Crayon, join the conversation

And I don't mean that in some wistful but weird romantic way.

Way back in the way (2008 or so), my colleague Joseph Jaffe used to talk about "using new marketing to prove new marketing" - the glides-off-the-tongue UNM2PNM if you will. Essentially, he meant applying the principles he espoused in his books and on his blog to the way he marketed his own stuff (said books, for example), as a means of proving that the stuff really works. Or doesn't as the case may be. But either way it was open, honest and the right thing to do.

So I figured if Joe could use new marketing to prove new marketing (and yes, for the most part his ideas did work when he put them into action), why shouldn't I use micromarketing to prove micromarketing? You see, (for those of you who haven't read the book - ahem...) my thesis is that in this age of microcultures, micromedia and microcontent the best way for marketers to deliver good results for their businesses is to tap into the trends toward microculture, micromedia and microcontent (rather than buck against them) and connect with customers through lots of small but impactful initiatives.

Enter Jason Sadler. A couple of years back, he started a company called I Wear Your Shirt. What does he do? Well, he literally wears your shirt. Companies pay him (and this year, his buddy Evan) a fee to don a logo-emblazoned t-shirt for a single day. Throughout that day Jason and Evan host live Ustream shows, post photos to Flickr and Facebook, video clips to their YouTube channel, and tweet about your product on Twitter.

Although I didn't cover the company in the book - I met Jason at a conference around the time the book was going into edits - I Wear Your Shirt is in many ways the ultimate micromarketing business model. So I bought September 2nd and gave it a go.

The offer to Jason's community of followers was simple: buy a copy of the book from Amazon, email your receipt to Jason and you'd be entered for a chance to win a new Kindle. Total investment? Around $600.

So Jason and Evan blogged and tweeted and Facebooked and streamed. They created a couple of cheeky bits of custom content, like this:

 

And this:

 

Nifty. But the real question of course is did it work?

The numbers would seem to indicate it did. Although I'm still waiting for McGraw-Hill to give me firm sales figures (and frankly I'm not sure they can give me numbers by retailer by day), here's what I know:

• When I woke up on September 2nd, microMARKETING's Amazon rank was somewhere in the 200,000 neighborhood. Respectable but let's just say Stephen King wasn't losing any sleep. During the day, as the I Wear Your Shirt guys posted and promoted, the book climbed as high as 17,000 (or so). That's a respectable leap and, to put that in context for you, the book hadn't ranked that high on Amazon since the week of its release. I'm happy about that. Even better? Although I can't link this directly to the IWYS push, it sustained ranks between 30,000 and 20,000 for a few days after.
• Although I didn't ask Jason to pimp the microMARKETING Facebook Page, he did. And I saw the fan count more than double on September 2. To be clear, we're talking about just a couple hundred new fans but the % growth is still impressive. And again (although it's impossible to directly attribute this to IWYS), the momentum has hardly let up: in the days since September 2 the fan community has grown by another 75 people or so.

One of the things you'll understand as you read the book is that "big results" are relative (and subjective) but I'd say that an Amazon rank that jumps by an order of magnitude and a community count that more than doubles in just one day is a pretty solid win.

What do you think? Feel free to chime in with your thoughts.

 

It's all about talent. It always was.

In a recent survey reported by Mediapost, 78% of all companies professed to be doing social media, but only 41% of them said the had a strategy in place.

That strategy is going to come from senior level marketers, but....

The list determined that only 43 out of 12,000 companies surveyed had senior level marketers in charge of social media. Only 26 of the 43 made up Fortune 1,000 companies.

OK, so that help will come from agencies then, won't it?

Think again....TBWA\ just lost their digital czarina, Colleen DeCourcy and her entire band of digital brothers. Shiv Singh just left Razorfish for Pepsi (Agencies 0 Clients 1)

Slowly but surely brands are building their social media practice one senior leader at a time...often at the expense of the agencies.

One thing's for sure, it's a war all right.

Spread the word:

• Share JJTV with your boss, your colleagues, clients and followers
• Tweet or RT: New JJTV - The Talent War with and between agency and brand is growing - http://bit.ly/talentwar
• Subscribe to the show via iTunes or YouTube
• Leave a video comment

Who's ready for a workday field trip? It's gonna be a good one. On September 27th, I -- in conjunction with David Vinjamuri's Thirdway Brand Trainers, Powered and New York University -- will be hosting a half-day microMARKETING symposium (hey, that's just a fancy way of saying meeting with presentations) at NYU's Kimmel Center in the heart of New York City.

