Exclusive Networking This Thursday at AXA Advisors, 21 Things You Need To Know About Internet Marketing in 2011, Cliff Lee Joins SG for $120 Million?
Posted by Salem Global on Dec 14, 2010
Internet Marketing For 2011, Cliff Lee Joins SG for $120 Million? What Your Business Should Be Doing Before Christmas
Well the cat is out of the bag. Cliff Lee is not going to the Yankees for the next five seasons. Instead he has decided to join SalemGlobal and also play baseball for the Philadelphia Phillies for $120 million. (http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2010/12/14/report-cliff-lee-to-sign-with-phillies/) Lee was reported to have said that “the Phillies are a great team and I am going to bring them to the World Series.” In his spare time he will write tweets, blog posts and content for websites. “You might think it strange that Lee would decide to spend his free time hanging out at the SG offices,” says Raphi Salem, CEO SalemGlobal Internet, “but I happen to know that he spends lots of that time on his blackberry, writing content and making YouTube videos.” “Hey – if I am doing all that stuff anyway – I might as well get paid for it… right?” replied Lee from his linkedin account and Facebook status.
As a reminder, SalemGlobal Internet would like to update you on the 21 things every organization needs to succeed online. It’s not just SEO anymore. Google has basically leveled the playing field between sponsored ads, local listings and organic search. If you aren’t taking advantage of all of the below, then your competition might just take some business away from you. So continue with your SEO efforts and social media. But just remember to be consistent and you will come out on top.
1) Evaluate present website for compatibility with SEO strategies.
2) Research your industry and relevant keywords.
3) Purchase relevant domain names
4) Build marketing websites that are optimized for areas of your industry and business, and use these to help promote your primary corporate website
5) Implement appropriate metadata – page titles, keywords, descriptions and search engine friendly URLs
6) Rewrite and prioritize content & text on site. Develop new content and increase pages
7) Gather, Create and Post testimonials and local reviews – increase number of pages, claim being a trusted authority
Develop and implement a user registration form. Increase Lead Generation.
9) Build and upload sitemap and robots.txt file
10) Submit site to search engines – Google, Yahoo, Bing and the lesser used engines
11) Submit listings to local directories – Google, Yahoo, Bing, Yelp, Merchant Circle etc.
12) Build and maintain business blogs on separate domain names and hosting
13) Social Media/Networks – Identify existing online communities, and build new ones. Utilize Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, Yahoo Groups
14) Online video production – distribute your video across shared online video sites; YouTube, Tube Mogul
15) Develop newsletter (We are a Constant Contact Business Partner)
16) Write and promote online press releases for your organization (Interactive PR)
17) Write and promote articles – submit articles to hundreds of free online newspapers and magazines
18) Develop contests – fun & exciting for existing and new visitors
19) Manage Pay-per-Click (PPC) advertising (Google/ Yahoo/ Bing)
20) Manage Affiliate Marketing (Linkshare/ Commission Junction/ ShareASale) for ecommerce sites
21) Monitor and Report – Evaluate efforts and results (e.g. Google Analytics and additional 3rd-party tools such as WebCEO.com)
Want to know more about what to do for 2011 and getting your business ready for 1st quarter? Do you need a new marketing strategy for 2011? Call Raphi Salem at 212-993-5828 or email info@salemglobal.com for more information about us, how we work, how much it costs etc. etc.. You will be glad you did!
Internet Marketing, NY Yankees Lose, Bengie Molina Wins The World Series, Power Naps, Yahoo Links, Croc Kills 19: What your business can learn from covering all your bases and being prepared
Posted by Salem Global on Oct 26, 2010
Talk about covering your bases! Texas Rangers Bengie Molina doesn’t really care if the Texas Rangers or the SF Giants win the MLB World Series because he will be a winner either way. During the regular season Molina played 61 games for San Francisco before being traded to Texas, where he played 57 games for the Rangers. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=sh-molina102410.
Of course, most people are observers of baseball. How many of us really play the game. Just like soccer, football, basketball or any other major league team sport, there are many more people in the bleachers than there are on the field. But now Spain has figured out how to get EVERYONE involved in a national sport. Forget about the power nap, take a whole Siesta. Spain held its first ever nap-a-thon and an unemployed security guard named Pedro Soria Lopez won the championship and managed to bag the top prize of 1000 Euros as well: http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world/first-ever-spanish-national-siesta-championship-held-in-spain_100449716.html.
