MAD MARKETING TACTICS™ !: TNNWC News Releases

Showing posts with label TNNWC News Releases. Show all posts

Friday, June 24, 2011

Marketing Magnetics: Couple Your Techno- Announcements With HUMAN INTEREST Stories.

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In marketing, messaging, publicity, public relations and promotion, one of your goals is to get your information out to the largest prospective qualified audience. A second goal (aside from grabbing the greatest share of readership), is to make certain that the content is sticky -- this means that it must be contain something of magnetic interest to as many recipients as possible.

Marketing Magnetics: Couple Your Techno- Announcements With HUMAN INTEREST Stories.

Here is a technique which helps you to accomplish both a vast broadening of your prospective audience while engaging their attention, as well:

Don't just talk about a new company or a new technology (and its utility, prospective market impact and unique or differentiating aspects) -- tell a bit about the entrepreneur behind it...Personalize and Humanize it.

*What problem did he or she face that inspired the creation of a solution?

*What obstacles did he or she have to overcome in order to gather emotional, intellectual and financial support for the project?

*What are the new challenges with which our subject intrepid entrepreneur is faced in order to push the project further?

*Who is our entrepreneur as a person -- a Human Being with a story to tell about growing up, idolizing other thinkers, mentors, education, family, ambitions, handicaps, disappointments and sacred victories..

Techno-talk is two-dimensional. But a Human Interest Story is what excites and ignites our readers. Apple is nice, but Steve Jobs is a personality; Microsoft is interesting, but Bill Gates is a mysterious and fascinating character.

These are the positioning, messaging and wordsmithing issues which our experts and advisors at TNNWC New Releases, Public Relations and Publicity are constantly tasked with; it takes a sense of balance to describe a brilliant new technological innovation in the context of an entrepreneurial hero's personal journey. People are interested in, and identify with, other people. Ask Kent Martin, The Divisional Advisor for our TNNWC News Machine, or RD Watkins, the technical mastermind and Commander behind TNNWC's Buzzworks Barristas (our laser-focused social media domination apparatus).

You could ask me, Douglas E Castle...

Two of our wonderful clients were clients I chose to engage with because they were personally fascinating to me:

Mr. Danco Sotirofsky, the dynamic founder and president of WorkFly, Inc. [and co-developer of the WorkFly Workforce] (http://www.workfly.com/) has a brilliant business paradigm that has the potential to stimulate the entire local-area small-business sectors across the entire nation, and to create jobs (real jobs) for any American who would like to work and generate a limitless income (without being on public assistance or investing a penny of hard-earned money).

Mr. DJ Sherman, the CEO of NewVision Mobile, Inc, trading as Mobile Logic, saw a need for executives and entrepreneurs on-the-go to be able to quickly and ergonomically pack their communications gear to travel with them anywhere -- in a case that is intuitively-friendly, handsome and virtually indestructible: an incredibly wonderful and versatile utility.

Both of these gentlemen have brilliant business ideas that speak of their relentless dedication to making theings better for others, as well a substantial profit for their investors and prospective investor-participants. But I chose them to be TNNWC Clients because of the inspired field of energy, genuine integrity and vulnerable Humanity they both exuded.

You'll be hearing a great deal about these gentlemen. They have paradigm-changing technologies; that is true. But they touched the Humanity in me, and that is the difference between a product and a legend.

Tags, Labels, Keywords, Categories And Terms For This Article, published by the author in both Mad Marketing Tactics! and the TNNWC Supplemental RSS Feed And Daily Email Bulletin --- as well as in The National Networker (TNNWC) Weekly Newsletter:

Entrepreneur, Public relations, WorkFly Workforce, Mobile Logic, Danco Sotirofsky, DJ Sherman, Human Interest Stories, Douglas E Castle, TNNWC News Releases, Kent Martin, Marketing Magnetics, stickiness, media traction, legends, merging technology with its creators, passion, individualists, storytelling in PR, the Humans behind the curtain, jobs creation, innovation, inspiration, resonance, Human behavioral psychology, increasing readership, increasing website traffic, branding, buzzing, building a legend, "behind the scenes", TNNWC News Releases, TNNWC Buzzworks, Buzzicology, blogosphere, RD Watkins, writing a press release.

