Viral Marketing
This blog is a day early. But I'm on the road tonight and with all of the crappy weather we're having I'm not sure when I'll be back. The way my travel schedule looks I'll probably be posting blogs on Tuesdays and Fridays most of the time. Hope you enjoy the following four timely topics. And HEY! ... is it too much to ask that you add some "comments" once in a while? I'd like to know I'm not just writing this stuff for my own amusement.
Here's Help For Valentine's Day
I'm nothing if not romantic ... okay, that's a lie. I don't have a romantic twig in my body. But with Valentine's Day just around the corner, I did some work for the rest of you and found a creative way for you to express your love for that special someone in your life.
What says "love" more than K-Y products? K-Y's new web site "Keep Life Sexy" site lets visitors submit their definition of sexy and broadcast it to the web-surfing world. According to a K-Y spokesperson, "This is an effort to reach out to people in a very friendly and non-traditional way to say ‘You guys tell us what sexy is during a romantic time of year.' This is more about K-Y as a brand, which to a degree is to help committed couples keep their romantic lives friendly and sexy." Huh?
In any event the site is very creative and offers a contest to send a lucky couple to wine country in Napa Valley. And best of all you can get free samples! You can thank me later.
Favorite Billboard of the Day
Ability to Write Right, Escalates in Value
Not everyone can write well. (Just look at the emails you get from your boss.) Being able to write well is a coveted skill. And like any skill, constant practice makes one more proficient. People at B&M write everyday. They write news stories, feature articles, web site copy, brochure verbiage, technical bulletins, speeches, scripts, columns, stalker letters and more. But like everyone else, we also write a lot of emails.
Email still rules as a primary method of communicating from the workplace. But future office-bound graduates may have difficulty remediating their sloppy instant messaging habits into professionally written email. Worse yet, they're more apt to use electronic communication when face-to-face or the telephone would be more appropriate, more effective and more appreciated.
A generation gap has developed between first- and second-generation Internet users. And the result is an ineptness when it comes to being able to communicate (write) clearly, correctly and professionally.
Writing has always been a valuable and marketable skill. And it seems that it will become even more important in the future ... which means my value is going up as I sit here. I'm emailing Dale for a raise.
Viral Marketing
After my last blog posting I received a lot of comments about my relationship with Carmen Electra. Trust me, we're just friends. http://www.celebritydumpster.com/view.html?id=125189
But the clip included in Wednesday's blog is a great example of how viral marketing can be used to promote a product or, in this case, to promote the release of a film. On the page with Carmen's video you'll notice a link where you can go and send the video to someone else using their name and photo. It's an interactive program that automatically creates a flash video integrating your friend's name (on Carmen's rump) and photo (in her album). Marketing for the film grows exponentially as more folks send the customized video clips to friends.
Our IT geeks are familiar with this type of programming. While it's pricey, it's effective. And it's even more effective when you use a puppet to deliver personalized messages to targeted audience members, (hint, hint). Call us for details.