Marketing Sociologist

Outstanding Marketing During Covid19, CoronaVirus Era

2020-03-13T19:29:00.000-07:00

With almost everything canceled, on lockdown, it’s time to move your #marketing to the #21stCentury, something #MarketingSocialologist has been preaching for 19 years. Let’s use music as an example. You can replace it with plays, conferences, etc. to suit your mood. Let’s begin.

Musicians, like most everyone, live on the edge. If they aren’t performing, they aren’t paying bills. But with Covid19, they are unable to work – like many. Here’s a way to earn income. Online music festivals. To limit CoronaVirus exposure, 1 band per venue, different venues.

Tickets must be paid for before given access code to #attend. You have different camera views. The Pit $$$$, the back row $$. Buy for entire festival or band you want to see. Don’t forget the #MeetandGreet

Via online connecting, fans are offered chance to interact with acts ($$) after their performance. These are streamed to TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram all at the same time. Band also hands you a signed poster that is immediately mailed to you as a Jpeg and PDF.

Don’t forget the merchandise. #MeetandGreet get a piece free. Those #socialmedia streams offer merch to those watching. Customized with their names on the merch. Add a band site on places like Reverb.com where fans can buy instruments used in online performance.

Don’t forget during your performance to have your website, where people can buy your music, merchandise or tickets for your own online shows, listed the entire time at the bottom of the screen. For more ideas, contact MarketingSocialologist, gmail.

Hollywood violence - inviting space creatures to attack Earth

2017-10-10T20:50:00.000-07:00

Every nation on Earth has become more violent due to Hollywood's 24/7 global glorification of violence.

Mark my words. Hollywood is also inviting space creatures, if they exist, to come and attack our planet and destroy all life. We haven't the intelligence to fight advanced species no matter what Hollywood portrays.

June 21, 2017 Super Hearts Beginning of end of Periscope. Who’s going to pay band and promoter? Music piracy.

2017-06-21T22:54:00.001-07:00

Today Periscope introduced Super Hearts, a way of paying those broadcasting on the app. As a user you purchase super hearts to give to broadcasters.

Evidently Periscope gave this “fantastic marketing and revenue generation” idea little thought.

I’ve enjoyed many live concerts on Periscope.

So now if I give $50 to the broadcaster using the Twitter-owned app, who gets that money? The broadcaster, Periscope, Twitter?

Twitter has opened itself up to legal suits unequaled since Napster.

If someone is broadcasting my band, I want a piece of that $50. As writer of the song, I want a piece of that $50. As a concert promoter booking the band, I want a piece. Wait, I’m the limo company providing transportation and trucks for that band. I want a piece of that $50.

Periscope didn’t figure the legal mess when it tangles with the music industry, which Twitter will shortly find is BIG business. There’s a post on Wikipedia – “music piracy.”

Marketing 2017: Why Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP HTML) is your most important task this year

2016-12-06T19:33:00.000-07:00

When primitive man became a merchant, first thing he realized was to put his most popular items at the front of the cart. He called it “impulse buy.” That continued with store fronts with their most important products in the window.

50,000 years later, in 2017, that continues. It is still the front of the cart or the store window, except today those carts or windows are called Google search.

A Google search placing – top 5 or the rest that follow - is called “SEO” or “Search Engine Optimization.” In April, 2015, Google realized almost 80 percent of all searches were being done via mobile devices so Google added mobile and apps to its “algorithm” for top search results, or SEO.

Then, in February, 2016, Google gave top SEO priorities to apps and websites using something called “accelerated mobile pages,” or “AMP HTML.”

Since 2015 or earlier, Google top search results (SEO) have been how an app and website (even mobile websites) are coded. Some practitioners are still claiming “links” and “blogs” will get you top SEO. It is offered as gospel at many conferences, but links and blogs for SEO are as antiquated as a typewriter or photo processing.

Websites not using HTML 5.0 or higher are put in the back of search results by Google. In 2016, those coded AMP HTML enjoyed the top of any search because marketers were still worried about blogs and links, not current on newest technology (why I have C.I.W. internet marketing credentials). Very few sites were coded AMP HTML.

Even as I was explaining the importance of AMP HTML throughout most of 2016, marketing experts were going, “What’s your source?” Advertising and public relations firms were vested selling outdated blogs and links to customers because that was the gospel they preached since the beginning of the internet age. They added social media. Again, for SEO, the most important factor is CODING.

October, 2016, tech journals woke up to AMP HTML. A well known online advertising agency published a report that all the social media darlings posted. Trouble was, most of the information was inaccurate.