In tragic news this past week though, I am sad to announce that most websites will be losing some of their “link-juice” due to an error in their technology or algorithm or who knows why? Some people and company websites will benefit and some will lose. If your ranking in the search engine drops, don’t panic. Keep doing what you are doing and hope that the algorithm gets corrected sooner rather than later. And if you show up higher in Google, tell all of your potential clients and buyers that Yahoo and Bing are broken… Massive Link Drops in Yahoo Site Explorer: Yahoo Working With Microsoft To Fix.
And in the most tragic bizarre news of the week, 19 people died due to some idiot bringing a live crocodile on a flight in Africa. The croc got loose, wreaked havoc, caused the plane to get off balance causing the pilot to lose control and the plane went down. There was one survivor who was able to tell all. Sort of reminds me of Bruce Willis vs. Samuel L. Jackson in “Unbreakable.” http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/crocodile-on-a-plane-kills-19/story-e6frfq80-1225942045322.
This story is very similar to the above… Mega Shark Takes Down a Plane: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I16_8l0yS-g.
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcxKIJTb3Hg – Monty Python and The Holy Grail and The Killer Rabbit
…where the ONLY solution to such tragic horror is the Holy Hand Grenade: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOrgLj9lOwk
“…And Saint Attila raised the hand grenade up on high, saying, “O Lord, bless this Thy hand grenade that with it Thou mayest blow Thine enemies to tiny bits, in Thy mercy.” And the Lord did grin and the people did feast upon the lambs and sloths and carp and anchovies and orangutans and breakfast cereals, and fruit bats and large chu… [At this point, the friar is urged by Brother Maynard to "skip a bit, brother"]… And the Lord spoke, saying, “First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin, then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it.” Amen.”
What about your business? Are all of your bases covered? In addition to SEO search engine optimization, are you also budgeting for PPC pay per click? Are you blogging? Using social media? LinkedIn? Facebook? Are you sending out newsletters? Avoid disaster by having a holistic approach to Internet Marketing. Need help with Internet promotion for your business? We have been helping companies and businesses strategize online since 1997. Call Raphi Salem at 212-993-5828, email info@salemglobal.com, or check out www.SalemGlobal.com for more information about how to win either way and avoid tragic disasters.
Internet Marketing, Cigar Guy? Phillies Roy Halladay No-Hitter, Yankees Sweep, Giants Jets Win!: What your business can learn from the unexpected
Posted by Salem Global on Oct 12, 2010
So Tiger Woods is playing golf when all of a sudden some Indian guy with a Turban and a huge fat cigar appears out of nowhere. Sounds like a joke right? But it wasn’t. Here is the original picture: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/golf/article-1319238/Cigar-guy-revealed-We-man-stood-Tiger-Woods-internet-sensation.html
And here are some of the hundreds of doctored photos: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39522903/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets
“Cigar Guy” turns out to be a 30-year old investment analyst from London named Rupesh Singaida. He actually isn’t wearing a turban at all. It’s a hair piece that he is wearing to show support for another golfer named Miguel Angel Jiminez, one of the star European players who just happens to be famous for his long hair and cigar smoking.
In other sports news, Philadelphia Phillies Roy Halladay made history with his No-Hitter, the 2nd in playoff history and his second of the season. http://www.philliesnation.com/archives/2010/10/roy-halladay-throw-no-hitter and the New York Yankees have done it again by sweeping the Minnesota Twins and advancing to the next round in the American League Championship Series (ALCS)
In Football, the NY Giants are on a 2 game winning streak while the J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS won on Monday night.
So what I have learned this week is that sometimes the out of the ordinary truly gets the most promotion. Before that photographer captured Tiger Woods golf ball in mid-air, Cigar Guy was just another Indian living in London. But now the Cigar Guy is known all over the world. Oh and more famous but less promoted is Miguel Angel Jiminez which should give him a boost of confidence. The Yankees are as close to a sure thing as any other team. They have the budget, the players, the plays and the strategies. (And maybe the correct amount of steroids?) The Giants and Jets aren’t a sure thing but their fans keep them going.
What about your business? Do you have the budget to buy as many domain names as possible? Do you have many “fans” or happy and satisfied customers who are rooting for you? Those clients’ customers and patients who are very happy with your practices and services should be jockeying for you. They should be writing testimonials for your website, your LinkedIn and on Google and Yahoo local.
Need help with Internet promotion for your business? We have been helping companies and businesses strategize online since 1997. Call Raphi Salem at 212-993-5828, email info@salemglobal.com or check out www.SalemGlobal.com for more information about how to get your own “Cigar Guy” to make YOU famous.
