When you walk into a McDonald’s you know what it will look like. Even when your interstate you know exactly what to expect even before you take your first bite. There are no surprises here, nothing to say “wow that was fantastic” or “how horrible was that?” Your expectations are met day in day out without fail and that’s brilliant.

This consistency is what makes places like McDonald’s so successful. It may not be the quality of the food but the fact that your expectations are met every time, no exceptions. This is the McDonald’s value offering which is taken for granted, something that McDonald’s actually  expects and wants you to do. Don’t think about it, eat, enjoy, leave and come back soon.

For McDonald’s without this consistency they would not be who they are today. The product is not exceptional enough to allow for slack or lee-way when it comes to the output. The day you walk into a McDonald’s and there are no napkins available, the food tastes oddly different to what you expect and a sign is a bit torn and tattered, you run for the hills. That establishment has lost you as it did not meet your expectations even though it may only be that one time. That’s all it takes. Why do you think they have such strict measures and processes? McDonald’s understand the power of expectation.

The advantage that entrepreneurs have is that if you can provide a product which is extraordinary, these small idiosyncrasies will not be as prevalent as long as it does not affect the quality of your output. For example when you buy an exceptional car such as a Ferrari you know that each Ferrari is hand build and each one will differ slightly. You expect it and almost want it. If you want mass market expectation then go Toyota, it’s non exceptional, purposeful and will meet your expectation day in day out. Its brilliant, just like McDonald’s. Do professional sportsman use run of the mill equipment? No, they need exceptional so they require variation and customisation.

So what is your offering? Do you really need to meet mass market expectation and leverage the power of expectation? It is extremely difficult to master however if you offer an exceptional product which appeals to the set few of early adopters and hardcore industry fanatics then luckily, you may not have to. Keep it specialised, keep it exceptional and allow yourself some invaluable elasticity among your followers.

There are many definitions of viral marketing circulating the web. The wikipedia definition is pretty rubbish, if there is one at all. The one mentioned in marketingterms.com has a better grasp but explains it clearly when it says “Viral marketing depends on a high pass-along rate from person to person. If a large percentage of recipients forward something to a large number of friends, the overall growth snowballs very quickly. If the pass-along numbers get too low, the overall growth quickly fizzles.” Explaining the process of how something becomes viral makes the concept much easier to grasp than a simple definition.

What the above information tells us about viral marketing is that it’s completely up to the consumer, the user, the audience, to turn a campaign into a viral one. When you see agencies claiming that they create viral campaigns ask yourself how can they? They can’t guarantee it. The main aspect of a viral campaign that every marketer needs to remember: You can’t determine what goes viral, the audience does.  Ways a marketer currently attempt to do this is usually through social networking sites (Facebook, Youtube, Twitter etc), send-to-friend functions, catchy phrases, songs and addictive games among others.

A marketer needs to realise than going viral cannot be implemented like you would a TV ad. In fact the best and most rapid viral campaigns are usually done by accident. It is also usually done by beginning outside of mainstream media with messages being spread by the early adopters and innovators. Here are a couple examples:

Vote for Pedro – From the movie Napoleon Dynamite. Napoleon Dynamite was the first full length film created by directors Jared Hess and Jerusha Hess and it debuted at the 2004 Sundance film festival. The film had a relatively tiny budget of $400,000 yet raked in almost $45US million! What we have here is a movie that was not designed the appeal to the masses. It got the movie buffs in a frenzy, some loved it and some hated it and that’s the first step to getting something to go viral. The lovers of it will talk and so will the haters and the word will spread. Not known to the producers was the snowballing effect that would be created by the movie especially one small element, the “Vote for Pedro” slogan. Do a Google search for “Vote for Pedro” and have a look what comes up.  Did the movie directors purposely create this frenzy? Not a chance. Think of the last big budget film that appealed to a wide audience and then recall the legacy it left, if you can.

The Macarena – Who can forget this abhorrent combination of shrieks and limbs. Sung, performed rather, by Spanish duo Los Del Rio, this thing took off and at one point was regarded as the #1 one hit wonder of all time by VH1. It was catchy (unfortunately) so people caught on and in no time every party was full of people doing this dance. Did the Spanish duo honestly believe that their creation would become a worldwide viral behemoth? Considering their specialty was in Andalusian folk music, I would say no as I doubt global music dominance was really their initial driving force. Again this music wasn’t particularly loved by all yet it appealed to a minority who picked it up and ran with it. It was not successful because there was a plan to go viral, it went viral because the right market took hold of it and spread the word.

