MAD MARKETING TACTICS™ !: TNNWC

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Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Video: Flash Messaging In A Box

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If a picture is worth a thousand words, then an embedded video is worth several million. Brief video presentations (usually with audio tracks are rapidly displacing text alerts, fixed images, and the nearly-extinct mode of communication and messaging referred to as email.

Videos done as PowerPoint presentations, slide shows, animated graphics and YouTube live footage (even on a limited budget, you can work wonders with your webcam if you know how to center and focus, and provided that you are not prone to tremors) are excellent for two reasons:

1) They engage several of the senses simultaneously to facilitate faster, more memorable and highly efficient communications; and,

2) They offer an incredible opportunity for embedding all manner of subliminal messaging, to further heighten the effectiveness of the presentation.

A brief article excerpt follows for your information. After you read it, please hit the "BACK" button and return to this page -- Sadly, Feedburner will not permit transmittal of some of the video images which I've embedded for your entertainment at the end of this posting, but I have, where possible inserted hyperlinks so that you may access them directly from the RSS feed. What is probably best, however, is if you go to the blog itself to see the videos right here.

First, the excerpt:
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Video killed the text e-mail star
Text can't compete with video when it comes to conveying emotion, so businesses should consider using video e-mails to attract new customers, Farhan Niazi writes. Using YouTube to embed a video in a Gmail message can get the job done for free, while paid options can streamline the process, he writes. SmallBizTechnology.com (8/18)

####

And now for some embedded commercial video pleasure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QKmhMBNVns&feature=related

AND NOW: A Completely Fictional Headliner About Douglas E. Castle Produced By Nonexistent British Director Nigel Carruthers III.

P.S. This "slideshow" was free, but I would have easily paid three times that much!

http://widget-e3.slide.com/widgets/slideticker.swf

Actions:

1) Start embedding videos in your other media...blogs, status updates (via links), websites, newsletters and emails [where technologically possible]

2) Post your videos independently to all of the video media, such as YouTube, SlideShare, Flickr and a whole bunch of others for additional exposure and empressions. Need a list of video posting media? Google search: Post+My+Videos ... or Video+Posting+Sharing+Media.

Engage more of your audience's senses for a more meaningful and memorable experience -- go video. I'm even thinking of producing a series of very low-budget videos about Mad Marketing Tactics! Spielberg started small...

Douglas E Castle

http://aboutDouglasCastle.blogspot.com
http://www.tnnwc.com

3 Different Ways To Control The YouTube Video Volume (makeuseof.com)
YouTube SEO Tips to Get Your Video in Google Search-Results (myseosoftware.com)
Vidyard (YC S11) Is A YouTube For Businesses (techcrunch.com)
The Weekly Online Video News Round Up - Internet TV Edition (reelseo.com)
Candid 'Improv Everywhere' Video Becomes YouTube Sensation [PHOTOS & VIDEO] (ibtimes.com)
Gerber adapts YouTube videos to pitch snacks (smartbrief.com)
A Chat With Epic Meal Time: YouTube Gets Wrapped In Bacon (forbes.com)
Top 5 Free Browser Based Tools To Record Your Google+ Hangouts (webtablab.com)

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Marketing Failure Prevention - 3 Steps.

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If you should send anyone (i.e., prospective clients, existing clients, estranged relatives, strangers on a list you've rented, etcetera) an unsolicited correspondence via text or email and you would like for them to read it, remember these three things: 1) It must have a wonderful hook in its subject line (a call to attention); 2) It must contain some informational content of general interest; and, 3) If it contains an advertisement or a request, show some respect for your involuntary by making it clever, inconspicuous and uncluttered with flash, graphics and other festoonery -- if you fail to follow these three rules, your solicitation will not only be treated as a moron-o-gram and tossed into the spam compacter -- you will be remembered by your recipients (and not in a positive light, either), and might get yourself blacklisted with a number of them.

Your mailing list manager, MailChimp, iMail, AWeber, Constant Contact, or JiffyMail (whichever one you overpay for their delightfully labyrinthine double opt-in subscription feature), might even suspend your account (read their Terms Of Service ... they can) pending an explanation from you, and a promise to "never, ever be naughty again."

Good communication is one of the keys to any successful marketing campaign. Don't insult your audience. Show them some respect, and give them something of benefit for their having opened your email or text message -- even if it's just an inspirational quote or a fun factoid.

