marketing

According to a survey by MediaPost, 50% of 1,100 business respondents feel that viral marketing is a fad. From the article: “A lot of people are asking for viral campaigns because they see a lot of free reach and the creators getting a lot of PR. There’s a lot of desire to do it, but viral is dependent on something big, outrageous or new… It’s hard for everybody to be outrageous, new and funny. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try, but it’s not appropriate for many marketers.”

It’s not a fad, it’s just severely misunderstood. Virality is indirect marketing (which most marketers don’t like and largely don’t understand how to execute), and its success is almost entirely dependent on consumers and consumers alone. That makes for a tricky and unpredictable result.

The most recent issue of Business 2.0 has a great article by Om Malik on hyperaggregation, or sites that aggregate other sites that do niche aggregation of a specific topic. For example, this blog is an aggregator of web, business, tech news, etc with a local Utah flare. My blog is also hyperaggregated by Connect Magazine that also aggregates other specific bloggers on a variety of topics though mostly focused on business issues. At some point Connect will likely post ads and start earning revenues merely by aggregating the best content. In theory, they will incur little to no content costs. The reason? People pay (in this case via attention and their time) for convenience, so as we get bombarded with even more worthwhile content, expect hyperaggregators to profitably compliment the big aggregators already out there.

Reading the article also makes me a bit sad to remember a project I was working on 9 months ago. It was an editorialized hyperaggregator built in WordPress that aimed to collect the best individual blog posts across a variety of topics. It was aptly named ContentDJ (one of the better site names I think I’ve come up with). Independent publishers signed up with our site for the chance to increase their exposure and ultimately take a cut in future ad revenues. I believe in a short few weeks with no exposure resulted in several hundred independent publishers. Sadly, my funding got cut, the site never left Alpha, and I currently don’t have the resources to keep it going though I still plan on seeing it realized.

On a related note, Griffio won a small account with Podango a few weeks ago to build a website for their newly launched Latest At… service which hyperaggregates the best of the best on big social websites like YouTube, MySpace, even PerezHilton.com. So take note: hyperaggretion will likely do very well in the coming months.

I just overheard a television commercial for a local liposuction practice. The commercial tagline really caught me by surprise: “It’s your body, you select it.” It sounded really good (which is what an advertisement is suppose to do) but it’s a complete lie. Just because it’s your body doesn’t mean you hold the key to modify your DNA. Not even good marketing can change that. This isn’t to say that liposuction is wrong in any way. I’m just commenting that despite what marketers would have you believe, you cannot change your physical appearance with money to complete satisfactory levels. In nearly every case, that comes from within. But when my kids hit adolescence and struggle with their appearance like every other human being does, I’ll just lie to them: “It’s your body, you select.” That was easy.

A blog can be an excellent tool for building “You Inc.” For those out of the loop, a blog is nothing more than an easily updateable Web site intended to inform or influence. Here are eight things to avoid while blogging to help attract site visitors, garner trust, heighten exposure and increase revenues. (more…)

I’m currently reading Love is The Killer App. Though not the most prolific business book, the title does an excellent job in formulating what makes for a successful business career in terms of happiness and producing a return on your “networks.” Author Tim Sanders defines a “lovecat” as an individual that intelligently and sensibly shares his/her knowledge, network of friends and associates, and compassionate service with bizpartners without expecting anything in return.

What’s a bizpartner you may ask? Every person in our work life, be it a boss, banker, competitor, client, or just about anyone else. I especially like the competitor one and have recently discovered how much of an asset and help they can be for any type of business striving to improve.

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