I just watched TownHog.com reinvent themselves into the most powerful, ‘deal of the day’ platform out there.

If you haven’t already, subscribe now to TownHog.  Then read on to learn why…

Why TownHog is reinventing EVERYTHING about marketing

When Google’s PPC program Adwords come on the scene, advertisers finally had some leverage vs. media.  No longer did they have to spend, spend, spend, all up front, and hope their advertising did something.

Suddenly, they ONLY spent WHEN their advertising did something.  Hence, Pay-Per-Click.  A huge step forward.

But let’s be fair.  PPC leaves a lot to be desired.  In the end, you’re still paying for leads, not actual sales.

What if you only paid for the marketing that actually sold something?

It’s here.  These new deal of the day platforms are the holy grail of advertising.  Now, advertisers don’t pay anything at all, literally zero (in the case of TownHog) and they actually receive revenue from the media.

Here’s how it works:

I’ll use TownHog in this example.

A business comes up with a promotion.  TownHog creates the copy, graphics, all the infrastructure and the complete promotion.  On a scheduled day (unlike Groupon or LivingSocial, TownHog will work with the business to pick the right day), your promotion gets blasted all over the TownHog platform for 24 hours, racking up huge sales.   Customers purchase the promotion from TownHog and receive a voucher for the service or product they can take to the business.

The offer lasts 24 hours than expires (the vouchers are good for 6 months, typically).  5 days later, TownHog sends a check to the business for their portion of all the revenue generated.  (Groupon and LivingSocial aren’t nearly is clean on this aspect; businesses have complained they get their revenue in dribs and drabs).

Here’s why I’m betting on TownHog to own this space

Now, Groupon is getting all the buzz.  But watch out for TownHog.  Over the long run, I believe they’ll eat everyone else’s lunch and Groupon will be the WordPerfect of this space.  Here’s why.

These deal-of-the-day platforms have one goal: to sell an enormous amount of vouchers in a 24 period.  But the deal needs to get in front of a lot of people.  More eyeballs, more sales.

For advertisers, there is simply no reason not to use TownHog. I’m not recommending Groupon since I’ve heard way too many complaints from advertisers about slow pay and inflexible service.

I ended up doing major research on these platforms for a client.  If you’re interested or curious about advertising on one of these, send me an email or call me at 949-951-2725.

-Rob

The bitchinest minivan to ever understeer across a soccer field.

This has nothing to do with marketing, but it tickles me to know you could get a 1990 Dodge Caravan minivan ordered up with a turbo four and a manual 5 speed.

I imagine they sold, what, maybe four of these, but that is a bitchin’ combo.  I’m told enthusiasts build these out to over 300 hp to make what must be the most dangerous torque steering monster ever to drop kids at a little league game.

See the whole story, plus a nice accounting of other surprising cars that came with manuals, on CarandDriver.com.

When I created my Fierce Selling System several years ago, I happened upon a way of looking at all marketing that made a lot of sense.

The Fierce Selling System explained why some campaigns didn’t work, while others hit home runs. Why some sales teams had high turn over, and why some became long-term, repeatable money makers. In short, I had discovered the Unified Theory of Marketing.

I called this discovery the Fierce Selling System, and at its heart is the TAP (Tactical Action Plan).

Once I realized I could organize a marketing campaign into my TAP, I knew I could dramatically and consistently improve the response rates, conversions and sales of any organization that sells things. And I mean ANY organization.

One thing that really stood out, once I looked at campaigns through my system, is how badly most campaigns were designed.  Big budget, high gloss campaigns created by top drawer ad agencies seemed to be making huge errors and omissions that would result in less effective results.  I could only conclude, based on every agency I’ve worked with, these campaigns were being created by goofball ‘creatives’, folks who had little understanding of actual selling.

That struck me as a egregious waste of a client’s money.

My system first discovers the prospect’s triggering event, determines their initial state of mind, unearths their misconceptions and attitudes, and reveals the precise lead generators and marketing tools that will be most effective.  In other words, we create a campaign that will make money.

Since then, we’ve successfully implemented the Fierce Selling System in professional services, CPG, SaaS and software companies, wholesale distributors, and non-profits.

Over the next few blog entries, I’m going to explain the Fierce Selling System.  I’ll go over tone, message, headlines, lead generators, marketing tools, sales tools, closing tools, social media, web 2.0 and video, and how all these fit together in a mindblowing marketing campaign.

Stay tuned.

I’ve just started using Firefox Home as my iPhone browser and so far I’m liking it a lot.

