Category Archives: Marketing

Hyper Niche Flat Tops | ZAPSOCK

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This is probably one of the worst names for a post ever.

There is absolutely no seo value.

It doesn’t even make sense.

But I like it.

Those were the first words that came to mind when I saw this barber shop.

Senior rates.

Flat tops.

Senior rates is good for the location.

Hemet, CA has a high population seniors, so that makes sense.

Seniors come in every other week to get their hair cut and they only have a half a head o’ hair.

Makes sense.

But flat tops?

I haven’t seen someone with a flat top in a while.

You know how they do a flat top?

A giant flat comb and clippers.

Vóilá!

So is this guy a genius or stuck in the 90′s?

I say he’s a genius.

Where else would you go to get a flat top?

Have you established your brand this way?

Goats in Trees | ZAPSOCK

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Goat in Tree
Goat eating in tree in Morocco. Courtesty of W. Houston.

What in the world is going on here?

A buddy of mine is a military photographer and I saw this picture that he took in Morocco on his Facebook page.

Apparently these goats love to eat these trees, so they just climb right up there.

All of my life I had held the belief that goats don’t climb trees.

No one had ever taught me that, I just knew it.

Until today.

Keeping an Open Mind

What are you doing with your brand?

Are you doing what all the other goats do and graze in the pastures and eat trash?

Or are you climbing the trees that no one else thought possible?

Just because no one has ever done it with their brand, doesn’t mean it isn’t possible.

If you can think it, you can do it.

You just have to get creative and work a little bit.

Freebies! Get your freebies here! | ZAPSOCK

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I have been reading Chris Anderson’s “Free.”

I am loving it.

It is very informational and exceptionally insightful.

As I was reading it I had an idea, and I am going to give it to you for FREE.

Here it is, I hope someone takes this idea and runs with it.

  1. Get some investors to invest some of their hard earned $$$.
  2. Build (or purchase) a movie theatre.
  3. You won’t need to focus on fancy stadium seating or anything like that.
  4. You GIVE the popcorn away to everyone. That’s right everyone.
  5. Every ticket stub comes with a coupon for a free medium popcorn. Not small, medium.

I don’t really feel like elaborating on why this is such a genius idea, but I will.

  • Everyone goes through your concession line.
  • People will be more prone to purchase other items: candy, soda, hot dogs.
  • The lines for the concessions will be longer, so you have ads playing on monitors located in the lines. Not just up on the walls.
  • More people will come to your theatre because you have free popcorn.

Why does this make sense? Because everyone knows that a 20 ounce serving of popcorn is NOT worth $5.00. It isn’t even worth 5 cents.

Your investment into this is minimal, but the returns will be extraordinary.

I truly hope someone does this.

By the way, I hate popcorn.

Unmarketing | ZAPSOCK

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I heard this the other day. I’m not sure where.

It might have been Brian Solis. It could have been Social Media Examiner.

I apologize for not getting the citation correct. Credit should go where credit is due.

But I thought about “Unmarketing” for a long time.

I actually came across the UnMarketing Blog.

Basically, Unmarketing is Marketing 2.0.

Or 3.4 or 7.3. I don’t know which version it is. It is the latest version though.

It is all about engaging. It is about listening to your audience.

Previously, marketing was all about sending out a message to every single person on the planet (there were only three television networks then) and hoping that your ad was better than the other guy.

Now, it is about finding that niche. That tribe.

Find them and engage them with content that you know that they will love.

Create content that they will share.

Create content that is worth commenting on.

I don’t care if you have 1,000,000 fans (Likes) on Facebook or 250,000 Followers on Twitter.

If you aren’t engaging your audience, it means absolutely squat.

LikeButton.me | ZAPSOCK

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LikeButton.me

Have you checked it out yet?

It is really a great way to monitor how people are sharing your content on Facebook!

Add your site’s URL. It will show how many people have shared your site.

You can see which posts were the most popular.

If you have a brand monitoring strategy, this must be a part of it.

