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USAIN BOLT DID IT AGAIN.

Usain Bolt’s 9.58 world record

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Popularity: 85% [?]

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The Legend of Annie & the 3 Peaks of Internet Marketing

The legend of Annie is a fun metaphor that came to me at 3 am.

I was up, working, and frustrated at the challenges facing me.

Frustrated at the work that had been put in, and the lack of desired results coming out.

I started to put together everything I’d done, and everything I’d learned ought to happen.

But instead of making a list, I drew pictures.

From random doodles, my hand very quickly started moving faster than my brain could follow.

Hours later, the story of Annie & the 3 Peaks of Internet Marketing was born.

See the 6-minute video trailer:

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Popularity: 78% [?]

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SquareSpace, a web site publishing company, has launched a brash new promotion.

And it is paying off HUGE dividends!

Since the promotion started on June 8th, their twitter follower number has completely EXPLODED!

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Popularity: 78% [?]

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What does I Love Lucy know about Word of Mouth Marketing?

Think of this video as a parable. As allegorical.
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Popularity: 50% [?]

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• March 28, 2009 -- How to sell boxes like Tiffany (2)
• February 24, 2009 -- How to hug a blogger (With CommentLuv, they’ll hug right back) (5)
• February 14, 2009 -- Citizen journalism, and “The Blue Sweater” (0)
• January 30, 2009 -- Marketing’s pursuit of perfection. (0)
• January 30, 2009 -- Despair.com. Because swimming upstream is word-of-mouth worthy. (0)
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• December 4, 2008 -- Seasonal word of mouth: ElfYourself. A CustomerFlyPaper Holiday Wish. (0)

Traditional marketing was built around crowds.

Building a middle-of-the-road product that would appeal to the largest possible number of people. Putting the product in as many channels as possible.

And yelling as loudly as possible about the product.

To whomever would listen.

Procter & Gamble pioneered a new type of marketing -

Targeting its audiences through soap operas and other innovative means of outreach.

But mass marketing was still the medium. It was still a behemoth of a company, having a one-way monologue with its audience.

The difference between a crowd and a tribe is in the connection.

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Popularity: 35% [?]

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Akoha is a simple card game about paying forward random acts of kindness. In a fashion that can be tracked and shared via social networking tools.

I learned about Akoha from a well-respected friend in Slovenia, recently.
Being an avid gamer myself, I had to check it out.

Here’s my discovery of it, on video:
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Popularity: 30% [?]

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What is #followFridays, anyways?

For those of you who like to hit the bars or the clubs on First Fridays… it’s kind of like that.
Except, it’s virtually… virtual.

#FollowFriday (or #FollowFridays) started on January 16, 2009. And has become an International phenomenon (spilling into the prior Thursday, and the following Saturday, because of different time zones.)

Micah Baldwin started this trend. It works really well, and is so viral, because of three main factors:
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Popularity: 40% [?]

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The Features:

A documentary about two former collegiate soccer players who travel around the world, filming impromptu pick-up games.


(yawn.)

The Benefits:

• A re-introduction of American audiences to the joy of football (ahem. The REAL football.)
  
• A reminder that in a world full of conflict, a simple game can cross racial, ethnic, and class divides.
  
• A “butterfly effect” type of movie, with depictions of girls playing with the boys, in parts of the world where girls have lesser status.
  

(not bad.)

The Story:

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Popularity: 36% [?]

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• March 28, 2009 -- How to sell boxes like Tiffany (2)
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“Tiffany’s sells the box, not the jewelry.
Are you selling the Tiffany’s box (scarce), or the Tiffany’s jewelry (common)?

You have to decide if you want to sell the story and emotions, or the features and logic.”
– Seth Godin

The point here is this. Whatever widgets you make… there are a thousand other businesses that can duplicate them.
That can make them a little better.
Or less good. But cheaper.

Competing on features is a hamster wheel. You’ll forever be running from your shadow. Trying to outdo leapfrog the competition that just leapfrogged you.

Not that you shouldn’t have good features. Tiffany jewelry is top-notch, of course.

But once you have the right feature set to meet your customers’ needs… focus on the story. Better yet - determine what the story should be BEFORE YOU BUILD THE PRODUCT.

As we make our way through these uncharted recession waters, the temptation will be to compete on price. To provide more service, work more hours, give more and more features.

Don’t.

Go back to the essence of why you are serving this particular customer.

How to do this:

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Popularity: 53% [?]

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Yesterday, Ian Farmer, John Easton, and I tried to put our finger on what the biggest problems small and mid-sized businesses are facing.

This was an impromptu meeting and mindmapping session - and it was awesome. The impetus for this conversation was the bailout that the largest companies are receiving… while SMBs (the folks who will actually get us out of this recession) are left to fend for themselves.

If you had to write an SMB Bailout Plan, what would it cover? Where would you give help / want help?

Here’s a starter list - please add your comments, your “amens”, your dissents, etc.
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Popularity: 39% [?]

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