Following is an unsolicited "item" (a euphemism for a fetid, steaming pile of yak excrement) which I had the distinct displeasure of receiving. It inspired me to write this article, so there was a benefit; but it was an inadvertent one. I just can't let these folks off the hook...

My distaste for this unsolicited communique was not a function of xenophobia [after all, I do write The Internationalist Page Blog as well as The Global Futurist Blog]; it is a function of universal disgust. The question each of us must ask himself, herself or itself (so as to be politically correct) is this:

"If the recipient of this thing were to receive 100 emails hourly, or ten texts hourly, how would he/ she/ it feel about me, as the sender, after having opened it?"

Douglas E Castle

http://MadMarketingTactics.blogspot.com
http://www.TNNWC.com
http://BusinessAndProjectPlanning.blogspot.com
http://InfoSphereBusinessAlerts.blogspot.com

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

"Quick Fix" Marketing Magic - Suppressed Secrets.

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Every Human Being harbors some belief (or perhaps wishful thinking)in secrets and surprises. Each of us longs for a "one-call-fixes-all" panacea to eliminate life's problems or to attain some goal of personal importance. Each of us believes that there is a "master secret" or "holy grail" that we should find (like the alchemist's Philosopher's Stone, which was long sought -- albeit metaphorically -- to change base metals into gold), or that we have somehow missed.

I don't know a single person who wouldn't like a quick fix to overcome some problem or to attain great success. And the quick fix, the miracle cure, the elixir of life, or whatever it is, must always be elusive -- the more valuable and magical, the more hidden it must be. Buried treasure. If it's not buried, than how can it be a treasure?

The other interesting thing is that most people believe in the notion of "if it's really that great, someone who has already discovered it will keep it secret, or will seek to suppress it." This may be symptomatic of a paranoic bent which is hard-wired into our minds, or of a projection of our own greed or selfishness onto others.

You would be amazed, or maybe you wouldn't, at the number of people who believe that there is a secret...

1. Source of limitless free energy;

2. Cure for all cancers and other diseases;

3. Spell, chant, prayer or incantation to win someone's love or to obtain riches;

4. Group of people (usually seven in number) who control the entire world by the use of some secret which they hand down from generation to generation within their families or specially privileged or initiated social circles;

5. Method to making millions of dollars (without the use of a printing press, as that would be cheating!) overnight by using some computer tool, program, or "system.".

We all feel a bit left out. We work so hard and have so little to show for it. We envy those who are privileged with access to these secrets. We are infuriated with the big oil companies for suppressing the trick to powering vehicles using only water. We are jealous of the fellows who become initiated into Skull and Bones and have their careers (usually involved in ruling the world in some way) just set out for them, like a magic carpet. We want to find that magic lamp at an antique shop (usually in Connecticut or Maine, for some reason) with the genie inside. We want the golden goose, the prize at the bottom of the Cracker Jacks box, the winning Lotto ticket.

We all want instant gratification. And we all somehow suspect that the key is in someone else's greedy hands. And he (who owns the tool shed, or the hangar, or the wand, or the formula) is keeping it a SECRET. In fact, if you wrote a book and titled it The Secret, it would likely be a New York Times Bestseller.

Mad marketers and promoters exploit their knowledge of this quirky aspect of Human Nature by offering to reveal (at a price) a secret. Because if it weren't a secret, it couldn't really be that valuable. All they need is a rationalization for why they are willing to give "the secret" up --- a dying man's last wish, an obligation to all of Humankind, revenge against the people who are trying to suppress it --- there just has to be a good reason.

I am crazy about the ads that say (month after month), that "This is only available for a limited time (feel that urgency?), because they (usually a government agency, or some very powerful people acting in nefarious collusion) are going to shut it down, or pull it off of the web, or grab the last of it, or kidnap the inventor, or make it illegal!

Run, people! Run to buy that secret thing! Get it while you can! It will make/save you a small fortune! Act now! While supplies last! This offer expires at midnight! It's the natural remedy that the doctors don't want you to know about! Turn your garbage into gold! This system keeps making money, while you're sleeping... even if you don't want it to...you just can't stop it! I'm only making this offer to some 'special friends' (usually a vast list of undisclosed recipients) because I can't keep it to myself any longer!

