The Big Idea Blog - Marketing

Happy Birthday TBI !

nospam@example.com (David Duccini) — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 20:40:18 -0500

It was one year ago today that we launched The Big Idea Blog!

http://thebigidea.com/index.php?/archives/2009/08/21.html

Thanks to you we're stoked about trying for another year.

Sincerely,

David V Duccini & David Walbridge

Who are you guys and what are you doing here distracting me? The Big Idea Blog is written by David Duccini & David Walbridge

Playing with reality...shows. PR, branding, controlling the message and marketing.

nospam@example.com (David Walbridge) — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:17:55 -0500

I was, very briefly, on a reality show.

Now, is the above statement true?

Several friends of mine are, even now, making their way through the world of reality shows - that is to say they are contestants. (Search the Danger Committee.)

Is the above statement true?

These 'reality' shows -- American idol, Survivor New Jersey, America's got talent, Last comic standing, Biggest loser, Clowns arounds town, etc. are currently very popular. However...

I lie for a living.

Is the above statement true?

I work as an actor and magician.

I have been paid to lie...to you. Do you assume when someone calls in to a radio station that person is un-paid, does not know the DJ and just happens to be quirky, interesting, controversial?

I have been a farmer, a regular guy eating a hamburger, a fake member of a fake audience at a fake tv show for a real movie. ( Too meta?)

I have been paid to call into radio shows and play characters -- but as if I were just a regular person. The audience never knew.

Ouch.

Reality? Good marketing? Fair?

Reality shows are under no obligation to present reality. They select, encourage, script, re-shoot and edit. They want to have great TV, not represent what really is. TV is under no obligation to present reality - No, not even the news shows.

Public Relations deals, almost entirely, with IMAGE. The IMAGE they want to present. Your brand is a very select version of the whole you.

How do you feel about the president?

You have never met Mr. Obama.

Your feelings about him come almost entirely from his image - good or bad -- and how his policies were spun.

The line between real (news, food, television, talent) and made up for a purpose, but not actually what happened/ what is happening...is gone. Blurred out of existence.

Today's BIG idea; Reality is not always reality. Control (Or attempt to control) your image & brand. And be aware that others are doing the same.

Is the above statement true?

(The show in question is Last comic standing.)

Public relations 101 - How not to handle a mistake....My story with Doliff / Travelers insurance

nospam@example.com (David Walbridge) — Fri, 14 May 2010 11:17:51 -0500

One key function of Public Relations is recovery...after your company makes a huge error.

The advice from PR professionals is always the same.

1. Admit your errors.
2. Fix them.
3. Apologize.

Et tu? British Petroleum.

So Travelers insurance, my insurance company for 15+ years....

BACKGROUND: My agent Mary Forslin, over at Doliff insurance, sent Travelers an inquiry about our policy. Travelers treated it as a change and cancelled us. And then opened us up a new policy at twice the previous rate. This was quite surprising to us as we had no notice of the change. It also caused some considerable stress.

So we did what you might do - called and emailed our agent, asking for more information...Now here, dear reader you might expect that we got a call back right away explaining and apologizing...Nope. We spent days wondering what had happened and how we were going to pay our bill.

ASIDE: Our agent, Mary, is not an adjuster. Travelers handles that. She neither sends no receives our billings. Her whole job, and in fact her job title is "customer service." Her only job is customer communication -- that's it. Literally nothing else. No call back from her or anyone else in the office.

Days later we call her again (after emailing as well for answers.) She explains the mistake. She begins to fix the mistake. Anyway can she get us a correct bill on time for payment? -- No idea, as she doesnt offer this solution. And, for whatever reason -- no apology to me.

Her job.
Her company.
Their mistake.

Cost of an apology - zero dollars.
Value of a prompt call and apology - PRICELESS

BIG IDEA: Mistakes will happen. Assure that Your PR department -- even if that's just you -- is ready to shine. Admit. Fix. Apologize.

POSTSCRIPT -- Still no apology to me from our agent.

This is not your average blog

nospam@example.com (David Duccini) — Wed, 12 May 2010 11:30:00 -0500

The average blog has the lifespan of a fruitfly (some joke that it also has the average intelligence as well). Thanks in part to instant publishing platforms, it takes almost no effort to set up a blog, writing content on the other hand, well that takes effort. So it should be really no surprise that the average blog has a readership of just a couple of people.

