Here’s the ad:

Why is it stupid?

Well, do you understand what Adobe is saying?

No?

Ok, this is Adobe feeling pissed off with Apple for not supporting Adobe’s Flash technology on Apple’s iPhones and the new iPad. Flash is a format for videos seen on websites.

And so Adobe tells the world they’re not happy with Apple with an ad that says they love Apple, and ending with them saying they don’t love something else, which is supposed to mean Apple again (if you get it).

Get it?

Well, now that you know what it is – do you care?

No?

Of course not.

Because how is Adobe hating Apple important to YOU?

You probably don’t even know what business Adobe is in (unless you’re aware that you’re using its products).

In any case, Apple does what Apple wants with its own products.

And Adobe doesn’t like it.

And you don’t care.

But all is not lost, because someone does care.

Who?

The Wall Street Journal, of course.

It shed quite a few tears here and there.

But those are tears of joy, not of sorrow.

As Adobe paid over $285,000 for that one single ad.

Follow the arrow below:

Now how many people can Adobe feed, in any country, with that kind of money?

Sen Ze

P.S. Here’s someone else’s view:
http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/13/adobe-ad-apple/

See this wonderful and creative method that it used to draw attention to its stores, that appealed to a huge number of its prospects. It looks almost magical – and you can certainly learn a thing or two from it:

McDonalds does things the McDonalds way again, but this time it gets lots of attention for its “competitor”, the very entity it is trying to snuff out. Its “competitor” is McCurry:

McCurry’s owner is Suppiah (see video image above).

He’s one of my first students in my very first Boot Camp on Internet Business and Internet Marketing way back in 1999 (not many people even know about this Boot Camp). Shows you how long I’ve been doing Internet Businesses, which is way before most people – but there’s a more important point coming up.

The short of it all – McDonalds claimed that McCurry had no right to the “Mc” prefix as it’s part of the “McDonalds” trademark. Malaysia’s High Court agreed. McCurry appealed to the Court of Appeal, which reversed that decision. McDonalds appealed to the Federal Court, which upheld the Court of Appeal’s decision.

In short, McCurry took on the might of McDonalds, and won. And in the process, generated what Suppiah himself estimated is about $1 BILLION worth of positive publicity worldwide, for its McCurry brand. People all over the world who have never heard of McCurry, took notice and now know about McCurry.

All the media outlets in the world picked this story up, including CNN and major TV stations:

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/09/08/mcdonalds.mccurry.legal.malaysia/index.html

(I was featured on CNN too, for my Blindfold Drive event – but Suppiah’s event has a bigger impact since a familiar corporate giant is involved.)

Suppiah and I actually discussed his stand against McDonalds about 8 or 9 years ago, when Suppiah started his McCurry restaurant. How do you deal with McDonalds’ might and intention to own the “Mc” prefix – which really isn’t for it to own?

“McCurry” is an actual Scottish surname, although in Suppiah’s case, it’s an abbreviation for “Malaysian Curry Chicken”. If McDonalds were allowed to own the “Mc” name – it means that no other business can use a “Mc” as part of its name.

Is that fair? No, not in our minds. Is that legal? This is for the courts to decide but our guts (you and I) tell us that the courts should decide against McDonalds – although our guts are really different from what the law might be.

Note that some courts in some jurisdictions have ruled in favor of McDonalds when some businesses tried to use “Mc” as part of their business name, even if that’s their actual name – but this isn’t a clear cut case for sure and different jurisdictions will have different judges sitting to decide on the issue.

Also McDonalds wasn’t suing McCurry for “passing off” which is where McCurry was trying to mislead the public into thinking it’s part of the McDonalds chain of restaurants, when McCurry clearly made no attempt to do so as it doesn’t offer any food that remotely resembles McDonalds’, nor did it follow McDonalds’ theme, colors or have a Ronaldo McCurry as its mascot.

And since “McCurry” the name clearly isn’t “McDonalds” the name either, this left McDonalds with just the “Mc” prefix that it tried to claim was part of its trademark which couldn’t be used by other businesses. It didn’t have the strongest case but it either could let things be – or take a chance to strengthen itself even more with a potential victory in the courts.

It chose the latter and lost.

While this loss isn’t going to affect McDonalds’ business much, it has the opposite effect on McCurry – which is the underdog going against an 800 pound gorilla. The media love such stories – and painted the town (or the planet) red with it – because the masses love such stories too.

