Weiner announces his Mayoral run.
- The New York Post

Because Blue Shoe has done work for a number of politicians, I like to second-guess political campaign strategies. When Anthony Weiner announced his New York City mayoral candidacy on YouTube, my e-mail inbox was filled with messages from friends saying what a mistake it was. Why would he do that?

Why indeed? I think it was a brilliant move.

Anthony Weiner has troubles bigger than the fact that his very name evokes the mistake he made by sharing lewd photographs on Twitter. God, you cannot make this stuff up. How does he address the issue without having to provide soundbites about it? Video is how, and he did it well. Look at the images that appear on the screen when he says he made some mistakes. No mistake in those choices. “Look, I’ve made mistakes,” he says in the voiceover, as he stands on a tree-lined Brooklyn street, “but I’ve learned a lot.” You hear the word mistakes, but he’s not standing at a podium the way most scum-bag politicians do, with cameras flashing as they stand there like Mrs. Prynne in The Scarlet Letter. He’s loose — you hear him admit his mistake, and in the next second, he’s showing you all of New York City.

Best of all (for him), he doesn’t have to answer any questions, as he would if he were to call a press conference. On YouTube, he can control the responses and delete comments that don’t work for him in favor of comments made by shills — friends, family, assistants, and political cronies who will post commentary that works for him rather than addressing what others might be thinking. By doing that, he gets to be the pundit commenting on YouTube.

Lastly, the younger generation in America doesn’t care so much about scandals. They are YouTube’s voice.

All in all, with the mountain he has to climb, this was a good out-of-the box way of saying, “Yes, I am running. And I will control the messaging.” Well done, Weiner team. But now let’s talk about your Facebook page, which is a whole other story.

Christine

Blue Shoe Note to Self: Put words over a picture to sugar-coat a difficult message, and be sure to make the picture irrelevant to the words coming out of your mouth.

The post Anthony Weiner Announces His Run for Mayor on You Tube: Mistake? appeared first on Blue Shoe Strategy.

Don’t Ask, No Sale

I recently received an email from someone in my blog group about a book she has coming out next week. The email announced the launch date , a quote from a review (one that sang the book’s praises – duh), and then the following:

I would be so grateful if you could help share the news.
I’m happy to send you a free copy if you host a popular blog.
I can write a essay for you or do a Q&A.
If you’d like me to come to your book club to talk about Ooh La La! please let me know.
If you belong to a woman’s group, please consider me as a guest speaker.
When you visit your local bookstore, I’d be thrilled if you asked about the book.
And, of course, if you actually bought a book, I’d be over the moon!
Here’s wishing you lots of good things today.

I read it twice, and I realized that she nailed it. Well, she almost nailed it. The book is not out yet. A call to action asking people to buy something that is not available for another week means she will lose many of those that might have purchased it. Immediate gratification is key to a call to action. If she’d sent it the day it was available with a link to buy, rather than an Amazon link to reserve, she would have had an even stronger response, in my opinion. Oh, and one other thing. She should have linked to her FB page so her friends and family could forward her email to their friends and family with the link to more information about the author herself.

But, the date of her email or additional links is not my point. She did the ask. You know the one I mean. She asked those that know her to help her sell her book. Politely. Cleverly. Clearly. “How hard is that, you ask?” It’s harder than you think or more people who do it better.

And, she thought for her peeps. She gave them a number of options for how they could help her. She didn’t just tell them the book was coming out. She didn’t just ask them to buy it. She told them ways they could assist her in making it a success. Well done.

If you don’t ask, no one will buy. Bank on it.

Christine

The post The – Don’t Ask, No One Will Buy – Syndrome appeared first on Blue Shoe Strategy.

Think Tylenol. Back in 1982, someone put cyanide in Tylenol tablets. A few people died. Tylenol recalled all of their possibly compromised bottles, and then set aside marketing for six months.

Then there was Kool-Aid. When Jim Jones used Kool-Aid to kill hundreds of his followers, they took it off the shelf. They literally removed it from the market and stopped advertising for a year. The amazing thing is that the idea to remove the product from the world for a year came from Kool-Aid’s own ad agency. Imagine an agency walking away from millions of dollars in order to provide their client the best value for the brand? Would that have happened today? To add insult to injury, it turned out that they weren’t drinking Kool Aid anyway, but a version of it. No matter. The world saw Kool Aid. Reality is irrelevant.

