Episode #187 - February 10th, 2012

Intro

• How to interact on Twtter: Include #MktgUp in your tweet!
• On the show today is Amanda Iglesias and Michael Mintz
• As always, all the old episodes are in iTunes. If you like the show, please leave a 5-star review!
• Anyone is welcome to come by the show to watch as part of the live studio audience - 4pm Friday

• What can you learn from these superbowl ads, the Clint Eastwood “Chrysler Commercial”, GE Cancer Survivors, & The Dog Strikes Back (VW), voted as some of the best commercials
• Why did you like them?
• Michael
• Amanda
• Marketing Takeaways
• Understood its audience - “traditional” “heritage” sport in America, Clint is speaking directly to that audience
• Relevant - the commercial acknowledged tough financial times, placed it in context of America’s greater history
• Tapped into Emotions - Slow paced, and resonated with its viewers, and tries to remind folks of their goals
• Informative - showed how Detroit manufacturing is back
• Anchored with a Call to Action - Support Detroit, Help America come back, Buy Chrysler

• http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/06/tech/web/pinterest-website-cashmore/ 
• http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/07/pinterest-monthly-uniques/ 
• Really interesting article from Pete Cashbore, the founder and CEO of Mashable on CNN.com and Another article from TechCruch documenting their rise, which will both be available in the show notes
• Pinterest, a web-based pinboard, grew organically via its most enthusiastic users. Case in point: The platform has grown nearly 400% while continuing to be invite-only, made up mostly of 18-34 year old uppper income women in America’s heartland.
• One of the fastest growing social media platforms, reaching 10M Unique visitors in 9 months, in fact, TechCrunch reported that they’re currently up to 11.7 unique monthly visitors
• It’s a great source of Inbound Links: drives more visitors to 3rd party sites than Google+, LinkedIn, and YouTube combined
• How have they been so successful?

1. 1. Sharing involves less effort over time
   2. It’s a social site that is extremely visual
   3. People-centric recommendations, segmented by topics of interest
   4. BONUS: Network effects: you join because your friends are already there!

• What can we learn from Pinterest?

1. 1. Look for new ways to be creative with your marketing efforts. The HubSpot Marketing Blog’s recent “Ultimate Guide to Mastering Pinterest” shows you unique ways to engage with your users using this great, visual platform. Share infographics, inspiration, videos, pictures, etc!
   2. Make it easy for users to share your content. Much of Pinterest’s success is a result of how easy it is for users on the platform to re-share things that pique their interest with very little effort. Is your content that easy to share?
   3. Create gateways back to your website. New channels and platforms represent opportunities to reach a wider audience. Always include a link back to your site so that the interaction doesn’t end there!

PowerInbox

•  http://www.dailydealmedia.com/127powerinbox-interactive-email/ 
• http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/08/powerinbox-the-service-that-turns-emails-into-apps-launches-api/ 
• http://bostinno.com/2012/02/08/powerinbox-launches-api-so-you-can-learn-to-love-your-inbox-again/ 
• http://vimeo.com/27427184 
• Lets you run apps inside of emails.
• They released their APIs so that anyone can take advantage of this feature.
• You could watch a movie directly from your email.
• Or go shopping after viewing an interactive list.
• You can respond to tweets directly from your email with the existing twitter app.
• Marketers can use this ability to display their content and landing pages directly from an email, which would eliminate the extra need to navigate to your site to do the same thing.
• This has a lot of great potential to become something big.
• Marketing Takeaway: Consider using PowerInbox to make your emails more effective.

• http://mashable.com/2012/02/09/zynga-toys-hasbro/ 
• http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/09/social-gaming-goes-offline-zynga-signs-deal-with-hasbro-for-real-world-toys-and-games/ 
• The first products are expected to hit the market in Fall 2012.
• It’s a big deal since Disney, for example, made 28.6 billion from toys, t-shirts and other products in 2010.
• Parallels to Angry Birds toys.
•  227 million users play Zynga games every month
• http://businessmindhacks.com/post/this-short-quote-reveals-the-secret-to-zyngas-success-now-valued-at-10-billion 
• Why Zynga is successful.
•  - hired psychologists who tried to make their games addicting, and while we don’t necessarily condone that there’s something to be said for understanding your customers and prospects motivations, challenges, and goals.
• “1) Addict people with SIMPLE, low learning-curve games, that 2) are social in the way you might have played certain board games in real life in the past, and that 3) have Irregular Reward Schedules (these are the most addicting forms of behavioral reinforcers, read up on your Behaviorism 101…).
• THEN, 4) offer them little ways to essentially cheat in the games (making things go more smoothly for you), that 5) can be purchased for amounts that fall within the Impulse Purchase threshold, i.e. below the price level where your conscious mind kicks in fully and begins to wonder whether this is really a good idea, asf.”

•  Whether you are in a relationship or not, there’s still lots of chocolate involved.
•  Naming makes a difference. (Catchy names last longer in the mind)
•  Technology Partner sounds better than Value-Added Reseller
•  A Content Optimization System sounds better than a Content Management System
•  Latest trends on cards: Musical
• - Thanking your team publicly - Showing appreciation for the work they do
• - Show appreciation to your Customers, to your team members, to your service partners
• Do you want others to feel better about their great work and to motivate them into doing more great work? Then let it be known! Rypple It! Rypple lets you thank others for their awesome work.
• Marketing Takeaway - Use Valentines Day to show appreciation for your customers so that you can continue to have great business with them.