This is business strategy executed at the highest level – and Suppiah truly deserves his victory for he had nothing to fear since he really didn’t do anything wrong. McDonalds started the “fight”. It was a calculated move on their part that simply backfired on them.

But how many other people would have given in just because a corporate giant threatened them with a lawsuit – even though the corporation may not have a solid case to begin with?

You can be sure there are corporations using lawsuits as a weapon to stifle competition which is in effect pitting the amount of money they have against the poor, small businesses who simply can’t afford to defend themselves in court.

This anti-competitive strategy being practiced by giant corporations isn’t discussed much but it’s happening.

But there’s another 800-pound gorilla story where you get a giant corporation to be on your side which provides BOTH of you with what both of you want.

That 800-pound gorilla is Google.

You want FREE, NEVER-ENDING, FRESH and HIGHLY-TARGETED Leads or Prospects for your businesses, websites or offers. Google wants their users to have the best experience in finding what they’re looking for.

It’s a match made in heaven.

Google will give you all the FREE, FRESH, NEVER-ENDING and HIGHLY-TARGETED leads you want – if you will just give it what it wants.

My Google Magic System shows you EXACTLY how to give Google what Google wants with the LEAST amount of effort on your part. In fact, you don’t have to life a finger to do anything!

I used to dread tackling Google because while the work to do it wasn’t difficult, it was tedious, repetitious and mind-numbing. This is so even if you used software or people to do the work for you because if it’s tedious, repetitious and mind-numbing, the people you hire won’t be able to do the work for long.

I’ve solved the above problems in more ways than one. And I’m proud to be showing it off to you so that you can see for yourself how doable everything really is, right now.

Note that Google can get you THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS of free visitors for MONTHS, even YEARS on end, and you’re going to know how this is done in my FREE talk below. Register for it and be blown away by how easy it can be – NOW!

http://SenZe.com/googlemagic

If you’re in Singapore, I’ll be there next Monday, Sept 28th. Click below to register for your free seats in Singapore:

http://SenZe.com/googlemagics

Cheers!
Sen Ze

It’s a “technique” that gets you what you want by making people around you like you.

If fact, it makes you an IMMEDIATE HIT with your Prospects.

Not only will they like you, they will REMEMBER you.

Not only that, they CANNOT forget you, no matter what happens.

Even YEARS later, when you yourself have forgotten their names or how they even look like!

Best of all – when they call out to you on the street (remember, they wouldn’t be able to forget you even if they wanted to), you will IMMEDIATELY remember their own names!

Now which of your Prospects don’t like to be remembered (fondly) by others?

But let’s get back to YOU, as this technique is about you first, although it’s also about your Prospects.

When you’re liked (and remembered – which goes hand in hand with likeability), you increase the chances of getting what you want, significantly.

Now imagine the effect this powerful concept will have on your business and personal life.

It’s something worth thinking about.

And all you need to know is what to say to the people you would like to do business with.

It involves the following questions:

1. What’s the sweetest sound in the universe to any person?

2. Why is that the sweetest sound in the universe to that person?

Here are the answers that form the basis of this awesome technique.

The sweetest sound in the world to any person, of course, is his own NAME.

This is a FACT.

(Check out Dale Carnegie’s classic book, “How To Win Friends And Influence People” that has a chapter or two on this).

There are minor exceptions (as always), but the vast majority of people LOVE to hear the sound of their own names.

Why?

I mentioned this before, and I’ll say it again.

We LOVE ourselves.

This is the reason why we can look in the mirror every day and feel sad that a wrinkle is appearing, or the hairline is receding or the waistline is expanding.

Otherwise we couldn’t care less.

And our names is a shortcut to everything that’s us. We use our own names to refer to ourselves.

This fact gives you a very potent tool to get ahead in your careers or businesses.

So how do you apply this knowledge?

Simple.

It’ll work only when you’re meeting somebody for the very first time. There are other conditions, but I’ll get to them soon enough.

So okay, both of you don’t know each other’s names and have never met before.

You think he may be a good Prospect for your business.

This is what you do.

Ask him for his name.

Let’s just say he says his name is “Paul Jones“.

Okay. Now this is EXTREMELY important.

You respond with the following:

“What? That’s TOTALLY AMAZING.”

Then you wait for his response.

He’ll say, “Why is that?”

And you say (this is EVEN MORE important – listen up):

“Because my name is PAUL JONES too!”

“Isn’t that amazing?”

(Of course it is. I’m in shock even as I write this.)

Do you see what you’re doing?

WHATEVER name he calls out, you respond with the SAME EXACT NAME!

