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Aggressive Small Business Marketing & Advertising
Showing archives from 12/2004.
Alzheimers, Infomercials, Ron Popeil and Emotional Marketing
Posted by Michael Cage on Thursday, December 30, 2004I spent Christmas with my mother-in-law. In the early stages of Alzheimers, she has trouble remembering recent people, interactions, trips and happenings. But one thing she remembers clear as a bell, something that shocked the heck out of me...
Do you study infomercials?
You should. (If you think they are "beneath you" ... consider the "you should" recommendation doubled.)
SIDEBAR: Some of the smartest marketers on a planet are behind them. I should probably explain what I mean by "smart marketer." There is no shortage of "marketers" who claim smart-ness because of how new and innovative their ideas are. To me that ain't a valid measurement. When I say "smart marketer" I mean people who have overflowing bank accounts at the end of each month as a result of the marketing they do, not talk about.
Anyway...
Ron Popeil is a brilliant guy. His book, Salesman of the Century, is a must read for both direct marketing, sales and entrepreneurship lessons.
His "smart-ness" was hammered home (again) by my mother-in law. See, she has one of those rotisserie ovens good 'ole Ron sells on TV.
She loves it, which wasn't a surprise.
The surprise came when, after my wife challenged this Alzheimers-riddled woman on one of the finer points of cooking with the oven ... my mother-in-law explained it away ... in a flash ... with a rousing chorus of:
"You just set it ... and forget it."
Now, if you haven't watched the infomercial, you might not know that "set it ... and forget it" is a U.S.P. of the product. It's repeated dozens of times throughout the commercial.
My mother-in-law didn't stop there. She then started the mantra again...
"You just set it..."
...and waited for us to answer the call.
My mother-in-law who can't remember who she dined with last week, can still remember ... clear as a bell ... the U.S.P. of a product she bought on television. There are a handful of reasons for it, but that aside ... that is some powerful, powerful stuff.
It begs the question:
"What is your U.S.P. ... and is it communicated powerfully and emotionally enough that your customers can recite it, verbatim, in a flash?"
There are 0 comments, add your own!Carnival of the Capitalists & Business Opportunities Weblog
Posted by Michael Cage on Tuesday, December 28, 2004Dane has the last Carnival of the year.
There are 0 comments, add your own!Men and last minute Christmas shopping
Posted by Michael Cage on Thursday, December 23, 2004Tee-hee, you gotta read this...
"December is run by women," I told him. "It doesn't matter if it's Hannukah, Kwanzaa or Christmas, women do it all. Without women, holiday cookies wouldn't be baked, Christmas cards wouldn't be sent, and kids wouldn't see Santa at the mall." I paused for a moment while the waitress took our order, then continued to rant. "If women didn't do the shopping, kids really would get coal for Christmas. Actually, coal is too hard to find. If it were left up to men, kids would just get sticks gathered from around the yard. And I guarantee, the sticks wouldn't be picked up until the day before Christmas, and then only if they were on sale!"
Personally, if people aren't fighting in the aisles for the last fad-of-the-year, I don't feel like it's Christmas. I've always been a last minute shopper, but not for the reasons implied in this article.
I love the chaos, energy and excitement of trucking around Tysons and Tysons II with more bags than one man can reasonably carry ... with the minutes and hours rapidly ticking by. It's kind of like disarming a bomb, only different.
It's tradition for, and I'll never change it.
I can't even imagine doing my shopping online ... what fun is that???????
I mean, even if you don't do ANY shopping, Christmas eve people-watching is a fascinating ant farm to observe human behavior in..........
Tipped off via Kirsten's always excellent blog...
There are 0 comments, add your own!Beating Business Buzzword B.S.
Posted by Michael Cage on Thursday, December 23, 2004Yes, there really is more to this post than my wanting to put as many "B" words in a title... (Though that clearly was part of the fun.)
Anyway, here's the game.
When someone, especially a consultant who is trying to take your money, explains what they are going to do using a buzzword, tell them to explain it again. But without the buzzword.
When I first started doing this, I added on: "...and do it in one sentence."
Problem was, they'd end up giving me a 97-word sentence.
So, nowadays, I just ask the question and wait.
Ever play the game "Operation" as a kid? Where you yank someone's heart out with a pair of tweezers, but if you touch the side a buzzer scares everyone in the house and your patient dies?
The game works like that.
If they say the buzzword after you told them not to, you make a loud and obnoxious buzzing noise and tell 'em to get out of your office.
If they can't clearly explain it in one sentence, they don't know what they are talking about. And they get no money.
But wait, you say, surely someone can not have an alternate explanation readily available. To which I say: BULL. An expert, to be an expert, will have put the time and thought into going beyond the buzzword. Into what it means, how it is accomplished, and alternate explanations.
There are 4 comments, add your own!Carnival of the Capitalists
Posted by Michael Cage on Monday, December 20, 2004The new Carnival of the Capitalists is up at XTremeBlog.
It's times like these that make me thankful for the fabulous OmniWeb. OW's site preferences allow me to override the default style of the site, and ONLY this site. Instead of hidden sort-of pink links among the pink text, one press of the button and I get good 'ol blue on black. Yum.
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