How The Little Asian Guy "Psy" Affirms The Power of the Mighty American Marketing Machine

My Facebook Post Today:

Thousands of screaming people when this guy came out to do his interview with Mario Lopez and Maria Menudo at the Grove last night. Dig the new sassy Asian craze that's so hot right now in fashion and beauty, just not getting this little guy. Thoughts?  

http://www.youtube.com/user/officialpsy — at The Grove.

Okay now I'm getting it.  Went to my sources to figure out the business side of his new popularity (of course I did).  Basically he's been around for like over 12 years in Asia, but just recently signed with new management (YG Entertainment) and since has had a ton of new social media celeb cross endorsements from American artists like Katie Perry and Brittany.  Views exploded on YouTube and now he's touring the American circuit (talk shows, etc) teaching everybody "Gangnam Style".

So today's little takeaway for me, is yet more affirmation:  America is STILL the most powerful branding/marketing machine in the world and it's not cool until Hollywood says it's cool.  Love it!

To Prototype or Not to Prototype? This Week's Micro-Business Discussion

Every week the Internet Marketers get together and share ideas and thoughts on the latest industry happenings. This week's discussion was about the "Prototype". Here's what I shared:

(1) Do you believe that the concept of prototyping your business is sound (or not) and why?

"I believe it’s very sound because in a fast paced tech world where everything evolves so quickly one needs to test the waters before investing in marketing and branding campaigns. Soft launches help an entrepreneur gage where the risks are and best manage scalability."

(2) What do you perceive as the top 3 advantages of creating a micro-business prototype?

"I think the top three advantages are:

1. Garnering an understanding of what your market really thinks
2. Examining (in detail) the pitfalls of the model
3. Following up and implement improvements based on feedback"

(3) Are there any negative repercussions that you can see from releasing a prototype as opposed to a fully vetted business system?

""I guess the negative would be the risk of someone stealing the idea and improving upon it. Not unusual in this business 2.0 world, but worth the attempt in my opinion. One never knows unless one tries.

How to Boost Your Business with Flash Social Mobs, SEO and HashTag Optimization

A friend of mine who owns a popular travel site is looking to take her business to the next level by partnering with large scale social media influencers and well known destination points - a flash social mob approach. Brilliant!

To get the most bang from her social flash mob, she asked how she could sprinkle in some SEO and HashTag efforts:

1. First come up with a list of key search terms she thinks people will use to find the deliverables the hotel or popular destination point has to offer. A good way is to search what's hot is to scope out the Groupon and Living Social "destination offers" out there. Let the bigger fish do all the work ;-)

2. Once she has that information she simply needs to research the weight and competitive value of those terms on Google Ad Words 24 hrs before and during the time of her social flash mob (ie: Los Angles Vacation)

3. For her industry, I suggested she take a quick peek at Google Insights (beta) to see what time of year those words mattered most to hotel and vacation destinations. That will give her a better idea of the relevance based on the time of year people search those terms most often and allows the client (hotel or destination point) plan around their busiest times.

4. Then of course get bid figures for those words on Google AdWords. This is so she can figure out what to charge the hotel/destination point for this additional add-on.

5. For the campaign to maintain SEO and HashTag effectiveness, she needs to coach her influencers to incorporate the SEO terms and hashtag words into their posts, monitor the activity and offer some item of value. A downloadable code, a voucher...something to close the deal (a total conversion point).

On a final note, I suggested she maintain her finger on the heart beat by monitoring HashTag relevancy trends on Twitter. HootSuite is good tool. I'd also do a 48 hr. FB sponsored stories campaign matching both SEO terms and Twitter hashtags.

Louis Vuitton Web Designs for the Global Cloud Culture

Symbolic meaning is all around us; however in a new commercial world united by social web participants, it’s hard to draw the geographic boundaries on the perceptions formed from the symbolic meanings of a specific culture. To better clarify, "culture" is the patterned defined meaning of the symbols we see out there in the world. An individual’s interpretation of that symbolic value is the perception value those symbols are given from their target audience. As the old saying goes: Perception is reality.

