In Part I of "Why Internet Marketing is Like a Disney Cruise - Are you Clean with that?" I mentioned the hand sanitizers used on Disney Cruises in all of their places to eat. Since we went on our cruise a number of supermarkets have also placed moist hand wipes at their front entrances. Now every time you go to the store you have an opportunity to think about your internet marketing techniques / methods / practices and think "Are you clean with that?".
8 Tests for Clean Marketing
Can you sleep at night? - "Sleep like a baby"? (soundly, peacefully).
Or are you kept up at night worrying?
Would you be OK with your marketing methods if your Mother read about them in an exposé on the front page of the New York Times?
Do you get a little queasy feeling in the pit of your stomach when you think about your marketing techniques?
Do your Friends ask you questions like, "What happened to you, you always used to be so (insert any nice wholesome word/concept here)?
Could words like bill of goods, cheat, con, deceit, deception, delusion, dishonest, double-dealing, evasion, exaggeration (huge), falsehood, fraud, hype, illusion, lie, misleading, misrepresentation, overstatement (gross), pretense, scam, scheme, shell game, snake oil, snow job, subterfuge, etc. be associated with your internet marketing techniques?
Would you use the same marketing methods on your friends or family. (The ones you like, that is).
If someone used the same marketing method on you, would you feel tricked or played for a sucker. Again, the "Golden Rule".
Solutions: "Faith, Trust, And Pixie Dust"
Clarity and transparency - it's as simple (and clean) as that.
If you can explain your internet marketing methods to a child or to the hero of a child (e.g., Mickey Mouse, Tinker Bell, Sleeping Beauty, Lilo [not Stitch!]) and they're ok with them, then you're probably OK.
Being open and honest with your visitors and customers will give them a reason to believe in you, and your methods, and your site - a reason to have faith in you and trust you, your business, and your website/blog/podcast.
Building trust through the words you use and living up to them with follow-through.
Building trust by using trust badges/symbols, etc. where a visitor would want them to be. E.g., Better Business Bureau, Association logos, Visa/MasterCard badges (when purchasing), etc.
Building trust through real Testimonials/Reviews. People can spot bogus testimonials. Remember what your Mom said, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."
Using persuasion instead of delusion or confusion. Be conscious of when you begin using internet marketing hype instead of a persuasive argument.
Pixie dust: It's ok to have add a little magic - some zing. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) seems like magic, but it works. So a little "white hat" SEO (the good SEO) is fine. Especially since these techniques are no more than what Google recommends so it can serve-up more targeted search results to its customers (searchers). You're just helping Google's customers find what they're truly looking for better.
Bottom Line: Add content and value - true value - and market them as straightforwardly as possible.
Morality Screed versus "What Just Makes Sense" and the Law
You might be thinking that this is just a heavy-handed moral screed, but really it's a plea to consider how your marketing efforts are viewed by those who encounter them, your potential customers. Then turn it around and think (deep down), "Do I want to be marketed to that way?" and that should be your answer.
"The Federal Trade Commission Act allows the FTC to act in the interest of all consumers to prevent deceptive and unfair acts or practices. In interpreting Section 5 of the Act, the Commission has determined that a representation, omission or practice is deceptive if it is likely to:
mislead consumers and
affect consumers' behavior or decisions about the product or service."
Everything I need to know about Internet Marketing, I learned on a Disney Cruise: "Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust". Are you "clean with that"? (more on this below...)
Cleanest Hands in the World
Clean hands make a healthy voyage. Every time you eat on a Disney Cruise, you're given moist hand wipes before you're allowed in the dining facility. One of the comedians on the cruise joked that "We have the cleanest hands in the world."
I'm "Clean With That"
When I used to work for a Big Oil company (I mean large global energy resources corporation), one of my co-workers used to rate decisions and/or courses of actions by saying, "I'm clean with that." This is like saying, "I'm OK with that," but far more positively.
