Gumby Google Doodle Sparks A New Business

One of my oldest friends and associates is Joe Clokey, whose father was Art Clokey, the creator of Gumby and Pokey.

Joe is one of the most generous, nicest guys you’ll ever meet and has been working for years to keep his father’s legacy alive with a likely new Gumby movie, restored videos from the TV series, and revitalized toy sales.

Well, as it happens in a lot of businesses, people who create and own a product often make less money than the merchants who sell the products, and that was Joe’s situation. So Joe and his wife Joan decided that they should sell Gumby products themselves. When they asked us what we thought, we were totally on board. They’ve seen how we’ve done this with my dad’s book, A Land Remembered, and I have been encouraging them to do it. Seemed like a slam dunk to me but I know it can be a daunting task to branch into a new market.

A little back story: Joe came to me as a college student and wanted to do a senior project in video format for my department. We agreed and he did several more videos for us before forming his own educational video production and marketing company, which he still operates. I’ve enjoyed working with and mentoring Joe for some 25 years since then, and have been coaching him in internet marketing. Like me, he cut his teeth in direct mail marketing, but it is getting prohibitively expensive to promote to a small market through direct mail. The internet is far more affordable.

In September, out of the blue, Joe got a call from Google! They wanted to do a claymation logo in honor of Art Clokey’s birthday and showcase it on the main Google site. This was a fantastic public relations opportunity. Renowned animator Anthony Scott created the doodle animation. Scott is known for his animation direction and supervision on Coraline, Corpse Bride and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Scott got his start in animation working on the 1980’s Gumby series, under Art Clokey himself. He was also the lead animator under the direction of Art’s son Joe Clokey on the Davey and Goliath Snowboard Christmas movie, which was released in 2004. (I was production manager and editor on that show).

Google told Joe to expect over a million hits to his site, so he and Joan went into high gear to build a great new Gumby website and store, ordered inventory,

set up online purchasing, etc. The new GumbyWorld.com website looks fantastic.

You can see the Google doodle here.

Upshot?

They didn’t get the numbers they were expecting…he complained he only had 150,000 hits. (I put it in perspective for him…what I wouldn’t give to get that in a month!)

Products didn’t fly off the shelves but this opportunity was the impetus to start their own store and now they have steady sales and are getting more exposure to their fans. They had to spend some money and a lot of time to buid their great new website but they did it and will now continue to see growing sales from this business.

My point is, you never know when opportunity will strike but when it does you have to be ready to take action. Sometimes opportunity isn’t going to walk up and slap you in the face like it did Joe, so keep your eyes and ears open and some pretty wonderful things can happen. Like having some Google love.

 

 

Here’s that doodle if you missed it.

Dominating Google+

Google+ is the hottest thing in social media. [Since there is so much new happening in the world of social media that it's hard to keep up, we asked our friend and associate Gail Bottomley to share with you her recent post on dominating Google+] In just a few short days, the site gathered hundreds of thousands of users, making it a definite contender in the social media arena. A few weeks after launch, it was up to more than twelve million users! With such explosive growth, it is poised to become a major player very quickly. As I write this it is still in Beta and people everywhere are wanting to know how they can become part of  and Dominating Google + for their particular niche.

There is even some buzz in the world of social marketing that perhaps Google+ might even eventually replace Twitter, because it is so easy to use and integrates so many features into one unique platform. I am not sure that it will replace Facebook but am sure they will give it a very good go…

Obviously, anyone who is serious about promoting their brand should take advantage of emerging technology, and Google+ is at the forefront of new developments in social networking. This is the perfect time to join the game! So if you are not part of “The Game” then you need to be.

Trouble is, it’s another thing to learn and with our heads swiming with all the information we already have it’s another thing to learn, so to be honest I was walking on the sidelines just watching then I got invited and just had to jump in.

There are lots of things I like about Google + and lot’s I am not liking as yet, but we are working on it.

If you want to be Dominating Google + in your niche then you need to know how to use it… I am going to give you some tips in this blog post, and also off a FREE Report which you can download and it will give you some more help. Just scroll to the bottom of this page.

I am going to give you a summary of whats in the Dominating Google + Free Report, you can go ahead and download it as well…

6 Tips to Dominating Google +

Tip #1: Google+ Viral Marketing

One of the most powerful aspects of Google+ is the +1 function. This function allows individuals to share things they like by using the +1 button. This has the potential to allow your marketing to go viral through Google+ users.

You can add a +1 button to your own blogs and websites, and you can even customize your plus one button. Just visit the following URL to customize your +1 button….google.com/webmasters/+1/button/

One of the biggest mistakes people make with social marketing is spamming their followers. While social marketing is essentially permission-based, you can still spam your followers if you post too often. Because of the potential viral marketing element, it is especially important to moderate your promotion on Google+, because you want those promotions you make to be impactful. More people will +1 your links if you post them rarely.

Tip #4: Hangouts

Hangouts are live, multi-person video conferences between Google+ users. These are great, because they can be used for webinars, and you can get a lot of people together at once.

Hangouts are great for making presentations to your audience. Be sure to put together an outline or script before you begin to eliminate a lot of the “ums” and “uhs” you might get otherwise, and schedule the webinar a day or two in advance to give people plenty of time to clear their schedules.

