Whizbang Ideas

On Being an Expert

whizbangideas — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:27:57 +0000

by Frank Scotti, Chief Idea Officer

It’s pathetic that people with little or no actual helpful knowledge or beneficial experience in their field will label themselves an “expert,” with the sole intention of personal and financial gain, and at the detriment of their customers. In these “experts” defense, though, they have so little knowledge that they actually believe they know everything. These people deserve a flick to the back of the head. Stop it. You’re stupid.

So what defines a person as an expert in his or her field? How do you become an expert in your field, and how do you know if someone is an expert? There is much more to mastering a skill than merely having done it for a long time. Because you have 20 years of driving experience does not make you an expert driver. Knowing how to make spaghetti does not make you an expert cook, nor does tweeting make you an expert in social media.

The hallmark of an expert is intuition. Let me elaborate…helpful and applicable intuition…backed by years of experience and success. While proficient practitioners can intuitively identify problems, experts can also intuitively solve them. They tap into their vast pool of knowledge and effortlessly identify patterns, applying solutions in context to solve problems.

In short, you don’t become an expert. You evolve into an expert. The expert title is bestowed upon those who have vast, practiced, and constantly evolving knowledge in their field. The expert title is also reserved for those who innovate and explore boundaries with positive outcomes. We give these people cool nicknames like Hammerin’ Hank, The Axman, The King, The Chairman, The Duke, Stormin’ Norman and Papa. We look to them to continue to dazzle, innovate and inspire us. And each time they do, they confirm their status, and nicknames.

To find an expert, look for those who are doing, not just talking. Look for individuals who are solving problems, not just identifying them. And look for those who are considered experts in their fields by others in their industries, not just self declared. Then don’t stop at simply asking who the experts are, but also why they are considered the experts.

Drinking on the Job is Allowed, Sometimes

whizbangideas — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 20:53:36 +0000

by Caitlyn Arigo, Assistant Navigator and marketing newbie.

Wednesday. Who really likes Wednesdays? It’s the middle of the workweek so we’re stuck in the thick of it all, but at the same time the weekend is waiting ahead, teasing us. As a means to improve Wednesdays here at Whizbang we began wine tasting on a weekly basis, coining the term “Winesday.” Each Wednesday we end our day by tasting a new wine and writing reviews. This helps us discover wines, allowing us to share the wines we love and warn people when we find those sour grapes.

This weekly ritual has resulted in a wine collection in the office fridge, of partially opened bottles. Because this collection keeps expanding weekly, wasting perfectly delicious wine, Frank decided to add a new rule here at Whizbang. He decided there will be no more half bottles of wine lying around the office – “If it gets opened it gets drunked!” Yes, he said “drunked.”

Hopefully we all like the wine enough this week that we won’t break this new rule in the first week! I wonder what the punishment would be… shots of tequila?

Stay tuned for more office observations from the marketing newbie.

PS – If you’d like to see our “Winesday” reviews go check out: http://www.recipemarketing.com/blog/category/winesday-tm/

Building Your Twitter Following The Right Way

whizbangideas — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 18:10:08 +0000

Last month on our blog we went over the delicacies of Facebook friendships and this month we’ll be going over the ins and outs of building your Twitter following and followers as promised. Ready? Lets do this:

Be Prepared. Before you start “following” fellow Twitter users make sure your Twitter profile page is full of interesting posts and articles. There’s nothing worse than having people actually visit your page and have it be blank or dull. So take a lesson from Scar (Lion King) and be prepared!
Slow and steady wins the race. You don’t want to have an overwhelming following to follower’s ratio. Which in simple terms means you shouldn’t follow a lot more people that are following you. You usually want to have those numbers pretty close to each other to avoid users thinking you’re a spammer.
The magic number. Once you follow 2000 users, Twitter doesn’t allow you to follow anymore unless you have a certain number of users following you back. Twitter hasn’t officially released this “magic number” yet but the social media department at Whizbang has discovered that the magic number is indeed 1800 followers. So in order to have the ability to follow more than 2000 users you have to have at least 1800 users following you back.
Quality over quantity. Now that you know the magic number, it’s important to know that it’s not a race so don’t rush to get 1800 followers by any means necessary. I would take 1-quality contact over 10 meaningless follows any day of the week. So please don’t loose focus of your target market.
Cast your net wide. The more active you are on Twitter the larger your online presence will be so use as many re tweets (to repeat a tweet someone else has posted on your profile to give them credit), hash tags (hash tags are keywords with #’s in front of them. They create track records and or another way of creating a group on twitter.), direct messages (the option to message someone directly and privately so as to have a personal connection with them.), and twitter lists (lists groups together friends of yours that have something in common, it’s a great tool!) as you feel necessary. Those organic follows will start adding up in no time!
Have fun! I hate to be cheesy, but Twitter is actually a lot of fun when you get the hang of it.

