Influential Marketing Blog

Why I Didn't Buy An iPhone

Earlier this weekend, I sent a tweet noting that I was in the market for a new phone as I looked to upgrade my cell phone contract with AT&T and I mentioned that I was considering an iPhone. As I expected, I was immediately responded to by over a dozen folks talking about how much they love their iPhone and how it has changed their life through technology. Don't get the wrong idea - I have tried the iPhone and I think it's a great product. This is not an anti-iPhone post, but rather an exploration of something many of my digerati counterparts and connected colleagues may find shocking ... that someone could choose not to get an iPhone and be ok with it. So here's my reasoning:

1. I have a Blackberry for work. Being a digital kind of guy, I get asked on occasion why I don't have an iPhone. My main reason so far is that I have a Blackberry from work where I can already get email, browse the Internet, access maps and locations online, send Twitter updates and more. The only problem is, my work doesn't pay for cell phone access - so I still need a phone to make calls. But to get another phone and pay for a data plan myself seems redundant (and no, I'm not saying they are equivalent choices - the Blackberry is definitely more limited with what you can do).
2. Expectation of Apple price gouging/discounting. As I started thinking about purchasing the iPhone, more than a few people suggested to me that I may want to wait for an upcoming announcement from Apple about a newer version, or perhaps a discount on the current models. Given their track record, the honest truth is that I don't trust Apple not to lower the price or introducing a new product as soon as I purchase it. For TODAY, that offered me enough doubt to spend some effort looking for other options instead of just blindly going for the iPhone.
3. Avoidance of significant ongoing investment. Currently, I don't pay for any data plans on my personal cell phones and don't purchase any accessories like applications, ringtones or games. If I got an iPhone, not only would I pay a higher upfront cost (many other phones were virtually free after a rebate) - I would also need to pay a recurring data plan fee which I would otherwise avoid, and any incremental fees for applications I buy (and based on all the cool applications I know exist and those I've seen from friends, I would end up buying quite a few). At the end of the day, all this adds up to over $1000 extra dollars per year to get the iPhone. Ultimately, I'd rather spend that money elsewhere.
4. Found a deal too good to ignore. The more practical reason I didn't go with an iPhone (and perhaps the most important) was because I found a deal in the AT&T store where I could get two new LG Vu* phones (also with a touch screen), for about $10 each - after factoring in the instant rebate and my corporate discounts (none of which are available on the iPhone). That combined with the fact that I needed two new phones instead of just one and reviews talking about the great sound quality of the phone were the last piece of this experience that helped me decide.
5. I actually enjoy not being an "Apple guy." As someone who has written a lot about brand personality and how individuals respond to the more personal attributes of a brand, I am a BIG admirer of their marketing and how it inspires a cult of Apple supporters (reinforced by products that live up to the marketing). I have also been vocal in the past about how I'm not a blind supporter of all they do either and take pride in not being a "fanboy." Does this mean I don't have any Apple products? Definitely not. But I'm not in the category of people who believe Apple can do no wrong, and I'm happy about that.

So there you have it, my five reasons why this weekend I decided against getting the iPhone. Let the barrage of comments telling me how much I'm missing out on begin ...

*DISCLAIMER: LG is currently a client - but I have done no work on the LG Vu and didn't get any pricing or consideration from LG for writing this or choosing their phone. Honestly, it just happened to be the best phone for my current situation (and is currently AT&T's best selling model this week and next due to their March Madness promotion where you can get 2 months of mobile TV for free).

Going To A Playground This Weekend? Upload and Rate It!

KaBOOM! is a nonprofit group whose sole mission is to inspire more playgrounds to be built so that kids across the country have more places to play. Using an open source model where they share publicly their expertise on building playgrounds to help local communities plan and execute a project to build a new playground through day long projects where volunteers all converge on a location to build a new playground. 

A big question, when it comes to building playgrounds, is where exactly they are most needed. As a solution to this challenge, KaBOOM! has an online tool called the "Playspace Finder" which is essentially a Google maps mashup of locations for places to play, as well as photos, ratings and listening of features and amenities. To get more playspaces into the tool, we are helping KaBOOM! launch their "100,000 Playspaces in 100 Days" campaign to get people to upload new playspaces. As an experiment, we have set up the system to allow people to submit new playspaces using Twitter.