Like those stores and windows, if you are not in the top 5 of anyone’s Google search, you are pretty much like the boxes at the back of the store no one looks at.

Google also gives preference to mobile pop-up and online advertising using AMP HTML. This replaces social media in being in Top-5 search ranking.

That’s why for 2017, you need to incorporate AMP HTML into your marketing strategy. Want more information? There’s a like for contacting me on this page.

Forget millenials iPhone (2007) babies will be teens in five years Ready to market to ignored generation?

2015-06-24T19:20:00.000-07:00

Forget millenials. Be prepared for the “Ignored generation.”

Largest birth year in USA history 2007. Those babies now 8 years old.

No one building schools for them as they did for the baby-boom of 1945 to 1964. Matter of fact, broke governments are closing schools right when they’re needed most.

No Captain Kangaroo or Sesame Street to educate them.

These babies were born the year iPhone introduced. Think of what their life will be like. Learning from baby-boom teachers who used typewriters and film processing.

Get ready for a whole bunch of pissed off teens in five years. They’re the ones the millenials will be hiring. Their anthem will be like lyrics from a Who song, ‘We’re not gonna take it.”

From the “New York Times”

’07 U.S. Births Break Baby Boom Record
By ERIK ECKHOLM
Published: March 18, 2009

More babies were born in the United States in 2007 than in any other year in American history, according to preliminary data reported Wednesday by the National Center for Health Statistics.

The 4,317,000 births in 2007 just edged out the figure for 1957, at the height of the baby boom. The increase reflected a slight rise in childbearing by women of all ages, including those in their 30s and 40s, and a record share of births to unmarried women.

But in contrast with the culturally transforming postwar boom, when a smaller population of women bore an average of three or four children, the recent increase mainly reflects a larger population of women of childbearing age, said Stephanie J. Ventura, chief of reproductive statistics at the center and an author of the new report. Today, the average woman has 2.1 children.

Also in 2007, for the second straight year and in a trend health officials find worrisome, the rate of births to teenagers rose slightly after declining by one-third from 1991 to 2005.

“The 14 years with teenage birth rates going down was one of the great success stories in public health, and it’s possible that it’s coming to an end,” said Sarah S. Brown, chief executive of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, a private group in Washington.

But officials cautioned that the reversal has been small — a rise of 2 percent in 2006 and 1 percent in 2007 — and that it is too early to know what the rate will do next.

Even at the low point in 2005, the United States had the highest rates of teenage pregnancy, birth and abortion of any industrialized country. Because teenage births carry higher risks of medical problems and poverty for mother and child, state health agencies, schools and private groups have mounted educational campaigns to deter teenage pregnancy.

Still, the reasons for the steep decline and recent reversal are poorly understood. The discussion is colored by politics: some liberals say “abstinence only” sex education and restrictions on distribution of contraceptives are only leading to more pregnancies, while conservatives tend to blame the ever more permissive social climate.

Teenage abortion rates have been falling for years and are not believed to be a major factor in the birth trends. “The decline resulted from less sex and more contraception,” Ms. Brown said. “So the new trend must involve some combination of more sex and less contraception.”

The new report also found that the share of births to unmarried women of all ages reached a record high of 40 percent of all births in 2007, the most recent data available. This continued a marked trend upward in unwed births since 2002.

The growth has mainly been fueled by increases among adult women, Ms. Ventura said. Racial and ethnic differences remain large: 28 percent of white babies were born to unmarried mothers in 2007, compared with 51 percent of Hispanic babies and 72 percent of black babies. The shares of births to unwed mothers among whites and Hispanics have climbed faster than the share among blacks, but from lower starting points.

In yet another record high, the share of deliveries by Caesarean section reached 32 percent in 2007, up 2 percent from 2006. Experts have repeatedly said some C-sections are not medically necessary and impose excess costs, but the rate has steadily climbed, from 21 percent in 1996.

Taylor Swift may be premier 21st Century marketer Learning a lesson from her

2015-04-21T09:18:00.000-07:00

Twenty-five year old Taylor Swift gave me a real lesson in 21st Century marketing Monday, April 20, 2015.

On Sunday, the 19th, Swift received the Milestone Award at the 50th ACM awards show.

It is hard to find a star with more popularity than Swift in 2015.

Her marketing strategy is pure 21st Century, staying close to the customer.

For most of us, we grew up learning and practicing marketing in the 20th Century. It meant “push” your product. In 2015, it’s listen and involve your customer. Taylor Swift “gets” that.