LIST OF CATEGORIES:

Appealing To The Broadest Audience
Author Douglas E. Castle
behavioral psychology
Blogs by Douglas Castle
Buzz and Branding
Douglas E Castle
Enhancing Creativity
Entrepreneurial Business And Growing Companies
Entrepreneurs and Small Business
Entrepreneurs On The Rise
Human Interest Stories
JD Sherman and NewVision Mobile
Marketing Tactics and Strategies
Messaging and Communications
Social Media
TNNWC NEWS RELEASES
TNNWC Services
Trending Now
Visionaries
Writing Effective News Releases
Writing Skills and Wordsmithing

MAD MARKETING TACTICS™ !

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NOTICE: This article is Copyright © 2011 by author Douglas E Castle with all rights reserved. It may be republished without permission provided that it is published in full, with all hyperlinks and exhibits left intact, and with full attribution given the author. This article does not contain or constitute medical, health, psychological, legal, regulatory, investment, securities, financial, tax, or any other form of professional advice -- the reader acknowledges and accepts this disclaimer. Further, the reader indemnifies and holds harmless both the author and all publications in which this article appears of any damages, claims, loss, responsibility or liability emerging from the reader’s utilization of any information contained herein.

About This Author: Further information regarding this author’s professional experience, expertise and service offerings can be found at ABOUT DOUGLAS E CASTLE

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Thursday, December 23, 2010

The SNUGGIE Strategy

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THE “SNUGGIE” STRATEGY – LAUGH AT YOURSELF ALONG WITH YOUR VIEWERS: JOIN “IN” ON THE PERCEIVED JOKE.

The article portion which follows was excerpted from the New York Times. As you read it, you may wish to imagine the song from the short-lived “Macarena” dance craze playing in the background:

December 21, 2010

Lots of Laughs, and Even More Sales

By ANDREW ADAM NEWMAN

IN the fall of 2008, when the Snuggie, a blanket with sleeves, was introduced in an infomercial, it was mocked by television hosts including Jay Leno and Ellen DeGeneres and went viral, garnering millions of viewings on YouTube and spawning hundreds of parody commercials.

Consumers purchased about four million Snuggies during the 2008 holiday season, according to Allstar Products Group, its maker. Typically, a success story for a kitschy infomercial product would end there, with the Snuggie going the way of items like the Clapper (“Clap on! Clap off!”) and Pocket Fisherman (“The biggest fishing invention since the hook!”).

But not so for the blanket with arms, which, from a marketing perspective, turns out to have legs as well.

By the end of 2010, the company will have sold 25 million blankets, the equivalent of one for about every 12 residents of the United States, and Scott Boilen, president of Allstar Products, which is based in Hawthorne, N.Y., says there is no indication that sales are waning.

“The Snuggie has revolutionized the way people think about blankets,” said Mr. Boilen. “People are collecting multiple Snuggies — it’s like a shirt.”

To encourage such collecting, there are now 15 styles of the Snuggie, including one with a nylon shell for outdoor use, a Sherpa model with thick white lining, a smaller version for children, and a large version for couples, with three armholes — one to be shared. There is even an expanding line for dogs, including a wearable Snuggie and a blanket-topped dog bed.

The original spot for Snuggie followed the standard infomercial format: state a problem, and then present the product as an ingenious solution.

“Blankets are O.K., but they slip and slide, and when you want to reach for something, your hands are trapped inside,” says a voiceover in that first infomercial, as an actress fidgets under a small throw when the phone rings. “Now there’s the Snuggie, the blanket that has sleeves. The Snuggie keeps you totally warm, and gives you the freedom to use your hands.”

New Snuggie commercials have a less overt sales pitch, featuring a group of actors of all ages wearing Snuggies while enthusiastically singing modified versions of holiday songs, like “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” (“We wish you a Snuggie Christmas, and a hands-free New Year.”), and “I Have a Little Dreidel” (“Oh Snuggie, Snuggie, Snuggie, stay warm, keep your hands free, I think I’ll buy a Snuggie, this Hanukkah for me. Oy!”).

