okay i found something really cool today. this is not so much for me, as it is for you…but there is an app now where you can make themes for your google chrome. (You are using Chrome as your browser now, right?? YOU SHOULD BE!) and so I made one with a picture I like of myself…the funny part? you can download this theme and stare at me all day if you want…lol.. or if not, you can click this link, see my funny face and make a theme for yourself! Click Here
Today’s online world is highly competitive You have to find out the best internet marketing company so that you can reach your target audience You can get the benefits of long term association only if you choose the right one…
For the growth of a company marketing is essential This rule applies both for online companies and offline firms Though marketing is a common objective, the means of achieving success through this differs greatly between online and offline businesses…
by Mitoné L Griffith
I’ve long been a big fan…well, admittedly even a bit FANatical about what I call “The Fuzzy Mascot.” As a child who grew up in front of the TV, cartoon representatives of popular products were implanted in my mind. I miss those fuzzy shrimp from Long John Silver’s. I was sad when they pulled the plug on that weird fuzzy thing from Domino’s Pizza, Bad Andy, from years ago. Why did they create that Noid thing?? Of course my childhood has fond memories of Charlie the Tuna, Morris the Cat and Mr. Peanut. Now, the sun is rising as we see a new dawn of fuzzy, furry, scaly and crunchy personifications ushering in with renewed purpose to interact socially with brands! Who would you rather facebook with, the social media rep of some company, or their cute cuddly mascot! Yay! Voices to the critters! I will follow them on facebook or pay attention to their cute Tweets (or meows)! I was so happy to read, “Mascots Are Brands’ Best Social-Media Accessories” (See http://adage.com/article/news/mascots-brands-social-media-accessories/233707/, an article by E.J. Schultz). Schultz’ article explains how popular mascots are coming back into fashion as the voice of brands’ social media programs.
How happy was I then, when three short months ago, I took a soon-to-be-quite-popular video of my cat staring at my sleeping boyfriend. We have nearly a million views of this clip on the popular social media site, YouTube, at the time of this writing. Immediately, I thought of my fuzzy mascot philosophy and wondered how I might use Bubbles to sell my website design and social media services. I was thinking of redesigning my entire website with his cute little face. I hadn’t yet. I wasn’t quite sure why, until I came across an article by Anna Papachristos, “Building Your Brand Message: Salespeople as “Brand Mascots.”
In her article at http://www.1to1media.com/weblog/2012/05/building_your_brand_message_salespeople_as_brand_mascots.html, Ms. Papachristos advises, “The idea of why you create a mascot, to create that credibility around your brand, is really assumed by field representation.” Her article advises the fuzzy mascots are best left for business to consumer branding.
‘Ahhh,’ I said to myself, ‘I AM the fuzzy mascot in my career as a web designer.’ I am a business who sells to other businesses. Perhaps I will not be taken so seriously if my cat tries to sell a website on my behalf. Dammit! But my cat is so cute! What if I teach him web design? No…I see the flaw in that thought process. But I am not so funny as my cat! I have made WordPress tutorials and have barely broken 2,000 views on YouTube! How will I ever gain the interest that cute mascots get? Ok…so do I wear cat ears and whiskers to get attention?
Probably not. But what is it about fuzzy mascots that make people pay attention?
- Animals and characters seem innocent and trustworthy. OK done, I have spent ten years in business building trust with my clients. So I need to illustrate that point in my sales messages.
- Fuzzy mascots create an easily recognizable brand identity. What do I have that’s easy to recognize? Well, whether you can pronounce it or not, my name stands out and is visibly and audibly unique. Not everyone can be “Mitone!” And if you are a freelancer serving businesses, you just have to find that which sets you apart as well, and talk about it.
- Talking critters are such an odd site! They’re out there in today’s social media arena interacting and answering questions. Well, I can do that too—increase my social media time, blog a bit more. Invite questions and answers. Go to forums where people have questions about what I know. I can be an odd site too, a freelancer/business owner who makes time for listening and sharing!
- Mascots are amusing and make people laugh and feel happy. Hmmm. Even though I love to laugh and find humor in many silly things, perhaps my business customers need a more serious me. They’re getting ready to spend a bit more than the price of a pizza or a can of nuts. Money is a serious thing. My job is to make my clients feel at ease about spending with me. That’s not a laughing matter.
- A silly mascot can do one little thing and get a million views. That’s true. So, instead of posting or creating one thing and riding in on your laurels, you’ll have to make lots of things and build up an audience like the turtle…slow and steady.
Do I agree with the philosophy that my representative should be me and not my cat? Reluctantly, yes. I have tried designing my brand with representation other than myself, but my customers always call asking for “Mitone,” not Bubbles. So even though I live openly as a free-spirited artist, the people who hire me trust my design instincts for their business projects anyway. I have been building my self brand quietly behind the scenes. Hey, wait a minute…’Free-spirited, intellectual nerdy artist.’ I could probably create a funny picture of that!
Promotional items such as pens, calendars and shirts are given out to by firms to customers and potential clients as a ploy in marketing campaigns They create feelings of goodwill, especially at times of good cheer, as at Christmas or New Year Items such as mugs and shirts are easy to embroider or print with logos that will remind recipients gently of the brand name of the giver for some time to come…
As marketing technology grows every day we are reading more information about St Louis SMS advertising and mobile marketing and how it is revolutionizing the way we communicate That is no understatement…
Internet marketing in Bellingham Washington is the perfect venue for expanding market reach within the community Bellingham is a unique region comprised of 23 communities and a diverse culture of residents It has been deemed “one of the safest cities to live in” and “one of the best cities for retirement…
Whether a person is looking to earn extra income at home or wants to build an easy home based business that will allow them to support themselves and/or their families, proper planning is the key Most Internet marketers fail because they don’t plan This is unfortunate, but quite common…
How do companies, organizations and financial institutions attract prospective customers How do they market their new services and products How do they retain and establish loyalty with their old customers…
Just read a great article at Traffic Travis…I have downloaded their free search engine tool but have yet to have explored it fully. However, I do receive their newsletters–and this is really some great content. If you want to learn 6 easy ways to get your new pages on your website indexed more quickly by the search engines, then this article is a must read>
CLICK HERE TO READ “6 Ways to Get Indexed Fast”
A little snapshot of the article:
Before we begin, here are two important points to consider:
First, you should be building links to the new page you want indexed, and not just your website homepage. It is important to build ‘deep’ links to all the content pages on your website, but many webmasters seem to ignore this and just build backlinks to their homepage.
For example, if you have the website
www.example.com, and your new page (that you want to have indexed) is atwww.example.com/new-page, then make sure you build links to that specific page.