Hope Y’all are having a great Wednesday!
Josef Gordon is our next distinguished guest for our vlog series “Vujà Dé Presents.” Josef is a beyond talented songwriter and singer and there’s no doubt that you will be hearing his music on the radio and accepting Grammy’s and People’s Choice Awards. So sit back, relax, and enjoy getting to know Josef. #Goodthings
D
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Facebook ‘Like’ page. Check. Twitter page. Check. LinkedIn profile. Check. YouTube channel. Check. Check. Check. Check. Does it ever stop? Um, no. In fact, these are all needs instead of ‘should we have.’ As an extension of a website, the social media requisites encourage further dialogue with organizations and their ‘likers’ or fans. Some of the big boys that get social media right are Starbucks and Coca-Cola. When you have a chance, check out their Facebook ‘Like’ pages.
So, what are the next social media platforms you need to be familiarizing yourself with as they become relevant marketing vocabulary: (We know these are common knowledge for people in the ‘industry’ but it’s all about sharing the wealth).
1. Yelp- Think of this as the ultimate word-of-mouth marketing website. Here, you can post your business, hours, and services. Peace be with you if you have a lousy product or shameful customer service. Feedback is greatly encouraged and I personally won’t go to a business that has poor Yelp reviews.
2. Foursquare-To keep it simple, Foursquare’s purpose is to let your friends know where you are and to figure out where they are. Also, it is for collecting points, prize ‘badges,’ and in some cases free coffee, as some independent chains are utilizing Foursquare to drive revenue to their respected storefronts.
3. Vokle and Ustream- À and I were at a conference a few weeks ago, and Vokle will be a game changer. The concept is simple. Live online events. Great, you think, but you have the ability to monetize by charging for these events, which no one does yet. #ohyes. Ustream also allows for live events, check it out.
Are you someone that has no idea what we are talking about but intrigued, email me at dominic@vujadestudios.com!
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So you have an idea. Fantastic. Now you need to market the product with the whole marketing mix, and all of that good stuff. I believe one aspect of marketing that is extremely overlooked is copywriting and not copyrighting (also important, but we’ll save that for a legal blog) because your product and or service will live or die with the words that you use to advertise your product. Today there is a plethora of advertisements with copy (Internet: Your website, Google Ads, and Facebook Ads Print: Magazines, Newspapers TV: Adverts with words, etc.) Sooo, what types of copywriting are most effective? Not to be vague, but it does depend on your audience, the target, education level, among others, but taking a some advice from our posthumous mentor, David Ogilvy offers these suggestions for effective copy.
*When choosing a font, good typography will assist people reading your copy, while bad copy detracts readers. Do Not set your headlines in all caps. Our eyes are creatures of habit and we are used to reading in lower case.
*Always include the price of the product/service you are selling. When price is omitted people may ’turn the page.’
*Lastly, when writing a ‘long advertisement’ address your audience like you are writing each of them a personal letter, instead of ‘mass email’ language. One quote from Ogilvy on this: You cannot bore people into buying your product. You can only interest them in buying it.
Again, this subject could be a whole series, and it may well be. What are some of your favorite written adverts? Email me at dominic@vujadestudios.com!
D
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Creativity is probably one of the most misconstrued words in the English language. Actually, to quote dictionary.com, creativity is “ the state or quality of being creative.” Shocking. The second definition is quite better, which is, “The ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, originality, progressiveness, or imagination.” Indeed.
Oftentimes, marketers, advertisers, and people that get paid to have a ‘creative’ label use mediums that are more visible to express creativity that will reach more masses. But if you think about it, someone had to be ‘creative’ to:
-Decide that postcards should be rectangular instead of circles (in most cases)
-Realize that a chair is best suited with four legs instead of two or three
-Develop a knife, fork, and spoon. Most likely they were tired of continuously cleaning their fingernails.