Of course there have been occasions where brands and agencies have sought after creating a viral campaign and succeeded however it is more due to their ability to target the right people, at the right time and provide a medium in which the campaign can be easily spread. In essence successful viral marketers understand the best environment that will enable a campaign to hopefully grow viral and flourish however success can never be guaranteed.

How do you go viral then? Develop something extraordinary, yell it at the sound boards, give them a megaphone and hope they will sing your praises. That’s going viral.

We hear of companies going under all the time, especially now when everyone is riding the economic crisis bandwagon. Let’s shift back a few years when things seemed more rosy, business was good and the poor were given more money than they could handle (literally). Companies filing for bankruptcy or going through liquidation were less frequent and therefore came under more scrutiny as to why things went so horribly wrong.

If you were deciding on a new start up of the head of an existing one, what would you do if you witnessed a company go bust? Remember things are good, m0ney is being spent freely and discretionary spend was in abundance. Would you look at the company going bust and see it as a lesson to be learn’t, stay away? Or  would you see it as an opportunity to move into a misrepresented and misunderstood market where you can make it work? What is the market size, competition, pricing structure, marketing, target market and could you really make it work?

Take example Sumolounge, an over-sized bean bag chair company. I just read about their foray into the Australian market in Yaro Starak’s blog. Interesting product but I find it fascinating that a company would move into a market that had been so unforgiving during the previous attempt of LoveSac to take control of the over-sized bean bag market (I really struggle to say that seriously… ‘over-sized bean bag market’). What was wrong with LoveSac and why did it fail? Well first of all, winning “The Rebel Billionaire” doesn’t necessarily lead to success in your entrepreneurial endeavors, even if you do have the blessing of Sir Richard. Not sure if the concept of revenue and assets needing to be higher than debt was completely understood by LoveSac management but hey, it was fun!

Did Sumolounge do their research and genuinely think that the market is still demanding over-sized bean bag furniture, especially the conservative Australian market where the innovators and early adopters aren’t as abundant as they are in say North America and Europe. I’ll probably get some backlash about how much I underestimate the Australian population but I from my experiences the take-up rate compared to other nations is quite slow. We love our security down under and liken new alien products like adding pasta strips on Pizza, if a bunch of others around me are having some then I’ll give it a go.

So will Australia embrace another big bean furniture company or will the wait for the early adopters to take charge take too long, exhausting the company’s resources. The thing is there was not too much wrong with LoveSac’s product offering. The bean bags were super comfortable, they looks great and there was plenty of marketing to back it up. Quite often you would see celebrities sitting on these bags and TV shows being aired with the presenters lying on them, talking it up. The LoveSac retail outlets were equally as impressive as the furniture itself, very plush and more like a massive rumpus room than a store built to facilitate commerce.

I won’t get into detail but I personally worked closely with some of these stores and the turnover was alarming, no one was buying. What was wrong? First of all the asking price for these bags was phenomenal. Starting at about $400 already put off many potential buyers. Secondly, did LoveSac offer its customers too much in-store that the incentive to buy was never really there? People would go into a LoveSac store, jump (seriously, people would take off from the closest and highest ledge) on the beanbags, read a bit, speak to the assistant and leave with very little intention to purchase any of the bags, ever. The feeling that was promoted was more similar to what you might see in an amusement arcade. People come in, have a play and then leave. It’s the same scenario for LoveSac, however they were trying sell the machines. It just didn’t work.

I’d be very interested in finding out more about the strategy of Sumolounge and how they plan to tackle the market. I already see that the price is almost half of what LoveSac was asking. That’s a start.

Sony has really moved forward with the Sony HOME on the PS3. For those of you not too sure what it is, Sony HOME is Sony’s take on Second Life. To access it you need a PS3 as it is accessible directly through Sony’s XrossMediaBar and you need to be linked to online play. It’s extremely simple to access and once your in, there are a whole host of things that you can do.