Yes, I have overstated my case, and yes, I'm guilty of sarcasm. But I'd wager that you see my point. And you realize that I'm correct. And we both feel a bit foolish about it.

Perhaps your marketing, messaging and promotion could use a touch of "secrecy" combined with a sense of urgency. It's a proven method... and I've only revealed this secret because they (whoever they are) are going to make it illegal and I haven't much longer to live.

Gotcha.

-- Douglas E Castle

http://madmarketingtactics.blogspot.com/
http://www.linkedIn.com/in/DouglasCastle
http://www.tnnwc.com/

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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

GIST Video - Own Your Audience In 2 Minutes - http://bit.ly/LethalNapkin

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Mad Marketing Tactics (http://madmarketingtactics.blogspot.com/) and TNNWC (http://www.tnnwc.com/) now have the privilege to present you with a very important business case study -- just like the ones given to MBA candidates at Harvard, Wharton and Yale -- except without any really big words...[cue drumroll]

GIST Video -
Own Your Audience In 2 Minutes - http://bit.ly/LethalNapkin

We live in a world where we have to compete vigorously for attention. A noisy, crowded, rushed world, with voices blaring, signs glaring and children swearing. A world that makes New York's Grand Central Station at rush hour look like nappy time at a country nursery where they are not afraid to use chloroform or ether - I've exaggerating, of course, but you get the gist.

Well...

It's not enough to have a great product, plan and message. Nope. No sir.

You have to find a way to grab their attention, immediately engage them (using pictures, movement, and a genuine human voice).

In brief, you have to be able to draw your message in a simple series of pictures on a napkin while you explain, in simple, graphic terms, what you or your company are all about. To ramp up the exercise, pretend that you are doing this in a busy diner, the person sitting across from you has discretionary authority over $100.0 MILLION in venture funds and the waitress (a dour-looking beast of a woman with an unsightly, hair-laden mole, the size of a raisin, on her chin) has her hands on her hips and is not-so-gently indicating that other customers are waiting to be seated in the diner. To make matters worse, she has already re-filled your coffee cups three times. You're sweating. You need to use the restroom, too.

Look at the informative picture below, quickly absorb its message, and then head to http://bit.ly/LethalNapkin or, if you prefer (and some of you will), http://bit.ly/2guys1napkin -

Head to http://bit.ly/LethalNapkin or, if you prefer (and some of you will), http://bit.ly/2guys1napkin.

GIST VIDEO - "Your napkin is our canvas.*"

* This is not the Gist Video slogan.

Tags, Labels and Key Terms: Gist Video, TNNWC, articles by Douglas Castle, TNNWC Services, messaging, Branding, buzzing, Buzzworks, building customer confidence and loyalty, Multi-Media Buzz Blitz, TNNWC News Release, getting attention, engaging their senses, chloroform, ether, Dexter, mean waitresses, people with limited attention spans, coping with stress, moles (both the facial kind and the industrial espionage kind), competing for position, competing for attention, Gist Napkin, Two Guys One Napkin, ping, trends, lethal marketing secrets, special sauce, Gist Video Slogan, "The Gist" movie,

Coming soon to a theatre near you: The GIST Buzzlander!
Preview the Movie Trailer! -- http://bit.ly/GISTbuzzlander (NR -not yet rated)

MAD MARKETING TACTICS™ !
Get MAD... Get CRAZY... Get MOVING... Get ATTENTION!
Visit us at http://MadMarketingTactics.blogspot.com

TNNWC Group, LLC, in Brief

TNNWC Group, LLC empowers emerging enterprises locally, worldwide and inter-globally by providing 1) informational publications and products; 2) an indispensible suite of crucial, unparalleled services for business planning, development, growth, marketing and capitalization, which are offered to all of our Members who are all 3) interactively involved within a growing, mutually-supportive collaborative, cooperative community of individuals and businesses. We are run by entrepreneurial people, and we live to serve entrepreneurial people and the business initiated through their inspiration… from the garage-based technological start-up, to the “small business” wanting to break free of its limitations and grow larger at an accelerated but sustainable pace. We Empower Emerging Enterprises™ - not with “happy talk” and “grandiose ideas”… but with real tools and expert interpersonal guidance to use each of them for their optimal effectiveness. Visit us at TNNWC Group, LLC. - Join us. We have so much to offer you. Our philosophy is simple: UNITE AND CONQUER.

