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Here’s something I wrote called the Whistleblower Report: A Short Story of Success With A Long Tail

It ruffled a few feathers when I published it because it outlines my approach to marketing and how I convinced CAA clients that aliens were responsible for a rash of dead car batteries at Christmas.

I even explain why eBay staff thought they had a corporate mole they heard about my special coupon marketing idea. All fun stuff.

No opt-in required. You can download it from Scribd. Enjoy, and remember if you like it – share the link on your social network.

Thanks!

James

PS. If you like this content, SUBSCRIBE to my email list for more.

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The pen is mightier than the sword. What a great line. Written no doubt by a pacifist I’m guessing, because I’m all for the power of the word (in the beginning there was only the word…) but facing someone in battle armed only with a ballpoint pen… I’d run a mile – unless of course I was Bruce Willis or Stallone, then I’d win no matter what.

But what has that go to do with the price of fish? Not a great deal other than the fact this annoyingly cute saying is in fact correct. Granted in physical combat it’s a no-win, but in todays wired world where we communicate at the speed of thought the sword is no match for the word.

And once you accept the power of the word – spoken or written, you begin to understand the true scope of its applicability to our very nature. The nature to which I refer to is that of our social qualities, the act of gathering together and exchanging stories, values, ideas and sharing perspectives and opinions.

The town square and village pub were slowly replaced online by the bulletin boards of the 1980′s and then again with the power of the Web and email. Today the next evolution has occurred with websites like Twitter, Facebook and other social networking venues. And if you think that these websites are just for kids talking about how cute someone is – you’d be wrong…very wrong.

Today many of these social networking ‘watering holes’ get more daily page views (traffic) than Google. Yes you read that right – MORE THAN GOOGLE. This watershed moment happened in the summer of 2007 and it’s been rising steadily since. This shift in “influence” has happened very quickly. The biggest surprise in the traffic game has been YouTube. This site now gets more daily traffic than Google by a very healthy margin and a visitor spends on average at least 15 minutes experiencing the content.

The other sites like Facebook are currently matching Google (however this is changing monthly and may well be higher by the time this goes to print.) You can see for yourself if you’d like by visiting www.alexa.com and typing in the names of the sites you’d like to compare.

Is this rapid rise of social marketing a surprise? Not to me. It’s human nature all over again. And if you stop and think about what this means to you, well it can be good or bad depending on how this new ‘force’ is applied. Today with Web2.0 and Social Marketing gaining momentum like never before, I’d have to agree that the pen is truly mightier than the sword – yet again.

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I was teased as a child. I was slight, sensitive, and wore braces on my teeth. When I smiled, my canines showed clearly and because I wore prescription sunglasses I earned the nickname “Drak.”

Back then, to avoid the taunting I escaped into my own world of words. I drank them up, became addicted to their influence, to their power to persuade.

To a teased young boy, the promise of freedom offered by words was to much to ignore. So I began studying professional wordsmithing – more commonly called copywriting.

But one more element was needed to create the formula for my future: a computer – and fortunately for me I got one for Christmas. I was hooked.

To this day I can still remember closing my eyes at night and seeing the green cursor blinking because I’d spent too long staring at the screen! I taught myself to program, to speak ‘geek’ and to connect with others online.

In the late 80′s there was no internet – just dialup bulletin boards. Email was just starting to catch on and I was hooked once more.

With email technology I realized words could be amplified in their power and reach. I could connect with more people than ever before and share information and communicate more effectively than any other way available to me.

It was glorious.

I began to share my enthusiasm for technology and communication with my family and friends and because of it earned my first paid commission to create software – a database program to manage client mailing lists.

It was official, my course was set.

All through school and college I continued writing and programming. Later I moved into corporate still committed to the application of technology to help us communicate and share information.

I spent 17 years doing that for some of the largest companies around the world before branching out on my own in 2000.

Today I still work with words, I still constantly explore new and exciting technologies that help us communicate and share, and today I want to encourage you to explore the next evolution in communication: video.

You’ve probably noticed I’ve been using video more in my messaging lately – that’s because it works. TV and movies didn’t get to where they are today by chance – it’s the power of presence, the added visual dimension they offer. With modern point-n-click methods for creating and sharing video – now it’s easier than ever to do.

Here’s my video marketing platform.

Remember, whether the words are written or spoken matters little, the words themselves are key. Cast the right ones and you’ll literally enchant your audience.

And when you add the power of visual presence by letting your audience see you, you elevate your communication to all new levels.

So now you know what drives me to do what I do…

What’s your story?

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Simply send me your blog post (350 to 450 words max) and keep the topic in line with my basic site premise: helping people with their marketing, showing them how to make or save money, or simply ways to do things more efficiently and in the end, feel better about themselves (mojo.) If you’re unsure about your topic, just shoot me an email.

Don’t get too hung up, but remember I’m considering giving you exposure on my blog which is syndicated to tens of thousands of people as well as the spill-over coverage on Twitter (13K+ followers) and Facebook too.

You can include a picture if you wish – keep it under 250×250 (doesn’t have to be square – just watch the max dimensions) and I’ll even let you include a back-link to your site.

Why? Just because… and dammit, it’s nearly 2012!

So there you have it. Get writing, and Merry Christmas to you too. I look forward to your submissions.

James Burchill

PS. I should say I have no idea what to expect from this … perhaps nothing, maybe too much. Hey, it’s a Wednesday morning idea … and I’m running with it. What are you trying today?

