Category: Marketing

  • You have to be blunt

    stop watchThis morning I was reading an appeal from a ministry. The crazy thing about this appeal was that it wasn’t clear what it was asking me to do. Will you join us? Will you help us?

    I thought to myself… How can I join you when I live so far away? What is it that you’re asking me to help with?

    In today’s culture you have to be blunt. The internet moves a million miles a second and we all get dozens of emails, read tons of well-written blog posts, check out news stories, and basically see thousands of messages a day. Studies show that you have 0.7 seconds to catch a readers attention or they will simply move on.

    If you want to catch my attention you have to be blunt and you have to be quick about it. Make it quick, make it count, and make it visual.

    Otherwise, you’re just another blog, another email, another news story, or something else I will quickly move past.

    What was that ministry asking me for? I have no idea. It never said.

  • Make sure your company name doesn’t have a double meaning.

    titi nails

    I thought it couldn’t get any more odd than the S&M Market on 32 Mile and Rochester Road. Well, we spotted this gem of a store name next to the Costco on Hall Road. Something tells me the store owner doesn’t speak English as a primary language.

    Click on the image for full-sized version.

  • Satan Uses TurboTax

    I know that we try hard at Romeo to create great videos. And there are a few churches we would love to be like. Lifechurch.tv is right up there on that list. What they do is beyond cutting edge for a church, they flatout do stuff that is cutting edge everywhere.

  • K Games Promo

  • The Google Fridge

    google fridgeSometimes you see something and you think, “Can that be true?“ Apparently Google rewarded some of their bigger advertisers with this little dandy of a logo item. It’s a mini-fridge. Actually it is so cool that it both cools and warms things depending on your preference. Also, it comes with a car connector for using it on the road.

    I can’t lie. I want one. I use Google docs. Google’s homepage, iGoogle. I use Adwords and Adsense. I use Analytics. I use Feedburner. I use their search engine. I use their mobile apps. Essentially, I am a Google-phened webdork. And I think the Google Fridge would compliment the rest of my Google stuff.

    So what would I do if I had a Google Fridge?
    I’d proudly display it in my office. I don’t truly have a need for it. But as the standing internet guy on our staff, I’d like to display it so that I can solidify my status permanently. I just plain want the thing.

    And I started thinking about the other ad companies and wondered what they are giving high rollers? What would it take for me to display one of their promo items in my office? I mean, I do have standards. So how much of a freebie would it take for me to take the ribbing of having their products in my office? I mean, I can be bought… so here’s what it would take. (You can see how much I like these companies.)

    1. Yahoo! Plasma TV… I’d put that up.
    2. Linkshare MacBook Pro… sure.
    3. Amazon Associates digital photo frame… I’d rock that.
    4. Auctionads Bose… OK, I’d do it for that.
    5. Microsoft adCenter Toyota Prius… only if it were dark when I came to work.

    What about you? When it comes to freebies, what are your standards?

  • KidsTown Sign

    So, check this out.

    This is side B of our exterior sign at the church. (Other side is “big church”) This is a revision… so feel free to give me feedback on it.

    KidsTown sign, revision 2

    p.s. If you haven’t checked out the KidsTown site lately, it’s got a fresh new look. www.romeokids.com
    p.p.s. So does the church site, www.romeochurch.com

  • 2008 Buzz Words to Watch

    2008 Buzz WordsLet’s review the buzz words of 2007, then I’ll provide 5 buzz words to look out for in 2008. (Weighted towards internet stuff)

    Web 2.0, Digg.com, social networking, twitter/tweet, viral marketing, Mac, offline relationship, Facebook, search engine optimization, widgets, add value, and text lingo.

    1. Micro– Social networks, blog networks, online advertising, and a whole lot more are going to be gearing more and more to tiny, micro sized everything geared at your interest. You’ll see online marketing getting extremely exact and precise determined by your marketing niche. Macro-stuff like Digg.com will give way to micro-stuff like Mixx.com.
    2. Video– 2007 saw a huge uptick in video content on the web as broadband internet connections become as normal as dial-up used to be. In 2008 and beyond you will see more video podcasting and a lot more “little videos” that explain how to do just about everything. Watch as micro-producers get better and better and watch out for websites popping up that are going to make creating broadcast quality videos accessible to all. YouTube will still be hot. But watch for a video production site to pop-up.
    3. Mobile apps– Smartphones and the next generation of iPhone will bring power to the mobile phone as their prices get cheaper. Broadband for mobile! Any website worth its server space will offer a mobile app to your micro-network and video content.
    4. Campaign fatigue– It’s December 31st, 2007. With 300+ days until the election people are tired of the election coverage. Expect to hear about campaign fatigue negatively impacting voters attitudes late Spring.

