Apple's roadmap not golden for Microsoft

As I plowed through my Monday morning readings today I noticed a couple of articles about how Apple's Ipads destroyed every other tablet, including Microsoft's surface, during the huge US sales weekend that was. I'm not entirely surprised that there were images floating around of empty Microsoft stores, while people no doubt lined up to save 5% on the latest iPad or iPhone, because they haven't really given the general consumer something to get excited about.

Microsoft has always been associated as a business-y brand, so their addition of a touch pad keyboard to their good looking tablet will probably skew more towards corporate partners and small-business owners rather than the app loving market that eats up anything Apple craps out.

But where I think Microsoft has really failed is in giving people something new and different to experience which is really how Apple has built themselves to their current dominance. They have an opening because Apple is clearly running out of ways to wow people and have reached the point where they are not innovating as much. Whoever comes up with the next big thing - think iPod 7-10 years ago - will turn into the next Apple, and I think that could have been Microsoft. They have the money and the brain-power to get there, but they lack the creativity to push them over the edge. Instead of taking a leap and trying something extraordinary they just bought a copy of the map that Apple created for being a funky tech company and followed it.

Touchscreen phone? Check. Cool tablet? Check. Stores? Check.

Everything exactly as Apple did. Their marketing has always been pretty suspect, so though it's not all that surprising to see their distribution/penetration model be less-than-inspiring, it is disappointing. I still hold out hope for them as I am definitely not an Apple-lover like the majority of people, but what they really need to beat Apple is innovation. Innovative ideas for products AND full-scale-marketing.

If they really want to beat Apple they have to be the first one to launch the product that replaces peoples phones, tablets and laptops all in one.

Is Samsung Apple-ing Apple?

Remember when Apple started to make their big comeback in the computer world after years of nothingness? They had well-designed products, innovative features and great advertising that propelled them forward into the mix with the stale PCs. You may recall an advertisement or two like this:
 Apple highlighted the disadvantages of PCs in a sharp, sarcastic way and spawned a series of commercials that continued to be popular (unlike Kia's recent attempt to reuse their hamsters).

Well, it turns out they aren't the only ones that can do that. Samsung has decided to take a play out of the Apple book and go with a sarcastic commentary on Apple's most dedicated fans. It definitely made me laugh while at the same time reinforcing why i'm currently not an Apple user. This isn't their first foray into this type of commercial but it is their most aggressive thus far I would say. The most interesting part of the ad is when the seat-saver turns out to be holding a spot for his 55-65ish parents while he enjoys the Galaxy S3. Hipsters aren't going to like the fact that the iPhone5 is now in with the older demographic crowd, that takes away from it's coolness factor. At least it used to.

Even though it is a blatant use of Apple's genius marketing, it's execution makes it feel a lot different. Well done Samsung.

Why your social media needs a personality

As most people know by now, social media is a great platform for any sized business that is willing to put in the time and creativity required to keep your fans and customers engaged. Anyone that thinks all they have to do is create a Facebook or Twitter account and people will automatically pay attention either works for Red Bull or has no idea what they are talking about.  

A modified version of the old website adage that "Content is king" applies to social media. You have to constantly be finding RELEVANT content to share with your community. Not just mass quantities of information poured out minute-after-minute via Twitter. That will just overblitz your followers and make them pay less attention to you. One or two really good, relevant posts per day is all it takes. 

One reason why social media is so effective for small businesses is that it allows customers the chance to interact with the brand on a personal basis. The person updating the account is typically the owner and they know their business inside and out. Typically they don't use corporate-speak when talking to customers, they are free to use a sarcastic tone or a cringe worthy dark joke here and there, which the masses appreciate.

That is probably one of the toughest selling points for getting large corporations to use social media. If you put tough restrictions on those that will be updating the account, you will not get a return. But, if you allow your social media people to use their personalities within reason, like Samsung Canada did in this amazing bit of PR work, then you will find success and quite often will get noticed by the community.

So if your social media isn't firing on all cylinders maybe it's time to add a bit more personality into the mix.

Driving for show, putting for dough

Any golfer knows that the saying "You drive for show, putt for dough" is a good epitome of how  the game works. You may be able to smash the ball 350 yards off the tee but if you can't put the ball in the hole with your putter, then all that power is not worth a lick. 