So how does Taylor Swift sell more product? The video of her accepting her award is everywhere. Most 20th Century marketers would splash it all over their “social media” channels or platforms.

Swift knows her customers. Few were alive in the 20th Century. Her customers are the ones who came out of the womb taking videos with an iPhone. They don’t know any other camera, filing system, video viewing screen other than their iPhone. It’s what their lives revolve around. They are turned away by push marketing.

So Swift did the most logical marketing tactic to attract the attention of her customers, making them realize how much they adore this 21st Century marketing genius and why they love to buy her product, like they love Apple products, including frivolous watches.

Swift posted a video of her cat standing on its hind legs, calling it a Meerkat. Swift tied in her audience with a nod to an app that allows its users to stream video over Twitter. Swift also weighed in on the Meerkat – Periscope battle of these similar apps. Telling her fans which one to use.

Swift understands push marketing is dead. It is being close to your customers.

What business can learn from 2014 music marketing “disruptions”

2014-10-27T02:46:00.000-07:00

Since December, 2013 there have been three “disrupts” in traditional music marketing, changing the way marketing for this industry, and business in general if it is paying attention, will be done.

On December 12, 2013 Beyonce dropped the CD “Beyonce” on iTunes. No fanfare, no television promotions, no radio appearances. Not like a pregnancy as most musical releases are done (see Taylor Swift later in this article). Just boom, here it is on iTunes.

On August 18, 2014, Taylor Swift announced via the Internet a new single, released that day, called “Shake It Off.” She also did something unprecedented in music marketing, releasing the video for the single the same day. (On July 12, 2014, my Tween Music blog noted Swift announced her new CD that day, which most in marketing missed. Link here: http://tweenmusic.blogspot.com/2014/07/taylor-swift-announces-her-2014-cdalbum.html).

To that point in time, music marketers let singles gain airplay, and about a month after release would issue the video to extend the life of the product. Thanks to Swift, videos will now need to be released the same day as dropping a single.

At the August 18 Internet announcement, Swift also announced her new album, “1989,” would be released October 27, 2014, and that preorders were being taken immediately as Swift announced on August 18.

Swift has used the pregnancy method of promoting “1989.” She released two singles before the CD was released, but waited until the last week before “1989”’s release to issue “Out of the Woods” (A song written while she was in a relationship with One Direction’s Harry Styles. The pair had broken up by the time of the song release.).

Swift has use the, pardon the pun, 1989 way of marketing “1989.” Taking to television, radio and press releases. Sadly, instead of zooming to #1 as “Shake It Off” did, “Out of the Woods” debuted at #18, a sad showing for a musician of Swift’s renowned.

What has blocked Swift in the #1 position most of this summer has been a song about being overweight and accepting it. Newcomer Meghan Trainor is a study in business marketing.

On June 2, Trainor released “All About That Bass.” After its June 2 release, it failed to chart until July 26, where it debuted at #84. Not bad for an unknown artist. It wasn’t until September 20, 2014 that Trainor dislodged Swift at the #1 spot, where the song has been for the past six weeks.

This could also be why Swift’s “Out of The Woods,” which Swift said would not be a single, but instead her second single was “Welcome to New York,” released days after “Out of the Woods,” did not immediately zoom to #1.

It appears Trainor has stolen some of Swift’s magic to her image. If an unknown can dislodge the largest music machine since The Rolling Stones, maybe Swift is on the traditional downhill road most artists travel (like Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, on and on).

Trainor continued to break music marketing habits. On September 9, 2014, she released a four song EP (extended play from the old days of vinyl). Radio stations jumped on the title track of the EP, “Title” (That was the EP’s title). Radio also jumped on “Dear Future Husband” as another “single.”

October 15, 2014, Trainor released her second singe after “All About The Bass.” A song not on the EP, but another “single,” “Lips Are Movin.” This is unprecedented. She again upended traditional marketing.

While Swift’s “Out of the Woods” charted with it elaborate Internet and traditional marketing ploys, Trainor’s “Lips…”, released about the same time as “Woods” or “New York,” failed to make the charts by the time Swift’s CD was released. Did Trainor not release a video for “Lips” on October 15, a practice Swift standardized about a month earlier?

Online sources report that by October 22, Trainor had sold more than 3-million units of “Bass.” Another source reported her net worth, including those from investments (Trainor released two independent CDs in 2011, “Only 17” and “I’ll Sing With You”), was more than $215-million by the end of September, 2014.

