Is Humor Marketing’s Secret Weapon?

By Hector Cisneros

Quirky Humor Courtesy of Flickr

What makes an advertisement memorable? Is it the graphics, the color scheme, or the high-priced celebrities? Is it the guarantee, the amazing claims, or clear and easy to understand call to action? Or, is it something as simple as humor blended into your message? In this episode of Working the Web to Win, we will look at several elements, especially humor and how it is used to make advertisements and commercials memorable? We will explore some successful start-ups who have made it big and we will take a good look at how humor is used in commercials, both past, and present. So, strap on your funny bone and get ready to be tickled pink as we explore humor as a marketing secret weapon.

The Changing Face of Online Video

Courtesy of  www.youtube.com

By Carl Weiss & Hector Cisneros

I’ve been working the web long enough to remember a time when video wasn’t part of the Internet scene.  The problem back in the 90’s was that the bandwidth could barely support graphics, much less stream video.  Dialup connections were simply too slow to make video part of the online equation in the early days of the WWW.  That all changed in the new millennium as dialup gave way to DSL connections.  Even that took a few years to become affordable to the masses.  But once most everyone had access to high speed connections, video became a major game changer.  Or, did it?

Is Your Business Still Waiting for the Movie to Come Out?

By Carl Weiss

Courtesy of Flickr

The vast majority of people love watching videos. This is borne out by the rapid growth on Netflix online, Hulu, Vudu, Ultraviolet and other online service that have emerged in the past decade. Large movie  studios and major networks are all scrambling to create a winning online video presence. So, why aren’t small and medium size businesses doing the same?

How to Turn Your Best Customers into Your Best Salespeople

By Carl Weiss

Courtesy of thebimsteam.com

Would you like to know” the secret” to turning your best customers into your best sales people ? How would you like to have them work for you 24/7, 365 days a year? Better yet, how about having them work for you for free (or maybe next to nothing)? Well, this article teaches you just that. I will show you how to get your customers to sing your praises 24/365 and be happy for doing it. So read on and turn your best customers into your best sales people.

Is Humor a Weapon of Mass Distraction or Attraction?

By Carl Weiss

The Good Humor logo used until 2000 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One of the big questions you see marketing people debate is whether humor improves the sale of products or detracts from the sales of products. Even in our firm, we debate this issue. I believe that done properly, it does both. People are always looking for that magic bullet to get an edge over their competition and I should know.  

Being an Internet authority means speaking in front of groups of business people from time to time.  Whether the topic du jour is related to search engine marketing, blogging for business, social networking or the ins and outs of pay-per-click matters not.  What is a certainty is that as soon as the presentation is finished I will find myself buttonholed by someone who wants to know the secret of success online.  It’s as if my dissertation was meant to be an appetizer and the real meat and potatoes of online marketing could only be revealed to those bold enough to corner me after the fact.  “Okay, you got me.  If you really want to generate a million clicks, this is what you have to do...” As much as I wish there were three-magic-beans that could magically transform a stale web presence into a rock star, for the most part there is no such animal.  (As I like to point out to a number of people, I am a technician, not a magician.)

Social Media Marketing via Online Video

Courtesy of www.abhikarma.com

By Carl Weiss

When we talk about social media we immediately think of Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn, but often overlook the video option of YouTube.  I know what you're thinking, "YouTube is a video portal, not a social network."  When you get right down to it, what is a social network? It's an online diary that can be used to update friends, family and associates about your life and/or your business.  Better still, it's an e-diary that you not only allow, but encourage others to peruse and redistribute.

Now I ask you, which  would you say is  more compelling, Text or Video?