Looking at it from a business point of view I wasn’t particularly interested in conversing with other characters online or customising my avatar, I wanted to have a look around this virtual world. I downloaded the Red Bull Air-Race virtual island to give it a go. Red Bull is the first advertiser to create a virtual environment in the Sony HOME portal and I am duly impressed, although it did take me a good 20 minutes to figure out how to get it started! Not only is the game itself extremely addictive and quite fun its the environment that gained most of my attention. Its is crisp, runs smoothly and looks stunning. This is an example of a company doing something quite extraordinary, getting in first, creating excitement and getting players to interact directly with the brand. They have done their homework too, considering their target market also makes up the majority of core-gamers using the PS3 console and network, specifically young males, 18-34, the same market not interested in watching an out-dated medium such as TV and aren’t particularly impressed with any advertising you throw at them. But not this, this was hook, line and sinker.

A little more environment searching led me to stumble upon the shopping mall complex. I understand that these concepts are not new as this has been seen in other virtual world’s such as second life. There are brands in here such as Diesel and they actually SELL virtual products, where the user opts into buying a particular item of clothing (priced from about $1-$2) which is then deducted from their account details stored in the Sony network. 2 things amaze me here. The first is that people are actually BUYING (with real money!) virtual clothing. Secondly, the people buying these products are the obsessed, the dedicated and early risk takers. These are the exact people every company wants, actually needs, to sell their product to.

Will we be seeing dedicated virtual furniture companies appear to take advantage of this demand? Where else can you sell 30,000 couches and $4.95 each and make a profit? Where else would people actually buy them? Will Sony rent out virtual space in their virtual shopping mall or take a percentage of what is sold in the network? How will they control the demand and what limitations will be in place?

Again I’m not interested in the specific environment details so please don’t point out the little nuances as I’m sure there are may. The reason I think this would create amazing opportunities is because you are not selling to the masses here. You are dealing with the small minority and the early adopters who would purchase such products. What gets me bug eyed is the fact that you don’t even need to search for the early adopters, they are already there, buying! These are the people which companies hunt down to sell to because they talk and spread the message. Now Sony has done the hard work and successfully rounded up this bunch and plonked them into a massive online environment. Can Sony charge a premium? For sure. Would it still be worth it? You bet!

The more I live an entrepreneurial life, the less inclined I am to consider new business ideas that use advertising as the key revenue generator. Advertising in general has proven to be an extremely fickle industry, duly rocked by any signs of economic uncertainty.

Recently Mark Cuban put up a challenge on his blog which he referred to as open source funding. Top line stuff.. post your business ideas on the blog and he will consider funding it. However there was an interesting catch, one of the prerequisites was that the business could not generate its revenue from advertising. There was a backlash (albeit sycophantic ones.. err excuse me sir.. umm please… type of thing) in the blog comments about why they can’t use advertising. Mr Cuban put it there for a reason, he knows the pitfalls and hurdles of using advertising as revenue.

Advertising as revenue is very temperamental and difficult to sustain but most notably it’s a very long hard slog to get it to a profitable stage. Anyone who has a website or a blog knows that generating traffic is not particularly easy, let alone generating enough traffic to make it profitable. These same people also know that you don’t generate traffic overnight and it takes years and years of picking away at it to get to decent traffic levels.

The advertising supporting a business businesses is not viral, their offering is viral. So why not sell the object that is viral in the first place? Now that would be profitable. As Seth Godin would put it, ‘the sneezers’ for a good product, sneeze loud and clear and people listen. Who sneezes after using a good advertising portal? Is a good advertising portal sneezable? Remember your dealing companies and business who are competing for the same market, if they find a good advertising medium they would most probably keep it to themselves. So what that means is that you as a company director, as a salesman, need to contact, pitch, negotiate and sell to as many advertisers as possible, one to one, to get business trickling in. Their is little assistance from word of mouth so the rate of growth is directly proportional to the hours you put in and the numbers of potential clients you have been able to speak to. If you had found an effective advertising medium would you tell your find to your competitors? So forget about a group of loyal and happy customers spreading the word. Reaching critical mass with this model is an excruciating and drawn out process.

Think Facebook. Think Myspace. Think Twitter. What do we know about their revenue model? It has been well documented that these guys simply can’t find a way to tap into their massive user base and turn it into cash. More important to note is that their service of social networking spread like mad because they offered an extraordinary service. The advertising isn’t extraordinary. Tapping into the advertiser market doesn’t come as freely, even with hundreds of millions of users and impressions. But of course the word is being spread, its just not the words they really want to hear.