All you need to do is send a Twitpic along with some details as a Twitter message update and KaBOOM! will add it to the Playspace Finder. Here's an illustration of the format:
FORMAT TO CUT AND PASTE:
[Twitpic URL] [Name of Playspace] [Address or nearest cross streets] [City/State OR Zip] [Rating (with asterisks)] [Cause code] #playhere

There are 6 charities the project is supporting, and for each playspace uploaded, one of the charities will get $1 - and we are working on adding some social media specific partners to the program in the coming week or two as well. Get the full instructions and more details on the KaBOOM! blog.

So if you're at a playspace this weekend, send us a message through Twitter and help out a good cause in the process. 100,000 playspaces is a big target - but I'd love to see us get there not just as a marketer supporting my client or as a blogger, but as a father with two boys who plans to visit plenty of these playspaces in the coming years.

Want to do more to support KaBOOM!? Here are a few more things you can do:

1. Tweet this message: KaBOOM! builds playgrounds. Help them create a map of 100,000 playspaces in 100 days: http://www.tinyurl.com/kab100k
2. Submit playspace via the online form (no twittering or blogging required!)
3. Blog about the campaign
4. Suggest a social media partner organization

How To Save The World's Dying Languages (And Stay "On Brand")

Whether we realize it or not, parts of our culture are slowly disappearing. As the world becomes flatter, entire continents choose to use the same currency, and people move around the world and merge cultures - the individuality of many places is eroding. Of course, there are great benefits to the new "fusion" culture that is arising from this ... but there is a real danger that traditions are being lost. One symbol of these cultures is language.

National Geographic paints a bleak picture for the future of language (though they do have a language revitalization program underway to address the issue by partnering with a group called Living Tongues). Still, they note that "every 14 days a language dies. By 2100, more than half of the more than 7,000 languages spoken on Earth - many of them not yet recorded - may disappear."

Against this cultural context, Rosetta Stone (a leader in offering language training services) has a cause marketing effort underway called the Endangered Language Program.  As it sounds, it is an effort to catalog and archive some of the world's rapidly dying languages by working with members of the culture to save and record them. The "on brand" part of this is that they use their software technology and language learning methodology to help groups to do this themselves. And most importantly, once it is done, the language learning program is the property of the organization to distribute as they wish.

Why is this program so effective? Here are a few reasons:

1. It addresses a critical need for humanity.
2. It demonstrates the power of the product as an integral part of the solution.
3. It is a challenge not easily solved that will take time and resources.
4. It is urgent and needs to be done right now.
5. It is ownable for the brand as something unique to them.

Brands do all kinds of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs, many of which have very thin connections to their brand. Rosetta Stone has the opposite. Not only is the Endangered Language program a perfect fit with the mission of their company, they need to use their own software and tools in order to execute it. Am I saying brands shouldn't do good just for good's sake? Of course not. But if you're choosing a program for your entire company to get behind, wouldn't you rather choose something strategic like this?  Kudos to Rosetta Stone for the mission of the Endangered Language Program, and for offering a lesson in strategic CSR any business can learn from.

7 Things Mom Bloggers Want To Say To PR People

When the digital moms segment aired on the Today Show, I had over a dozen colleagues and clients email me to ask if I had seen it. It is clear that Mom bloggers have certainly reached the public mind in a way that excites many marketers. Over SXSW, I had several opportunities to sit down and learn from mom bloggers what their experience has been of working with marketers. Dinner with the Walmart 11 moms, long conversations with Stacy and Rebecca from MomCentral and hallway conversations with people who are only indirectly connected with mom bloggers like Laura Mayes from Kirtsy - as well as experience in working on a few programs focused on mom bloggers for clients have all led to this post.