Clean Marketing
Similar to these two examples, if we can be "clean" with the methods of Marketing we use, then we can feel good about what we're doing. I think this spirit of positivity carries over to the people we're attracting to our web sites and creating relationships with. If we're genuine about our intent then people will sense this and naturally be more predisposed to purchase at our web site.
"Mud People" versus The Golden Rule
Conversely, I remember hearing a professional speaker refer to the members of his audiences as "mud people". These were people he felt were stuck in the mud in their lives and needed his hand (techniques) to help pull them out.
This is wrong on so many levels. Once you start thinking of your potential visitors or customers as "marks" (easy marks), as they say in the carnival business, then clearly you've lost all respect for them. As always, the time-honored test is, "Would I want to be thought of that way?"
As the Golden Rule says: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
"The ethic of reciprocity (also known as the Golden Rule) is an ethical code that states one has a right to just treatment, and a responsibility to ensure justice for others." - Wikipedia
If you would not want to be thought of that way, then steer a straight course for a journey to internet marketing success you can be "clean" with.
More on this is Part 2: Why Internet Marketing is Like a Disney Cruise - Part 2
Wishing you the best online marketing success,
Karl
PS: Have a Comment on this? Or are you "clean with that"?
There's a great trick for shortening web addresses (URLs) in your Twitter posts (and no, it's *not* TinyURL!).
But first, what is Twitter?
Twitter is a micro-blog where you post 140 character updates simply answering the question "What are you doing? These short one-way posts, known as tweets, are shown on your Twitter profile page. These updates can also be received on Facebook, your mobile phone, your blog, etc. For more info see the Twitter Wikipedia article.
Table of Contents
Since this is long post, please see the clickable Table of Contents* (below/right) --> * How was this Table of Contents created? See Bonus Trick #5 below.
Web addresses (URLs) are long. Clearly with only 140 characters for an update message in Twitter, the less characters (letters, numbers, symbols, and spaces) you use, the better.
Solution
Shortening the URL using free web services like SnipURL or TinyURL which take long URLs and make them shorter.
--> Note: This is also great for PowerPoint presentations as well as Email messages, where long URLs can break-up if they're longer than one line (e.g., a huge link to a Mapquest map - yikes!).
These are great solutions, but SnipURL's "snipped" URLs can be shortened even more.
With all of the people using TinyURL in Twitter (about 2.5 million uses as of when this was posted), it's too bad they don't know about SnipURL and the trick for making their URLs even shorter. And of the 90,000+ uses of SnipURL in Twitter, only half used the trick.
Both short URLs have far less characters then the original URL.
This savings would be even greater if you started with a longer web address.
Note that the domain names are 7 characters for both of the URLs (excluding the ".com"):
snipurl (7 characters)
tinyurl (7 characters)
The number of characters after the ".com/" can vary, but there are usually 4 to 6 characters.
From what I've seen, SnipURL's algorithm seems to create less characters at the end than TinyURL.
- Definitely a case of "less is more". This might be because TinyURL has been used more than SnipURL.
For the example above the characters following the domain names are bolded below:
With SnipURL, you can shorten the URL even more, by using any of SnipURL's shorter domain names: snurl.com or snipr.com. For the example above, any of these URLs will lead to the same web address:
Or delete the "u" and "l" in the SnipURL above to get:
http://snipr.com/3n4l1
Now you're probably thinking, "Can I make the URLs even shorter by deleting the leading "http://" characters too?"
- Answer: Yes, but then the URL won't be clickable in Twitter (Yikes!).
- See the deleting the "http://" test in Twitter.
If the description of the Trick above doesn't make any sense, just view the Video below...
You might be thinking, "This is completely ridiculous - You're only saving a few characters at most with this stupid trick."
Answer: Yes, but with only 140 characters allowed for a post, the prime Twitter real estate (space available) is very valuable and you need to save every character you can...especially if you are trying to squeeze several URLs into a post as in the next example:
Now you're probably wondering, "Why would you want to post such a cryptic message? Are you a spy or something?" (Answer: "No!").