True, us ‘creatives’ do come up with creative ideas, but sometimes I think the ‘creatives’ bread and butter is packaging and promoting to magnify the true creative ideas. How do you get into your creative zone? Connect with me at dominic@vujadestudios.com!
D with special appearance by À
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J’aime teishoku
This week, I’m going to look at three more colors and their multicultural marketing correlations. On a side note, I wonder what the multicultural marketing color correlation equates to too much sun on one’s body over the weekend? But seriously.
Purple
Italy-Church, authority, Latin America-Death (fun times), US-Nobility, law, bravery
Red
Africa-Death and bloodshed, China-Communism, celebration, good luck, joy, fertility, Greece-Love and good luck, India-Birth, fertility, Mexico-Religion and vibrancy, Scandinavia-Strength, UK-Authority, government, power, US-Warning, passion, spice
White
Africa-Victory and purity, China-Death, mourning, purity, India-Death, rebirth, serenity, US-virginity
There is a book that I checked out at my local library that delves into global color graphic schemes, and it’s a VDS approved read:
“The Designer’s Guide to Global Color Combinations: 750 Color Formulas in CMYK and RGB From Around the World,” by Leslie Cabarga. Available throughout the Los Angeles Public Library branches.
Have you ever had a foreign faux-pas? Email me at dominic@vujadestudios.com!
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Color Me Bad, Good, and Everything In-between
Over the next few weeks, I’m going to concentrate on the importance of choosing colors and their different connotations. From a marketing perspective, color is extremely important especially from an international point of view since each culture have their own ‘color story.’ This week we’re going to look at three examples of multicultural marketing colors:
Black
Germany-Death, hopelessness, Mexico-Mourning, respect, USA & UK-Death, sophistication, formality
Blue
Germany-Loyalty, formality, Greece-National pride, India-Heavens, love, truth
Israel- Holiness, Scandinavia-Cleanliness, USA-Justice, official business
Green
Arab countries-Holiness, Egypt-Fertility, Germany-Hope and conservation,
Ireland-Nationalism and Catholicism, Malaysia-Danger associated with forest and diseases, USA-Safety
Again, this is going to be a little series of marketing blogs. What’s your favorite color? Email me at dominic@vujadestudios.com!
D
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Are You the First?
“Can you pass me a Kleenex?” So ingrained into our modern day vernacular, Kleenex did not even register as a spelling mistake on my blog document. Why didn’t I say ‘Puffs’ or ‘Scotts’ well, it’s not because they are not great facial tissue brands (which I will gladly accept samples), it’s the fact that our mentality and marketing psychology equates a facial tissue to Kleenex, the FIRST facial tissue, albeit not necessarily the best. What that brand equity and recognition occurs, oh how sweet it is to be a brand manager.
The point being, what are you the first in? Establishing yourself as the ‘first’ in something does not take more than a little brain power and creativity, and with the power of the internet today, you can brand yourself as “the first taco truck on Ventura after 3 pm,” or “The first Thai restaurant in Little Armenia.” All joking aside, what are you or your company first in (yes, I just repeated myself)?How are you letting the world know? What sets you apart? We can help, and I’d love to hear from you! Email me at dominic@vujadestudios.com!
D
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Offense Marketing vs. Defense Marketing
After listening to a trusted speaker discuss armor for battle this past weekend, I knew that an often-overlooked topic is offensive and defensive marketing.
What do these terms mean? Well, in marketing, to have an offensive mindset means that you are in attack mode hustling and advancing your product and/or service through promotions, public relations, advertising, or Twittering, Twittering, Twittering. Pretty much anything to disrupt the category leader. On the hand, a defensive mindset usually involves the strategies the market leader enlists to hold off the attacks of the offender. Let’s take a closer look:
Defensive Marketing:
· The market leader should only pursue defensive strategies. It is unwise for a firm to pretend that it is the market leader for the purpose strategy selection. The market leader is the firm who has attained that position in the consumer’s mind.
· Attacking yourself is the best defensive strategy. Introduce products that are better than your existing selection.