So, here are the top 7 things gleaned from conversations with mom bloggers that most of them really wanted PR people to know. At the end of the list is an 8th that I didn't actually hear from anyone, but still think is valid enough to include on this list:

1. "Get to know me." Mom bloggers are often sharing extremely personal things about their lives on their blogs, from helping a family member deal with a difficult illness to their own stories of juggling everything. Take the cues from their writing about whether your product or service is a good fit and when is a good time to contact them about it.
2. "Stop asking for free coverage." Most mom bloggers aren't like journalists and don't really "cover" products or news. They do write about things they find personally interesting, and often accept products to try, so invite trial and if you want to reach a mom bloggers audience, consider actually paying for a sponsorship or advertising as a way of supporting her instead.
3. "Tell me who else is involved." Often a mom blogger you are talking to may know other moms who would be interested in your efforts or could suggest even better people for your effort from their personal network. Share your list early and be flexible enough to change it.
4. "Remember I have kids." It's ironic how many marketers forget that Mom bloggers are moms first and foremost. So they can't do that conference call with your team at 8:30am, or pick up and head off for a 3 day weekend next week to take a tour of your factory. Don't be surprised to get a response to your email at 2am or it sometimes takes several days. Just because you're surgically attached to your Blackberry doesn't mean that they are too. Remember their schedule and family obligations and you'll be much more likely to get them involved.
5. "Kids come in different ages." Again, this falls into the "duh" category of marketing knowledge, but moms have kids that are different ages and often your product's usefulness relates directly to how old a mom's kids are. Last time I checked, toddlers don't really eat beef jerky - so your free samples are probably not too useful.
6. "Don't try to tell me what to write." This should be obvious, but surprisingly easy to forget for some marketers. Mom bloggers, like any other bloggers, want to have their own opinions and share them. If this makes you uncomfortable, a mom blogger program may not be the best option for your product.
7. "Keep a relationship after your campaign." Nothing is worse than a campaign ending and all of a sudden everyone disappears off the face of the earth. Great blogger engagement is about the relationship. Don't let it die when your campaign ends.
8. BONUS TIP NOT OVERHEARD (but still valid) - "Don't assume we want your stuff." Some mom bloggers are just blogging for personal reasons and are not interested in marketing. Others are very specific about who they would consider working with and you may not be on the short list. Don't assume just because you have a great new laundry detergent and moms often have to do laundry that they would love to sample your product.

SXSW 2009: A Recap Of Marketing Secrets

Secrets in marketing work. We all know it intuitively, each time we see a mystery URL we can't help but click on, or hear about a secret VIP deal or special event that most people don't know about. There is a powerful human impulse that makes us want to be part of the exclusive group that knows a secret. So on Monday at SXSW 2009, Kaitlyn and I hosted a discussion all about using secrets for marketing (called Curiosity Marketing). In our packed room (we had about 100 people spread out across the chairs on the wall and sitting on the floor). In case you were one of the ones that made it (or one of the 20 or so I heard were stuck outside), please Rate The Session: http://rate.sxsw.com/sessions/?date=2009-03-16 (and whether you liked it or hated it, at least tell them we need a bigger room next year!)

Our conversation, though, was a great collection of thoughts from people in the room of secrets they have seen out there, ideas for using secrets, and some necessary conversation about the role of authenticity and potential for misleading people with this approach. It is tough to capture a session as interactive as that in a blog post, but we spent most of our time sharing a long list of examples we have all seen of secrets in marketing  So, without further ado, here is the list:

• SecretSXSW: We talked about the story behind this secret site launched before the panel to demonstrate the idea of using secrets for marketing - it's a compilation of all the special offers, discounts and freebies from SXSW.
• Konami Code: A secret code used in several video games to allow cheating or extra lives.
  
