Kenny Hyder - Marketing Consultant

You Don’t Want To Choose

2010-02-20T03:00:56Z

Let’s face it: you don’t like to make decisions. It’s ok, I don’t either. The problem is everyone in the world thinks we do! We are constantly bombarded with choices, options, and decisions to make about everything we do and everything we buy, but are these choices what we really want or need?

Case #1

You’re at the grocery store buying some soup because you’re sick You go to the soup aisle to decide which type of soup suits your palette. After five minutes pass, you realize that you’re staring aimlessly at all of the choices! There are hundreds of soups! You decide on clam chowder because it’s your favorite, but there are 3 different variations from each of the 4 different brands. You end up grabbing the one that you decide has the prettiest label because, how else are you to decide? You also grab some chicken noodle just for good measure.

In this case, it’s great to have a variety of choice for those with different appetites, but anyone who has been to the grocery store (especially if you’re not a regular shopper) can identify with standing in the aisle, gazing off into never-never land at all of the countless choices for any number of different products.

Case #2

Despite the recession, life has been good to you and you decide its time to get yourself a new whip. You have your sight set on something sporty, so you decide to check out the new Bugatti Veyron, the $1.7m price tag is merely a drop in the bucket for a baller like you.

As you configure your Bugatti on the website before heading over to the dealer, you realize you have a whopping 29 color combinations to choose from! How on earth will you ever decide which one is perfect for you? Do you like the white on soft silver, or the white silver on grey silver better? Camera one, camera two. CHOOSE NOW!

I don’t know about all of you, but I’ve bought 3 new cars in my adult life — 2 of them there was one color available on the lot, and 1 of them I chose between 2 colors. Both mine and my wife’s car right now are grey, because that’s what they had, and we both like the color we got. Simple.

Et cetera

How many more scenarios like this are there? What are we going to eat for dinner, what movie do you want to watch, what kind of cell plan to get, where do you invest your money, and on forever.

Psychologist Barry Schwartz said: “If everything is possible, you don’t have freedom — you have paralysis.” This statement brings a whole new meaning to the cliché “Less is more.”

When choice is given to the individual at infinite detail, it creates chaos. As marketers it is our job to look for ways to expand our markets and often this results in more options, more choice, and ultimately more decisions for the end user. The problem is, when we leave decision in the hands of the customer, we take it out of the hands of the expert.

When Nike launched their “NIKEiD” campaign that allowed buyers to design and purchase their own custom shoe, it got major attention. I personally know several people that jumped on the opportunity to design their very own shoes right away. As a result of this campaign, I have seen some of the ugliest shoes EVER to come from a major shoe brand. What was previously handled by a professional, the design, is now a series of options and choices for the untrained consumer; and the result is potentially catastrophic.

Less Really IS More

Like it or not, all clichés are cliché for a reason. There is something powerful about simplicity. It’s why all Apple computers are silver and all iPods are either black or white. It’s why gas stations offer 87, 89, and 91 octane gasoline. It’s why 70% of users in the US prefer Google to other search engines.

Simplicity, and removing extraneous choice strengthens the offer of any product and/or service by putting the focus on what’s really important. Most people think they want all of the choice to themselves; but when it comes down to it, they find it much easier to choose between clam chowder or chicken noodle, than having to sift through a hundred different soups.

Would You Brush Off Michael Jordan?

2010-02-10T17:13:08Z

In the land of opportunity entrepreneurs, marketers, and just plain smart people are constantly looking for the thing that can give them an edge, an upper hand to their competition so they can dominate the market. But, if you had one shot, one opportunity to seize everything — would you capture it or just let it slip?

Last night as I was surfing YouTube, I came across an extremely interesting Michael Jordan interview, that I think can serve as a valuable lesson to anyone in marketing, branding, or any related field:

Now it doesn’t take an avid sports fan to realize the GIANT opportunity that Adidas passed up by not giving MJ a contract. I like MJ’s humility in not indulging in “what if’s” — but I would venture to say that if they hadn’t made this mistake, it’s quite possible that Adidas and not Nike would be worlds leading supplier of athletic shoes. Considering that Michael Jordan was the greatest basketball player of all time and one of the most iconic and popular athletes ever, I don’t think these “what if’s” are too far out of reach.