Fortunately, thanks to YOU, The Big Idea Blog is no average blog. We're also no A-list either. The good news is the more you share what you like with your friends the more our readership increases. And of course the more you share with us what you don't like via comments and the karma votes at the bottom of each post, you help keep us honest.

In early days of blogging it's a lot like getting up and singing karaoke in front of your friends. Maybe it involves a little liquid courage to get in front of the microphone. The same should not be said for blogging!

Once your blog is up and running and the search engines are starting to spider your site daily and random searches land people on your pages you begin to realize that you're no longer just singing to your friends, you're in a park somewhere singing and strangers may or may not react. At some point you might even throw out a hat to collect a little money (in blogs, that is usually advertiser support -- something we don't do here at TBI -- I'll explain why in a moment)

When you start building regular traffic to your blog and you break out of that "average" you begin to feel some sense of responsibility. The responsibility to post with some regularity, the need to produce higher quality material than in the early days (spell/fact check go along way -- mostly spell check though -- and proofreading), and the need to find the right mix of news, infotainment, and self-promotion. Using our singing analogy, at some point someone is going to convince you that you need to setup shop. You move off the sidewalks and out of the parks, and into the clubs. In the case of blogging, that is cross-linking among your social-networking peers, blogging pals, and the occasional news outlets mention.

If the crowds like you, they buy your t-shirts, bumper-stickers, and hand out your promo-CD's or MP3's around to their friends. In blogging the analog is the RSS feed/subscription. If you don't know what RSS is (or you don't want to admit it, or better yet you want to get a really good handle on it) -- go watch the YouTube video "RSS in Plain English" done by the folks at CommonCraft. Now that you know, please subscribe to this blog! The links are to your right.

If the advertisers like you, you're now entering the B-List set. Again in blogging, that's either promoting products by doing paid reviews, or putting permalink advertising on your blog site. Clearly we're not there yet, and I'm pretty sure we won't be, since what we're selling is ourselves.

When you hit rock-star status, you're writing books, going on tours, guest appearances, and landing your own show. You've "gone pro". Again, clearly we're not there yet. Though we have recently decided to take "The best of TBI" and compile it into an e-book after year one -- so stay connected (via that RSS thing).

Today's Big Idea: Promotion in all senses of the word is based on the relationships you build over time. Don't be average.

And don't forget your friends and fans that helped you out of the karaoke bars, off the sidewalks, into the parks and on to the next stage!

Who are you guys and what are you doing here distracting me? The Big Idea Blog is written by David Duccini & David Walbridge

Feedback from our readers - what would you like to see?

nospam@example.com (David Walbridge) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 12:25:16 -0500

We write about lots of things; ideas, corporate culture, movies, creativity, writing, comedy, writing comedy, teaching, tools, and emerging tech.
Because that's what we like, read about and fascinates us. But what about you? Anything you'd like to see more discussion of? New topics to cover? (Q & A perhaps?)

Post you ideas in the comments.

Today's Big idea: Create content your audience wants. By asking them directly. Even if it involves sentence fragments.

Who are you guys and what are you doing here distracting me? The Big Idea Blog is written by David Duccini & David Walbridge

Don't get mad, get youtube

nospam@example.com (David Walbridge) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 10:32:21 -0500

Bad customer service. Its always surprising - given that most of what we buy is services - But truly poor service is astounding, especially when a competing service is literally down the street. Me? I rarely complain. Instead I vote with my dollars and take my business elsewhere. Economic Darwinism, I suppose.

You can get mad.

You can complain.

Or you can be creative. {And it can launch your career.}

Dave Carroll saw United airlines break his guitar. His tool. His expensive instrument with which he makes his living. He complained. He got mad. Then he got on youtube with United breaks guitars ** Eight million views later...

His written story, which inspired the song.

What do I like about his response? Several things: Its creative. Its funny. Its true. It got a HUGE response. Thousands of people will re-consider flying United because of it. He created a beautiful, simple, successful meme. They say in theater that somewhere in the world, in one language or another, tonight, a production of Romeo and Juliet is playing. I suspect that somewhere, today, a customer saddles up to a United Airlines counter is some small airport {Wichita? Duluth? JFK?} and asks about this song. I know I will. Even if I never fly United. Success.

