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Marketing must be as good as the message, Part 1 of 2

January 3rd, 2011 by Michael

Here’s the story of how a crappy version of a song is getting way too much attention.

Part 1 of this post covers the message, a beautiful song composed and recorded by the late Dan Fogelberg.

Part 2 of the post shows how the marketing of a message is as important as the message itself. We’ll learn a little about Internet marketing along the way.

Marketing must be as good as the message, Part 1 of 2

Dan Fogelberg

Years ago, Dan Fogelberg wrote a beautiful tune about Christmas Eve and the bittersweet experience of running into an ex-lover. The song seeps with emotion and resonates with anyone who celebrates the holidays or anyone who’s ever loved.

The melody is simple and quite repetitive, but the tune is haunting. The arrangement features a plaintive oboe and a shimmery saxophone solo.

The song is titled, Same Auld Lang Syne. Pretty good marketing to out the word “same” in front of the title of the annual New Year’s eve chestnut, eh?

The lyrics are special and what make the song a classic. The story recounts love and time lost, the innocence of youth, and the throbbing emptiness of what might have been. Just when you can’t stand it any longer, the snow . . . turns into rain, and the sax solo buries your heart.

Same Auld Lang Syne by Dan Fogelberg

Met my old lover in a grocery store
The snow was falling Christmas Eve
Stole behind her in the frozen foods
and I touched her on the sleeve

She didn’t recognize the face at first
but then her eyes flew open wide
Tried to hug me and she spilled her purse
and we laughed until we cried

Took her groceries to the checkout stand
The food was totaled up and bagged
stood there lost in our embarrassment
as the conversation dragged

Went to have ourselves a drink or two
but couldn’t find an open bar
Bought a six-pack at the liquor store
and we drank it in the car

We drank a toast to innocence, we drank a toast to now
Tried to reach beyond the emptiness but neither one knew how

She said she’d married her an architect
Kept her warm and safe and dry
She said she’d like to say she loved the man
but she didn’t want to lie

I said the years had been a friend to her
and that her eyes were still as blue
But in those eyes I wasn’t sure if I
Saw doubt or gratitude

She said she saw me in the record store
and that I must be doing well
I said the audience was heavenly
but the traveling was hell

We drank a toast to innocence we drank a toast to time
We’re living in our eloquence, another old lang syne

The beers were empty and our tongues grew tired
and running out of things to say
She gave a kiss to me as I got out
and I watched her drive away

Just for a moment I was back in school
And felt that old familiar pain
And as I turned to make my way back home
the snow turned into rain

The song is a great success story. Not only was it a big hit for Fogelberg, but the tune comes back to life every holiday season. It’s a beautiful message that deserves to be heard over and over again.

In Part 2, we’ll learn how a lousy version of the song is getting tons of hits on YouTube–because it’s being marketed better than the other versions.

-Michael Angelo Caruso

Tags: Dan Fogelberg, Internet marketing, Marketing, message, met my old lover in a grocery store, michael Angelo Caruso, Same Auld Lang Syne, youtube
Posted in Communication, Creativity, Entertainment, Entreprenuers, Growing Your Business, Internet marketing, Problem Solving, Sales and Marketing, Selling | No Comments »

New words for the New Year

January 3rd, 2011 by Michael

Expect to hear lots of new words in the New Year. Which one is your favorite?

The "coffice?"

1. coffice

Do you regularly work at Panera Bread or take meetings at Starbucks? If so, you work at the coffice, a cross between coffee shop and office, which is a tad better than working at the carffice.

2. halfalogue

If you ever hear half of a conversation, such as when someone is on the phone, you’re listening to a halfalogue. It’s not a very useful or fun exercise, but at least you now know what to call it. You’re welcome.

3. mansplainer

Funny how it’s okay for gender-specific words to be pejorative as long as they don’t refer to women. Anyway, a mansplainer is a guy who’s compelled to explain in great detail–and there’s nothing he can’t explain.

4. poutrage

Some people just like to complain. Poutrage is a type of toothless anger directed at no one. Or everyone.

5. refudiate

This Palinesque term is a blend of refute and repudiate. I like made up words, unless the person making up the word thinks that their invention is a real word. It’s irritaining when this happens.

6. shellacking

Really, one might add “ing” to any verb to create a gerund-like form of a new word. “Friending” comes to mind. Come to think of it, “friend” was a noun before it was a verb or gerund. And by the way, my dad, the former Mickey Caruso use to use the word “shellacking” to describe a bad defeat at the family ping pong table.

Feel free to add any new favorite words as a comment below.