Predicting Ebola trend six months before hipsters Become a Marketing Sociologist Be ahead of the curve

2014-10-14T16:33:00.000-07:00

May of 2014 a businessperson came to me in the gym (everyone wants free digital marketing advice when I’m in the gym). He asked how he could be current on his “social” media.

Told him to start talking about Ebola. That was going to be the next trend. “That’s a disease in Africa. It has no impact on my customers,” he said.

Fast forward to six months later. There’s still war in the Middle East, including Israel and whoever that nation is fighting today. The stock market has plunged, but the only thing traditional media is dealing with is Ebola.

At the middle of October, Associated Press reported, “SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan are giving $25 million to the CDC Foundation to help fight the Ebola epidemic.”

Hockey legend Mark Gretzky has been credited with the quote, “You skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it is.”

That’s why Marketing Sociologists tend to be ahead of the curve. Recommending Ebola six months before it is popular; knowing that around 2016 or 2017 brain waves will be what tech “wearables” are in 2015. It will be brain waves, not a mouse or keyboard that will move your devices whether that be computer, mobile, an auto, your home appliances.

The U.S.A. has become a third world nation. Every politician talks about the abysmal quality of education in this nation. Those who can’t cut it in Japan or China colleges come to the U.S.A. to get their degrees.

Don’t get caught up in the common denominator. Take your business, and intelligence, to the next level. Become a Marketing Sociologist. Be ahead of the curve.

2014 - Time for '00s nostalgia

2014-03-01T20:54:00.000-07:00

Jonas Brothers
Hilary Duff
Kelly Osbourne
Paris Hilton
Lindsay Lohan

Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor
bad economy thanks to George Bush II
Crocs
Dotcom bubble
Uggs

Lost
American Idiot
Prison Break
Everybody Loves Raymond

Harry Potter
Lord of the Rings
Almost Famous
Dark Knight/Batman Begins
300
Juno
Up
Wedding Crashers

Imagine the possibilities for themed parties.

Five things that killed Apple Match iTunes Internet radio

2013-06-10T14:20:00.000-07:00

Apple introduced Match, its Internet radio today.

Five reasons why it will not catch on with consumers, even with the Apple name.

1 - Being touted as free, but with a $24.99 fee, or more than $2 per month. It enters a realm where i-Heart Radio, Radio AOL, Spotify, Pandora, Last.FM, even Radio Disney, offer truly free service.

2 - Late to the game. Nearly a whole decade after Internet radio came of age.

3 - Only works on mobile devices running IOS 7.

4 - Offers nothing unique. Once upon a time, you could share concert files, like Grateful Dead fans have since the '70s, on something called Win-MX. Apple doesn't offer anything unique with Match.

5 - No social capability. No sharing, as with Win-MX above, Instagram, Twitter, etc.

Smart Goggles and Ad-Visor (tm) Not the future, but today's mobile marketing

2013-02-21T09:34:00.001-07:00

The February meeting of Phoenix's Social Media Club discussed the future of mobile marketing. Fred van West, a software engineer at Choice Hotels and self-proclaimed life-long revolutionary (@azpunster on Twitter), rightfully stated no one has envisioned where mobile is headed for the remainder of this decade.

I have said mobile in 2013 is where Internet was in 1998 - remember dial-up? Amazon went public in 1997 for perspective.

I have said teen years marketing is mobile, mobile, mobile. Apps will rule. People will disengage from so-called "social media" and become rugged individuals using apps customized to them.

The future for mobile is what I've said for almost a decade, when you pass a billboard, you'll get an audio (now video as well) and when you pass, a coupon. When you walk into a restaurant or retail, it will know your purchase history (delivered via "big data" on your smart device - either glasses, iPad or smart phone). This reality is almost 10 years old for those who are at a sophisticated level of marketing (and NFC - Near Field Communications).

Today's marketers realize the most visited company on mobile is Facebook - a reason I say it is undervalued today. Imagine when it is $800 per share as Google currently is. You'll kick yourself for not buying stock today.

Smart marketers are placing their ads on Facebook to reach the mobile market. As van West tweeted, "If we can stream ads to the glasses we('ll) call it the Ad-visor (tm)." He's already giving you insight to where today's advertising agencies should be, not advising you on SEO and analytics. SEO and analytics do not measure app usage. They are 2005 marketing tools. In 2005, you were hearing Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton songs on the radio and seeing Jessica Simpson in bikinis. See how long ago that was - and SEO and analytics are just as antiquated. Run when a company pitches them to your business.

van West noted the (immediate, probably 2015) future of mobile are Google Glass, or as I'm terming it when Apple, Samsung and everyone and their brother gets into the game, Smart Goggles. As he states, we have inaccurately or underestimated the future of mobile marketing. Agreed.