Today's big idea: Don't get mad. Get publicity.

(** Simple name. Clean direct. More on naming products in later blogs)

Hey Banks: Don't tell us how you good you are. Just be good and we'll notice!

nospam@example.com (David Duccini) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:30:00 -0600

I have to admit, I've been baffled by bank billboard advertising for some time now.

Do you know anyone that selected their bank based on a billboard ad?

My reaction is this:

"Don't tell us how good you are. Just be good and we'll notice"

Instead of spending all that money on billboards, here's an idea: Pay better interest on your deposits. Offer lower rates on auto-loans, and lend some money to small businesses.

Time and time again, the best form of advertising is "word-of-mouth" -- it's why sites like TripAdvisor exist (and the zillions of other customer feedback/reviews that you find on consumer products sites that people love so much). They influence purchase decisions in a way random advertising can't even touch.

When it comes to banking here are my recommends:

Want awesome interest on your deposits? Go with INGDirect (btw, they have a large presence in St. Cloud Minnesota -- invest in companies that invest in you) -- Check out their no-load mutual funds while you're there since they took over ShareBuilder.

Want awesome rates on your car loans or visa cards? Look no further than your friendly local credit union. I pay my card balances off every month in full, but that didn't stop Chase from cranking my rate up. Como Northtown offered a 9.9% VISA gold card rate and they gave us an incredible 4% rate on our SmartCar! (and as they say with most disclaimers, "your individual mileage may vary" -- which if you're not driving a SmartCar, it is!) -- It now means that all those vendor transaction fees that Chase was enjoying now goes to support my very local bank, which in turn is reinvested in my community. Thanks Chase!

How about mortgages? Call Steve Page at PrimeSource Funding. Steve has taken care of me for the last seven years through several originations and refinancing deals. He has an amazing way of finding the lowest rates in the industry. Wells Fargo does a fantastic job of servicing our loan and of all the big banks is the one I admire the most.

Interested in stocks that pay dividends? Wouldn't it be cool if you could just put that money on auto-pilot and automatically acquire more shares, at a discount, AND earn fractional shares? Many companies offer Dividend Re-Investment Plans (DRIPS) -- I like using the services of the American Stock Transfer and Trust Company to manage my REIT stocks.

Today's Big Idea: When it comes to banks and banking literally vote with your dollars.

Don't take their word for it. They aren't as awesome as they think they are. Ask around.

Who are you guys and what are you doing here distracting me? The Big Idea Blog is written by David Duccini & David Walbridge

Predictions for Apple's new Mac tablet computer -- The McMac?

nospam@example.com (David Walbridge) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:34:34 -0600

So Apple is releasing their long touted tablet computer tomorrow...after along, long time and many many rumors. Well, its time to jump on the bandwagon with the tech-nosticators and throw in my ideas of what to expect:

1. (Easy one) It will be very cute. Apple designs their packages well. Expect rounded corners, interesting colors and a very high "awww!" factor.
2. Expensive. Macs are not cheap. They are not your father's Windows machine. Apple will charge, for what is essentially a micro net book, $899. {Most net books street for about a third of that.}
3. Drop dead easy to use. Turn it on, it works. Expect simplicity and features. It comes with a manual, but you won't need it.
4. Long battery life. Six hours minimum.
5. A weird size. No, strike that, the wrong size. Too big for a pocket, too small to watch a dvd.
6. Completely sold out in days. At least for a week or two.
7. Madness at the apple retail stores. A Geek convention of massive proportions. And plenty of media coverage of those who wait over-night to get theirs.

What do you think? Add your predictions in the comments. And tune in tomorrow and see how close we get.

Dave w

The very basics of marketing ...

nospam@example.com (David Walbridge) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:08:53 -0600

If you don't have time to get a marketing degree or even time to read "Marketing for Dummies" here is a definition of what marketing is:

Marketing is telling people you are here.

Hi. We're Pepsi.

Simple. Thats it. Now good marketing is:

Telling people what you do just when they need it: (**)

Thirsty? We're Pepsi.

That's it. Now there are lots of details. How to reach them. How to find them. When. What to say. How to figure out what will sell.
But start with the basics.

Today's BIG idea: What is your "Hi" message?

( ** "It" being you, your skill set, company, company, product, etc.)