How to Sell Soap

Here is another fun clip from a German company on viral marketing and why it is something that needs to be included in your marketing mix.  On to our soon-to-be-renamed Clip of the Week!

 

Nicole

Bring Back the Love

For our soon-to-be-renamed-by-Ken “Clip of the Week” I have selected a movie clip by an international marketer for Microsoft.  This has won numerous awards and really hits the nail on the head regarding how to reach your customers – i.e. traditional advertising is not going to cut it with all of the other avenues that are tugging on the consumers ear.

I welcome your thoughts on this (and really anything we blog about!).

Nicole

I’m a Tweeter, He’s a Tweeter… Wouldn’t you like to Twitter too?

Time and time again I am asked about Twitter: do I use it? What is it good for? Isn’t it a waste of time? How do you make it work for work?

When Twitter first came about I was skeptical. Why would anyone want to know what I am doing? Who am I?! Well, it has been confirmed – I am apparently “somebody” to 45 46 116 (and counting!) people (and probably to my mom and dad but they do not Twitter)!

Here are some of my answers to the Twitter questions:

Do I use it?
YES! I use it every day. I tweet at work about what I am doing and at home about regular run of the mill kinds of things.

What is it good for?
All kinds of things. For keeping up with friends, for sure. It is so much more though! I “follow” editors, writers, news makers, social media experts and many other professionals in addition to some friends. This allows me to watch trends, stay on the cusp of what is going on in social media circles and possibly network a bit.

Is Twitter a waste of time?
Like anything, time management is key! Yes, you can get lost in watching for updates, but you can always go back and review the history of your peeps tweets. I do not consider it a waste of time if you are

1. Learning
2. Connecting/networking

How do you make it work for work?
There are a couple of helpful applications and tools that I use to make Twitter “work” for me.

Twhirl – a desktop approach to Twitter. Twirl runs in the background while you work and then alerts you when messages from the people you are following are posted. It is easy to use and has yet to mess with my Mac – so I give it a thumbs up!

Twitter Search – What are people talking about? Are you looking for what the buzz is on a certain product or company? This is the perfect tool! In this case I searched my client Small Dog Electronics and found that a few people were tweeting it up!!!

Twellow – a type of Twitter “yellow pages”, Twellow allows you to search by industry, job function and more. It is a great way to look for people you might be interested in following. In my case, I would look for editors, writers and journalists.

Figuring out how to make Twitter work within your profession is valuable if you think that global networking has some merit.

 

Nicole (you can follow my tweets on Twitter @pmgcreative)

 

PS. For those of you thinking, “Good grief! We need to put together a social media plan and get results fast!” There is no real way to do this. It is viral. And by that I mean it relies on your brand evangelists to go out there and talk you up. Word of Mouth. This takes time. And part of that relies on how good your product/event/widget is.

Better start now!

What the F**K is Social Media?

From time to time I come across some things on PR and marketing blogs and sites that make me laugh and think. I will try to bring you one of my favorites each week – so thus begins the Clip of the Week (Eish! Ken – we really need to rename that!)

Marta Kagan, a.k.a Bonafide Marketing Genius is the brains behind this great presentation. Cutting edge stuff:

Nicole

Social Networking Spam?

As the global community figures out how to best use all of the social networking sites (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc., etc., etc), marketers are trying out different methods to reach customers and other prospects through these mediums.

From time to time discussion begins on if tactic executed by a salesperson or marketer is considered spam or misuse of these mediums.  Here you will find one discussion regarding a Twitter communication.

What is your take?

We often “pitch” and Twitter about client news and happenings as well as post regarding blog updates, etc on Facebook.  Does this make PMG a spammer?  What are your thoughts?

Nicole

Don’t Push Me!

There has been a lot of discussion about how to distribute company press releases now and there has been much debate.  In fact, there are even blogs written about bad pitches and pr firms that have mis-stepped.  Hey, it happens from time to time.

So what is the best way to get your message and news out there?  Do you push it through mass distribution of a press release or do you go the pull method – pitching your story to each and every media outlet on your list?  Well, I think a bit of both.

Times are changing and the way we used to kick it old school and do mass blast faxing to media outlets is gone.  But you should kick it old school and K.I.S.S – send short pitches to targeted media – but only after you have done your homework on said journalist.  Have you heard of the Twitter pitch?  Basically it is pitching your story in 160 characters or less.  If the journalist bites, then send them the press release.

“But, Nicole, that will take a long time for that kind of initiative!”

Yes, it probably will, but your results will be worth it.

Looking forward to seeing you in print,

Nicole