· The leader needs to always block strong offensive budges by the competitor. If the leader fails to do so, the competitor may become entrenched and gain and take over market share.
Offensive Marketing:
· The challenger’s (the one with the offensive strategy) should be the strength of the leader’s position, and not the challenger’s own strengths and weaknesses.
· The offender should seek a weakness in the leader’s strength.
· Attack on a narrow front
One example of a successful offensive marketing strategy came from FedEx. FedEx had a broad mindset when trying to overtake UPS. Like other companies that are number two and three, FedEx tried to increase market share by broadening their product lines to compete with UPS by offering a wide array of transit times including overnight, two-day, and three-day delivery. FedEx’s success came when they set their focus on next-day delivery and won the coveted ‘consumer’s mental image’ with the slogan: “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.”
Are you a new business? What offensive strategies are you implementing? Or are you an established entity that enjoys market share? Let us know your strategies! Email me at dominic@vujadestudios.com!
D
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In case you haven’t noticed, I love blogging about books that have changed my marketing perspectives, and “The Hero and the Outlaw,” by Carol Pearson and Margaret Mark, is another Dom and Vujà Dé Studios approved read.
To summarize, each successful and influential brand throughout history, whether a person or an organization knows what archetype they represent, and without wavering promote their story, products, and services to be that premier archetype in respected category.
The Archetypes that are highlighted include:
*Innocent: Wholesome, pure, natural, safe, clean, happy (McDonald’s)
*Explorer: Self-Directed, innovative, individualized, (Christopher Columbus)
*Sage: Expert, teacher, smart, quality oriented (Oprah)
*Hero: Winner, competitive, heroic service (Nike)
*Outlaw: Rebel, counter culture, challenges outdated rules (Harley Davidson)
*Magician: Love magical moments, spiritual, visionary (Walt Disney)
*Regular Guy/Gal: Unpretentious, practical, inclusive, (Home Depot)
*Lover: Intimacy, sensuality, attractive, indulgent (Hallmark Cards)
*Jester: Fun, playful, impulsive, spontaneous (Pepsi)
*Caregiver: Altruistic, compassionate, anticipate individual’s needs, (Nordstrom)
*Creator: Willing to experiment, take risks; turn dreams into reality (Sesame Street)
*Ruler: Stable, decisive, efficient (Microsoft)
What archetype are you? What brands (people and organizations) and their archetypes earn your business? Personally, I think (and this is always up for interpretation) I’m a ‘Creator, Explorer, and Innocent.’ Let me know your thoughts, Let me know your thoughts, email me at dominic@vujadestudios.com!
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A few weeks ago I mentioned I like-a the brands, and am conscious of the brands that I consume and promote. But what about promoting myself as a brand? Do I consider myself a brand? Should I?
Answer: Yes I should consider myself a brand. (In-depth, I know).
Personal branding has gathered substantial steam with many books on how to accomplish this, including “Crush It,” which is another ‘must read.’ (All of us at Vujà Dé have), but Tom Peters’ wrote an article for Fast Company in 1997 entitled, “The Brand Called You,” that was way ahead of its time. One of my favorite excerpts reads:
The second important thing to remember about your personal visibility campaign is: it all matters. When you’re promoting brand You, everything you do — and everything you choose not to do — communicates the value and character of the brand. Everything from the way you handle phone conversations to the email messages you send to the way you conduct business in a meeting is part of the larger message you’re sending about your brand.
Just when you think nobody is watching, someone is. Just when you think about answering the phone with “Hi” instead of “Good Morning this is ________, how can I help you?” someone is listening. Just when you think of emailing someone with … instead of a comma, someone is reading, and all of these ‘things’ form your personal brand.
How are you building your personal brand? What separates you from the rest? (As much as I hate that question, we do live in a dog-eat-dog world) Do you believe in personal branding? Email me at dominic@vujadestudios.com, I’d love to hear from you!
D
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