But what good can come of these viral posts, videos, and emails?  Can they be leveraged for marketing purposes?  Is it ethical to do so?  Would it even be effective?  Who knows?  Maybe the polls were helped along by the “I Got a Crush..on Obama” video.  Perhaps wedding DJs would have seen a decline in funds if it weren’t for all the funny first dance videos sweeping the internet.

Viral marketing comes in here somewhere.  People who work in viral marketing hope that their marketing pieces “go viral.”  They utilize social networks like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr to spread their marketing message like a virus.  The white hats do it organically.  They create great content, it goes viral, and BAM – people know their brand.  The black hats do it with spam and dishonest social media manipulation.  In fact, the term “viral marketing” has a bad connotation in most circles, because of the dishonest ways in which some individuals and companies attempt to reach the public.

So, if you create some really funny content, and it has the potential to go viral, you can either post it up on YouTube ala “David at the Dentist” and have someone maybe throw some money your way (I think that guy got $100,000 or something), or you can use your powers for good and find a good partner and a good way to leverage your opus for a cause that counts.  And you might even make a little money in the process.

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Societal marketing is the idea that marketing and advertising should be geared towards the consumers wants and needs.  It was also the beginning of the idea that companies should only produce goods and services that are beneficial to society as a whole.  This spurned the practices of sustainable marketing, and went a long way to develop the ethics of marketing that, some maintain, are evidence of a company’s marketing conscience.

One of the early pioneers of societal marketing is Sidney Levy, the current Coca-Cola Distinguished Professor of marketing at Eller College in Arizona.  He is active in the marketing world today, giving talks all over the world to doctoral students.  He is also conducting something called The Gullibility Project – something that is designed to discover why some people are so easily deceived.

Another founding father of societal marketing is Philip Kotler – S.C. Johnson & Son Professor of International Marketing at Northwestern.  He has developed marketing concepts that explore the potential economic outcome of a marketing campaign.

Another of these forerunners was William Lazer, who has since gone on to study and write books about Social Marketing, which is another theory born of societal marketing.

Because of these early marketing minds and others, large companies have adopted the tenants of societal marketing, including responsible corporate citizenship, social awareness, and good customer service.

Social media is not a fad – it is here to stay.

The issue is how to gatecrash someone else’s party with a commercial message that doesn’t get you thrown out of the door as soon as you walk in!

This is the conundrum which established, mainstream social media sites such as Facebook and MySpace are trying to address as they seek to monetize all those surfer eyeballs spending minutes, hours and days on the internet.  While this may seem like someone else’s problem, it is in fact every business’ problem – how to engage potential customers as part of their recreational time online.

It is important for businesses to understand that while Facebook, Digg, Reddit, LinkedIn and the rest of the big players in social media, may be grabbing the headlines with multi-million dollar valuations and financing, they are not the only party on the block.

So let’s take a look at three sites you may not have heard of, but they are bubbling under the top division in the social media league.

Kirtsy.com (Alexa 10,100)

Kirtsy caters primarily for women and it’s a good social media site for businesses looking to attract women as their prospective customers.

The site is primarily user-content driven with a substantial amount of third party content added by the users themselves for comment, education and simple fun.  Kirtsy focuses on female friendly topics and issues, but they do include forums and self-help groups for dealing with more than just relationships and the site lends itself to infiltration by businesses with something positive and constructive to say on issues such as technology, especially if it addresses a female experience with the issue.

Kirtsy is well laid out, simple to use and easy to register – it stands out because of its focus on women.

Small Business Brief

(http://smallbusinessbrief.com)

This is a good example of how to develop a blog into a social media site – Small Business Brief is primarily a blog, with content centering upon small business issues, however, it has developed beyond a blogger writing posts.