In mobile marketing era Many experts don't have technology, telecom, marketing background Do not know what they're talking about

2013-01-06T18:43:00.000-07:00

As I saw with "social media" in 2010, many of the "experts" in today's mobile marketing field don't know what they're talking about.

Just got a "book" on it with many authors. Only about 20% knew what they were talking about, much like 2010 (and worse today) "social media experts."

Why does writing a book make you an expert and you can go to seminars and speak, disseminating wrong information?

Most of these mobile marketers don't have the background in telecom, wireless, and technology. Nor certification (I have an MBA plus CIW).

Working on a newspaper or television digital advertising staff for six months does not make you a mobile marketing expert.

21st Century teen years marketing Everything old is new again

2013-01-01T13:30:00.000-07:00

Still figuring out your 2013 marketing strategy (better late than never)?

Mobile, mobile, mobile
Those with vested interest in landing pages (websites), SEO (search engine optimization), Google analytics and social media will hate this. They're all dead.

As Internet replaced traditional and print media; mobile is killing websites, blogs, Instagram, Twitter, even Facebook. Teen years will usher in an age of narcissism. It started around 2011 on Twitter when traditional advertising and public relations agencies realized print - and their normal 15% commission - were dead.

They don't have the technical know-how to move to apps, so expect these bastions of traditional media to try to preserve social media.

They did it to themselves with traditional push, instead of pull, marketing. Look at Twitter any Monday morning. It looks like the old days of press releases.

Apps and QR codes
I've been preaching this since 2009. Maybe four years later "hipsters" will wake up.

Employee and customer magazines
Yes, what is old is going to return. Your employees will appreciate a monthly magazine worth reading. Have articles by leading authors. Make it an employee training tool. Celebrate the life of Zig Ziglar, Steven Covey, both passing in 2012.

The concept is involve the employee's family. You get a more productive worker. Don't distribute at work. Send in snail mail. Make sure those at home appreciate it.

Also, time to send anniversary, birthday and recognition cards with your company imprint on the front of a card. Help the Post Office this year.

Do the same with your customers. Send a customized letter with your employee magazine (Our employees receive this magazine, thought as a valued customer it might benefit you as well). Make sure the magazine has many employee names that customers can reach out to. Twitter handles, too.

More Apps and QR codes
On your magazines and cards, you're going to have QR codes in a prominent space. The QR codes do not go to a website. They go to your app and automatically downloads it.

Digital politics in U.S.A.'s teen years

2012-09-26T12:18:00.002-07:00

This will be the last election candidates can be lame in digital media and still win.

Be it Iowa, Arizona, or South Dakota, local candidates need to absorb what national politicians have learned during election cycles in the past 10 years, digital media is replacing lawn signs and television advertising.

Two Arizona county supervisor challengers just established their Facebook pages this spring during the registration period for running for this position. Both are viewed as "digital carpetbaggers" by those knowledgeable in digital political marketing.

Today you do not wait until the election cycle to establish your credentials. If you're planning to run for an office in 2014 or 2016, you must, and I mean emphatically, must establish your digital credentials today. I don't mean October, 2012; I mean right now (shouting)!

The incumbent county supervisor above was advised of this a year ago. He waived off this as silly marketing and is sticking to his traditional way of politicking as he has for the past two decades. His political consultants he's used for those two decades are advising him on this.

He is now in the fight of his political life with a 30-something challenger nearly half his age and computer-generation savvy. While she uses YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, the incumbent does not post to Facebook and recently rebuilt his website using strict HTML code. Strict HTML code is death for those using mobile marketing - which by 2014 will be the majority of how voters get their information about candidates.

His challenger is out knocking door to door, carrying her mobile device, meeting with prestigious law firms and businesses, while the incumbent drapes himself in the fact he has held the office for two decades - something his challenger is successfully using against him.

Digital video

A Republican moving from the state house to senate has her website up. She has her Facebook ikon on it, no Twitter, no Instagram, no YouTube, no Pinterest , no Viddy and no Linkedin profile. Again, her website is not configured for IOS6, Android or other mobile platforms.