Website Marketing New York, Jewish New Years. ESPN turns 31. Moneyball. Coach Fritz, Michael Lewis and My Father: What your business can learn from new beginnings and baseball coaches
Posted by Salem Global on Sep 7, 2010
Just a quick note to wish all of our readers a very happy, healthy and successful Jewish New Year. Whether you are Jewish or not and/or whether you celebrate or not, New Years are always a time of reflection and of course celebration. Reflect on the past. See what you can do to improve. Make life goals. Set up a plan to accomplish them. Stop your bad habits (quit smoking already!) and start some good ones (eat better and exercise). When it comes to business, I give the same advice. Stop your bad habits that are related to losing customers (not delivering product or service on time). START good habits (improve customer service). And of course… start on online marketing campaign already!!! Of course I want to work with you but maybe we aren’t the right fit. And if we aren’t the right fit, explore other avenues that are a better match, more affordable or work for you on your own schedule. Read up on some of my old writings about Internet marketing (WebsiteStrategyMarketing.com) and watch my marketing videos on YouTube (youtube.com/user/salemglobalcom) get a college intern to help you out. And if you can’t afford to hire a firm, email me and I will lead you to some great tutorials that might get you started. Join LinkedIn groups. Facebook. Set up your social media profiles. Buy domain names. Build blogs. And write about your company. Promote yourself and have your friends and family spread the word. (That’s word of mouth marketing you know). And have fun…
Which leads me to reflect upon this past year of writing about Internet and website marketing. For most people, writing is a chore. For me it is cathartic. And not only that, it keeps me on my toes and makes sure that I am growing as a professional every day, week, month and year. One of the top things I learned this year is that most of my audience relates to sports. When I started including sports and celebrity into my writing, my readership grew. I was also able to connect and analogize sports and game theory to website marketing.
My latest book I have been reading is Moneyball by Michael Lewis. I found it after I read the Blind Side which caught my attention because of the movie. I haven’t seen the movie but the book was awesome. Moneyball lead me to read “Coach: Lessons on the Game of Life.” All about Michael Lewis’ Coach Fritz who more taught his teams about growing up and becoming a man (I don’t know if he ever coached women’s sports) than the actual game of baseball. And then when kids grew into men, only then did they REALLY understand how to play and win baseball games. My father passed away this summer and in my eulogy I spoke about a similar experience I had when I was younger. I was a pretty good athlete and played on a little league team. I remember my father and I were having a catch and he was throwing the ball REALLY hard at me. I don’t recall the conversation that took place because my father was not much of a talker. As I like to say, he was “all action and no talk.” In thinking about our catch though, in the beginning I had a fear of the ball. What my father was teaching me was not only how to catch a fastball and gain confidence but also how to take whatever is thrown at you in life and just deal with it. There is more but I will save it for another time…
Thank you all for reading and sticking with me throughout all these years. I really appreciate all of your support and feedback. May we all be blessed with much success and profit in the New Year (The Jewish one, the Gregorian one, the Chinese one. I don’t care 
And if you want to know more about the Jewish New Year, please consult your rabbi or the Internet. If you want to know more about Internet marketing, please email me or call me. But not this week lol… email me at raphis@salemglobal.com, call my office at 212-993-5828 or check out www.SalemGlobal.com for more information. The call and consultation are free, but you might make millions from my theories so don’t forget
Website Marketing NY, Quit Your Day Job (At JetBlue Airlines) But Don’t Forget The Beer, A-Rod Hits 600: What your business can learn from newsworthy bridge burning
Posted by Salem Global on Aug 10, 2010
As the Grateful Dead said: “I’m going to Hell in a bucket baby, but at least I’m enjoying the ride…” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIwSaOBHinQ) Thus said the JetBlue Employee of the century, flight attendant Steven Slater, after getting hit in the head by a piece of luggage that an impatient passenger on flight 1052 arriving from Pittsburgh to New York’s JFK Airport couldn’t wait to get down. But the way that it all went down was so classic that it is already being called “pulling a JetBlue.” So awesome that after arguing with the specific passenger, Slater then got on the PA system, said some profanities, cursed out everyone in the plane and just like James Bond, activated the emergency exit chute, and ran away down the tarmac, through the terminal, onto the bus, into his car and headed for home. But wait – it gets better. I am not exactly sure how this was reported and what Slater was thinking, but the climax of this whole story was that right before he made his dramatic departure, he actually grabbed a couple of beers on the way out. Now tell me folks, is there ANY better way to quit your job?