Now tell me this.

How soon do you think he’ll forget your “name” after that meeting?

Right. NEVER .

Because it’s his name too and he, of course, NEVER forgets his own name.

Think about it. How many people in the past have you met that have the same exact name as you do?

Right.

NONE.

And because it never happens, we take full notice of our namesake when it does.

Your Prospect will be doing exactly this, to you.

Since he absolutely likes to hear the sound of his own name, some of that liking will transfer over to you as well – and you don’t have to do much to earn it, apart from repeating his name back to him

Powerful, no?

But that isn’t the only benefit with this technique.

Once you’ve repeated his name back to him, YOU can IMMEDIATELY FORGET it from that point on, and you will IMMEDIATELY be able to RECALL his name even years later when you see him again.

How?

Because when you share the same exact name with somebody else, he’ll be affected more by this than you because it really isn’t your real name, but it is his.

So when he sees you walking down the street one day – you can bet that last dollar you have that HE’LL GREET YOU FIRST by calling out his name to you (and probably laughing as well), because he thinks that’s also YOUR NAME!

And what happens when this happens?

RIGHT!

YOU NOW KNOW HIS NAME AS SOON AS HE HAS GREETED YOU!!

You need never, ever be caught not knowing someone’s name again.

Brilliant, no?

This works equally as well for the opposite sex.

How?

For example, she says her name is “Georgia Smith“.

You say, “That’s TOTALLY AMAZING! Because my name’s George Smith!”

She says “Christine Langton“.

You say “REALLY!!! I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS. I’m Chris Langton!”

She says “Pauline Zega“.

You say “I DON’T BELIEVE THIS. I’m Paul Zega!”

Heck, it works even when you’re of a different race.

Let’s say you’re a male Caucasian.

He says his name is “Kareem Abdul Jaabar“.

You say, “THAT’S TOTALLY AMAZING! My name’s Kareem Abdul Jaabar too!”

He says his name is “Hiroshi Hiratha“.

You say, “YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS. I’m HIROSHI HIRATHA too!”

Of course, you’ll have a great time too telling the story of how you got that name.

And here’s AN EXPLOSIVE mix of race and gender, and you don’t have the male equivalent of her name:

She says her name is “May Lin“.

You say “ARE THE STARS ALIGNED TODAY? My name’s May Lin too!”.

In fact, the more different you are to your name (as in you’re of a different race and gender) which is also the other person’s name, the STRONGER the effect will be on him or her.

Try it – it works like crazy!!!!

Here’s another variation of this powerful concept that is equally as important to you in your personal and business life.

What’s the next thing after a person’s name that she will NEVER EVER FORGET and treat equally as important?

Right.

Her birthday, of course.

So if you want to remember another person’s birthday, all you have to do is to ask her, and whatever date it is, you say…

Well, what do you say?

Of course.

“Oh, that’s totally AMAZING. That’s MY birthday too!”

(You’re such a quick learner…I’m so proud of you.)

So when her birthday comes, you can bet she’ll be thinking about you. And if she calls to wish you a happy birthday (on the day it isn’t), you KNOW it’s her birthday, and you can wish her back!

Can you imagine how happy she would be – even though she’s the one who actually reminded you of her birthday?

NOTE:

The above methods work best under the following conditions:

1. You are in a one-to-one meeting with the Subject
You can’t do this in front of people who know you’re not “Paris Hilton” and your birthday isn’t on the 29th February. You just can’t, and you shouldn’t, you hear me?

2. You appear totally amazed and excited
You must be happy that you’re sharing the same exact name/birthday with someone else, because in real life, you would be.

3. You must be able to lie convincingly
Yep, you’ll be throwing your ethics/morals out of the window. It absolutely won’t work if you feel guilty or nervous when you’re talking to them.

If you can do all of the above, you’re all set.

Sen Ze

P.S. Do I use this “Name” technique? Are you crazy? Of course not. Can’t you see my name in your browser?

P.P.S. The logic behind this technique is very sound, even though the morals/ethics behind it are not. I don’t actually use it and you shouldn’t either. It’s a joke, so lighten up.

This “technique” is shown to you so that you realize just how important our names are to ourselves and others – so if you don’t already have a Personal Domain Name that is made up of your actual name, click below and get one now:

Personal Domain Name Plan

P.P.P.S. A buddy of mine ACTUALLY uses the “Birthday” technique! I know because some lady called him up on his cellphone and wished him a happy birthday when we were talking, and he wished her back – in front of a confused me, because he had celebrated his birthday 2 months before with a bunch of us!

