In this article I am going to give you a link that was sent to me as a funny video. You will soon understand why I am using this link in this message. This is a very important reminder that viral marketing can be very damaging or even destroy a business.
If you are new to the term, viral marketing, in a nutshell, is where one person tells or emails another about a website, story, video, movie, restaurant, product etc The message usually starts out with something like: hey____ you’ve gotta check this out.
Recently millions watched the Super Bowl. Whether you like his music or not Prince absolutely “wowed” most everyone. The papers gave him an outstanding rating. He performed flawlessly in pouring rain. Think about the impact on his record sales and his performance price tag. Guess what song was my most recent purchase from ITunes.
On the same show was the Snickers’ commercial along with a rather long list of other displays of marketing stupidity. But let’s examine the Snickers presentation. (If you don’t know what I am talking about – do a search on the Internet.) Was the intent to build brand awareness? Or was the intent to test direct response? Direct response may have been the ultimate goal since different endings that visitors to the web site could vote on were planned. I don’t know, but the real direct response was the outrage over the commercial and it being pulled two days after the Super Bowl.
My view is that it has nothing to do with motivating you want to buy a Snickers in fact it may have turned allot of buyers to alternative selections. It reminds me of some the outrageous subject lines used by Internet marketers. Sure I notice them. But they don’t make me want to read the message.
Moving on: What would you do to have the opportunity to showcase a new product introduction on Dave Letterman’s show? I’ll bet you would be prepared. You would make sure you looked the part and what you were showcasing worked right. Plus I’ll bet you would make sure there was at least a subtle reference to your web site or 800#. Even the newest people learning marketing would know to do this. Look at this clip – amazing. Click Here For Steamed
Can you imagine being a celebrity using your name with a new product introduction and having it turn out to be a major joke – on Letterman of all places. Come on.. you can’t tell me that even Richard Simmons doesn’t have common sense. If he doesn’t, he certainly has staff could to show him how to dress and act since he is associating his name with a product. I would really enjoy having the opportunity of watching this with Joel Bauer – Mr. Persuasion. I can only imagine Joel’s reaction.
The point is, you don’t have to be a master marketer to get it right. Just use common sense. I am not a marketing guru but just this year I finished helping two companies get on track for 2007 where their sales will increase 50% and profit growth will be higher than that. Of course it is not all marketing. But without an effective business development plan in place along with a management system in place that quickly confirms what is working and what is not so you can take appropriate action, you will not hit your target.
May you and all permanently experience prosperous health, happiness and abundance
Steve Pohlit
Business Development Consulting
Steve Pohlit has more than 20 years experience running very large and medium sized companies. Steve now designs and implements processes with large and small companies that will deliver improved business performance for the long term. Most projects are self-funding within 90 days. . Learn more about the process of Increasing Profits by 30% or More In 90 Days or Less by visiting http://www.stevepohlit.com or you can call 727-587-7871 and speak with Steve directly. Have a question? Click Here To Visit Ask The Consultant If you want to learn how to use a blog to build your business then register for the the free mini-course “Blogging for Profits” at Steve Reports and Blogging For Profits. Did you know you can make a ton of money by referring a business that converts to consulting project? Just thought I’d mention that.
