Giving Away Things For Free is the Best Promotion and a Key to Making Money

Yesterday, I went to the barber for my once-every-six-months haircut. As I was talking to the girl who cut my hair, I was amazed that here was this 25-year-old woman, cutting hair, who understood more about the Internet and the new media than 90% of the company executives - especially at big media - that I meet. Perhaps it is because she was young that she can easily grasp simple concepts.

The first simple concept is that giving things away for free is the future of marketing and advertising. We see successful companies and people around us doing that all the time, but far too many organizations cannot make the logical connection in their heads and make the jump to that end in order to help their own company.


Giving away useful items or content for free is the best (and cheapest) form of promotion you could possibly get. When she had finished cutting my hair she gave me a freebie. It was a plastic business card carrying case that had her hair salons name imprinted on the top. Every time during the day that I give out a business card I see that name. Now, many people would think, "I wouldn't be caught dead with a plastic business card holder that had some other company name on it!" But not me. I find it wonderfully useful and smart.

Simple, cheap, effective. I look at it several times a day.

I went to a meeting at a huge television content, DVD sales, marketing and distribution company yesterday. I showed it to them. They were marveled at the simplicity and low-cost (and effectiveness) of this promotional concept (I mean, once I explained the logic).


Most company executives cannot get their heads around the concept of giving things away for free in order to make more money. But think about what I have always said, "Google is one of the most profitable companies in the entire world today and they give away everything for free! Now, how do they do that?"


Google is one of the most profitable companies in the world, right? So why don't you and your company emulate them?


I often go to TV stations (alas, they are all sinking ships!) and ask them why they don't monetize their web pages. Every single major broadcasting station in Japan still has a web page that looks like it was designed in 1999; it is just a digitized company brochure.


I have to explain to them the concept of Web 1.0: Digital brochure; Web 2.0 using blogging and two-way communication with bloggers and users; Web 3.0 user generated content like Facebook or Twitter.


Web 1.0 was popular between 1999~2003. From 2003, smart companies started instituting Web 2.0. From 2005~2006 very smart companies started instituting Web 3.0.


Today's major broadcasters in Japan? ALL of them are still using Web 1.0 concepts. They are losing money on their web pages. Seriously, it's all I can do to stop crying (or laughing).


Think about that Google quote again, folks; "Google is one of the most profitable companies in the entire world today and they give away everything for free!" Can you imagine for a second the massive advantage a TV station in Japan has over Google? Google didn't have a broadcasting arm that they can use that is already in the homes of over 130,000,000 people! The TV stations did! They do! But they don't use that to their advantage!


It is even more ridiculous when you consider that the initial phase of designing something like the basic Twitter platform probably cost in the neighborhood of $150,000 ~ $200,000 (USD) but to make and produce a 30 minute TV show for 6 months costs about $400,000! 


It is even more ridiculous when you realize that almost every old TV station  person you talk to thinks that if they give away free content on their webpage, no one will watch their TV shows anymore. Talk about not seeing the forest because of the trees! What in the hell are these TV people thinking about?


The real question could be, "Do these mass media people really understand the market as much as they like to claim they do?" I don't think so.


Here's a good example of a TV station (in the USA of course) that understands what I'm talking about and now 1/3 of their profits are derived from the Internet: http://espn.go.com/


The major broadcasters and media in Japan refuse to entertain the idea that their web pages can become a profit vehicle. They know their businesses are dying but they insist that, "We are a TV station" or "We are a magazine"... Why don't they realize that they are "media" and "consultation" to provide sponsors what the sponsors want to buy?


When, oh when, will these people open their eyes?


But I digress....


The other interesting thing this hair-stylist told me about was that she and her friends have come to stop looking at the very top results of a Google search. Why? Because everyone and their sister have figured out it's a paid advertisement at the top that's been highlighted and no one believes in paid advertising anymore!


I thought that was very telling about the way young people think and perceive. It was the same for us long ago with the Yellow Pages, right (remember them)? We knew that the paid ads were not from the best services or products but from the ones that had big budgets. Everyone knows that big budgets do not necessarily equal good products... Just look at General Motors cars for evidence of that!


