By know you have seen all the commercials that spent millions of dollars for 30 seconds of marketing during one of the most publicized sports program in the world (despite FIFA). You’ve gathered around the “water cooler” with coworkers and laughed as reminiscing of those commercials. There were some great ones…some good ones…and some terrible ones. Of course it all comes down to perspective. Yet, I want to focus on two and there is a reason for it.
Living Social vs. Groupon
They are coupon websites that are going after the same businesses. The offer is where a company allows you to purchase their product / service for 50-75% off. The result is giving the company a boast in their business by only allowing a certain number of ‘coupons’. In turn the website companies (Living Social / Groupon / and many more imitators) use a form of affiliate marketing in the way that they themselves do not get paid until all of those “coupons” are purchased or some variation thereof.
The idea is simple yet it has taken off and thus the need for Super Bowl Commercials.
The first was on the line was Living Social entitled “Living Social Change My Life”
The next one is Groupon which is called Tibet
I am not going to say which one was better than the other *cough*LivingSocial*cough* however, don’t take my word for it just head over to CNN for their take on Groupon. Better yet just look at the “likes” or “dislikes” as you browse them on YouTube.
Update: It looks like Groupon admits their million dollar commercial failed and have already responded to the criticism. Check out Mashable for their rebutall.
When you are pushed between a rock and a hard spot your true integrity comes out. Yet, what do you do when everyone is watching?
As most of you know I am an Ohio State (Big Ten) fan. Also, as I type this up I am watching the AllState Sugar Bowl (Ohio State vs. Arkansas). In addition is the recent ‘scandal’ with 4 OSU starters including Terrelle Pryor who sold their gear (including rings) for discounts on tattoos.
The result is a 5 game suspension by the NCAA yet they are allowed to play in the bowl game.
Understand yet? No? Yeah, join the club.
This is a simple case of where the NCAA is more interesting in money then perusing their integrity. I would go into Coach Jim Tressel but figured we need to start from the top down.
These bowl games bring in high dollars (wonder why they are ALL sponsored). In 2006, according to USA today the Sugar Bowl brought in $17 Million. From there it is broken down to each conference (Big Ten) and then the school (close to $2 million). Of course this was in 2006…we will have to wait a couple weeks to get the new figures.
In the end though it looks like it is money over integrity.
Every year millions of people make these silly new years resolutions, with get fit being #1. I’ve done it and even started a blog called “Six Month Results” which lasted for about 30 days due to not having a good outline of my goal.
That was 2 years ago.
In 2011 I have quite a bit of goals I would love to accomplish but nothing more than spending time with my family especially with the newest addition coming in March. So, instead of yearly resolutions I plan on taking a page out of Matt Cutts blog and come up with some month-by-month goals. Then end of the month give a status update.
January Goals
Read 2 books (1 every 2 weeks) and do write-ups about each one.
Spend 5 hours a week on side projects – you would be amazed how much you can accomplish in 45 mins.
Daily Devotionals – my wife and I do them every evening with our son yet I don’t take the time for myself? That needs to change.
Plan something special for my wife for our 7 year anniversary next month.
Write more blog post – at least 3x’s a week.
Free writing. I have a few ideas for some books and started some – time to get organized.
Home maintenance: need to fix some things around the house to get ready for the baby.
I know I’ll probably want to add more but the point is to actually complete them. In reality I wanted to read at least 7 books this week and do at least 10 hours of side work…yet, when would I have time with my pregnant wife and great son?
In the end it’s about relationships…and nothing more.
It’s that time of the year again when we reflect on the year and be thankful for the family and friends that we have. Personally, I have a lot to be thankful for – my family is doing great as we are expecting the newest edition to our family in a few months. So, this has been a whirlwind year and I am starting to prep 2911.
In the next year I will be offering seminars to help people start their own blogs / websites using WordPress as well being secure online. I will also be resurrecting a few of my projects such as SportIntro amongst others. In all honesty I would have them done this year but with the new job and the news of a baby my mind has been preoccupied. I will say though being apart of CultuerMASH has helped me creatively.
Not to mention getting the Google Chrome CR-48 is really going to help me out this year. I’m going to be putting this Netbook to the test so we’ll see just how good it works.