On an internet marketing strategy level, of course design must lend itself to the culture of it’s target audience. However, use of color for regional sectors or international code is important. Most important (now a days) is the global understanding that dwells within the cloud. Take the high level of ambiguity specifically in the high fashion industry. As abstract as it is, perception and value are instant when one sees a pattern like this one:

Exploring it further, let's look the Louis Vuitton site. Immediately upon first impression, one is greeted with the choice of language and a textured background of travel stamps in the reds, blues and other hues that cater to all nationalities. It represents the vibrant meaning of happiness, luck and joy of Asia. It also captures the blue hues favored by the Mediterranean and the vibrant yellows of Latin America.

When entering the site under the various languages, you presented with photographic menu options transporting you all over the world. These are photos that translate to all cultures, but within each landing page, are specific photographic images relevant to the their dominating country of region. This is brilliant because they are requesting an active participation of the viewer to embark on the jet set lifestyle Louis Vuitton is trying to sell.

How to Make $100K Drawing Stick Figure Cats.

Seriously, if you ever doubted developing that idea into a money making venture, meet Steve. He's made about $50K drawing stick figure cats PLUS another $25,000 from billionaire Mark Cuban to expand his new venture. Yeah...Umm...Wow.

The Magic of the Web Whisperer (ie. Internet Marketer)

This week's task in Cultural Internet Marketing Studies:
Analyze the inferred relationship between “web characteristic” and “cultural implication”. What examples can you cite that would support the relationship between content and culture presented by the authors? For example, how do cross-cultural differences potentially impact Internet Marketing strategy? What elements of the Internet reflect cultural behavior? Is all promotional content “cultural”?

My Response:
I believe we could summarize the web as a living “breathing” document which takes shape as contributors engage in the subject matter. This is, in my opinion, the core value of relevancy and key component of crowd sourced journalism. The Internet Marketer must not only stop to perceive how the messages are received, but also examine how it is being conveyed post impact. Hence the illustration of “breath”. It can also be like the telephone game, where a message travels via whispers and evolves across channels accordingly. A good Internet Marketer will not blatantly promote her message via the channels, but rather influence the participants to virally endorse the message as that marketer designed it. A sophisticated art in my opinion and not an easy task.

Thoughts?

Website Analytics 2.0 - It's All About Sophisticated Storytelling NOT Numbers

This month's Analytics 2.o class is shaking up everything we thought was fact when it came down to reporting web stats.  So you've got data...and?  The new generation of reporting is to use collected data, translate it into real brand storytelling objectives.  Here's a quick little tutorial:

Where we were and where we are going:

The pitfalls of hit counting and turning data into information

Google Analytics Essential Training | by Corey Koberg

View this entire Google Analytics course and more in the lynda.com Online Training Library®.

Purpose Driven Christmas Shopping That Creates American Jobs

How many times have you bought a Groupon or Living Social voucher?  If you're anything like me, you probably went crazy buying up these deals at first, but maybe now it's no longer setting your hair on fire.  Maybe there's a laser hair removal or car detail deal that interests you but you're not going out of your way to see the latest hot deal...right?

One of the biggest economic challenges we're facing in this country right now is lack of jobs and income.  So much as been and is manufactured in Asia simply because it's cheap.  What if this holiday season you made the choice to buy ONLY local deals and support the people in your community who create and maintain jobs for Americans?  How?  Welp...it's easy.  Almost all the offers on coupon sites like Groupon, Living Social, PopSugar, etc. are based on local services and products.  Why not make your holiday shopping purpose driven:  Help American Small Business Owners Maintain Jobs

Trust me, your kids will thank you for it.

How Xbox Is Going to take over the Digital Communications World

I know what you're thinking, "I don't play video games and have no need for an Xbox."  Not unusual, most adults ages 35+ still look at these little devices as a super sophisticated grown up version of ATARI.  Here's the deal though, it's not an ATARI, NINTENDO nor any other kind of device for that matter.  It's a super sophisticated peripheral that can cleverly sit at the helm of your TV and deliver everything from movies, Internet and on demand TV.  That's not the story here though.  Ready to follow me through my train of thought?  I did predict the downfall of Netflix over a year ago and was right on the money, if that makes you feel any better. 

Normally, I wouldn't be this emphatic about yet another entertainment peripheral (I do have a life); but this time, I see a formula coming together that could very well be what defines digital communications for everyday households.  Why?  It's called money people; and the Xbox is about to become a freaking retail point of purchase (ie. cash register), one Americans will not only use, but totally depend on.