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Firstly I’ll just say it … I’m not a fan of coupon deal sites, any of them. Oh whoopee, another $20 offer for $10

From a business owners perspective (albeit a slightly warped one being on the marketing side of things) the idea of encouraging a client to generate leads by giving away their products and services for “half-price” is not sound advice.

And for the nay-sayers who will tell you it’s the classic ‘loss leader’ strategy … I’d say this: “Rubbish!”

Here’s why this model sucks:

1. You’re probably not making any profit … you could even be losing cash. Loss leader assumes you can make it up on subsequent sales. See #2
2. You attract people who are NOT YOUR TARGET because they can’t afford your regular prices. *This is killer: no subsequent sales – See #1
3. Discounting is not a strategy, it’s a tactic. Improper tactical application can be fatal to your business.
4. Discounting commoditizes you. It says there’s no discernible value between you and the other guy beyond price, and the last time I checked, price is not a benefit.
5. If you feel good about giving away half your stuff – call it what it is: Donating. I suggest if you want to donate your products and services, tell the press and at least get some good PR out of the exposure.
6. Businesses that live by price … die by price.
7. You create a ‘fire sale’ culture. People figure they can get your stuff super cheap at other times.
8. If you train them to wait for sales … they’ll wait for sales. Monkey see – monkey do. Bad for cash-flow.
9. Some folks might get annoyed at you for slashing prices, figuring if you can “afford” to do this you must be price gouging under normal conditions. Of course the prospect likely does not know you’re taking a bath financially…
10. You not only lose half the cash in the process … you also have to pay the platform fee for helping you “slash your commercial wrists.” Say it ain’t so! Will someone give me a paper cut and pour lemon juice on it… this doesn’t hurt enough as it is.

And the list goes on… a bit like me today it would seem

Finally, my Grandmother is called “Betty” so the name holds special meaning to me … but in today’s world the word Betty means something different. Betty is now slang and refers to a woman in a less than positive light. Check out this definition.

So, now you can see why I say coupon sites are not so smart Betty – er Grandma, er Elizabeth… whatever.

And for all your businesses reading this, please, step away from the edge. Group(on?) think isn’t always a sound decision … just ask Lemmings. Don’t jump. There are better ways to market your business.

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As the car passed, the female driver glowered at me. I tried in vain to gesture towards the roof of her car, but all she did was shout at me. Which is kind of dopey because I couldn’t hear anything, all I saw were her lips moving

The lady (and I use that term loosely…) merged into oncoming traffic and began to accelerate. I watched, now slightly amused, as the wind caught the pizza box on the roof, flipped it gracefully into the air (opening as it did so) and dumping her fresh, hot steaming pizza into oncoming traffic.

The driver, I forgot to mention was also using her cell phone. She was still using her cellphone when the pizza box back-flipped off the roof and landed in the traffic. She was still using her cell phone when she pulled an illegal U-turn as well. She was consistent – I’ll give her that!

Never one to give up easily, I attempted again to wave at her and gesture she had lost her lunch. This time (still on the phone mind you) she mouthed more colourful language, and sealed the deal by flipping me the bird! Nice. This woman was so wrapped up using her cell phone, and rudely gesturing at me, she never noticed the lost pizza or someone trying to help her as she drove away.

As I passed the spot where the pizza was now “becoming one with the road,” I wondered how long it would be before she figured all this out. Would she feel regret for her actions? Would she simply blow it off and carry on? I’ll never know. And the moral of today’s tale? I’m not sure I have one, at first this particular incident reminded me of the saying “no good deed goes unpunished” but that’s not my style.

It’s hardly surprising in today’s culture, people don’t help one another more when a situation such as the one I just described actually happens. And on the odd chance the lady who lost her pizza is reading this post, I hope your family wasn’t too disappointed when you got home. I’m also sorry you didn’t give yourself a second to realize someone was trying to save your lunch and save you a return trip. Instead you gave me the bird finger pizza salute!

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Outsourcing repetitive tasks, promotional messaging and other “non personal” work – that’s just smart. But when a colleague connects with me “personally” I’m rather bothered when I get a message back from them — or rather from their assistant — saying something like this:

“Hi this is Sally, I’m John’s VA. I’ll pass along your message and let him know you reached out.”

Uh …’Pass along your message and let him know…’ Well woop-dee-doo! And while I suspect Sally is a wonderful person I will no longer communicate privately with my friend on that channel because I believed it was a direct, personal connection with him. Not so.

Call me naive perhaps, but surely I’m not the only one person who manages their personal profiles. Yes I have profiles on networks for business promotion but I’d argue they are obviously “marketing” or “broadcast” based and you can tell that when you see them. But my personal profiles … that’s another thing entirely.

And for those nay-sayers out there who might argue and say I support automation and should expect nothing less from my friends use of technology, I say this: Phhht! Ok, well not really. I say this…

Automation is a tool that can be used to improve process and systems. It should only be used when the elemental component of a task is discrete, repeatable and not subject to the usual vagaries of human interpretation. In other words, use it for some things and not others … like writing to your “real” friends.

Hang on a second… OMG!

Maybe …. just maybe I’m not a real friend to my colleague. Horror of horrors! Oh cruel world, how suddenly you seem darker and less friendly to me now. [Cue dramatic soundtrack]

Until next time, I’m off to offend some “close friends” with a phone call. I know, how 19th Century of me

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