2 Percent Creativity - Marketing and Advertising Insights from a Connected Perspective

Props to Chirp from Campaign Monitor

Well, first we were humbled by the response from friends and associates to our launch email for our mothership, ChirpMill, however yesterday was even more humbling. The good folks at Campaign Monitor, the web-based email and newsletter campaign application we use to send and manage all of our email campaigns, chose to profile our launch email in their gallery. Here's what they had to say...

When a group of experienced designers form a new company, expectations are set high. ChirpMill have come up with the design goods in their first newsletter. They have used an uncommon color combination, but it really works to set the design apart.

This is only a simple introductory announcement, but it quickly shows the style and brand of the new company. We look forward to seeing more from the Mill in the future.

For those of you who are looking for ways to better communicate with your customers, to keep in touch and to offer news, updates and information, well designed email and newsletter campaigns go a long way to building loyalty and a sense of community.

Check out the gallery for yourself and see some more great examples of email and newsletter campaigns.

Coolest New Link Tool Ever

Well, I have been trying very hard to avoid the plethora of widgets that many bloggers are adding to their sites, but this new link preview app called Snap Preview Anywhere by Idealab, is just awesome. Here's how they describe their product...

What is Snap Preview Anywhere? Snap Preview Anywhere enables anyone visiting your site to get a glimpse of what other sites you're linking to, without having to leave your site. By rolling over any link, the user gets a visual preview of the site without having to go there, thus eliminating wasted "trips" to linked sites.

So, check it out for yourself and see if your website visitors wouldn't appreciate this tool on your links. Hover your mouse over any of the links on this page and watch the preview come up.

Great Uses of Host Avatars

Blogger B.L. Ochman points us to one example of how some companies are using host avatars to enhance the customer experience on their websites. The Visa/MSN example she points us to uses javascript and flash to create a very compelling if sometimes slow experience.

Another example that we have liked for some time is a credit union (bank) in the Vancouver, BC Canada area—Coast Capital Savings. Be sure and check out this very simple use of flash and a woman avatar named Julie. As you view her, be patient and wait for her to go on to a few chores as she waits for you to decide what you want to do.

Now for the real fun.

First, in the 'or other products' question box, type in 'mortgage' and watch her response. She will play a game with you to encourage you to ask her for more information.

Secondly, here's a real hoot. In the same question box type in 'wanna go on a date'. Wait for her response ;-)

The use of real people or actors on corporate websites is a great way to create a remarkable and memorable experience, especially if the experience involves useful information.

Travel Stories Part III - The Rosebud Country Inn, Rosebud, Alberta

The next stop on our trip is the last of the highlights, and what a highlight it was. Imagine our surprise. We were heading to the Alberta town of Drumheller to visit the world famous dinosaur museum. We had also heard about a small town just southwest of Drumheller, that would be a great place to stay for the night. We were fortunate to get the last room in the Rosebud Country Inn when we had called just two days earlier.

As we travelled east from Calgary to our destination, we saw nothing but flat, yellow wheat fields, after at least 45 minutes of driving. The prospects for an exciting night in Rosebud seemed unlikely.

Then, just ahead, we saw a sign that indicated we needed to turn right at the next street and that Rosebud was just 10 kilometers south. Still, as we drove, all we saw were fields of wheat. Then there appeared, almost out of nowhere, a small, green valley—Rosebud.

As soon as we entered this little town, we discovered the Rosebud Country Inn on our left. We quickly checked in and were told we had better get down to the Mercantile Co. and secure our tickets for the dinner theatre. Dinner theatre? In a town with a population of less than 100 souls?

We soon discovered that Rosebud was indeed a very special place. Rosebud is home to the Rosebud School of the Arts and the Rosebud Theatre. That night turned out to be a wonderful surprise for our family as we were very fortunate to not only get tickets to the buffet dinner at the Mercantile Co., but, thanks to a lovely lady named Julie, we were able to get the last seats in the house for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The show was incredible!

The next morning we awoke in our comfy Rosebud Inn suite. We went upstairs to the dining room and enjoyed a tremendous breakfast buffet (although we hardly had any room after last night's buffet at the Mercantile Co.). Our hosts, I believe their names were Cheryl and Bill, were absolutely wonderful. We enjoyed our stay and wished it was for another night, but off to the Dino bone museum we were.

