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Researchers and AI enthusiasts from all over the world try to crack the code and improve the technologies to make digital avatars “smarter” and make them improve our own knowledge. Developers use artificial intelligence and natural language processing software to enable us to interact with avatars, and make it possible to interact with these virtual representations as if they were the actual person, complete with the ability to understand and intelligently answer questions. When the technology is ready we will see avatar experts in many professional fields, reducing overhead and making the need in some human-provided services absolute.
While the researches are still in its infant state, there are many new projects in the entertainment, gaming and even professional services that explore the trends of working with avatar in many different ways.
One of the offers that are launched via IdeaMama Ad Network this month is Intunment Project – an avatar counseling. Instead of spending $300 on a visit to psychologist, you instead can intune with your avatar on a regular basis for fraction of the price. While there are still alive human behind the scene, not AI, the game-line packaged service becomes a hit.
Whether you are new to affiliate marketing, or a super-affiliate, this affiliate program is available.
PROGRAM DETAILS:
OFFER TYPE: CPS (sale)
PRODUCT: Avatar Coaching. All counseling is done by digital “avatars” – certified professionals behind 3D character
PRODUCT DELIVERY: digital (phone calls & program subscriptions)
INDUSTRY: Offer is on intersection of very “hot” industries: gaming and wellness.
TARGET MARKET: B2C, worldwide.
PRICE per unit: $79.99
AFFILIATE PAYOUT: $30 per sale
If you are interetsed in marketing this offer please contact IdeaMama Ad Network staff at: affiliates @ IdeaMamaAdNetwork.com.
Avatars-service providers and affiliates promoting them might expect quite significant profits in the next couple of years, as the concept can ride on a trend that became especially magnified with the release of film “Avatar” that has already bit worldwide box office and became #1 film in the history of filmmaking, crossed 2 billion dollars in box office this week, leaving “Titanic” behind. By placing both of his movies as #1 and #2 in worldwide sales, James Cameron seems to have a great lesson to be taught to other producers-veterans as well as young filmmakers. But the real question is, will you as a marketer learn anything from this lesson?
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by Olga Kostrova, CEO of IdeaMama Group | IdeaMama Ad Network | IdeaMamaClub.com |
Connect with me on LinkedIn & Facebook | Follow me: twitter.com/IdeaMama | Skype me: IdeaMama |
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I have just came back from a meeting of Silicon Valley scientists and developers who work on design of various artificial intelligence systems. While no ultimate solution has been found yet, nevertheless every discussion is interesting and thought provoking.
Today’s speaker, Bert Koehler, presented results of his research and share some insights on building AI systems that not only understand humor, but that actually create jokes.
The is a reason why I decided to cover today’s event in the blog . The main focus of every marketer in the current economy, where advertising budgets are shrinking, should be ability to generate advertising echo, produce advertising campaigns and ad inventory that is viral. If we analyze carefully the most viral marketing campaigns we will notice that vast majority of them has ad units that are funny enough to be shared – humorous, sarcastic or simply absurd.
It’s only natural for people to share a joke that made them laugh. Or some it’s due to the desire to share joy or other strong emotion; for others it’s out of their need to be a center of attention; for some it’s to be known for the content discovery. While motivation for sharing content is irrelevant for our conversation, the actual content is not.
Unfortunately many marketers fail in their attempt to make their ads viral. Some spend dozens of thousands of dollar on videos that are never shared on social networks and through personal social cycles. All it means, you are just not funny enough. Sorry dude.
Coming back to today’s talk, it presented an approach to understanding how to analyze and model cognitive processing of humor. We discussed ways of implementing this processing that requires a new platform, as well as AI interoperability with the humanities.
There was a lot of interesting ideas around what makes a person to perceive a statement or event funny.
Bert Koehler has been an engineering contractor and consultant in Silicon Valley for two decades. In parallel with his work with semiconductor firms in complex VLSI he has been doing AI research for decades with goal of merging AI and the humanities. Results have included progress in understanding humor, emotion, and fiction. He is writing several books on these subjects as well as a series of books on bases for engineering synthetic intelligences.
