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How Do You Tell YOUR Story?

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Marilyn Buckner in blog 2 Comments



A close friend told me recently about a presentation he had attended given by a speaker we had both heard before. The objective of the session was clearly stated in the program, but was by and large ignored. Instead, the presenter relied on his stand up ability and spent the bulk of the hour speaking primarily about his life experiences and accomplishments. This wouldn’t have been so bad, except that it was the exact same presentation we both had heard him give three years ago at another type of meeting.

This leads me to suspect this is essentially the same canned speech he has delivered to every sales group, potential client, training meeting, or other forum he has presented to for quite some time. For those who had heard him before, it was not unlike the movie, “Groundhog Day.” It’s easy to slip into a rut if we’re not careful.

When you tell your story, is it always the same one? And even more importantly, is it the same story everyone else is telling? Here are five suggestions for becoming memorable for the right reasons:

1. Check out the competition. One of the best ways to stand out from your competition is to get to know them. For example, when designing and writing copy for a website, it is critical to first do a thorough review of what your primary competitors are saying and doing.

Then, improve upon what you find in the best, remembering to also add additional value and freshness. A good online marketing firm will always do that and in the process come up with all sorts of ways to improve upon both content and design to make the site outshine the competition.

2. Make sure to read the syllabus. Whether you are communicating through your website, blog, speech, tweet or other marketing venue, keep the objective of the item or page clearly in mind as you prepare it, and don’t wander off on tangents. Keep it simple, direct, and focused on the objective and it will not only be appreciated by your audience or reader, it will actually increase your credibility.

3. Do a needs and wants assessment on your target audience. What are they looking for? How much do they want to hear or read? Is your information accurate and up-to-date, or are you just winging it? What types of things (visual aids, handouts, testimonials, tutorials, etc.) will help them understand and remember you, your topic, or website? Will your content motivate them to action, or put them to sleep? Is it valuable or memorable enough to bring them back again?

4. Ask for and listen to sound feedback. Have you ever met someone who obviously thought they were absolutely great at something, when in reality there were only a legend in their own mind? We all likely have an area or two where we think we are talented, but are only mediocre at best.

A great adage that I have never forgotten is, “if one person tells you you’re a jackass, turn the other cheek; but if 29 people tell you that you are, it’s time to shop for a saddle.” But don’t leave it at that.

5. Fix what’s broken. We live in a time and place where there are abundant resources available to improve anything that needs fixing. For example, if you are a bad speaker but have occasions where you must speak to audiences, enroll in a public speaking course. If either your job skills or industry knowledge are a getting a little rusty, check out the periodicals in your local library, do some online research and study, or enroll in a refresher course.

Sometimes it pays to bring in some professional help, particularly when it affects profitability. Timely advice from a knowledgeable CPA can provide tremendous direction, help avoid pitfalls, and boost profitability. If your website, brochures, or press releases aren’t producing the results you want, hire a professional PR Marketing firm where there are experienced marketing copywriters that can really make your copy sing.

In other words, first take time to identify and either fix or outsource what’s broken. Once that’s handled, you will be free to move on to those things you really do best, and where you are likely to reap far greater results for the time spent.


Marketing Strategies That Work. Sincerely, Heavy Metal

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Matt Peterson in blog 5 Comments



There is a fact floating around that is scary, frightening and jaw dropping. Are you ready for the truth? Can you handle the truth? If you answered “yes” to those questions, brace yourself: Heavy metal music is the largest and most diverse musical genre in the world.

Now pause and let that sink in.

The term heavy metal, especially over the past decade, has warped into an umbrella term rather than one classification. This umbrella term has spawned close to a hundred sub-genres and continues to grow and diversify as new sounds, playing styles, techniques and influences are integrated and introduced. As it stands now, almost every country in the world has some sort of metal scene in its population, including war torn Iraq.


