Category: Marketing

Is It Applicable To The Average Person?

An expert advised people
on social media
to stock up on Tamiflu
in preparation for
the certain-to-happen
mass Bird Flu outbreak.

Tamiflu is by prescription only.

The expert told people
to ask their doctors for prescriptions
for ‘preventative purposes.’

The rich, the powerful, the connected
can get prescriptions
for ‘preventative purposes.’

Doctors will do
favors like that
for those people.

They’ll take that risk.

Doctors won’t do favors
for the average person.

The expert doesn’t know that
because he is one of the elite.

We, business builders,
also
aren’t the average person.

We have knowledge
other people don’t have.

We have resources
other people don’t have.

We likely have connections
other people don’t have.

Ensure there is
an ‘average person’
on your team
(formally or informally).

Check with them
before giving advice
to other average people.

The Pollen Report

Whenever I check the weather,
I also check
the pollen report.

Will it be a bad allergy day
or a good allergy day?

Should I wear a mask
outside
or can I bareface it?

The pollen report
on my favorite weather site
is contained
within
Similasan’s ad copy.

Similasan produces
allergy relief products.

They know pollen.
They track pollen.
They treat reactions
to pollen.

Reporting on pollen
while advertising their cures
is clever
and efficient marketing.

Are you tracking
a factor
for your business?

Would your customers
benefit
from that tracking also?

Respect Privacy

A friend posted a video
of her child
reacting terribly to something.

The video was hilarious.

But I suspect the impact
of posting it
won’t be hilarious
to the child.

That child will have to deal
with references
to that video
for the rest
of her life.

It will impact
college acceptances,
job interviews,
her relationship
with…everyone.

Gain permission
from participants
before posting videos
and photos.

This includes
footage
captured at your business locations.

If you can’t legally gain permission
(and if the participant is a child,
you can’t),
use other footage
in your marketing.

Respect the privacy
of other people,
including children.

The iPad Pro And Marketing Destruction

Apple’s new commercial
for the iPad Pro
depicts the destruction
or flattening
of much beloved artistic
and cultural symbols
to form their new device.

It is horrific.
It is dark.
It fills me with despair
and doesn’t make me at all
hopeful
for the present
or the future.

We see destruction
and death all around us.

We’re not rushing
to buy more destruction.

And destruction is easy.
It is everywhere.

Creation is hard.
It is rare.

Sell creation,
not destruction.

Send Your Mother’s Day Present Today

Sunday is Mother’s Day
in North America.

I sent my much beloved Mom
flowers
today.

Why today?

Because she worries,
as many Moms (biological and/or honorary) do,
that she’ll be forgotten
on Mother’s Day
(even though I have NEVER
forgotten Mother’s Day).

Sending her flowers a few days early
eliminates that worry.
She can relax
and fully enjoy Mother’s Day week.

There is NO downside
to sending presents early.

If you celebrate Mother’s Day,
consider giving your gift
today.

Claim A Day

‘May The 4th
Be With You.’

Today is Star Wars Day.
SciFi fans know this.
They have fun with it.
It is free marketing
for the Star Wars brand.

The thing is…
every industry or business
can claim a day
and have fun with it.

Sure, there might not be
a lot of viral marketing around your day
the first few years.

But eventually
it will happen.

And until it does,
you have a reason
to market
your products, business, industry
on and around your day.

Claim a day.
Market around it.
Have fun with it!

When The Exceptional Becomes The Expected

A loved one calls his Mom
EVERY day.
That’s exceptional.
Not many people do that.

He’s been doing this
for so long,
however,
that it is expected
by his Mom.

She doesn’t praise him
for calling every day.

She worries and berates him
if he DOESN’T call her
every day.

Because she is
no longer comparing him
to other people’s sons.

She’s comparing him
to his past exceptional behavior.

Exceptional isn’t exceptional
when it is provided to customers
EVERY time
in the exact same way.

It becomes expected
and any failure to provide
that exceptional
will be punished.

Mix it up a bit.

Shaming The Trolls

Dealing with trolls and bots
is part of the social media experience.

Some people try to shame them.
They share the troll response
and ridicule it.

And that is exactly
what the trolls and bots want.

They don’t care
about the ridicule.
They drop a comment
and run.

They care about reach.
And by shaming the troll or bot,
that reach is expanded.

Instead,
I block the trolls and bots.

I’m not going to change
the mind
of a computer
or of a human
paid to cause chaos.

There’s no point
in arguing with them.

I simply sever their reach
and remove them
from my feed completely.

Block the trolls and bots
and move on.

Should You Keep Outdated Content?

Many of us
have been blogging
or creating other social media content
for a while.

That older content
stays in search engines.

But some of it
may no longer be
relevant or true.

Should we delete it?

I delete older content
that is no longer true
or safe to share.

I also delete older content
that creates a lot of work
but doesn’t increase sales.

That 10 plus year old
article
I wrote for funsies
on growing tomatoes?

A lot of people contact me
about it.

But none of those people
are interested in
buying my romance novels.

They’re only interested
in gardening advice.

And I’m not interested in giving
or am qualified to give
gardening advice.

I deleted the article.
My work and worry load
greatly decreased.

Delete older content
that no longer serves
you, your business
or your customers.