This poses the question: would you brush off Michael Jordan just like Adidas did? Surely Adidas had good reasons at the time for the decisions they made, even though it may seem un-fathomable to us today. What opportunities are you missing out on because they aren’t a part of your plan or strategy? Are you afraid to “gamble” on new opportunities or investments for fear of losing? Can you afford to not make any mistakes and potentially pass up something that could transform you or your business in a way that you couldn’t possibly foresee?

Adidas made the mistake of denying MJ a contract even though he wanted to sign with them because they didn’t feel it was right for their brand. Well sounds like it was the perfect time to make it part of their brand. Remember that your brand strategy is a guideline, not a rulebook. If opportunity knocks and you don’t open the door, well there’s not much hope for you then, is there?

Quality Isn’t an Angle

2010-01-21T04:39:51Z

Simple question:

What separates you from your competition?

If you answered “quality” or some variation thereof, YOU FAIL. In today’s market, where there are more options than ever, everyone expects and demands quality from everyone they do business with. Quality isn’t an edge, it isn’t your selling point, it’s simply the right way to act and not lose business.

Marketing 101 tells you that in order to differentiate yourself from your competitors, you have to offer something to your customers that is different. Godin would say you have to be “remarkable”; I simply like to say you have to have an edge. Being remarkable is great, but it isn’t always necessary to attract business. However, having an edge, offering something your competition doesn’t, is necessary.

As an internet marketing consultant, if my angle was that I provided quality service, what value am I in the eye of any prospective client? All of my competitors provide quality service. OF COURSE I provide quality service, I HAVE TO. My edge is in specific experience I have with competitive verticals, my personality, impressive client portfolio, and other awesomeness.

Now, don’t confuse “quality” with “high-end”. If you’re selling the highest-end product in your market, that’s an angle. But if you say you’re selling the best toolset in your industry, you have to substantiate your claim and prove your edge and worth.

Where to start? It all begins with your brand strategy. How you brand yourself should define what your edge is and how you demonstrate it to people. You should be marketing yourself based on how you differentiate from your competition. Reassuring your product’s or service’s quality is a great thing to do, but not something to hinge your marketing strategy on.

Some Companies that Have an Edge

Outspoken Media

Outspoken Media is the perfect example of a service business that has a clearly defined edge. With the detailed coverage they provide of industry events, thought-provoking commentary, and loud mouthed tweets, there is no doubt that they represent their brands namesake and everyone knows it.

Knowem

The bio on Knowem’s Twitter Profile reads: “*The Original* Prevent Social Media Identity Theft”. Knowem pioneered the idea of username prevention squatting and created an amazing service based around it. Sometimes being the first one in the market gives you enough of an edge to dominate.

BMW

BMW came up with the slogan “The Ultimate Driving Machine” and has been playing that angle for years. Do they make good cars? Absolutely. Do they make cars that are vastly superior to their competitors? No. But because of the edge they have branded themselves with, they have been able to maintain a significant market share even in a declining economy.

Google built it’s business by offering a search engine with a clean interface to a world that was used to Yahoo! Apple built it’s empire by marketing a computer and operating system that was simple, easy to use, and “different”. Remember the “Think different.” campaign? If you can’t differentiate yourself, you have no shot at longevity.

Still Making Money?

2010-01-05T09:42:50Z

As we all plunge into the new year, we are once again inundated with articles, posts, and tweets about how to get focused, stay on track, and set our goals. These reminders and encouragements often contain nuggets of wisdom, valuable insight, and new ideas for us to ponder and use. However, as I see these bits of information fly by during the first work week of the new year, I am reminded of a Jay-Z lyric: “Is you still on that? If you still making money cause we still on that.”

It is interesting to see different people’s predictions for the coming year, and new data about markets, trends, and how to stay fresh in a shifting industry; but one thing hasn’t changed with the new year: people still want to make money. At a fundamental level all you really need to understand is that your business is there to make money. That is the sole purpose of any for-profit business.

Are you still on that? I thought so. Rather than looking at all the shiny new posts and charts about what new tools are out there, and how your industry is expected to change, why not look at specifically how you can make you more money? Sure, some of these things might relate to how you make money, but are they flat out going to put more money in your pocket? If not, then why waste time reading, watching, and commenting on them?

