Sales Genie’s Super Bowl XLI Gamble
January 30, 2007
Sales Genie has stuck their neck out and taken a big leap of faith by advertising during Super Bowl XLI. They’ve signed up to pay over $8000 per second to air their ad. If their ad is compelling and their message hits home, their gamble will pay off by encouraging hundreds of thousands of visitors to their web site over the following 48 hours. Then, the essential key to the success of the ad is Sales Genie’s ability to convert those visitors into paying customers.
Long ago, I visited the Salesgenie site. They were advertising on Fox News, I happened to be watching and I went to check them out. I have to admit, I found the whole promotion process employed by Sales Genie to be deceptive. They didn’t convert me into a customer and I can’t help but imagine that hundreds of other site visitors won’t be reaching for their credit cards any time soon.
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You’re spending how much to run an ad during the Super Bowl?
January 27, 2007
In an article at CNN Money titled, “Are Super Bowl ads worth the money? With a 30-second spot said to cost as much as $2.6 million, some question the wisdom of advertising during the Super Bowl.” Paul R. La Monica tackles the pros and cons of spending several million dollars (don’t forget production costs for these ads) for a single airing of an ad.
Anheuser-Busch, Pepsico, Coca-Cola and General Motors are among those who have already made a committment to advertise. None of these companies has to worry about their Super Bowl ad bankrupting their company. However, Go Daddy and Sales Genie have a lot riding on this. Neither has the advertising budets available to other major players who are taking a gamble on advertising during Super Bowl XLI.
Yesterday I got an email from Sales Genie. It reads, “Watch Our Commercial from the Super Bowlâ„¢ Sunday, February 4! then visit Salesgenie.com® for 100 FREE sales leads and give us your feedback on our commercial. We don’t have talking lizards or Clydesdale horses, but we can make you rich. “
Here is a smaller player, a firm who is taking a HUGE multi million dollar gamble. They are WISELY trying to hedge that bet by mining their email list. However, instead of hyping their spectacular Super Bowl ad, Sales Genie has instead begun apologizing for not making their ad entertaining or “Super Bowl Worthy.”
In other words, Sales Genie has rented a mansion and they’re now planning to furnish said multi million dollar mansion with RTA furniture from Wal Mart.
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How important is a catchy jingle?
January 26, 2007
As you probably know, the Indianapolis Colts are Super Bowl bound. Well, if you’re not a long suffering Colts fan, you probably aren’t aware of how LONG a journey this has been for the team and their fans.
In 2005, things were looking REALLY good for the Colts. They were undefeated and looked to be the team to beat and on the south side of Indianapolis, there was a 12 year old boy who was rapping “rhapsodic” about an undefeated season and a trip to the Super Bowl in 2006.
If you visit the site and play the video, you’ll hear it’s a catchy little riff and the little guy delivers it well.
So of course, on the heels of Sunday’s game, I went searching for Little Ronnie to see what he had for us this year.
Nothing.
Going through the web site, reading the updates as they scroll down the page, you can see that his sponsors were totally unprepared for the big break. That’s understandable. However, what I don’t understand is the lack of a follow up. Why isn’t there a new anthem for the 2006 season? Why weren’t there products ready for the start of the 2006 season?
The Indianapolis Colts 2005 “almost season” should have served as a warm up for this year, the real thing; the Colt’s trip to Super Bowl XLI. (I’ve written before about how few of us truly believed, as we were instructed to do daily by the Colts marketing campaign.)
Lil Ronnie and his handlers (Crowd Pleezers) spent 2005 laying a foundation. The generated a lot of buzz back in the day. Enough buzz to have people coming back to the site looking for more. Now, there’s pent up demand for their product but there’s no product to be found. (The site opens with “We are out of CD’s!) All those eyeballs and not a Google Adsense ad in sight. Sigh.
The Super Bowl Rap is a catchy, infectious ditty, especially if you’re a Colts fan. What tune do people hum when they’re thinking about YOUR business? A catchy infectious jingle has real staying power with potential customers. Now THAT is powerful advertising.
Marketing Lessons from the Indianapolis Colts
January 23, 2007
It’s taken me more than 24 hours to fully process the Colt’s win over the Patriots on Sunday. I have to confess, I spent way too much time (and money) yesterday on ebay, searching for ways to display my Hoosier pride in the lawn of my south Florida home.
Because, despite a marketing campaign launched several years ago by the Colts in their hometown of Indianapolis, where fans were encouraged to “BELIEVE,” I didn’t. I wasn’t even ready to BELIEVE when Joseph Addai ran into the end zone with a minute left on the clock. I didn’t BELIEVE until Marlin Jackson intercepted that Tom Brady pass and slide to the ground in relief and the crowd rushed onto the field. (In my defense, I’m not sure Peyton Manning believed either, as he sat on the sideline with his gaze fixed to the ground before him.)
