Resolutions Revisited – How to Set Them, Keep Them and Love Them!

Posted on | January 12, 2010 | 2 Comments

Resolutions… Yep that time of year again!

Current readers know how much we like the opportunities a new year brings. The chance to evaluate, reevaluate and either live with what we have created or create something new. I see it as a time when you can focus on building a life rather than drifting through the life that comes your way. Because I am an avid “resolver”, I love to ask around and see what others are resolving to do. The answers I get are often very inspiring and interesting and sometimes very deflating.

Top 3 Disappointing Responses to “What are your 2010 resolutions?”

1. “What’s the use? I never accomplish my resolutions anyway. Why set myself up for disappointment?”

You know, in black and white that statement looks pretty sad. Defeated. Uninspired. It tells of a person who when faced with the challenge of an exciting life decides to be content with mediocrity. The sad thing is, of the people I have spoken to about resolutions in preparing this article, this response was WAY too common! Read more

The Changing Currency of Barter

Posted on | November 11, 2009 | 6 Comments

I remember when I first heard of barter, it made me think of a idyllic, utopian society where one neighbor trades tomatoes for another’s squash. Shells for pelts and all that jazz.

However, this was about 10 years ago and it didn’t quite come down to one neighbors garden for another. What bartering was being used for was one of three things:

1. Inventory that was no longer a salable product on its own. (e.g. Company XYZ orders more winter boots than they can reasonably sell and decides to barter them for advertising space)

2. Enough spare service time to justify selling it for the ability to buy something useful (e.g. a photographer is having slow month but could barter services for accounting work)

3. Unused product or service. (e.g. a plane only half full still costs as much as a full one so why not liquidate extra seats for a magazine ad)

So the theory behind barter was compelling and seemingly feasible, right? But, when faced with the functionality of bartering, there was a tipping point that had not been reached and without it, barter was not strong enough to be a viable currency of exchange. What good is selling your photography services if it bought you nothing usable for your business. Barter is only as good as the size of its network and that takes a lot of people having faith in the same theory at the same time.

How times have changed!

When asked almost a decade ago if I found barter helpful, I replied “I find bartering incredibly valuable only because I am consistently and creatively trying to find ways to spend it.” After all, earning barter is easy and there are always plenty of buyers for a quality product. But spending your barter dollars can be more than challenging.

Bartering has recently come across my desk again though and this time, it might be ready for a second go. According to American Express, 23% of small businesses increased barter activities during the recession. And why not, the consumers were not buying the way they were and businesses had excess product, time, energy and overhead.

So, let’s figure out the ways to use barter.

#1 Way to Barter – Mano a Mano – Suppose, you are, like I am, a marketing professional. The single best way to barter is mano a mano – hand to hand. Suppose I want printing done, which I plan on reselling to a client. I have a graphic designer on staff who is facebooking instead of working because we have a lull in graphic design business. I call the printer (better yet, I show up at the printing office and speak with the owner or manager) and say, he can resell X amount of graphic design hours for X amount of printing I need.  This is the best, least complicated and most authentic form of trade.

Pros:

You pick the business you like based on quality, location, whatever.

There are no middle man fees.

Cons:

You have to put on a good salesman cap to pitch this idea.

If not executed well it could create bad blood in existing business relationships.

#2 Use a barter Exchange - There are exchanges such as ITEX and BoA that will give you a currency to weight your product to. For instance, the printing I need done will cost $1000. I sell $1000 worth of graphic design work and use that income to pay for the printer.

Pros:

You have many more seller options.

The exchange has already sold the idea.

There is a neutral third party to coordinate transactions.

The exchange usually rates buyers and sellers based on performance and good standing with the company and client.

Cons:

You pay fees (in cash) for transactions based on a percentage of the sale.

There is a monthly fee to be associated with the exchange.

There is no choosing companies based on quality or performance.

#3 Community Websites such as Craigslist – This is a great place to post what you have, post what you need and see what else is out there.

Pros:

Lots of exposure and potential advertising opportunity

Easy to use and free

Cons:

A bit hit or miss with prospects.

Some unwanted contacts or unusual responses

Do You Barter?

In a service industry, barter is a no brainer at least on some scale. Even on a personal level, why wouldn’t someone trade a couple of couches for some computer troubleshooting?

1. To start using barter, make a list of things that you have to offer and the things that you could use.

2. Start at home – try negotiating with those you already use and are happy with first. Why not see if your hairstylist will trade service for a laptop? Or if someone will trim your trees for financial advice?

3. Check out a barter exchange service in your area and see what buyers and sellers they already have. If it looks like one service is already one you could use, consider trying out the service.

