The Essential Message Blog

Play Your Cards Right

Finally! Restaurants and pubs all over Toronto have opened their patios. In this city, that can only mean one thing - summer is on it's way!

It also means that your roster will soon be full of networking events - networking events you will actually attend. Let's face it, we all know we need to go to these things. They're just much more appealing when they involve umbrella drinks, open-toed shoes, and the possibility of a tan.

But before you slap on the coconut oil, ask yourself: when it comes to networking events, do you know how to play your business cards right?

Pass it on...authentically.

When it comes to word of mouth (WOM), I don't think anyone's ever said it better than marketer   Christina Kerley. From her blog:

When a person finds value in a brand they are inspired to tell others. And because that brand buzz is authentic (not profit-driven), others trust their opinion--and might just buy the brand, too. That is how WOM works. And how it's always worked.

Case studies are a crucial component of your marketing toolbox.. They add credibility to your claims and demonstrate the concrete benefits and advantages of your product or service. Perhaps most importantly, they help prospects understand how they might apply those benefits within their own organization.

Case studies are also helpful to communicate your key points of difference - what sets your company apart from all the others. (You do know your Essential Message, right?)

Powerful case studies and scenarios, however, don’t happen by chance. They must be short enough to be easily read and understood, while long enough to include both the key rational and emotional points that support your positioning.

Sound daunting? Well never fear - we've created a template that will help you write a case study (or better yet, several) quickly and easily. It will help you organize your thoughts, information and customer comments in a way that can be easily transformed into a powerful, interesting and valuable case study or scenario. You can jot down bullet points for each section in any order that is easiest for you.

Get Scrabulous!

Like everyone else in the known universe, I am on Facebook. It was fun at first - looking up old friends, seeing which of my ex-boyfriends lost their hair - but after a month or so, I was bored.

Until Scrabulous.

Scrabulous, if you don't know, is an application created by two brothers from Calcutta, India that closely emulates the board game. It has become the most popular app on Facebook, with over 600,000 active players. I am one of them.

But if Hasbro/Mattel gets their way, I may not be one for long.

Are You an Information Pig?

I was at an AIMS seminar yesterday on the topic of web analytics, and one of the speakers happened to joke that we, as marketers, are "information pigs."

He was referring to how we collect endless data from our customers - but then fail to put it to good use, because we simply don't have the time or resources to do so.

Suddenly, in this quiet crowd, a sudden rush of noise burst forth. People were laughing, groaning, and generally making sounds of agreement. They could relate.

Can you?

The [Marketing] Gospel, According to Crumpler

Recently I was browsing the web for computer bags and I found myself staring at www.crumpler.ca - a website that's the antithesis of everything a marketing website should be.

There's obnoxious music and bizarre, eye-assaulting images, and it's surprisingly difficult to find your way to the product information. The utter randomness of the whole thing is a strange, if refreshing departure from other on-line catalogues.

And that's just the beginning. The marketing copy is rambling, nonsensical, and describes both the product, and the customer, in a negative light. ("You are more embarrassing than a lizard without a tongue," states the product information for the bag lovingly named "The Dreadful Embarrassment.")

It seems like they're doing everything wrong. And yet, Crumpler keeps raking in the sales.

Niche Marketing on Queen West

Welcome to the new Essential Message blog. I'm Camille - the latest addition to the EM team, and your new blogger.

When I joined The Essential Message, one of the first things I noticed was the unique neighborhood where our office is located. After all, it's pretty hard not to notice. A community that's growing to include the bo-ho (bourgeios-bohemian) crowd and numerous not-so-starving artists, this area of Queen West is also home to some pretty unique stores.

Is Your Email Newsletter Spam?

Here's a screenshot from my GMail's spam folder:

Notice anything about the items I circled in red?

User-submitted videos to sell products

On Google Video, the 30th most popular video is a 30-second clip of "Magic Sand." (go see it, I won't spoil it for you)

This got me thinking. It would be very easy to use Google Video, YouTube, or other user-submitted video sites for viral marketing. Here's how.

Permission Marketing is DOA

Once you've entered into a business relationship with a prospect or customer, it's perfectly fine to send them emails on related topics. Once they sign up for a newsletter or 'updates', it's open season for you to tell them about new products, great offers, and other information.

That's what Permission Marketing tells us. Unfortunately, it's wrong.

The general premise behind Permission Marketing is flawed because it paints all customer relationships with the same brush. The idle web surfer, the tire-kicker, and the devoted customer or evangelist are all assumed to be open to a 'customer relationship' as soon as they tick that 'Send me updates' check box. Unlike real relationships, these permission-based ones are one-note. In that way, they're much like TV - "Indifferent to suffering. Insensitive to joy".