And tell me folks, don’t you think that as of this writing there are no fewer than 782 related articles when you search for “JetBlue” in Google news? And more blogs and articles are definitely coming. This is almost as good as when Kevin Smith of Clerks/ Silent Bob fame Twittered about being called fat on a Southwest Airlines flight. Social media and the web have done wonders for businesses large and small. And remember it doesn’t all have to be good news. Just news. As the old PR saying goes, any PR is good PR. Just realize how viral this story has gone in the last 24 hours and how much more it will go in the next 24 hours…
So your business should be creative and try to figure out what is going to really shock the world. What do you think that is? I am talking about Ripley’s Believe It Or Not material. This is your homework for the week. What can your company do or stage to get news coverage so vast that everyone is talking about it. That will get more hits to your website than you can imagine. JetBlue is a good company. This guy just got fed up. That’s all. No real harm done. I am sure flight attendants get hit every day in the head. Even more get cursed out. But today’s story takes the cake. There is a debate in my office whether this video is real or not: What do YOU think? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wvxodp-GpFA.
Book of the week: “All In: The (Almost) Entirely True Story of the World Series of Poker” by Jonathan Grotenstein and Storms Reback – http://www.amazon.com/All-Almost-Entirely-Story-World/dp/0312360371/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1281458326&sr=1-8 – Making me think a little more about how I play my own poker hands. Your business can learn a lot about marketing and business development from this book. Taking risks and chances. Leveraging what you have…
Finally, yes. Alex Rodriguez has indeed joined the 600 club, but I have never NEVER seen a ballgirl (or boy) do this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1liNz3QsAc – Did I mention that this was a ball girl? Oh yeah – the way that I got to this video was because Masato Akamatsu of the Hiroshima Toyo Carp also made an impressive catch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYdpBNonxA4. (But NOT AS IMPRESSIVE AS A BALL GIRL!!!) Ok – last one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW0bb2wxH5Y, Brian Kownacki Leaps The Catcher for safe at home plate. Btw – check out CORRECT use of YouTube description with the url: http://www.sportingnews.com
So if you want to know more about writing true or false stories about your company, having them go viral, how to promote these stories to the benefit of your company and using social media to get the message out, email me at raphis@salemglobal.com, call my office at 212-993-5828 or check out www.SalemGlobal.com for more information. The call and consultation are free, the benefits could be priceless. (Thanks to Alan in my Tuesday morning Westchester networking group for that tagline – I like it).
Website Marketing Manhattan, Mazel Tov Chelsea Clinton, A-Rod 600, Kohl’s $10 Million, Eat Pray Love, Drink, Play, F@#k: What your business can learn, and take from the larger players
Posted by Salem Global on Aug 3, 2010
So what have I really learned this week about website marketing? Not too much. But then I got a Facebook request to vote for my friend’s school to win $10 million dollars through Kohl’s. A retail store here in Westchester – and probably around the country as well. Now THIS is the way to use social media. Kids. Schools. Money. A winning combination. Please vote for my kids’ school: http://apps.facebook.com/KohlsCares/school/1227181/solomon-schechter-sch-westchtr-lower. This is one of the best examples of huge fortune companies using the web to get more exposure and ultimately increase sales in all of their stores. It is WELL worth $10,000,000. That’s TEN MILLION DOLLARS folks. That got my attention. And now I am promoting it to you and every single school friend and alumnus that I know. That’s word of mouth marketing at its finest. Money talks and on the web, talk is cheap. My kids’ school has been around, I think, for 30 years and if I can get a fraction of those people on Facebook and vote for my kids school to win, that will be an extra $500,000 in our annual budget this year. So please vote for my kids’ school. I would very much appreciate it. Thanks.
Last week I picked up the book on CD “Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert. It’s a sad story about a woman who goes through a divorce, depression and then travels to Italy, Indonesia and India for a year. I am only on the 3rd CD so I don’t know how it ends but I can tell you that so far it is excellent and I highly recommend the CD because she has a beautiful voice and to hear her speaking Italian on the CD as opposed to reading the book is really an added bonus. I also guarantee you that the book is 1 million times better than the Julia Roberts movie that will be coming out next week. Movies NEVER do a book justice. Related to this, please do not see the Leonardo DiCaprio movie Inception. I was totally duped by the advertising that called it “James Bond meets the Matrix.” It was more like nobody meets nobody and it’s all a dream within a dream and it mostly all sucks. Yes, there was some action (but no fun James Bond girl sex) but it didn’t make any sense at all and wasn’t exciting for me. I am honestly surprised that DiCaprio would do a movie like this since he usually has better taste…. Yes – Titanic was probably better than Inception… though I didn’t see it. I still have to see Shutter Island since I read that book – which was great.
