The Beatles Don't Need Marketing (Anymore)

The Beatles have made several exciting announcements this past week. First, copy #0000005 of the Beatles White Album will go up for sale on eBay. The first four copies of the album were given to the members of the Beatles and copy #5 is now poised to become the rarest and most sought after copy of an album ever. Secondly, Paul McCartney told BBC radio that he is trying to release a "lost" Beatles song that has only existed as a rumor for years. The 14-minute song titled "Carnival of Light" is an improvised jam session that never made it onto a Beatles album when recorded in 1967.

The Beatles is the ultimate brand. They captured the attention of millions and built a career on continually pushing themselves forward with the music they released. While there are many reasons for their success, I believe it can be traced back to a central idea: content quality. People who love music know that The White Album is one of the most important albums of all time, so when an announcement that copy #5 going up for sale on eBay is made, no hype is required. People are automatically hooked by the pure facts. No elaborate marketing campaign is needed to build awareness of the news.

While most companies will never reach the heights the Beatles have attained, there are several lessons to learn from their success:

1.) Genuine word of mouth has staying power. The Beatles are cemented in history and still get attention today because of the power is genuine word of mouth. They gave people something real and true to talk about, not just a fad that wears out quickly. Word of mouth has been and will always be the best way to gain attention. An important goal of every brand should be to reach a point at which they can consistently rely on word of mouth to get their messages spread.

2.) Consistency is the difference. Vanilla Ice does not have a huge loyal fan following. To succeed, you must constantly and consistently create content that is worth being talked about. To reach maximum word of mouth potential, there must be proof that you want to do more than make a quick buck or have your 15-minutes of fame. Hard work must still happen, but being patient for the results can be the difference. The Beatles may have put it best themselves: "In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make."

3.) Quality content does not need spin. If something genuinely touches a person, they will share it with others regardless of what is popular at the time. The Beatles music is timeless and true. Which brands can say that they are creating lasting content? Instead of spending tons of time and energy trying to make the ordinary exciting, spend time creating great content that will naturally be exciting to those who want to hear about it.

Updated: Motrin Moms and Why Listening is Important

If you haven't heard about the Motrin Moms commercial that sparked a wave of backlash against Motrin, you can watch the ad below:



This has led Twitter Moms and Dads to turn their commentary into the top trending topic on Twitter. Obviously, this is not something that Motrin wished for. Mothers were offended by the condescending tone that the ad takes towards Mothers who carry their babies, calling them 'fashionable' and an 'official Mom.' You can read more about this from the New York Times Parenting Blog.

How this could have been avoided:

Listening. It's as simple as that. If the people who created the ad had asked Twitter Moms what they thought about carrying their baby on their back, they probably would have created a commercial with a different tone. All of this could have been avoided with a simple sincere question to a group that is probably more than willing to give their opinion.

How Motrin has responded:
Motrins website is currently down and they have issued an apology.

This is what every large company fears about social media. You put your message out there and people rip it apart. This should not discourage companies from engaging in social media, but it likely will. When an agency presents a social media campaign to an executive, they will likely say "well we don't want our company to be the next Motrin, lets just play it safe."

This is not a reason to stay away from social media. It is more so a reminder that you really need to be connected with your audience and know what they are thinking. Social media allows you to directly connect with customers on a personal level. If Motrin was involved in an online community when the ad was released, they could have responded in a much quicker and sincere way. Instead they are left with an email apology. Effective social media is all about listening and caring about what your audience is saying. Motrin has an opportunity to come back with a sincere message to Twitter moms. Will they capitalize on that opportunity?



What are your thoughts?


UPDATE: Motrin.com is back up and they have posted an apology.



Am I the only person who thinks this might actually be good for Motrin? After all, they are criticizing the advertising not the product itself. To some degree this reminds me of when the new Microsoft ads with Jerry Seinfeld came out. People railed against the ads saying how they were pointless and a waste of money. In this case people are finding the advertisement offensive. In both cases they were called bad advertisements. Both advertisements have generated a lot of word of mouth.

Motrin has given a sincere apology. People will eventually forgive them and realize that it was just a poorly worded advertisement. For all the negative feedback this ad has received, it has generated a massive amount of word of mouth (at least on Twitter) which I believe will cancel out any negative feelings against Motrin.

