Marketing Monday: Hulu
Marketing Monday profiles a cool person, website, or business doing more online. Got an idea? Contact me so I can write about it.
People always ask me: How do you get by without cable? I say that my Google Reader keeps me in touch with what’s going on in the blogosphere/pop culture and I listen to NPR for my news. Both of these are true, that’s part of the reason I can go without a cable bill. I do, however, get my television zoning out pleasure courtesy of Hulu.
There is two main ways for media companies to make money online: 1) charge users a fee to access the site or 2) get advertisers to foot the bill and offer the users free access. Hulu has opted for the latter, and may or may not be making enough money to support themselves. Regardless of whether Hulu is turning a profit at the moment though, they are doing interesting things online.
Hulu is having customers chose their viewing experience… and getting customer data in the process.
Several times recently, I was given options for commercials. Did I want to watch a 1 minute 30 second long commercial about Nuvaring before the show began or did I want several shorter commercial breaks? Did I want to watch the stylish, tech, or speed-oriented commercial for Google Chrome? (Part of me also wonders also if there is some ad targeting going on based on my age, sex, and other demographics.)
Marketing Monday: Mardens
Know an individual or business doing something cool to promote themselves online? Let me know about it and they might be featured as part of Marketing Monday.
This week’s inspiration actually came to me as I was driving in the middle of a snow/ice storm back home from Christmas festivities.
A radio ad in the middle of the Maine woods had the familiar Marden’s jingle but urged me to join Marden’s on Facebook and Twitter. I especially perked up when they mentioned to visit the Marden’s website to see the weekly flyer before it got into the newspapers.
For those of you less familiar, Marden’s is a Maine institution, known in part for its cheesy catchy jingle “I should have bought it, when I saw it, at Mardens!” and for its great deals on everything. (If you don’t have to feed it, Marden’s sells it.) It’s a salvage store with locations across the state, meaning its inventory is not only location dependent but also constantly changing.
Marden’s would no doubt be a success in Maine regardless of publicity (Mainers are in general a practical people who love a deal) but all it’s promotional efforts have made Mardens the success it is today.
Here’s what Mardens is doing right: