Internet Marketing in Manhattan, April Fools, $100 Million and Spring Cleaning
Posted by Salem Global on Apr 1, 2010
A good friend of mine was born on April 1st. For the past 20 years since I have known him each year I try to come up with a joke, scam or lie that will catch him off guard. Sadly (for him) but creatively (for me), I am successful much of the time. He of course knows to expect such nonsense from me. I am that type of guy. He knows I like to have fun and knows that his birthday is more fodder for my personal humor.
Last year I posted this to my FaceBook profile: “Incredibly excited to announce that after 12 years in business my company just received $20 million dollars in funding for Internet related projects http://www.salemglobal.com. Yes I am hiring! Woo Hoo! Even in this terrible economy…”
I just looked back on this and can confirm that I received 24 comments related to my post. So many people so happy for me; wishing me congratulations and best of luck and can they have a job etc. etc. They knew I have been working my butt off for years trying to make money from this Internet thing. 24 hours later I posted this: Wondering how long does one milk an April Fool’s joke? Where is the line between “funny” & “not funny”? No, I didn’t get $20mil in funding but thanks for the positive and negative responses. As an Internet Marketer, I actually re-connected with a bunch of people who I had been out of touch with. (Fyi, this year I ramped it up to $100 million. Maybe next year I will increase to $200 million.)
From an Internet Marketing perspective and from a public relations perspective, any news, whether good or bad, is still news that promotes your brand. So this year let’s see what comes from it. (So far two people have accused me of doing what I did last year. But they don’t realize my ulterior motive is to get people to remember I do Internet marketing in New York – not the fact that I am actually making a joke.) And I recommend you do it too. If you think about it some more – that is the fact about WOMM – Word Of Mouth Marketing. It’s getting your friends and your friend’s friends talking about you. You don’t have to lie about something that hurts anyone, just make up something fun that is in the spirit of the day. For more April Fool’s stuff: http://www.pcworld.com/article/193113/top_10_april_fools_day_fake_news_items_for_2010.html. Oh and don’t forget my favorite quote from Abraham Lincoln: “On Twitter you can honestly make up anything you want!”
On another note, one is supposed to be happy when the sun peeks out of its winter hibernation and the earth (at least in this hemisphere) gets warmer. So even though I miss winter and snow and skiing, I am happy to run and bike outdoors. One thing I am mixed about though is spring cleaning. I hate to clean but love my clean apartment. So I suffered and cleaned and wow! My recommendation to you this week is to do some “spring cleaning” on your website as well. Maybe your pictures or information are out of date. Maybe your keywords and meta data need to be revised or modified. Give me a call at 212-993-5828 or email me at raphis@salemglobal.com if you would like a quick spring review over the phone or set up an appointment or check out www.SalemGlobal.com for more information. Its 2nd quarter 2010. Its time you started paying more attention to your online marketing. Oh – and for all you Lady Gaga fans, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEiXdOOTaFs.