Yet a man running for U.S. Senate in this state politician's district has all his television ads up on YouTube - and releases them before they hit television. He tweets about them. No, he's not using Viddy or Instagram yet, but he is exploring Pinterest. The difference between a local contest and national is the higher office seeker needs to be on top of the digital game - something local politicians now need as well and it will be crucial during the 2014 election.

My own Phoenix Councilman Jim Waring (and I will call him out) is doing things right in the digital arena. He was an advocate of putting the Phoenix City Council meetings online. I now save more than $10 in gasoline each time the council meets because I'm watching it online, saving on parking too. Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton has encouraged me to tweet during the meeting - using a tweet to do it. The tweets have yet to make it into the council minutes.

Waring does what I curse other politicians for not doing. Facebook has an "events" feature (So does Google+, but Google locked me out of Google+, saying Marketing Sociologist is not a real name. As soon as I replied neither is Lady Gaga or Elton John, Google shut down my Google+ account and refuses to discuss opening it). Waring creates an event tab for meetings, fund raising events and posts to Facebook after and recently during these meetings. Bravo for Waring. In February he will celebrate his third year on Twitter.

Digital politics is not advertising or public relations driven

If city politicians are exploiting teen years technology, it is time those running for judge-ships, state offices, etc., to move to 21st Century political marketing.

Last night a woman running for Arizona State Senate told me she has an advertising firm running her campaign. I advised not to have advertising firms involved. "Media companies don’t understand technology because they are not run by technologists," Eric Picard, CEO of Rare Crowds, wrote in Ad-Exchanger in August, 2012. My saying is "Social media = we were an advertising or public relations firm in 2010." Same reason as Picard. Less than 25 percent of Public Relations Society of American members are APR accredited, and those in the field are bringing this lack of dedication to the digital realm. Why I became C.I.W. certified.

Phoenix traditional media Misses one of its largest business stories When Fender Musical Instruments Withdraws IPO

2012-07-19T19:46:00.000-07:00

Twelve hours before Fender Musical Instruments was to become a publicly-traded company, it withdrew its IPO offering. At 5 p.m. Pacific Daylight and Mountain Standard time (Arizona time), Reuters ran with the story of the withdrawal.

By 7:30 p.m., not one media outlet in Phoenix, home town of Fender's corporate headquarters (Scottsdale), had the story. It was Reuters, headquartered half a world away in London, that filed this non-bylined report: "(Reuters) - Fender Musical Instruments Corp, whose guitars have been used by music legends including Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, said it withdrew its initial public offering, a day before the guitar-maker was expected to make its market debut."

This further amplifies what a dismal journalism school Arizona State University's Cronkite is. Arizona media, dominated by Cronkite grads, is full of illiterate sentences, typos and inaccurate or unreported facts. Best example - no reporting on Fender IPO withdrawal.

Community group marketing today only wants to use 20th Century communications tools

2012-06-08T11:24:00.000-07:00

Got kicked off a non-profit community group's marketing committee this month. The reason I was kicked off was that I refused to provide an email address. I told them to tweet me. They don't use tweet. They had to schedule meetings via email.

They didn't get my obstinance about refusing to provide an email address. Here was a non-profit group responsible for marketing in the teen years of the 21st Century to a city of 3-million. The other committee members did not use Twitter, so instead of updating their marketing skills, I was kicked off the committee.

How are they going to market to a 21st Century audience when they're still only communicating through 20th Century emails?

Direct mail vs. QR codes Less than 1% return vs. 18% Why are you still using 20th Century marketing?

2012-05-21T08:41:00.000-07:00

A report in Mashable stated "50 percent of smartphone owners have scanned QR codes. 18 percent of them made a purchase after scanning."

Recently spoke to an expert in direct mail. She said typically you have a one-percent response from direct mail. Of that one-percent, five percent purchase.

This is the difference between 20th Century marketing (direct mail) and 21st (QR codes, apps, etc.).

Let's say you did a very modest direct mail piece of 100,000. That would cost you or your company anywhere from $200,000 on up; generally in the half-million dollar range.

From that mailing you'd get 1,000 inquiries, and close 50.

With QR codes, out of 100,000 scanning - that would be 18,000 sales.

A recent pew study says nearly half the U.S.A. is using smartphones. That means with QR codes you have roughly 150-million potential customers with a nine-percent close ratio (half that 150-million scan QR codes, so only nine-percent of the 150-million will close).

So why are you still using 20th Century marketing like press releases and direct mail when you could be making more money using 21st Century marketing?

