Dogfooding Internet Marketing in Puerto Rico

A while back I caught some flak for being a little too harsh in my summation of Internet Marketing in Puerto Rico, however, within that post I was trying to make a point. It's not surprising that Seth Godin could make my point more succinct and direct. I encourage you to click on over and read one of his latest posts "Watch the money."

Seth gets right to the heart of my post with his closing sentence:

"Money (time and attention) is more than a transfer of value. It's a statement of belief. An ad agency that won't buy ads, a consultant who won't buy consulting, and a waiter who doesn't tip big—it's a sign, and not a good one."

I broadened Seth's definition of money because sometimes we tend to undervalue the time and attention we spend on some "work", but they do have a cost; even if it might be an opportunity cost. For example if you spend time following people on Twitter and responding back to their messages, that is time you could have used on something else.

If I could get you to do (get) just one thing from reading this post, it would be this. The next time someone is trying to sell you something related to Internet Marketing, a new web page, a Facebook application, an iPhone application, a Facebook campaign, a banner ad, whatever, take a good hard look at their web presence.

If they say that Facebook is the next best thing since the invention of the hinged tostonera, look at how the salesperson and her (or his) company is using Facebook. If there is a mismatch, I would be very cautious in doing business with them.

Our Story

Throughout our life on the web, many people have suggested that we use off-line advertising to promote our site. However, we've always resisted the urge, especially guerrilla marketing tactics. Why? For just the reason that Seth describes.

We stayed away from offline advertising for two reasons. First, we believed that it was important to show how much we believed in our product and how much we believed in the Internet. We knew that the only way to build our traffic was by using search engine optimization and through the power of search engine marketing. We knew that the best time to reach users (and customers) was when they were siting in front of a computer, not driving 65 mph.

Of course, the other reason we didn't do any off-line advertising was because we were flat broke and couldn't afford anything else. LOL, but seriously. We are one of the most popular web sites in Puerto Rico, made in Puerto Rico, that is not a media company. While that might not seem like much of an achievement, when you consider that we've never spent a dollar on off-line advertising, I'd say we are living proof of the power of Internet Marketing. And that is what I'm talking about.

If you can find someone else who is doing a better job at promoting Internet Marketing in Puerto Rico, by all means, check them out. However, if you can't find another company, or if their web presence doesn't match up to what they are trying to sell, then drop us a line. As they say, we eat our own dog food.

Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Why advertising won't save tourism

Do you remember back in 2007 when the Puerto Rico Tourism Company announced they were spending half a million dollars on creating a new brand for Puerto Rico? Besides it being a really stupid idea, did you know that they have yet to unveil that new brand?

Why is it a stupid idea? In Online Revealed Conference I had an interesting debate with an attendee about whether advertising worked. Now I admitted that an absolute position such as 'Advertising doesn't work' is unrealistic because it is a gross generalization and simplification of the issue. However, I still contend that the majority of advertising is completely useless.

Once again, Seth Godin put it much better than I could when he recently wrote about "What advertising can't fix." In my opinion, this sentiment describes nearly exactly the mentality behind the PRTC strategy for marketing Puerto Rico.

If you talk to a senior PRTC employee they will probably bring up the number of hotel rooms, the number of flights to Puerto Rico, the amount of advertising they are doing, but I doubt very seriously they will talk about what tourists experience when they visit Puerto Rico.

I know that it must be difficult for most marketing traditionalists to admit that advertising is not nearly as effective as they would like to believe, but it still baffles me how little credence most marketing directors, and especially the current one for PRTC, place in the importance of experience. If it isn't important, then please tell me why most people are insanely crazy about visiting Orlando and Walt Disney World. And plu-ease don't tell me that it's because of marketing. Unless you are willing to concede that the product is the marketing. From movies to DVDs to the amusement parks, everything works together to create an illusion. An illusion that is fulfilled when you check into their hotels or step foot into one of their parks.

Now imagine you are Joe Palooka from Ohio and you've decided to come to Puerto Rico to catch a cruise. You take a taxi ride to the Old San Juan Sheraton and you see buildings with bars on the windows, you see beggars at the stop lights, you see trash littering the streets. There is graffitti on most buldings that aren't covered with a thousand bills advertising everything from the latest politicians to strippers to fumigators. There are a bunch of people protesting and camping at the entrace to Old San Juan.

You arrive at the hotel, check-in, and get settled. You are determined to see Old San Juan and venture off into the streets. There you encounter abandoned buildings, abandoned cars, more beggars, more trash. You are bombarded by traffic with horns blaring from impatient drivers. Most of the citizens you encounter seem indifferent to your presence if not offended by your color and nationality.

Since you are close you decide to go to Escambron Beach, one of the "blue flag" beaches of Puerto Rico. You are let off in front of the beach and the trash cans are overflowing, the bathrooms are closed and port-a-potties dot the landscape. Again, there is trash everywhere; on the streets, in the parking lot, on the sand, and in the ocean.

Once back home your friends ask, "How was your trip?" They press for answers, "How was Old San Juan? It looks so beautiful in the ads." Now I ask you, what do you think Joe is going to say? When he relates his experience to his friends, his family, or his co-workers, what adjectives do you think he will use? Do you think he will use the adjectives that are highlighted in the advertisements or the ones from his personal experience? Ladies and gentlemen, I don't care what statistics you can provide, I'm going to have to go with Seth on this one: "But if it is broken, advertising isn't going to fix it."

Flickr Creative Commons Contributor: Experiencias de viagem de 1 Brasileiro

Another piece of the journalism puzzle?

There is something to this new post from Seth. What if we designed a new form of journalism which was essentially a feedback loop built right into it? What if someone were to act on Seth's idea:

I think there's a huge opportunity for a trusted media source that takes on spin from all quarters and throws it back in the face of the spinner. Show them video of themselves from last week and ask them to respond. Oh, I'm probably just being a hopeful idealist.

Of course, that's exactly what makes The Daily Show with Jon Stewart so successful. They have an extensive video archive and can quickly compile contradictory footage of someone like Dick Cheney saying that he never said something, and then playing a video where he actually does. Of course, it's great for laughs, but I think it's one of the reasons people, especially of the younger persuasion, are flocking to the Comedy Central "fake news" show for their real news fix. The Daily Show is one of the few, if not the only "news" show that is willing to call a liar, a liar; and to call spin what it really is, lying.

What I can't understand is how after years of The Daily Show pointing out these lies, public perception of the elected officials "caught" spinning hasn't significantly degraded. I guess, the whole Comedy Central banner makes these events seem untrue, hence Seth's call for a trusted media to do this. Seriously what has happened to mainstream journalism? When did they lose the balls to call a lie a lie?

Flickr Creative Commons Contributor: iZoom

Hey buddy, how about a little for the effort?

You probably know this already, but it bears repeating. Writing is hard work. Putting yourself on the line for everyone to take a swing at, like a piñata is hard. Researching the facts to support opinion is hard. Taking strong positions and defending them, is hard. Influencing people for a better tomorrow is hard.

If it's so hard why do so many people do it? Why do I do it? Well besides that we're all narcisists, many do it, blogging, to earn a few bucks. Oh sure, there's a million other reasons, but if there's Google Ads on the blog, then it means they want to be rewarded for their effort with a little spending change. Becuase, as you know, a content publisher only gets paid if someone click on the Google Ads.

Tip Jar or Getting What You Pay For

So before you go off on me for even suggesting this, blame Seth Godin. It was his observation, his idea, his brillance. So as the title suggests, if you like what you read here, if you take the time to give me your attention, would you consider giving some of that attention to some of the sponsors willing to pay me for heading over to their web page?

I'd like you to consider slowing down, reading through some of the Google Ads on this page, and if you are actually interested in one of the topics brought up in one of the ads, clicking on it. When your browser takes you over to the advertisers page, give a good scan and if there isn't anything that catches your eye, move on. Feel free to go back to what ever you were doing.

Now, not surprisingly, Seth's post, remember it was Seth's idea (Here's his rebuttal), this has ignited a bit of a pushback. Many call what we're recommending here click fraud. Well I totally disagree, otherwise I'd be writing the other type of response to his post, which calls Seth an ignoramus poo-poo head.

For me the trap that lays in wait within this issue is that Google Ads are "supposed" to be only clicked on when someone is absolutely and positively interested in the Ad and is motivated to learn more about what's on the other side of that click. This is supposed to be the "new" way of advertising, context sensitive, and driven only by user interest expressed in a click.

The other arugment is that you're tipping the content producer with some else's money, the advertisers. However, I suggest this is only slighly different then the existing advertising models we have. Let's take a television network as an example. They produce content and put it on the air. At this point that new content is an unknown and therefore the network is unable to charge high rates. However, if this content is successful and many people give their attention to the newtork, then the content producer can charge the advertiser more money.

