McIntosh Marketing Blog

Even though Kodak did not invent the camera, they sure did have generations believing so. Special times became known as the “Kodak Moment.” Now with the proliferation of video technology and accessibility, Kodak film is long dead and now we live in a YouTube world.

In speaking with people, you get the idea that most assume that YouTube invented online video. Like Kodak before, their brand is now synonymous with online video. They didn’t invent it, they have dominated that position in the mind of the consumer. And now it is time for business people and entrepreneurs to utilize YouTube’s brand dominance and reach to position themselves above their competition.

You see, we are still in the infant stages of the usage of the technology, not the technology itself. A recent study found that the average YouTube user watched 98 videos just in the month of March 2010. These YouTube videos represent a fundamental change in how we get news, become entertained and make decisions with whom to do business with. And believe it or not, it builds credibility. It can even make you a on-line celebrity.

Now while your ambitions may never be to land in US Magazine, it nonetheless represents a powerful medium to reach people, and withing a very short period of time educate and excite your potential market. Don’t show me a picture of your lunch special, show me how you make it. Start your own on-like cooking show.

While so many companies want me to download a PDF file, they should be sending me to their YouTube TV channel, describing it, involving me and demonstrating their passion for what they do. People want to connect, feel attached to something and that really is what is at the core of any brand: A valuable relationship.

Become a YouTube media expert for your brand and watch more and more people connect with your brand like never before.

Original content is king. For most of you this is nothing new; not at all a revelation.

But what I see very little of is the interfacing of blogs with social media; namely with Facebook. This became very clear to me the other day when I ran into a friend and we were talking about mundane stuff and she said, “Hey, I loved your blog post on Facebook.”

Without having to mention anything, she took the effort to mention it. She never commented back which can make a blogger think that no one reads their material or posts. Not true, to my chagrin.

While others talk about their mafia wars, farms and puppies, you can easily and rapidly position yourself as a thought leader. I can think of no faster way to help reinvent your brand, or at least your position within your market. Start blogging, and if you are already, then take the time to post these on Facebook.

Had a great laugh, but I knew he was serious.

“What makes you guys different than those guys with the stupid lawn signs?”  I guess the pinstripe suit wasn’t quite enough to ensure the differentiation. After my chuckle, I realized that this was a key question to full address with this potential client.

I told him that I have never done stupid lawn signs, well because, they’re stupid. But in reality I appreciate the lawn signs. It is another American ingenuity right up there with the Ford Pinto and the home loans with variable interest. It is an attempt at doing business, but it eventually labels you and positions you at the low end of business. And for the guy, like me, who will never do a stupid lawn sign, it presents another challenge to clarify my position in the market place.

But I have to “give props” to the stupid lawn sign people. They have helped me to define my position in what I am not. So thank you. In fact, keep putting up more of those signs so I can clearly show that I am the opposite end of the spectrum. But this is a key to all of us to understand an opportunity. Within your own industry, there are varying examples of stupid lawn people who make your industry look cheap and gimmicky. This presents you with a wonderful chance to clearly communicate what you are not and how you are different – in a good way.

If you look around, stupid lawn people exist everywhere making it hard to get others to differentiate what we do. But in that very challenge lurks an amazing opportunity. Maybe it opens the door to reinvent your Brand.