How to Battle Being Pigeonholed by Customers

A Puppet's Ramblings - from Chip Martin, Mannequin American Marketer

Meetings: Events where we wait for someone to take responsibility while everyone else dives for cover.

Get to Know Me!

You probably know me as the Mannequin American who pens this award-winning blog every Tuesday and Friday. Others know me as the "Martin" in Brown & Martin, Inc., a highly creative, 30-year-old B2B public relations/marketing and IT solutions firm.  And still others know me as part of a side-splitting stand-up duo who perform at conventions, business meetings, banquets and theaters across the country.

I think that trying to be known for more than one thing is asking too much of people. People prefer to associate you with one thing. They pigeonhole you. As a result, those who see me as an humorous and informative blogger, seldom think of our firm for PR/Marketing or IT work. And they don't think to contact me for entertainment for conventions or business functions.

In short, social media (i.e. blogs) are not replacements for marketing. Our PR/Marketing/IT services and our entertainment business still rely on word-of-mouth references, direct mail, websites, workshops at conferences, publicity, advertising and other traditional methods of promotion.

If you want to encourage people to hire you or purchase your product or service, you still have to rely on conventional communication methods including picking up the phone and talking with people ... and whatever else is necessary that will lead to face-to-face conversations.  Social media is just that ... "social." It's not a replacement for "business marketing."

Why Photoshop Taylor Swift?

Of all the blatant and unnecessary photoshopped fashion ads, the hammer came down on Taylor Swift's eyelashes. Really?

Yes, really, according to the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, which denounced an ad for CoverGirl NatureLuxe Mousse Mascara in which Ms. Swift's eyelashes were digitally, uh, fullened. The agency ruled that the altered image made for a misleading ad, which somehow wasn't the case when L'Oréal gave Beyoncé Knowles what might as well have been a new head.

P&G pulled Swift's ad when it got caught. But what's the difference between this kind of lie and H&M just building models from scratch or simply using illlustrations instead of live models?

Great Sports Ad

Here's proof that copy is king. This ad for National Women's Professional Softball says it all. Clever.

Excess Warning Labels

Even when warning labels are present, plaintiff lawyers will sometimes argue that the labels weren't "big enough" or "explicit enough". Thus the warning above from a bike brochure. However, I don't think expert and professional bike riders usually need training wheels as shown in the brochure photo, above.

Reasons I've Learned Not to Date a Sock Puppet

1. Hard to gaze romantically into googley eyes.
2. Fuzz.
3. Keeps pestering you to find a date for the other sock.
4. Always conveniently "forgets" wallet.
5. Catch phrase, "Sock it to you? Sock it to me!" gets old pretty fast.
6. Sex pretty much limited to just the one thing.
7. After a couple of drinks, starts removing sock in public.
8. Vaguely sweaty smell.