I’ve recently been getting into reading a lot by an awesome marketer and thinker by the name of Seth Godin. I recently read this post on Seth’s Blog and it really hit a note with me. First I think this guy is awesome and his views on the ‘purple cow’ relate heavily to my own thinking about what sets marketers apart from their competition, never more relevant than during current economic times.

With the current economic downturn people have lost a lot of money. This gives some online wantrepreneurs (wannabe entrepreneurs) the opportunity to take advantage, offering get rich quick schemes promising fortune and wealth almost immediately by doing hardly any work. The idea is appealing and although an inner part of those who take up the offer knows that this is not going to work, it’s that sense of hope that maybe this is the one. The guy told them so. Its guaranteed. Its only $47.

As we know, for anyone who has decided to use the ‘corkscrew filter system’ or ‘reverse aztec cash funnel’ it simply does not work. It is never sustainable because at the end of the day you are never adding any value or creating something extraordinary. Thinking of creating an information hub about credit card debt and consolidation, then make thousands a day from people clicking your adsense ads? If getting traffic is that easy and cheap then wouldn’t you think the companies advertising would do it themselves?

What I thought I’d do is put together a short list that will help you identify the online scams. When I say scam, I don’t mean that they will take your money and run. It would be much better if they just did that! Instead I’m talking about the ones where you will receive your ‘valued’ item, use up your time getting it running, raise your hopes that your onto something big, then realise a few wasted months later than it simply doesn’t work the way you thought it would. You may like to go through this list the next time you consider taking up one of these fantastic online money making offers.

1. Layout - A lot of these guys will have a very similar layout. It’s usually always a single page that continues for about 30 web page kilometers full of great testimonials, dialogue boxes, large font, big brash heading and bad (usually yellow) text highlighting. For some reason the font will always be roughly the same, usually Verdana or Times. You can spot these horrors from a mile a away.
2. Contact - There is always a fundamental lack of contact details on these get rich quick scheme sites. You probably wouldn’t expect contact information for a blog, especially a personal one however when someone is trying to sell you a money making course, or any other online product, shouldn’t they be contactable other than through a web form? Yes, there are a number of online businesses operated from home and not having these details public is perfectly understandable but these guys simply won’t put details on their site as it results in them being accountable and answerable by phone, remember, out of site out of mind.
3. Tone - Get rich quick schemes can often have a very unique and distinctive tone. The pitch can be seen as arrogant and confronting. Phrases such as ‘why would I care? I’m filthy rich’ pepper such scam sites. The held belief behind this tone is that indifference and arrogance are signs of someone who is successful and does not care whether you purchase from them or not. They don’t need the money, they are rich already. Why would they care if you don’t lose weight, they are in great shape. Its a gimmick and a strategy quite deliberately included by the seller.  The best and most successful companies in the world care and are obsessed with what their customers think, not the other way.
4. Guarantee - A 100% guarantee is usually, if not always, offered. This is to develop a  ‘I have nothing to lose’ mind-frame  for potential buyers. These are genuine guarantee’s and I’m convinced that if you were to ask for your money back they would be more than happy to return it to you. What these guys also know is that only an absolute fraction of the people who buy their product will actually bother to ask for a full refund. This unfortunately is a proven fact which these marketers take full advantage of. They know that if your after a get rich quick scheme and have purchased their product you are most probably someone who wants a quick fix, something for nothing. Asking for a refund takes effort meaning the very people buying the product would be less likely to pursue a refund for it. So don’t think that just because they guarantee success it really means they believe it will work!
5. Spelling and Grammar – Bad grammer is alot. There is no such word as ‘teached’.  Although rare it a sure sign to stay away immediately.
6. Hurt and Rescue – The classic salesmen theory. First they will try to hurt you, tell you how bad life is going to be when your broke and your partner leaves you like when it happened to them. They try to hit you where it hurts. But don’t worry, be part of the scheme and you won’t have to worry about this because you will have so much money… like they do.
7. Quick! – The key theme among the majority of these sites is that they promise a proven method to making money now. If you don’t act now the price of the service will go from $67 back to $297 so you need to be quick. This is exactly what you want, you want to make money now and they claim they will deliver, plus your getting it at an absolute bargain. See that little counter saying you have 23hrs 59minutes and 56 seconds until the price goes back up. Click refresh and see what happens… oops. The promises of quick riches is a deadly trap as it is extremely inviting and the thought of having an extra $20,000 by the end of the month is an opportunity that you just simply can’t ignore. Well ignore it.
8. Visual Examples – Online money making opportunities are filled with visual examples such as proof of income or some guy standing next to an exotic sportscar. These are his earnings and this is the car he drives and it could be yours too! All you need to do is… you get the picture. Just in case you don’t believe that you can make that much money, proof of income (usually Paypal or Clickbank snapshots) are a great way for these guys to get their message across and actually SHOW you how much money they make. I’ll show you how much I am earning as well. Have a look at my latest Clickbank earnings:
   