As an aside, here's a funny example. Below is a screen capture of a Google search for "London Flight":

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR LARGER VIEW

At the top of the page you'll see a paid ad for British Airways, Air France and Lufthansa. These paid ads cost about $15,000 (USD) a month (maybe more) average. British Airways pays more as they are at the top. Everyone who sees this page knows that those top three are not the cheapest, nor necessarily the best flights or deals... In fact, since they are paid ads, they are viewed with, for lack of a better term, suspicion by most people. People have become smart enough and sophisticated enough in 2012 to recognize that those top three are paid advertising. People today, no longer look at those. They will look lower down the page, to the top 5 or so after the paid ads.

In this case, who do we see? www.cheapflights.co.uk. Guess what? Cheap flights shows me that they are most probably the cheapest and best deal: they didn't spend a penny to get the true #1 rankings on a Google search! I won't tell you how they do this (I know - and you can find that information in this blog in many places as I have written about it extensively before)... But you can bet that a company, like British Airways that is spending, in Japan alone, a few hundred thousand dollars on this sort of advertising cannot be cheap (nor smart?)....

Oh, but you say, "What about people who want better service or flights?" Folks, don't misunderstand. I'd wager a donut that cheap flights also offers those and I'd like to point out that British Airways does not need to advertise to their existing customer base. Advertising to a new customer base and getting new customer is the Holy Grail and entire point of advertising.

Bad marketing campaign's don't only happen in real world

Oh, but I've gotten off the point here again. The point is giving things away for free in order to get new customers. Think about that. How many, especially Internet, companies offer free services then, once someone likes the product or service, the upgrade costs a bit of money and membership?

Aha! Those are everywhere! That's right. Google does that; Linkedin does that; there are too many to name.

Find a way, THINK of a way to give away free content and product or service in order to gain new customers. Actually make an effort with your team in doing that today! Get out of the old fashioned mold and the old fashioned way of doing things.

Find that FREE! and you might be finding a goldmine! 

Thanks to Ed Jones for the FREE blazing sun red with glitter Gibson air guitar! I will always cherish it, Ed!

Organic Marketing: The Future of Advertising

The old order of marketing and advertising is falling by the wayside. The future of advertising is not tomorrow, it was a few years back. And if your company is not on it now, you are way behind the curve.

There are examples all around us of the new way to advertise. Some big (and fashionable and cool) companies are doing it. They are laying the foundations and showing everyone how it is done... Let me repeat that: They are showing everyone how it is done! Yet 95% of the companies see it but do not copy or follow or, well, maybe they "just don't 'get it.'"


These businesses are like dinosaurs. I reckon that when that huge-a*sed asteroid hit the earth several millions of years ago, the brontosaurus were standing there and, weeks and months, after the temperature had dropped dangerously low, they began to think, "Gee... It's getting awfully cold..."


Do you think the dinosaurs thought, "Maybe I'd better move to where it is warmer?" Nah. They didn't. It may or may not have helped. But certainly standing there and doing nothing, or doing the same thing they had always done, wasn't a good option.


My God! If I had a few dollars for every company I see everyday standing, there doing nothing, or doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, I'd be a millionaire! (Maybe only a million yen because I hate going outside too much, but you get the idea!)


The old way of advertising:


Talk to people in suits and give them money. They run a full-page advert in a newspaper. It says, "That's a great place to eat steak. It is soooo delicious!" Cost of this advertising: $5000.00 or more.


Joe Happoshu sees the ad. You see the ad. Do you go there? Nope. Why? No one believes this sort of advertising anymore. 


The new way of advertising: 


Your friend at the office says to you one day, "Say! Have you tried that new steakhouse on the corner? It's really good." Do you go there? Yes. you do. Why? Because you believe your friend. Cost of this advertising: Zero.


There's an old saying: "Credibility is very hard to get. It is even harder to buy."


So why does your company continually try to buy credibility?


The new way of marketing is to build a reputation by using organic methods to spread the word of mouth. Organic means that we tie up other companies with yours and make a mutually beneficial marketing program that is very low cost and gets the word of mouth buzzing. It must be organic; it must make sense to the public... People interested in one aspect of the marketing will be drawn to another if we fit the pieces of the puzzle together correctly. And bloggers (that people like your friend in the office read) write about you.


Sure, sure... Your company and staff (and your advertising agency) pay lip service to blogging and Web 2.0 and 3.0, but if you were to actually sit them down and explain to you a concept like Web 3.0 I'd wager a donut that they can't do it and I'd wager a year's worth of donuts that they DON'T do it. 


