Marketing Pilgrim Published: “Cup of Joe: My Birthday Wish For You” plus 3 more

Cup of Joe: My Birthday Wish For You
New Book Offers Marketing Advice Beatles Style
27% of Americans Have Checked Facebook While in the Bathroom
Google Cutts Spam from the Search Engine’s Menu

Posted: 21 Jan 2011 09:15 PM PST

One day, Craig Rowin asked for a million dollars. Days later, he asked again, and again, and one last time. And then, the unthinkable happened.

Someone gave him one million dollars.

Well, not yet, but he’s met with a millionaire that has given him a notarized letter confirming that he will present Craig with a check on February 2nd on stage at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York City. Where Rowin performs on a regular basis as a comedian.

Its not surprising to find out that Rowin is a comedian. His videos are funny and he obviously did them for the comedic value. It would also be safe to assume that he never expected to actually get a million dollars.

Which brings us to the question of Why would a complete stranger give some kid on Youtube a million dollars? Maybe he is super generous and wants to spread his wealth. Maybe he wants to use it as an opportunity to gain publicity for himself. Or maybe he needs to hide it from the mob! (Gasp!)

Either way, this mysterious millionaire wouldn’t even think of giving Rowin a dime, if he didn’t ask for it. Craig Rowin will soon be a millionaire, and he owes a great deal of his new found fortune to the fact that he put him self out there and asked for it.

As marketers we are in the business of asking for things. Its our job to ask for things. We ask for folks to read our blogs, buy our books, try our service and believe in our ideas. Asking for things is at the forefront of everything we do. If you are not comfortable asking for things then you need to tackle this insecurity now.

I know that its awkward to ask for things. I know that it doesn’t seem polite, and can come off as pushy and obnoxious. I am not saying that you need to be a jerk about the things you ask for. And it’s also easier if you have something awesome to offer.

If you are having a problem getting to a point to ask for things then maybe you need to quit worrying about what people think of you, and start asking for what you and your business needs. Otherwise no one will ever give you the things you need and care about most.

Today is my birthday. For my birthday wish I am going to ask that you understand your full potential and start asking for the things that will help you reach that potential. Because no one knows what you need, and they certainly aren’t going to ask without a little nudge.

New Book Offers Marketing Advice Beatles Style

Posted: 21 Jan 2011 02:39 PM PST

When you look at the history of The Beatles, it may seem that their rise to the top of the charts was based on a series of fateful meetings and lucky breaks. But according to Richard Courtney and George Cassidy, there was nothing accidental about it. They say that every move, every junction was carefully planned and vetted with an eye always toward being a musical success. They say, that by following the blueprint set out by The Beatles, any company could rise to the top of their own industry chart and that is the premise of their new book.

Come Together: The Business Wisdom of The Beatles is a simplified, straightforward look at the steps that made The Beatles one of the most successful musical acts in history and how those same steps can be applied to business.

The Long and Winding Road

The book is divided into 100 chapters but don't let that put you off. Each chapter is a very succinct look at a very specific concept including Thinning the Ranks, Communication, Mediation, Inspiration and if you're lucky, Paying the Price of Fame. It takes The Beatles, and a company, from the early days of struggling to make ends meet, to handing over the torch to the next generation once you've reached the end. It's a "Long and Winding Road," but Courtney and Cassidy say that their system can lead to "Money" and "Strawberry Fields Forever."

The joy of this book is in its simplicity. Yes, it's 100 chapters long, but it's under 300 pages which means most chapters are only a page or two long. There are no complex theorems here, just common sense advice that we already know but don't always use.

Look at Chapter 7. It's titled Image and Branding and it's all about one of the most talked about elements of the early Beatles – their mop-top hairdo. Says the authors, the hairdo came about when the boys met Astrid Kirchherr and her boyfriend Klaus in Germany. Astrid had cut her boyfriend's hair in an unusual style for a very practical reason, to hide his large ears. George co-oped the style and John and Paul followed, but then drummer Peter Best refused. He preferred to stay with the greasy, slicked back style that was Elvis Presley's trademark. Eventually, it was this haircut (which became known as The Beatles Cut but should have been called The Klaus) and their matching suits that made them special in a world full of rock 'n roll bands. Their haircut literally became iconic and was constantly brought up in interview after interview. It also led to one of the most repeated stories about the lads, the one where the reporter asks them what they call the haircut and George says "Arthur."