So with a force this massive, wide-spread and globalized as metal music why isn’t it represented in the market as such? It is; just not as much in the mainstream market. As it turns out, metal music is like a roller coaster rising and falling under new waves of music every ten years or so. It has actually always been there and still tends to always rise back to the top. But if it seems metal music is in a declining swing, why is it still so popular and widespread? Guerrilla Internet Marketing.

So what kind of marketing strategies are metal bands, or rather, their fans producing? They thrive on guerrilla marketing strategies through venues such as social media, P2P networks and crowd sourcing. For example, the band I Set My Friends On Fire started by making YouTube videos. After a case of widespread word-of-mouth the band is now touring world-wide.

One of the best examples of this type of online brand management and P2P marketing has been the success of the Japanese metal band Dir en grey. Since their current line up formed in 1999 they have toured and played venues world-wide and are currently the most famous band out of Japan. How did they become so popular? A cult-like following that markets the band 24/7 all over the Internet.

Up until 2005 DEG was only touring in Japan until they released their fourth album, Vulgar, in both Japan and Europe. Before even touring in the U.S. the band’s music was spreading rapidly and they were already a hit on the underground and independent radio music scene. Why? A rapidly growing market on the Internet. Dir en grey’s latest release Dum Spiro Spero (Latin for “When I breath, I hope”) peaked at number 9 on Billboard’s Top Hard Rock Albums in the U.S.

Not only will metal bands forming in this decade have to utilize this type of marketing strategy to sell their music and band image, but other companies and brands should as well. I myself have seen this very thing happen successfully for musicians who use new tools like Soundcloud to upload snippets of riffs and ideas that they’ve come up with, then posting them on Facebook. More musicians (and companies) could benefit from utilizing this technique and making these tools work for them. By doing so, they can brand themselves as a profitable entity; an entity that is marketable because of utilizing tools like social media.

The fact that metal music is the largest and most diverse form of music is largely due to the fact that these musicians have had to adapt in order to survive the market swings and now are some of the best at utilizing these new methods of online branding and marketing (crowd sourcing, social media, etc.). These techniques can be utilized by not only bands, but other entities like businesses, politicians and others who could use a boost in their branding and marketing image. Find your inner metal head, get out there and make guerrilla Internet marketing work to your benefit.


Netflix to Qwikster: Brand Development Gone Bad?

Posted on October 5, 2011 by James Anderson in blog 7 Comments

Many of you have heard about the issues concerning Netflix and its change in service, some of you might have even be affected by the recent 60 percent price increase. Netflix also introduced their newly branded DVD service, Qwikster. These decisions have caused a huge uproar in their client base, resulting in thousands of cancellations and an 11 percent drop in their stock.

There are several lessons that can be learned from Netflix splitting off their DVD service and creating a weak brand to run it. I put together five things that I think they could have done to avoid the chaos and confusion.

1 –Timing is everything.
As any good marketer will tell you, there are some really bad times to launch a new product or brand. August is a bad time of year since many people are not really paying close attention due to vacations, back to school and so on. January is another bad time of year—it is when customers are all shopped out and are recovering from the holidays.

2 – Apology not accepted!
CEO Reed Hastings announced the new Qwikster brand in the eighth paragraph of an apology email for some previous poor communication. Now I may not be the best marketer on the planet, or even on my block, but this is just a bad idea and does nothing for your brand development.

Netflix Apology Email


3 – Giving DVD’s a bad name.
A sure sign of poor brand development is how many ways people can misspell your name. You can expect a huge surge of Google searches with many users searching for names like Quickster, Quikster, Qwickster, you get the point.

The name Qwikster itself is a weak name and easily forgettable. There are so many names Netflix could have put together to create a stronger brand. It seems like they settled on the Qwikster name in a short amount of time and did not spend the time to think things through.