The problem with most Japanese companies is their advertising people are so stuck with the old way of doing things, they just can't get their head around concepts like Web 3.0... Web 3.0!? You kidding me? Look at most company Internet web pages and you'll see that they are stuck with Web 1.0 concepts. Concepts that are nearly ten years old!!!


As a funny aside, I was mentioning to someone how it is a waste of money to buy advertising on the Internet to have a paid ad at the top of the page for results for a Google search. The guy told me that they were spending ¥2 million yen (about $25,737 USD) per month on that.* Inside, I cringed. I told him that he could do the same thing for free (it requires effort though) and he told me that he "had a good engineer." I told him that there is a big difference between an engineer and a blogger...




Stop for a second and think about that logically! Thinking that an engineer could be good at advertising and marketing is just laughable if you stop and consider it... If you are running a big company and spending a big budget on SEO or banners ads for top results on Google searches, then I ask that you do, STOP RIGHT NOW and think about that for a few seconds!


You have an engineer running your advertising and marketing promotions for the Internet? Quick questions? Do they blog? Do they Facebook, Twitter or do any other Social Media? And, the killer question; This person is in charge of your company public image and face on the Internet; would you be comfortable with that person speaking in front of a crowd of, say, 1,500 people? No? Then why in the hell do you believe this person carte blanche for the Internet where there are 500 million people?


Sounds pretty dumb, doesn't it? You'd be surprised at how often I see this everyday. In fact, this is not the exception, it is the rule. Any questions why business is down?


The new way requires ideas, creativity and effort. It doesn't require geeks who have poor social skills or huge sums of money to be thrown to wonks with stale ideas or your own company marketing people sucking a lot of air through their teeth. 


They require ideas and creativity. Here's one I arranged last year:


A major pizza chain wanted to promote their New York pizza and their new online ordering system. They've asked me for ideas. I have given them many so far. This was the idea I gave them this time:


Order a pizza online and get the chance to win a vacation for two, business class to New York for 5 nights in a 5-star hotel.


Simple. 


The pizza chain got a great 2-month campaign and visibility and buzz at no cost to them (I was paid a small coordination fee). The airlines? The hotel? They got their name, photos and advertising on 7.5 million flyers delivered to people's homes; 7.8 million menus inserted into newspapers; 3.8 million direct mailing to subscribers of the pizza chain; 250,000 flyers on boxtops delivered with pizzas to customers homes; top page visibility on the pizza chain web page which receives over 12 million unique views per month. And write-ups in major Japanese magazines as well as a huge buzz campaign on Twitter and Facebook. 


Cost to airlines and the hotel? Zero. Simply the cost of providing the gifts.


Not only did all three of these entities enjoy a great promotion that was organic (Makes sense, right? Everything is New York related) This campaign ran for two months. If you do an Internet search for this campaign in Japanese you'll will find over 606,000 results. Those results are almost all bloggers and mentions on Social Media about the campaign.


If any these entities arranged this promotion through Dentsu or Hakuhodo, it would have cost them at least $100,000. I arranged it for about 1/20th that price.


This campaign did not require any email registration or any actions by the end users at all. They didn't even need to order a pizza! All they needed to do was go to the website and become a member of the online ordering service that the pizza chain has started. No purchase necessary.


In spite of the fact that nothing was necessary to join the contest, purchase or enroll, the pizza company had over 16,000 direct email inquires from end users. Throw that in with the word of mouth promotion from innumerable bloggers and Tweets and you have a killer promotion. That is an awesome result!


Am I bragging? Well, thank you. Yes, I am. 


Is your company missing the boat? If you are in Japan, I'd wager that you are. It is funny that Japan is so technologically advanced yet we find that so many companies do not take advantage of all the tools available.


Is is laziness, fear or the hesitation to take responsibility? I'm not sure but some people are really blowing it for their employers. Don't believe me? Here's a recent article that talks about how a whopping 40% of Japanese companies don't even use Twitter. Of course, Twitter is a small part of the puzzle (and, actually, a very minor piece of a bigger puzzle) but the fact remains that such a high profile FREE media is not being utilized by Japanese companies shows that this is just the tip of the iceberg of a bigger problem.


Are you going to do something about it? Or is sucking air through teeth the best way to get the job done?




* = Advertising strategies do need to change with the times. Internet click ads had a click through rate of 3% when the idea was fresh and new in the 90's... By 2003 it was down to .28% ... Today? Last I saw, about two years ago, it was something like 0.07%.... And yet, it is still one of the most expensive methods to advertise. Go figure. 

