Facebook: It started as a social experiment by a college kid and his friends (we’ve all heard the Zuckerberg story, and soon, we can watch it!). Now, it is powerful, huge and definitely here to stay for at least the next 5 years (really, who knows what’s going to happen after that?). But, Facebook is no longer just about college kids and chatting with friends. Facebook has become the new it place for businesses to build branding and reach out to their customer base. By the thousands, companies are setting up groups and fan (like) pages in order to have one more way to send messages and reach out to customers, and potential customers.

While there are many just taking the leap and going head first, many are unsure of what to do. It is intimidating to take the leap into something new, especially when there are so many businesses already doing it – many very well, and many, not so much. The ones that do it well have found great results – even without having to create completely custom FBML coding. A great example of page with tons of fans, tons of comments and a simple page? Buffalo Wild Wings! With over 2 million fans, they are really doing something right. They run contests, ask questions, people share pictures and have created a really awesome community. While I can’t tell you if it has improved their business fiscally, I have a hard time believing it hasn’t had at least some effect!  But not everyone can (or will) do this.

It is because of the fear of failure, and the desire to succeed that we are often asked the question: How do I know if I need a Facebook Business page?

So, we have put together a list of 10 reasons your business might want a facebook business page. These reasons are fairly basic, as need to be delved into much further before actually making the leap, but they give you an idea.

1. You sell a consumer product.
2. You sell a service that is tangible.
3. You create something people like to share.
4. You are in an industry that people get involved.
5. You have a business that people can gather around.
6. You want to create a feeling of community around a subject.
7. You want to open lines of communication.
8. You want a place to share with your audience.
9. You want to give away prizes and specials.
10. You understand that people want access to you.

As I mentioned, not all businesses are right for facebook pages. It takes the desire and effort combined in order to make it work. You must dedicate time and energy to build it, just as you would any other marketing tool!

Do you have a facebook business page? Does it work for you?

Last week’s article from the Washington Post on the new 6 bladed razor from ShaveMate was one of the funniest (and most ridiculous) articles I have ever read. Luckily, it wasn’t the Washington Posts fault. The humor and laughter can all be blamed on those who were interviewed – The Tomassetti brothers who created this razor and Damon Jones of Gillette. Let me share with you some of the best pieces of the article…

WP asked why they felt the razor needed 6 blades (the most blades on any available razor), and the Tomasetti’s responded,

“It’s not just the blades,” says Lou Tomassetti who, along with his brother Peter, invented the Titan. “It’s really everything you need in one.” The Titan, he explains, also comes with shaving cream in the handle and a moisture strip.

“If you go out and try to buy equipment for shaving today,” Lou continues, “it’s very complicated.”

“You might have to buy batteries,” Peter adds.

“ShaveMate is really a lifestyle change” from all that, Lou says. “It’s a shaving revolution.”

Really guys? Shaving supplies are so complicated that you had to put everything into one? I’ve seen my husband shave…it really doesn’t look all that tough. So, maybe it’s just these guys thinking shaving is difficult. Certainly the Gillette gentlemen, the ones who first started the trend of adding more blades did it for a better reason? Nope…apparently to them, it is very technical science!

“It’s a scientific approach called ‘progressive geometry,’ ” says Damon Jones of Gillette. “It’s scientifically proven that multiple blades” will cut closer than just one. Shaving with a three-bladed razor is equivalent to shaving three times with a single blade — but, Jones says, even smoother.

“We use technology that’s used in the semiconductor industry and the automotive industry to get the spacing just right between blades,” he says. (Note: Maybe this is why the Mach ads featured cars?) “We’re talking microns,” Jones says. “It’s a very deep technical science.”

Okay, now you’ve got to be screwing with me…you use the automotive industry to get the spacing right?! Now I am really laughing.

Chime in guys – what do you think? Do you really need a 6 bladed razor?

Lexus has always been a luxury brand – and the vehicles are easily equated with style and class, and money. Despite the fact that Lexus’ is not a cheap vehicle, Lexus has never been seen as a contender in the fast, sleek and sexy sports car world. But with the new Lexus LFA, they are attempting to changes their affiliation.

