marketing
I'm pumped to share that I'll be sitting on a panel of branding professionals at an upcoming event hosted by John Bertino and the rest of the folks at the San Diego SEO Meetup.
The event is called "Brand Strategy 2014: The Keys To Crafting Authentic Stories." It will be held at the University of San Diego's Manchester Hall on May 7, 2014 at 6PM. Here's an excerpt from the event page:
Read MoreMusic is a key ingredient in my work-life stew.
I've found starting this business to feel a bit like running up the down elevator, or climbing out of a black hole. There's a dull but persistent fear of slipping over the event horizon, of having to close up shop and step back into the job market. But it just hasn't happened, and lately the fear has begun morphing more and more into excitement and motivation.
Read MoreWe've known for a while that ads would be coming to Instagram. That's how the revenue model of a social network works; get the users first, then sell access to them. The model gives marketers great opportunities to put hyper-targeted ads in front of only the people whom we want to show them to, which is a valuable proposition.
Producing ads for Instagram is exciting to me. Social networks have been gradually improving ads in ways that make them more relevant and less intrusive. I have a feeling that IG ads experience will be well designed and thought out. Unfortunately that still may not protect us (advertisers) from ruining it.
It doesn't have to be a bad experience. @jtiproducts [client] recently posted the photo above. It received over 2,000 likes and 50 comments after it was picked up and re-shared by three other accounts. I think it could just as easily be a sponsored photo, and I think it would receive a similar positive reaction. Because it's about more than just the product; it's about the lifestyle of those who might be future buyers.
Social media feeds are great places for ad placements, but we must respect the people who we advertise to and the context we're advertising in. On Instagram we must advertise relevant things that stand on their own as art, as interesting, as impressive. And we mustn't make our product or our logo the hero. Nobody wants to be sold to while they playing with their friends.
And so I make a plea to advertisers. Don't screw this up for everybody.
Jason Fried, Founder of 37 Signals, talks about why teaching is such an important aspect of marketing. Must watch for anybody who's trying to market and sell a product or service (or sell anything, for that matter).
The Talk: Marketing by Sharing Jason Fried is the co-founder and President of 37signals, a privately-held Chicago-based company committed to building the best web-based tools possible with the least number of features necessary. 37signals' products include Basecamp, Highrise, Backpack, Campfire, Ta-da List, and Writeboard. 37signals also developed and open-sourced the Ruby on Rails programming framework.