Spicing Up Your Marketing The Old Spice Way.

whizbangideas — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 23:07:39 +0000

by Ellen Curtis, Creative Commander

If you are in marketing and or breathing, there’s no way you haven’t heard about the massively pervasive and successful Old Spice advertising campaign. I’m sure there are millions of marketers doing as I am now writing blogs about how Old Spice did it. (A google search shows there are 1.7 million results on those key words, “Old Spice Marketing.”) All you really need to do is to go to the source: the agency that created it. http://bit.ly/bWygXp. I’m sure there are millions of CMO’s asking their agencies to give them an “Old Spice” campaign. So how do you “Spice” up your marketing.

Look at your advertising. Now look at Old Spice advertising. Back to your ads. Now back to their ads. Sadly, your ads don't look like their ads. But they can if you follow these three simple steps.

Have a great idea. Of everything that is written about the Old Spice campaign, the most obvious point is missing. It started with a great idea. It’s simple, like all great ideas. “Smell like a man, man” doesn’t get any more basic.
Share it smartly. While the viral video portion of the Old Spice campaign has garnered most of the attention, Old Spice used both traditional media (TV and print including couponing) as well as social media (Youtube, Facebook and Twitter) to reach out and engage their target audience.
Execute it brilliantly. Using a celebrity isn’t new. But the choice of Isaiah Mustafa, actor and former wide receiver in the NFL, was an exceptional good one. And of course, the writing and art direction was top notch. Notice all the parody spots on Youtube (919 last count). Imitation is indeed flattery.

On Unicorns and Rainbows

whizbangideas — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 17:11:43 +0000

by Frank Scotti

You know when you are really depressed, upset, or just feel beaten up and worn out, and all you want to do is hide your head under the pillow and hope all the bad stuff goes away. I hate to be a buzz kill here, but the bad stuff doesn’t go away.

I have talked with hundreds of business owners who are hiding their heads under their pillows, waiting for a better economy, better sales, lower taxes, cheaper healthcare, lower cost of goods, higher profit margins, more customers, higher spending per customer. Here’s the good news if you are one of these business owners. You can make the bad stuff go away, but not by hiding your head under the pillow. You have to get off your ass and work twice as hard for half as much. Because if you don’t, your competitors will, and probably already are. I am speaking from experience with our own businesses, as well as our clients’ businesses.

How have we done this for our clients? Here are a few tips. Be relevant. Identify customers needs and offer a product or service to address those needs. Customers have put their wants on the back burner. Also address other things that your customers may be looking for like added value, more personalized service, bulk discounts, easier access, more open dialogue. Be engaging. You should already have a very good idea of who your customers are and where to find them. Now start engaging them. Talk with them. Share experiences, offer ideas and inspiration for your relevant product or service. Be memorable. Now is the time to take advantage of severely reduced media costs and opportunities. But make sure it is relevant and engaging. Simply running an ad will not necessarily going to get you remembered. Running a relevant and engaging ad will. Be actionable. Let your customers know that you want to solve their needs with the most enthusiasm and appreciation. Ex: Whizbang loves helping companies improving customer loyalty and experience to increase sales. Please call us and find out why you should be excited in this economy. Be flexible. Just because you have always done business a certain way is no reason to continue. If you can’t get to where you want to be going straight ahead, then right turn, right turn, right turn, right turn. Think outside the pillow. In other words, act like an entrepreneur again.

There are no rainbows and unicorns under your pillow so stop burying your head there. Move forward and make things happen. If you need help, call us. We’re always here.

Local Businesses Embrace Social Media in Tough Economy

whizbangideas — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:29:43 +0000

by Christine Gorney

Local businesses have started embracing social media to boost sales, increase traffic to their websites, and gain local and national recognition. According to Erik Qualman, author of the blog and book, Socialnomics, engaging in social media is now the number one activity on the web. In these hard-pressed economic times, social media has become a new advertising outlet for small businesses because it is more economical than traditional advertising and is proving to be extremely effective.

“Social media is great for small businesses, especially those that can’t afford expensive advertisements. It allows them to connect with their customers and offers a more targeted and measurable way to reach them,” said owner and Creative Commander of Whizbang, Ellen Curtis.