P.P.P.P.S. In the OMINICITI Personal Domain Names Directory (which has 700+ listings of websites with Personal Domain Names now), there are two “Susan Isaacs“.

One Susan Issacs is found at www.SusanIsaacs.com, and the other one is found at www.SusanIsaacs.net (if you can’t get the dotcom version of your name, get the dotnet version, or whatever version you can get your hands on because once they’re gone, they’re likely gone forever).

Both are totally different people doing different things. One’s an Author, the other’s an Actress. If you put them together at a party, you can bet neither will forget the other and what she does and show she looks, for as long as they live! Check their sites out – you’ll see how different they are in all aspects even though they share the same name.

P.P.P.P.P.S. You can link to this post with the following URL:

http://www.SenZe.com/business-blog/names/how-to-make-others-like-you.htm

Technorati Tags: networking, business networking, dale carnegie, how to win friends and influence people, name, names, business introduction, remembering names, how to remember names, positioning, business positioning, personal domain name, domain name, SOLOBIS, Project SEGO

The SOLOBIS Personal Domain Name Plan (codenamed “Project SEGO“) was launched at www.SOLOBIS.com.

And not long after that we had technical glitches with the Personal Domain Name Search Tool.

Too many were using it to search for their own Personal Domains to see if they’ve been grabbed by other people from around the world, and it just didn’t work after a while.

Worse, it showed some domains as “UNAVAILABLE” when they were.

LOL…

If you were one of those who were disappointed that your name has been taken in all Domain Name forms (like JohnSmith.com, JohnSmth.net and JohnSmith.info, for example), please try again at the following link, to be sure. It’ll only take you a few seconds:

http://www.SOLOBIS.com

You may just be in luck…

Remember, there can only be one version of each, and when they’re gone – they’ll likely stay gone forever.

So make sure you GRAB YOURS today, and make a huge difference in how others perceive you.

The ridiculously low price of just $9.97/month gets you a beautiful, working SOLOBIS-Enhanced WordPress Blog and unlimited e-mail addresses based on your Personal Domain, plus an E-Course called “Personal Domain Name Profits” worth $197 that will be sent to you over a period of time.

This E-Course in the form of e-mails sent to you every other day will show you some extremely easy methods of generating lots of spare income with your own Personal Domain Name that don’t involve conducting(expensive) AdWords campaigns, doing (time-consuming) Keyword Research, (religiously) writing and submitting (numerous) articles to Article Directories, or adding AdSense codes on your Blog pages.

Check it out!

Sen Ze

Technorati Tags: Project SEGO, easy internet business, internet business, internet marketing, competition, launch, product launch, spare income, keyword research, Adwords, AdSense, personal domain, personal domain name, domain name

If you’re John Smith and you’re fresh out of college or you’re already working – how many of your friends or fellow colleagues have a Personal Domain Name (ie a Domain Name made up of his own name)?

Right.

NONE.

So why is this important?

If you were to go for job interviews one day – do you think your interviewer will notice that you’ve got your own Personal Domain Name at “www.JohnSmith.com“?

Especially when he himself has yet to have one?

Especially after you have conveniently pointed it out to him?

And especially when everybody else he’s interviewing doesn’t have their own Personal Domain Name, web site/Blog or E-Mail address?

But they do have “james1983@gmail.com“?

Or “will_die4love@hotmail.com“?

And you only have

“john@johnsmith.com“?

Or they do have a Blog, at

“www.MySpace.com/2334343“?

Or “www.james.blogspot.com“?

Or “www.xanga.com/noolmusic“?

Compared to your

“www.JohnSmith.com“?

How much of an impression do you think your “competitors” are going to make on ANYBODY?

Can you see now how a Personal Domain Name that contains your actual name is a no-brainer?

But what can you put on your Blog at your “www.JohnSmith.com“?

Hmmm….let’s see.

Let’s make it easy, yet totally beneficial to you.

How about your resume?

Maybe some details about your working experiences in the same industry?

A revelation of your “Employee Of The Month” Award?

Photos of you “in action”, receiving the Award?

Details of your projects you’ve worked on?

Shots of you with your business partners (to show how social you are, and maybe who you know – which could be very useful for certain jobs)?

You know?

You can put whatever it is you want on your Blog to achieve your purpose at a moment’s notice because with the SOLOBIS-Enchanced WordPress Blogs, you don’t have to know how to design or put up a web page. Just log into your Blog Administrative Area and type your post, upload some photos from your computer and click on the “Publish” button – and you’re done.

