Maine Creative Services – Page 11 – Affordable web design and SEO copywriting for small business

Have I got a car (or two) for you

How bad is the auto business? So bad that a dealer in Europe is offering two-for-one: Buy one car, get a second one free.

How can he afford it? Distributors in southern Europe have been so desperate to get cars off their lots that they were selling them at huge discounts.

From a marketing standpoint, two-for-one is far better than simply cutting the price of the first car. Helps alleviate overcrowding on the lot, too. And all the publicity he’s getting for this stunt doesn’t hurt, either.

But is it working?

Cardoen’s eight showrooms had seen more than 10 times their usual number of visitors since the promotion began. “People have been coming in from all over Belgium and abroad,” said Cardoen’s Commercial Director Ivo Willems.

So people are coming in to kick the tires, and maybe stare at the crazy person who’s giving away free cars. But are they actually buying any? Um, not yet. Willems admits they’ve yet to see an impact on sales.

But at least they’re trying something new. And wisely using free publicity to spread the word. How is your business coping with the economic crisis?

The most powerful form of advertising…

The most powerful form of advertising is being exceptional, says a technologist quoted in Sunday’s NY Times. He’s talking about Google, of course, by far the most innovative and exceptional company of the past decade.

Columnist David Carr’s love letter to the search giant rhapsodizes about the quality and ease of use of company’s many free web apps, especially the latest, Google Video Chat. And about how hard they are to resist.

(Aside: Reading Carr’s piece is almost like watching someone slip into drug addiction. Like most of us, Carr started with the “gateway drug,” Google Search. Then came some harmless experimentation with Gmail — and the boy was hooked. After that it was an easy descent into Google Calendar, Maps, even the hard stuff like Google Reader…)

One familiar aspect of Carr’s piece was his worry that he might someday regret giving up so much personal information to Google. I certainly share his concern. But this is a marketing blog, and Carr’s most cogent observation was about Google’s marketing — or rather, the lack of it.

Take video chat. Many other companies would take that kind of quantum leap and shout it from the rooftops, but Google just did a smallish blog post about the new feature and left it at that. “We have a philosophy that our products should speak for themselves,” said Jeff Huber, senior vice president for engineering at Google. “We tend not to make a lot of noise.”

That’s for sure. When was the last time you saw an ad for Google? Probably never. Compare that to the extensive advertising for Microsoft and Apple. Why the difference? Carr says “Google’s Web platform, in all of its high-functioning glory, is also its marketing.”

Bottom line: If you’re exceptional, you don’t need much marketing. The word always gets out. Of course, most companies are not exceptional, unfortunately. Not even Apple and Microsoft. Which keeps people like me in business.

Are you annoying people when you speak?

We all do it. We spout shopworn cliches and mindless crutch phrases that make our victims listeners roll their eyes and grind their teeth. Cliches are just as bad in the written word, of course. But at least a reader can turn the page and skip over them. But when you’re in a business meeting or presentation, you’re trapped.

BBC News Magazine has compiled a list of its readers’ twenty most-hated phrases. Nothing new there — you’ll recognize them immediately. Yes indeed, you’ll see old friends like:

“touch base” (and most other tiresome sports analogies)
“110 percent”
“24/7”
“going forward”
“in the pipeline”
“roll out
“can’t get my head around it” and many more

The worst thing is, the more you notice someone using these grating phrases, the more you notice them. Like, they’re all you can hear — which makes them even more exasperating. So, going forward, let’s try and keep stupid cliches out of the pipeline and maybe roll out some new ones — okay, team? If everyone works 24/7 and gives 110%, by the end of the day we’ll… oh, never mind.

via Lifehacker photo credit: erinEG6

Is Microsoft really that clueless?

The Behemoth from Redmond has made billions selling software in boxes. Now — about ten years late — it’s finally opened an online store, leveraging the efficiency of the Internet to reduce overhead and offer lower prices. Except they’re not offering lower prices. They’re charging more online.

Hmmm, interesting strategy. Is there something I’m missing?

Let’s compare prices. Better yet, since I’m pretty lazy, let ReadWriteWeb do it.

Windows Vista Ultimate with SP1

Microsoft Store: $319.95
Amazon: $249.99
Royal Discount (via Bizrate) $222.98

Another example: Office Standard 2007 (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook)

Microsoft Store $399.95
Amazon: $318.99

OK, I realize Ballmer & Co. have to be careful not to incur the wrath of their retail channel by underselling them. But if you’re not going to offer bargains, why even bother with an online store? Would someone please enlighten me?

Or would somebody loan them a clue…

Blog marketing reaps $100K in 5 months

Can a blog really attract customers? It can — if your customers are web developers. Peldi Guilizzoni, a solo software developer, built a web design mock-up tool called Balsamiq and promoted it on his blog.

In the “open” spirit of the Internet, Guilizzoni also posted his financial records right on his blog so everyone would know how things were going. And things are going… really, really well!

According to ReadWriteWeb, Peldi had $10k in sales within six weeks. Not bad. Now it’s five months later Balsamiq has brought in $100K (at roughly $79 per license). That averages out to $20K per month or $5K per week or $1000 per (work)day. Not too shabby for a one-person shop!

Have you experienced similar online success? Know of others who have? Share the joy in the comments.

NY Times catches up to my blog;-)

A while back I blogged about the deceptive advertising practices by FreeCreditReport.com (sorry no link for bad boys). Today’s NY Times echoes my dismay. FCR, which is actually owned by the big credit reporting service Experian, claim to offer “free” credit reports, but they actually require enrollment in a $15/month paid service.

“Consumer groups have long objected to sites like FreeCreditReport.com. Consumers may obtain a free credit report each year from the three major agencies, as mandated by an act that Congress passed in 2003. The only authorized site for that is AnnualCreditReport.com.” (NY Times)

Consumer reaction is pretty predictable. This Lifehacker post gives you a peek at some of the negative feedback.

It’s like I always say: Be straight with people, especially prospective customers. The truth always gets out, no what your marketing might claim.

Info-marketing catapults first-time author into Amazon Top 100

Is information marketing effective? Does it really work to attract clients and income? Let’s look at Steve Pavlina, one of my favorite bloggers.

For almost four years, Steve has been writing about “personal development for smart people” and posting the articles on his blog. Today, his first book is among Amazon’s Top 100 in sales — three months before its release!

“It currently has a sales rank of 94. It also sits at #13 in the self-help category, #4 in the personal transformation category, and #5 in the motivational category. Those rankings are adjusted hourly, so they may be different by the time you read this.”

Steve has posted about 700 articles. That’s it. No outside promotion or advertising. Just quality content and word of mouth buzz, which have generated an incredible number of incoming links. Even his Google pagerank is a modest 4.

Not only has his writing attracted a publisher, Hay House, (yes, they came to him), but Steve claims the advertising and affiliate links on his blog earn him over $10,000 a month income.

It’s not the mere fact that he’s writing that has brought him this success. It’s the quality of his material.