Well in my quest to find the latest and greatest marketing trends, I stumbled upon a product that I believe will  be a runaway hit for a number of reasons - some obvious, some not so obvious.

Bong Vodka

Okay, everyone say it in unison... "Thank You Captain Obvious!"

What kind of party animal doesn't have visions of vodka-filled bongs dancing through their heads?

These guys have got a winner on their hands.

Hailing from the Mecca of all things "bongish", Holland, the vodka import is not available all over the US - and I can imagine that some of the states with a more... shall we say... draconian approach to their liquor licensing will be inclined to take a pass on the product.

But I the company has keyed in on some pretty interesting marketing fundamentals.

First of all, aside from the appeal for the environmentally conscious who will... {ahem}...  jump at the chance to recycle wherever possible, the snazzy art designs just scream at the collector market. They've recruited some serious design talent.

Of course, there's the whole subculture appeal... the snickering and winking when someone buys a bottle. Pure marketing segmentation genius.

I mean... the whole thing makes for some great marketing.

Now before the rumors start flying... I haven't poured myself a glass of anything heavier than the monthly pint of Flying Horse beer that I split with my wife at an area Indian food joint (joint... haha.... very punny) since probably 2005.

And even though my libertarian sensibilities are pretty tolerant of those who engage in "botanical" varieties of recreation, I haven't indulged in anything of the sort for a very, very long time.

"WHEN I WAS YOUR AGE... we had to pay $80 for a Grafix bong and it didn't come filled with vodka as a bonus prize!"

But being an almost tea-totalling fuddy duddy these days doesn't preclude my ability to see a trend and give props to the "coolness" factor when I see it.

In fact, a little Google searching will even bring up YouTube videos of some Weird Al Yankovic looking guy that teaches viewers how to convert the bottle.

I'm sensing the bastard child of Seth Godin and Malcom Gladwell all rolled up into one fat bowl of marketing goodness here.

Lots of projects have been in the works, and that's taken my time away from my own site.

But I realize that it's as much a discipline and focus issue as any other project that I want to accomplish.

SO... that being said... I've segmented out my blog into some different categories... and I am taking a much different approach.

I've wrestled with the how/what issue here for long enough.

At one point, I was in a quandry about how to leverage my own blog... do I want it to be personal? Professional? Business-related?

Welllllll... my penchent for that dastardly compartmentalization that I fight on a daily basis has been overpowered!

My blog is ME.

And what I am is a marketing guy, business guy, techie guy, husband, dad, innovator, trendspotter, and class clown.

So strap yourself in.

I live on a small farm outside of a fairly small community... okay it's pretty tiny. Our county seat has like 6,000 residents in the city limits. When you go into a business on Main Street, it's like stepping back into time. Even though I am about 45 minutes outside of a major metro downtown area, I chose to live out in the proverbial "sticks" for a whole bunch of reasons.
 
One morning a couple weeks back, I hopped into the car and headed down the road to hear the dreaded FLOP FLOP FLOP of a dead tire.
 
I did an about face and headed...

Read the rest of my adventure here...

What kind of idiot really wants to be successful? I mean, that takes hard work and effort. No way! I’m going to show you a different approach with my nine easy steps to become a failure in life.

Rule 1: Be a Wuss

Being a wussy has nothing to do with physical strength and everything to do with mental strength. I know you want to be successful but you’re too afraid to...

Read the rest of this post >>

Let’s be really honest here, your B2B sales prospects truly don't want more “friends”, which is an all too common sales approach. They barely have time now for the ones that they’ve already got. And a new “friend” that’s only recently appeared with the intent to sell them something isn’t very high on their priority list.

Part of the problem is this thing called "being incongruent". If you’re trying to befriend someone, but your ulterior motive is to sell them something, then you’re not really their friend. So all the baseball game tickets, lunches at the racket club, and social stuff is just a giant put-on, and your prospect knows it. You know it. That’s why you don’t...

Read the rest of the article...

I was recently asked a question about ROI of social media for lead generation vs. ROI of Pay-Per-Click advertising.

Lead costs certainly vary across channels. The main number that I am concerned with overall in any of my consulting is the Cost Of Acquisition - What does it cost to acquire a new customer on average?

Some lead generation tactics will be ...

Read the rest of the article...

I can't be certain how many bottles of celebratory champagne Matt Rutledge had downed before he penned the most awesome internal email from a CEO ever about the sale of woot.com to Amazon.

Click here to read the rest of this post...

I’m not quite sure why so many businesspeople view direct marketing and response marketing as some kind of low brow garbage. Sure, junk mail and infomercials can be campy, with shady characters running amok with their pitchmen frothing. Serious business wants nothing to do with the marketing and advertising equivalent of a carney barker in the aisle at a flea market. They prefer pristine branding campaigns that convey sophistication, eloquence, professionalism, and polish.

Hey that’s great. But the last time I checked, you couldn’t really split test a brand image. You spend all your money on a campaign and pray, hoping that it pays off. If it doesn’t, well guess what? It’s a career decision that can make or break the ...

Read the rest of this post...
 

Extremely interesting, four-part video interview with self-made billionaire, Mark Cuban.

Click here to check out the interview...

After great deliberation with some trusted folks, I have decided to roll the entire Kaizen Marketing Blueprint brand and the program into the B2B Marketing Academy as a premium curriculum track inside of the Academy for students.

As to the status of the Kaizen Marketing Blueprint brand itself... well, that remains to be seen as well, but I think it will just become one with the entire Academy.

I figured that I could keep TELLING everyone about strategic marketing process development, and that's okay.
 
But it would be 1,000,000,000 times better if I just SHOWED everyone first hand.
 
So, what I did was go out and practice what I preach, and signed up a consulting client to a very special deal. In fact, this is the deal of a lifetime for this company.
 
Read the rest of this post...

We hear a lot of discussion about "developing a relationship with your list."

It gets said frequently, but I also see a lot of people questioning what that really means.

I also see a lot of marketing people paying lipservice to the concept, but doing nothing but treating their list like a digital version of an open air market vendor in a third world nation trying to sell shiny things to the tourists. "Here, buy this.... okay, buy this... okay, buy this..."

A lot of internet marketers act like pure salespeople, only focusing on the segment that wants to buy right now - because that's where the cash is at, right?

But what percentage of the list actually buys any given promotion?

It might be controversial, but it looks like Google is going to start hammering on Black Hat SEO techniques and the sites that promote their use...

Read the rest of this article...

All this social media this and that... everyone is a wannabe internet marketing guru this or that... it's enough to make me crazy sometimes.

So I started looking around for people in smaller, non-marketing related niches that are kicking butt with their social media presence, and I found two that you have probably never heard of - both leveraging social media to the hilt, and both in completely different, unrelated niches.

Anyone who knows me to any level beyond text on the screen, knows that one of my trademarks is my Aussie boonie hat. I've finally worn out the old Panama Jack that I have been sporting for the past 3 years, and I thought it might be time to splurge on a newer lid for the melon.

So, I embarked on this quest to find me a new safari style hat, maybe in leather. I looked at a whole bunch of online retailers, but still didn't find anything that tripped my trigger.

Click here to read the rest of this entry...