Do you agree or disagree?

Another thought: You know how Motrin could have given the most sincere apology? A YouTube video. Just a short video apology from one of the creators of the video would have been a thousand times more effective than the statement on their website. The statement has no personality to it.

Another Reason Why Your Company Should be on Twitter

A few weeks ago I noticed a tweet from @VPG_Printing stating that they were giving out 1,000 free business cards to the 1,000th follower. I happened to see it at the right time and ended up being the 1,000th follower.

Putting things in perspective:

If @VPG_Printing wasn't on Twitter, would I have ever heard of them? No. There are thousands of printing companies on the internet. It would take an incredible marketing campaign for me to know a printing company name. In my search for business cards I probably would have ended up going with the first link that came up on Google.

Twitter gives businesses the opportunity to do three very important things:

1. Reach out to current customers and be a direct customer service agent to them. See @ComcastCares for a great example.

2. Word of mouth. As most Twitter users know, information can spread rapidly online. Take a look at the latest example from Twitterrank. Now obviously, your brand isn't going to spread rapidly like a breaking news story, but that doesn't mean it won't be talked about. Word of mouth is how I found out about @VPG_Printing. It is how I find out about every new blog I read. It is how I decide if a movie is worth paying $10 to see in the theaters. It is important.

3. Show personality. People love companies that have a real personality. Personality is the difference between talking on the phone with a human customer service representative and talking to a computer that can't understand you. Showing that your company is full of real people who really care is incredibly important.



There are many more reasons to be on Twitter, but those are three of the most important reasons for a company to have a Twitter presence. Laura from @VPG_Printing utilizes Twitter in a very effective way. She shows personality, is an excellent customer service rep, and offers up frequent discounts on products. Some companies get it. Some don't. Not every company should be on Twitter, but for the vast majority that should, an opportunity is waiting for you.

3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Joining a Social Network

Social media can be overwhelming. If you read Mashable or TechCrunch you could go insane trying to keep up with all of the different social networks and start-ups. It is tempting to join every new network, but unrealistic and definitely not effective.

When joining a new social network ask yourself three things:

1. How much time can I commit to this site?
Don't join a new site unless you can invest time into it. And not just time in creating a profile, I'm referring to active time on the site. It is never useful to join a site just for the sake of joining. It is kind of like having a gym membership, but never actually going. You feel good, but you haven't accomplished anything.

2. Why am I joining this site?
You should have a set objective. Every new network you join should provide some benefit for you. Know what your objective is before you join. I use Facebook for fun, Twitter for learning, and Linkedin for networking. You can have totally different objectives, but it is important to know why you are joining a site.

3. What can I offer?
Do you have ideas or information worth sharing? Or are you joining to just push your website or blog? Self promotion is fine in small doses, but you should be able to offer up something to the community you are joining. Social networks are not about you, they are about the community.

Social Media's Impact on Brand Image

Neal had a bad experience with returning a pair of defective running shoes to Nike. He decided to write about it and tell others about his disappointing experience. Just happens that Neal writes for The Wall Street Journal and millions of people can read his article in print and online.

Today, we are all broadcasters. Sure, we've always had our circle of friends to share experiences with about a product, service, or company, but with the internet, our circle has significantly grown. Whether it takes the form of a simple status update on Facebook ("I am waiting in line at ___ and they are so slow!"), a product review on Amazon ("I had trouble with ___ and it was actually hard to use"), or a long, detailed blog post, all of our experiences with brands now reach a much wider audience than even 10 years ago.

Nike may have gotten unlucky with Neal, but had they known he'd write about his poor experience for everyone to read, they would have treated the situation differently. Since we all have the potential to talk about our brand experiences to an audience, everyone becomes a potential misstep or opportunity for a company. Keeping in mind Long Tail principles, even though you may only have 50 friends to broadcast to (what damage can that really do?), when you add up all the small circles of influence, it can really become a powerful force. So, if you are a person with a large sphere of influence like Neal or you are an average social media user, every time a company interacts with a customer, there is very real potential for it to be discussed in the social media realm (and become a permanent mark on your brand) . How should social media effect the way companies now look at customer service, return policies and maintaining brand image?