Tags: coffice, halfalogue, mansplainer, michael Angelo Caruso, mickey caruso, New Year, panera bread, poutrage refudiate, shellacking, starbucks
Posted in Communication, Entertainment, Personal Development, Speaking, Writing and Publishing | 2 Comments »

Marketing must be as good as the message, Part 2 of 2

January 2nd, 2011 by Michael

Dan Fogelberg has been dead for years, but Another Auld Lang Syne–his great song about New Year’s Eve and lost love–still resonates. The lyric articulates a common sentiment for anyone who’s ever run into an former boyfriend or girlfriend. Heck, the song resonates for anyone who’s ever experienced a lonely Christmas.

But in the social media age, special messages need special marketing, if they are to get attention. Let me relate a quick story that illustrates this point.

On New Year’s Eve, I had a hankering wanted to watch a good video of the song, so I typed “dan fogelberg same auld lang syne” into the YouTube search bar and a URL like this one came up: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dan+fogelberg+same+old+lang+syne&aq=2.

Mr. Fogelberg recorded this song many times before his death in 2007 and many of these versions have been posted on YouTube. It’s not easy to tell what vids contain before sampling them, so I started watching. Soon, I was paying particular attention to two clips that had a drastically different number of views, even thought they both had been posted about three years ago.

The third ranking on the search page was a live video of Dan performing Same Auld Lang Syne to a sold-out stadium. The graphic was a low-resolution photo of Fogelberg playing the piano. The crowd was immense and the excitement of the recording was strong, but the quality of the video was very poor.

The video had logged 859,243 views–not bad. It received another 25,000 views as I was writing this blog post! Here’s the #3 ranked video from the search:

The sixth ranking in the search showed a low-resolution closeup of hands on a piano. This video had only 65,822 views, but was a much higher quality video and much more enjoyable to watch. This video had received about 5,000 more views during the time it took me to write this article.

There is a vast difference in quality, right? I think you’d agree that the second video is not the same Same Auld Lang Syne! Yet, the crappy #3 ranked video had received over ten times as many views, mostly because rankings at the top of searches get more attention.

Which brings us to the value of marketing. The inferior video at the top of the search will continue to get more plays because of its title, tags, and the link is being circulated.

The better quality video will get much less attention over time, unless whoever posted the vid does a better job marketing it.

There are millions of messages out there like yours. How you market that message will determine who sees it. The marketing of the message is as important as the message itself.

______________

Author, Michael Angelo Caruso teaches Internet marketing at seminars and online. More information at www.MichaelAngeloCaruso.com

Tags: Dan Fogelberg, Internet marketing, Marketing, message, michael Angelo Caruso, Same Auld Lang Syne, search, youtube
Posted in Communication, Creativity, Entertainment, Growing Your Business, Internet marketing, Marketing, Problem Solving, Sales and Marketing, Selling, Social Media, Success | No Comments »

5 ways to promote a speaker

January 2nd, 2011 by Michael

Have you booked a speaker for an upcoming event? Here are some easy ways to get the most people to attend and make this your best seminar, fundraiser, or convention keynote.

1. Get on the speaker’s mailing list.
You and your committee members should subscribe to the speaker’s mailing list as soon as you hire him or her. (My free newsletter is available at 5 Cool Ideas newsletter ).

Once in the loop, you’ll receive periodic updates from your speaker that will keep you thinking of fresh ways to promote your event. For example, my newsletter contains practical communication tips and you can use the publication to attract interest and encourage registrations for your event.

You can republish these great communication tips in your newsletter, on your Website, and on blogs. You may also forward the 5 Cool Ideas to your distribution list.

2. Use positive adjectives.
Inform people of your special guest speaker by providing key links (one at a time). People who hire me find it useful to provide these links:

www.MichaelAngeloCaruso.com
www.michaelangelocaruso.com/michael-angelo-caruso-blog/
www.youtube.com/results?search_query=michael+angelo+caruso&aq=f

Always use positive adjectives to describe your event, the food being served, the entertainment, and your speaker. Psychologists tells us that words such as fantastic, memorable, exciting, and funny are extremely effective persuasion tools.

3. Social media is effective and free!
I have developed a HUGE Facebook following. When you hire me, post details of your event on my personal page (4,600 friends) or fan page (look for the avatar with me holding a microphone).

Ask me to post a personal message on your Facebook group page. Continue to build your following on Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, and YouTube and you’ll have less trouble getting audiences to attend your events.