That is sometimes how I feel while searching for creative suppliers. Many have lots of glitz and glamour on their websites, but they lack the functionality or information to actually make me send them an email regarding their services. As a marketer I know exactly what I am looking for and I know that any semblance of a reasonable marketing savvy designer should know this when designing their website. Know your target, the majority of people hiring creative companies have marketing or business backgrounds and don't want to spend too much time having to surf through your site to find what they are looking for. They will just leave. Basic things, like a listing of your services, should be included. Just a portfolio page will not suffice.

Now that being said, I also won't waste my time with a website that is complete text and is not visually appeasing. So I guess what i'm saying is you have to Drive and Putt for my dough.

When life gives you lemons, drop the price of lemonade

Traditional thinking and economical principles dictate that when demand increases so should price, at least I feel like that is what I learned in Economics 101 eight years ago. So when I read this article about what Coca-Cola is doing with their Limon Y Nada vending machines in Spain I was rather impressed with the creativity. 


Instead of sticking to the traditional vending machine model which consists of a price probably 100% higher than what you would pay at a corner store or grocery store Limon Y Nada decided to show some compassion for their sweltering customers. On the vending machine they installed a thermometer and as the thermometer rose with the heat the price of a drink dropped.

What do you think would customers appreciate a price-break when they are most desperate for your product? I think it could help make a lifetime fan of your product.  

Speed startups

There surely is merit in creating a business plan and finding investors for your start-up business, but the internet changes things and can allow some entrepreneurs to skip these processes. Maclean's posted an interesting article today related to this subject titled "How to make $100,000 a day". 

First off, amazing copywriting on that title, I guarantee you that title generated the most click-thrus of all the articles posted today. It certainly worked on me.

Getting back to the point of this post, the article goes on to talk about the book, The $100 Startup, which provides information and examples to entrepreneurs about how to start a business in a much less traditional manner. Citing examples of so-called "Solopreneurs" who invested less than $1,000 of their own money and created businesses that generated upwards of $60,000 a year in revenue.

It does show how much easier it is to get your idea/business out to people these days with the internet. Costs such as websites and marketing have become cheaper and easier with sites like Wordpress and Facebook, giving anyone with an idea or a passion the ability to start a business without necessarily sinking themselves into a heap of debt.

It leads me to wonder what the next 10 or 20 years in the future hold for employment. Will companies continue to employ individuals in the traditional manner or will everyone be a free agent that provides contracting work to multiple companies to maximize their time and profits. It may sound crazy, but freelancing/solopreneuring could be the way of the future. As Chris Guillebeau, the Author of the book, says in the article "The old choice was to work at a job or take a big risk going out on your own. The new reality is that working at a job may be the far riskier choice."


I've already taken a venture into the solopreneuring field, my new website www.retireez.ca targeting the growing population of boomers and 50 plusers going online cost me less than $100 to set up and I am hoping the content I create and word-of-mouth helps the website take off. 

Rewarding your best customers while boosting your sales

Nowadays sports fans have a multitude of options available to them for following their favourite team. Online game-trackers providing real time play-by-play, HD television and internet radio feeds. Sports franchises themselves are probably most worried about the emergence of HDTV because the product is so good that it is almost like being in reasonable seats at the game. That means they need to find a way to make the game experience that much better to encourage fans to continue to buy tickets for the real deal.

Like a franchise rewards their top players with long-term contracts, they also need to look at ways to reward their best customers, season ticket holders.

A football/soccer team in Italy has come up with a brilliant way to thank their best fans while at the same time probably create a large rush for merchandise. Recently Parma Football Club revealed their kits (or uniforms as us North Americans call them) for the upcoming 2012/13 season.




 

See those faint grey lines on the white part of the jersey? Those are the names of every single season ticket holder. Genius. What better way to thank your fans than having your players wear their name in games. I guarantee they will sell quite a few jerseys, especially to the season ticket holders. 

Think outside the boxffice

This isn't a revolutionary idea but it is something I believe in, so it makes an appearance on the uber-exclusive Kliff's Notes blog.

Sometimes it is easy to get stuck in a rut walking into the office five days a week, sitting in the same chair, in front of the same computer for eight plus hours each day. This rut can affect your demeanor, your mood, and ultimately your creativity.

