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.