Back to Carnival. While the news was covering the demise of those Carnival boats stuck in the middle of the ocean with no electricity and no sanitation, with passengers subsisting on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches dropped off once a day, what was the brand doing? They were running TV spots as usual. As if nothing had happened. I saw them myself, and I couldn’t believe it.

Learn from what worked in the past. Problems with your product that put it in the news? Stop advertising as if nothing is happening. Sheesh, do we really need to be saying this?

Now, the times they are a changin, and while you can stop reminding them of your product through advertising, you cannot stop social media from keeping the conversation going. Let’s look at how Carnival should use social media in this situation. What should they do? Take down their Facebook page? Delete their Twitter account? Go under the radar? Not so fast.

They should have participated big time through social media platforms already talking about the debacle. They should have gone on Twitter and FB and asked for input from the public: “Please let us know on FB if you have a message to get to someone on the boat, and we will get it to them. We will tell you what their status is and how everyone is doing.” Take pictures of the people on the boat. Get the true story out there, with apologies and mea culpas galore. And stories of people helping people.

Americans appreciate honesty and humility. Own it. Apologize for it. Explain what you are doing to fix the problem. Explain why you can’t get them off the damaged boat and onto other boats. Full disclosure.

That’s our take and we are sticking by it. But to advertise for a great vacation on the water with Carnival while the boat is still drifting? Seriously, fire your agency and give us a call.

The post Lessons from Carnival Cruise Lines appeared first on Blue Shoe Strategy.

Sometimes more is not better; it’s just more. We have a client at Blue Shoe who has a strong fan base on Facebook. It was created by the owner’s friends, who begged their friends to “like” the page, and then there was a contest that brought in friends of friends who had no interest whatsoever in the product, but liked the page to try and win the contest. While those fans never unliked the page, they never bought anything either. They are dead weight numbers on his fan page.

So, while said client’s numbers look impressive, there is rarely a response when something about the product is posted. There is rarely a response when a discount for the product is offered, and frankly, the page has resulted in zero sales growth over the past six months. Sometimes more is just more.

“But we have so many fans!” the client screams to me on the phone. “Why aren’t they buying?”

“Because they lied when they signed up as your fan, that’s why.”

I remember when everyone was thrilled that Obama has more than 35 million fans. I had to remind everyone that Sponge Bob has more than 42 million. And let’s face it, we all know that a lot of Obama’s ‘fans’ were not friends at all, but rather mortal enemies. Perspective. Sometimes more is just more.

Remember that kid in the seventh grade who gave out candy when he was running for class president? Everyone took the candy, but he didn’t win. You cannot buy loyalty, and you cannot increase your fan base with real fans by doing anything other than offering a fabulous product that they really care about, and then making your fan page a value-added incentive for them to use the product.

So listen up. Stop worrying about the number of fans and look instead at the reaction to the posts you are putting up. Are you engaging your base? Are they taking the action you suggest? Are they providing you valuable product input? Are you reminding them of your added value in a way that is a call to action for them?

Those who win on Facebook have figured out how to create content that works for their clients. They present their product to me in a way that gently reminds me why I am a fan. And they make sure that being their fan has value to me, not to them!

The post Facebook Fan Numbers. Sometimes More is Just More. appeared first on Blue Shoe Strategy.

You wrote your book, play, non-fiction article. It’s in print. But the times, they are a changin’ and it’s now your responsibility to build your readership. There are social media vehicles out there, and there is a readership base that is eager to read what you have written. Christine Merser, Founder of Blue Shoe Strategy, will walk you through those vehicles and talk about which ones provide the biggest return. Facebook? Twitter? Blogs? Which ones are right for you, and how to set up a plan to work them will be the topic for the evening.

The post Blue Shoe’s Christine Merser Speaks at Cape Cod Writer’s Center “Using Social Media to Build Your Following” appeared first on Blue Shoe Strategy.

The most tweeted and ‘Liked’ image in the history of Twitter and Facebook. The image the Obama campaign chose to post when Obama won was not ‘political’ in its content.