• Google's Gmail Launch: Created exclusivity by limiting the number of invites that were available.  
• Toy Makers: Manufacturered scarcity, like Tickle Me Elmo.  Doing this around the holiday will drive up sales for the rest of the year for birthday and special occasions.
• Cadbury Cream Eggs: Are only offered around Easter, they tried making them available year round and net sales actually dropped.  
• AmEx Black: Offered only to those who charge a certain amount each month, it's exclusive and was secret before the internet made knowledge of it more widely available.
• Repressed Knowledge: Used commonly in broadcast, "What ____ doesn't want you to know, at 11:00pm"
• Cracker Jack: There's a secret inside every box, and you know it - but you don't know WHAT it is.
• Apple: Uses secrecy around new product launches that generates a frenzy.
• Intel: Has included inside jokes just for IT managers in communications
• Mini Roboticist: Web videos making robots out of Mini parts, wasn't clear "if this is real" lead to curiosity.
• Rolling Rock: Has "33" under cap, no one really knows what it is.
• Tootsie Pop: Star on your wrapper and you got a free lollipop.  
• In and Out Burger: Order Animal Style...   
• www.twitter.com/kogibbq: a traveling taco truck in LA that tweets its location
• Cold Tea in Chinese Restaurants: Order "cold tea" after bars close and they will bring you beer in a tea pot
• PTD = Please Don't Tell Restaurant: You enter through a phone booth in a hot dog restaurant to access a throw back speakeasy
• BMW Easter Egg Campaign: TV ad contained secret information and you were in the know to find a reward
• LOST Easter Eggs
• How I Met Your Mother: Incorporates URLs into the show that actually exist like www.slapbetcountdown.com and www.tedmosbyisajerk.com that evolve and give die hard fans more content
• Moo.com: HIdes a secret message in the 200 pack of business cards packaging - the secret is not "out" yet
• Reverse Secrets: You don't know the brand up front, but it becomes clear over time - like Halo3 and Blair Witch Project promos
• Failed Secret: Blackberry Storm - "Secret" online, but reveal was product of dubious reputation
• Failed Secret: Dr. Pepper - Offering free coupons if Guns N Roses put out album in 2008
• Failed/Or Not? Secret: Aqua Teen Hunger Force (Cartoon Network) - Placed lightboards in Boston that came under fire for sparking terrorism fears (but we had a great discussion on this and most people felt like it was not a failed secret)
• Accidental Secrets: Secrets that get out via sites like FatWallet

If I missed anything from this post or you have another secret to share, please share it in a comment.

How To Blog, Party, Learn, Promote & Network Like A Rockstar At SXSW 2009

As I write this, I'm on the plane headed to South By Southwest (SXSW) in Austin for my third year. One big question newbies and veterans of the show are likely thinking about is how to get the most out of their experience given the flood of events, people, conversations and opportunities that the show will have. I did a quick Twitter search for "#sxsw" yesterday afternoon and it had 100 new conversations using the keyword over just 60 seconds. Equated to meteorological terms, SXSW isn't a flood or a tornado - it's an ELE (Extinction Level Event).

So, if you read one post about getting ready for the show (and staying alive through it) - perhaps this should be it. The show kicks off later tonight - so in between RSVPing to parties and twittering your gripes about airline delays, check out this super quick list of tips on how to get the most out of SXSW this year, separated into five key activities you might be doing:

HOW TO BLOG AT SXSW:

• Forget live blogging everything people say. It's too much pressure and I guarantee there are way too many pro/experienced bloggers doing it better and more consistently than you in the crowd. Let them.
• Bring out insights and single gems in your blog posts. Focus on the big things that you learned or will take away from the show, and your blog posts will be much higher quality (and more useful for everyone).
• Be self sufficient. Set up your blackberry or iPhone so you can do mobile blog posts if you can't get on the Internet. Buy an extension cord to share outlets with people. Have a usb flash drive so you can use a different computer if you need to. Essentially, don't expect all the services to be available for you. Think like a road warrior.

HOW TO PARTY AT SXSW:

• RSVP for everything you can
• Choose the 1 party each night that you absolutely can't miss.
• Go there first around the time it starts. Being fashionably late is an amateur move at SXSW because the lines get long.
• Go to the party where you know someone later (and use your connection to jump the line)
• Pay attention to the "flash mob" parties that spring up on Twitter. Skip the lines and go to those. Pepsi has a great tool to help you do that here.
• Broadcast your whereabouts as much as you can or are willing to - often people in your social network may find you through these updates, and you can meet people you never expected to.

HOW TO LEARN AT SXSW:

• Plan an escape route. There are lots of conflicting great sessions at SXSW - so don't be afraid to get up and leave if a session isn't living up to what you thought it would be.
• Decide by Twitter. If you are conflicted between two sessions, wait 5 minutes into the sessions and see what people are saying about the sessions, and then pick one to go to. Trust the mob.
• Take good notes. In other words, don't write down everything - just the "aha moments" that come from the session. Those are all you'll really need afterwards anyway. In fact, doing that also makes live twitter an event particularly easy, because your tweets are far more useful and can serve as your notes after the session.

HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR BRAND/SELF AT SXSW:

• Use the influencer model. One of the most effective things you can do at SXSW is to tell influential people about your product, service, or yourself. This is not about sucking up to anyone, but getting the right people to know about your product.
• Have something to give people. A business card is a good start, but somehow you need to stand out so that people will remember you and connect with you after the event. So get some stickers, handwrite a URL or Twitter name on the back of your business card, or make it a point to follow up with people that you meet as soon as you can.
• Create and tag content. This may be tough advice to follow because everyone is doing it, but there is an archival quality to having good photos, video and blog content come out of SXSW that you should use as much as you can.
• Add a special offer or exclusive promotion for SXSW attendees to WWW.SECRETSXSW.COM, a list that our team created to help manage the overwhelming amount of marketing at the show. After SXSW, it will be THE place people go to follow up on offers and marketing that they saw during the show.

HOW TO NETWORK AT SXSW:

• Meet your rockstars. Everyone has someone that they admire who will be at SXSW. The nice thing is that it is definitely the kind of show where you can (and should) introduce yourself to your rockstars (the people you really want to meet).
• Film and interview instead of chitchat. If you meet someone interesting, think about asking them a few questions in an interview for your blog. Or grabbing a quick video with them on a flip cam (assuming you brought one with you, of course). The point is, as much as you can, go beyond idle chit chat.

Above all else, my final tip to anyone making the show is to actually BE THERE. This means not Twittering during a conversation with someone, or focusing so much on getting your next blog post out that you don't actually take a moment to really learn something, or to actually get to know someone, or to truly enjoy your time at what is probably one of the most FUN shows you'll go to all year. Good luck - and hope to see you there. Follow me at @rohitbhargava on Twitter to try and say hello!

Your Brand Is Not Batman

Today I had the chance to take part in an entertaining panel moderated by my friend Debbie Weil all about blogging and social media as part of a book launch event for David Meerman Scott's new book, World Wide Rave. Along with me on the panel were Greg Verdino, a fellow blogger and agency guy from Crayon, and Henry Posner, the social media and digital marketing guy from B&H Photo (probably my favourite NY photo store that I've purchased much of my photographic equipment from over the years). Our conversation ranged from blogs and Twitter to the role of social media in a broader marketing mix - and the difference between Batman and a Cowboy.

Batman has a utility belt. On that belt, he has batarangs, inflatable scuba gear, smoke makers, batcuffs, batraygun and just about anything else he could ever need. He's a crimefighter, and never knows what bad guys he is going to face next. He actually needs and uses all that stuff. A cowboy, on the other hand, carried just a revolver. He never needed all that fancy stuff, just one tool that did its job. The gun was the only thing a cowboy needed, and he used it strategically to stay alive.

Now think about this in relation to how your brand is approaching social media. Are you treating your brand like Batman, trying to have a presence everywhere, launch one of everything and using many things that you don't really need? The problem with that is that your brand isn't Batman ... and you end up spreading yourself too thin and doing nothing really well. Instead, think of your brand like the cowboy and find the one tool you need to succeed. Comcast found Twitter. Blendtec found YouTube. Forget about creating a social media utility belt. Only Batman needs one of those.

5 Marketing Secrets From Infomercials

Infomercials, those long TV ads that air late at night when most reasonable people should be sleeping, are often ridiculed by consumers and marketers alike. What kind of person would fall for those exaggerated claims and supposedly limited time offers? Surely these offers are only accepted by poor desperate insomniacs with too many credit cards, right? As it turns out, there is a surprising secret truth at the heart of these infomercials ... that they actually work and many of their customers are people just like you and me. Why do these infomercials work so well - and more importantly, what can anyone marketing a product or service learn from them?

The presentation below offers 5 lessons you can learn from infomercials, along with real life examples of each in action:

Career Survival Week 5/5 - Find Your Inner Entrepreneur

This post is the fifth of five in a series on this blog called "Career Survival Week." See the end of this post for links to the others.