   Don't believe me? Good.

   And no I didn’t use photoshop. Seriously, this is really how much I make selling plant pruning ebooks online. How could you doubt me?! The scary thing is you can do this to ANY website using ANY numbers without getting a designer to do it and it takes about 30 seconds. Both Clickbank and Paypal are reputable companies but its so easy for these guys to manipulate and use goodwill of these big online brands. I’m not saying they are all fake examples but you need to view these visuals with a grain of salt.

9. Domain Names - www.makemoneynowonlinewithoutworking.com. Most of these domains are long and almost always look rediculous. Many webmasters try to incorporate every single keyword such as ‘money’, ‘online’, ‘rich’ and whatever else they can jam into their domain. Take a quick look and if the name looks a little laboured then i’d probably give it a miss.
10. Too good to be true – The obvious one. As the saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. You have all these bonus items, a free website, free audio tutorials and several bonus packs valued at over $297 and they are offering it to you for $47! And your guaranteed to make money, lose weight, bench more, sleep better, run faster and love longer.. right now! Its sounds great and yes is probably too good to be true.
11. (The +1) The number 7 - My favourite, I love this one. The majority of online scams and get rich quick schemes love to incorporate the number 7 into their marketing and pricing structure. This sounds crazy but I would strongly recommend against buying anything where the price ends in the number 7. Get rich quick schemes seems to have a 7 pattern when referring to pricing. $97, $37, $27 and $47. I think its both a cause of follow the leader (blind leading the blind) and also because they need to add value in their marketing. According to these marketers, nice whole numbers is a sign of a lack of value. Throwing a ‘7′ in the equation makes the price appear more believable and it’s not close to a rounded figure such as a ‘5′ or a ‘0′ at the same time not making the item look too expensive by sticking an 8 or 9 at the end. Companies do it to their pricing all the time but the ‘7-collusion’ effect among online rip off artists is something of a giveaway to the quality of the item they are selling. As silly as this may sound it shows the desperation, lack of knowledge and understanding by these webmasters and wantrepreneurs. Ever heard of $19.95?

There are probably a whole host of other small factors and indicators which I have missed but I believe this is a solid list of the key features that you should be aware of. The truth is that making money and sustainable success is a reward for plenty of hard work, sticking through the tough times and usually a little bit of luck. Overnight success happens to a very select few, who eventually go on to make waste of it.

I believe this is a good thing. I am happy that the majority of success does not come overnight. This allows the natural and organic success path to weed out the posers looking for a quick buck and reward those with drive, determination and passion.

The world is a strange place to be in at the moment. The world of marketing seems to be even stranger yet. It appears rationality has simply gone out the window as people panic in times of economic crisis. You see examples of companies doing the exact opposite of what they should be doing and these are run by extremely intelligent people hiring other extremely gifted individuals to form teams, brainstorm, propose and ultimately decide upon the best approach. Yet there is so much crap out there its unbelievable.

Lets talk marketing. The average person (as well as the very average marketer) may think the best thing to do during times of crisis is to simply cut advertising budget and channel remaining funds into known and tested forms of media. Well lets dissect that thinking just a little.

• Times are tough and business is struggling
• Ok we’ll need to cut budget
• The budget’s have been cut so we need to be careful where we spend our money
• Lets spend it on what we did before (you mean the same stuff that got you in this position in the first place right?)
• That’s a great looking ad! (it goes well with your competitors on page 3,7,9,11,17,22 and 33. Well done.)
• Im not sure how the ad performed but it looked good didn’t it? The others keep doing it so it must be working.