Want to Make Money? Forget Online Gimmicks. Don't Know Where to Start? Start Where You Are Standing

"Money is usually attracted, not pursued." - Jim Rohn

"The safest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it in your pocket." - Kin Hubbard

------

In the last two days, I've had two people ask me about making money by blogging. Or, more specifically, one person asked me,

"Is it possible to make money blogging?" 

To this person I answered (in my usual long-winded self), "Well, I don't accept advertising on my blog now as I want to be able to write whatever I want and to say what I want. It is hard enough to always talk about those things as it is. I am always worrying about what other people might think about me when I honestly state my shortcomings, my chequered past, my failures and complaints. It's hard enough to do that as it is without having to worry about what paying people might think. So I don't have advertising now. It keeps me from having just one more worry. But you can make money blogging."

54 and still here - chequered past still here too!

The other person asked me, 

"Mike, I want to blog and make a bit of money with it. What do you suggest?"

I told him that he should just start blogging and then worry about how to make money with it after starting. I also quoted Lao-Tzu:

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one small step" - Lao-Tzu - The Way of Lao-tzu Chinese philosopher (604 BC - 531 BC)

This is a good quote but allow me to be completely anal-retentive about it. Even though this is the popular form of this quotation, the correct translation should be:

"The journey of a thousand miles begins beneath one's feet." 


Rather than emphasizing the first step, Buddhists, Taoists and Lau Tzu believed that action was something that arose naturally beginning with the act of being still. Another potential phrasing would be "Even the longest journey must begin where you stand."

I think, in today's modern language this would translate into something like, 

"Well, don't just stand there. Do something!"

Lao-tzu saying something important

Making money blogging? Hmmm... Can be done. The easiest way is to allow pop-ups click through ads on your blog. I dabbled with that long ago, but stopped it because it seemed like the algorithm was bad. Why? Well, I'd write a blog post railing on Groupon and calling it a crummy company, yet on my page, there'd be ads for Groupon. Stuff like that happened all the time. I didn't like it, so I stopped it.


Then, just the other day, I got another letter from a company overseas who wanted to pay me $150 a year to place a banner on my blog. I don't know if I want to do that or not. Far be it from me to poo-poo $150, but, in Japan, $150 isn't a lot of money and I wonder how I'm ever going to get the money anyway from a foreign company. Hell, I think the bank transfer will cost them $50-some dollars. Are they really going to pay? I wouldn't. And, do I really want an ad for some UK marketing service on my blog?


Probably not. 

Anyway, there are ways to make money from blogging... Probably not a lot at first; probably not a lot ever. But, you have to at least start somewhere.


As for me, I don't blog for money. I blog because, and I'm dead serious about this, I think  logging has helped me to become a better person.


Blogging has kept my mind working.


Blogging has helped me to become a better parent.


Blogging has taught me patience.


Blogging has made me feel good.


Blogging has helped me help other people and charities.


Blogging has helped me make friends around the world!


I think blogging has it's own rewards... Even better than money.


You should blog too. Blog about what you want to blog about. 


Everyone has a wonderful story to tell. We'd like to hear yours!

Smoke 'm if you got them.

The "riders vice" tagline tells me that Pirelli tires are being associated to cigarette, a really bad message. Interesting antagonistic move, but does not make me want to buy Pirelli's tires.

Advertising Agency: Y&R, Milan, Italy

Via: adsora.com

Yamaha scooter advertising campaign - Costa Rica

Some make a jungle of the road. You are better off buying a scooter and receiving a free driving course.

Advertising Agency: Smart, San José, Costa Rica / Creative Director: Marco A. Castro.

Via: adsora.com

The soul of a motorcycle

Via: welovead.com
Brand: riffel.com.br

Vintage advertising Favor, France

Advertising art by Bellenger, 1937, France

BP Solexine advertising

Via: monet-goyon.net

Vintage Peugeot advertising

Via: posterclassics.com

Choose Your Business Partners Well

The title of this article might have also been called, "Working Hard to No Avail - Choose Your Partners Well."

Lee Dorsey - Working in the Coal Mine

Choosing partners well might seem obvious to everyone. But, in this day and age of limited opportunity and a poor economy, many might say that it is not a choosers market. But let me also add on to this statement by saying that one should not only choose their partners well, they should also choose their clients well.... Especially if they are a new business. 