I’ve always been a big fan of Firefox, preferring it over Chrome, IE and Safari.  Something about the simplicity of its tabs, and the wealth of add-ins (like Zemanta for my WordPress site!) makes it a clear winner.

Now Firefox Home jumps in with a browser for the iOS iPhone platform.

A great feature of Firefox Home is its ability to sync with one’s desktop Firefox browser.  I’ve added hundreds of bookmarks, folders and add-ons over the years.  Now they are instantly synced with my iPhone.  Brilliant!

You’ll need to download a Firefox add-on and set up an account.  After that, go to the App Store, download Firefox Home, link the accounts and that’s it.

Here’s the Firefox add-on >

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Jim Ballidis, managing partner of Allen Flatt Ballidis and Leslie, is a very savvy marketer.

Read his kind words about the marketing consultant HE hired, and what he learned.

http://www.californiainjurylawyerblog.com/2010/07/meaningful_messaging_an_accide.html

Want to see excellent social marketing?  Take a look at Volkswagen’s “Fun Theory” campaign.  This is just terrific brand management.

Volkswagen has always pitched a youthful, fun-loving brand image (remember Fahrvergnügen?).  TheFunTheory adds a social experiment twist.

Using clever public performance art, VW’s challenges us to improve human behavior through fun.  For example, to see if more people can be urged to use the stairs instead of the escalators, a crew sneaks into a metro stop overnight and converts the stairs to a working piano keyboard.  They videotape the whole thing, and viola: instant viral video!  (You can see that video in my earlier blog post here).

And this is the part I really like:  The public is invited to submit their own solutions to social problems on TheFunTheory.com.

• Want to people to wipe their feet when they enter your building?  Make the welcome mat into a working DJ scratch mat.
• Kids not hanging up their clothes?  Sew magnets in their shirts and install a metal wall.
• Want cars to slow down? Drivers obeying the speed limit win money from speeders’ fines.

Brilliant, thoughtful, FUN ideas, all supported by video and all supporting VW’s brand.  You cannot buy green brand support better than this.  WELL DONE!

To see all the fun videos, go to http://www.thefuntheory.com/

Man, this is just great stuff.

One of our clients is a master at advocacy marketing and video.

Jim Ballidis is a partner at Allen, Flatt, Ballidis and Leslie, a personal injury law firm in Orange County.  Jim’s firm has been practicing law in Orange County for over 35 years.  They’ve fought for and won some of the largest cases in the county, protecting victim’s rights and their families.

Most people have a negative view of personal injury attorneys: Ambulance chasers.  Bottom feeders. Slime buckets.

Then we met with the Allen Flatt team.  These are the good guys.  These are precisely the attorneys you want if you’re the victim of a nasty, devastating accident.    Through our research, the account team at Fierce Selling discovered the reality of what accident victims face.

If you are legitimately injured as a direct result of someone else’s negligence, VIRTUALLY EVERYBODY INVOLVED IS BETTER FUNDED, BETTER TRAINED, MORE EXPERIENCED, AND WANTS YOU TO FAIL.  I was amazed at this.

Because Jim hired attorneys from the insurance companies, his firm knows the dirty tricks that will be played on victims.

But how to market their firm to prospects?

Not with the usual lawyer dribble.

Instead, we advocate issues.  We highlight the what-ifs.  We show the other side.  And often, we use video to make our case.

Here’s a video Jim put together to demonstrate an issue that lead to a fatal accident:

This video combined with its advocacy message has several advantages:

• It casts a spotlight on a proven danger and the lack of response from CalTrans
• It increases credibility for Allen Flatt Ballidis and Leslie, to their target market.  NOTE: YOU may look at this video and form a different opinion, if you are not a victim of an accident.  But we’re only speaking to potential prospects, people who are victims of accidents.
• It’s a ‘commercial’ for Allen Flatt Ballidis and Leslie, without saying “how great we are”.

What issues can you advocate in your industry?  Do you need help with this type of marketing?

If you’ve had an accident, live in Southern California, and have questions about what to do next, contact Jim’s Accident Recovery Hotline.  (Facebook users can go here).  It’s a free service where you can ask anything you want about your case, and you’ll get access to free resources, books, articles and consultations.  Call 888-221-9986.

If y0u’d like professionally produced video for your site, we use TAG Video for all our clients (including Allen Flatt).  You can reach Tom Glinskas of TAG Video at (714) 244-8690 or here’s his website.

Just days after Tesla’s IPO, their stock has plummeted over 40%.