That's why some of my best thinking happens when you get the chance during the week to get out of the office. Whether it is heading to a clients, attending an event or just taking a half hour and walking around the neighbourhood, that bit of change seems to spark the brain into creating new opportunities that may help one of my clients. Some of them are completely off the wall and probably don't deserve to see the light of day, but giving the old brain a chance to breathe makes work a little more interesting and effective I find.

A couple of weeks ago I was taking the subway out to an event with my client and I found it much easier to articulate what I was working on for her and how it was going to help their business. Something about being free of the shackles and corporateness of an office just allowed my thoughts and concepts to flow smoothly.

Give it a try next time you are stumped or want to impress a client. Maybe i'll have all my client meetings on the subway from now on!

Are you being a twit?

Are you making the most of your Twitter account?

You may be working hard to come up with clever or relevant tweets for your target market or unique offers to send to your followers, but if you haven't put the time into acquiring and cultivating the right followers then you are just wasting your time.

If you are a B2B company and think that following medium-to-large sized businesses twitter accounts is getting you any value, then you should rethink that idea. These accounts are maintained by the communications/marketing/pr department of a company, so unless you are selling advertising or other products related to these specialties then you aren't hitting the decision maker for your product. The people you need to try and get following you are the decision makers in those companies. But how do you find those people?

• Collect business cards from networking and business meetings then check to see if these contacts are on Twitter
• Go through the Followers of the company's corporate Twitter account, the people managing the account will often like to follow members of the company
• Use other social media profile information (ie. Facebook, LinkedIn) to see if contacts have listed a Twitter account

Just following these people won't guarantee they follow you back, but it is a good way to let them know you are on Twitter and introduce yourself to them. When one of these people gets an email notifying them "John Smith is now following you!" the reaction will often be to find out who this new follower is.

Now all you have to do is keep them interested in what you have to say.

Advertainment

Pretty sure i'm not the first to term the phrase "Advertainment" but if I am then let's hope I earn some serious royalties from it just like when Donald Trump tried to copyright the phrase "You're fired".

Anyways, the point of this post is to talk about how brands and companies can use Advertainment to engage users and get their message in front of copious amounts of eyes. As I was going through my blog reader today and reading Andy Sernovitz's latest post I couldn't help but laugh out loud. What a brilliant way to sell your impressively, terrible, beater of a car. The creator could have just put together a plain old Craigslist ad or posted it on Cartrader.com or any other car selling website but instead they created what can only be seen as one of the most brilliant marketing pieces i've seen in a long time. Although they clearly have an advertising background a similar ad could have been created using Microsoft office, not InDesign, Quark or other professional layout programs. He used humour and creative messaging to make his product go viral and that is a great lesson for small businesses everywhere.

You don't NEED to spend huge dollars to have an advertising agency create you an ad with Jerry Seinfeld or aliens. If you don't have marketing/advertising dollars to spend you have to use creativity and have a sense of humour to get the word out about your product/brand. In this digital age it is becoming easier for brands to make a big splash with a smaller amount of money. The masses are using advertisements as a source of entertainment and if you make one interesting enough they will do all the work for you.

Making a boring product viral

I was forwarded a video ad this week by a friend of mine. As soon as I watched it and laughed multiple times throughout I have decided to give it Ad of the Year already. Why? Because this company took a boring product and managed to make a hilarious ad that has gone viral. The quality of the ad itself is very good, so clearly they didn't film it on their iPhone. So they may have spent some money on the ad itself, but they don't need to spend a single dollar on media because the masses are doing it for them. The company is called Dollar Shave Club and they have a great offer to go along with their brilliant video. Here is the video:



Check out the rest of their website at www.dollarshaveclub.com. This is the type of brilliant company that will be a goldmine for Mike the founder. As a male I can confirm that I am always shocked by how much razors cost in a store, and I always forget to buy new razors so if I can get a razor delivered to me each month for $1, then you've got my attention already.

Love the video, love the brand, and i'm sure they are getting a tonne of traction from this. When was the last time you wanted to forward a video or a website dedicated to razors?

This whole brand and campaign give hope to the boring brands out there. It just shows that with a little creativity and not taking a stuffy corporate approach to advertising can have a big impact.