The Ad Contrarian: Marketing's Oldest Old Wives' Tale

The Ad Contrarian: Marketing's Oldest Old Wives' Tale: There a few themes that keep popping up in this blog. They are: 1. Misconceptions about "branding" and how brands are built 2. The folly...

Would You Pay To Increase Twitter Followers

Of all the social media sites, I do like twitter.

When I am on twitter, it feels like dinner at an Italian house.  Everybody is talking but who is really listening. .

Where I am not sold on twitter is, as an advertising strategy.

A lot of followers or getting a lot of followers I am not sure will guarantee success.  And I was left scratching my head when I received this email showing me how I can increase my following up to 50,000 with a click of a mouse.

It just feels like spam.

Are You Losing Business To Online

Over the lunch hour I wandered through the mall next door.

I stopped into the travel agency to ask, "What size am I allowed as a carry on".

"No idea", replied the travel agent. "Depends on the airline".

Fair enough I thought, even though we only have two airlines in Canada in Westjet and Air Canada.

When I asked about Westjet, I got the same response.  "Don't know".

Instead of letting her watch my eye twitch and face contort and want to scream, "how in the world would you not know this", I walked out and muttered under my breath: No wonder people are booking on line!

Why Your Advertising Message May Fall On Deaf Ears

If you are in business there is a level of expectation.

So if you are in the restaurant business, I would expect your food to be “tasty and delicious”

If you are a garage, I expect that you have” licensed qualified mechanics”.

My personal favorite is “friendly and knowledgeable sales staff”.

Yet too often, businesses think these attributes must be in their advertising message.

Do you see why it’s easy to blame the media you are using for failure when really no one is buying the things that are a given.

Not to let the sales person off the hook.  You should not allowing these phrases in the message.

What Is A Like On Facebook Worth

Craig Street Cats is a non-profit organization working to improve the lives of Winnipeg's roaming cats.  And of course non profits are always short on cash.

The put together a Facebook page looking for money to pay off their veterinary bills.

They had about a 1000 "Likes" on the page.  What did a "Like" do for them?  

Find out the rest of the story here.

Ad Aged: My hope for 2013.

Fantastic post!

Ad Aged: My hope for 2013.: Here's my wish for 2013. It's simple. It's one sentence. Just three words, actually. Let's get serious. Let's not spend time on th...

About Your Website

If you have one, drive traffic to it not a facebook page.

A like on facebook means absolutely nothing.

In fact, taking someone away from your site to a facebook page only puts money in the pocket of facebook.

How?

You notice that there are ads on facebook pages.  Well those ads mean money for facebook not you.