For just $29 per person, you'll hear fantastic speeches from Coca-Cola's global director of interactive Michael Donnelly; you'll learn from Jason Sadler how his company, I Wear Your Shirt, uses one of the most micro marketing approaches I know of -- each client pays him to wear their logo t-shirt for just one day as he creates and shares lots of microcontent with his social graph -- to deliver real results. You'll hear my new conference keynote based on the book. And you'll glean lots o' insights during the closing panel, during which the guys behind three of my favorite stories in the book -- By Lauren Luke, Walmart Eleven Moms and B&H Photo-Video -- will talk about their firsthand experiences with micromarketing approaches.

If that's not enough value for a measly $29 (although the price will go up to $49 soon), you'll also get a free copy of microMARKETING: Get Big Results by Thinking and Acting Small, and -- if you're among the first 25 registrants -- David Vinjamuri's critically acclaimed Accidental Branding too.

In addition to great content and a couple of nice freebies (oh, and we'll feed you while you're there) this event promises great networking with other NY area marketers, a perfect chance to educate your whole team on social media and micromarketing, and a great way to impress your clients. Bring 'em all!

You can find the details and register here.

Complete agenda here.

The room holds 150; 50 seats will be reserved for NYU students; so space is limited. Grab your seat today.

My friend, colleague, peer and fellow thought leader, Mitch Joel, the man behind Twist Image, Six Pixels of Separation (book, blog) and I have decided to hold monthly conversations, debates and back-and-forths that will dive a little deeper into the Digital Marketing and Social Media landscape. This is our eight conversation and this one focuses on the if we're really having any semblance of a conversation at all in Social Media, or if Marketers have done a great job of selling the invisible (once again).

A little more context (follow the links) can be found here

Enjoy the conversation... 

Listen to it LIVE or download it here

Subscribe to the show via iTunes here

For the past couple of years, I've been at the South by Southwest Interactive conference for clients (Panasonic in 2009 and VeriSign in 2010). But this year, I'm going for me.

Well, that's the plan but I'll need your help to get there.

The good news is I'm not asking you to drive me in your second-hand Chevette. I'm just asking for your vote.

Here's the backstory: For those of you that don't already know this, each year, thousands of social media folks submit their ideas for sessions they'd like to present at SXSW for consideration by the organizers. The ones that make the first cut get posted to a panel picker where you (in the 2006 Time Magazine Person of the Year sense) vote on the ones you like best. The most popular sessions (this is crowdsourcing in action people, although let's be honest -- it's a popularity contest, right?) have a shot at making the agenda.

And here's the story itself: This year, I have a session based on microMARKETING up for your vote. Basically, I'll talk about the book (like I do at conferences since this is a, well you know, conference), maybe hand out some free copies, possibly take off my shirt, almost definitely snap a few pictures with the folks in the room. You can get more information HERE.

And here's the part you can play in that story: Well, first of all I'd love it if you could show your support and VOTE (thumbs up, please) for my session, even if you're not sure you'll have the opportunity to attend South By next year.

Second, if you'd really like to see my session happen please share the love. TWEET the link. SHARE it on Facebook. REBLOG this post. SPREAD the word.

Thanks for your help. And while you're feeling helpful, you might also feel like showing some love to my fellow Poweredistas. A bunch of us -- including Jaffe, Quigley, Maltoni, van der Meer, Strout -- are up for some stage time. Get all the details and links on Aaron Strout's blog-like-object and, as Aaron himself writes ,"Vote Early and Vote Often." (Actually I think you can only vote once per session but you know what he means.)

Rock on.

With the book in stores everywhere -- well, almost everywhere (I think the release date in Europe may be later and I'll be damned if I can find a copy in airport bookstores, but in addition to being on shelves at the major chains you can also get a handy-dandy e-version for your Kindle, Nook or Sony eReader) -- my attention turns from writing the book to getting other people to write about the book.

Over the past couple of weeks I've been pimping lovable links on Twitter and to the Facebook fans, but thought now might be a good time for a good ol' link love round-up. Check out some of the posts the good people have been kind enough to write over the past couple of weeks.

