3 Things Marketers Can Learn From Justin Timberlake's Launch

What can marketers learn from Justin Timberlake's new album launch? It has been awhile since Justin Timberlake produced a music album. Over the past years, Justin's number one question was, "You going to sing again or did you just quit?"

On January 10, 2013, with one tweet Justin Timberlake answered that question. 

Justin Timberlake's Tweet

"To whom it may concern...I think I'M READY! #JT2013." 

Within an hour, Justin Timberlike was trending on Twitter. The tweet contained a link to a YouTube video that showed Justin walking through multiple doors at a recording studio telling us why he has waited so long to do another album. In essence Justin said, "I don't want to put anything out that I feel like is something I don't love. You just don't get that every day. You have to wait for it." Then he walks through the last door and up to the mic and says, "I'M READY". Then the video routed you to a sign up page with a countdown (days, hours, minutes, seconds). Once you signed up you were directed to a letter from Justin telling you more about his new music venture.

I thought the execution was brilliant. I said to myself, "Nice work Justin. That was awesome."

Three Things Marketers Can Learn from JT's launch

There were three reasons I really like Justin's launch and think they apply perfectly to marketers.

1. The Why

The why is one of the most important parts of good brand positioning and a strong marketing campaign. As you watched Justin's video you understood why he had waited so long to launch his next album. I wish I could find the video, but it is no longer on the site. The why is an important part of telling a marketers story.

2. Exclusivity 

Exclusivity or what I define as the seat to the inner circle has always been a big part of creating music fans. Justin took this music & marketing principle and used it to his advantage. To kick off his campaign, he tweeted to his 15 million twitter followers. He did it with one tweet. Within the hour, Justin was trending on Twitter. Social media has really changed the game for the music industry.

3. Creativity

Without creativity marketing is stale or old (been there done that). I wrote another blog post how to find your creative genius here. Justin's approach was creative and definitely out of the box. He used new technologies like twitter to step out of the box and launch his campaign in a unique but exclusive way. 

Nice work Justin.

You can follow me on twitter here

Learn more about me here

5 Steps to Build Thought Leadership Through Social Media

So you have a company and want to start using social media as a way to build brand awareness and acquire customers. One of the most effective social media strategies to achieve this is by developing strong thought leadership.

The Thought Leadership Goal

Become the trusted source of great content for your target audience.

Traditionally VS The Now

Traditionally

Traditionally people used to turn to newspapers, magazines, or trade journals to get insights into their industry, a hobby, a specific interest, or subject matter they care about.

The Now

Now people are turning to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogs, YouTube channels to gather insights into things they care about. This is where your thought leadership social media strategy comes in.

So how do you do that? Below are 5 steps to help you set this up:

5 Steps to Building Building Thought Leadership

Step 1: Target Audience (First & Most Important Step)

Do you know your target audience? I know this sounds simple, but you must be able to answer yes to this question before you begin your social media marketing strategy. If you know this you can confidently move on step 2

Step 2: Does Your Target Audience Use Social Media?

You have to answer this question also. I am all for social media, but there might be some cases where the target audience does not use or hang out on social media channels. If that is the case you might want to reconsider your social media strategy. If they do, move on to step 3.

Step 3: Become the Trusted Source

What insights and knowledge does your target audience want to learn daily? If you have done the research on your target audience, this will be pretty easy. By knowing what they care about, everything you post through social media should be targeted at helping your target audience learn the latest and greatest of what they care about. Be patient one tweet or Facebook post is not going to automatically do this. You have to move to step 4.

Step 4: Be Consistent

Be consistent, what more can I say. You need to develop a constant rhythm by which you deliver your content through social media.

Step 5: Measure Success

So how do your determine the business impact of your thought leadership social media strategy. Is it driving business forward? Here are a few companies who can help you track and measure your social media success.

Top Social Media Measurement Software Companies

Sprout Social
HootSuite
MarketMeSuite
Klout

Real-World Example of a Social Media Thought Leadership Strategy

Here is an example of what we have done at my company to drive thought leadership through social media strategies and it is working. We can track business opportunities and closed business directly contributed to our social media strategy and it has huge ROI.