And then on Friday my friend asked me if I also read “Drink, Play, F@#k.” I thought it was a joke up until my other friend, Google, took me to http://www.amazon.com/Drink-Play-Anything-Ireland-Thailand/dp/0802170528 and realized that it indeed was real. “Drink, Play, F@#k: One Man’s Search for Anything Across Ireland, Las Vegas, and Thailand”, by Andrew Gottlieb is next on my list.
Btw. I got a lot of slack for the New York Mets game that I attended last week. Its one thing to make fun of the Mets for being losers but it’s another to not recognize that going to Citi Field is an experience in and of itself. First I have to thank Alan Berkson of Infomanage (www.InfoManage.net) for the tickets. Second, I have to say that the legroom where I was sitting was more comfortable than any other stadium I have ever been to. Third, if you are bringing kids to a game, it was totally worth it to take a walk behind the outfield with my kids and have them try to dunk the guy into the water, take batting practice and play wiffle ball on a miniature baseball diamond. Oh. And the Mets won that night as well.
Which leads me to A-Rod’s quest for 600 Home Runs. It seems like people aren’t so excited about this since he might be taking steroids. So I ask you… who ISN’T taking steroids in professional sports? So the questions in sports lately have been: is it ok to take steroids and should salaries be capped? Perhaps these are related?
I happened to have been visiting my sister in Poughkeepsie this past weekend when I happened to notice that Chelsea Clinton married her longtime boyfriend Marc Mezvinsky one town over in Rhinebeck. (I did not receive an invitation.) I had some political thoughts related to this but so far have been keeping this blog politic free so you will have to ping me offline to get more opinions. I just want to know if the chicken soup and knaidlach were up to par?
Lastly, SalemGlobal took the night off and visited our client www.StandUpNY.com last Wednesday night and a good time was had by all. http://websitestrategymarketing.com/salemglobal-staff-at-stand-up-new-york-comedy-club
So what has your business learned from the above? First – Facebook rules. Get your company a social media strategy or call me to figure it out. Second. Big names draw big traffic. Chelsea Clinton. A-Rod. I don’t make this stuff up. Use the power of the Internet and social media to reach new audiences and stay in touch with them. Want to know more about internet marketing for your business or non-profit, email me at raphis@salemglobal.com, call my office at 212-993-5828 or check out www.SalemGobal.com for more information.
Website Marketing New York City, New York Mets, Armstrong’s Tour De France, Non-Profits Profiting: What your business and non-profit can learn from loyalty
Posted by Salem Global on Jul 27, 2010
So I am headed to the NY Mets baseball game tonight and each person I tell this to asks me the same thing… “How’s your arm? They might need you as a relief pitcher. Or maybe a starting one.” I answer that I am a better hitter than pitcher. To which they reply, “well then they could use a few hits too.” OUCH. Are there any Mets fans out there? Who actually like the team? (Shout outs to Alan Berkson of www.InfoManage.net – for all of your outsourced IT needs – thanks for the tickets, and to Bruce Stark of www.beaconpaint.com 371 Amsterdam Ave, UWS NYC. Bruce has as his profile picture on Facebook a picture himself in a Mets uniform after he takes a swing. Not sure if its baseball or softball but it looks cool. He will be joining me tonight at Citi Field. I actually missed my softball game this past Sunday. These 90 degree mornings burn out – literally – the older guys.) It takes a lot to be a Met fan. Someone I know said to me once upon a time that if I grew up on Long Island, I HAD to be a Met fan. He asked, “Where’s your loyalty?” With Steinbrenner dying and having paid hundreds of millions of dollars to create and retain a team that has won so many pennants and World Series, the Yankees organization has their act together. Unfortunately, the Mets haven’t had the billionaire budget or possibly the marketing smarts to retain a team or a fan base to make them contenders. I mean, when was the last time they won anyway? I remember the 69′ Mets, but for some reason, the orange and blue color scheme isn’t bringing up so many fond memories. (Ok – now I have cheated and am reminded that pitcher Tom Seaver was the 1969 Cy Young Award winner, Keith Hernandez was the 1987 Gold Glove award winner and a few others were Mets albeit briefly.)
The point is that the Mets have not thrown in the towel. They did indeed win two World Series titles and fans for the most part are loyal. We had a discussion last week whether a salary cap should be introduced in baseball. Would players be motivated by fame and glory without the fortune? I think you should get paid what you are worth. But then again, who is to say that capping will decrease the advancement of the sport or not. Will players not try harder without the financial motivation? I don’t think we will ever get a controlled fair answer.
