Knowledge is Power

The internet is the most powerful communication tool in the world. You can communicate to a very large audience for a very small amount of money. With new tools to create and share great content, your audience is getting bigger and bigger every day.

MarketR works with developers to create great content worth sharing. Call today to see how your company's message can be shared to the world.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. A video is worth a million.

This is a great video that demonstrates how the internet can be used for incredible communication. But remember simplicity is key, Jonathan Jarvis does a great job of delivering simple images that communicate a complex message. Although the internet allows you to have a large audience, if your message is not simple and credible nobody will listen.


If you have ever wondered how we got into this economic mess, this is a must watch video. Remember, knowledge is power. You must understand the problem, before you can create solutions.

The Smart Money

Someone once asked me, "how did you get so smart?" Of course I was flattered but I responded, "I am not smart, I just listen to smart people and repeat what they are saying."

Seth Godin is one of the most insightful marketers in the world. You can read Seth's Blog here.
I read his blog every day, and after reading his posts my brain goes crazy with new marketing ideas.

One of his posts called "Do ads work?" is incredibly insightful and really sums up why online marketing is so powerful.

He asks, "If a bank was selling one dollar bills for 90 cents, how many dollar bills would you buy?"

Hopefully your answer is, "as many dollar bills as I can possibly have."

So why do you have an advertising budget? If your ads bring in more money then they cost, why not buy as many ads as you can? And if they are not profitable why are you running them?

There is a simple answer to this questions. "I can't tell which ads are profitable and which ads are not." For traditional advertising this is absolutely true.

Online marketing is different. You can find out how much money your search marketing is making you. You can see who opened your email blast and visited your store because of it. You can see how many visitors to your website/blog looked at your contact information in order to visit your store.

With Search Marketing, E-Mail Marketing and Web Analytics your able pay 90 cents for a dollar.

There is a famous saying in marketing, "50% of my marketing budget is wasted money. The problem is, I don't know which 50% it is."

With MarketR you no longer have to worry about wasting money.

MarketR News

2009 has been a very exciting year for MarketR and it is only 2 months in. We are about to launch a brand new MarketR main website next week, and it looks amazing. The MarketR team is working with a number of new clients to establish online marketing tools such as blogs, websites, social media initiatives, email newsletters and of course search marketing.

We are very excited to launch a new MarketR initiative called PassTheBuddha. Look out for more information coming soon.

Other news:
MarketR featured on PR Couture.com for the incredible Toni&Guy PR 2.0 campaign.

Twestival & Generation G

Last week was Twesitival, a initiative to raise money for charity: water. The initiative leveraged the power of Twitter, and encouraged Twitter users to hold local fund raisers on February 12 2009.


charity: water for Twestival

Twesitival was a huge success, and Vancouver had its very own event called yvrtwestival. Vancouver raised $4,000 by holding an event at the Opus hotel, with a raffle and silent auction. No money was spent on traditional marketing. Instead they focused on Twitter, blogs, social media and PR, which of course was all free.

Generation G

An interesting report from friends over at trendwatching.com talks about a growing trend towards giving. This is a big reason why Twestival was so successful and more importantly a great marketing tool for small-medium sized businesses.

The current economic situation has caused huge changes in consumer preferences. Reports show that consumers blame the huge losses in the stock market, jobs and pension funds on big business. Companies such as General Motors, and Citi Bank have lost huge amounts of consumer trust.

Some (U.S.) stats from Reputation Garage:
-As few as 13% of American consumers place their trust in big business.
-Only 39% of employees said they trust senior leadership
-Three quarters of consumers feel that companies don't tell the truth in advertising
-Three quarters of employees in big companies observed violations of the law or company standards in a 12 month period.

Consumers want to support local, small-medium sized businesses that are dedicated to giving back.

Tips:
-Support a local charity that is related to the industry you are in.
-Let customers and potential customers know how much give back.
-Giving doesn't have to be about money. Volunteer your time and services.
-Don't give the impression that you are a big business. Keep it local.

Innovate or Die

I am constantly writing about how the internet has revolutionized so many things. From electoral campaigns to the way we communicate with others. The internet has changed the game in every aspect of our lives.

Unfortunately some people decide to fight this revolution, and it becomes quite obvious that they are fighting a losing battle. Usually the reason they fight the internet, is because they don't know how to use it. They are scared of losing control and the negative affects it may bring their brand. The problem is that by fighting the internet, your brand receives more negative attention then if you had embraced it.

For Example: If you read the Vancouver Metro newspaper today, you would have read that a BC Transit bus driver was fired for having a blog. The blog chronicled his daily activities of being a bus driver in Vancouver. He said he started the blog because his family was interested in what an average day was like for him. Eventually his blog started to get more traffic, as more and more people were interested in the same topic. His blog was even linked to from the official BC Transit blog.