If it seems odd that I made it all the way through career survival week without mentioning entrepreneurship or striking out on your own to start a business instead of working for "the man" (or the woman, for that matter) - this is the post for you. Being an entrepreneur isn't just about starting your own business, though. There are many other ways that you can tap your own latent entrepreneural spirit to help you survive the recession. Here are just a few:

1. Start a side business. Some say the best time to start your own business is while you're still employed somewhere else. The risk is lower, security is much higher, and sometimes your current job can open the doors that you need in order for your personal business to succeed. You need to be careful about overlap or potential conflicts of interest, but as long as you're not doing your personal work on company time, or directly competing with your employer - you should be ok.
2. Launch a new product or service from within. Along with the advice I shared earlier in the week about thinking outside of your job is the idea that sometimes you can launch new products or services within the company you work for. Think of a part of your current job as thinking like a startup. What is something new that you could spearhead the launch of based on what you already do? The side benefit of something like this is that if it works, it can make you more indispensible at work.
3. Take a calculated risk. Everyone will tell you not to put all your eggs in one basket ... but most people don't put them in any baskets. They either eat them, or throw them out once they go bad. The point of this analogy (which is rapidly going south, unfortunately) is that now is a good time to take a few risks - because most people aren't. So find that promising idea and put some money behind it. Donate some of your time to help your college friend launch that new effort. Risks are like homes right now - now is the perfect time to find the right one because a lot fewer people are looking.

I hope you found Career Survival Week useful as you plan for the next stage of your career in this crazy job market. Next week, it's back to "regularly scheduled programming" - including a post for tomorrow that I've totally enjoyed writing on marketing lessons from a very unlikely place ...

Career Survival Week On Influential Marketing Blog (links to every post below):
What To Do When You Lose Your Job | Using Social Media To Keep Your Job | Job Seeking 2.0 | How To Rock An Interview  |  Find Your Inner Entrepreneur

Career Survival Week 4/5 - How To Rock An Interview

This post is the fourth of five in a series on this blog called "Career Survival Week." See the end of this post for links to the others.

In a previous role, I used to interview at least one person per week to handle overload and grow our team at a large ad agency in Sydney. Though I don't do much hiring personally in my role now, many of the lessons have stayed with me. Aside from the obvious advice of looking your interviewer in the eye and being friendly, for this fourth post of Career Survival Week I thought I would include a checklist of things that most successful candidates are able to do in a job interview:

1. Live up to your promised skills. Chances are, you got an interview because someone already thought you had the skills they were looking for. So the challenge in the interview isn't to outline all the things you can do or list them out verbally, it's to give as much proof as you can about all the things you said you could do and prove that you were not just exaggerating.
2. Be part of the culture. The most important part of any interview is usually what you could call a "chemistry check." It's no surprise that people hire others that they like and feel they (or their teams) can work with. So do your best to understand their culture and show authentic ways that you might fit in - because ultimately, you'll likely be hired based on far more than your skills alone.
3. Have ideas about their business. Nothing is worse than interviewing someone who has no idea what a business does, or what their products are. Don't make that mistake and do your homework. Walk in with ideas about their business, but be careful not to cross the line and give an impression that you think you know more about their business than they do.
4. Demonstrate you'll contribute quickly. No one wants to hire someone who will take 3 months to learn the business before doing anything - especially in this environment. However you can do it, you need to show the ways that you can hit the ground running and make an immediate impact.
5. Make your hirer look smart. Anytime you are hired, the person who does it puts their personal reputation behind you. So you need to make them comfortable that they will look smart within their company for hiring you
6. Leave them with something shareable. If you managed to impress your interviewer enough for them to consider you seriously for the job, the first thing they will usually need to do is convince several others within the organization to either bring you back for a second interview, or hire you right away. So be sure to point them to a website or a blog or some sort of content online that introduce you to those you didn't meet, and reinforce your interviewers view that you may be good for the job.
   

Career Survival Week On Influential Marketing Blog (links to every post below):
What To Do When You Lose Your Job | Using Social Media To Keep Your Job | Job Seeking 2.0 | How To Rock An Interview  |  Find Your Inner Entrepreneur