The BELIEVE campaign began with just that simple plea. It morphed in to “Believe in Blue” I wish I had taken mental note of when the Colts launched the BELIEVE campaign, but I can’t. The “Believe” drum has been regularly pounded by the Colts for so long that while I remember my neighbor bringing over a car flag for our car, I can’t pin point the date the campaign was launched.
Because, as a long suffering Indianapolis Colts fan, I’ve been encouraged for years to BELIEVE they could do it. The BELIEVE campaign helped prop up sagging attendance rates. Fan attendance helped boost the player’s performance. It didn’t happen overnight, but Sunday night was the culmination of many years of hard work.
What drum is your business pounding? What message are you sending? Can your customers remember your theme? Is it so ingrained with your business that they can’t pinpoint the day they first heard the message?
Peyton and Coach Dungy have been on the field, doing their thing while the Colt’s office has been spreading the word. The Colts journey to the Super Bowl began years ago when attendance was dismal and few Hoosiers cared about and the head office encouraged all of us in the Indianapolis MSA to Believe.
COLTS WIN!
January 22, 2007
This cake was offered for sale in Boston this morning, after the Colts beat the Patriots to earn a trip to South Florida and to the Super Bow XLI. Seems it was marked down 50% and had a hasty inscription added to the cake.
Wish I could find a similar cake here in South Florida. I’ll be it tastes even better than it looks, because after all, Victory is SWEET!!!!
Pricing Advertising: Learning the code: Avails
January 19, 2007
Another post in the series to help you get the most from your advertising dollars.
Another term you’ll hear bandied about by radio and televisions sales people (otherwise known as “account executives” or “A/Es”) is avail.
An avail is the unsold inventory of ad time/space.
In the case of radio and television, there are only 24 hours in each day. In each hour of programming, there are only so many units available for advertising, (he number per hour varies).
In the case of radio and television, there is no way to store and sell yesterday’s unsold time today. Once today has passed, so have the opportunities to have your message aired via that medium.
Remember, your local radio station or television station can’t store up the excess advertising time that goes unused in the first quarter and shift it to the fourth quarter.
As the beginning of a new year is just around the corner, keep in mind AVAILS as you talk with your media reps. There are tons of avails for fourth quarter 2007… keep that in mind as you plan first quarter 2007 advertising.
Myths and Facts about Blog Advertising
January 12, 2007
B. L. Ochman in his What’s Next Blog asks and answers the question "Why aren’t more advertisers and bloggers getting together?" 
According to Ochman, the primary reasons are primarily fear and ignorance. He ends with admonishing readers, "No smart company, organization or association can afford to ignore blogs as an advertising option any longer." When considering whether or not to advertise your product or service on a blog web site, ask yourself:
- Who are the readers of this blog? Blogs are the ultimate targeting mechanism. Some can deliver more readers than the New York Times.
- Are these readers my potential customers? A million impressions won’t help your bottom line if the blog’s readers aren’t potential customers.
- What do I have to offer this blog’s readers? Again, advertising ice cubes on a blog read by Eskimoes won’t help your bottom line.
In essence, advertising on blogs isn’t any different that advertising in any other medium. Pick a place where your best customers/clients hang out and create a compelling message which communicates what your product/service can do for the customer. There are those who are tempted to try to improve the effectiveness of the message by taking the "sneaky" route. The sneaky route is where you pay bloggers to write favorably about your company without full disclosure. While this may seem to have merit, expect repercussions in the future. Instead of taking the sneaky way, purchase your ads honestly and hopefully the blogging master will comment on your product or service with full disclosure that you are in essence paying the bills for his/her blog. In the end, honesty really is the best policy. If you’re going to pay for publicity, at least be open about it. You’ll find the public doesn’t MIND the fact that you’ve paid for the publicity as long as you’re open about it. Bill Barnes is quoted in How to Blog for Money by Learning from Comics, SXSW 2006,
"I LIKE ads. It’s not that we don’t like ads, we just don’t like ads when they are out of place."
EXACTLY! When trying to marry blogging and advertising, just keep that quote in mind.
Your potential customers don’t mind your ads. As a matter of fact, they welcome them when your ads are letting them know that YOU have a solution to THEIR problems.
Just make sure the ads are not "out of place."
Is it poor advertising or is the product to blame?
January 10, 2007
Once again, advertising is being blamed for poor product design.
According to Tech Dirt, Microsoft began the first quarter generating buzz for their new Ultra Mobile PC. Veiling their product behind the veil of “Microsoft Origami Project”, Microsoft successfully generated great “buzz,” that is until they revealed the product. Now, Microsoft is blaming poor marketing on the failure of the product.
Turns out, the product didn’t live up to the promised hype. It was more expensive that originally promised and sported fewer features. Sound familiar? (Think Q4 Sony Playstation 3 product launch)
Instead of stepping back and looking at the product, looking at it from a CONSUMERS point of view, Microsoft has decided to blame the marketing department.
Let’s see, it’s an ultra mini tablet PC whose claim to fame is that it runs Windows XP applications. Did someone create a Windows XP fan club and forget to tell me about it?