Which leads to wondering whether my friend Robert Remin is correct in saying that “no one cares about the Tour De France.” Last week I wrote about Lance Armstrong and though he is not a rock star football player, he still is a huge celebrity, especially after dating Sheryl Crow and Kate Hudson. Armstrong, regardless of whether he is a “douchebag” or not (what some people say alleging that he used steroids to win all of his 7 Tours) is an amazing individual and athlete considering the fact that PLENTY of other people use drugs to win at sports. But how many undergo cancer, cancer treatment, live to tell the world about it and then start non-profit organizations that raise hundreds of millions of dollars toward cancer research. (www.LiveStrong.com) The fact that Team Radio Shack had the number 23 on its back throughout the tour honoring the 23 million people who battle cancer in this country says to me that Armstrong is doing good in this world. He uses Twitter to get his message out.
Which leads me to remind you all of an amazing partner over the past few years. Since I met www.EvasVillage.org several years ago, I have come to learn that they are amazing at feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, medicating the sick and treating the addicted. Eva’s Village, located in Paterson, NJ started out small and grew and grew to not only work with the local poor and hungry, but have branched out to help thousands and thousands on the streets. Year after year, they too “stick with it” and do incredible charity work. Please consider a donation to their organization this year. In addition to standard SEO practices and blogging, our strategy for them has been interactive press releases and they have profited from this year after year.
So what has your business or non-profit learned from the above? First – loyalty rules. Get a customer and/or supporter, nurture them, and they will contribute for life. Second. Use the power of the Internet and social media to reach new audiences and stay in touch with them. Want to know more about internet marketing for your business or non-profit, email me at raphis@salemglobal.com, call my office at 212-993-5828 or visit www.SalemGlobal.com for more information. The summer is half over and that means that I am going to be even busier once the school year rolls around.
Internet Marketing NYC, LeBron James Heats Up Miami, NY Yankees Steinbrenner Dead at 80, Beautiful Rainbows: What your business can learn from sports legends and viral video
Posted by Salem Global on Jul 13, 2010
There’s only 1 thing that can ruin my regular friendly poker game. No – not a bad flop. Nope, not my friend’s quads beating out my full house. It’s a ridiculous hour of LeBron James hour-long TV special on ESPN. Come on people. It’s like a Christmas special in July. Wait – that’s EXACTLY what it was. But that’s the advertising and media for you. Why just make an announcement when you can go on TV, get paid by a network and have advertisers and sponsors foot the bill. Because WE, the consumers actually foot the bill. Thinking about it now, I should’ve paid more attention to the advertisers during the hour long special. My guess is that it was all beer, cars and shavers. While my poker friends were betting team jerseys and numbers (23 – James and Michael Jordan), I took advantage by focusing on my OWN game. Let’s just say that though Miami will be paying James $11 – $15 Million dollars next year, I came home with an extra $20 bucks in my pocket… that paid for beer and hot dogs for the SalemGlobal Internet staff at Rudy’s Bar & Grill on 9th Avenue and 44th. (http://websitestrategymarketing.com/salemglobal-staff-summer-2010) So who ELSE is the big winner huh?!?
It got me thinking about the true ROI (Return On Investment) one player actually brings to a team. Well, considering how much an average ticket to a sports event costs these days $30 – $60 per game. Multiplied by how many seats in a stadium or arena? Plus don’t forget box seats, lounges, food, beverages, sponsorships and the list goes on for moneymaking opportunities in the billion dollar industry of sports marketing… Yeah – why not. It’s only another $15 million dollars. But as I understand it, it truly wasn’t so much about the money anymore. I think I read that the Chicago Bulls were actually offering even MORE money. And the Cleveland Cavaliers were offer even MORE money than the Bulls! It had to do with actually winning a championship. Similar to what do you get for the person who has it all? You get them something more special than a material possession. In James’ case, he was looking for a ring – but not the one you can buy. I guess he sincerely believes (or maybe his agent does) that Miami offers the greatest hope for a championship. By the way, if you want to know who are the top paid athletes in the US – check out http://www.gkmen.com/sports/north-american-sports/who-are-highest-paid-athletes-2010190210. And if you want the international list, check out the following link for the #1 at $110 million. Here is a hint before you click on the link; he is a better driver on a course instead of his own driveway… http://www.mensweekly.net/2010/04/17/10-highest-paid-athletes-2/10/.
On a sad note, we lost a great one today. New York Yankees brilliant, charismatic character, (former) owner and frequently mentioned on Seinfeld, George Steinbrenner. I grew up with the Yankees and Steinbrenner has always been a huge personality in New York. But even outside of NY, Steinbrenner is known and will always be remembered as the guy who brought (and bought) greats like Reggie Jackson, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Catfish Hunter, Dave Winfield, Gooose Gossage, Joe Torre, Billy Martin, Yogi Berra, Darryl Strawberry (and the list goes on) to New York. The Bronx Bombers won seven World Series titles and 11 American League pennants since Steinbrenner took the helm. He will surely be missed.