Follow The Lead: The ZoomInfo B2B Sales & Marketing Blog

Zoom Info's resident blogger, Matthew Schwartz, took a look at some of the concepts in microMARKETING - specifically, the opportunities tha lie in content creation and curation - through a B2B sales lens.

jacoBLOG: Everybody Has An Audience

Radio consultant Fred Jacobs wrote about another key theme - the notion that the people formerly known as the audience now have audiences of their own - and reflected on what this means for broadcast media professionals.

Dan Schawbel's Personal Branding Blog

Dan asked me a few questions about the book and how it pertains to personal branding, among other things.

Three Questions with MarketingProfs

The lovely, vivacious and wicked smaaht Ann Handley fired off three questions - and I fired back three answers - about the book, leading up to last week's Summer Social webinar.

The First Batch o' Blog Reviews

If you haven't seem 'em, check em out... My colleague Valeria Maltoni (aka Conversation Agent), former colleague Jon Burg, Rayna Fagan (aka @RaynaNYC, who won 1 of 10 freebies) and Reg Nordman were all kind enough to post early reviews. And kind enough to say they liked the book. To which I say: thanks guys. I like you too!

Ladies look at your mouse. Now look at me. Now look at your mouse. Now here's a 3 minute succinct precise on the recent Old Spice 30-second conversation starter and social media activation.

All in all. Spicy. Very Spicy.

Key takeaway: We've become really good as social media as a campaign. Jury's still out at our ability to deliver social media as a commitment.

Spread the word:

• Share JJTV with your man, your colleagues, clients and followers
• Tweet or RT: New JJTV -We've become really good at delivering social media as a campaign. Final words on Old Spice - http://bit.ly/socialspice
• Subscribe to the show via iTunes or YouTube
• Leave a video comment

Maybe you're thinking about buying microMARKETING but want to get a better sense of what's between the covers first. Or maybe you just want a souvenir of my MarketingProfs webinar. In either case, you've come to the right post.

Here's the newest version of the presentation slides based on the book. Of course, this touches on only a few of the key themes and presents just a small handful of the case studies and stories I've crammed between the yellow covers - but it should be enough to whet your whistle. As always comments welcome.

I'm sure regular readers are beginning to think I've left marketing for a job in event planning, but bear with me. Now that the book is out (have you purchased your copy yet?) I'm neck deep in putting together lots of opportunities for you to be part of the process - and that means lots of events.

Last month, 100 or so Texas Longhorns (and a few transplanted New Yawkas) pre-partied in Austin on the eve of the book release. This month, I'm bringing the party home to New York and -- if you live in or around NYC or just plan to be in town when it all goes down -- I'd love you to be part of it. All of which is a longwinded way of saying:

Powered is hosting the official microMARKETING Launch Party from 6:00 - 8:00pm on August 26th, at New York's unofficial home of social media: The Roger Smith Hotel. Here are just five reasons you'll want to be there...

1. You've read the blog for years and this is a great opportunity to meet.
2. You'd love an opportunity to hang out with 150 or so smart, interesting and (mostly) friendly marketers - meet your peers, network and mingle.
3. You'd like to take part in celebrating the release of the book that Digitas' Jon Burg calls "remarkably refreshing".
4. You want a signed copy of the book. Of course I hope you'll show your support by purchasing a copy from Amazon, 800ceoread or your favorite bookstore - and if you, bring it to the party and I'll be happy to sign it. But on top of that, all party attendees will receive a FREE signed copy, courtesy of Powered -- give it to your boss the next morning and you're virtually guaranteed a raise or promotion.
5. Also free? Food and drinks... 'Nuff said.
6. Bonus reason (good at marketing, not so great at math): what better way to round out your summer than with a cool party at The Roger Smith?

It's free to attend (did I mention free yet?) but for the purpose of keeping track of headcount (and to avoid an awkward situation involving you, a bouncer and a full body lift-and-toss), please pop over to the Eventbrite page and RSVP.

Let's pack the house. I look forward to seeing you there.

Ann Handley and friends at MarketingProfs just crammed me into a last minute slot in their Social Media Summer Series of online seminars. I'll do 90 minutes on microMARKETING next Thursday (August 12th, 2010), and all you need is an internet connection and screen. Attendance is free for Profs Pro members but non-members can buy seats (so break out that corporate card and cram all your word buddies into a conference room at noon on Thursday.)

Get the details and register at MarketingProfs.com.

Now that the book is out, you'll definitely want to stay tuned for news of real world events in your neck of the woods. You can also find a more or less up-to-date events calendar on the microMARKETING site.