The site/blog stands out because of the quality of the posts and information which is included – it is obviously written well and by people who really do know what they are talking about based upon experience.  What makes SBB stand out though is the opportunity for users, eg. your business, to interact with solution provision.  If you do have a genuine B2B solution, then SBB has a platform for you to hold forth.  If you are a B2C company, you have a community of tens of thousands of small and medium sized business owners for you to tap into, to bolster your own knowledge and experience base.

SBB has some way to go in getting its format better developed, but it certainly shows how powerful even a simple platform can become in the social media niche.

NowPublic.com

NowPublic is a social media platform powered by citizen journalists who either write, or more usually, share existing content with the rest of the site community.  News items are voted up or down, depending on popularity pretty much the same way as we see on Digg or Reddit.

NowPublic stands out because of the diversity of issues which are covered – there is a well organized format which effectively replicates the content of a serious newspaper, and there is a very active community of users and a vocal commentary on stories of consequence.

Consider NowPublic to be an evolution of Digg and Reddit, with a greater degree of organization, much more user-friendly and a very lively community which is not primarily made up of internet nerds, but Joe Public with a passion for issues.

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Google Rankings are Earned, Not Entitled

“If you build it, they will come!”, may be a maxim many follow when creating a website, but the reality comes as a cold, freezing slap across the face for most.  Generating traffic to your site is crucial if it is to provide any meaningful impact on your business in terms of profit, sales and generating brand awareness, but this takes more than a great looking website – it takes a lot of planned and recurring effort to promote your website to both the search engines, such as Google, and to human visitors who have money to burn.

Think for a moment about what a website is.  A good analogy is to look at a website as being a billboard on the side of a road – the more cars driving along that road, then the greater the response and impact from the billboard.  How good the billboard is helps a lot to convert drivers, but to have any impact at all, you need the billboard labeled somewhere where people will see it to begin with.

Imagine your website is a billboard which is in the middle of a desert and only rarely does a car pass by.  Fortunately, the satellite navigation systems of all these drivers can detour them past your billboard, provided you offer something of value.  These satellite navigation systems are the search engines and of them all, Google is the largest and most important.  If you convince Google to send you traffic, you stand a much better chance of achieving your online business objectives.

Therein is the crucial key – you must convince Google and the other search engines to send you traffic.

This means there is a lot of work to do in promoting your website which goes beyond simply providing a lot of content.  For a start, the content you do use must be relevant and optimized for the search terms which are likely to generate the traffic to begin with.  This requires website owners to research key phrases extensively so they have a good grasp on what their potential customers are using to find information in the net in connection with their service and product offering.  The content and website coding, then needs to be optimized with this keyword research in mind.

It is almost impossible to get a high ranking in Google without obtaining an extensive network of other websites linking to yours.  A link from another website is considered to be a vote of confidence in your own site, and this in turn is rewarded with a higher ranking.  To be of value, a link must come from a site which is relevant – there is little value in a link from a website selling flowers when you are selling hi-tech electronics.  Link building is a definite art which requires a lot of tact, diplomacy and negotiation between website owners in order to optimize the impact on search engine rankings.  It is time consuming and a good link portfolio is not built in a few days or weeks.

Search engines are not the only game in town either – a considerable amount of user time is being spent on social media sites, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and MySpace.  Building a great site is only one aspect of your online business presence; perhaps it is better to regard the website as the commercial focus around which you will build a network of online sites which point back to the main website.  Blogging, Facebook fan pages, article marketing, Twitter tweeting and a whole lot more should be considered to spread the word about your fantastic website loaded with lots of relevant content, but all of this is going to take time.

Gaining a high Google rank is something which takes patience and a lot of hard work and even more to maintain that high ranking once it is achieved.  This means that successful website management must adopt a reiterative approach to promotion and constantly work at improving the site and site marketing to open the search engine flood gates which will direct potential customers to your online billboard.

Shell Harris, Big Oak SEO

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Virginity Soap

They have really narrowed their market with Virginity Soap. Does the cashier perform some sort of medical test to authenticate you can purchase this soap?

Beauty Nipple

The scary part about this, aside from the skanky message, is it looks to be packaged for children and in a children’s store. Well, all parents want their kids to “stand” out, and I guess this will do it.

Buttocks Bra

I had to look twice and make sure those weren’t breasts. Nope those are butt cheeks. I think someone made too many bras and didn’t know what else to do with them. This is a really bad idea.

Milk Screw

This is lip balm, so the product isn’t unusual. But I can’t imagine using the word “screw” would increase the sale of any product that wasn’t porno-riffic.

RetarDEX Toothpaste

Really? No one caught this? Thousands of dollars if not hundreds of thousands are spent on research and no one picked up on this? What about an overactive group for the rights of the mentally-challenged? Really?

Miracle Boober

I had no idea boob could be used as a verb: boober. Just how does one “boob”?

Muff-So-Soft

I can’t say anything about this for fear of legal action. Sometimes a picture needs no words.

Pore Vacuumer

This sounds so violent, but lucky the femme fatale holding the large firearm should let you know how gentle it really is. Bonus:  See the wording “Ghassoul?” How would you pronounce that? I thought so.

Sexy Motherpucker

How many sexually charged words can we find. Let’s count, shall we? Sexual, Sexy, plumping, explode and motherpucker. Not bad for a small box and its a world exclusive.

Squid Soap

Everyone knows what a chore it is to get small children to wash their grubby little hands. I’m sure telling them to put their hands under a tentacled creature will make the job that much easier. What’s next? Shark-faced tooth brushes?

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WWF – Fur is murder and this print ad hits that idea home with sardonic twist.

BreatheRight – Snoring, trains and nostrils

Panasonic Nose Hair Trimmer – The logistics alone make this an ad worth applauding.

Rowenta  – Duck hunting with your Vacuum Cleaner

Zoo – This ad for a zoo makes me want to take a taxi.

Just Soap – This makes me cringe and then nauseous.

VW Ad – Absurdly Lo Consumption…for the art crowd, obviously.

Recycle: Everything You Throw Away Comes Back Like a Yo-Yo.

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ISCA – Took a second for me to realize the faucet is facing the wrong direction.

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With the rise of technology, the world has become simultaneously much larger and surprisingly smaller.  While our new connections serve to introduce us to new experiences and previously unknown cultures, we are also being given the opportunity to see the similarities we share with others from around the globe.  On a daily basis, people are allowed to see more and more of a world that, for most, existed only in textbooks and on movie screens.  The characteristics of countless cultures have begun to migrate outside the traditional geographic boundaries of their native lands to make a place for themselves in the realm of a much more globally minded culture.  When it comes to marketing and advertising, those in the business are now being faced with the challenge of appealing to a much more diverse (and sometimes more adventurous) populace.

Marketers can seldom rely on the previously held standards of cookie-cutter America.  Determining methods of advertising with universal appeal can prove to be a daunting task.  Faith and spirituality, fashion, art and history all play a major part in determining what every culture may or may not find to their liking.  Advertisers must have an ever increasing awareness of their audience; otherwise, they may run the risk of alienating or overlooking potential consumers.  People are often fiercely loyal to their native cultures and ignoring or insulting their customs or beliefs can be detrimental to the message advertisers are trying to communicate.  There is value to be found at every corner of the globe, and by exhibiting respect and reverence where it is due and being mindful of the ever-increasing diversity of the average consumer group, marketers can find opportunities for growth and expansion that they may have never considered.

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Pretty much everyone enjoys a good dirty joke (well, almost everyone), but perhaps an advertising campaign that consists solely of crass humor is a little too much of a good thing.  The tawdry humor often overrides the intended message, and the target audience is left remembering only the scandalous parts, while they disregard the product being advertised.

Examples abound, but in a post sort of discouraging this type of marketing – or at least sort of ENcouraging the alternative – I don’t want to bombard you with all sorts of YouTube clips of dirty, funny ads.  Well, not too many.

