Ever wondered what to put in a staff profile so you don't send people to sleep?

Getting lost on the web, looking for tomato relish of all things, I stumbled upon this little bit of copywriting gold on this gourmet food distributor's site.

I have absolutely no need to read this, but I read every one of these profiles.

Says something, doesn't it?

Now I feel like I know them. If only I had a store to stock their product in, I'd be calling them tomorrow. It would be a little like making the effort to make friends with some this great new person you've come across. Now are you seeing yet why there's marketing gold in this?

Get rid of anonymous, no personality copy on your website! This one page should prove to you the difference - and it won't cost you anything more to write like you're not a robot!

Do you understand human nature enough to make it work for you?

I love it when I get "tricked" in a good way.

A friend is due to start a new job with a design agency , so I thought I'd google them.

I got to Sage Creative's site and was a annoyed to have to "skip" a flash intro page (why do people keep doing these?!). Anyway, they were redeemed with their brilliant understanding of human nature in their simple menu. The last item on the menu was...

..."Don't go here".

So guess what I immediately clicked on?

Love it.

What a spectacularly cheap (zero budget) way to funnel your web traffic where you want it to go.

PR stunt on a zero budget

Bit of a lazy post but I wanted to direct you to read a recent story on Australian Anthill.

It is a clever promotional idea that used the "beg, borrow & steal" approach to putting together a neat little PR stunt for Channel 31. Big ticks to Keep Left PR for the idea - and in managing to source "free snow".

Check it out at: http://anthillonline.com/could-this-be-the-cheapest-promotional-stunt-ever/

Puppy love get big licks & ticks

We all know that social media is a great zero budget tool. Twitter & Facebook are the centre of the universe for (possibly way too) many people. And they're free to use for marketers and punters alike.

But that said, it's HARD to get the use of these tools right. It's all very well to post some bland info about your brand, what's hard is coming up with something clever, engaging and basically worth all your time and effort. There's little worse than not being friended or followed!

I came across one of the smartest little social media campaigns I'd seen today - and I've watched it go crazy in literally HALF a day.

I am a PJs addict and a love Peter Alexander pajamas. I am hard pressed to open one of their catalogues and OT buy. So I do scan their online newsletter. And they had a great little story. They are wanting some "posh dogs" for their next mag shoot. All you had to do to get your dog in the running was post a pic of it on Peter's facebook page. Now, as I love dogs more than PJs, I immediately checked it out. Over 300 people had ALREADY posted a picture within an hour of the email going out. I've just checked again this evening and it's now over 600. That's not people visiting the page - I'd suspect this would be 10 times this. That 600 women who've chosen to interact with the brand today alone.

How smart is this campaign? Even if they didn't have the photo shoot angle, they took something people love - their pet - and made it about showing off their loved one. And the cost of this fabulous little brand interaction.

Ah, did I mention, ZERO.

Big ticks (and licks!) for the PA marketing team. They've done us all proud today!

And take a leaf from their book.

How can you tap into what people are ALREADY passionate about and tie it to your brand using social media? The key is in what's important to your market, not what's important to you.

Simple (+ cheap) ideas can be incredibly powerful

Had to share this with you - part of a seatbelt advocacy campaign from the UK.

Apart from the fabulous viral component of this advertising - apparently having been seen by over 1 million people now - what I love is that this adv would have been VERY cheap to make, compared to the standard TAC type ads we're all so used to.

Yet arguably, its impact is much, much greater. It's not only quite beautiful to watch, it gets across it's (multiple) messages without so much as a work spoken, a spot of gore or a score of smashed up cars.

So a very big pat on the back to the creative team that put this little beauty together - you've proven to us all that IMPACT has a lot less to do with the size of a marketing budget than you might imagine.



More about the campaign at: http://www.sussexsaferroads.gov.uk/

Just in case you can't see the embedded video, use this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjWufx3fenc

I finally get it - why people are so passionate about Apple

I've long resisted the world of Apple. I succumbed to an iPhone but have had issues with it. I considered an iPad but research showed a Kindle was the better option as a reader (and I love it!). But when my second PC laptop died in 3 years, I decided I was really to give Apple some serious consideration. I did my research and found the Macbook Pro seemed like a good option. I even got it for a very good price, cheaper than my last two laptops. I've had it a week now and, to be honest, I'm wondering how I lived without it. Forget how great it looks and feels, it just works so much better than a PC.

But this post isn't an ode to my new laptop - it's an ode to the fact that I'm finally getting a hint as to why people are so loyal to Apple. It's because they actually work very hard to make you feel part of a (brand) family.

You see, I have some queries about working my Macbook. And I discovered I can make an appointment at the Apple store - at a "genius bar" no less - to get some help. I can attend some free workshops on how to use various bits of software and hardware. I've even got telephone support for the first 90 days if I need it.

Now having bought many PCs, not only don't the retailers offer anything like this, the hardware manufacturers certainly don't.

All this isn't "zero budget" for Apple to deliver - but they wouldn't do it unless it generated A BIG RETURN. So it's money very well invested.

Things like the genius bar and workshops are also a much smarter use of retail space and customer management than I've ever seen. They've taken the same tools as everyone else - a shop, some shop assistants, a set amount of retail hours, , some hardware to sell - and they've then done something VERY clever with it. They've even dealing with some potential negatives - only ONE location and only helping people at set times they need to book well in advance - and managed to make them a positive.

How can YOU rethink your set of marketing tools and essentially CHANGE the game you're playing?

It's just a sign, isn't it?

You know, sometimes in marketing, it's the little things that matter. Small cost items that can have a BIG impact if only you put a little bit of creative thought into them.

I've spotted two signs recently that I think are worth their weight in gold. One perhaps a bit more obviously than the other.

So first, the subtle sign. I saw this in clothing store "Forever New". The sign simply says "Last of the Best Sellers". What's so good about this?

This little sign is working VERY hard.

It's allowing the store to put a bunch of mis-matched product together legitimately, in a retail world that's often focussed on making everything look just right.

It's also telling shoppers that OTHER people loved these items, so this is a great place to hunt for a treasure.

Finally, it's allowing items to be sold full price that would normally be relegated to the sale rack.

Then the more obvious choice - how great is this? Every time I walk past this office, I smile and think that these people are living their brand. They've taken a very average location (a smelly alley off china town) and a door with bars and done something to make you forget all that.

They've already demonstrated how creative they are before their prospective client have literally walked through the door!

So next time you're thinking, it's just a sign, ask yourself...how can I make my little sign work as hard as it possibly can?