Disney Viral Video

http://www.sun7news.com/index.php?code=6GRH238uV2Nn2ko8×693&CMP=OTC-WWYCOVS1001

Opt in vs Opt out

On most of the signup pages for newsletter or membership, you would see a check box for you to decide if you want to receive future email information about the company or products. Some of them are default to yes and users have to click “no” to opt out of receiving emails. You cost me my time and risk annoying me.

Opt out = junk mail / spam

Another example, when you sign up for netvigator broadband, the sales person will convince you to take some free trial services for 2 months, i didn’t want it but he insisted so i said ok do whatever you want. Then 2 months later, they started charging me for the extra services that i didn’t want and didn’t use, they said i had to contact them to cancel the service. I complained and they waived the charges, the decision was made in an instance, they probably get the same complaints a lot.

Why do they keep pissing off their new customers like that? Instead, why don’t you offer the 2 months free trail and then have the same sales person to follow up after 2 months and ask if i want to continue the services and start paying for them?

Finding Opportunities in Crisis

Just remember this rather inspiring conversation with a cab driver on my way to the airport about the year of the ox.

He thinks it should be called the year of the cow as it sounds more gentle. And I think it should be named the year of the bull, he thinks it sounds too threathening and reminds people of the economic crisis.

But the term “crisis” in Chinese is a combination of the characters of “danger” and “opportunity”, sounds rather exciting to me.

Everyone in the 4As advertising industry is panicking, but now that clients have less money to spend on TVC, outdoor and print ads, they turn to us for digital, viral and word of mouth campaigns that deliver measurable results.

Businesses also realize that only their loyal customers and fans are still spending on them, we help them formulate permission based marketing strategies and build, feed and nuture their tribes, allowing them to find and build products for their customers instead of finding customers for their products.

Generalist vs Specialist

Would you rather be someone who knows a little bit about everything or someone who knows everything about something?

Do you get the feeling that all the ideas you could come up with have been thought of or done by someone else already? That shouldn’t stop you from doing it yourself if you think you can reinvent and be the best in it.

For those lucky ones who are passionate about a niche, stay focus and become the best in your world. People only talk about the edges. And the best, the fastest, the highest, the biggest, etc get rewarded.

Perfect vs Remarkable

You pay 4As agencies a lot to produce marketing materials that are visually beautiful, professional, corporate and flawless. You review them and say they are perfect and approved and then they get published.

When we see these perfect ads and messages,  we agree they are pretty, but thats how they’re supposed to be. They are also common, typical, ordinary, coventional and routine. This creative standard has become expected and average, we are not impressed and we won’t tell anyone.

Instead of aimming for perfect and flawless, try aimming for remarkable.

Being remarkable is being extraordinary, unusual, surprising, amazing and spectacular. Most importantly, it is something worth talking about.

This article on The Guardian tells you how to be remarkable.

Remarkable becomes unremarkable over time, you need to reinvest and reinvent all the time.

Is Mass Marketing dead? is TV Advertising dead?

We put up with TV commerical ads because we had no choice. But now i watch video clips on Youtube. I flipped through the print ads on magazines and newspaper in order for me to get to the articles i wanted to read. But now i read the content online or subscribe to the RSS feeds. We now have alternative ways to gain access to information and entertainment without seeing the ads.

We now see more ads than ever, there’s so much advertising everywhere we go and look that our brains have learnt to filter out these ads automatically, we are now able to ignore them without trying to.

More mass products are being introduced to the mass market, more mass media ads are being produced and more new interruption based media channels are emerging. But the more they spend, the less it works. The less it works, the more they spend.

So my answer to this subject is no. But the smart marketers recognize that the traditional approach of mass media advertising is much less effective in this digital age and they now focus their resources on permission based marketing approaches that offer much higher return on investment.

Interruption vs Permission Marketing

You have my email doesn’t mean you should spam me, you have my number doesn’t mean you should cold call or sms me. You have me watching your free TV channels doesn’t mean i have to watch your commercial ads. I bought your magazine for the articles and your newspaper for the news, not to read your print ads.

Even if I wanted to hear from you before or i didn’t complain before doesn’t mean you have the right to talk to me now.

Either I want to hear from you or i don’t. Either you have my permission or you are interrupting me. But it seems like the more i ignore you the more you try to show up in my face, when i see your ads appearing down the urinals while i’m minding my own business or when you install a tv on the bus to sell me something while i’m trying to take a nap makes me feel like you are stalking me.

Seth wrote the book Permission Marketing in 1999. Below is the key takeaway:

Permission marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them.

It recognizes the new power of the best consumers to ignore marketing. It realizes that treating people with respect is the best way to earn their attention.

Pay attention is a key phrase here, because permission marketers understand that when someone chooses to pay attention they are actually paying you with something precious. And there’s no way they can get their attention back if they change their mind. Attention becomes an important asset, something to be valued, not wasted.

Its been 10 years and most brands are still spending millions of dollars to stalk me instead of earning the privilege to my attention.

Word of Mouth Marketing vs Viral Marketing

Marketers did not invent word-of-mouth, its human nature to tell stories and share experiences (good and bad) with others. Word-of-mouth marketing leverages this very natural behaviour to tell authentic stories about brands and products. Then the consumers tell a few friends about the stories and if their friends go and try out the product or service and they also like it, then they’ll spread the words and recommend to other friends. The long lineup for egg tarts outside of Tai Cheong Bakery is word-of-mouth. Nevertheless, the buzz for most word-of-mouth campaigns eventually fades (except for Google).

Viral marketing spreads quicker, the compounding function is sometimes built into the product (eg. hotmail). The more people use it, the more people see it and then even more people use it, again and again with geometrically increasing power, doubling with each iteration.

Viral campaigns may take the form of videos, music, images, games, ebooks, mobile app, branded utility, branded content, etc. (Please click on the links to view samples for each category, i’ll be sharing more interesting demos on this blog so check back often!)

Viral marketing is only as good as the idea or concept it promotes and I have seen lots of entertaining ads that went viral but didn’t market the brands or products in a meaningful, tangible way.

Digital Advertising vs Online Advertising

Online advertising uses the internet to deliver marketing messages through website, microsite, web banners, rich media ads, social network, email marketing, blogging, online video, and SEO, etc.

Digital advertising extends beyond the World Wide Web. Mobile advertising obviously falls under the digital umbrella, it doesn’t get any more personal as your phone is with you 24/7.

Digital advertisng extends further into traditional media.

Digital TV offers interactivity and TV commerce opportunities.

Digital Radio offers over the air music download opportunities.

Outdoor digital billboards demand much more attention.

Interactive video projection and holographic effects produce better WOW effect at live events.

We might have come to the end of the beginning phase of online advertising but I think  we have only just entered the beginning phase of digital advertising.

Ying Yang Marketing

This article on AdvertisingAge discusses the challenge of how to sell digital advertising against more established medias such as TV. The most popular selling point is the measurable ROI and interactivity offered by digital against TV commercials’ declining effectiveness.

True development of maketing in this digital age takes place when traditional and digital maketing development occur side by side to complement, reinforce and transform each other, like ying and yang.