"Authenticity" - It's a Buzzword but it's True

You can't speak with a marketing consultant today for more than 3 minutes without hearing the word "authenticity". Your products need to project authenticity. Your marketing needs to be honest and authentic.

Of course, it's a buzzword because your marketing and products should have always been authentic - what's the alternative? But now even the biggest brands are trying to fake authenticity by "buying" fans. Michael Jackson is a brand, and according to Tech Crunch his team purchased 25,000 Twitter followers from the sketchy service uSocial.

First of all, even before he died I doubt MJ had to buy fans or followers. Second, they had to know that something like this would eventually get out and dent up the brand by making MJ look desperate and unpopular.

And all those celebs who have hired Twitter Ghost Writers, your brand dress-down is coming too once your fans find out.

Authenticity - sure it's today's marketing buzzword but it's something you earn, not something you buy.

Do Something Different Through Imitation?

Absolut Vodka just released a web ad hyping the virtues of being different. Their ad features artists bending nature to the audio backdrop of an emotive New Order remake - a solid effort at a viral advertising coup, right? But bloggers and message boards aren't raving about the originality of the ad - they're saying the ad rips off Stegan Sagmeister, an influential graphic designer.

So here's the rub for Absolut. They want creative people to spread the ad it to a wider circle, but when those creatives smell a fake they won't play ball. Absolut should "think responsibly" in the future when it rips others off to inspire originality.

Real or Subtle Viral Marketing?

Disney may have a hand in this fantastic marriage proposal on Main Street USA. Note the professional production, the multiple camera set-ups at high angles, the mikes, the sound system and the Disney-esque couple. How could this guy pull this off so flawlessly without some help from Disney. Even the song lyrics were right in line with Disney's brand messages. And was the girlfriend in on it?

Whether it was authentic or planned, it's a pleasure to watch - and it's generating lots of buzz on web video sites and blogs. Nice job, Disney.

Mobile Apps - Now With Tracking Metrics!

Mobile devices are acting less like phones and more like media. Now there are companies that embed into your mobile device app to track usage, just like an Omniture or AC Nielson tracks usage. Here are a few takeaways from one of these companies, Pinch Media...

1. Only 20% of app users come back to use it the second day
2. Paid apps retain users longer than free apps
3. Free apps supported by ads are likely to collect an average $8.75 CPM
4. Certain apps that cater to niches can command better ad rates than average

Pinch's overall conclusion is that unless your app scream's "free", sell it.

Free Isn't Working

August 9, 1995 was an infamous day in the history of business. That was the day that Netscape’s IPO set lips a flutter all over the business world about this new, ingenious strategy: Give your product away for free. Now we have free browsers. free online content, free memberships, free PCs, free web TV, free internet access, free software and free music.

The idea was that if you offered your product for free, soon you would have a massive volume of "customers" and you could sell them peripheral services. But for most companies free has been a bad deal.

Newspapers conditioned readers to free web content and then realized they couldn't make enough with online advertising. MySpace just laid off 30% of its workforce because of cash flow problems. Facebook is on the rocks. Up-sell conversion rates for free software are mostly miserable. Hulu is re-thinking their free programming strategy. Free browsers are subsidized by other products the company sells.

It's time for the age of free to end. Customers have enjoyed the free ride, but most companies are realizing they just can’t survive as chumps. Newspapers need to charge subscriptions or micro-payments for their most valuable content. Facebook needs to charge a yearly subscription. Services like Hulu need to charge for their programming. Browsers and other web software need to charge for all but the most basic functionality.

It's time for media, web and software companies to realize that it's ok to charge customers for the value they get. Free isn't a strategy, it's a dead end.

1 Billion Apps in 10 Months!

Did you hear that?

It's the sound of the iPhone app revolution. Each revolution has a driving idea and here's the idea for the iPhone revolution: The next 8 times out of 10 that you use your i"Phone", it probably won't be to talk to anyone. That's certainly true for me.

Maybe it's wrong to even call it a phone since talking on it is secondary. We'd rather use it to charge a credit card, straighten a picture frame, catch last night's Family Guy, buy movie tickets or check the weather in Cuzco Peru.

Apple has sold 1 billion apps in 10 months. I haven't checked, but wouldn't the adoption curve for that be close to vertical?

The Secret to the "New Marketing".

Seth Godin's blog post this morning perfectly captures the state of marketing today; Be real or be gone.

Fancy-schmancy launches and big ad budgets are bowing to the simplicity of creating a product that works enough for people to talk about with social networking tools. It's no longer being famous for 15 minutes, it's being famous to 15 people.

Here's Seth's post...

This, in two words, is the secret of the new marketing.

Find ten people. Ten people who trust you/respect you/need you/listen to you...

Those ten people need what you have to sell, or want it. And if they love it, you win. If they love it, they'll each find you ten more people (or a hundred or a thousand or, perhaps, just three). Repeat.

If they don't love it, you need a new product. Start over.

Your idea spreads. Your business grows. Not as fast as you want, but faster than you could ever imagine. This approach changes the posture and timing of everything you do. You can no longer market to the anonymous masses. They're not anonymous and they're not masses. You can only market to people who are willing participants. Like this group of ten.

The timing means that the idea of a 'launch' and press releases and the big unveiling is nuts. Instead, plan on the gradual build that turns into a tidal wave. Organize for it and spend money appropriately. The fact is, the curve of money spent (big hump, then it tails off) is precisely backwards to what you actually need.

Three years from now, this advice will be so common as to be boring. Today, it's almost certainly the opposite of what you're doing.