What does all this have to do with Internet Marketing? Sports marketing. Want to sell more product or services (mostly to men)? Start incorporating sports into some of your marketing. Need I say more?
Think stupid videos are just plain old stupid? 3,664,719 think so also. If you haven’t seen it already, check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk5ICTI. And if you want to experience my sense of humor, please check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLSvEe7No_w. What does it mean? It means that anything can go viral on YouTube. But the real winners are the 4 kids – ok – young adults – who put together a song “honoring” the double rainbow video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX0D4oZwCsA (1,966,418 views). Why aren’t they implementing the Google AdSense feature where they can make money every time someone clicks on an ad? I don’t know. But maybe they share in the ad revenue derived from the advertisement on the right? If your business isn’t utilizing video in your marketing approach, you should start. Your competitors are thinking about it right now.
Last comment for this week: Great book (and blog) www.WaiterRant.net. You will think very differently next time you eat out in a restaurant. Also started billion dollar IMG CEO Mark H. McCormack “On Selling.” Gives some good insight into the world of sales. Also reading Michael Wolff’s “Burn Rate.” It’s an “old” tale about the early days of the Internet from 1994 – 1998. It’s a fun read. It overlaps with the beginning of my career but it’s very relevant to all businesses and its written well.
Want to know more about sports marketing, website marketing and how video can help your business, give me a call at 212-993-5828 or email raphis@salemglobal.com to set up a conversation or check out www.SalemGlobal.com for more information. Or even better, come to one of my events. We are taking it easy in August but we will be doing a full court press in September.
Website Marketing Manhattan, Father’s Day, Lady Gaga vs. NY Yankees & WVOX Westchester: What your business can learn from family get togethers, skimpy uniforms and local radio
Posted by Aryeh.Landowne on Jun 22, 2010
Did anyone get a chance to see the outfit that Lady Gaga wore to last week’s New York Yankee’s game? There are some rumors flying around that she then “snuck in” to the Yankee Clubhouse or locker room. (Um. Did anyone notice what she was wearing? Somehow I don’t think a half-naked woman needs to, nor can she, “sneak in” anywhere. MAYBE she was escorted in or sweet talked her way in but I guarantee you there was no sneaking.) Anyway, the blogs that I read this week claimed that she was then thrown out or even banned from the Yankees locker room since it was the wrong place and wrong time. The Yanks hadn’t been doing so well so it wasn’t exactly a “pick me up” sort of moment. But then the blogs read that celebrities (and scantily clad ones especially) are ALWAYS invited and certainly no one is banned. But the undertone was “please make sure to come on a winning night….
This past Sunday was Father’s Day so Happy Father’s Day out there to all… Either you – or your own Father. I celebrated by hanging out with my Dad and kids on Long Island and playing softball with my Westchester friends. Professionally speaking though, the question is, who capitalized on the keywords “Father’s Day” in the search engines?
The answer I see are retail shops and non-profits. Obviously people are looking up Father’s Day to either buy their father a gift or find out more information about the holiday. But let’s be real here. As we all know, Hallmark and the greeting card industry created these holidays because as the saying goes… “EVERY DAY is Father’s Day (and Mother’s Day and…) So by default, if you are selling something that is good for any Man over the age of 40, Father’s Day is a good keyword. If you change the keyword phrase search to “fathers day gift” you then come up with the full 11 paid spots (3 on top and 8 on the right) filled with advertising. Picture books, DVD players, hot air balloon rides, donations, watches and of course ties are all up there. Plan now for next year. Maybe you will get some organic search results instead of having to pay the premium Google PPC rates.
Finally, just wanted to give a shout out to my colleague Katherine Mckee at www.CoCommunications.com. Kat introduced me to WVOX and Peter Moses, a veteran newspaper professional who now has his own boutique PR firm (Moses Communications) and local Westchester newspaper (www.westchester-eye.com) I have always believed that an integrated marketing program and holistic approach to advertising will yield the greatest result for your budget. Check out these firms whether you are in Westchester or not. You will be glad you did. Thanks for having me on the show. I appreciated the air time and look forward to working with them in the near future.
If you are a local or national business and want to get your name out there, get friendly with your local radio station. You will be very surprised at how much clout they have. Coupled with a website, anyone can really drive in more business with this powerful combination. If you want to know more, give me a call at 212-993-5828, email raphis@salemglobal.com or check out www.SalemGlobal.com for more information.