 
It’s always in the marketing. We keep hearing that Obama smoked it because Romney said he would ignore 49% of the country. There is also the story line that Governor Chris Christie dissed Romney during Hurricane Sandy, praising President Obama as the leader he felt he was. Then there is our personal favorite—Obama won because the silent majority in this country rose up against the evil, Darth Vader-esque Koch Brothers and Vegas Baron Edelson and their billions of dollars’ worth of Lies-My-Politicians-Told-Me ads that permeated our radios, TVs, and newspapers. Thank God for Apple TV and no commercials.

We at Blue Shoe have been proud to work on the Obama campaign. Along with hundreds of other companies, we did our fair share of social media work to keep things rolling.

Here is the thing: We are here to tell you that Obama won not for any of the reasons above, but because the people working for the Obama Political Machine are the best niche marketers in the world. Call it Blue Ocean Strategy, or call it Target Marketing. Niche Marketing. No matter what you call it. Those walking wizards of reading things like the census divided and conquered, swing state by swing state, county by county, and demographic by demographic within each of those counties.

Let’s do the math.

Obama had to win Pennsylvania, a major swing state. Philadelphia has women in and around it—lots of them. What does that demographic care about? They care about the right to rule their own bodies. Few of them are home making cookies every day and asking their darling husbands what they want for dinner each night. They are working. They are rasing children, often alone. And, they care about the right to rule their bodies without government interference.

So Team Obama marketed to this demographic and what they care about. They sent out literature emphasizing Obama’s support for a woman’s right to choose, and highlighted Romney’s desire to send women back to the fifties. They sent them E-mail Blasts. They organized women to call them on the phone. They created ads for just that small group of individuals in that small demographic area. They did not innundate them with other issues that weren’t at the forefront of their personal interests. They told them where he stood on the issues that mattered directly to them.

Divide and conquer in hundreds – no thousands – of niche areas. They did that—really, really well.

Here is the takeaway: Demographics used to be large groups divided by age, gender, income, and education. Now demographics, broken down to a workable format, is all about the group’s interests. Women of all ages, all incomes, and differing educational backgrounds all believe in the right to choose. It’s a small area, and the Obama campaign saturated it with a message that spoke to the women who live there—and they voted. For Obama.

So it’s all in the marketing fellow businesses, not the dollars spent. Not the famous people visiting or talking to empty chairs about things of no personal interest to those watching. Nope. Find the group that is interested in your product, service, or message, and lay it before them. If more than one demographic is interested, market to them in the same niche way Team Obama did. They will dance to your music.

Oh, and as an aside, Romney could never catch up. His team couldn’t follow the niche marketing; there was too much of it in too many places. They never even saw some of it. By the time they tried to counter Obama’s message in those enclaves of common interests, they were shutting the barn door long after the cows had left the barn on their way to wait in very long lines to vote.

Social Media. The new frontier. These are the continuing voyages of the Blue Shoe client base. Blue Shoe’s ongoing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new marketing life-forms and new social media civilizations; to boldly go where no company has gone before.

The post The Obama Win and Niche Marketing appeared first on Blue Shoe Strategy.

We decided to launch a Cookie of the Month. Something a little out there. Different. Something to make people smile. Something they hadn’t had before. And something no one else was doing. It’s November, we thought. Thanksgiving.

Oh yeah! “The best part of Thanksgiving dinner has to be the stuffing,” we Blue Shoers yelled. No one accuses us of being soft on calories.

A Stuffing Cookie? Really? Well, sweet and savory is hot, right? Dan from DCC was all in. It took him a month of testing. He tried adding Oatmeal. “No,” the testers said, “It needs more stuffing!” So Downtown Cookie Dan tried a bunch of stuffing brands, finally settling on Pepperidge Farm® Herb Seasoned Stuffing. It was “the one.”

The week before we announced it, we sent samples to the press. You can’t imagine the response.

“The Thanksgiving Stuffing Cookies are sheer genius!”

“Okay, WOW. Stuffing cookies. What’s in them? Sage? Butter? Is there anything savory, like chicken broth or anything? We can’t tell if we’re just getting psyched out by the suggestion. Can’t wait to try them.”