The brand will spend an estimated $12 million in advertising for the holiday spots. Last year, Snuggie spent $34.8 million in advertising, according to the Kantar Media unit of WPP.

For the first time, the ads are appearing not only on cable, but also on network television, most notably during the broadcast of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC. And while the newer ads may be as corny as the original, they are not, by any standard measure, infomercials since they are only 30 seconds long and do not seek a direct response from consumers — namely that they call a toll-free number to order now (“while supplies last!”).

Instead, the new spots indicate either that the product is “Available at retailers everywhere!” or mention retailers by name.

The Snuggie has, in fact, evolved nearly completely from a direct-response brand to a retail brand, with about 95 percent of current sales coming from bricks-and-mortar retailers including Wal-Mart, Kmart and Walgreen’s, according to the company.

Infomercial products often find their way onto retail shelves, but Thomas Haire, editor of Response Magazine, a trade publication that covers the direct-response industry, said Snuggie was unique.

“Getting into retail is not rare anymore but becoming a strictly retail brand is pretty rare,” said Mr. Haire. “Usually even if something is successful at retail they still want to sell it as direct response, but there is no ‘call now’ push left on Snuggie’s TV ads.”

Critical to the success of the Snuggie, Mr. Haire said, is that when it was so widely ridiculed for looking silly, the company did not flinch.

“If they got touchy about it and said, ‘This is a really strong product and you shouldn’t make fun of it,’ then I think it would have faded away,” Mr. Haire said. “But they were able to laugh at themselves, and I think the American consumer sensed they were in on the joke, too.”

####

The article’s message is a very important one: If your ad campaign is perceived by the viewing public as ridiculous, and your product (as well as the commercial) is being lampooned by celebrities despite its possible merits, you have already succeeded in getting everyone’s attention - this is good news, if you leverage it properly.

The way to keep their attention is to laugh at your own commercial masterpiece (disasterpiece?) right along with the crowd, and to carry the joke even further – perhaps even to point of absurdity. Your product might not be as ingenious as you had originally thought – but it might pick up enormous sales momentum as a novelty, instead.

Whether it is seen as a utility or as a silly novelty, the sales will ring up and the revenues will roll in. If your ad campaign is inadvertently funny, learn to go with it. Humor is a wonderful branding mechanism. Even when it happens by accident.

Remember Ron Popeil’s “Veg-O-Matic?”

I rest my case.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

http://www.douglascastleblogosphere.com/

http://aboutdouglascastle.blogspot.com/

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

Tags, Labels and Terms: Mad Marketing Tactics Blog, The Snuggie Strategy, Branding, humor, novelty incentive for sales, laughing all the way to the bank, Douglas E. Castle, TNNWC News Releases, absurdity sells, riding the tide of viewer opinion, The free celebrity/ comedian "anti-endorsement", getting their attention, leveraging mistakes for fun and profit, TNNWC Buzzworks, Gist Video, advertising, mirth marketing, the Macarena, Zen Marketing - Being "One" With Your Audience, trends

TNNWC Group, LLC, in Brief

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Sunday, November 14, 2010

News Releases: ROI Powerhouses

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News Releases:
ROI Powerhouses

This Article written and © 2010 by Douglas Castle, CEO and Co-Chairman of TNNWC Group, LLC for publication in the TNNWC RSS Feed and Daily Email Supplement, and a host of other blogs in the DouglasCastleBlogosphere constellation. All rights reserved. This article may be reproduced without permission of the author or publisher provided that it is printed in its entirety without editorial changes, and that all hyperlinks included herein are left intact. Full attribution must be given to the author and to TNNWC Group, LLC at the beginning of the article reprint or transmittal.

Attention: What’s Crucial about this News Brief?

1) For You: Newswire Services and News Releases – Be better informed about what each is, and how to make the best use of each;

2) For Your Business: Why every entrepreneurial venture, emerging enterprise, small business and high-growth company cannot achieve fast-growth, market domination and ongoing profitability without them!

Read on -

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The most cost-effective way of immediately reaching a giant, targeted audience is through a well prepared and properly-submitted news release – this ROI is multiplied even further if your news release is actually part of larger, well-conceived strategic campaign of releases programmed to appear in the media over time.

