THE POWER OF COMMUNITY
As I write this venture capital companies are funding off shore ventures in China and India. There is a dwindling interest in getting behind new companies and upstarts in America. The face of Direct Marketing is changing dramatically as we know it.
Marketing is being re-invented. The communication process between vendor and customer is in a state of overhaul. The core process of how the relationship works is still intact and goes along with textbook definition. But the ways that relationship can flourish are being challenged.
It is getting so precise now where we, (as marketers) can create our own financial realities. It is no longer a crap shoot. We can also eliminate a lot of the steps and the waiting period factors when it comes to making a sale.
It makes the efforts of top marketing legends Dan Kennedy and Jeff Paul seem a little tired. A marketing guy can now topple the search engines in a matter of hours and create sales within 24 hours of making those changes. Instead of printing an ad for lead generation and waiting for those people to contact us and then leaving a message on an 800 number or being directed to a web site….. we can contact them online.
We just have to find out where they are hiding…..
ONLINE COMMUNITIES ARE KEY
My Space is kooky and at times very ugly to look at can offer some incredible tools. It is outrageously popular lately. The other thing is that tapping into online communities like this and inviting them to come into your site is nice. Spam doesn’t stand a chance next to a warm invitiation like this.
Creating your own online community is possible. When you use a service like Podomatic you will create a subscription list. People will tap into your podcast and become a fan. In a typical week I can generate 156 new listeners and subscribers.
The key is to keep on inviting them to new things, new shows, new online messages, new web site updates and so on. You want to keep on inviting them to new happenings. Sales will follow as long as you continue this buying process.
AREN’T SEARCH ENGNIE RANKINGS MORE IMPORTANT?.........
Search engine rankings are important of course. But it isn’t until you start building online communities and relating to them on a 1-1 basis that things start to happen. Marketing maven Joe Vitale talks about how people like to feel special and important. You can do that with customized emails, and database capture and using that information for sales.
Align your site with those who are in your market. You can partner with sites that have a Google ranking of 8 or higher. The Google ranking system goes from 0 – 10, (10’s are rare) and you can benefit from getting inbound links from them.
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Ted Cantu is the creator of Mobile Cast and www.911Copywriters.com he has handled the marketing for such innovative groups like www.WindsorBeauty,com and contributes to several blogs and podcasts such as….. http://911copywriters.podomatic.com. He served as a top rated art director for Interactive Web Marketing groups in Chicago and New York City.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
WTF Is Pop Secret Mountain?
The Big Idea Magazine recently had a minor write up on a strange new sensation. The article clamed that http://www.popsecretmountain.com was created from fan generated content. This is somewhat hard to believe because of the high quality of this site.
Don’t get me wrong, this site will strike the newcomer as somewhat odd. But the quality of the mini films on this site are done by a talented eye and handled with fine craftsmanship. The artists who put these together obviously know a lot about video compression, frame rate, lighting and special effects. In short, they are miniature commercials with a cult film like appeal.
The hero is, Kaptain Kat, who has a way of growing on you. I hate to admit it but I found myself going back to re-experience this curious site. Pop Secret of course is the crunchy microwave popcorn snack. Up to this point I never realized they had a cat in a pirate costume for a mascot and found this connection somewhat puzzling.
What this site does though is interesting. It has artwork and cut and paste code for myspace users. It wants you to help it grow virally. That is the one smart thing this site does. The rest of it is somewhat entertaining with its Monty Python type animation.
It’s “user content” however must be staged. You will notice that the video clips on this site are not pumped in through YouTube.com like most viral campaigns. These clips are being pulled in through the server that this site is hosted on.
The other thing to take note of is that even though the animation is television quality they have never aired on broadcast. This all goes back to the narrowcast ideology once again. This is smart because it is saving a fortune of money when it comes to building a brand.
This is cult branding at a root level. And as much as I hate to admit – it’s quite brilliant for what it is doing on this subtle level.
More start ups and new brands can learn from what it is trying to convey. This site delivers too in its quality. I doubt very much that it is fan generated.
This type of thinking can refine a brand and encourage sales.
It’s cutting out a lot of middlemen. This avoids union costs, studio time, broadcast fee’s, airtime space, and wasteful advertising dollars.
Films of this quality can be cut on Adobe Premiere, and compressed into a MOV file.
Getting any ideas?
=============================================================
Ted Cantu is the creator of Mobile Cast and www.911Copywriters.com he has handled the marketing for such innovative groups like www.WindsorBeauty,com and contributes to several blogs and podcasts such as….. http://911copywriters.podomatic.com. He served as a top rated art director for Interactive Web Marketing groups in Chicago and New York City.
Don’t get me wrong, this site will strike the newcomer as somewhat odd. But the quality of the mini films on this site are done by a talented eye and handled with fine craftsmanship. The artists who put these together obviously know a lot about video compression, frame rate, lighting and special effects. In short, they are miniature commercials with a cult film like appeal.
The hero is, Kaptain Kat, who has a way of growing on you. I hate to admit it but I found myself going back to re-experience this curious site. Pop Secret of course is the crunchy microwave popcorn snack. Up to this point I never realized they had a cat in a pirate costume for a mascot and found this connection somewhat puzzling.
What this site does though is interesting. It has artwork and cut and paste code for myspace users. It wants you to help it grow virally. That is the one smart thing this site does. The rest of it is somewhat entertaining with its Monty Python type animation.
It’s “user content” however must be staged. You will notice that the video clips on this site are not pumped in through YouTube.com like most viral campaigns. These clips are being pulled in through the server that this site is hosted on.
The other thing to take note of is that even though the animation is television quality they have never aired on broadcast. This all goes back to the narrowcast ideology once again. This is smart because it is saving a fortune of money when it comes to building a brand.
This is cult branding at a root level. And as much as I hate to admit – it’s quite brilliant for what it is doing on this subtle level.
More start ups and new brands can learn from what it is trying to convey. This site delivers too in its quality. I doubt very much that it is fan generated.
This type of thinking can refine a brand and encourage sales.
It’s cutting out a lot of middlemen. This avoids union costs, studio time, broadcast fee’s, airtime space, and wasteful advertising dollars.
Films of this quality can be cut on Adobe Premiere, and compressed into a MOV file.
Getting any ideas?
=============================================================
Ted Cantu is the creator of Mobile Cast and www.911Copywriters.com he has handled the marketing for such innovative groups like www.WindsorBeauty,com and contributes to several blogs and podcasts such as….. http://911copywriters.podomatic.com. He served as a top rated art director for Interactive Web Marketing groups in Chicago and New York City.
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