Marketing Monday: The Juice 2.0 Conference

If you want to organize a good conference, take a lead from the Juice 2.0 folks! Meanwhile, if you think your business should be profiled as part of Marketing Monday, do contact me.

What I Learned Losing The Juice 2.0 Conference Pitch Contest

In my world, no news is bad news. If I have something good to say, I’ll change my status update of Facebook, tweet, write a blog, or call my mother (or all four).

It is no coincidence that I was pretty quiet online Friday and Saturday, in part because I didn’t even make round one of the pitch session. (And in part because there was no working internet connection at this conference!).

I will say that the conference was a worthwhile one to attend and that I will go back when they have the follow-up version two years from now. Here are some general observations from my two days at Juice 2.0 Conference:

 

Marketing Monday: Stingy Scoundrel Book

Every Monday I profile a person or business doing something cool to promote themselves online. Think there is someone I should consider? Contact me and let me know!

Breaking Even began as a personal finance blog back in 2007. Since then, it’s become about business and other things on occasion but a money theme, even if barely noticeable at times, runs throughout. (It’s no coincidence, for example, that TCT crafts mostly cost under $10 to make.) When asked what my blog is about, I say “Money. Well, kind of.”

That said, I still follow a lot of personal finance and money bloggers and when Phil Villarreal sent me an email a few months ago about reviewing his how-to-save-money book and I accepted, because I like books, especially when they are free and go with the theme of my blog.

I noticed a few weeks after our communication that reviews of his book were all over the blogosphere. Then, his book became a New York Times bestseller.

How’d he do it?

Phil may look like he's lurking behind his book but his book promotion techniques have been the opposite of creepy and passive.

Marketing Monday: Calfinder Blog

Every Monday, I talk about individuals or companies promoting themselves in a neat way online. Feel free to contact me to nominate yourself or a friend; I’m always looking for new ideas.

When I think of groups of people who have a good excuse to not be on the internet much, I think of building contractors.

I know a few contractors (from my hardware background) and when someone wakes up super early to work hard on a construction site all day, it is perfectly understandable for them to not have time to, say, catch up on blog reading on their lunch break. Those of us chained to our desks (you know, in a nice way!) have it easy as far as following internet trends.

Calfinder is a nationwide service matching contractors with home renovators. Part of their site is a frequently updated blog about remodeling trends, DIY tips, and information about locations and contractors. I use this blog as an example with some of my clients (and have emailed it to my family a few times) to show what a company can do with a blog.

Don't think contractors are online? Think again. Even professions that are traditionally non-bloggers are getting online, and accessible to the rest of us.

Here’s what I like about Calfinder:

Marketing Monday: Garfunkel and Oates

Every Monday, I talk about individuals or companies promoting themselves in a neat way online. Feel free to contact me to nominate yourself or a friend; I’m always looking for new ideas.

It’s almost a sure thing to say that video is the next big internet thing.

Alright, that came out wrong. I am certainly not saying that people aren’t using video effectively now but I think that in the next few years, just like now most everyone has a website, in a few years most everyone will have video on their website. And as cameras get more affordable and videos get more search engine friendly, there will be more of a reason then ever to finally get in front of a camera.

Having recently begun to appreciate Youtube more myself, I have begun checking out cool videos. Among my favorite ‘series’ is Garfunkel and Oates.

 

Marketing Monday: My Smile Bites!

Every Monday, I profile some cool promotional idea I run across and why I think it’s effective. Have a cool marketing idea your company is putting in place? Contact me, I might write about it!

When I think of 1-800-DENTIST, I think of happy but generic looking people on the phone helping me find a dentist. Not exactly something new.

I was contacted by Jill, one of their marketing folks, about the video contest they are holding which I do find interesting.

The basic idea is that contestants upload a 1-2 minute video talking about why they need a smile makeover. The winner gets up to a $30,000 smile makeover. You may remember that Office Depot had a similar upload your video to win contest for small businesses called ‘Survival of the Smartest’ that ran this summer.

Here’s why I think the campaign is interesting:

Marketing Monday: America’s Best Idea

Is your business or non-profit promoting itself in a cool new way? Contact me; I’d love to write about it!

America's Best Idea: A good series and a good example of PBS promotion. I feel like I'm hearing about this everywhere, don't you?

I’ll know I’ve hit the big time when I am written about in the New York Times or the Huffington Post…or both! (Until then, I bask in my small-though-significant-to-me internet fame.) It’s probably a bit easier, however, for a national broadcasting agency to get this national press coverage.

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