Silly Beats Serious

The rise of social media marketing has prompted Advertising Age to suggest it's time to redefine "relevance."

"Relevance has long been a central tenet of effective advertising, but the rise of Facebook and Twitter are forcing a redefinition of the term," writes reporter Matthew Creamer.

"There's increasing evidence that the most-effective kinds of marketing communications on these websites are simple, random, even banal statements or questions driven by the calendar or the whim of a writer that may not have anything to do with the brand in question."

"Conversational posts" in fact produce 8 to 12 times the response of "brand-oriented" ones, according to Creamer.

As an example, he cites a Facebook post by Blackberry in November.  The company posted a simple Happy Veteran's Day message that received 8,000 likes and 500 comments.  The response far outran reactions to other recent posts concerned with Blackberry products and product tips.

5 Best Books of 2010

Here are my nominations for the year's top five marketing books.

Chris Brogran's Social Media 101. Tons of primers like this have appeared in 2010.  But Brogan's towers above the rest for depth and clarity.


Ardath Albee's eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale. You won't find a better guide to B-to-B marketing success in the age of social media.


David Meerman Scott's Real-Time Marketing and PR. I cannot say enough praiseworthy things about Scott's 200-page treatise.  It's mandatory.


Mitch Myerson's Success Secrets of the Social Media Marketing Superstars. Everything you ever wanted to know about social media marketing (but were afraid to ask).


David Meerman Scott and Brian Halligan's Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead. Informative, inspiring and a delight to read.

Marketing Lessons from the Walking Dead

Some marketing tactics never wear out. 

Others survive long past their prime.

Here are five that should be put out of their misery.

Now.

Greenwashed product names. Branding consultants, please advise your clients: the mere act of inserting "Eco" in front of a product name doesn't reduce that product's carbon footprint or make it healthy to consume.

Blatant self-promotion masquerading as e-newsletters.  No one likes these travesties.  That's why they're wearing out.  I just received one that announced it will no longer include fresh material, due to "author fatique."  Instead, the newsletter will consist of old blog posts.  Now I'm fatigued.

Those annoying three-word headlines.  You know the sort I mean: 

Define. Design. Deploy.

Entice. Excite. Engage.

Originate. Optimize. Outsource.

Yes, yes, yes, alliteration is powerful.  But enough, enough, enough.

Gated white papers that don't even download.  These add insult to injury.  I provide you my contact info, budget, buying authority, age, gender, eye color and last known whereabouts.  You provide me nothing.  Except phone calls from India.

Unwanted inbound telemarketing calls.  Securities salespeople, when will you finally get it?  No, thank you, I don't wish to review my investment portfolio at this particular moment.  I already feel lousy enough talking to you.

Your turn.  Nominate a zombie you wish to put out of its misery.

NOTE: Apologies to David Meerman Scott for corrupting the title of his wonderful book.  I urge you to read it.

How to Kill Sales

Seth Godin offered a crucial reminder in his blog yesterday.

Marketers make overkill a habit.

Desparate to generate incremental sales, they add, add, add.  

More special offers.  More rewards.  More messages.  More links. More banner ads. More, more, more.

But, he warns, "Once you overload the user, you train them not to pay attention."

"More" doesn't spur sales.  It kills them.

That's especially the case when it comes to copy.

Overkill kills.

The End of Digital Correctness

In a recent conversation with Blogworld founder Rick Calvert, I mentioned the tribe of critics who insist that access to live events like his should be free.  

Rick responded, "Yeah, the 'hippies.'"

Free access to content, a founding principle of the Web's early developers, is soon to go the way of Flower Power.  (You can learn why from two terrific articles on the topic, one in Atlantic Monthly, the other in Wired.)

Since babyhood, the Web has been captive to this principle.  It was "digitally correct" to provide content free; boorish to ask dough for it.

But with the ascent of mobile apps, the model is about to flip. 

We're soon to see most Web content become subscription-based.  And the subscriptions will be pricey, to boot.

Capitalist pigs, one.  Hippies, nothing.

It was nice while it lasted.