Well, here's the situation: I had just posted a comment to the blog page of one of my favorite podcasts, Marketing Over Coffee. Unfortunately MoC's software/settings for Comments had stripped the helpful links from the comment I'd made.
As a workaround to this dilemma I posted the tweet above so someone searching on the keywords might find the links. (Ok, I cheated and used my first name in the search to limit the number of search results...but you get the idea, right?).
What did I do with the extra characters saved with the SnipURL Trick?
- Inserted the phrase: "How-to" to describe the link
(which actually gives the solution many people might be searching for).
Bonus Trick #2:
- How do you get SnipURL's (Snip!) into your Browser Links or Bookmarks toolbar?
Go to SnipURL and "simply" drag the Snip! button to your Links or Bookmarks toolbar.
While this usually works fine for Firefox, in many cases it doesn't work for Internet Explorer.
--> Trick for IE: Right-click on the Snip! button, choose "Add to Favorites", then click the down-arrow next to Create, scroll down to the Links folder, and click Add. Easy, right?
Bonus Trick #3: - How do you get your Twitter posts to be displayed in the right column of your blog?
And while you're there, be sure to subscribe to their "Snips" e-Newsletter, which sends you an email of interesting snippings every week - definitely a guilty pleasure(!), but you can get a read on hot trends and popular culture too.
What do you think?
Do you have a better way to do this? If so, please leave a Comment below...
If you like this post, then:
Subscribe to the Feed (see the orange "subscribe in a reader" feed icon at top-right of page.
Let your favorite Social Media/Networking site know (see "Share & Enjoy" icons for Digg, etc. below).
Tell A Friend (see "Share This Post" and/or TellAFriend button/link at bottom of post).
PART II: Attracting Visitors and Internet Marketing Techniques
What does the blog post above have to do with Attracting More Visitors to your website or blog?
- How can these Internet Marketing techniques help promote your site?
Twitter is a great way to attract potential visitors to your blog or website.
Intriguing/interesting Titles attract people to your blog posts, articles, or emails.
Using carefully selected keywords is very effective and critical to the success of your Titles.
Delivering on what your Title promises is very important.
Just in case someone wanted something other than what they found here, bonus tricks were included.
Did you find what you were looking for?
If yes, then more value was provided.
If not, hopefully you found something that was helpful (a trick, resource, or link).
Since "Twitter Tools" is a very popular search and "Twitter Tools" is also a Wordpress plugin, content was provided for those searchers finding this post as well:
Bonus Trick #2 and other info "Twitter Tools" searcher might find interesting/helpful.
The video can be searched/found on YouTube or search engines.
Linking a YouTube video back to your blog or website both in the video description and within the video can be very powerful.
Of course with any Social Media community, try to be sensitive to what they consider to be blatant marketing (bad) vs. subtle markerting (may be ok, depending on the community).
Any video has the potential to become viral and be passed around exponentially.
Use Examples
People like examples as they show "how to".
People love Stories...and Examples can tell a story and make cold data/info personal.
Asking your readers to do something is a "Call to Action". (e.g., Tell A Friend)
Sometimes all you have to do is ask and people will respond favorably.
"Always be Testing"
The Twitter Test "deleting the "http://" test" (above) is a tiny testing example in homage to what Bryan Eisenberg says: "Always be Testing" (in his book titled: Always Be Testing: The Complete Guide to Google Website Optimizer):
Navigation/Usability: If a web page or blog post is long, make them easy to Navigate (e.g., the Table of Contents)
If the post was broken up into several posts, then it would appear in reverse order and lose its scanability, effectiveness, and flow. Instead of doing this give your readers an easy way to navigate (links, Table of Contents, etc.).
If you liked this post you might also enjoy receiving our 77 Great Tips of Internet Marketing to help you Attract More Visitors and Create More Customers(SM).
Are you Clean with that? - Part II