The first example is from a blog post I found that talked about a student loan consolidation piece of snail mail that featured an obscene hand gesture.  Bizarre.  Take a look.

Another thing that is a little beyond the realm of good taste – at least to a lot of people, was the Superbowl 2010 eTrade ad with the baby explaining last night’s whereabouts to his baby girlfriend. It was one thing when the baby only talked about diversifying his portfolio, but now he’s apparently so grown up that he’s cheating on his girlfriend with a “milk hound.”

Aliph, a manufacturer of high-tech hands-free devices, released this little gem on the internet:

We’ve got a gorgeous bikini-clad sun goddess and a bunch of rowdy frat-type guys who get EATEN BY A SHARK while she’s on her “noise-assassinating” bluetooth. Nice.

Delivering a clean, “upright” marketing campaign can be a challenge in today’s world.  Consumers are bombarded with beautiful, half-naked people, adult language and violence in every imaginable form.  The average individual is becoming slowly desensitized to such sights and sounds and the methods are losing their effectiveness, spurring advertisers to push the boundaries of acceptable material further and further in an attempt to be the most extreme.

Marketing guru Liz Goodgold from Red Fire Branding lists a number of reasons why you might not want to resort to vulgar language in your marketing – and I think her points can be applied to the sex and violence as well. In a nutshell, she says that:

It is a cheap and easy way to get attention – which makes you look cheap and easy.

Beware of the spam filter – because if you send out vulgar or course material it is likely to get blocked.

People might hesitate to redistribute your materials if they find them questionable.

If you insult people in print or media, how are they going to react to you in person? This isn’t a movie – you can’t go in, drop the f-bomb, and expect them to give you lots of money.

You could lose corporate interest. Large companies have too much to lose by allowing questionable content through.

It comprises your brand in every way. Once you go vulgar, sexy, or violent, it is very hard to come back from that. If you shock people once, you have to go even further to shock them again, and not only that your brand is forever (in many cases) associated with marketing you attach to it.

In a world where we are constantly faced with images of tragedy and war, abuse and degradation, it is often a welcome change to come across marketing that is wholesome and genuine.  People like to be reminded that the world can be a better place and that good manners and a positive outlook offer their own rewards. What can it hurt? In these days, a “clean” campaign might stand out more than a “dirty” one.

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Godin is widely credited with expanding and promoting the concept of permission marketing.  In today’s world of email and internet shopping, permission marketing has made giant strides in drawing customers to businesses by putting the potential clients at ease by allowing them to feel more in control of a buying situation.  The concept is relatively simple. The marketer must obtain either explicit or implicit permission to approach a potential client with the means to making a possible purchase.  The upside for the customer being that will not be bombarded by unwanted solicitations, providing them with a sense of control and security when shopping and considering purchases.

Simple, subtle ideas such as this can be found in all of Seth Godin’s works.  He is a highly regarded public speaker, and has written over a dozen best-selling books, including “All Marketers are Liars” and “Unleashing the Ideavirus.”  He is also credited with expanding the marketing dictionary with the terms he has defined to clearly and effortlessly through his work.  In addition to his published works, he also maintains the most successful marketing blog on the internet, sethgodin.typepad.com.

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photo by Steve 2.0

In today’s world, adding a personal touch to advertising can speak volumes. Direct mail can be the medium for the expression of art or local color, attracting customers on a mental and emotional level. The right image or turn of phrase can touch people on a deeper level than a loud, overwhelming television ad, drawing customers back to a business where they feel more valued and more comfortable.

Direct mail can also serve to remind people of the value of their local businesses. The personal touch of receiving an advertisement that can be read at one’s leisure in the comfort of one’s own home can provide the kind of reminder to customers that their hometown businesses, which might otherwise be taken for granted, are open and available and actively seeking their patronage. So, while it may not be the flashiest and most widely utilized form of marketing, direct mail offers opportunities for a much more personal approach to reaching customers.

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