To apply this to business, we only have to look at the colors and graphics that define a company. What do you see in your head when I say Coca Cola, or Volkswagen or Apple? A clean, clear, easily recognizable icon is essential for a business that wants to rise above the competition.

Money Can’t Buy Me Love

The most valuable chapter in the book is Chapter 29, “No Pain, No Gain.” This is the Ed Sullivan years. The Beatles drove themselves to exhaustion, touring, recording, filming a movie and putting themselves out there for their fans. They weren't earning what they were worth and what money they did make, they didn't have time to spend. While they were in the middle of it, the probably didn't even notice the landmarks like the TV gigs, record breaking ticket sales or the moment they had twelve songs in the top 100. When you're knee deep in it and living on Red Bull and Tums, it's nearly impossible to see the gains, but you have to. Ask a trusted friend to point them out, if you must, but don't give up because you feel like you're not getting anywhere. Imagine if The Beatles had given up at the end of that year. If they thought they were too tapped out to write another song. We wouldn't have "Yesterday" or "All You Need is Love" or "Let it Be." What a shame, that would be.

Richard Courtney and George Cassidy have done a fine job of combining an interesting subject like The Beatles with the inspiration to succeed at whatever it is you do. The book may be a little too simple in spots, but all of the advice is worth pondering no matter what stage your business is in.

Come Together: The Business Wisdom of the Beatles will be available in early March from Turner Publishing.

Full disclosure time: I was given a copy of the book for review but that did not impact my opinions.

27% of Americans Have Checked Facebook While in the Bathroom

Posted: 21 Jan 2011 12:56 PM PST

Have you ever checked Facebook while in the bathroom? 27% of the people AIS Media surveyed said they had. Granted, they only surveyed 500 people, but I’d bet that real percentage is even higher than that. Go into any women’s restroom in a club in Los Angeles and you’ll see that it’s true – lipsticks and cell phones all over the place.

So what does this mean to you, the marketer? A lot, actually. It’s another example of how social media is changing the way we go about our. . . shall we say, daily business. We’re becoming input junkies who can’t go ten minutes without connecting to our friends be it through social media updates, check-in services or text messaging.

The combination of mobile and social media has opened us up to a constant stream of information and that means more opportunities for marketing. It’s beyond time to start thinking about doing something different, something other than banner ads and search and static Facebook pages. To win that customer over, you need to put relevant advertising in front of them at exactly the right moment.

Let’s go back to that LA club restroom. Here’s Chelsea, checking her make-up and her Facebook and she sees that her best friend just bought this bold, red lipstick that makes men drop at her feet. Thanks to mobile technology, Chelsea can buy that lipstick while she’s still standing in front of that mirror and have it delivered in time for next weekend’s party.

Face it, if you don’t grab the customer while she’s waiting in line for the restroom, your competitor will.

Google Cutts Spam from the Search Engine’s Menu

Posted: 21 Jan 2011 12:07 PM PST

You’ve seen it. I’ve seen it. We’ve all seen it. And now even Google’s head of spam prevention, Matt Cutts, has seen it.

What am I talking about? This:

In a post today, Cutts admits that Google has ”seen a slight uptick of spam in recent months.” Keep in mind that this is the company that doesn’t like to admit anything is ever wrong over at the Googleplex. Mention click fraud, search spam, or anything else nefarious and you’ll get flat-out denials. So, it’s interesting that Google’s chief spam fighter is admitting that search spam is on the rise.

If Google’s admitting it, it’s probably worse than we first thought.

OK, now that we’re discussing the elephant in the server farm, let’s look at what Google plans to do to rope this stuff in. First, the easy spam–keyword stuffing:

To respond to that challenge, we recently launched a redesigned document-level classifier that makes it harder for spammy on-page content to rank highly. The new classifier is better at detecting spam on individual web pages, e.g., repeated spammy words—the sort of phrases you tend to see in junky, automated, self-promoting blog comments.

Next, the nasty stuff–website hacks:

We've also radically improved our ability to detect hacked sites, which were a major source of spam in 2010.

And, a type of spam that drives Mrs. Beal crazy–content scraping:

…one change that primarily affects sites that copy others' content and sites with low levels of original content.

(Can I get a w00t w00t Sheila?)

Lastly, Google’s done with content farms:

…people are asking for even stronger action on content farms and sites that consist primarily of spammy or low-quality content.

Cutts states that spam in Google’s index is less than half of what it was five years ago. These new filters should ensure that same level of success over the next five years.

Disclaimer: You could accuse me of being a “Cuttlet” as I believe Matt is an all round righteous dude.