4. Video marketing is the best way to promote speakers.
In the old days—way back in the early 1990s,lol—the best way to promote a speaker was to distribute a flyer. Now you have your prospective attendees watch and listen to a speaker on video.

This sells tickets like crazy, providing the video is well done and the speaker knows his stuff. As an example, follow these steps to harness the awesome power of video marketing:

a. Search the name of your speaker or “Michael Angelo Caruso” on YouTube.
b. Select a video that you want to use.
c. Click the “Like” and “Subscribe” buttons, so you’ll receive notification of whenever a new video is posted.
d. Post a Comment; say something nice about me and then reference your event. Be sure to include a link to your landing page so people can register or buy tickets.
e. Share the video on Facebook, your other social media pages, and even on your organization’s Web page.
f. Copy/paste the video’s URL into your e-mail blasts along with your personal endorsement. Never underestimate the value of your personal recommendation.

5. Sell tickets five at a time.
People don’t like to attend events alone, so why sell tickets that way? Ask your Web person to arrange an online registration page that defaults to ticket blocks of five and ten, with an option to order a single ticket. You might offer a free ticket if someone purchases ten.

Have fun with your promotions and others will, too! Best of luck with your event!

_______________________
More information, such as Michael’s bio, head shot, and client testimonials are available at www.MichaelAngeloCaruso.com.

Tags: 5 Cool ideas, 5 ways to promote a speaker, detroit, event planning, facebook, Internet marketing, linkedin, michael Angelo Caruso, michaelangelocaruso, michigan, promote, promote a speaker, Social Media, speaker, twitter, video marketing, youtube
Posted in Communication, Creativity, Entertainment, Growing Your Business, Internet marketing, Marketing, Problem Solving, Sales and Marketing, Selling, Seminar, Social Media, Speaking, Success | No Comments »

5 Cool Ideas for Being Happier in the New Year

December 30th, 2010 by Michael

Thinking about a New Year’s Resolution. Maybe you’d like to resolve to be happier?

Being happy seems like such a simple concept and yet, very few people are truly happy. My father reminded me of this in his letters. I read the letters in the audiobook, Dear Michael Angelo – A Father’s Life Letters to His Son, which is available at www.MichaelAngeloCaruso.com.

In one of the letters, he wrote, “As individuals, we want to be happier than other people. This is difficult since we believe them to be happier than they really are.” Here are 5 Cool Ideas for being happier.

1. Accepting yourself can help you be happy.
My friend, Dr. Steve Fabick, is a psychologist. He says that being self-conscious can spoil almost any occasion. A man, for example, may not enjoy a fast dance with a woman because he can’t stop thinking about how he looks. Many women are unable to relax if they are under-dressed (or over-dressed) for a dinner party. The key to accepting yourself is to be comfortable in any given situation without being held hostage by the need for self-improvement.

2. Make each day a “perfect” day.
List the things that make you happy. Be sure to include work and not just fun stuff. Your ultimate goal is to make sure that the activities on your list occur daily. When you can systematize these activities, every day will be a perfect day.

3. Helping others helps you.
Grievance counselors say that helping others is a terrific way to be happier. Create a tandem act of kindness. Distract yourself from problems by helping someone else. I’ve made an assortment of long-term commitments to helping others including involvement with the Optimists, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and Rotary, the largest professional service organization in the world.

4. Use the “reversal” to get a grip.
Wrestling fans know about a move called “the reversal.” It’s what happens when the victim on the bottom ends up being the victor on the top. If you blame someone else for your unhappiness, ask yourself, “How long am I willing to be unhappy?” Reversing the blame will gently force you to realize that you are responsible for your happiness.

5. Happiness is a process, not a place.
I once facilitated a meeting for a company whose management preached the famous business model “management-by-objective” (MBO), as popularized by Peter Drucker. As I spent time with the employees, it became clear that the rank-and-file were disenchanted with the MBO process.

One employee actually told me, “This management- by-objective thing must not be working. This is the fifth year that we’re doing it!”

Management-by-objective is a process, not a place. The same is true for the management of emotions. The search for happiness requires lifelong dedication to patience, acceptance and planning.

Note to reader:

You can subscribe to Michael’s free 5 Cool Ideas newsletter at www.MichaelAngeloCaruso.com.

Tags: 5 Cool Ideas for Being Happy, big brothers big sisters, Dear Michael Angelo – A Father’s Life Letters to His Son, dr. steve fabick, happines, management by objective, mbo, michael Angelo Caruso, Optimist, peter drucker, Rotary
Posted in Communication, Creativity, Personal Development, Problem Solving, Success | No Comments »