Here’s my motivational advice for 2010: when you sit down to work, wherever that may be, doing whatever it is you do, think about how each specific task you do is directly helping you make more money. If what you’re doing isn’t directly related to you making money, don’t do it anymore. Reading blogs, twitter, facebook, checking email — all things that for many people require immense amounts of time and don’t actually correlate to income.

Rather than reading the latest post on productivity tools, how about making a list of all of the things you do that actually distract you from working and making money? Start cutting these things out and your productivity will instantly shoot up.

There may be many changes, fluctuations, or paradigm shifts this year, but I guarantee by the end of the year you will still want to be making money. If you can develop the skill of refining your ability to make money and not waste time on things that don’t help you just that, by the end of this year you will be able to work less and earn more.

Developing Your Brand Strategy

2009-12-15T17:22:05Z

Lately I have been seeing a lot of startups fighting to boot-strap and develop their strategy in order to get things rolling. It seems like almost all of my friends are either running or trying to start a small business these days! I love it! I think the greatest thing about this is that the majority of boot-strappers today are people like me, who just decide to start a business and figure the rest out as they go. I wanted to write a few basics to developing brand strategy that I have learned from launching a few startups as a reminder to myself, as I am once again in startup mode, and to help others that are on the same path as me!

Launching a business shouldn’t be scary. If you have a little bit of confidence, some determination, and coffee, you should be good to go!

At the very core, your brand strategy should have a vision, direction and action plan.

Vision

Most companies and brands get the vision part. Everyone has an idea of where they want to go with their brand, company & future. It can be as grand as being the global leader in your industry, or as simple as growing big enough to be recognized to the point so you can sell to a larger company. Understanding and developing the vision of your brand is the cornerstone to the success of your business. I think the important thing to strive for when developing your vision is not to over-complicate it. Developing a vision is a necessary process to help form a picture of where you want to go; it will serve as a basic guideline to follow, but it will also mold and change along the way. For some brands more than others, developing a rigid and complex vision at the start is the wrong approach and a waste of time. Get your vision, and move along.

Direction

Your direction, while different than your vision, will get its influence directly from your vision. Direction is the step you need to take to get to the end goal you have developed in your vision. Direction starts with what is called a Critical Path Analysis, where you start with the end goal in mind, and work backwards with each step required to get to the next benchmark in mind. Think of this as your blueprint for your brand’s success. Details in this plan may change, but once the foundation of the plan is laid out, it shouldn’t stray too much. Once you have the vision in mind, developing the plan and direction needed to get there shouldn’t be too difficult. My recommendation is to ask for help from other people that have success in areas you need help in. Developing your blueprint for success can be a daunting task at times, but people are willing to help and give advice!

Action Plan

The action plan is simply laying down the work for the direction you have developed. How are you going to achieve the goals you have set in your Critical Path Analysis? Who is going to do the steps? Whose help is needed to help achieve these goals? And then doing all of the steps.

Once you have these things in place, all that is left is to put in the time and do what you already know best! Running your business from here on out should be a fun adventure!

10 Tips to Help You Win the Pubcon Poker Tournament

2009-11-04T21:47:32Z

It’s that time of year again. PUBCON BABY!

While we’re all excited to hit Vegas yet again as we check the events schedule to plan out which sessions we’ll be attending, I know for sure there’s only one event that is marked in stone on my calendar. The ever popular Pubcon Poker Tournament hosted by DK at Purpose Inc.

This year DK is doing something really cool and requiring all players to post an entry on their blog about a charity in order to qualify for the tournament. Two thumbs up DK! I am always an advocate for doing stuff that counts. While I would normally pimp The Blind Project, a charity that fights to abolish the sex slave trade in Asia, I thought I would bring up another non-profit that I am a member of that is a little more relevant to DK’s event.

The Poker Players Alliance is a non-profit membership organization that fights to give poker players a safe, secure & regulated place to play both online and offline. Lawmakers across the country are fighting to make it more and more difficult to play poker legally both online and offline, whether it be in your homes, bars, or even at charity events such as DK’s. The Poker Players Alliance is a committed group of players devoted to keeping the game of poker alive and legal. If you are a regular or even occasional poker player, the Poker Players Alliance can use your help!