Personally, I don’t find much to worry about here.  Yea, Elon Musk is pinching pennies, having put every last million of his PayPal fortune into the company.  But really, anybody who’s running a company right now has been struggling.

That said, everybody I know who’s driven the Tesla Roadster loves it.  At least they’re actually selling something, unlike Fiskar and Aptera.

What do you think about the future of Tesla?

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Despite an automotive armageddon not seen since, um, ever, there are still hundreds of models of automobiles available.  Many of them make no sense to me.  (Is this why I’m a blogger and not a brand manager?  Hmmm.)

Regardless, here are the current WTF moments in auto manufacturing. Disagree?  Hit the comments section at the bottom.

BMW X6

BMW x6

In a word, WHY?  The X6 is so far flung of the spiritual zenmaster of all BMWs, the 2002.  It weighs as much as my backyard.  It seems like two different cars attached at the waist.  It’s flagrantly wasteful (especially the M version). What the hell is this thing?

Yet I see dozens of these flogging the pristine roads of Newport Beach, cheek-kissing the  Mercedes S-classes at stoplights.  Yuck.

As a past owner of a terrific E36 M and a locomotive force of a Dinan5, this trucklet is an abomination.  Which of course means they’ll sell faster than free beer.

BMW 550 Gran Turismo

Only thing uglier (and ironically, making MUCH more sense): the 5 series Gran Turismo (left).  Nobody is going to buy this one.

Can America just get over our nightmarish Ford County Squire collective memory and decide we can handle wagons again?  It would solve so much.

Aptera 2e

Aptera 2e

A high tech turd with landing gear. Here’s a car (and that’s a stretch) conceived by a very clever couple of engineers with not the slightest tethering of earth bound business sense between them.  The Aptera is so far north of anything a human being would actually spend money on, it defies explanation.

There are so many problems here, one doesn’t know where to start, but let’s try anyway:

The management: The same guy who ran Saleen into the ditch made a soft landing at Aptera.  He brought along a short egomaniac for marketing manager from Chrysler (because when you think successful car company, who else?) and has proceeded to add YEARS of delays to the initial release of the car.  Nice.

The sales: Or more accurately, the complete and utter lack thereof.  Aptera, founded in 2002, has not sold car one.  I was told by one of the VPs that Aptera boasts over 4,000 deposits on new orders (of, are you ready? $99 each).  Most of those came in over two years ago.  Meantime, Aptera survives (barely) on traunch payments from initial investors Google, IdeaLab and Essenjay.  Those are fun capital calls, I promise you.

The product: Remember the thrill of driving a VW 21-window van?  Your limbs dangling helplessly off the front ledge of a barely controlled accident?  The only crash protection in the form of a huge logo where a motor should be?  At least you sat above all the Ford Country Squires (hey, two references!) and Vegas, giving you a fighting chance.  Now, take all that joy and lower yourself to Lotus Elan height, keep that rear engine layout and lose on entire wheel.  Wha?

Porsche Cayenne

Porsche Cayenne

Ya, I know.  This one has been spanked before.  It looks like a tumor.  It’s take a big dump on the Porsche brand.  And it inhales dinosaur juice as if that is its only purpose.  Yet it outsells Boxsters, Caymens and 911′s all day long.  Between the Cayenne and the new Panamera, it seems likely 911′s will eventually be maintained only by renegade wrench twisters in a Mad Max afterlife of post fun-car apocalypse.

Chevy Tahoe/Silverado

Chevy Tahoe

This one must give brand managers fits.  A full sized SUV that gets 21 actual miles per gallon?  That’s better than my Honda Accord!  If you’re a working man, the Silverado pickup boasts identical numbers.

Think this is another GM half bake?  Think again.  It’s a highly sophisticated two mode hybrid system using a CV transmission, two electric motors, one V8, some half shafts and probably a Cray computer or two.  It’s so good, Porsche uses the entire system (minus the engine) for their Cayenne Hybrid.  That bears repeating: the best engineers in the world figured they couldn’t do better than the hybrid from Detroit. Props, people!

Yet — nobody buys these.  I can’t figure it out. Maybe some psychological issue of consumers, big SUVs and string theory, but the Tahoe Hybrid makes about the most sense of any vehicle in America.

My Insightful Conclusion

Here’s why none of my pithy comments make any difference: Asia.  That’s what car companies are thinking about.  80% of all Buicks (a dead-and-gone brand in the US) are sold in China.  Middle Eastern buyers could care less about a 12 mpg Cayenne Turbo S, as long as the air conditioning kicks ass.

The US still consumes millions of cars, but as a trend for the automakers to cater to, we’re so yesterday.

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