One major reason you should use Hangouts is because you can get live feedback from the other people who attend the video chat. This allows you to figure out what people want to know without having to ask them upfront. I love Hangouts! They are one of the best features and really where you can be Dominating Google + as the expert in your field… people love to hangout with like minded people…

Holiday Email Marketing – Are You Prepared?

Holiday email marketing!? It’s only October!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…in every store you go…la lala la la…

Oh, come on, it’s only October. Start planning for the holidays now? Really? YES!

Actually, this post is about a month late. Most industries that rely on a robust holiday shopping season are already going gangbusters and have their holiday email campaigns started, and for good reason. Last year, a Google report for the 2010 holiday season called for a 15%-20% increase in email overall volume. You have to get out there are go elbow-to-elbow with the other email marketers vying for the same consumer dollars.

Since several of our eCommerce sites, like PatrickSmithOnline.com, sell items that are very popular as Christmas presents, we began our email campaigns the beginning of September.

A bit of a backstory…

We didn’t put much thought into our holiday emails when we first started, I really didn’t quite understand the importance of my products as holiday gifts. I also feared they would get tired of too many emails and I would lose them through unsubscribing.

All of that changed in 2009 when Kim went to a conference and came back with a well thought out and organized holiday marketing campaign. It took a lot of work to implement it that first year but she was motivated. We had cut the cord from one of our largest video clients because they consumed too much of our time during the fall, and we needed to make up for that loss of income.

I’m happy to say that we not only made up the income but we quadrupled our sales! This happened in the heart of the recession as well. We also saw LESS unsubscribes and LESS spam reports. (I’ve discovered why that happens which I’ll talk about in next week’s post. Sign up to the right and you’ll be notified when that posts.)

Now, having 30+ years experience in direct marketing, I knew that one of the key things you need to realize is that one email is not enough. One key to success in email marketing is the same as advertising – repetition, repetition, repetition.

You need to get in front of  your customers at least 6 to 7 times before you may make a sale. In the world of email, that number has probably increased to 20 or so. You have to realize that many of your email recipients won’t open you first email, or your second or third, but somewhere along the line they’ll open it and perhaps respond.  Others will either respond, delete it or unsubscribe.

So If you feel your customers would be interested in giving your video or other products for Christmas gifts, then what are you waiting for? Your competitors have had their plans in the works for weeks now. Here are a few ideas to help get you started:

• Sit down with your calendar and plan out your email content and the frequency of your emails to your list. Start sending your campaign by the beginning of November.

• Sign up with an email marketing service such as the one we use, Constant Contact. Or if you use a shopping cart like the one we use, you are able to email your list and customers from within that. Whatever you do, don’t use your personal email account for mass emails or will likely get banned. These services also make it easy to import and organize your prospect and customer lists, set up all your emails at one time and give you statistics or reports.

• Send your email consistently but keep an eye out for list fatigue. There is a lot of extra competition at this time of year, and a lot more clutter in the in-box, so you may have to make multiple efforts just to get noticed.

• As your holiday sales start picking up, you’re going to be too busy to craft enticing email messages. So do that now and use the autoresponder system in Constant Contact or your shopping cart that allows you to upload all of your messages now and set them for later delivery dates.

• Invest in a toll-free customer service phone number. (We use and recommend RingCentral.) Some shoppers are leery of purchasing online anyway and during the holiday rush they are concerned that their gifts won’t arrive on time. Phone service has gotten incredibly cheap, but I still recommend a toll-free number. A toll-free number is inexpensive and in my personal opinion, it send the message that you are a large company and are willing to spend the extra dime to support your customers.

• Look at your shipping service and be sure to let your list know about holiday mailing deadlines. Make sure you give yourself a few days buffer. We usually include holiday shipping deadlines in all of our emails throughout the holiday season. This is also an incentive for customers to make a buying decision early and not put it off.

• Make every email meaningful. There is so much competition at this time of year, don’t waste your customers time with promotions that are irrelevant to their wants.

• If you can, segment your mailing list based on what your customers purchased last year so you can personalize holiday gift suggestions. We segment ours into past customers and new prospects and you may segment yours further. Here’s where having more than one product or title is a good thing. If you only have one title, consider complementary items you can offer to your list and sign up to be affiliates of retail outlets that offer those. For example, if you are an Amazon Associate, there are many items you can promote that would interest your customer who buys your DVD. We do this with our Car Detailing DVD…customers who buy that will also need car wash supplies.

• Offer free shipping whenever possible. That’s a promotion that most on-line shoppers have just come to expect. What we like to do is to offer shipping on a minimum dollar amount of sale – Get free shipping on all orders over $20, for example. We set the price point so that they have to buy more than one item.

• Include a “count down” in each and every email so shoppers know the shipping deadline for their holiday purchases.

• Take excellent notes of all the activities and outcomes of your holiday campaign to make it that much easier next year. Do this while it is fresh in your mind. Use a spreadsheet to keep track of each email’s response rate and effectiveness. Constant Contact and Marketer’s Choice saves all my old emails with these statistics so now all I have to do is go back to a similar one, copy and tweak it, then resend this year.

Creating a holiday email campaign requires some planning – so get started now! Expect to spend at least several hours designing your plan, crafting and testing each individual message.

Once the holidays are in full swing, you’ll be singing too! La lala la la…

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