Also try:

www.craigslist.com

www.U-exchange.com

or fee based sites such as:

www.ITEX.com

Barter of America

Testing. Testing. Marketing is a Science.

Posted on | September 28, 2009 | No Comments

What is the difference between “pea green” and “sea green”? Or between the word “buy” and “purchase”? How about the different between a model wearing glasses and one without?

In the world of marketing, these small changes, slight as they may appear to the untrained eye are the ingredients for a successful marketing campaign.  As consumers, people minds are constantly reacting to subtle cues in marketing, branding, and media. On the surface a slight variation in color is a trivial change but to the psyche of your target market, this slight alteration creates a whole different set of clues about your company, product or service – most of the time reacted to by your consumer but usually completely unbeknownst to that very same consumer.

Now your job, as the psychological and marketing genius that you are, is to figure out what clues to give and how to give them.  This is done is a series of ways but lets start with the easy ones.

(Let me digress for a moment to give kudos to what a consider a particularly good marketing genius.  The idea for this post came from a entry I read recently on the Four Hour Work Week blog created by Tim Ferriss, author of “The Four Hour Work Week” (to purchase this book, click here). This is a constant read for me as I find it intriguing and baffling the way the his mind works but through extensive experimentation, he has become an out-of-the-box marketing genius.  See my previous post on Tim Ferriss titled “Tim Ferriss – Marketing Outrageously” by clicking here.)

Sending the right message

Read more

Tim Ferriss – Marketing Outrageously

Posted on | September 15, 2009 | 4 Comments

I am an avid reader of the Four Hour Work Week blog by Tim Ferriss, author of the book The Four Hour Work Week. The book is an excellent read but what I appreciate most about the work of Tim Ferriss is not his methods as much the way his mind works.  The book was a revolutionary look at the way we conceive progress in our society and the benchmarks that we use to denote personal success.

I would highly suggest reading the book to anyone interested in creativity, success, independence, business, personal development, marketing, etc. It is a cornerstone of my library, up there with De Bono’s and Carnegie’s books.

But I wanted to specifically discuss marketing today with regard to Ferriss. His ideas, while sometimes not general enough to be applied to marketing as a whole, are starter ideas. Mind stretchers, box openers, <insert random adage here>, etc.  Ferriss is a big fan of testing his marketing before launching it.

Example: When looking to publish his book, Tim Ferriss conducted various experiments to deduce the best title, book cover and even book location on a book shelf. On a busy afternoon at a large bookstore, Ferriss planted multiple dummy books in various book jackets with various titles and placed them in various (and visible) locations on a book shelf.  Then over the course of the next few hours, he watched people as they browsed. From this he deduced a specific location on a book shelf that was most successful among shoppers.  He also decided on a book jacket based on the responses of unsuspecting consumers, unwittingly part of his creative experiment.

Example: The Four Hour Work Week blog is a constant experiment in readership, membership and current market trends.  Tim Ferriss is constantly tweaking small things on the blog and seeing how people react to them. He has, thereby, developed an extremely successful product built to the specs of his fans and constantly evolving to meet those very same changing specs.

If you take anything away from this post, let it be this. Go read Tim Ferriss’ book and blog!

From Fairy-tales to Superheroes – Disney Acquires Marvel

Posted on | September 1, 2009 | 1 Comment

After the article on Comic Con and the comments we received, I thought we ought to mention a pretty dramatic change in the world of fantasy and comic culture.

Disney is known for their rather rosy version of legendary fairy-tales brought to children worldwide. To give you an idea, Mickey Mouse is one of most recognized characters on the planet.  (In fact, I just have to throw this in there… The Brother’s Grimm would have been horrified to know that their horror/fairy tales were cartoon musicals.)

But Disney is looking to add a new stream of folklore to it repertory… The myths and legends of the comic book giant Marvel. Superman, Spiderman, Thor, The Fantastic Four… maybe even to music?! I can’t help but wonder if die-hard comic fan are happy of the acquisition.  Disney does have a way of vanilla-izing a poignant story.

In the grand scheme of marketing and the focus of this blog, there may be little to glean from this change in the comic world.  True. I guess if you really need a thread, however thin, think about how this merger will cross two very different and devoted target markets.  Disney will now serve the child market, chalked full of fairy-tales, plush toys, princess clocks and mickey mouse underwear as well as the comic fan market, typically adolescent to adult with products from halloween costumes to conventions and expos.  Not bad Disney.

Lessons from Comic Con – Fantasy is a Reality

Posted on | July 23, 2009 | 4 Comments

San Diego is abuzz right now. Hotels are booked to the gills. Restaurants are doubling their staff. The city is bracing for one of the busiest weekends of the year, where ghouls and superheroes roam the streets and trekkies can get their annual fix.