If you are planning a trip the Drumheller Dinosaur and Badlands area, do not miss the Rosebud Country Inn and the Rosebud Dinner Theatre. Truly one of Alberta's best kept secrets!

Travel Stories Part I - The Eden House Bed and Breakfast in Kaleden, BC

This summer, my wife, our youngest son and myself, travelled through the beautiful Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. Before leaving on our vacation, we had searched out places to stay on the Internet. Bed and Breakfasts and Country Inns were our primary choice, as we wanted to do some research into our next online venture. What a trip it was. The next few posts are focused on three highlights of our trip—three outstanding examples of why staying at a B&B or an Inn, are always better choices than the hotel/motel alternatives.

Our first stop was in an area we frequently visit on our summer vacations. Kaleden, a 4 hour drive due east from Vancouver, is a small enclave situated atop a beautiful hillside, gently sloping to Skaha Lake, one of the Okanagan's biggest lakes. Kaleden is ideally situated between Penticton on the north end of the Lake and Okanagan Falls and the south Okanagan towns of Oliver and Osoyoos. The region is an oasis that is one of the warmest areas in Canada during the summer months. Over the past 15-20 years, this area has become famous for its fine wineries and awesome golf courses and resorts.

We had chosen the Eden House Bed and Breakfast and were fortunate to get the only room they had available for our two night stay. The Master Suite was outstanding. The Eden House is situated on 3.5 acres and is a beautiful log home with several themed rooms, a wonderful outdoor pool area featuring a jacuzzi hot tub and salt water pool. The tasty and ample breakfasts were served outside on the terrace which overlooked the slooping hillside down to the lake. Our experience at this incredible B&B was remarkable in every way.

Our hosts, Matt & Sandy, had just purchased the B&B in the past 4 months and, although they still had that excited look of new business owners on their faces, their commitment to their guests was as if they had had many years of successful experience. This is truly a top choice if you are planning a trip to the south Okanagan!

Getting Real - There's a New Sheriff in Town

I have been following a company based in Chicago that, in the Web 2.0 community, have already become defacto authorities. Their following is astounding. 37 Signals began with four guys from all around the globe who decided to build a web app because they needed it for their own development and client work. They employed a very simple philosophy that is fully articulated in their new eBook 'Getting Real'. Today, they have a suite of web apps that are redefining how to get things done. I am one of their biggest fans and a dedicated user of their web apps.

So, how's their new book doing? Here's a quote from their blog from today.

How's the book doing so far? Since we launched it yesterday, we've sold over 1,750 copies. That's exciting. These numbers demolish the sales pace of our first book, Defensive Design for the Web, which was released through the traditional publisher/bookstore model. DIY publishing: There's a new sheriff in town.

At $19.95 per PDF copy (on average - they have a multiple copy version for $49.95), that's over $35,000.00 in a week. I love it!

Getting Real book update: new version, sales, feedback, contributors, etc. - Signal vs. Noise (by 37signals).

Up Your Budget - The Treasure Blog

Will it work? Will there be buzz? We will see. A team of very respected marketing, advertising and blog evangelists have teamed up to create a tremendous treasure hunt for Budget Car Rentals called, Up Your Budget. The details on the creation can be found at B. L. Ochman's blog and is worth the read. We are certainly going to follow this project as it must rate as a 2% approach to corporate blogging and so far, from what we have seen, the blog looks like fun and the concept is solid.

Asacker on Drucker on marketing

Tom Asacker has a new look for his weblog (looks great Tom) and a recent post on a famous Drucker quote, "the aim of marketing is to make selling superflous." Tom goes on to ask,

"Have you ever been approached by a Google rep? An iPod salesperson. Someone from IKEA, Ebay, JetBlue or Target? Me either. And that's how you can tell that their marketplace offering is truly unique."

What a great thought. The question for real estate professionals or anyone marketing their services is, how does this translate to you and your online marketing? Does your marketing attempt to "sell'' or could it be a starting point in a relationship? Something to think about for sure.

Link: acleareye.com: Peter Drucker on marketing.

Experts, Lenses, Ideas, Marketing - Seth Godin's Squidoo!