Internet Marketing New York, Perfect Baseball Games and Dave Matthews: What your business can learn from human error vs. technology
Posted by Salem Global on Jun 8, 2010
I grew up playing little league and was a pretty better than average baseball player until I started missing and dropping balls. In business we experience learning from our mistakes all the time. We try our hardest to please our customers and clients. Do mostly everything we can to try and get new clients. Sometimes we succeed. Sometimes we fail. But when the sun is in your eyes or you aren’t sure where the fence is or another outfielder calls it but you don’t hear it. The ball falls. But when it’s not so clear whether you caught the ball or you tagged out the guy or your foot was on the base, we enter into the human zone where team one argues with team two whether he was safe or out. But when human emotion gets in the way and clouds our decision making, we need to call upon an UNbiased third party to decide who is safe, who is out, who is right and who is wrong. And then sometimes even THEY get it wrong. Question is whether it was due to foul play <pun intended> or did they honestly not see the activity from the correct angle.
So last week on June 2, 2010, Detroit Tigers Pitcher Armando Galarraga was robbed of a Perfect Game by umpire Jim Joyce’s terrible call. Even though the year is 2010 and instant video replay exists, Major League Baseball still relies on humans to make the final decision. As of this writing, there is no dispute at all. He was 100% out. See for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3OE8iA621s
(And of course here is the Hitler movie spoof related to the incident if you have been following the story that YouTube has been taking them down left and right http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixKidAhVtW4)
I mean – we use it in tennis and the NFL. Why not in the MLB? Maybe this will be the straw that breaks baseball’s back.
Clearly, technology rules in sports and it rules in the business world as well. Of course – that’s why I have chosen a career and vocation based upon an exact marketing science vs. the whole guessing game. When I started out in the advertising industry in the late 80′s, the Internet was not commercialized as of yet. No one had email. No businesses had websites. We had Nielsen Ratings that developed audience measurement systems for the television industry. Basically, a sample of people in America would get an electronic box attached to their TV and that would send a signal back to a big server and database that measured what people watched at what hour. But we all knew that there was a tremendous margin of error because plenty of people left the room with their TV on while they went into the kitchen to get a beer or a snack. Some people even left their TV sets on while they left the house. And then there were people who actually played with the electronics because kids and parents were all paranoid about Big Brother even back then. (Boy if they knew back then about wiretapping, the government and Facebook privacy issues, George Orwell would have a 1984 field day!)
And that’s why I got into the Internet. Most people don’t know how to block their IP address. (It’s a bit more complicated than removing a wire from a set top or cable box.) But most people also don’t care. So now that we have established that the general population is not hiding anything (even their porn usage), we have a pretty solid measurement of IP addresses and website visits, hits, impressions and clicks. That means that you can REALLY measure ROI from Internet Marketing vs. trying to measure ROI from a print ad or a :30 second television commercial. People lie and make errors. And sometimes computers make mistakes too and break down – but they are a lot more accountable than humans. Go ahead. Try your hand at a PPC, SEO or email marketing campaign. With the tools available today, you can see how much money you are actually spending per person or per thousands of people, how many people SEE your ad, click on your ad or your website and ultimately how many people call you, send you an email, fill out a form and of course, buy your products or hire you.
Had a pretty AMAZING weekend that included seeing the Dave Matthews Band (now that I am in the know I call them DMB) at SPAC (Saratoga Performing Arts Center). I went with three other good friends who knew a lot more about DMB than I thought. The venue was mostly filled with college kids, beers in hand, perhaps some illegal substances as well but hey – they could’ve been legal cigarettes – who knows?… So my friend Ezra tells me that DMB fans blog about the concerts all the time. How Dave played this song and that song. What he was wearing and how cool the venue and setting was. Then my associate Aryeh tells me that people twitter during concerts all the time about what song he is playing and people compare notes on sets and songs and versions at what concerts in what cities etc. etc. (Check out www.DMBAlmanac.com) If Dave Matthews is using technology and his audience is using it, don’t you think you should too?
On a final note, as a result of this weekend, I have added a new song to my favorites. We will see how long it stays in my head. Enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kD9CrZODlNA (Here is the Grammy Awards version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6t78OW-yhM.) Last funny note, after showing my super cute and adorable six year old daughter the original version she couldn’t understand how the people appear in the video and then disappear at the end. I said it was magic but she will soon figure out its all about the technology of video editing…
If you want to know more about Internet marketing and using technology to gain more exposure, get more clients and sell more product, give me a call at 212-993-5828, email raphis@salemglobal.com or check out www.SalemGlobal.com for more information.