*Note: His blog was rarely negative towards BC Transit. In fact he often empathized with the company in when it came to poor bus service during bad weather.

How cool is that. Your employee takes the time to write a blog about working for your company. There are so many ways BC Transit could have utilized this blog.
Here are a few.
-Free advertising for hiring bus drivers
-A great feedback mechanism for ways to improve and to recognize what they are doing well
-Free advertising for the joys of taking the bus
-Build company moral

But instead they chose to fight it.
This is a perfect example of a company who is scared. They are scared of losing control and having proactive employees market the company. After all this employee is not paid to be a marketer, he is not restrained by any contract saying he can't say and do certain things, he is free to write whatever he likes. This is why personal blogs are so affective! People trust them.

When MarketR sets up Twitter accounts for companies, we make sure to set up a company account and personal accounts. Guess which accounts are more successful. Who wants to listen to the candy coated jargon a company spits out?

I love public transit. I think it is our responsibility to take public transit whenever possible. I do not like the company BC Transit.

The strategy to fight the internet has caused many more people to dislike BC Transit. Check out this forum about the incident. Now BC Transit has got people on other sites, that they have no control over, talking about how wrong the company is. They have got forums discussing the topic and how it was wrongful dismissal. Even worse they had over 100,000 people reading a front page story about the event.

Now they have something to fear. Why would anyone want to work for a company that mistreats their employees.

If you fight the internet, or put your head in the sand and pretend it doesn't exist, you will lose! I have seen it happen so many times, and it is not pretty.

If you have trouble embracing change, don't call MarketR, because we are change. Instead read the book, Who Moved My Cheese.

PR 2.0

As noted in a previous post, MarketR worked with Toni&Guy Vancouver to deliver an incredibly successful Fashion event on Thursday February 5th 2009. This post will explain why the event was so successful and how you can achieve the same success at your next event.

Step 1: Develop A Strong Theme
The reason for the show was that Toni&Guy had been in Vancouver for 10 years. Toni&Guy wanted to celebrate with a fashion show. This did not mean the theme of the show had to be about the 10 years in Vancouver. Instead, the MarketR team and Toni&Guy felt it would be more exciting to highlight fashion from revolutionary times in history. The show would highlight periods involving industrial, sexual and art revolutions. To end the show Toni&Guy Vancouver would show off their creative skills by delivering a collection inspired by the revolution happening right now. The show was named W.A.R. - WorldArtRevolution.

The theme was controversial, it got peoples attention and more importantly it was inspiring.

Step 2: Continuity
MarketR made sure that everything about the show revolved around the theme.

-Posters, tickets, flyers,

-The Venue: The Penthouse Night Club was chosen as the venue for the show. This venue was chosen because of the historical significance to Vancouver and it fitted perfectly with the theme of the show. The MarketR team decided to add a touch of Toni&Guy to the venue: Toni&Guy videos were projected onto the building, a red carpet and planters were set up at the main entrance, all inappropriate pictures were removed or covered with Toni&Guy images and a runway was set up.
-The Media and Press Packs

To fit the theme of the show all media and press packs were hand delivered in document envelopes marked "Top Secret." Envelopes were personally addressed and labeled with a return address and a Toni&Guy stamp. Inside the envelopes was a press-release, a personal letter inviting them to the show + a guest, a letter indicating that a donation in their name had been made to Beauty Night for the enclosed tickets and a mini poster to put up in his/her office.

Step 3: Use The Most Powerful Tool Your Company Has, The Internet.
Because Toni&Guy Vancouver has been a client for some time now, MarketR was able to leverage the blog, email newsletter, twitter account, Facebook marketing, and online contacts to take the fashion show one level above the rest.

-The Blog
MarketR set up a blog for Toni&Guy almost a year ago. Toni&Guy Vancouver Hair Salon Blog. The blog has been incredibly successful and is growing at an incredible rate.

MarketR constantly updated viewers with small bits of information as the event was being planned. When the team secured the venue or found a new act for the show, readers were the first to know. MarketR also developed a mini-site widget for the blog in order to create buzz. We gave away VIP tickets on the blog and had live picture updates on the day of the event.

-E-Mail Newsletter
MarketR has developed initiatives in order to build a strong client email list for Toni&Guy.

Updates regarding the show were sent on a weekly basis through email to a large client list. Chances to win VIP tickets, buzz about what would be in the gift bags and behind the scenes pictures created a feeling of engagement for clients before the event even started.

-Twitter
MarketR recently launched a twitter page for Toni&Guy and it has blown away expectations. We get reports daily about new people following the twitter page.

