a new blog created by the New Year, and I’m getting it live today, Dec 29, 2005.

I want to share my opinion, and not just in the comments section of Seth’s, Tom Peters, Jeff Jarvis or the copyranter’s blogs anymore. I will be heard damn it! I’ve got plenty to say…but for right now I have to get back to work at my day job. The ranting will have to wait.

Please don't make me explain why it's simply easier to post this photo of myself here. Why Blogger will let you upload photos in the posts and then they require a url for your profile pic is BEYOND me.