Gmail offers over 2 gigs of disk space to each of its users. Do the average person need 2 gigs of disk space for their email? NO. So why bring it up? Because it is part of the reason Gmail has spread like wildfire. People talked about it. People mentioned it to their friends. If you can take your product and get somebody to say to their friend:

“Hey have you heard of this new product [blank] that does this?”

then chances are you having something that could really sell. Something different that’s worth talking about.

Be different.

BTW, if you would like an invite to Gmail, let me know, I have quite a few available.

A lot of people probably don’t think of a virus as a good thing, especially when it comes to business. Viruses are usually the things that keep your IT department on the run, scratching their heads, and keeps Symantec’s wallet full. However, if your marketing department can keep their hard drives virus-free, and take some of that infectious flavor to their schemeing and strategies, sales can grow as a result.

Viral marketing, infectious word-of-mouth, is a type of product promotion I love to talk about. It’s so amazing how just creating a little buzz with something out of the ordinary can increase interest in your business and products.

One of the best ways to increase your word of mouth in an online presence is utilizing a “Tell A Friend” feature. A lot of e-commerce sites will implement this strategy to make it easy for visitors to drop in the email addresses of their friends to be notified of this new craze, something maybe their friends haven’t seen or heard of yet.

FontFeed has this great article about the fonts that are being used by Web 2.0 sites and companies for their logos. These logos and sites, if you have noticed, used a little bit bigger, straightforward, cheery design methods for their identities.

Interesting how so many of them use the same fonts for their design. Very simplistic. Clean. Fresh. I like it!

As a business owner or service provider, one of the most important things you can do is maintain regular contact with your clients. Whether you are maintaining a client base of 20 or 20,000, there is a multitude of ways you can handle a strong stream of communication. A human touch to your business will help give you an edge against the competition.

When faced with a large client base that you need to keep current on your services, it is extremely intelligent to utilize your “human” resources. What I mean by this is every single account holder needs to have a strong human contact; a name, a face, and a voice they can associate with your business. When faced with a crisis, who is your client going to call? Ghostbusters? It’s important for those clients to have that personal relationship with a member or your organization so they feel comfortable and confident that any mishaps or future services will be handled promptly and with sincerity. Build credibility in your business with a personal touch.

If you are a one-man operation, you need to keep in mind that one of your primary roles as that business owner is to act as an “account executive” with your customers when the need arises. Be responsive, go above and beyond to solve any issues or problems that may arise. This is where the most professional and successful of business personnel focus.

Things such as a business blog or weekly/monthly opt-in newsletter (print or email) is a great way to deal with a large number or contacts.

Man, when I saw the third Blade movie starring Wesley Snipes, I thought I’d seen enough. How many more Blades can a person take. There is a sickening marketing scheme that is plaguing the RAZOR industry.

We have 3 blades.

Our 3-blader has aloe.

Oh yeah? Well we have 4 now.

Screw that, here’s the 5th one, and it’s for precision =P

I think Gillette and Schick have taken it too far.

Even as I write this right now in Firefox, the Gillette Fusion tab (using flash, my favorite net technology) of my browser is talking to me about a breakthrough in technology. Technology? I know a guy who just paid $250 for a straight edge blade (old barber-shop style) to shave with. Why do we need a breakthrough in razor technology? I thought it was bad enough when we started putting triple-A batteries in em and let them vibrate against the shaving cream. Now we have a blade for precision. Procter & Gamble are driving me mad.

Well played by Nivea and Phillips! This ad hits the nail on the head.

I was watching TV the other night and saw a clever ad for the new 2006 Kia Sedona. In the ad, the viewer witnessed what their household (or daily lives) would be like if the brand new features of the family mini-van were part of it. Here’s an illustration of the features the new ad campaign is pushing (compliments of the official Sedona website)

• Roominess - Man throwing a kid’s birthday party in the house, decided to fold down his coffee table so they have more room to run around.
• Convenience - Woman approaches house with hands full, uses remote to open front door
• Safety - Boy goes back for a catch and almost runs into a jungle gym until the air bags deploy

Indeed clever, I can’t precisely remember what the punch line of the ad was though. Too bad more companies don’t stream their ads on their website.