There is no way I will be able to recreate Bert’s presentation, but in a nutshell…Here are a few important components for something to be perceived as “haha” funny – if one or more present in the statement of the event, there is a high probability that for a group of people it appears humorous:
- Wit – making connections between things in a novel or empowering way. Example: puns or wordplay.
- Triumph – attempts to change power relationships in your favor. Example: overcoming bureaucrat in funny way; sarcasm, funny insults.
- Dissonance – things that are absurd relative to what the audience believes is true. Example: silly gags.
Unfortunately in order to put more meat on those points I would need to rewrite one of the books that Bert is working on. And I probably will not do it this time. :-)
There are also various theories that allow us to relate theory to hypotheses.
For example,
- Piaget’s theory can be used to make predictions about developmental differences in humor.
- The cognitive response theory of persuasion can be used to predict that humor will increase the persuasiveness of a message if the humor distracts the audience from thinking about the holes in the message’s argument.
- Schachter’s cognitive labeling theory might explain why students are often likely to laugh loudly at a remark made a few minutes before an exam is to be handed out.
- Opponent process theory might predict that people’s moods would not be improved by exposure to humor.
- Social comparison theory can explain why people might look to others to find out whether something is funny.
- Freud’s relief theory says that laughter involves a released of accumulated psychic energy.
Theories help us understand why people find certain things humorous–and help us to categorize humor. Some are in line with points that we discussed today. For example,
> Superiority theory suggests that we laugh because we feel superior to others.
> Incongruity theory suggests that we laugh when we see events as incongruous.
For those who want to learn more about psychology of humor and types of humor I will quote excerpts of a few articles that I just found on the net.
On types/styles of humor …
by By Louise Dobson in Psychology Today:
Put-Down Humor
This aggressive type of humor is used to criticize and manipulate others through teasing, sarcasm and ridicule. When it’s aimed against politicians by the likes of Ann Coulter, it’s hilarious and mostly harmless. But in the real world, it has a sharper impact. Put-down humor, such as telling friends an embarrassing story about another friend, is a socially acceptable way to deploy aggression and make others look bad so you look good.
When challenged on their teasing, the put-down joker often turns to the “just kidding” defense, allowing the aggressor to avoid responsibility even as the barb bites. Martin has found no evidence that those who rely on this type of humor are any less well-adjusted. But it does take a toll on personal relationships.
Bonding Humor
People who use bonding humor are fun to have around; they say amusing things, tell jokes, engage in witty banter and generally lighten the mood. These are the people who give humor a good name. They’re perceived as warm, down-to-earth and kind, good at reducing the tension in uncomfortable situations and able to laugh at their own faults.
Talk show host and comedian Ellen DeGeneres embraces her audience by sharing good-natured, relatable humor. Her basic message: We’re alike, we find the same things funny and we’re all in this together.
Nonetheless, bonding humor can have a dark side. After all, a feeling of inclusion can be made sweeter by knowing that someone else is on the outs. J.F.K. and his brothers would often invite a hated acquaintance to vacation with them; they’d be polite to his face, but behind his back, the brothers would unite in deriding the hapless guest.
Hate-Me Humor
In this style of humor, you are the butt of the joke for the amusement of others. Often deployed by people eager to ingratiate themselves, it’s the familiar clown or “fat guy” playfulness that we loved in John Belushi and Chris Farley—both of whom suffered for their success. A small dose of it is charming, but a little goes a long way: Routinely offering yourself up to be humiliated erodes your self-respect, fostering depression and anxiety. It also can backfire by making other people feel uncomfortable, finds Nicholas Kuiper of the University of Western Ontario. He proposes that it may remind others of their own tendency toward self-criticism.
Farley, who died at age 33 from an overdose, had a streak of self-loathing. “Chris chose the immediate pleasure he got in pleasing others over the long-term cost to himself,” his brother wrote after his death. The bottom line: Excelling at this style of humor may lead to party invitations but can ultimately exact a high price.