Rosie’s Workwear, a San Luis Obispo company that designs and sells coveralls and overalls for women, increased their business with a mix of social media and online advertising through Facebook, Twitter, a Rosies’ blog, Google AdWords and Facebook ads. Whizbang led the projects that gained Rosie’s enough exposure to be featured on the Rosie O’Donnell Radio Show.

Whizbang developed a “Dirtiest Rosies” contest using Facebook ads where participants would send in pictures of themselves covered in dirt to win a pair of Rosies’ overalls. Along with the ad, they used Rosies’ blog, Facebook and Twitter to promote the contest, reaching over 2 million targeted women at a fraction of the cost of traditional media. Rosies gained 40% more Facebook friends in May than in April. Monthly sales also increased 507% in May 2010 compared to May 2009. Through the use of social media, Rosies has been able to reach a national audience at an affordable price.

“I will be honest, I was pressured into doing it because it was ‘the thing to do.’ After a few months, I realized that it was the best thing I could have done. For the money I was spending on social media, I got a lot more exposure than I was with traditional ads and was reaching a much bigger audience. It has helped my company grow so much in the past year,” said Owner of Rosies, Sharon Moore.

If businesses don’t know how to begin profiting from social media, there are various courses offered on it. Whizbang is offering courses all summer, focusing specifically on marketing and advertising through social media. Business owners, as well as anyone who wants to learn more about social media, can sign up at www.whizbangideas.com/whizinars.

Rosies’ Facebook Ad

Rosies’ Facebook

Rosies’ Blog

The Case of the Lost Credit Card.

whizbangideas — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:38:24 +0000

Part 1 of an ongoing series called Cadet Chronicles. Follow the adventures of Caitlyn Arigo, Whizbang’s Assistant Navigator.

Oh My Gosh !!! I am so embarrassed! I’m not sure how I can face my co-workers tomorrow after a day like today… I just want to crawl under a rock and hide forever. I almost lost my boss’ credit card!!! As the new girl in the office, naturally I am the one who has to run the random office errands. Today my errands seemed fairly simple:

1. Drop off a package at a client’s office. 2. Go to Staples and buy some rubber bands for Frank (the boss-man).

I thought I could handle the pressure. WRONG! Everything seemed to be going smoothly until I stuck my hand in my pocket at Staples and realized my boss’ credit card was GONE! Of course I start panicking, I tried to remember where I’d been while I frantically patted myself down to check any additional pockets and searched through my purse. After that was a major FAIL, I proceeded to frantically tear my car apart in the Staples parking lot. All I could think about was how I had to find that credit card before anyone found out. Suddenly my phone started ringing; of course the office was calling. I attempted to conceal my panic and the shame of losing my boss’ credit card, when I hear Molly (Whizbang’s project manager) tell me that Frank’s credit card had been found in our client’s parking lot. So much for pretending this never happened.

As I crossed town once again I began dreading my return back to the office. “Come on Caitlyn! How stupid can you be that you could lose your BOSS’ credit card?” I thought to myself. Thankfully I only had a half hour left of work when I got back today, leaving little time to be ridiculed by my co-workers about how I’m already losing my marbles. Uggg… I can’t go back tomorrow and be the butt of all the jokes again!!! I’ve never been so mortified at work!!! Now I’m just going to be known as the irresponsible newbie. I wonder if other people have had similar experiences where they were embarrassed at work.

Until next time….

Lets Be Friends!

whizbangideas — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 22:45:18 +0000

by Jose Molina, Creative Technician

Making connections in the social networking world is pretty much the most important part of it. It’s also important to know how to go about making friends on all the different social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Linked-In and as you may imagine, they are all completely different strategies. This week we’re going to focus on Facebook.

1. Right off the bat it’s important to know that you should never set up a “personal” Facebook profile for a business. It’s not only a violation of the Facebook terms of service but Facebook will be able bring your profile down at any time.

2. Once your fan page is up and running (full of posts, pictures, and interesting material) go through your friends list and invite the ones that are relevant to your business. Don’t spam all your friends! Remember, “quality over quantity”.

3. Once your friends start “liking” your fan page you will organically start gaining more followers because the action of them liking your fan page will show up in the newsfeeds of the friends that joined and so forth.

4. Once you feel like your organic following has slowed down a considerable amount you will need to recruit 2 or 3 other friends to invite their friends to “like” your fan page. In case you were unaware of this fact, you are only allowed to invite the people in your friends list to “like” fan pages. By asking friends to add their friends you will be spreading your net wide.