Just like that.

You can easily delete your posts with a few clicks too, and put up other stuff on your Blog for another purpose at another time.

A Blog at your Personal Domain Name and e-mail addresses based on your Personal Domain are such simple and powerful marketing tools for yourself that you’ll be silly not to set them up – especially when it’s only going to cost you a paltry $10/month!

You’ll STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD INSTANTLY because your contacts don’t know how easy and cheap it is for them to get their own Personal Domain Name and e-mail addresses based on them.

They’ve always thought a Domain Name is for businesses, not individuals.

However, if you like, you can point the way for them to get their own Personal Domain Name too by referring them to the SOLOBIS Personal Domain Name Plan with everything set up for them.

They’ll do this quickly too since there can only be ONE .com or .net or .info for every personal name.

And once they’ve got one, they WILL NOT give it up as it only costs them the same paltry $10/month for their Personal Doman Name and hosting of their Blog and e-mail accounts.

This, therefore, will earn you Residual Income from SOLOBIS for YEARS to come!

The more friends you have who get the SOLOBIS Personal Domain Name Plan from you, the more Residual Income you will be making.

With a “product” that impresses those who don’t have it – which is the vast majority of us.

Get it NOW and start reaping its benefits within days of using it:

http://www.SOLOBIS.com/sego

Sen Ze

P.S. The OMNICITI Personal Domain Name Directory, the first of its kind in the world, now has

572 Personal Domain Name listings.

This is an additional 50 Personal Domain Name web sites compared to yesterday. Check out its growth every day and see for yourself the Personal Domain Name mini-movement that will soon become a mega-movement!

P.P.S. You can link to this post with the following URL:

http://www.SenZe.com/business-blog/blog/who-else-can-use-a-domain-name-with-his-actual-name-in-it.htm

Technorati Tags: personal domain name, domain name, internet business, easy internet business, employee, work, working, blog, myspace, personal domain name directory, SOLOBIS, OMNICITI, SOLOBIS Personal Domain Name Plan, web sites, web design, publish, online publishing, interview, interviewers, job, working, college, colleagues, name, personal name, blogspot, xanga, web 2.0, viral marketing, WordPress Blog, You, residual income, Project SEGO, positioning, standing out from the crowd

It not only set a US box office record for being the highest-grossing foreign film ever (US$128 million), but also went on to garner an unheard-of (for a foreign film) 10 Oscar nominations (including Best Director & Best Foreign Language Film) for the 2001 Academy Awards, winning 4 of them in the process.

Part of the success of the film can be attributed to a sleek and carefully-planned marketing campaign by Sony Pictures Classics, the distributor for the movie.

Although the movie had all the ingredients for success with talented stars and good action scenes that were mixed with a heart-breaking love story, and it had received very favorable reviews at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, it was still a foreign language movie.

And Americans hate to read subtitles.

Or do they?

In addition, it was also an art-house movie, which meant that it would not normally appeal to a mainstream audience.

However, because of its success at the Cannes film festival and elsewhere, its producers knew this film stood a very good chance of crossing the art-house crowd to making it big in mainstream America.

To ensure that the movie was able to live up to its promise as much as possible, Sony Pictures knew it couldn’t rely too much on an initial wide release on over 3,000 screens simultaneously like most studios do with American blockbusters.

In addition, the marketing budget for the movie in the U.S. was a paltry 12 million dollars or so – which wouldn’t be able to help the movie too much.

Here indeed was a challenge that Sony was faced with – and its marketing campaign turned out to be a stroke of genius that relied a great deal on low-cost and no-cost marketing.

Their marketing thrust was dependent on the movie’s appeal to the various market segments.

It had fast, breathtaking, action scenes – and thus would appeal to action audiences. In addition, those action scenes were filmed in ways rarely seen by cinema audiences anywhere in the world because they were mostly accomplished in one shot without quick edits.

I have been fed on a diet of Chinese action movies from young but I have yet to see (by then) anybody spinning upwards from a standing position like the feminine Zhang Ziyi (one of the villains in 2001’s “Rush Hour 2″) did, imitating a top, spinning from the ground floor of an inn to the first floor, then landing solidly and in the same motion, swinging her sword masterfully with rogues attacking her from all sides – with her reciting poetry at the same time!

All of that in just one long shot. Action fans would certainly appreciate that scene, one of many memorable ones in the movie.