Comic Con is back, which began informally in 1976, has become a culture unto itself, replete with vampires, aliens and heroic bugs of gigantic proportion.  Whether or not you give a hoot about comic books, Edward Cullen, or Knight Rider, when something grips one of the largest cities in America in its spidey claws, it is time to take notice.  Especially is you have anything at all to do with popular culture or MARKETING.

Let me share some musings about what Comic Con tells us about our culture and how it pertains to marketing.  Bear in mind these are not statistical or highly researched but simply some observations to take into consideration.

1. People still love to dream. By most measures, I would consider ours a pretty practical society.  We work hard, more than much of the world, for money to buy the things and lifestyle we want. We aim to be doctors and lawyers and business executives but there is still a little kid in all of us who wants to fly or be invisible or better yet, invincible.

For this model, I turn to Tokyo. Tokyo has the hustle and bustle of our big cities, but on speed and with a lot more ambition. Yet every aspect of marketing and advertising culture has the quintessential aura of fantasy. I mean, men in business suits who are masters at Pachinko… need I say more?

2. Graphics still sell. A picture is still worth a thousand words. Animation is the embodiment of sensory stimulation.  Marketing is still about getting attention and graphics do.

3. Fun never gets old. For fans, Comic Con is still the candy store and they are still the kid. Appeal to the desire for fun, joy, childlike happiness and people swoon. If you cannot appeal to the kid in people, appeal to their nostalgia of being a kid. Creating nostalgia is as good as giving someone a memory they never had.

So get out there, be a kid, watch others swoon over superheroes and wait in ungodly lines for a signature of a pseudo vampire. Consider it a study in the science of marketing… that is… if you need an excuse.

Progress in a Flat World: An Economy of One

Posted on | May 6, 2009 | 6 Comments

Pulitzer prize wining author, Thomas Friedman, in his recent book Hot, Flat and Crowded, said of the Internet, “It created a global platform that allowed more people to plug and play, collaborate and compete, share knowledge and share work, than anything we have ever seen in the history of the world.” 

To put it another way, the Internet has essentially created a massive community, devoid of physical human interaction, one giant virtual reality – and with that virtual reality, limitless possibility.  I also see this statement of Friednman’s as an implication that the glass ceiling we have attributed to limited resources or lack of opportunity is essentially non-existent in the World Wide Web.  We have all been put at the same start line with the same running shoes and the same pep team.  Bang and they’re off! Read more

The New Animal of Marketing: Social Media

Posted on | April 29, 2009 | 3 Comments

Internet!!? Pfffft… is that still around?  - Homer J. Simpson

What do Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Stumpleupon, MySpace, Digg YouTube and Yelp all have in common?  You mean besides the fact that they are all gargantuan social media websites with hundreds of thousands of users?  They are also the new forum for your business!  I’ll admit it.  There was a time when I was social media snob.  Who spends their valuable time on MySpace designing pages and letting everyone know what mundane thing they are doing at any given time?  How could I miss such valuable nuggets such as “So-and-So is brushing their teeth” or “So-and-So is eating pasta”?  What I did not see coming was the change in the marketing world staring me in the face.  This is the new M&A campaign people!  And it is free!   Read more

Day Trading Saga: Great First Quarter!

Posted on | April 28, 2009 | 1 Comment

So the numbers are in, and the numbers are good!  I have been waiting to post this blog until I had finished tallying my profits in day trading.  I must have added them up four separate times!

So, if you read my blog post NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION – DAY TRADE FOR A LIVING  you know I have been day trading to supplement my sagging retirement accounts.  I have to tell you, I thought it would be easier.  I consider myself to be a pretty disciplined person but find that my control freak personality is not always conducive to day trading.  Let’s just say… I am learning a lot about my self in this new venture. Read more

4 Ways to Negotiate For Cheaper Advertising

Posted on | March 11, 2009 | 2 Comments

If you are not a negotiator, it is time to hone those skills and use them.  The economy is in a place where negotiators will stand to profit dramatically from it.  A couple of tips I have picked up in my reading are…

1. Always negotiate at the end of the advertisers deadline.  Advertising space is not like last winter’s coats that can be sold at clearance or sent to another reseller.  Once the space is not filled, it is worthless.  Keep this in mind when purchasing your ad space. Read more

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Recent Posts

• Resolutions Revisited – How to Set Them, Keep Them and Love Them!
• The Changing Currency of Barter
• Testing. Testing. Marketing is a Science.
• Tim Ferriss – Marketing Outrageously
• From Fairy-tales to Superheroes – Disney Acquires Marvel

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