Bad Marketing

B2B Marketing Then and Now

The "Good" - looking back to see how you've evolved and learned over the years

In the spirit of New Year's and being retrospective, I took a quick look back at my 8 years at Entrust and how we approached marketing then and now.  We've certainly learned a lot since 2001 and are more effective than ever...I just wish we had the same budget as back then ;)  I couldn't figure out how to create a table in this new TypePad editor so you'll need to click on the graphic to view the lessons in larger format.

 

More fun with Holiday eCards

The "GBU" - compiling a giant list of holiday eCards for all to enjoy

Kuddos to bannerblog for sharing this compilation of 120 holiday eCards they gathered from many different agencies.   As you would expect some are good, some are bad and some are downright ugly.  Enjoy.

Holiday eCards - the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

It's that time of year again when we are inundated with the the good, the bad, and the ugly Holiday eCards.  Here are some I've received in reverse order....

The "Ugly" – creating negative brand perception with a holiday eCard so unimaginative and uninspired that it turns people off.  I’ve received a lot of these this year so maybe the cost-cutting started with creative departments.  I’ll spare you the pain of seeing all of them and use MS&L’s card as the poster child for “ugly” marketing.  Clearly they get paid by the word, but do people really want to read about arcane renaming updates in a holiday card.  I expect a top tier global PR firm to be savvier than this.

 

The "Bad" – wasting the time and money to produce a boring holiday eCard.  The companies in this group at least put some effort into their cards, but clearly not enough to make them enjoyable.  They want to do a nice card but just don’t put enough creative energy into making it a positive brand experience for the recipient.  The card from lead-gen firm Madison Logic exemplifies a “bad” card with no music and some scrolling images of the staff…yawn!  Check out the screen shot below, or if for some masochistic reason, you want to see the “live” card then click here.

The "Good" – using imagination and creativity to make a holiday eCard that entertains the recipients and conveys a good impression of your company.  My favorite in this group is the one from The Loomis Agency which uses sock puppets singing a parody of The Carol of Bells.  PMSI created a cool card by mixing holiday tunes and a sketch artist drawing Santa. Check it out here.   And Eisenberg Associates offers up a simple but fun game in their card. 

The folly of the old B2B marketing approach

The "Good" -  using a song parody to explain that old ways of marketing don't work

Credit to HubSpot and Rebecca Corliss for this highly entertaining parody of Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know."  Check out the video on YouTube and the lyrics below.

 

If I make one more call
I might go punch a wall.
No one understands
That this doesn't work.

They hang up cause I'm a creep.
The mail I send they don't read.
They always find a way to
Ignore me.
I'm interrupting their lives
So they threaten me with knives.
I didn't think that marketing was like torture.

Cause the calls, direct mail
TV ads, they all fail.
And they aren't getting me anywhere. They don't work.
No!
And every time I try to sell
'Didja know that I'm told I should go to hell?
Then I cry. Then I cry.
And you wonder why.

I want leads
To come to me.
Fix our SEO
Get some inbound links.
RSS
Let's get blogging.
Why don't we just use inbound marketing?
You. You. You. Oughta know.

Get my page rank up.
Tag my content.
Fix my landing page.
Let them come to me.

Now I can blog I can tweet
Publish things you will read.
Won't have to bug you in the middle of dinner.
Google me organically
Search results one two and three.
You need my products? Uh huh. Yeah you'll find me.

Cause the calls, direct mail
TV ads, they all failed.
And they weren't getting me anywhere. They don't work.
No!
And every time I tried to sell
'Didja know I was told I should go to hell.
Then I cried. Then I cried.
And you wondered why.

Now my leads
They come to me
Fixed our SEO
Got some inbound links
RSS
Now we're blogging
Thank god now we use inbound marketing.
You. You. You. Oughta know.