It had drama intertwined with the history of China, and thus would appeal to those looking for a good story, and historians.

It had romance that would appeal to the female gender.

Three of the five main characters were strong female characters – and thus would appeal to feminists.

It had comedy – and people looking for a good laugh would find themselves laughing along with it.

It had well-known and quality actors in the form of Chow Yuen Fatt (soon to be seen in “Pirates Of The Carribean 3“) and Michelle Yeoh (just seen in “Sunshine“) for those who were looking for more than action.

It had beautiful cinematography and screen shots of various locations in China and thus would attract those looking at the technical aspects of a film.

It had haunting music composed by world-renowed composer Tan Dun and played by cellist Yo-Yo Ma that significantly heightened the 19th-century setting of the film.

And it had Ang Lee as the Director who would appeal to those looking for deep and meaningful human interaction (Ang Lee eventually won the Best Director Oscar for “Brokeback Mountain“).

(Incidentally, go beg, buy, borrow or steal a video of Ang Lee’s comedy family [Mandarin] drama, “Eat Drink Man Woman” for a hilarious time – with a twist at the end that rivals the “Sixth Sense” in terms of impact. Read the subtitles – it’s well worth it.)

However, the wide appeal of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” was both a blessing and a curse to its producers.

It was a blessing because its varied target market provided the movie with a potentially large audience.

It was a curse because whatever marketing budget Sony Pictures Classics had, which wasn’t much, had to be divided between marketing to the various segments of the market – which would dilute the advertising impact on each market considerably.

Nevertheless, 30-second spots ads were bought on selected TV programs to be shown to the action fan, the romance fan, the drama fan, and the history fan.

Different trailers from the movie would be shown that corresponded to the target audience they’re trying to attract.

With so many segments to appeal to, it wouldn’t take too long before the money ran out.

Sony Pictures knew from the beginning that they had to rely on one powerful tool that had been in use since humans started communicating.

And that one powerful tool, combined with timing and other concepts and strategies that complemented it, took “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” way past the previous top foreign-language film, “Life Is Beautiful“, starring Roberto Benigni (which grossed US$60 million during its run in the U.S.).

That one powerful tool is called, “Word of Mouth“.

Disappointed? Don’t be. Sony certainly weren’t, and laughed all the way to the bank.

Here indeed was a great lesson in marketing. Listen up.

You see, with a small marketing budget for a good but risky movie to promote to an English-speaking audience, Sony simply had no choice.

However, there was more to it than simple word of mouth. Things must be planned so as to facilitate that positive word of mouth from one moviegoer to another. It must be carefully nurtured so that it could take on a life of its own.

Here’s how Sony did it:

One of Sony’s tactics is to limit the distribution of the film to only a handful of cinemas to start with – to generate intense interest that would spread by word of mouth.

Helping the movie was the fact that over 95% of the U.S.’s top critics loved it despite it being a subtitled film.

This resulted in more people wanting to see it than there were screens showing it – with lines of queues stretching down the block from where the cinemas were – which in turn generated a lot of buzz of its own.

As the buzz got around, Sony increased the number of screens showing it.

It was on 20 screens, then 75 screens, then 120 screens, then 160 screens, then 200 screens, then 300 screens, then 600, then up to 1,200 screens, and then over 2,000 screens at its peak.

Note that Sony’s tactic is a complete reversal of traditional marketing tactics of releasing a traditional movie as wide as possible to make the most money from the beginning.

Thus the interest in the movie built up quickly over a short period of time that was sustained due to the scarcity of screens showing it.

People who loved it told others about it, who couldn’t get a ticket because the cinemas were sold out, which heightened the desire, which fuelled more word of mouth, which created more excited cinema patrons who couldn’t get a ticket, and so on.

This resulted in the movie staying put in the top 10 box-office chart for months - relying mainly on word of mouth!

Of course, timing had everything to do with it.

The movie was also intentionally released in the U.S. during December 2000 which led to the run-up to the Oscars in the early part of 2001. The additional free TV exposure prior to the night of the Oscars, media coverage in newspapers, magazines and a great web site also contributed to its phenomenal success.

But the operative tool was just plain old “Word of Mouth”. The media ignited the fuse, and word of mouth carried the fire along – which was a long, long way.

Word of mouth marketing is simply marketing through creating a desire on the part of your audience/visitor to freely recommend something they like about you or your site to their friends, relatives and colleagues.

But of course, Sony needed to have a quality movie to begin with. No word-of-mouth marketing campaign will succeed on an awful movie. In fact, nothing kills a movie faster than negative word of mouth!