Today marked the official beginning of the 2006 NASCAR season. You may think it’s funny that I’m writing about stock car racing on what is supposed to be a blog based on marketing campaigns and branding strategies. Well that is exactly why I’m mentioning America’s most popular spectator sport. With a weekly tour in which most tracks host over 100,000 guests and contracts with major television networks such as TNT and NBC, the brands that choose to spend upwards of $500,000 (approaching $1 Million in some cases) to sponsor a NASCAR team, have great opportunity to promote brand awareness and reach a large audience with their product.

In stock car racing, you would expect to see the usual car-related sponsors–NAPA, GMC Goodwrench, Carquest, and so forth. However, it is obvious that the attraction to the sport has become more widespread, with newcomers such as Waste Management, Betty Crocker, and most interestingly Texas Instrument’s DLP technology–the field of sponsorship has become wide open.

Throughout the year I’m sure we will see some interesting sponsors, often there are movie sponsorships used to celebrate major summer blockbusters and sometimes even rock bands. Always interesting to witness the types of companies that find value in advertising on a stock car.

Let’s face it, personal ads have been plaguing the daily paper for years, decades, maybe even since Gutenberg got a little squid juice smeared on his overalls. Men seeking women, women seeking men, etc. It only makes sense that this medium known as the World Wide Web has since its inception, been faced with the same daunting influenza of dating sites. Now I don’t mean to sound cynical about personal ads, as I know people who have found great success and happiness through them. However, I find it amazing the amount of marketing these companies do, all with the promise of finding you your true love, for a low monthly fee. After all, subscription services are the true gold of the entrepreneur, right?

As I watch my occassional TV lately, I can’t help but notice the amount of commercials being broadcasted for popular online dating sites. Sure, each site has its own forte. eHarmony wants to find you your life long spouse. OKCupid will use its Harvard smarts to wow you with personality matching. But best of all, Match.com has Dr. Phil. Yes, that’s right–the man, the myth, the legend.

One associate of mine exclaimed, upon seeing Dr. Phil representing Match.com, “Oh yeah, now that’s gonna bring women to that site”. Thing is, they said that statement in a tone so facetious; I disagree with this remark. Dr. Phil will draw people to Match.com.

Here’s the game plan. You have been struggling to find that Mr. or Ms. Perfect. Do they really exist? Are you sick of hearing the line “it’s not you, it’s me”. Well Match.com is begging the question–maybe it is you! That’s right, and we’ve brought Dr. Phil on board to help you out. See, it’s time that you evaluate your mindset when it comes to dating, I don’t think you’re seeking the right things in a relationship. The doc is going to challenge you to MindFindBind™. Cue new conversion indicator, an online survey. That is the Find part, which comes after they condition your mind and help you to understand that you need to be in the right state to successfully accomplish a romantic relationship with another. What is the Bind? Well that can relate to some unmentionables; but Match.com is going for the chemistry angle, where you find that person you truly desire.

Will it work? Yes, I think so. Not to generalize, but I feel with the audience these sites tend to target, who’s not going to be up for gaining a little insight on why there relationships aren’t working. It’s obvious that Match.com cares about me as a customer. They even went ahead and consulted with Dr. Phil on why things aren’t working out right for me. Now that’s attention I can appreciate.

The referees of the Super Bowl were wearing vertical stripes. During the days following the big game, there was a lot of controversy over whether or not they were worthy of those stripes. (poor Seahawks fans). The question on my mind is whether or not the commercials during the biggest game of the year are generating horizontal or slanted stripes on those revenue charts for the companies who spent the money.

There was a stronger .com presence than I previously anticipated. GoDaddy once again showed up with the big guns. In an effort to build their brand off the controversy of last year’s ad, they once again featured the “Go Daddy Girl”. The problem with this ad, was not what you saw on the screen, but what happened off it. Check out what the guys at Future Now have to say about it.

Motorola has now launched TV commercials for their new SLVR cell phone. It seems that slim is in and here to stay with cell phones. No more brick phones to engulf your pocket, but rather the sleek feel that the RAZR crowned.

“Even thinner than the RAZR”

That’s what the announcer claims. I believe him. Are they looking to compete with their own previous RAZR? Maybe it’s time to ebay mine and pick up one of these new phones.