The twitter account kept followers updated about new blog posts. It was kept personal with updates such as "WHAT, one of the models is sick and is bailing out of the show!" When new door prizes were secured the twitter followers were first to know. Conversations with the Beauty Night were open for Twitter followers to see.

-Facebook
A Facebook page was created by Toni&Guy staff. This allowed viewers to see the Facebook page as a behind the scenes look of the show. Candid pictures and personal messages were posted here. MarketR stepped up the Facebook advertising during the run up to the show. This resulted in an increase of 40% in viewers to the blog site.

-Online Contacts
Probably the most important strategy in this whole campaign. MarketR built relationships with local blog writers and sent them invitations to the event. This started a chain reaction of blog posts about the show. Combined with all of the strategies above, the buzz began to grow quickly.

Vancouver.com
Style.by.fire.com
Miss 604
vancouver magazine
hummingbird604
Mall Vibes
canadianblogs.com
cosmetology association
Canada.com/North Shore News
and the list goes on...

The Result: Not only did the event raise $3,000 for the charity Beauty Night, but it created an incredible amount of buzz for Toni&Guy Vancouver.

By leveraging the power of the internet we were able to create a buzz before the event even started. Individuals were able to see the behind the scenes of the show and feel engaged in the event planning process. The internet was the reason why the event was so successful.

Look out for pictures, video and reviews to pop-up about the show next week, as MarketR circulates press packs about the shows success around the internet.

Call MarketR to plan your next event and see the result immediately.

The Power Of The Internet

So you may have noticed that this week there were not as many posts as usual. This was because the MarketR team was busy putting together one of the most successful fashion shows Vancouver has ever seen. Our client Toni&Guy Vancouver worked hard with the MarketR team to deliver a fun, and exciting 10 year anniversary fashion show, codenamed W.A.R.

Not only did the event raise a lot of money for an incredible organization called Beauty Night it also created a huge amount of buzz for Toni&Guy Vancouver. Check out the search term "Toni&Guy Vancouver war" on Google to see what kind of buzz we are talking about.

Keep posted to the blog for how we did it and how you can make your next event a huge buzz marketing success.

Sports and Business

Sunday was a big day in sports. However, instead of talking about those overpriced 30 second advertisements, and giving another way for agencies to justify spending $2.5 million, I will talk about my favorite sport, tennis.

What can we learn from business and sport?
While watching the epic battle between Nadal and Federer, I was able to observe the same flaw in Federer's game as that in big business.

Federer at one point was the best tennis player in the world. He had perfected his game in such a way that no one could beat him. He went on to win 13 grand slams and was ranked number one in the world for 237 consecutive weeks.

Unfortunately, for Federer, tennis is dynamic and the space is constantly changing. Competitors began to pop-up who played the game differently. The most notable competitor was Rafael Nadal. This young tennis player dressed in short pants, had the body of a weight lifter and played with an aggressive style unlike anyone else on the tennis circuit. Did I mention he played left handed, even though he is right handed?

He revolutionized the game.

What does this have to do with business?
There is no doubt that Federer is a good player. Just like there is no doubt that General Motors is a good company. However they are both playing the game as if nothing has changed.

Watching Federer play, it was clear that he was getting frustrated by the fact that he was losing. However instead of understanding that the game has changed, he continued to play the game how he had played in the past. The problem is that Federer had tremendous success with his old way of playing. Now his strategy is always based on past successes, however this will always fail because the game has changed.

Look at General Motors. They were also getting frustrated because they were losing market share in the automobile industry. Instead of understand that the industry had changed they continued to play the game how they did in the past. The problem was that General Motors had tremendous success selling big cars with huge marketing budgets. Their strategy was based on past successes. However, like tennis, the game had changed. Consumers no longer wanted big cars, they were interested in hybrid cars, and traditional marketing no longer had the same pull.

Don't Be Scared Of Big Business.
When I am talking to small-medium sized business owners, who's competitors are big business, they are usually quite scared of the massive budgets and economies of scale that big business has. Small-medium sized business has something that no big business has.

Agility. Small business can adapt to the changing marketplace quickly and relatively easily.

Big business will always have some old guys in high powered positions. These guys will never agree to a company blog, twitter account, or Facebook page. They will never agree to non-traditional forms of marketing. Why? Because they are scared of what they don't understand. Even worse, if they decide to use new online tools to gain a competitive advantage, they will never do as good a job as small-medium sized business and it will take them a very long time to implement.

Don't be scared of big business.
The worst situation for a small-medium sized business, is when it acts like a big business. It is slow to take advantage of trends, it is scared of new technologies and marketing strategies. Do not be scared of what you don't know. Instead keep posted to this blog and many others like it to keep up to date on the latest successful business trends.

Call MarketR to expand your knowledge and uttilize your company's biggest advantage. Agility.