The more traditional term, “Press Release,” is increasingly inappropriate, as reporters, editors, publishers, bloggers and other attention-hungry parties look for exciting and original eye-catching news content, instead of just (yawn) self-serving corporate announcements; you know…the type that talk about Jane Doe being promoted from second assistant vice president to first assistant vice president in a regional fertilizer packaging company.

PR Web and PR Newswire are the industry’s dominant distributors of releases to broadcast media (these two giants are sometimes referred to as press release services or newswire services), and yes -- they are powerful channels to a large potential audience. What many DIY entrepreneurs seem to consistently overlook is that regardless of which service you choose, that’s the least important part of the process.

Fact: All that these newswire services do is, in effect, mass-mail your “submission” to a large audience of publications to which they have access. They don’t actually help you at all when it comes to maximizing your effectiveness by 1) making certain the your release is “picked up” by the maximum number of media outlets, and 2) making certain that the maximum number of readers actually look at your article.

Fact: Many young or smaller businesses are scared to death of News Releases. “They’re just too darned expensive,” they’ll say. What a stack of meadow muffins!

How Sad…

Look at the true cost per qualified lead if you were to spend (for example) $500.00 on a release which was “picked up” by 2,500 publications with a combined readership of 25 million subscribers (or followers), and your article was read by a mere 2% of this specially-targeted group… that would translate to $500.00 to reach 500,000 qualified prospects! That is a cost of only $0.001 per qualified lead! Just close your eyes for a moment and imagine 10% of these qualified leads visiting your website or blog. That would mean 50,000 new prospects coming to you!

To optimize the ROI of your release, you must headline it excitingly (with some masterful exhibitionism!), get it written as a true news article, get it edited, permeate it with keywords, hyperlinks and powerful quotes (and, where possible, with search or subject “tags”), give it third-party credibility in the submission process (i.e., so it doesn’t look like a typical self-serving “press release”) submit it to the right geographical and vertical markets, make certain that you have chosen the best day of the week to shoot it out of the cannon, track it, re-publish it to increase the social media buzz effect, and do a great deal more.

The process is complex, with many different components, but it is worth doing professionally. If you were to [foolishly] request that the two primary wire services do all of this for you, you would be overwhelmed at the real cost. If you factor in the amount of time that you would have to invest in the process (regardless of whether you try to do it yourself, or whether you attempt to get these other formula-based, mechanical services to do it for you), you would want to walk away. That would be a big mistake. You simply need to get professional, personalized, interactive help.

To understand what I mean, visit http://www.thenationalnetworker.com/newsrelease.shtml .

A powerful news release should be like a guided missile and not a rambling missive. If it even smells like an internal corporate announcement or a legal notice “for the record,” it will be far less likely to be printed, and far less likely to be read; you’ll waste a potentially good piece of information and a good opportunity for positive media attention as well as your investment of money and time.

Seemingly mundane things (even Jane Doe’s Promotion) can be made into earth-shattering, breakthrough or controversial NEWS in the hands of a true professional.

Also, any good release is multiplied in its effectiveness by being part of a broader campaign. Isolated news releases are powerful, but they are limited in their lasting effectiveness. Longer campaigns, building up an image and working up to a crescendo [ahem] increase the likelihood of publication (you’ll have already been in the news, which automatically makes you more newsworthy), increase branding, credibility, and name recognition/ retention.

Promotion requires news releases, internet presence and interactivity, public relations, branding, social media buzz, positive customer experience (in order to win customers, keep them, and convert them to word-of-mouth spokespersons for your company or brand), and perhaps some capital to fuel the process (http://www.thenationalnetworker.com/financing.shtml and http://www.thenationalnetworker.com/vcprogram.shtml).

I’ll see you in the news.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

(http://www.LinkedIn.com/douglascastle)

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

Tags, Labels and Key Terms: News Releases, promotion, exposure, branding, increased website traffic, increase qualified leads, increased visits, ROI, TNNWC News Releases, TNNWC Customer Experience Practice, buzz, blogs, news, small business services