Hitting 0-60 in 3.6 seconds, places it into contention with the Ferrari’s and the Lamborghini’s. Of course, it is also in the same price range. Which is a huge jump. Most Lexus vehicles range from $40,000-$100,000 whereas the new LFA supercar comes in at $375,000 (base msrp). So my question is: How will they compete?

When Volkswagen split from their ‘traditional’ $25-$45,000 cars and created the Phaeton which started at above $75,000, they made a huge error. The cars did not sell well, and despite recent face-lifts and changes, they still are not selling well. Why? Because people who are Volkswagen buyers are not traditionally those who are willing to fork out more than $50,000 for a car.

So with Lexus attempting to make the leap from style and class to high-priced sexy vehicles, I worry if they won’t face the same problems that Volkswagen has.

But, no matter the battle ahead, I am certainly impressed with their commercial. It certainly makes me think about them in a new light…that is one very sexy car.

If you’re Koleston Naturals Hair color, it’s done by placing a billboard where the changes in the sun level will change the hair color on the billboard:

The image above is a time lapsed series of a billboard in Beirut, Lebanon from 2007. The billboard captures the image, and hair, of a beautiful woman, designed to show the beauty of natural hair color that Koleston Naturals provides. I personally love the simplicity and creativity of the ad – using natural light and natural changes to capture the Blondes, Redheads and Brunettes of the world. What I also appreciated was the fact that they let the nature and the picture speak for themselves. They didn’t need to tell you that Koleston hair color was all natural, made to be gentle on the hair and protect it’s natural beauty…they didn’t have to. The billboards told the story without the words. The only thing I see as problematic is that if you were to just pass by the billboard (unless you planned on hanging around for a few hours), you would only ever see one color. And if you only saw it at night…it wouldn’t seem as impressive. With that said, this is still one of the most impressive pieces of creative marketing I have seen in awhile.

Have you seen other ads that are capitalizing on nature? Share!

Sherwin-Williams new series of paint chip commercials is as gorgeous as it is creative and brilliant. They came onto the scene with this one:

And I fell in love. The simplicity of turning our world into their paint chips captured my attention, the music was simple and their tagline, classic. They allowed us to really feel like we were in a world of their colors, and that there was nothing their paint didn’t fit.
When they followed up that commercial with this one, they out did themselves.

Personally, I love the frog and the cardinal the most, but the entire commercial is beautifully done. Every single detail of every single object is made from paint, and if you pause the commercial at the right points, you can actually read the names of many of the paint colors, which means people can actually choose favorites from a commercial. My one hope is that those who work for the stores are well versed on the commercials so that were I to come in and say “I love the colors of the cardinal”, they could pull out the 30 or so paint swatches that make up the body for me to look at.

Well done Sherwin-Williams, well done.

Let’s talk bad commercials…what is the worst you have seen recently?

For me, it’s the Burger King commercials…unfortunately it isn’t just one, it’s all of them. The obnoxious “King” makes my skin crawl the minute he hits the screen.

Which commercials do you despise?

I tried foursquare. Then I left foursquare. And after a lot of thought and cajoling by a few friends, I decided to go back to foursquare…

Why?

Because although I don’t feel it is quite there for the individual, it will be. Businesses will start getting it better and the functionality will improve (at least I hope!). I see huge potential with foursquare and I regret not joining twitter sooner, so I don’t want to make the same mistake here. The biggest concern I have is privacy, but with how much information is available already about me, I figure this can’t really much worse.

Since I’m trying it again, here are the things I am hoping to see:

1. Benefits for a first time checkin from the business. “It’s your first time here, enjoy 5% off”. Giving someone a benefit at their first trip will increase the likelihood they come back and you’ll have more repeat customers.
2. Reward people for bringing people. Multiple checkin’s for one person who brings in first timers with them? They’re doing marketing for you, reward them!
3. On the mobile app – links to the companies website, twitter or facebook to connect them in other ways. This will help the companies to build a stronger network.
4. Something between first time and mayorship…maybe rewarding people at different levels, 5 checkins, 3 in a week, etc…
5. The ability to checkin at a place without claiming location to everyone. For example, it would be great to be able to checkin at Starbucks and have the exact location know where you are but not send the exact location to your friends, just that you are at a Starbucks.