With that in mind, as an Internet Entrepreneur, you should always incorporate some positive word-of-mouth elements within your Internet Business.

One good way to do this is to provide a quality site with valuable information to your visitors, and they’ll be more than glad to help you spread the word for you as a token of their appreciation.

Blogging is one of the simplest ways for anybody to do this. When you put down your thoughts in your blog on a theme of your choice like I do, and you do it regularly, with quality content – you’ll get loyal readers coming back again and again.

They will also tell their friends about you, or link directly to your posts.

This is “word of mouth” done on the Internet for one aspect of your online existence (your Blog posts).

Well and good.

But how about marketing to various niches at the same time just like the movie?

You can do that with the same Blog post too.

And for free.

Meaning you’ll just need to put up one Blog post – and you’ll be able to target various markets with just an extra few seconds of “work” with it.

As many different markets as you wish.

Part of the answer is staring right at you.

Can you see it?

Sen Ze

P.S. There are other business concepts found in the above post that I’ve not drawn your attention to. Read it again and those concepts may just pop out to you.

P.P..S. You can link to this post with the following URL:

http://www.SenZe.com/business-blog/blog/overlapping-niche-marketing.htm

Technorati Tags: blogs, blogging, niche marketing, word of mouth, word of mouth marketing, viral marketing, internet marketing, internet business, Internet Entrepreneur, Cannes Film Festival, Oscars, Academy Awards, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Best Director, Best Foreign Language Film, Sony, Sony Pictures, Ang Lee, Chow Yuen Fatt, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, martial arts, China

For the simple reason that it covers a topic nobody else has covered in detail so far.

This isn’t to say that the basic idea is new.

It’s not.

I’ve seen it practised in newspapers and magazines over the years by direct response marketers.

I’ve also seen it practised without advertising involved too.

It’s perfectly legitimate and it works – very well.

It continues to be practised every where in various forms – if you know what to look out for.

However, the author’s system makes the setting up and marketing of this idea a whole lot easier and faster as everything is done digitally (which is my favorite way of doing things, if you don’t know that by now)!

This is possible because he’s leveraging on the power of the Internet and the Google AdWords advertising system.

If you place an advertisement for your product to lead them to your web page selling it using the Google AdWords System, you can get a ton of visitors to it within a short period of time.

This can happen within minutes, depending on the keywords you’ve chosen and the type of product you’re selling.

Well and good.

Except that there’s more money to be made as a result of the same visitors that you’re getting – that the vast majority of AdWords advertisers are not aware of!

So while you can make back the cost of your Google AdWords campaign with the sales of your product, you can also be in profit regardless of whether your advertised product actually sells or not!

This makes your advertising totally risk-free!

Best of all – Google doesn’t care about your little money-making system that leveraged on its own as it gets paid anyway.

That makes it perfectly legitimate.

So here’s my recommendation:

Get this book.

NOW.

If you want a bonus from me – read the Postscripts below.

This book is very readable and written in a style I like. And that means you’ll probably like it too.

It’s caused some controversy elsewhere (which is really a mystery).

But let me just say this to you again, if you have any doubts.

It’s a perfectly legitimate system and the foundation is perfectly sound with plenty of profitable businesses built with it.

You’re also covered by an 8-week money-back guarantee, so what have you got to lose?

Why listen to the naysayers when there’s absolutely no risk for you to find out what the system is – which could be the best concept you’ve ever laid your eyes on?

Click below:

==> Get GoogleAds Free

Sen Ze

P.S. One astute Internet Entrepreneur has used the same concept, but without using AdWords - and banked in a cool million dollars in just a few months.

P.P.S. Another did it offline without any expensive advertising - and bought something that costs him over a hundred thousand dollars, without any money of his own!

P.P.P.S. Buy your copy of Free Google Ads using my Affiliate link above, then e-mail me your receipt for verification. If they’re in order, I’ll e-mail you my Special Report on this concept that reveals to you exactly what they both (and ANOTHER type of astute Entrepreneurs in another field) did.

They will prove beyond any doubt that this concept works – like crazy. Best of all, the entrepreneurs will open up your eyes to some possibilites you’ve never thought of – one of which may be your own million-dollar project.