That being said, here are 10 tips to help you win DK’s Poker Tourney!

Rest — Pubcon is out of control. For those of you who are regulars, you know what I mean. For those of you who are going for your first time, you’ll see. If the tournament starts at 8:00, I recommend catching a nap beforehand so you’re well rested. Being alert and well rested will seriously improve your game and give you an advantage over the players who are still fighting the hangover from the day before. (That being said, don’t oversleep and miss the tourney altogether like I did last year!)
Drinking - Now while not drinking may seem ridiculous at an event when there is an open bar, you can’t play serious poker when your judgements are seriously impaired. If your goal is to win, consider not drinking, or seriously limiting yourself to one or two drinks an hour. Otherwise if you are just there to have a good time and enjoy the open bar… Come sit at my table
Don’t Overvalue Hands - If you have top pair top kicker on a board with possible straight and flush draws, be careful about getting all of your money into the pot. Just because you think your opponent isn’t that strong, how do you they’re not trapping? Even if they’re not, do you know the odds that they will draw out to make the best hand? Best advice is to proceed with caution.
Don’t Be Predictable - If you find that opponents that you were beating, you are now loosing to hand after hand, maybe you have predictable patterns that players can easily read. Try to change up your play to avoid being too predictable.
Remember the Action — One of the things that novice poker players always forget is to keep track of what has already happened in the hand. If your opponent limped in preflop, then checked the flop and turn, and then suddenly fires out a big bet on the river when an Ace hit — does it make sense that he/she has an ace? Why wouldn’t they bet preflop, or when an uncoordinated board came out on the flop?
Play A Style Opposite of the Table You Are Seated At - As a general rule of thumb, you will do better in poker when you play a style opposite of the rest of the table. If the table is playing generally aggressive, take a conservative style; if the table is playing conservative, play aggressive.
“Poker Tells” — While it is unlikely that you will pick up someone that has a “tell” as obvious as not looking at you when they have a hand, and staring you down when they don’t, be alert of small physical tells like someone who might get nervous and put a chip on their cards when they normally don’t. If you spot on a tell, sit on it. Oh, and, share it with me
Respect the Power of Position — While you may have heard that “position is power”, you need to understand why. In blackjack, the house always has position, they get to see what you do before they have to make any decisions. Sometimes you bust before the house has to do anything. The same applies to poker, if you are out of position, your opponent has a lot of information about you based on the decisions you are forced to make before he/she has to do anything.
Don’t Get Bored — If this is the first live tournament you’ve played, don’t be surprised when every hand isn’t an all-in showdown of AA vs. KK. Poker tournaments are a lot of sitting around, and a lot of bad cards that you should fold. Don’t get bored and find yourself playing hands that you shouldn’t just because you want something to do.
Defense - Tournament poker is much different from cash poker in that you can’t buy back in if you bust out. Because of this you want to play defensively, making sure to defend your chip stack. Tournament play is not the place for outrageous all-in bluffs or chasing down expensive hands to the river if you want to build your stack. Consider not only your strategy on each hand, but your strategy for the tournament as a whole to make it to the final table.

Good luck to everyone that will be playing, hope to see you there!

SEO Friendly — Now Fat Free!

2009-10-28T15:31:20Z

I’ve been noticing a trend lately that has people running mad for any and every piece of software they can get their hands on that is “SEO Friendly.” I’m glad that the general population is becoming more educated about SEO and it’s importance in online marketing, but people need to wake up and realize that just because some schmuck that is trying to sell you something SAYS that his/her software or plugin is “SEO Friendly” doesn’t mean that it is.

Sadly, it seems that once again a descriptive phrase that we all have used so kindly is starting to become an annoying, overused buzzword by people who don’t know it’s true meaning. What I don’t understand is, why does everyone blindly believe those whom have no business sticking their noses in the world of SEO, that something is or isn’t SEO friendly? Would you believe me if I handed you a plate full of potato chips and told you they were fat free? What if I started marketing my own brand of potato chip and slapped a “Fat Free” logo on there and sold them on my website? Would you buy them?