All in all, I am holding out to see results, and am willing to go with it for a little longer. What can it hurt?

What would you like to see improve with foursquare? Have you found benefits for the individual?

KFC recently launched the new “Double Down” sandwich, and while it does look like a heart attack on a plate, it is just a sandwich! In fact, I am rather annoyed with the press and their response to the sandwich.

For example, Mark Morford, for the SF Chronicle wrote “Who are you, really, Mr. KFC executive? Who are you who just gave your approval to a rather shocking new KFC food item, who said “Oh holy hell, yes! Look at these great test-marketing numbers! F*&$ it, let’s go against every shred of human decency, common sense, and even the First Lady’s humble plea to get us to please quit making the country so stupidly obese and sick, and sell a truly disgusting creation.” And there are tons more articles just like Mark’s, knocking KFC for making this awful sandwich. Each article includes at least one comment about the fact that KFC and restaurants like it are making America fat. Really? Making this sandwich made people fat? Don’t think so! Yes, you are right, the sandwich does look truly disgusting. But so does cow brain, and yet there is no articles discussing how awful it is. Why? Because cow brain doesn’t “make you fat” therefore reporters don’t feel the need to bash the restaurants that serve it.

I am all for a healthier America, but let’s try putting the blame where it really belongs – on the people that eat the sandwich, not the company who makes it, because its success lies in the hands of us, if no one orders it, they won’t keep it around!

In fact, I think that KFC has every right to make this sandwich, regardless if I’d ever eat it.

What do you think about the sandwich?

You spend a ton of money on marketing each year and it gets you a lot of business. You work with some great clients, and receive raves reviews when you are done working with them. You smile, part ways and move on to find new business. But, what about that past client? The one that loved the work you did for them? What happens to the relationship that you had built and what can you do to make sure that you are getting the most from it?

1. Ask for a testimonial. This can be done at the very end of a project, right after they have just gotten done thanking you for everything you did. When the client is the happiest, ask if they would mind writing a bit about working with your business. Most happy clients will be more than willing, and it will give you great fodder for a white paper or a testimonial page on your site.
2. Ask for a referral. When you first start working with a client, let them know in the beginning that if at the end, they are happy with your services, you would like to give them a few of your business cards to give out to others who might like to use you as well. Then, provide stellar service for the client. Once you are ready to part ways, hand them 3-4 cards and remind them of the request you made at the beginning of the project.
3. Send them a letter. Email is fine when you are working with a client, but once that ends, sending a real letter has a much bigger impact. It doesn’t have to be long, in fact, a simple, “hope you are doing well, and that everything we did for you is still working…” is fine. The point is to remind them that you are still here, still care and still available if they need any other help. Staying fresh in someones mind is always a good thing.

What other ways can you benefit from your past clients?

Traditional searches for companies/services/etc in the big heavy yellowbook are gone. I think the last time I event used the “real” yellowbook was 1998 and yellow book knows this. So, rather than attempt to revive the book, they took themselves online and created a new ad campaign.

The ad campaign for yellowbook online is extremely well done, and I have to applaud them for creating something that not only got the point across but were able to create a series of clever ads that we all can relate to. For those who haven’t seen a new yellowbook commercial, all of their ads are similar – something happens and leaves the protagonist looking for a solution using yellowbook online. This is my favorite:

How does this ad help you? There are 3 main pieces of the ad that make it (and can make you) more effective:

1. It sets you up from the very beginning. The first time I saw this ad, I was intrigued within the first few second because they told me I should be. I knew that something was going to happen, but because I didn’t really know what a “yellowbook moment” was, the surprise wasn’t ruined, it left me wanting to find out more.
2. It is honest, direct, simple and unbelievably clever. While I doubt many of us have had our dog eat a canary at the vet, we have all had moments where we feel like that guy does. It pulls at our human instincts of embarrassment/fear/worry/shock and tells us that they can help when we need it. They are there for us in every way.
3. It doesn’t have corny music, doesn’t draw on too long and doesn’t treat us like we’re stupid. Too many commercials are aiming for “pretty” or “creative” instead of being simple and to the point.

What did you think of their commercials? What can you learn from their style?