Here's how it works:

1.  Who creates the content we watch on TV, Movies, etc? If you said Hollywood, you get a gold star.  So what if I told you Hollywood is now taking that reality show and fragmenting out the story line into bite size social media pieces?  Imagine Kim's Fairy Tale Wedding told as mini stories all across the web, leading up to one big E! Network release of a two part show.  That part is already happening.  The process is called "Curation"and entertainment producers (well the sophisticated ones) know exactly how to tell that story in a way that makes people hungry for more. 

2.  Next, is the magical part.  What if while you're watching Kim getting ready at her vanity you could click on the stuff she's using and order or it right there online?  Possible? Yes.  The LookStore is already paving the way for celeb endorsed point of purchase ordering.  Only part missing is embedded links from a TV show to the store, and PRESTO! You're now a part of the retail story.  That technology is currently in the works BTW.

3.  Finally, you've not only watched the mini-shows leading up to Kim's Fairy Tale Wedding, you're also all in love with the cool make-up items you bought right from Kim's vanity.  Think you're going to share your specialness with your peeps?  Duh.  Television and film producers are now thinking about ways to tie their content directly into social sites' like Facebook and YouTube's API.  Not rocket science.  I did it with my social gaming app earlier this year. The key for them is now to turn the whole experience into more social commerce opportunities.  I'd share how I think that's going to work, but then I'd have to kill you.

So there ya go folks.  A basic overview of how that little ol Xbox just rocked out a girl's reality show watching experience.  A big emphasis on the word "basic".  I could share about fifty more ways this little box is going to rule the world for advertisers but it's only 9AM and I'm not done with my coffee. 

How to Get Serious Cash for Your Blog, Vlog or Social Site

The "if you build it, they will come..." principle does not apply to many.  However, if you are one of those blessed individuals who happens to have a successful blog (200,000 unique visitors per mo.), Facebook following (1,000+ followers), Twitter (10,000+ followers) or YouTube Channel (1M views+), there's some serious money out there awaiting you.  No joke.

Brands and investors are getting smarter.  Rather than trying to re-invent the wheel, they're investing in the ones that are already turning out audience.  Social media brand sponsorship is a $2 Billion industry and only getting stronger.  Check out these articles on the topic if you want to learn more.

• A Blogger Who Gets It (and by "it" I mean money)
• Finding a Sponsor (They're out there)
• A Blogger Who Got Her Own TV Show Because of Her Blog (It's possible)
• A NYTimes Article  (In case you still don't believe me)
• How a Hollywood PR Company Hired Bloggers to Hang Out Backstage with Celebs (Yep. It Even Happened to Me) 

How to Price and Sell Your Website or Blog

Anyone's who's vested time and energy into their web based assets, knows it's more about contribution than anything else.  Compensation for all that hard work comes from possible future sales, potential contacts and of course the revenue of the internet: followers.  But few have actually taken the steps to actually price and list their web assets in the market.  Most might even say they wouldn't even know where to begin.  As a business broker, I can affirm there is a GIANT demand for these kinds of businesses out there and simply not enough inventory to meet that demand.  In fact the very first business I owned was a web based marketing service that I sold just 7 years from inception for a very nice profit. 

Want to learn more?  Here is an EXCELLENT step-by-step detailing out how to go about pricing your website, blog or e-commerce business for future sale or acquisition:
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2011/09/07/whats-your-blo-worth-how-to-value-web-properties/

Want a free website or blog appraisal?  Give me shout: patty@business-team.com

2 EZ Ways to Get Celebs to Tweet About You

Have you ever hoped and prayed a celeb like Paris Hilton would retweet something you posted??  How about having someone like Deepak Chopra talk about your product or service in their Twitter stream?  Too good to be true?  Well, not to take the fantastical value out of it, but it’s not as hard as you might think.  In fact, for the right price (Lindsey Lohan’s is $3,500), you can have someone famous endorse you to millions of followers whenever you want.  Top two resources I know:

Ad.ly

Sponsored Tweets

More on this topic:

How Charlie Sheen and Other Stars Get Paid to Tweet

The Secret Business of Celebrity Tweets

Fail proof banner ads for PPC (Pay-Per-Click) Campaigns

Pay-per-click banner ad campaigns are one of the most effective ways to get fast, targeted traffic zooming straight from Facebook to your website.  It's crazy how effective they are.  So how do you get it right?  Here are some important points to remember:

Get Real

Would you walk up to a stranger and ask them to marry you?  Flirt with your prospects on your banner ad...don’t ask for a buying decision. Give them a reason to click-thru to find out more.

http://www.grokdotcom.com/2008/02/15/banner-ad-conversion

Be Simple...Yet Current

Lots of options out there about visual design, font selections and color palettes to think about.  That’s all well and good, but trends change regularly.  Here’s four steadfasts you can always count on:   

1.) Keep the offer simple.  The less they have to think, the better.

2.) Keep the design simple - less is more.

3.) Be relevant.  In other words, think about what's hot out there, then use images that relate to it AND your product or service at the same time.
4.) Make sure you can answer the question: What's in it for me? 

Play Around with Ideas Before Hiring a Professional

Fun Banner Creation Site (and it’s Free)

http://www.bannersnack.com/

Impressions vs. click-throughs – Which matters most?

I can certainly appreciate the value of a distinct branding campaign that clearly identifies a brand’s value and ultimately the “promise”.  However, when it comes to banner advertising, sometimes, defining the need first is most effective. 

Banner 1 – Responds to a need

  

Banner 2 – Respond to a need after you’ve 
established trust through a recognized brand.

 

Now the argument in these articles is “do we measure with analytics (click throughs) or should we focus on the branding impressions? Unless you're neck deep into tracking online analytics you're probably thinking what the heck is a branding impression. It's actually easier to understand than you might think.

First, think about the "impression" part. Every time a user has a chance to simply look at your ad its considered an impression (most pay-per-click campaign managers report on both). Branding, is well - just that - it's that familiar image or phrase that conveys your promise and connects with the consumer. 

If the objective is to raise awareness of the brand, then impression metrics are more valuable, in my opinion.  However, if point-of-purchase is the objective, then perhaps a needs based banner ad strategy is better suited.  I really don’t think one approach is more important than the other.  I believe it’s really about objective of the advertiser. 

Additional Resources:

http://econsultancy.com/blog/4720-16-of-users-click-on-banners-are-display-ads-dead
o http://econsultancy.com/blog/4999-ignore-the-top-of-the-funnel-at-your-own-risk
o http://www.clickz.com/3635646
o 
http://econsultancy.com/blog/4905-nielsen-display-ads-send-more-traffic-to-retail-sites-than-search

Free Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Sample: The Budgeting Worksheet

As promised, here is a sample planning worksheet I used this week to test camp a client's $6700 monthly budget.  These aren't the final numbers but will give you a good idea of how we go about measuring and estimating profit margins on a PPC campaign (something you should know before making a decision to vest).  Note: We actually decided against spending the entire ad budget, suggested they spend less than they originally thought they needed ;-)

Cost Per Visitor (C/V)
Revenue Per Visitor (R/V)
Margin Per Visitor (RPV - CPV = MPV)
Advertising-to-Revenue Ratio (CPV/RPV)
Exposures (E)Click-Thrus (CT)
Click-Thru Rate (Clicks/Exposures) x 100
Branding/View-Thru Rate (BVT)
Cost-Per-Click (CPC)
Cost-Per-Conversion (CPC)

 

How to Manage Your Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Ads in 4 STEPS or Less

Don't get discouraged.  It's really all about organizing yourself and remembering that the less key words you pick to work with, the more success and ease you'll have.

1.    Pick Your HIGHLY Targeted Keywords - Only 12-15 (seriously)

2.    Track your CPC (Cost-per-conversion) - Not just your cost-per-click

3.    Bid Seperately for Your Content Network Ads - an area where micro-managment works!

4.    Aaaand REPEAT! (a lot)

Watch the 6 min. Video Tutorial

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Analytics - The Formulas

Here is a list of the top 10 metrics we use to assess if a client's pay-per-click campaign is going to render return on investment or ROI.  In my next posting, I'll share a sample plan using these metrics. 