How is it that everyone is fooled by a few lines of SEO-speak that can be pulled off of any SEO blog or wikipedia? Is that all I have to do to sell my fat free potato chip? Copy and paste some healthy jargon from a hippy food blog and you’ll all believe me? Just because there aren’t laws about substantiating claims in SEO doesn’t mean you should believe everything you hear. There are things that work, and things that just don’t. The people like me that you pay to listen to at the big SEO conferences have had years of experience doing and learning this stuff, we didn’t just dream up a product to sell overnight and read some articles to help us sound official. Think about that the next time you go to drop $100 on a piece of software that claims to be “SEO Friendly” — is it really? Who’s behind it? Has someone like me given it a look over? If not and you still want to buy it, let me know so I can also sell you some chips.

No I Will Not ‘Become A Fan’

2009-09-29T16:26:19Z

Probably like you, I own a small business. Who doesn’t these days right? Also like you, and everyone else that owns a computer, I’m on Facebook. And just like everyone else on Facebook, I get inundated with “Become a Fan” requests at least 6–8 times a week. These requests are generally for fan pages of small businesses, either that friends of mine own, or friends of a friend of mine own.

Now, let me be honest, I think my small business is AWESOME. But I also realize, that unless I’m giving you money, or you’re a client of mine, you really have no reason to “become my fan” on Facebook. It’s great that we’re friends and all, but I don’t expect anyone outside of my industry, or who I do work with, to find anything that I do professionally, exciting or worthy of fandom.

It reminds me of Eddie Murphy: “What have you done for me lately?” — I especially don’t want to become a fan of business pages who’s business I don’t even use, read, or know about! I can’t endorse something that I don’t use. That doesn’t mean we’re not friends, or that I don’t like you, it just makes sense.

I know that everyone out there by now has heard that this social media thing is all the hype, but signing up for a Twitter account and creating a fan page for your business on Facebook doesn’t mean that you’re “doing it”.

If you’re a small business and trying to kill it with social media, you need to think about what you’re providing your users. Most people aren’t going to like you just because you’re you, even though you’re wonderful. Try a few of these things:

Create some face-melting content
Give away stuff, people love that
Run a contest that users might actually have a chance at winning
Respond to your users
Don’t go missing, if you’re not if front of your audience, someone else will be

Rather than just putting up a fan page with links to your site, put your back into it and do something valuable for your users. Then you might actually have something worthy of becoming a fan of. Don’t expect to sign up for a couple of accounts on the most popular social networks and thing that everything is going to work out for you. People now more than ever are looking for reasons to not pay attention to you. Between all of the media channels, Facebook games, Twitter, YouTube surfing and the like, there is more than enough distraction in our lives — we don’t need another vanilla install fan page to be a part of that will spam our inbox with notifications that we really don’t care about.

What does work are the brands and businesses that go out and do all of these bullet points to the max, and then some. Think about the websites that you repeatedly visit, even when they don’t notify you that there’s something new to see. What are they doing that you’re not?

VSEO — YouTube Optimization Tips

2009-09-29T03:28:35Z

YouTube is not a simple video hosting site anymore. YouTube has more than 100,000 viewers and 2.5 billion searches, and that is a whopping 25% of the total search traffic on the internet! (Source: comScore Media Metrix) What this means for your business is that YouTube is a virtual gold mine waiting to be exploited by anyone who wants to build, monitor, and enhance the brand image through reputation management. Experts say that YouTube has to be treated as a separate search engine now, and that means using Search Engine Optimization (SEO), or more precisely Video Search Engine Optimization (VSEO) to garner more viewership for your videos, which in turn will bring in more revenues for your business. Using videos effectively to convey information that lasts in the memories of the viewers longer is a SEO strategy that has been harped on from time to time by leading SEO players in the industry as well as most experts in seminars, webinars, and conferences on the changing faces of SEO. VSEO is the faster and more effective way to help your business gain more visibility on the internet, and what better place to use videos to promote your business than on YouTube.

Like good SEO strategies, VSEO strategies have to be deployed using certain parameters to gain maximum results. You cannot have your video clips placed on YouTube to develop your business or to manage reputation without knowing the best ways to make your videos work for you. Your VSEO for YouTube should also include basics of good SEO, and that is to create quality content in this case, it’s the videos to make your viewer or searcher get the relevant info he or she is seeking, and make them want to visit your site to seek further info, or to see what you offer. There are a few simple tips that will help you use YouTube to your maximum advantage.