To be sure, there is another tipping point about to occur on the WWW. We are going from the information age to the recommendation age in the blink of blog. What was once all the information that you could ever want, to too much information and no way to find the nugget that I really want—when I want it.

To say that Seth might have something here with his new project Squidoo, is a little like saying there might have been something there when you first saw the Louvre in your 1995 Netscape browser. Download his latest FREE ebook, 'Everyone's an Expert' NOW. Read it and understand it as soon as you can. Don't walk, run.

Glenn

Link: Seth's Blog: The next free ebook (Squidoo!).

Correction in iFulfill story

If you are someone who buys the notion that the blogging bubble must burst, examples like today's misquoting faux-paux by Stephen Baker, the resulting rant of injustice (justifiable I will add), by blogging evangelist B.L. Ochman and the surprise, surprise correction by Mr. Baker (way to go big guy), well, you just have to believe that there is something truly powerful going on here.

It's the conversation, the instant notification, the response mechanism, the correction, the feed and the speed. I would throw in the word democracy, but us Canadians don't feel comfortable talking politics with strangers ;-)

It is such a rare occasion when agents of change in our world are so visible and yet, the nay sayers, the pundits and the stinkin' thinkers (nod to Zig there) will always be with us. Forget them—embrace change.

The medium of the Internet revolutionized communication through email, as well as expression and business via the WWW. Blogging is the tool that is setting a million voices inside of all those connected people FREE. True journalists (the paid professionals) may snicker at many us for our use and abuse of the King's English, but we don't care. Some of us are and some of what we have to say, is being read. More importantly for many bloggers, we are just happy to have our say.

So there.

Glenn

Ogilvy PR & The Executive Blogger's Guide

Since our blog got its name from a quote attributed to Mr. Ogilvy many yeasr ago, it is our pleasure to make this resource available to all of you who are considering a weblog for your business, company or personal use. Looks like a relatively indepth and useful guide for those who want to get up to speed on the blogoshere, where it has come from and where it might be going. You can download the PDF directly by clicking here, or check out the Ogilvy PR website....

Link: Ogilvy PR Expert Views.

From the Information Age to the Recommendation Age

Here's a great article as a downloadable PDF that makes a powerful point. The point is best taken verbatim from the opening of this insigthful piece...

Adam Richardson says, "We are leaving the Information Age and entering the Recommendation Age. In the past it was difficult to gather sufficient information to make decisions, and we relied on recommendations to guide us through this lack based on others’ prior experience. Today we have too much information, which ironically has made recommendations even more valuable. Now we don’t have enough time to sort through all the information, or we need higher levels of understanding to make sense of the information. So recommendations act as shortcuts through the information mass, getting us to the right, or “right enough,” answer."

Link: frog design BRAIN.

Audi and the Art of Lying

I guess it is safe to say that Seth Godin's new book, 'All Marketers Are Liars' and all the buzz surrounding it, has tweaked my senses as I go about my daily surfing. And, as the lady with the trendy ankle bracelet is still saying, "that's a good thing".

Today, I was looking into the new Audi A3 and found that they have turned the art of lying up a notch. Here's a remarkable example of making the search for a new car into much more than comparing specs, features and price.

Go to the site and be sure and check out the RED button in the middle of the page about the 'stolen' A3. Once the flash loads view the trailer and The Stolen Car section, which has a message from Audi America and more lies. This is great stuff.

Link: Audi Luxury Models at Audi USA - official US site.

Seth Godin: Don't Take Blogging Too Seriously

B.L. Ochman's What's Next Blog, has a great interview with popular author Seth Godin. There have been a raft of articles and interviews in the past few weeks with Seth on his new book 'All Marketers Are Liars'. I heartily recommend Ochman's blog post on this release as she delivers some very good insights into why Seth blogs and the outstanding results he gets by just giving ideas away.

Every real estate professional or marketer who wants to learn about the power of blogging should check out this post. It wouldn't hurt to purchase Seth's book either and learn even more.

Link: B.L. Ochman's weblog - Internet strategy, marketing, public relations, politics with news and commentary: What's Next Blog's Interviews with Successful Bloggers. Seth Godin: Don't Take Blogging Too Seriously.