By rushing the branding process, they did not see that the name Qwikster had been taken on a few of the social media channels, and now they are negotiating for the @Qwikster handle on Twitter. The individual using the account is listed as Jason Castillo, and the majority of his posts are laced with sexual innuendo and references to drug use. In one recent gem too foul to post here, Castillo ponders whether or not to “blaze.” The PR department at Netflix will have some fun cleaning up that mess.

4 – Customer confusion – Which way do we go?
Customers don’t like being confused; many will jump ship when they can’t figure things out, or if there is interruption in their current flow of service. There are many questions customers have and nobody seems to have any answers, and that’s likely to cause customers to throw up their hands and leave. If Netflix had been smart about this launch, they would have had a plan and could have prepared a FAQ.

5 – If it’s not broke, don’t fix it!
Have you ever longed for a rebranding of Netflix’s DVD envelopes? Or thought to yourself, “I’d pay for both disc and streaming services if only they had separate names and separate websites?” Me neither, and that’s what makes the changes so annoying to many. Qwikster announced that they will also offer video games for rental. That’s great and all, but their competitors Redbox and Blockbuster already offer this service. The biggest difference: Redbox just released their gaming service this summer and didn’t feel the need to rebrand itself in the process.

With the new brand and service change, the 60 percent price increase to customers, and the loss of Starz Play in the near future, Netflix has left a gap for their competitors to fill. With over 22 million customers who stream, and over 15 million who rent DVDs, customers are now confused and uncertain about the future of the company.

Is it too late for Netflix to turn back and save its own brand image? I don’t think so, but Mr. Hastings would have to move fairly fast and come up with a less confusing brand.

I am curious what many of you think, and how you would fix this situation. What would you have done differently?


Are You Memorable?

Posted on January 3, 2011 by Lori Gilson in blog Leave a Comment

Dude ThinkingOur Chrysler Sebring died in the middle of the freeway during evening rush hour. For about 90 minutes, we were really scared, and knew it was a short amount of time before a semi plowed into our car and we ended up in the ER.

The good news, we made it through the evening without injury. The bad news, our Sebring was not repairable. What did we do? We started researching various charities so we could donate our fully-loaded-but completely-useless car, and receive a tax deduction.

We researched charity, after charity. During the process, we came across Kars4Kids.com. If you visit their website, they have a jingle that will stay in your mind forever. We stayed on the website for a minute and sang along, but were not convinced that Kars4Kids needed the donation more than other charities. In fact, there were so many great causes, that we couldn’t make a decision.

Two weeks later, I remembered that I still needed to make arrangements for my vehicle, or we would face an impound fee. I knew if I didn’t call right then, I would forget. Out of every charity we researched, which one came to my mind first? Yep, you got it. I found myself singing “1-877-Kars4Kids, Kars4Kids, Kars4Kids,” as I dialed the number.
What does this mean when it comes to branding? A lot. The website didn’t sell me, their cause didn’t sell me, but their jingle did.

I am against music on websites. I find it highly annoying. However, it is the tune on the website that made the organization memorable enough, that I had memorized their phone number and made the donation.

What makes you memorable? Is your brand so distinguishable that people could recognize it anywhere, and you come to your customers’ minds first?

Example: When you think of an apple, what comes to your mind? It probably isn’t red and edible. It most-likely involves your phone, laptop, or iPod.

Another Example: When you think of Amazon, do you picture dense jungles with monkeys and jaguars? Chances are you think of books and the online retailer.

When it comes to branding, you need to have a competitive edge.  Think carefully before choosing a company name, logo and slogan. Do your research. Invest time and money in your brand.

If your brand isn’t memorable, it may be worth spending money on rebranding. A good example of this is Target. In the 1990s Target was simply a competitor to Wal-Mart. Through rebranding efforts, it is now perceived as an upscale shopping center with cute clothes and fun brands.

Brand is important, maybe the most important thing when it comes to marketing. Research, evaluate, and test your market. If you find your brand isn’t fostering trust and influence, rebrand. When you are driving away in your million-dollar yacht, you will be glad you did.