Create quality video content. Use good equipment to create videos of good visual and audio quality. Bad quality will turn off viewers, and thereby, your potential customers.
Make sure that you make videos that have information that is useful. Do not host irrelevant videos to waste your time as well as that of your prospects.
Use the search algorithms of YouTube to your advantage. Manipulate parameters such as title, description, tags, number of views, and ratings to derive maximum traffic.
Include the URL of your site in the watermark and metadata of the video. Don’t forget to include logos or anything that you feel will boost your company’s image. Building brand consciousness is easier this way.
Make your videos catchy and short. Most viewers don’t care to sit through long, uninteresting videos. Retain their attention by sending the message across in a way that will make them sit through the video without flinching.
Place the video including the site map on your own site, as well. This will help searchers and search engine spiders find the content easily.
Using Hi-Def videos are great for picture quality. But, for better streaming purposes, it is better to stick with YouTube’s size of 320*240 (QVGA), and maintain an aspect ratio of 4:3. It’s no crime to use Hi-Def resolutions of 1280*720 pixels and an aspect ratio of 16:9, but lower resolution pictures can load faster, and we want customers with all types of internet connections both fast and slowóto view our videos, don’t we?
Practice makes perfect. Allow feedbacks and ratings from viewers, as this will allow you to learn from mistakes, and help you make better video content in the future.
If you think all this is way over your head, and you think you donít have the time to do all this; hire a good SEO company to help your VSEO on YouTube.

Repair or enhance reputations, build brand image, and lure more traffic to your website making effective use of VSEO on YouTube. Don’t forget the fact that the higher your videos are placed in the rankings of YouTube, the higher they’ll be in search rankings of the formidable Google. So, good VSEO on YouTube is a win-win situation for you!

Startup Challenges

2009-08-25T21:04:29Z

If you’re like me, you have no shortage of ideas for creative things that you could do to make money. We have all had and heard plenty of ideas on how we can “make money online” and run our own businesses, or even just generate additional income. I have heard dozens and dozens of great ideas for websites, business models, or collaborative projects from friends, family and people that I know from online, but why do so few of them ever see the light of day? One word: FOCUS.

I have technically been through the startup process with 5 different brands, 3 of which have actually gone somewhere and made some money. As I devote my spare time to what is now my 5th startup project, I have noticed that it is now, more than ever, harder to focus my attention to make things happen. In a world saturated with Twitter, Facebook, instant messenger and beer, it is all too easy to let valuable work hours dwindle away into wasted time “networking.” Back when I was working on my 1st startup, Twitter and Facebook didn’t exist and my IM list was much shorter. Fortunately I have developed the discipline to buckle down and GTD when I need to, but it seems that so many people that I know haven’t mastered this art. Why? Because, for many of you, there is no real motivation. Why are you motivated to make your startup succeed? Is it your sole revenue stream? If you are like most, it isn’t. Many people today are starting businesses on the side, in hopes to launch something spectacular in the few hours per week they spend half-heartedly devoting to it. NEWS FLASH: Your business isn’t going to “take off” if you don’t light a fire underneath it!

Really want to succeed with your startup? You need to find motivation. What is the reason you are dedicating time to your startup? Here are a few common reasons if you don’t have any:

You hate your day job & want to quit
You want to be a millionaire
You want to do something that you really enjoy
You need to make additional income so you can get out of debt

Motivated yet? Here’s what you do:

Write out a minimum weekly schedule that you will commit to devoting to your startup
Make a list of every task that you can think of that needs to be accomplished
When you sit down to work, turn off twitter & log out of facebook (beer still ok)
Every time you sit down, work until you can cross off 1 or more things from the list; if your list items are too large for one sitting, break them into smaller, actionable items
Repeat.

You’ll find that once you have drive and focus, the action of completing tasks, even small ones, is rewarding enough to keep you motivated to keep going. Even when the list is long, accomplishing goals and rewarding yourself with crossing them off the list is an age old tactic that still works. Don’t let the fact that there’s a lot to do, and even more to distract you, bog you down! Keep going and good luck!