Watching TV with my one year old yesterday I saw new marketing live and well on TV.   "Do the Potty Dance!" came on.  Not only did it come on, but you can  see    "the potty dance song" at Huggies.com.   You can download the song, the video, or the dance steps.  That is content creation taken to the extreme.

But that's not all...  What about the customizable game, or send a potty dance e-card.   They're pulling out all of the stops on this one.

Now do you see what you and your new marketing has done to Huggies?  

Right before that commercial Geico had a commercial advertising some mobile widget that could be downloaded free.  No cavemen, no lizards, no money you could be saving, a free app for all the iphone lovers.   These big companies are embracing the new trends completely.

It really is cool to see how companies are blending the traditional marketing efforts with web marketing.

"Do the Potty Dance!".

Unfortunately I can't get it out of my head.  And I guess that's the point of viral marketing.  

People are already blasting the ad online.  Even though I feel like ripping my ears off when I hear it, I appreciate the viral components of what it is.

• Taboo -  going potty
• Outrageous  -  oh yes it is that for sure
• Hilarious  - yup it's this too
• Unusual  -  I would say 
• It leads you to the site
  
• causes you to take an action 
• gives you the tools to spread their message

I don't know how the campaign will do, but I really think they're giving the right tools and the right message to the right people to help grow their brand.  I can imagine kids around throwing fits to wear Huggies pull ups because of the potty dance.  "It's just not the same."

By the way, our son is 17 months and dances to it every time it comes on.  We will be using the potty dance song for sure to get him potty trained.

Good job Huggies.

 Pampers....FAIL!  :((

 When I first started learning how to market my small business several years ago with technology I was met with content and information overload.  It took a lot of searching, and trial and error to get to a solid ground of understanding how certain things work, and what types of things are available.  

When I came across compete.com I thought I had won the lottery.   You mean to tell me you can put a website's URL (web address) into compete's database, and it will give you a traffic report?  Or what about the website grader?  This free service will look at your site and within a minute give you a free grade analysis.

As a beginner it would have been nice if someone had "let me know" where the ladder without the first 5 steps removed was located, but I never found it.  I had to keep studying until it clicked.  I realized also that some of the "techies" (computer programmers & website developers) I came across almost would look down at you because you didn't know how to do something very simple to them....because they're smart.  

I actually found myself learning a lot about the way things work from Wikipedia.  How the web originated, how it works, what's an FTP path, and what's server side programming, etc.  

As you search around some web marketing SEO websites as a "newbie", you really do have to have the basics understood to "get" and benefit from what is being blogged about or offered as a service.  

I have a great appreciation for these web marketing blog people and their companies for the community that has been formed around the industry.  There is a common fellowship that is all about pushing knowledge and understanding of the industry to a higher level.   That is cool to me.  Some industries are cut throat.

Getting back to the point.  I understand the dilemma of the small or new business that has to do all of their own internet campaigning themselves.   I am very immersed in learning as much as I can about web marketing and I will not forget what it is like just starting out.   I hope that you will be able to have a smaller learning curve growing your web presence by using our site's learning center.

There has to be a simple entry point for people new to technology that have to promote their small business online.   With so many choices of where to spend your money and time online, I hope you can learn the basics first before starting something that isn't in your small business' best interest.

 It is scary to realize the the high school kids graduating and going to college this year were in first grade when google first arrived as an incorporated entity.   And for perspective purposes the kids that were in first grade when "Internet Explorer" came onto the scene will be graduating college next year.

These are kids that don't need how to use technology classes that some of us older folks need, they understand it, and expect it.  

This demographic soon will be out of school, and will be in line to become your client.   

This is why it is important to embrace the internet into your marketing mix, and grow your online presence.  Obviously there will never be 100% adoption to technology, but it will growing for some time to come.  These new consumers will be buying houses, cars, services and everything in between.  Where do you think they are going to look first when they need something?

You do realize that if you are not already setup that people that are looking for you online now cannot find you?

Are your systems in place to capture these people, or is your competitor going to beat you to it?

Coming from a small business myself, I know the pains of traditional marketing.  It seems that I was doing a major marketing push using the wrong vehicles.  I wish someone would have stopped me before I got in over my head.  Looking back now I realize the niche luxury item I was selling had no business in a "luxury living magazine", or a "country club magazine", or did it?

I became an expert  in,  "what doesn't work".  The thing that I find the most amusing about this situation is that I realized most of the people selling marketing opportunities like community mailers, postcards, TV, Radio, magazine, yellow pages, etc. aren't at all interested in if you get calls and sales from their ad.  They need to sell that ad to eat.  When my traditional ads weren't working I heard a lot of ingenious comebacks for why I didn't get any qualified calls.

"you only ran your ad for 6 months you should have ran it longer".   -  At $1750 per issue

"you should have got the full page ad like I recommended".    -   At an extra $2000

"We have no control over your sales ability".  -  This one was my favorite.

Another favorite one is the example of the one advertiser that did $100,000 in sales off of the last mailing.  They all have that same story.

I heard the same comments  from several sources.  Do they all go to the same class to learn how take the attention away from their ineffective products?  

Call me biased yes, but I've got close to $50,000 or more in a 2 year period that I either lost money, or barely broke even on my ads.  It seemed like I was running around working very hard  just to pay ads. Don't think for a second that my first question wasn't, "how did you find us?"  

Maybe the ads that we ran weren't very good, and that's why they failed? (created in union with the advertisers).

I have a lot of contacts in my industry, and I hear a lot of the same, break even, no sales, no calls, tire kickers, MORE ADVERTISERS CALLING TO SELL YOU MORE ADS!   Maybe everyone that I know can't create good sales copy?

The point of my ranting is to explain this.  This blog, website, company Fertilemarketing.com does not appreciate hard selling traditional advertising salesman.  It is kind of ironic being a marketing company, yes but very, very different.  You see we are not selling ads, we are selling time, and information. 

Don't think for a second that these blood sucking ad sellers are not going to be trying to cram "internet based traditional marketing" down our throats.   I heard of a company that sells text messaging by the thousand.  You collect and provide your customer's numbers, and they will send out X texts for Y dollars.  Great deal don't you think?  How about sending out 1 twitter message to your followers?  Or 1 post to your fan page?  Or update your blog?  Or send out a press release?

Our goal is to provide the knowledge and guidance to help you understand this new media for your small business.  That way when the blood suckers come you will be educated or already doing what it is that they are selling so you can invest your hard earned dollars smarter.

We will strive to uncover the latest and greatest techniques being used, and pass them on to you, via this blog, our Twitter feed, and our learning center.

You haven't hear the last of this very touchy subject.

  Computers Are Taking Over The World!