Pretty much matches my experience
Interesting little graph of the marketing capabilities of major social media sites here.
Netflix: Still doing it right…
So, I recently got a DVD from Netflix that wouldn't play. Of course, I immediately flagged it as such on the Netflix website, which as everyone knows is phenomenally well-designed with a very high degree of thought placed into every widget, button, and tab. And Netflix delivered the replacement DVD just a day later. No surprises there.
I decided to hold onto the damaged DVD until the replacement came, because I like to hoard the occasional Netflix envelope as a hedge against ones that come damaged in the mail. I'm always afraid that one of them will get torn out of their little red envelopes by an unscrupulous mail handler or by sheer accident.
When I went to send the replacement and the damaged DVD back in the same red envelope, I put little Post-It notes on them describing which DVD was damaged, and which was not. And then I pretty much forgot about it.
But Netflix didn't.
How to kill your brand in two easy steps
1.) File a frivolous action challenging the trademark request for a logo of a competitor whose annual revenues are tenths of a percent what your own are.
2.) ????
And here's a link to the tiny David fighting the corporate Goliath, with creamy SEO goodness: Charleston, South Carolina Real Estate
Brandon Takes a Phone Survey #1
One day, a survey-taker gave me a ring right around dinner time. I swear, they've got a call center in every time zone that they staff for only three hours a day, from 4-7pm, so they're sure they catch you when you're about to sink your teeth into some veal parmesan.
This survey taker started off sounding like he was going to talk politics. But the conversation quickly turned to the surreal, and it provoked my inner teenager into making an appearance.
Annoying Your Customers is Bad Business
Annoying your customers is bad business.
When you're dealing in emergency information, such as The Weather Channel does, it's even worse.
It being springtime here in Ohio, a storm just rolled through that literally had my house swaying from the winds.
The Right Way to Deal with Parody
Linden Labs, the people behind Second Life, recently sent a letter specifically permitting parody of the burgeoning online service. [link]
The parody, called "Get a First Life", exhorts users to "Go Outside. Membership is Free!" amongst other hilarious send-ups of the service.
This has resulted in positive coverage throughout the blogosphere, even recently rising to coverage on Slashdot and Digg.
Where this could have resulted in a PR debacle that would have damaged Linden's reputation, it has instead resulted in a positive spread of inbound links and linkbaiting.
While this strategy would not be appropriate for all companies and all parodies, it certainly proves that it is smart business to give the funny bone a chance before calling in the lawyers.
A cheap airfare hotel deal would be an ideal deal for a vagabond. Such people prefer to travel alone, without wasting time to book flights or get reservations in hotels. Their whole life is a vacation. They are usually found on cruise vacations, enjoying their time partying away. They would not waste their time in flying or getting airline tickets, or traveling slow and economical as in cheap rental cars. All they need is their spirit and they are on their way.
Will it Blend?
I'm surprised this little internet gem missed my attention as long as it did.
Blendtec, a manufacturer of blenders for both the home and commercial markets, was faced with the need for a creative way of separating them from the competition.
So what did they do? Create a series of very catchy viral videos, featuring a humorously laconic host blending all sorts of crazy products, from iPods to light bulbs. The question is, "Will it Blend?"
The real question for webmasters is, is there some way you can adapt this tactic to your own purposes? With more than 56,000 inbound links, the Will it Blend? site proves that making people laugh is a most effective tactic for linkbaiting.
Categories
- Apple (4)
- Astronomy (4)
- Blogosphere (1)
- Business (18)
- Cinema (1)
- Culture (4)
- design (3)
- Drupal (5)
- Economics (2)
- Economy (3)
- Featured (22)
- Health Care (2)
- History (2)
- Humor (30)
- Internet (35)
- Joomla (2)
- Life (3)
- Linux (4)
- Marketing (7)
- Miscellaneous (1)
- Movies (1)
- Personal (6)
- Phone Calls (1)
- Politics (9)
- Polling (1)
- privacy (1)
- Science (6)
- SEO (2)
- Sports (2)
- Technology (40)
- Uncategorized (6)
- War (1)
- Web Design (10)
- Writing (2)
Links (Blogroll)
- Anne Zelenka
- BoingBoing
- Dan Miessler
- Fake Steve Jobs
- Graham Weber
- HolyJuan
- Jason Fagan
- Karl Elvis
- Kung Foo
- Nitemare Cafe
- Tommy Womack
- TUFAT Scripts
- Web Worker Daily
Linux/FOSS
Marketing
Recent Comments
- Rorolivera on Downgrading the Toshiba Satellite U305-S5077 to XP
- Sudarsan Kumar on Downgrading the Toshiba Satellite U305-S5077 to XP
- Martin Oh on Downgrading the Toshiba Satellite U305-S5077 to XP
- And on Downgrading the Toshiba Satellite U305-S5077 to XP
- preacher on Downgrading the Toshiba Satellite U305-S5077 to XP
Tags
Archives
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- October 2008
- September 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006