“As you know I’m a huge fan of your cookies. I just received the stuffing cookies and CANNOT BELIEVE how much they taste like stuffing. I am going to pitch them to our show’s producer for a chat item closer to Thanksgiving.”

Who knew? It was the strongest response to a product pitch we’ve ever seen. Every single group we sent it to wanted to use it.

Encouraged by the response, we couldn’t help but think about Pepperidge Farm. Dan had tried a bunch of stuffings and that was the only one that made the cookies sing. They seem like a nice brand. The guy in the wagon (is his name Pepperidge?) looks like such a nice family guy. Our managing partner mentioned that her nephew had named his dog after their Milano cookies for God’s sake. Of course this Goliath of a brand would want to talk to Downtown Cookie Company.

We did the research and sent a nice note (and samples of the cookies, of course) to their power marketing team. And Holy Cookies, they e-mailed immediately! They offered Dan free stuffing to use (so we made a discount on the cookie purchasing—type in “Pepperidge Farm” and get 10% discount.)

But here is the take-away: This synergistic connection that will do so much for Downtown Cookie’s brand springs from a genuine experience with the Pepperidge Farm Stuffing brand. Dan’s endorsement is real. Pepperidge Farm’s love of the cookie is real. Together, everyone wins.

So small business people, go boldly forth! Do not be afraid to contact companies with whom you might be able to make a valuable synergistic connection. A note of caution—don’t do it arbitrarily. This worked because it was a perfect fit.

Social Media. The new frontier. These are the continuing voyages of the Blue Shoe client base. Blue Shoe’s ongoing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new marketing life-forms and new social media civilizations; to boldly go where no company has gone before.

The post Marketing David Meets Goliath appeared first on Blue Shoe Strategy.

Remember the old Olympics? Mark Spitz on the box of Wheaties, the breakfast of Champions? The famous flakes paid big bucks for the right to use the five brand building rings, and you only saw the Olympic brand surrounding those that paid a hefty price to obtain it.

Those that have not paid to play with the Olympic brand are heavily restricted from having any sort of presence or affiliation with the Olympics. Those restrictions expired August 15. Gatorade didn’t waste any time associating their product to the Olympic brand and world-class athletes. The spot, which never mentions the Olympics, shows a figure, obscured by a hood and clad head to toe in black, walking through the streets of London.

A voiceover says: “We weren’t there on stadium billboards. We weren’t there on double-decker buses. We weren’t on buttons, souvenirs or commemorative snow globes. We weren’t there officially sponsoring anything. We were there for real — inside the bodies of some of the greatest athletes on earth.” That is the kind of ad that didn’t exist before the conversations created by social media became useful in selling products.

And then there are the small companies around the country that took to social media during the Games and won big doing it. The cupcake company in Washington D.C. that made Olympic Cupcakes (no logo but not mistaking the point) and invited people to come in and buy one. And, mention a gold winning American athlete’s name and get the second cupcake free. Then there were those companies/businesses that congratulated athletes by name in hashtagged Twitter associations ensuring that those that entered that gold winning athlete’s name into Twitter found them and their brand as well.

Yes, one and all, the jig of containing the Olympic brand is up, and it went by relatively unnoticed. Four years ago, there were no launch pads to associate with the Olympics unless you paid, and now there are tens of ways; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr and so on.

The Blue Shoe Take Away…

It’s a new world clients & friends. What’s the next Olympics from which to launch? Is it a T.V. show? Breaking Bad’s new season starts the 25^th of September? The hashtag will be hot. Does your product mesh? What fine thing can you associate yourself with through social media outlets to gain a larger audience and a brand association that makes everything just a little easier to sell? Find the answer, pay nothing for it, and you are on your way.

Questions? Thoughts? Info@BlueShoe.net

The post The Olympics. Brands Vaulting Off the Brand for Free. appeared first on Blue Shoe Strategy.

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If your business provides a compelling product visually, or if the service you provide has a visual component, you can’t afford to miss this Webinar on the fastest growing Social Media instrument since Facebook.

The cost is $50. Submit questions beforehand if you like, and we will address them in the Webinar if pertinent.

Monday, August 13th at 4pm EST.

Comments, questions or concerns? Please email Events@BlueShoe.net

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