Oh no, wait a minute that is not slightly different, that is completely different. Does it make any difference that between the mute button, DVR's and BitTorrent no one actually watches commericals anymore? Well, unless it's the Superbowl, but that's special.

Any way, take a minute and look the fine sponsors of Dondequiera, and if the spirit moves ya, go ahead and click on a few. I won't think any less of you if you like go crazy clicking, and I most definitively won't call you a click pirate.

Flickr Creative Commons Contributor: respres

Value is in the eye of the buyer

Seth Godin has many fans. Many of those fans would agree that he is popular because he knows how to self promote. You'll get no argument from me there, in my opinion, he is the most successful self-promoter on the Internet. But, for me, Seth is most successful in identifying and debunking the little lies we surround ourselves with in the business world.

While it's not usually my style, I just can't help but reproduce his blog post entitled "No such thing as price pressure," because it cuts straight to the heart of the problem we are having with DóndeEs.com. Here's what Seth has to say about commodity pricing of your products:

"Your sales force and your customers may scream that you need to lower your price.

It's not true.

You need to increase your value. If people don't want to pay, it's because you're not delivering enough value for the money you're charging.

You're not selling a commodity unless you want to."

I think, the crucial point here is the "perception" of value. Especially when the value you are offering is intangible, or worse than intangible, technological. For when it comes to technology, nothing becomes more difficult to perceive for your customer than something they fundamentally don't understand or perceive as a necessary evil, like anything related to computers (unfortunately here in Puerto Rico it's almost always all of the above).

Flickr Creative Commons Contributor: jurvetson

Liberty Cablevision Misses Their Mark

Crema, Cremita, Avena, or if you prefer Oatmeal, was never a big item for breakfast in the childhood home of Señor Don Dees. Nope, for me it was cold cereal. Which now that you think of it makes no sense at all. In the midwest of the United States were I grew up, it's cold over half of the year, but we eat cold cereal. In Puerto Rico, where it's bake your brains hot, well, pretty much all year long, mothers give children hot cereal. Go figure!

Anyway, some of my favorites were the obligatory Captain Crunch (with Crunchberries), Frosted Flakes (Zucaritas), and Fruit Loops. But probably my all time favorite was Lucky Charms. A delightful concoction of toasted oats and marshmallows. I mean come on, when you're a kid getting your Mom to let you eat marshmallows (read candy) for breakfast was pretty clever.

But in this classic post by Seth Godin, he uses a story about how a teenager he was talking to about Lucky Charms wasn't even aware that they were "Magically Delicious." Which is, of course, the slogan General Mills uses in all of their advertisements for the cereal. See here for an example: Don't you just love YouTube? The point here is that General Mills has spent millions drilling that slogan into everyone's head and yet, a typical teenager doesn't even associate "Magically Delicious." with Lucky Charms. Here's Seth's take (which is as sweet as marshmallows in the morning):

"Some marketers are still relying on the idea that they can drill a catch phrase or benefit or USP or differentiation into our heads through ceaseless ads. It sure worked on me.

Is this the core strategy behind the growth of your business?

Not sure it's going to work any more."

Liberty Cablevision's 100% Campaign

Recently I started seeing some intriguing advertisements (teasers actually) announcing something BIG and NEW. I was hmm, I like big news, I wonder what it is? In terms of marketing, I was right where the advertiser wanted me. However, when I finally got to see the big news, the only thing big about it was the amount of money they were spending. The ads were from Liberty announcing that "Con Liberty puedes disfrutar el mundo al 100%." I was like uh huh, and so what? Where's the marshmallows? Where is anything in this new ad that zaps me in the ass like a cattle prod to call Liberty immediately?

So let me get this right, I think? I only subscribe to Liberty's BitTorrent choking Internet service. They have 3 products VoIP, cable, and Internet. So I'm only enjoying 33% of my world? But you want to know the real killer? We were actually talking seriously about upgrading to there triple offer of all three products. If they had announced some inspiring offer, I'd have called immediately to upgrade. Instead they have started drilling into my head that with Liberty I enjoy 100% of my world. Here's news for you Iberty, I enjoy my world just fine without you.

Conclusion

At times marketers can really hit the mark, as an example the old ladies advertising SunCom or Mr. I-lim-i-tado. Both of these ads had people copying them when they come on the television, repeating them voluntarily, and even copying them. Unfortunately for Liberty, I'm afraid that your new campaign misses the mark by 100%.

Flickr Creative Commons Contributor: kaibara87