Being a Brand Leader | ZAPSOCK

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Have you read the Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier yet? In it Mr. Neumeier says that your brand is not what YOU say it is, it’s what THEY say it is. (THEY being your consumers.)

It’s the same with leadership. Just because YOU say you are a leader or your business card says you are, does not make you a leader. Just because you have thousands of followers on Twitter or on your super-spiffy NING network, that does not make you a leader. You may be the CEO of a corporation with over 10,000 employees and you might not be a leader. You are only a leader if your followers say you are. If your followers love you and respect you, only then are you a leader.

A leader attracts others with kindness and self-sacrifice. This attraction is magnetic. It is atomic.

A true leader will always put his followers’ interests before his own.

Are you a leader? If you can answer that definitively, you most likely are not.

So then, what are the characteristics of a true follower?

Epic Branding Fail | ZAPSOCK

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Al and Laura Ries authored one of the greatest texts on branding that I have read. It is called, “The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding.” The 22 Laws are great guidelines for anyone who is thinking of starting a business, has recently started a business, or is currently involved in a business- yes, everyone. Here I just want to talk about the first two laws. You can find all 22 laws in the book or at the Ries’ website here. The following is taken from the website:

“1. The Law of Expansion: The power of a brand is inversely proportional to its scope. Trying to be all things to all people undermines the power of the brand. The strength of brands lies in becoming synony-mous with a single category. Brands that spread themselves across categories lose brand focus, identity, and ultimately market share.
2. The Law of Contraction: A brand becomes stronger when you narrow its focus. By narrowing the focus to a single category, a brand can achieve extraordinary success. Starbucks, Subway and Dominos Pizza became category killers when they narrowed their focus.”

So what do you think I thought the other day and saw that El Pollo Loco is now serving Sirloin Steak? That’s right. El Pollo Loco, who originally only served grilled chicken is now serving steak. For those who don’t know “Pollo” is “chicken” in Spanish. El Pollo Loco means “The Crazy Chicken.” So why would a chicken restaurant serve steak? As my father said after I told him about this, “That must be one crazy chicken if you can get sirloin steak from it!”

Branding, Storytelling and Findability | ZAPSOCK

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I came across this article and I wanted to share because it is an excellent example of using story telling. The author, Aarron Walter, does an excellent job of informing us about findability, which many people could turn into a very boring subject. I was reading the article and I was half-way through it before my social media induced ADHD kicked in.

This is a must read for anyone who maintains their own website or who works on websites.

A List Apart: Articles: Findability, Orphan of the Web Design Industry.

Good Marketing/Bad Marketing | ZAPSOCK

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When I was a kid there was a show called Animaniacs. I think that this is a show that only those who are a couple years older or a couple years younger would remember it. It wasn’t on very long, but it was the show that first featured “Pinky and the Brain.” You got it now? Ok, there was also a segment that they would do called “Good Idea/Bad Idea.” It was some quirky little thing about how walking your dog was a good idea but having your dog walk you was a bad idea. So pretty ridiculous right? Anyway, I was watching this movie again and saw a great opportunity. So watch the clip as Uncle Rico demonstrates excellent marketing and his nephew Kip demonstrates poor marketing. And yes, this is marketing, not salesmanship. Sorry about it being just a link instead of embedding it. YouTube won’t allow embedding since the content is protected.

Good Marketing/Bad Marketing

I will let you decide what points are good marketing and which are bad marketing. I can give you pearls, but I can’t give you all of them!

Don’t Market Like a Marketer…. | ZAPSOCK

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Well how do you do that? What do many marketers, designers, developers and even business owners do? They do what they want. They don’t do what the end user or consumer wants. When you are designing a product, service or a website, ask yourself, “Is this what I want or is this what my client wants?” If you are doing it for yourself, you are doing it for the wrong reasons. Don’t add a feature just because it is flashy or cool. Whatever you are doing, do it well, but make sure that you know what your clients want. Sound like too much work? You’re in the wrong business.

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