Cost Per Visitor (C/V)
Revenue Per Visitor (R/V)
Margin Per Visitor (RPV - CPV = MPV)
Advertising-to-Revenue Ratio (CPV/RPV)
Exposures (E)Click-Thrus (CT)
Click-Thru Rate (Clicks/Exposures) x 100
Branding/View-Thru Rate (BVT)
Cost-Per-Click (CPC)
Cost-Per-Conversion (CPC)

Effective Pay Per Click Campaigns - A reference list

"Learn from the mistakes of others and hope not to make them yourself," I always say.   Here's a list of excellent resources on pay-per-click campaignage...enjoy.

1.  Paid Search Ad Copy: Five Things Newbies Don't Know shar.es/HzeEl

2.  How to Write PPC Ad Copy: Four Ad Templates that Cause Clicks and Conversions    searchenginepeople.com/blog/how-to-wr…

 

3.  7 Tricks for Creating Powerful Internet Ad-Copy jessicaswanson.com/7-tricks-for-c…

To PPC or not to PPC? It’s not really a question in my opinion.

This week's Internet Marketing MBA course on PPC (pay per click) campaigns had us discussing the 13 myths of the practice based on this article. 

I was having drinks with one of my girlfriends this week and she brought up she was meeting with a local agency trying to sell her organic SEO placement for her brand.  "Perfect timing!" I said, since I was having to discuss it later that week in class.  Nothing like getting your homework done over cocktails ;-)

So here's the thing.  She is super connected in the social media world, gets tons of 3rd party viral traffic from YouTube videos made about her brand and really does not need to spend a lot of extra money on online advertising at this point; however, when she told me she was considering moving out of her PPC campaign to try the organic route I had to weigh in on the pros and cons.  Mostly the cons.

As stated in #9 of this article, I told her not to put all her eggs in one game of roulette basket.  Just because she spends a little on some organic SEO stuff, does not mean she needs to give up her existing (and successful) PPC efforts.   One is not going to replace the other.  In fact the PPC campaign in my opinion, helps her and her investors budget and measure ROI much more accurately in my opinion.

The other question I posed to provoke thought was to ask her just how she was going to go about leveraging her new SEO efforts.  We went right into discussing her site content and metas...which by the way needed to be checked against Google AdWords in my opinion, before vesting ANY money into organic SEO efforts.  This falls in line with the article’s #11 point.  My argument was "if this company wants to charge you to measure the effectiveness of your keyword content and metas, say NOOOO!  I can show you how to do that in about ten minutes...even show you how to check out your competition's rankings and what they're found mostly under."

Finally I came back to point #1 in the article, which was about ego.  If she wanted to be optimized so she could see herself at the top of the list on an organic level, this might just be her ego needing to feel some affirmation coming from her community.   This does not necessarily mean she's going to see any increase in her RPV value.  I suggested she go back to her social networking circles for this kind of affirmation, where she’s already ruling beautifully.  In other words, organic SEO would not give her something she was not already getting (including ROI) from her existing sphere of influencers.

In closing, I agreed that she needed to get some information about SEO, while cautioning her not to dismiss the hard work (and traction) she’s made with her current PPC and social media efforts.  I tend to think both of those efforts are much more of a sure thing than SEO, but that’s just me.

Pay Per Click Analytics - Cheat Sheet

• Cost-Per-Visitor (CPV): Your advertising cost divided by the number of visitors to your site (C/V).
• Revenue-Per-Visitor (RPV): Your revenue divided by the number of visitors to your site (R/V).
• Margin per Visitor (MPV): This is calculated by subtracting CPV from RPV (RPV – CPV = MPV).
• Advertising-to-Revenue Ratio (ROAS): This ratio is calculated by dividing CPV by RPV. 
• Exposures (E): Number of people who see your ad message and brand.
• Click-Thrus (CT): Number of people who click on an ad link and go to the landing page.
• Click-Thru Rate (CTR): The percentage of Exposures that click on an ad link. 
• Branding/View-Thru Rate (BVT): The Percentage of exposures that go directly to a site or search for the site brand without clicking on the ad link. 
• Cost-Per-Click (CPC): Average cost for every paid visitor to site through ad link.
• Cost-Per-Conversion (CPC): Average cost of each conversion (Ad Spend / Coversions)

Courtesy of Full Sail University