Marketing Comet - Small Business Marketing Secrets

Microsoft's New XNA Game Studio Express Offers Unique Oportunity

I have to say that I love the trend of democratization that technology is bringing. Anybody can put up a blog, a web page, video on YouTube, a MySpace profile. Any some stuff out there is actually quite good. Along with this comes new opportunities for small to medium businesses to promote themselves.

The key is content

Remember the old time radio and TV shows that were not only sponsored by, but produced by the advertisers? You might have the Camel cigarette variety hour, for example.

I believe that this trend is coming around again, as soon as businesses figure out how to capitalize.

Microsoft has announced the launch of its XNA Game Studio Express. For a license fee of $99, the tool will allow those with some programming experience to create and distribute their own rudimentary X-Box games. So what?

Well, imagine a smart small business that teams up with a local high school computer science lab. The small business provides the licenses and maybe some instruction, and the high-schoolers could compete in teams to create branded games to distribute. The prize could be a small scholarship, but the learning experience would be invaluable.

Now you have a game - developed at very low cost, and distributed on a popular game console. The game would carry the brand of the company and, if it's good, possibly bring global viral attention to your business.

This is a plan that is eminently achievable, and would undoubtedly generate secondary press for a company that handled it well.

With this new set of tools, Microsoft has promised that simple games could be developed in a matter of weeks not months. I am sure that other console makers will be soon to follow suit - if they know what's good for them.

In any kind of sponsored content endeavor it's really important to remember that if the content appears too much like an ad - it will not get nearly the attention that it should. Think product placement in movies.

I am excited about anything that gets people to think creatively. I think the XNA Game Studio Express may be a fantastic opportunity for some smart smaller businesses.

J D Moore - Marketing Comet

Internet Marketing Tips From Dane Cook's Tourgasm

I am a big fan of comedian Dane Cook and have been watching his Tourgasm show on HBO. On the show, he and 3 other comedians travel the road in a big bus and perform all over the country.

On the last episode, Dane was giving advice to a younger comedian on the tour. He was talking about how he was really utilizing Myspace and other similar technologies to market himself. He said that he had embraced every new technology as a way to reach out to his fans.

He showed the young comedian the 12,000 add a friend requests he had gotten in three days on Myspace. Wow. Imagine tens of thousands of people basically begging you to market to them.

Dane Cook really understands his market, in fact he has been credited with bringing the younger generatio back to stand-up comedy. He views technology as a force multiplier - allowing him to keep in touch with tens or hundreds of thousands of his fans.

This is a great use of technology - and his is free.

When can small business marketers learn from this?

Technology, particularly to the younger generation, is about community. Myspace, for example, is now the most popular web site in the world. The new Internet (reffered to as Web 2.0) is all about sharing and connecting.

As a small business you probably can't afford to hire dozens of programmers to build a community portal like Myspace. However, you can learn to leverege the tools that are already out there for you.

Look at community sites like Myspace and linked-in. You should be blogging. Build an opt-in newsletter. Frequent message boards where your customers go. Connect, connect, connect.

The most important lesson of all!

In web communities sales pitches will get you nowhere. In fact people will resent you if your only intent to connect with them is to deliver a sales pitch. Comedians and musicians tellking people about albums and gigs seem to be the only exceptions to this rule.

Look for conversations with your target market. You can get a lot of insite into what they are looking for. As they start to trust you - they'll seek your business out.

J D Moore - Marketing Comet

The Viral Linkie Winkie

There's a new viral buzz out there over Linkie Winkie. It's part mystery, and part fun. So far there doesn't seem to be much commercial going on, but it's an interesting social experiment.

I'd love to hear some comments from people who may have figured it out.

No I Don't Want To Give You a DNA Sample Too!

I am in the position to evaluate a lot of web services and software for my own use and for my clients. I also receive approximately 2500 SPAM messages a day. I filter, but it's annoying and sometimes my SPAM filter grabs email that I want to read.

So I am really annoyed every time I go to download a free trial, or look at a demo and I have to give all my identifying information and email. Sometimes these companies like to really annoy me and make me fill out a demographic survey.

I know - I'm a marketer and I understand gathering contact info is important. It's even more important that, if I give you my info, you give me something valuable in return. Since I haven't identified how valuable your product or service is yet I am probably going to:

1. Forget it and look at different products.
2. Give you false information.

Recently I filled out an on-line account application so that I could run a search on a mailing list database and get a quote for a client. I had to do this to see how many records there were with my criteria, and how much it would cost to purchase the list.

Within 5 minutes my phone was ringing with a salesperson from the mailing list broker. Then again the next day, and the next. Different sales people called me from that company every day for over a week. ANNOYING! They have convinced me that I don't want to do business with them.

Here are a few rules for gathering customer contact data on-line:

• Make sure there is some reason for gathering the data other than you want your poorly trained telemarketers to call.
• Give customers something in return for providing the data. It could be a free report, or a discount coupon or something of value.
• Only require information that you really need and make other data optional. I'm reluctant to give my phone number, but I require it for people that request a phone consult with me. How else am I going to call them?
• Make it very clear what you are going to do with the information. If you're going to do something with the information that would make people think twice about sharing it, you better check your ethics,
• Keep your word. give customers what you promised, keep their information safe, don't SPAM them.

By the way, the definition of SPAM is unsolicited commercial email. Just because somebody filled in a form to download free trial software - that doesn't mean you get to bombard them with sales pitches for stuff they didn't want. If you have multiple offerings, have checkboxes that allow customers to request information they are specifically interested in.

The Marketing Comet Principle at work is: Don't annoy your customers.

J D Moore - Marketing Comet