Laughing At Life
When we admire someone who “doesn’t take himself too seriously,” this is the temperament we’re talking about. More than just a way of relating to other people, it’s a prism that colors the world in rosier shades. Someone with this outlook deploys humor to cope with challenges, taking a step back and laughing at the absurdities of everyday life. The Onion is a repository of this benign good humor. The columnist Dave Barry has perfected it with quips like this: “Fishing is boring, unless you catch an actual fish, and then it is disgusting.”
Studies that link a sense of humor to good health are probably measuring this phenomenon; when you have a wry perspective, it’s hard to remain anxious or hostile for long. It was called “self-enhancing humor,” because you don’t need other people to entertain you—if something peculiar or annoying happens, you’re perfectly capable of laughing at it on your own.
Ok, I am running out of time, but Google “psychology of humor” and I am sure, if you have more time for this research that I do now, you will find plenty of interesting materials. Please be generous and share some of ideas as responses to these articles.
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by Olga Kostrova, CEO of IdeaMama Group | IdeaMama Ad Network | IdeaMamaClub.com |
Connect with me on LinkedIn & Facebook | Follow me: twitter.com/IdeaMama | Skype me: IdeaMama |
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15 quotes to improve your sales rep’s hearing abilities – for customer satisfaction and your bottom line.
19 Jan2010
When a customer decides to speak, he invests in your business. When you ignore calls of unsatisfied customers, forum posts, blogs references, social media updates with negative notes about your service, it’s as unwise as rejecting voluntary donations with no strings attached.
If a deaf musical can play music, and your sales rep can’t hear out what customer really wants, maybe you should hire a rep with no tongue so he stops shaking the air as he speaks, since it’s not even converting?
1. “I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.” – Robert McCloskey
2. “A wise old owl sat on an oak. The more he saw the less he spoke; The less he spoke the more he heard; Why aren’t we like that wise old bird?” – unknown
3. “So when you are listening to somebody, completely, attentively, then you are listening not only to the words, but also to the feeling of what is being conveyed, to the whole of it, not part of it.” – Jiddu Krishnamurti (one of my favorite man’s)
4. “Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward. When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand.” – unknown
5. “Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again.” – Andre Gide
6. “A good listener tries to understand what the other person is saying. In the end he may disagree sharply, but because he disagrees, he wants to know exactly what it is he is disagreeing with.” – Kenneth A. Wells
7. “Deep listening is miraculous for both listener and speaker. When someone receives us with open-hearted, non-judging, intensely interested listening, our spirits expand.” – Sue Patton Thoele
8. “It is the province of knowledge to speak, and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen.” -Oliver Wendell Holmes
9. “If you spend more time asking appropriate questions rather than giving answers or opinions, your listening skills will increase.” – Brian Koslow
10. “You seldom listen to me, and when you do you don’t hear, and when you do hear you hear wrong, and even when you hear right you change it so fast that it’s never the same.” – Marjorie Kellogg quotes
11. “Listen or thy tongue will keep thee deaf.” – Indian Proverb
12. “To listen is an effort, and just to hear is no merit. A duck hears also.” – Igor Stravinsky
13. “A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he gets to know something.” – Wilson Mizner
14. “No man would listen to you talk if he didn’t know it was his turn next.” – Edgar Watson
15. “Listen and be led.” – L. M. Heroux
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by Olga Kostrova, CEO of IdeaMama Group | IdeaMama Ad Network | IdeaMamaClub.com |
Connect with me on LinkedIn & Facebook | Follow me: twitter.com/IdeaMama | Skype me: IdeaMama |
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So, you think you are great at branding and your marcom skills could get you a Nobel Prize.
Wonderful! Can we look at your ads now?
Majority of us have been living large portion of our lives, effected by conditioning that comes from media and social environment and swallowing messages that appeal to our ego, greed, desire for pleasure, and other cravings and additions – get more, get bigger, get richer, have fun, win at all costs.
Yeah, look at this little guy….
At some point of our lives it comes the time that this nonsense stops making sense – our brains feel stuffed; we finally start searching for the real meaning, real values, things and ideas that ARE real. And then comes realization that consumerism is a funny phenomena, which really is nothing more than avoidance of what is real. Then money, fame, gadgets, girls (or guys) – it all becomes part of the dream outside of what’s real.