5. If you feel you need to gain more fans than what you’ve been receiving doing steps 1-4, you can always take out a Facebook ad which will appear in the pages of people in your target market!

Once you have gained a healthy amount of fans remember to post regularly as your posts will multiply by the number of fans that you have which will create the Facebook presence that you want. For example, if you have 600 fans and you post 6 times a month, you will appear in 3600 newsfeeds a month. Look for my next post when I’ll be covering Twitter!

Writing Content For Non-writers.

whizbangideas — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 14:27:31 +0000

by Ellen Curtis, Creative Commander

So one of the happiest events in recent years for writers is the explosion of Social Media. If you haven’t heard, content is king these days. Now there are a multitude of avenues for us word wrestlers to show our prowess. There are blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Scribd and a million other venues. While we happily take words to the mat, non-writers sit in terror looking as if they’re in a match with The Rock (before he took up acting). If you are among this group, I offer a few tips I have picked up along the 25 years I have been knocking about on a keyboard to get you out in the writing ring.

5. Write about what you know. OK this tip isn’t anything new. I’m sure you have heard this from one or more English teachers. But the reason you’ve heard it over and over again is because it’s true. When I had to decide what I wanted to write for this blog the easiest path was to write about writing. That’s something I know and have no problem meeting word count. If you are asked to write about something you don’t know, write about how you don’t know about the subject or how you researched it to learn more about it.

4. Google your way through it. No doubt whatever you’re writing about someone else has written something similar. For example, when I googled “writing content for non-writers” there were 42,100,00 results. I randomly clicked on “Writing tips for non-writers who don’t want to work at writing” http://bit.ly/aFKwKC. The post covers, amongst other things, punctuation, grammar and spelling. I could write an entire new post about that post.

3. Forget grammar, punctuation and spelling. Nothing stops a writer in their tracks more than thinking about if they are writing correctly. Just get it out. I am certain you know someone who prides himself or herself as on being an English aficionado. You know the types. They walk with an air of superiority and rightly so. They actually paid attention in English class and remembered all the rules and the exceptions to the rules. Make them your friend. They will happily edit your work (They can’t help themselves.) and in a worse case scenario will offer to rewrite it for you to spare you a citation from the English police.

2. Take the easy way out with a list. Maybe you can’t write, but you can make a list. We do it every day with grocery lists, to do lists, contact lists and so on and so on. Making a list helps you organize your thoughts and prohibits meandering writing. Take this post. It’s a list.

1. Write for someone you know. This is one of the oldest copywriter tricks. When you write, imagine you’re sitting with a person you know and telling him or her what you’re writing about. When I write for Rosies Workwear, I think I’m sitting with my neighbor who ranches. When I write for The Spice Hunter, I think of my friend who is a total foodie. When I write this post, I imagine that I am sitting with an old former colleague of mine. This keeps your writing honest, simple and conversational.

Whizbang wins four International Awards

whizbangideas — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 00:06:06 +0000

Whizbang won four Communicator Awards for their creative excellence in print and interactive media in a competition that receives over 9,000 awards internationally. The 16th Annual Communicator Awards received entries from agencies of all sizes from around the world, making it the largest awards of its kind.

Whizbang won the gold Award of Excellence for their Professional Mixer Flyer in the marketing and promotional flyer category, as well as an award for their work on Rosie’s Workwear online advertising and marketing through social media. They also won two silver awards for their work with Solarponics and ewoodart.com. The Award of Excellence, the highest honor, is given to entries “whose ability to communicate puts them among the best in the field.”

“We have won many awards for Rosie’s Workwear, but this is the only one that awards for not just the piece, but also the approach. It is the whole enchilada,” said Ellen Curtis, co-owner and Creative Commander of Whizbang.

The Communicator Awards is judged by the International Academy of Visual Arts, which is made up of “top-tier” professionals from media, advertising, communications, marketing and design firms. Entries are judged on their merits based on the 15 year history of the Communicator Awards and placed on a ten point scale. Judges include executives from Disney, HBO, Monster.com, Polo Ralph Lauren, MTV and the Ellen Degeneres Show.

“Winning this award shows that we are delivering what we promised to our clients. The increase in their business is the real result, but this proves that the most creative ads are the most successful. It is creativity with results,” said Frank Scotti, co-owner and Chief Idea Officer.

Rosie’s Workwear website, Facebook, Twitter and blog won gold

Professional Networking Business Mixer flyer won gold

Solarponics print ad won silver

ewoodart.com ad won silver