While attending the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, I saw some of the newest gadgets coming out this year. But one thing that caught my eye was a booth showcasing a seemingly "boring" product: data security software.

What made me stop and take a look was their booth setup. It was essentially a bathroom / outhouse that had see through glass walls, as shown in the picture.
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The tagline was "there is more privacy in here (the see-through outhouse) then on the internet". This is a good attention getting way to communicate a benefit of their product: they make sure people can't see your private data online.

I wanted to share this with you as a unique way to catch attention for a seemingly dull and techy product like data security software. It's always great seeing companies do clever marketing.

Apply This To Your Business

Think of the benefits of your product or service. People dont buy products, they buy benefits: what are your clients buying?

How can you communicate your benefits in simple and quick (and witty) ways, as this data security company has done?
 
$40,000 Fart 01/10/2010
 
At the Consumer Electronics Show, I heard about an iPhone app that is about farts. Yes, farts. The app is called iFart.

But I was also told that this app made $40,000 in sales in it's first 4 days on the app store. I was amazed at how a simple toy, which is what I think this app would be classified as, could generate so much cash so fast.

This is an example of novel, and sometimes odd ideas making a big splash in the app market...and making big bucks at the same time.

Heard Of Funny Apps?

What are some of the oddest apps you've heard of? Do you have any quirky ideas for an app that you think would be interesting?

Share your thoughts in the comments area below.
 
 
At the Consumer Electronics Show, I saw the leader of Geodelic, an iPhone app, present in a mobile apps competition.

He had the best presentation, but it's because he started off in the worst possible way.

Let me explain.

He started off with a single powerpoint slide that contained one of the longest, most technical sounding "mission statements" I have ever heard. As he continued speaking, and people thought that this was going to be "one of those" presentations, I started to hear a rumble build in the 300+ person crowd.

At that moment, a person in the crowd interrupted him and yelled (I'm paraphrasing their words), "no offense, but we cant understand a word you're saying...show us the app with pictures or get off the stage".

I literally looked down to the ground, as I felt so embarrassed for the guy.

As it turns out, he had planned all of this and the audience member was part of his team. He transitioned into a great picture and video based presentation that was very captivating. The crowd applauded as he demonstrated his product and everyone seemed to love it.

Lesson learned?

Grab your audience by the arm immediately at the start of your presentation. After that, solid presentation content will keep them captivated. He was able to have 110% audience attention the entire time because 100% of the audience listened to every single word at the start of his presentation, wondering if he was actually serious about presenting in this boring way.

Seen a Good or Bad Presentation?

Think about presentations you've seen. What are some ways that speaker's have successfully grabbed your attention? Are there any big mistakes speaker's have made that you remember off the top of your head?

Leave your thoughts in the comments section.
 
 
Through an email list I'm on, I came across Joel Warady's website. Joel is a marketing consultant based in Illinois that seems to focus on social media...this is a good area to focus on.

However, I took a  minute to watch a video on his site about Twitter and I felt the need to post on my blog about it. What he said is wrong...let me explain.

I will admit that I didn't analyze his entire site or his other videos, but this video about Twitter was showcased on his speaking homepage...thus I assume that this is the first impression that many of his viewers see.

I mean no disrespect to Joel...I'm sure he's a great guy and a very experienced marketer. But what he said about Twitter (at least in this video) is a perfect example of why business people don't seem to "get it" when it comes to twitter.

Watch the video here, but here's a quick recap of what I saw in the video. I think you'll agree that these quotes are not taken out of context, as the video is relatively short and has this type of theme throughout the entire segment...watch it and make the decision for yourself.

Mr. Warady Said Things Like:

"People on Facebook create their status and
they write things like 'I'm drinking a cup of coffee'.
That's what Twitter is".

"you write [about] what you're doing"

"A great thing to Twitter
is you're gonna go across the street to the show...
When you're at the show. .you could tweet what you see at the show."

Why This Video is Wrong...

Through my experience with Twitter and teaching business people how to benefit from Twitter, I've come to agree with Guy Kawasaki, Silicon Valley venture capitalist. In short, Guy mentioned that Twitter is not about what you're doing...it's about what you're interested in (and that other people would be interested in).

 

What Twitter is All About in My Opinion

I explain Twitter and social media to clients as a 24/7 networking event...similar to going to a chamber of commerce breakfast event or an industry tradeshow. At industry events, you would benefit most from talking about what other people in your industry are interested in. For example, what's the latest sales tactic that seems to be working...how can your clients be more effective in their business...where do you think the industry is going in the next few months.

You might mention the movie or "show" you went to see this past weekend, but it wouldn't be the focus of 90% of your conversations at this tradeshow...

Social media is the same way. The way you do well in social media as a business person is to talk about business things that people benefit from hearing (i.e. help people with topics they're interested in).

Twitter is not about saying "I had a cup of coffee". If I sent out tweets about how I went surfing this morning (the waves sucked in La Jolla today by the way), 90% of my followers wouldn't care. It's not going to benefit anyone.

But if I sent out a Tweet to help my followers better understand how to (and how not to) utilize Twitter for their business, this is something that is going to help them in their business.