    What do you think buzz words will be in 2008? What about words for 2007, what did I miss?

  • 3 Things Big Name Bloggers Need to Learn from the Little Guy

     I have  a  mixture of blogs that I  read. Some of them, I am their only subscriber and others have thousands of  people whoBlog snob read their  stuff every day. Seth Godin‘s blog apparently has more readership than 95% of all magazines in the United States. In doing this every day I’ve made a couple of observations. You see, while these “blog celebrities” may be online moguls, they are generally not that famous. (Just making a couple hundreds bucks a day from Google to blog… or in Seth’s case, no money to blog as he refuses to have ads.)

    But there are a couple of things I don’t like about the big name bloggers. Even in the Christian world, big named bloggers take on an aura of superiority. They tend to communication that blog rules don’t apply to them when you get to be super big. Here’s three things that big named bloggers need to learn from small named bloggers if they want to remain on top. Because folks like me are getting annoyed and are going to drop you like a bad habit if you don’t straighten up and fly right.

    1. Leave comments on. I’ve noticed that once a blog hits about 1,000 subscribers they like to turn off comments and leave on trackbacks. (Some truly elite turn off both!) In other words, the blog owner wants you to send traffic to them and doesn’t want traffic to go to you. Once you turn off my ability to respond to your blog post it isn’t a blog anymore. Now you are running a consultancy or a business, but not a blog. Some say they don’t have time to respond to comments. They joy of commenting is that you don’t have to respond as your blog will take on a life of its own. I recently noticed a speaker from a conference on blogging who told his audience “If you don’t allow comments you aren’t blogging.” He is now only accepting trackbacks.
    2. Don’t forget you’re a human. One of the things I like about reading blogs is that you get a snapshot of a person’s life. Big name bloggers tend to stop writing personal thoughts, schedule snippets, and other stuff because they think it doesn’t pay well. (Yes, big named bloggers write with the purpose of drawing traffic and getting paid. The big trend now is to write the perfect eye catching subject line.)  One of the reason I am reading your blog, Mr. I Make $200/day on Adwords alone, is because I am curious about you. If you think I just want to read essays that aren’t good enough for your book, think again. Just be human.
    3. Ads are OK, just be upfront about what you are getting paid for. When I read a bloggers recommendation for a book, website, or any other product… I am automatically trying to figure out how that blogger is getting paid. (ebooks are the #1 culprit of this) Amazon affiliates, ad networks, and Google Adwords are all easy to spot. But I’m finding that a lot of these big named guys are getting paid to plug in about half their posts. (Or so it seems) That’s pathetic. Another thing I am noticing with big named bloggers is that they aren’t giving credit for their sources. Not only will they not link to a commenter, now they won’t link to their sources? Why is that? Oh yeah, because big name bloggers only want to link to things that increase their page rank and/or pay them.

    I’m a capitalist and I’m all in favor of new media and I’m perfectly fine with blogs becoming the most powerful medium on the internet. But I want to caution blog readers that while blogs may seem like citizen journalism, you have to be certain to ascertain a bloggers credibility.

    Do you know the ethical standards of journalism? Bookmark this page!

    Here’s the thing… most “big name blogs” are not journalist. They are marketers and they are profiteers. You have to use the same wisdom in reading a blog that you do in watching the news. At least in the news there is some editorial control. Blogs are like the old west of journalism… there are no sheriff’s in Blog County.

    No, I won’t name names. And no, I’m definitely not talking about any youth ministry blogger. In fact, the “big name” youth ministry bloggers that I read tend to be true gentlemen about all of this. Sure, some of them make money off their blogs… but they aren’t crossing the line. (yet!)

  • Whopper Freakout: Freakish Solid Marketing

    I don’t like Burger King and I can’t stand the Whopper. But this video is flat out good marketing.
    What do you think? What is it about this video that you like? Dislike?

  • Romeo Elves: Paint the Rock