P.P.P.P.S. You can link to this post using the following URL:

http://www.SenZe.com/business-blog/advertising/get-googleads-free.htm

Technorati Tags: Google Adwords, advertising, free advertising, internet, selling, internet marketing, internet business, business profitability

Do note that the very same principles that are behind this tactic can also be adapted to other types of business – online or off:

1. By offering cheap refills, you’re encouraging your Customers to go back to you again and again
You’re making a visit to your outlet a habit for him over time which may outlast his desire for your cheap refills.

2. When he buys a similar drink elsewhere, he’s reminded of your offer because he’s paying so much more for it
You and your offer are now stuck in your Customers’ minds.

3. The mug is highly visible and acts as your mini advertising billboard to your Customers’ friends
People drink among friends – and some are sure to notice the offer themselves. You can be sure some of your Customers will talk about your offer even without being prompted. So you have a viral marketing tool right in your Customers’ hands, which was paid for by your Customers themselves!

4. When you have plenty of Customers coming back to your outlet each time, your outlet appears to be busy
A busy outlet adds to its appeal and will bring more Customers in. New Prospects love to follow the crowd if they haven’t already decided where to go for their food.

5. Every Customer that comes back to buy your cheap refills can be upsold something else
What else can you sell him? A muffin, sandwich, fries, whatever. Just be sure to offer it to them when they’re asking for their refills, or place them where they can’t be missed. For a better closing ratio – offer them at a slightly discounted rate because he came in with his cool mug for the cheap refill.

Point No.5 above is the reason why you can still make money from your Customers even if you’re losing money on your refills. The 40-cent refill offer acts to bring them into your outlet on a regular basis so that you can make more money from them, when without the offer they wouldn’t go into your outlet that regularly, or at all!

You can’t make a regular, sustaining income from people who don’t see you often enough.

Even the big boys like Starbucks don’t get it. Sure, you can buy a cool looking Starbucks mug that advertises Starbucks but has no other incentive for you to keep returning to them.

Can you distill the principles behind this gem of a marketing idea that you may be able to put into play for your own business which may not be a food outlet or restaurant?

Sure you can.

I may even give you an idea or two in my next post on this.

Warm Regards,
Sen Ze

However, I also mentioned that a cool mug alone isn’t good enough.

So what else must you do with the cool mug?

Print a great offer on the front of the mug, that’s what.

Check it out:

It reads:

“Bring It Back. 40-Cent Refills. The Grill”

Now is that an irresistible offer or what!  

Now your Customers are getting GREAT value from you for something they want to consume every single day (think coffee, tea, Coke, whatever) – especially when the same drink elsewhere costs double or more!

You want Repeat Customers?

With this simple marketing tactic, you can’t stop them from coming back to you even if you pelted them with cherry pits at your door!

Now you’re thinking:

If the refills costs so little – how are you actually making any money, after all is said and done?

After all, that 40 cents could be your cost for the drink!

Well – let me tell you something.

You could even lose money on your refills and still make profits you’ve never seen.

Think about it.

My next post will reveal how this is done – and how the principles involved in this very neat idea can apply to any business – online or off!

Stay tuned.

Sen Ze

If you’ve missed that post – it’s found at this link.

That is a great idea and costs the restaurant owner almost nothing to implement.

Well, here’s something else that your Customers will not forget to bring with them every time they want to visit your restaurant or food outlet. In fact, it will actually make them think of visiting your restaurant all the time.

It’s not their credit card (because I’ve covered this already) or a printed Loyalty Card. In fact, it’s not a card at all.

So what is it?

It’s a mug that is sold by your outlet to your Customers at a nominal price. So this is yet another marketing tactic that will cost you nothing after all is said and done, and yet will bring you extra profits you will never see if you don’t implement it.

However, it’s no ordinary mug – in fact, it’s a mug that your Customers would be happy to own and carry around.

This mug can hold hot or cold drinks and keep them in that state for some time – almost like a thermos flask, even if it doesn’t keep the drinks hot or cold for as long.

Here’s how it looks like:

It has a cover that has two holes – one for a straw, and the other for you to sip from if you don’t want to use a straw:

The hole in the middle is for the straw, and the one at the bottom is for your mouth.

The two holes are important to allow your Customer to drink from it without having to open the lid so that the drinks can be kept hot or cold longer.

Ok, so that’s how the mug functions. It makes a wonderful item for your Customer.

But a cool mug alone won’t bring them back.

So what will? Well, think about it for a moment.

Actually, you have a few days for this exercise, because I’ll reveal in my next post what the restaurant giving this mug away had done just once with the mug, that brought their Customers back to them again and again.

And again.

And again.

Talk to you later!

Warm Regards,
Sen Ze