In the end remember to spend time with those you love and care about. All the blogs and web “guru’s” mean nothing if you don’t have anyone to share that with. So, Merry Christmas and I hope to see you in the new year.
On Friday evening at the end of my office party my wife was picking me up she brought me a little surprise from the UPS store. It was the official Google Chrome OS Netbook!
It was just last week I received an email from Google allowing me to sign up for the Pilot Program to test out their new OS Netbook. Then Google showed the world their new Chrome Web store and their OS system. Next thing I know:
So, this weekend I’ve been playing with it and I have so it is an adjustment. Think of a netbook that has NO desktop – it takes getting used to but its nice. The startup is instantly and the whole overlay of it relates to that of an Macbook. Its lightweight and the keys truly stand out. The webcam is great however I found that it doesn’t want to work on Facebook…which I find hilarious after their recent rivalry.
Nonetheless, I will say my son loves it due to the Chrome Store having some great game apps. It’s clean and easy but takes some getting used to. If you can call this update #1 because be sure there will be more coming.
The power to connect is the power to help so when Carla and Shana asked me to be a part of CultureMASH I did not hesitate.
What is CultureMASH?
A #SocialGood Initiative
My wife asked me this and the best way I can explain is giving the voices to the voiceless. To help non-profits and surrounding communities to spread their message. So many times small business and non-profits don’t have enough income to justify marketing expense. Yet, they don’t fully understand the power of it. It can be a lose-lose situation.
How CultureMASH helps
A team composed of people in Marketing / PR / SEO / Web / Video / etc – you can’t help feel excited. Each member has their role and in it helping each other. So, when a non-profit is struggling to get their message across CultureMASH comes in and helps. These people know twitter – they know facebook – they know social media…but do they REALLY understand?
CultureMASH breaks it down – helping them cultivate their message. What’s the point of doing it for them? We aren’t going to be around forever but their impact will.
I urge you to take a look at CultureMASH and be on the look out for what happens. It is going to be mind-blowing.
A little self-promo: I did the website so if you are interested in what I can do for your then be sure to contact me ASAP!
Reviewing the power of Facebook after watching The Social Network the one thing that stands is the power of connectivity. When I graduated high school in 1999 I found it difficult to try to track down school mates years later. This is when I found out about Classmates.com – a paying social network site. Then entered in Friendster and thus MySpace – all free.
The problem?
How do you connect with people when there is nothing linking you? Ah…there we go. Yes, a user could search for their graduation class but the functionality of those results were horrible. If the profile wasn’t filled out correctly then the results were skewed.
Yet, we as people wanted to be connected. We need it. We crave it.
Thus the popularity of not just Facebook but the power of Social Networking. As I asked once before how are you connecting with your employees / customers / consumers?
I just got done watching The Social Network – nothing new in the storyline. Guy gets spark from conversation and turns it into a multi-billion dollar website company. Ok, it’s more rare than common when it comes to the plot but the point of the matter remains. There are sparks everywhere we turn – facebook was like myspace: just better.
Why reinvent the wheel – just make it better.
This is the takeaway from the movie is not to be original as much as it is to see something to build off. While the movie depicts the ‘founder’ Mark Zuckerberg as this wanna-be asshole who stole ideas the underline tone was to be able to take ideas and concepts and make them evolve. The principle foundation of the social network site “Facebook” has been done over.and.over countless times from Bebo to MySpace. What Zuckerberg did was capture it and cleaned it up.
In this same concept every business model is pretty much the same when it is broken down to its core. Yet, we try to deceive ourselves and say otherwise. We need to accept it – embrace it and then show how it stands out.
So, the question is how does your business / marketing plan / company – stand out?
When you link to a web page you are using anchor text – how you use that link is up to you. When you reference an internal/external site be sure to use the text wisely. An example would be:
Driven Media Group specializes in content management system WordPress – click here for details
vs.
Driven Media Group specializes in content management system WordPress.
Notice the cleanliness – well, so does the search engines. As I was going over my RSS Reader I found the below video which sponsored the below tweet along with this overall post idea.
Anchor Text Your Competitors
When you look over who is linking to your competitors website you also need to review HOW they are linking.