Does it seems a little clearer as to why the cut budget and spend safely simply does not work? You may well need to cut your marketing budget but it doesn’t mean you should stick to your usual, often fundamentally flawed ways. Remember those usual ways are exactly what got you (you being the advertiser, not specifically as in you) stuck in the first place! The only way out is to really set yourself apart from the bunch. Be different, act different and think different. Not being different is the exact reason why people stop buying or trying your offering.

Another major problem here is that everyone is trying to target the masses with the key defining feature that bonds this group is that they are simply indifferent however at the same time represent the majority of the purchasing population. They don’t care whether your ad looks great, or how your new football boot is worn by some bloke they could never be. You need to remember that times are tough for the masses, economic and financial crisis hits the masses hard, the same masses you are targeting.

So now tell me the reasoning behind this marketing approach. You are targeting people who don’t really care and don’t have the money to get out and purchase your product. How much money do you want to waste? How many ads do you need to print and display before you realise it’s just not working?

When things are tough those products that are a cut above the rest, those that are amazing and extraordinary will prevail. Why? Because these don’t interest and are unwanted by the masses. The property market in UK, US, and Australia is struggling but what type of property are we talking about here? We are talking about the property for the masses. We are not talking about water front mansions worth several million dollars. For example take Donald Trump, who in mid 2008 during a time when the housing market was in the pits, sold his Florida home for 100 million dollars! The housing crisis we are really talking about are the typical housing prices going down and bringing a large number of people down with them. The whole economic and financial downturn could possibly be attributed to sub-prime mortgages crashing heavily accompanied with the devalued nature of the properties (all be it a slightly abbreviated explanation!). Who were these sub-prime mortgages sold to? The same people who are not buying your products now, the masses.

I don’t believe I’m extraordinarily bright but you don’t have to be. Just think about it. The old ways of marketing and advertising are useless now because the people your advertising to simply don’t care. They don’t buy FHM to look at your ads and use TV commercial breaks to fill up their drink. TV advertising and Magazine advertising once worked because they were different and the alternatives were few and far between. Traditional media requires the diverting of a user’s attention in order to absorb the message you are trying to portray. This doesn’t work anymore! People are immune to ads and subconsciously and consciously tune-out or flick to the next page whenever they are subject to an advertisement. They have seen hundreds and thousands of these before, possibly even millions over their lifetime so why would they pay attention to yours? Do you read all your spam?

So the sad truth is:

1. People don’t care
2. People don’t have the money
3. People don’t even notice.

Yet I look through a popular men’s magazine and I see hundreds of crappy examples selling the same stuff and marketing to these exact people! Amazing.

How do you get around it? Create. Create something that genuinely ads value and will appeal to a dedicated minority, NOT to the masses. Hang on you say, that is where all the people and the money is! If you have just asked this question then please go back to the beginning of this post and read again. Going straight to the masses just puts you in the ‘me too’ category and you will inevitably fail. Even in times of crises, the minority, namely those who like to try new things (innovators and early adopters) will try new things if they believe it ads value to them. Go for the niches and source the ‘’sounding boards’ and target them directly. They are the ones who will be interested in purchasing and if they like it, they will talk about it, hence why I call them ’sounding boards’.

Being different and adding value is the backbone of forming a sound business model. Watching someone acting different, doing well and then joining the group as a ‘me too’ is the recipe for mediocrity and inevitable failure. A perfect example would be Coca Cola moving into the energy drinks market and taking on Red Bull. Red Bull found a niche, offered something different and with value. It was unique in the market and didn’t even taste good but it added value to those who adopted it who then spread the word and the masses eventually came on board (once again an abbreviated story but you get the picture). In comes Coke, brings in Lift plus and Mother, says me too, makes it taste like garbage juice and says gimme my market share. What happens? It fails and it will continue to fail no matter what they try to do. Why? They tried to target the masses who are indifferent and don’t really care to change. “I’ll stick to Red Bull, thanks anyway” say the masses.

The key is to source out a niche, target the early adopters and offer them excellent value. This is how, now only in current economic conditions but from now on, you will be able to create a solid and profitable business model. Become a ‘me too’ and you will become another ‘me too’ scratching your head, waiting in line for your fortnightly government cheque thinking, what went wrong?