Capital, Traffic Building, International Customers and unique SERVICES.
The National Networker Publications™ produced by TNNWC Group, LLC
Resources for Business Planning, Development, Capital and Growth

Monday, December 6, 2010

Tastelessness - Offensive and Effective Marketing

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Tastlessness has always caused a ruckus, an outrage, or censure. But then, it has NEVER FAILED and will never fail to generate attention. There is a great place in Mad Marketing Tactics for tastelessness. It can be deployed in words, or pictures -- I have chosen to embed words in a picture to illustrate just what I mean:

My question to you is simple: Is the above picture a steaming pile of freshly excreted turd, or is it a chocolately dessert treat?

And to go just a bit further: A very effective marketing campaign involving the simple arts and crafts project above would have even the most discerning viewer reaching for his spoon.

Dare I repeat it?

Of course!

TASTELESSNESS - OFFENSIVE AND EFFECTIVE MARKETING.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle
http://www.douglascastleblogosphere.com/
http://bit.ly/JoinTNNWC -- Join TNNWC... I have already dropped more than a hint.

MAD MARKETING TACTICS™ !
Get MAD... Get CRAZY... Get MOVING... Get ATTENTION!
Visit us at http://MadMarketingTactics.blogspot.com

*Labels, Tags and Keywords For this article: tastelessness, offensive and effective marketing, TNNWC, Douglas E. Castle, Marketing Magnetics, Mini-Media Buzz Blitz, dropping hints, chocolate treats, Man's best friend, leaving a reminder behind, stool is cool, effectiveness of images in marketing and messaging.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Classic Marketing Messages That Always Work - "Trite But True"

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Classic Marketing Messages That Always Work - "Trite But True."

This article written by author Douglas Castle and published in MAD MARKETING TACTICS.

There are certain classic marketing messages (these are usually enhancers, reinforcers or reassurances to be added after your product or brand statement and slogan are made), which are completely unoriginal, but which add an element of magnetism to your promotion and advertising.

Part of the reason for the effectiveness of these statements as that are:

1. Commonplace, expected and comforting;

2. Apt to remind prospective customers of other positive experiences; and/or

3. That they appeal to the almost universal lust on the part of consumers to be "winners" -- to cleverly find bargains, value, bonuses and freebies. This third item is important -- even if you uptown neighbor, Roderick J. X. Astor, III won't ever admit this to anyone, as he prides his Mayflower-descended self on never having to ask the price, and never having to haggle...such trivialities, he would say are reserved for the "Little people; the less fortunate among us - so very, very sad about them." through his clenched jaw, while pouring a single malt from a crystal decanter in his study.

Some of the classics follow:

1) Buy now before we have to increase our prices on _____________.

2) We have a limited inventory, and they are being bought up quickly ... so please order yours now.

3) We provide ONE-STOP SHOPPING.

4) We are the only source/vendor/supplier that you will ever need.

5) We are giving this _______, worth $150.00, if you join today/ if you purchase the boxed collection.

6) Your satrisfaction is guaranteed, or you'll get your money refunded in full.

7) The world's greatest __________________ are already our clients.

8) You're not a number, you're a client, and we offer personal, concierge service.

9) The first five issues are absolutely free, and then you can cancel if you like -- but you can keep those first five issues as our gift to you.

10) We offer personalized, custom service to meet your exact needs.

11) The more you buy, the more you save.

12) Customer/ Member rewards/loyalty program.

13) You'll find everything you need right here.

14) Save time - Come on over today - We do the WHOLE job.

15) Products are homemade.

16) We won't bust your wallet/ your budget. We know that every dollar is important to you.

17) We're your first stop/call.

18) We have the distinction of being certified by _____________________________.

19) We strive for 100% customer satisfaction.

20) We'll work with you until it's exactly what you want.

21) We guide you every single step of the way.
---------------

Trite? Perhaps. Effective? Absolutely. Use them, alone or in combination to increase you brand appeal, your site appeal, your customer conversion rate. Really.

After all, would I lie to you?

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle
http://aboutDouglasCastle.blogspot.com
http://www.DouglasCastleBlogosphere.com

MAD MARKETING TACTICS™ !
Get MAD... Get CRAZY... Get MOVING... Get ATTENTION!
Visit us at http://MadMarketingTactics.blogspot.com