Is Disney handling of Rick Ross departure What is wrong with corporate USA? Avengers breaks all records Risk takers disappearing from Corporate USA

2012-05-06T19:19:00.000-07:00

This is an speculation editorial. I'm not in the know. I'm pretty sure former Disney movie chairman Rich Ross was pushed on April 20, not a voluntary quit. This blog is my opinion, few, if any facts.

Rick Ross lost $200-million dollars on the movie "John Carter." Ross took a risk - something not popular in corporate USA today - why we are being beaten by companies in China, India and why Japan took market share in electronics, auto and other fields in the 1980s. Ross is no longer in his plush position due to that risk.

Corporate USA forgot what risk is - like the first Apple computer. Who knew if there was a market for a home computer? Today, most valuable company in the world. Apple took a risk. IBM didn't. Where do they rank today?

This past 10 days, Avengers broke every record for income in its worldwide release - Star Wars, Harry Potter all bowed to the Avengers movie. Avengers brought in two-thirds of a billion dollars in its first 10 days.

This was a movie Ross was involved in. How involved, hopefully others will comment. I don't know.

So if I were the president of a company and you said, "Let me blow $200-million on one film and I'll bring you three times that on another." I'd say, "Go for it." That is three-to-one return on my loss.

Yet for most of corporate USA, they aren't willing to take that risk. Hiring the safe, fresh out of college intern and grooming them is a lot better than finding a fanatic who loves your company and will risk your company's money and reputation to make you more money and a better reputation. Corporate USA doesn't hire those individuals. You could ask Steve Jobs, but he isn't with us any more. The fanatic individuals are disappearing from USA business.

Marketing Sociologists can predict the future Carrie Underwood tops Billboard May 9, 2012 Albums chart 200

2012-05-05T11:31:00.000-07:00

American Idol 2005 champ Carrie Underwood will take the Billboard #1 slot this coming Wednesday with her new Blown Away. Who says Marketing Sociologists can't predict the future? We have our sources! Underwood sold just under 300,000 units (reportedly) to achieve #1.

Selena Gomez Uses Twitter 21st Century marketing Should have live streamed Even baby had smartphone

2012-05-02T15:17:00.002-07:00

Selena Gomez is utilizing 21st Century marketing to sell her Target clothing line. Imagine if this had been live streamed!

Watch carefully. Even the baby under 1-year old handed her smartphone to her mother when Selena Gomez picked her up. Why I say mobile marketing is so crucial during the 21st Century's teen years. Looks like everyone at this event was mobile equipped.

Dang girl! Selena Gomez 21st Century marketing

2012-04-24T17:43:00.001-07:00

Selena Gomez took to Twitter to promote her Dream Out Loud clothing collection "@selenagomez At The Grove Kmart checking out Dream Out Loud. First five who go to Customer Service & show this message retweeted/liked will shop with me!"

This is how you utilize Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and all 21st Century marketing. A celebrity, a call to action and sales, sales, sales.

Rich Ross resigns as chairman of Walt Disney Studios

2012-04-20T13:24:00.000-07:00

Just did the unusual for The Los Angeles Times - as a blogger called and asked its permission to publish its article, which is excellent, on Disney (they said provide the link). Thank you, L.A. Times.

After less than three years on the job, Rich Ross is out as chairman of Walt Disney Studios.

Ross' departure, which was largely expected throughout Hollywood, follows a period of management upheaval at the Burbank-based studio and a pair of two high-profile box office flops: last year's "Mars Needs Moms" and the Martian adventure film "John Carter," for which Disney acknowledged it expected to take a $200-million loss -- one of the largest in movie history.

Ross, who had built the Disney Channel into a global powerhouse, was promoted in October 2009 as successor to studio veteran Dick Cook. Despite achieving success with Disney Channel shows such as "High School Musical," Ross lacked experience in the movie business.

Many inside and outside Disney were skeptical at the time that a TV executive with limited film experience could transition successfully to running a large movie studio.

In an effort to improve the studio's performance, Ross restructured operations and ousted several experienced division heads and hired a movie outsider, MT Carney, as head of marketing. Carney was pushed out in January after less than two years on the job.

Ross sent an email to his colleagues Friday morning, saying, "I no longer believe the Chairman role is the right professional fit for me. For that reason, I have made the very difficult decision to step down as Chairman of The Walt Disney Studios, effective today."

In a statement, Disney Chairman Bob Iger touted Ross' contributions to the company. "His vision and leadership opened doors for Disney around the world, making our brand part of daily life for millions of people."