There are only 24 hours in a day; only so much time that can be dedicated to doing a job right. What happens to you if you work hard and show the needed dedication to your projects only to have those projects ruined by business practices of your clients or partners? What happens to you and your reputation if you introduce your partners and clients to your own local business network connections - and bring them into your network - and they turn around and make you look bad to your connections that you had nurtured for all this time?


You agree to do a job for money. Time is also money. If you spend lots of time on a project and then your partner or client ruins it, then not only have you lost time, you lost money... Reputation is also money - only your reputation is priceless. Protect your reputation like gold.

Your company logo here... Er, never mind....

I know what I am talking about here because huge incidents involving my partners and clients it have happened several times in the last two years. One just happened again in the last few days.


I started a marketing and advertising branch in my company because I felt that selling advertising for TV and radio shows that I produced was not getting the results I wanted in today's market. Why? Well, when I sell for a TV or radio show and the client is interested in the Internet, cell phones, events, print media, then I lose out.


But if I take care of the client needs across the board, it matters not to me if they want the Internet, I can arrange that; if they want TV or radio, I can arrange that too. If I run the advertising agency, rather than just being an executive producer for a broadcast, then I am able to fill clients needs whatever they may be. Of course, you must always fill a need.


The market is tight and competition is tough. No matter, I was still able to go out and do some major tie-ups for huge Japanese companies and overseas corporations trying to break into the Japanese market. The deals were all set up to be very mutually beneficial to all parties involved. Since my company is a new company in this market, I was arranging promotions for a very inexpensive price - sometimes free - to show clients that I can achieve the impossible in the Japanese market for little cost to them.


But, in some cases, the business problems of my partners or other unforeseeable events have caused damage to my company. 


There is an old Chinese curse that says, "May you live in interesting times."


I have to say that it has been a very fun, exciting, sometimes extremely stressful, and yes, interesting few years; I have had client companies suddenly go bankrupt. Once was an airlines that was shutdown by their local country government. It was the first time in aviation history that a license was revoked to a private company by a government. Yes. That was my client. I had to spend the next three months going about to the Japanese partner companies and bowing my head profusely and apologizing. (Hint: Always bring a box of cookies to the person you are apologizing to. This shows manners and respect in Japan... And, no, I don't mean a dollar bag of cookies from the convenience store. I mean at least a $20 gift box of cookies from the department store. High class stuff only!)


Luckily for me, all my Japanese partners knew me for years and understood that these events were out of my control. They appreciated the fact that I took responsibility and apologized. 


I am proud to say that I still have every single one of these Japanese partners still as partners today!


I've had another airlines be in the news, twice in two weeks, for having knives and cutters found onboard - as well as another highly visible mechanical failure - just as we were about to agree to a deal with another major Japanese partner. The Japanese partner, when he heard about this incident on the news, was extremely worried. The deal was killed.


And now, yesterday - right after a major promotional deal was just completed in Japan - I see where riots have hit the streets of one of my client countries that was involved in this major promotion. I won't name the country, but this is a country that is not in the Middle East and is not one of the EU nations suffering. Many people do not even know this country. But, yet, there they are on RTTV and on Youtube and the alternative news media; riots in the street and full battle gear riot police battling it out with demonstrators.


I seriously doubt that a Japanese person will want to go to vacation there. If this news hits the mainstream media in Japan, which I suspect it will soon, then all the work that I did with the fine people who work at that nation's Tourism Board and I will be down the drain. Not to mention the fact that the major Japanese partner of our recent promotion will be furious and demand an explanation from me. If the rioting escalates and the situation worsens, this will also probably ruin any future cooperation between me and that Japanese partner forever.


I have no control over this situation. Even though I don't and this is 100% not my fault, I will still need to bow my head to the Japanese partner, apologize and take responsibility.


It takes a long time to build trust. It just takes one action to destroy that trust. 


I took a long time building trust and a relation with the Japanese partner. This one incident might destroy that trust forever.


So never forget, dear reader, whether it is a new job position that you are applying for or you are deciding who to work with or work for, choose your partners carefully.


Good reputations are hard to build. Sometimes, things out of your control, will make them even more difficult to keep. 


Remember that time and reputation are money. Don't be penny wise and pound foolish. Choose your partners and clients well. 


This article was inspired by Roger Marshall of Odgers Berndtson, now there's a guy who only chooses the best.