Talking Work

Talking work is a micro website that we developed for our target audience. Talking Work hosts daily blog posts, weekly podcasts, and expert advice for our target audience (project managers who are trained or accidental).

You can check out Talking Work by clicking here

We had a fun time putting together this Talking Work podcast teaser

Following the five steps above will ensure you set up a strong thought leadership social media strategy and reap the reward—new customers who trust your voice.

Talking Work Podcast Teaser

We had a fun time working on the production of our podcast teaser. Our goal was to capture the fun personalities of the hosts and drive awareness around our podcast called Talking Work. We all have one thing in common, we all work and Talking Work is a forum where our target audience can get daily insights from podcasts, blogs, and industry experts on how to work better.

Click here to visit Talking Work

How to Develop a Product that Goes Viral

Every company in the world wants to develop a product that goes viral. A product consumers will share with their friends. A product that makes fanatics.

So, how do you develop a product that goes viral?

1. Make It Easy to Use

Over the past years we have been introduced into the new era of software design. With the introduction and adoption of smart phones, tablets, & apps, companies all over the world are delivering solutions to complex problems with interfaces that are easy to use. With just a click you can go to Apple's App Store or Android's Market Place to buy apps that solve complex problems, with one important caveat, you don't need any training to use them, the apps are intuitive. Make sure that your product whether an app or not, is easy to use. If it is not, it will be hard to have your product go viral without costing you millions of marketing and sales dollars to make up the difference.

2. Make It So No Training Is Required

Enterprise software is know to require expensive training, even consultants to help people learn, implement, and adopt their products. Without this expensive training companies who buy these products struggle to ever achieve the full benefits these complex products promise.

So, make your product easy and intuitive to learn. I know, this is easier said then done. You may have a monster. Companies all around the world are investing in strong UI/UX designers who are experts in developing products that are easy to use and require no training.

Product Goes Viral Grid

Here is a Grid that I have developed to illustrate my point. The x-axis is all about how easy the tool is to use and to learn. The y-axis is all about how much people like it (Net Promoter Score). You can learn more about NPS here. Of course, even if you have the x-axis totally nailed down, to make your way up the y-axis you need to develop a product that solves problems people care about, problems that are pervasive and urgent for your target audience. You need to develop a resonator, a product that solves the problem so well it sells itself.

One of my favorite books on developing a product resonator is the book called TUNED IN by Craig Stull, Phil Myers & David Meerman Scott.

Empower Your Audience, Nike "Chosen"

One of my favorite parts of marketing is when strategy meets creativity. When strategy and creativity meet it is powerful and awe inspiring. The key ingredient to this success starts with a clearly defined target audience. Once the audience is defined and the message put together, the magic happens.

Nike "CHOSEN" Campaign

A campaign I would like to highlight today on my blog is the Nike "Chosen" Campaign. I like this campaign because of its strong creative execution and how it involves the target audience. Nike is doing what I call the "Empower Your Brand Strategy". Here is the equation:

Brand + Target Audience + Viral Video Contest + Social Media + Best Athletes + Big Prize = Success

I really like the creativity, messaging, and execution of the "Chosen" microsite. The images and videos of the site portray the concept and creative idea of the "Chosen", with the best athletes from bmx, surfing, skating, snowboarding, and skiing all strutting their stuff in night shots that are inspiring.

Social Media Effect

With this campaign, Nike is inviting their target audience to participate in their brand through a video contest. What is great about the Nike video contest and video contests in general, is that they engage the target audience, encourage them to develop videos, and promote your brand through their videos to friends on Youtube, Twitter, and Facebook. The outcome to this social effect is hundreds to thousands of video circulating all hyped around your brand and contest.

Prize Matters

Another important part of this strategy is the prize. The better the prize, the better the effort toward the contest. Nike is given away a nice prize which includes premium travel, exclusive events, and custom products.

To make sure that the contest really gets going, Nike highlights contestant video submissions in a section of the site called "Noticed!" Just imagine telling your friends that your video is on Nike's website.