Disney Corporation owns your life from before you're born until you die - Terrific marketing

2012-04-20T13:07:00.001-07:00

Disney's princesses have ruined relationship expectations for young women worldwide. (believe it was my daughter who said that)

Disney may be one of the greatest marketing companies in the world. They own you from before you're born through grand parenting (Disney resorts and cruise lines).

Family night probably involves a Disney DVD. Your eight-year olds are listening to Radio Disney (Weekly Top 30, too). Your teens may be listening to Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez or Jonas Brothers, all signed to Hollywood Records - which started life as a Disney label.

It starts with an expectant mom. She logs on to Babble for maternity information - Disney owns it. From their earliest experiences, children are exposed to Disney Junior as the way parents substitute TV for baby sitters. They progress to the Disney Channel, Radio Disney and the resorts and theme parks - plus the movies.

If Disney were smart, they'd be providing educational tools and textbooks for children from pre-school to college graduation. They may already be doing that.

After school years, it's parenting. What parent hasn't had to take their child to a Disney recreation site? Then the grand parents get involved.

Don't you wish your company domineered every family's life in the world like Disney does?

Are you crippling your sales people? Bad 21st Century marketing practices

2012-04-18T06:15:00.001-07:00

If you've read Steve Jobs' biography, you know he was exacting in detail. The question is, are you enlisting Jobs' quality for your company's "social media" effort or are you utilizing what were public relations or advertising firms in 2010?

Champions are what make or break a company. If you're utilizing those former communications firms, your top sales people, the top 20 percent of your sales staff - the champions, have probably abandoned ship. The rest are going down with the Titanic.

Being on Twitter or Facebook is not the total of 21st Century marketing. What if your target audience is not in this arena?

Does your "social media" team know how to program in HTML? Do they know YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world? Are they aware of how to data mine on Twitter?

Do they know how to utilize Instagram and Pinterest for commercial purposes? Can they deliver Pinterest analytics as well as YouTube, Google and Facebook analytics?

Are you putting QR codes on all your printed material? Where do the links lead to? Is your agency charging you to use outside vendors for creating QR codes? You could do it yourself for nothing.

Are you using NFC (near field communications)?

Most communicators are not equipped like marketing sociologists to look at historical impacts to your marketing program. How many of your communication team are discussing how gas prices and interest rates are impacting the business? Are they addressing the issue that every century it's been a nation, the U.S.A. has been in a major war during its teen years? How would that impact your business?

It's your business. If you want the qualities Steve Jobs demanded, you're using a marketing sociologist. If you're gullible, you're using one of those "social media experts" who are telling you followers are "ROI" (return on investment) and were a public relations or advertising firm in 2010.

Take action. Hit the call us free button now.

Why your business shouldn't use a "social media expert" to do 21st Century marketing

2012-04-16T07:31:00.000-07:00

"Social media = We were a public relations or advertising agency in 2010 and have no understanding of coding" - Marketing Sociologist

What two years ago were advertising and public relations agencies have re-positioned themselves and today are charging clients $3,000 per month to handle Facebook and Twitter pages.

They call the number of followers "ROI" (return on investment); the same as they took a measuring stick I created in the mid-1980s, calling newspaper circulation or television news viewership "ROI." These agencies' customers may never see a dime from followers or viewers or readers, but these agencies are insisting it is "ROI."

Marketing management are swallowing this smoke and mirrors. Search Pinterest for public relations experts - maybe three. Then search for social media experts - pages. Most of these "social media experts" are charging $3,000 a month for interns, utilized by advertising and public relations agencies the past two decades as the fields degenerated.

While these former communications agencies know how to do Facebook or Twitter, they have a problem seeing the forest instead of just the trees. They don't grasp a business' total enterprise.

Here are a few tools a 21st Century marketing sociologist uses:
•    Facebook
•    Twitter
•    Instagram
•    Pinterest
•    blogger
•    Tumblr
•    Appsmakr
•    QR codes and more.

Marketing sociologists look at the total enterprise. Sixty-percent of all Internet usage today comes from mobile devices. These former communications firms are promising SEO (search engine optimization) for that $3,000 per month. That's nice. App and Instagram usage don't show up on SEO. Yet, today that's where you'll find most of your potential or current customers.

Marketing sociologists start with who are your customers and how do you reach them. Then a marketing strategy is developed. How do you reach customers? It may be at conferences, a press release, or the latest social "buzz" like Pinterest or Instagram. You must look at outside factors that will affect your business; gas prices, unemployment and more. Depends upon your business.