Not Bashing...Just Throwing in My Thoughts

Again, I want to make clear that I don't mean any disrespect to Mr. Warady. Instead, I simply felt the need to respond with my thoughts on his video as this is a common topic that I feel is misunderstood in the internet marketing / social media industry.

Joel, if you're ever in San Diego or if I'm ever out in Illinois, let's grab a beer or a cup of coffee. I'd love to learn more about your experiences in social media and marketing and am always happy to take part in some good old constructive (and positive) debates on strategy.
 
 

Your customers are searching for you on Google, but you need to narrow down to know exactly what words they're typing in.

The video below walks you through Google's keyword tool:

Full screen? click above ^                       
You can create full website on Google's first page yourself easily...click here to RSVP for the San Diego Workshop
 
 

As a business owner, you may be thinking that you don't need to be on Google because you "don't have an online business"....specifically, you may be thinking that your prospects aren't the type of people that go onto Google looking for your products and services.

For example, maybe you're a lawyer, a psychologist/therapist, a life coach, etc. For years, you've gotten new clients from personal referrals and maybe the occasional yellowpage ad.

You don't need to be advertising on Google....right?

Wrong!

I'm going to show you exactly how to figure out how many people per month are looking for your business. I think you're going to realize you've been missing out on a lot more prospects each month then you first thought.

Go Through The Below Steps

(1) Click here to visit the Google Keyword Tool. This is data supplied directly from Google that lists how many people type certain words into Google each month
(2) type a keyword related to your business....However, be sure to type a broad keyword and then narrow things down from there since Google gives you a long list with many versions of this keyword. For example, if you are a marriage and family therapist based in the La Jolla area of San Diego, simply start off by typing San Diego Therapist. You can narrow things down from there.
(3) Click "Get Keyword Ideas"....leave the "synonyms" box checked
(4) You now see a list of keywords along with how many people type this keyword in per month....notice how in some cases it's quite a bit of people.

This is just a basic exercise, but I think you probably get the idea.

No matter what line of work you're in, there are at least 1,000 people per month looking for your products and/or services on Google. If you're not showing up in front of them, then you may be leaving money on the table...

Please leave your questions in the comments of this blog post. I look forward to hearing your thoughts

 
 

San Diego Small Business Marketing- Options

As a San Diego Small Business owner, you have many different choices of how to market your business. If you're like most small business owners in San Diego, you may be overwhelmed by the deluge of options including paid advertising in directories like the YellowPages, lower cost advertising in free publications like the San Diego Reader, and much more.

People in San Diego Are Looking For Your Small Business

One of the things that many small business owners don't realize is that literally 1,000's of people each month are looking for their services on Google.com. Let me give you a few examples straight from data published by Google:
  • 5,000+ people per month search "San Diego Lawyer"
  • 5,000+ people per month search "San Diego Therapist"
  • the list goes on and on and on
No matter what business you're in, you need to be aware that people are searching for your business on Google each and every month. If they're not finding you're business then you're missing out on potential new ready-to-buy customers.

San Diego Small Business Marketing That Works

I work with small businesses in San Diego to make sure that they're able to reach these 1,000's of prospects that are searching for their business each and every month. I work with you to (1) setup a website that is professional and easy to use and (2) get that website onto Google in front of people that are looking for your services.

Below is a demo video walking you through what I can do for your business. I encourage you to watch the video and leave your thoughts in the comments of this blog post, or send me an email through the contact page here.
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Contact me today with your questions about San Diego Small Business Marketing
 
 

I recently read a blog post at Tech Crunch about how 911 calls are being returned as busy signals...quite a problem in my opinion.

Upon watching the below video, I got to thinking that maybe the calls from cell phone could be routed to the correct department (closest to the cell phone call) based on the GPS location of the cell phone when they're making the call.

Please leave your suggestions in the comments.  I'm interested to learn more about solving this problem.

 
 

UPDATE: you can listen to the entire mp3 of the radio show at http://wsradio.edgeboss.net/download/wsradio/ebay/060209/segment7060209.mp3. The social media segment begins about 25% of the way through...you should be able to drag the segment controls once it's playing.



I was recently invited to speak on Ebay Radio about social media marketing and how it applies to ebay sellers. We briefly discussed using Twitter and a range of other social media tools to grow your business.

I'll post a link to the MP3 in the next 2-3 days as it gets posted to the Ebay Radio website.

I'll also be coming back to Ebay Radio in the near future to do a case study of sorts: I'll be helping one Ebay seller develop their social media campaign live on the air. It should be an interesting show and a worthwhile listen for any small business owner interested in building their business through online marketing. I'll post the MP3 to that as well.

Did you find CompeteOnWeb.com through radio show? If so, please add your comments below as I'd love to hear what you thought of the brief segment.


 
 

Guy Kawaski shared this article on his blog recently. If you're wondering how to use twitter for direct marketing, then this would be your answer.

Imagine this...

An Audi dealership in San Diego wants to increase their customer base. Anytime someone within 10 miles of their dealership tweets something about an Audi (i.e. they probably own an Audi), then the dealership account automatically sends them a tweet in hopes of getting them to the dealership.

Read the entire article for full details. This is interesting stuff!