According to Carlo at Tech Dirt:
The only advantage he [the author of the article touting the UMPC as a great product with botched marketing] can cite over a PDA or smartphone is a larger screen and the ability to run Windows XP, which gets to the heart of the “problem” with the UMPC: does it offer features that many people really care about?
Between smartphones and laptops, the mobile computing market is fairly well covered, with niche devices like portable video players filling things out. Throw in other attractive UMPC features like a short, two- to three-hour battery life and a high price tag, and it’s clear that the problem isn’t marketing; it’s that the UMPC simply isn’t very attractive to a wide group of consumers.
What a concept; creating a product that appeals to the wants and needs of consumers. I forgot that this is Microsoft we’re talking about. However, for those of us who don’t have such deep pockets, we need to stay intensely focused upon providing products/services that solve problems for consumers.
A revolutionary idea…. keeping customers happy
January 8, 2007
Another one for the Walmart Files….
An article in Forbes reports that Walmart is embarking on a new program. The retail giant is undertaking a new plan for staffing stores so shoppers will actually pay for their goods instead of abandoning their filled carts.
The purpose, of course, is to meet heavy shopping hours with more store help, while scaling down during slower periods, generally weekday afternoons. Shorter lines at the register mean more happy customers who are more likely to return. That’s more important to the business than a cashier, unhappy about spreading her work week over four days rather than three, quitting and not returning.
First, I think the author of the above article is WAY off base. Has he ever talked with one of the people running the register there? I have yet to hear one complain about working too many hours. On the contrary, most would WELCOME the added hours. I’ve heard them complain about being forced to wear uniforms and lack of hours, but I’ve never heard anyone complain about stretching their workweek from 3 days to 4.
But let’s pretend like Walmart’s ridiculous check out lines are the result of management’s efforts to improve working conditions for their employees. (A note to those of you who have worked for Walmart, please get up off the floor, wipe the tears from your eyes and stop laughing.) It’s a shame that it took a downturn in sales for the retailer to wake up and smell the coffee.
Note to Walmart: It’s ALL about keeping the customers happy. If you could keep employees happy as well, then perhaps Walmart would be on it’s way to it’s glory days back in the roaring 80’s.
By the way, the overall 2006 holiday season for Walmart was the worst on record, according to analysts. Is there any chance that downturn was the result of discontinuing layaways?
According to the Associate Press:
Wal-Mart had its weakest December performance since 2000, when it posted a 0.3 percent gain, according to Thomson Financial. The slim 0.8 percent increase for November and December combined was the worst since Thomson Financial began tracking same-store sales data in 1995.
Wal-Mart has struggled with a mix of problems, including the fact that its lower-income customers were hurt by soaring gas prices. But the company’s lackluster sales have persisted even as the cost of gas retreated - partly because its attempt to broaden its appeal to higher-income shoppers was poorly executed, particularly in apparel and home furnishings.
IMHO: there was no way to successfully execute an appeal to higher income shoppers for Walmart. By appealing to those shoppers, Walmart could not help but alienate their core customers.
I don’t frequent my local Walmart, but every time I do, I look at the people who are shopping there and wonder how long it’s been since someone from Bentonville has actually visited a store and shook the hands of a few customers.
Walmart has lost sight of what’s happening inside their stores. They don’t know their customers and they don’t know their employees.
While it’s one thing for a writer for Forbes to have no idea what beef a Walmart cashier has, it’s quite another when Bentonville employees don’t know. Maybe some of those high level executives need to take a field trip. I recommend they spend a day running the registers at the Walmart in Fort Pierce, Florida. It would be an eye opening experience for them.
If you’re a small business owner, you know what it’s like on the front lines. Remember, that knowledge is your secret weapon against the giants like Walmart.
Carve Your Niche
January 2, 2007
I found a great post at Micheal Fortin’s Site called “Carve Your Niche” where he writes about how he came to be the top producing sales person at a Fortune 500 company in Canada.
People today are bombarded with so much information, commercials and competition. Prospecting online is not only difficult but also impossible. Thus, you have to market in such a way that causes those kinds of people to come to your business or website, and not the other way around. Like a magnet, if you will.
Like a magnet…. what a powerful image. It’s little wonder Micheal is a giant in the copywriting industry.
Micheal goes on to warn that one of the greatest errors made by new business owners is to try to be everything to everyone.
What’s truly ironic is that I made this mistake myself when I launched my web development business. Despite more than a decade of experience selling and creating advertising, not to mention preaching this very message to my clients, when faced with launching Virtual Impax in 1998, I was definitely NOT targeting a niche. Then, I did a web site for what was a new profession at the time, a “success coach.” By the end of the web development process, I felt like I should be paying HER for spending time with me instead of accepting her payment for my services.
I had found my web development niche. That was literally hundreds of web sites ago and I have stepped out of my chosen niche from time to time, but I know where my bread and butter is.