To check out this marketing campaign in more detail visit Nike "Chosen" site here

I would like to hear about other strong marketing campaigns, what are your favorites?

Foundational Online Marketing Strategies

Tonight I attended the American Marketing Association Utah Chapter. It's always great to rub shoulders with top Utah marketers. Tonight's meeting topic was "Online Marketing Strategies for Search, Mobile, and Social" presented by Jay Bean, CEO and Founder of Orangesoda. Orangesoda helps SMBs drive targeted traffic and leads to their businesses. The topic is very applicable to marketing professionals for two reasons:

1. Online marketing trends and projected spends are increasing
 
2005 - 3.4 billion 
2010 - 18 billion
2014 - 35 billion (projected)
 
2. Traditional marketing trends and projected spends are decreasing even though spend is still in the 100 billion range.

In 1999, Jay Bean founded ah-ha.com, a leading pay-for-performance search engine marketing company and remembers going to the same trade shows that Google attended when their founders maned the booths. Ah-ha.com was acquired by Marchex Inc. (MCHX in 2003).

In 2007 Jay founded Orangesoda with the goal to empower SMBs with the online marketing strategies and tools they need to drive traffic, leads, and business. Here are a few takeaways from Jay's presentation on online marketing strategies for search, mobile, and social:

Jay Bean's Online Marketing Tips:
Your need to build a strong foundation of online basics: Like doing anything in life, being good at the basics is required before you can really see powerful online results.
Here are a few of the basics:
 
Website Basics:
1. Write good content that resonates with your target audience.
2. Make sure their are clear actions - the goal is to motivate action on your website.
3. Have your phone number on your website - people still call.
4. Incorporate optimized website lead forms that help capture leads.
5. Make sure you have clear offers/coupons that drive the customers to act now.
 
Social Media Basics:
1. #1 deliver great content, don't just post offers or coupons, that is a social media sin.
2. People follow on Twitter and friend on Facebook companies and products that deliver content that helps them fulfill a need or interest. Be that source!
3. Develop a thought leadership tone to the content you deliver over social media sites.
4. People turn to social media to learn best practices and tips for their industry. Share best practices!
5. Listen and interact with your customers - I like tweetdeck to track the conversations that are occurring about your company and products.
 
Mobile Basics:
1. Make sure your optimize your website for all mobile platforms.
I know this sounds so basic and so easy, but you would be surprised how many companies don't do a good job of following the basics.
What are some of your basic online strategies?
Another great event with strong marketing leaders and business professionals. Don't miss out on the next American Marketing Association Event. Click here to know when the next event will occur. I am excited to see the new AMA website next month that is being designed, created, and developed by Eli Kirk.

Top Marketing Thought Leaders

I thought I would share my favorite marketing thought leadership websites and blogs I read to stay on top of current marketing trends, strategies, successes, and current challenges. Like you, I know there are many principles of marketing that will never change, but always changing are the new ways in which we can effectively deliver the marketing mix to our target audience.

Top Marketing Sites

CMO.com
CMO Council
Adage - CMO Strategy
MarketingVox
MarketingProfs
Marketing Serpa
American Marketing Association
Marketing Charts
Marketing Magazine

Top Blogs by Marketing Thought Leaders

Seth Godin - A Blog by Seth Godin
Chris Brogan - Solving Business Strategy Challenges with Social Media
Joe Pulizzi - Content Marketing Guru
Laurel Papworth - The Business of Being Social Media
Jeremiah Owyang - Social Media, Web Marketing

These are a few of my favorites. What are your favorites? Is there something you read regularly that you would add to this list?

Twitter Success - The Power of Social Media

Everyone is wondering if social media is for real. Below is evidence that it works and helps build a brand social connection with your customers. We have a social media marketing strategy in place using facebook, linkedin, twitter, blogging, and youtube. This strategy has helped us be very responsive to customers as seen below. One of our customers needed help and we were able to resolve their issue in a matter of moments. They were so excited the posted the following picture and comment on their blog about us. It is great to see the positive branding as we continue to solve our customers needs and provide them the best productivity tool in the world. (www.attask.com)