And then we freeze… the world turns upside down… and it takes time to reconstruct it in our heads…
If you are in your 30+, you probably went through this process already. What is even more exciting is that younger generations of 21st century is even more conscious than their parents; appealing to their lower motives will bring marketers nowhere, really.
One morning we all wake up, and all that matters is not our faces on the cover of Vanity Fair or Fortune magazine, but to lose ourselves in the service of others. No, not to die literally; but figuratively, yes. To transcend the rigid sense of “me” and just give, spread love, share a cookie with a stranger, give hope… and contribute to a sense of peace of others.
So, marcom genius, stop showing me ads that tell how my life can be better with your product; give me the real message instead – show me how you can help me to utilize my talents to make lives of other better, easier, joyous.
If you can have this level of conversation with your customers for the next 10 years straight, then go, claim your Nobel Prize… and shove it up … you know what.
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by Olga Kostrova, CEO of IdeaMama Group | IdeaMama Ad Network | IdeaMamaClub.com |
Connect with me on LinkedIn & Facebook | Follow me: twitter.com/IdeaMama | Skype me: IdeaMama |
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First I will give a brief overview of major ad models for those who are emerging marketing stars. If you are a marketing veteran you might want to skip the intro and jump right to ROI calculation.
Until now there have been four primary on-line advertising models widely used by online marketers:
- Pay Per Impression. CPM model.
- Pay Per Click. CPC model.
- Pay Per Lead. CPL model.
- Pay Per Action. CPA model.
In April of 2009 we introduced more lucrative for advertisers model – Pay Per Deal.
Let’s compare…
The Pay Per Impression model:
Cost per impression, often abbreviated to CPI, is a phrase often used in online advertising and marketing. It is used for measuring the value and the cost of a specific e-marketing campaign. This technique is applied with web banners, text links, and e-mail advertising. CPM (cost per thousand) is frequently used by advertisers; it relates to the cost for a thousand page impressions. For publishers the related abbreviation RPM (revenue per thousand impressions) is usually used.
The Pay Per Click model:
For online advertising, the numbers of views can be a lot more precise. When a user requests a Web page, the originating server creates a log entry. Also, a third-party tracker can be placed in the Web page to verify how many accesses that page receives. CPC is an Internet advertising model used on search engines, advertising networks, and content sites, such as blogs, in which advertisers pay their host only when their ad is clicked. Websites that use CPC ads will display an advertisement when a keyword query matches an advertiser’s keyword list, or when a content site displays relevant content.
The CPC advertising model is open to abuse through click fraud, even though some search engines try to implement various automated systems to guard against abusive clicks by competitors or corrupt Web developers.
The Pay Per Deal model:
CPM/CPC/CPL models rely on budgeted advertising dollars. CPA is the only model that reduces the risk of low conversion because it is based on performance only (sales). While this opportunity is available for consumer products, and a limited number of business products and services that are sold on-line, it is absolutely not suitable for companies that close business off-line, or those that don’t rely on Web-based shopping carts for accepting payment. These companies usually have a long sales cycle or they market highly priced products and services. An average order can vary from $10,000 up to as high as $100,000,000. If you run an IT service company, real estate development company, or a luxury yacht manufacturer, there is no way you can use currently available technologies to run on-line Pay Per Action campaigns without creating a significant infrastructure. There has been no affiliate networks that serve this market segment. Well, till we launched our solution.
In contrast to others, our PPD (pay per deal) model is supported by powerful tracking technology. It is extremely beneficial for both advertisers and publishers. For advertisers it’s a new performance marketing opportunity. For publishers it’s a new avenue of traffic monetization. The PPD model minimizes the efforts of your marketing and sales staff. CPM is a hard sell, while CPD is a dream comes true — who doesn’t prefer to pay a finder’s fee for booked business, instead of paying for advertising that may or may not be effective?
Affiliate marketing derives its influence from the ease with which user activity may be observed and tracked across multiple websites and other media by leveraging the co-operation of a merchant and a network of affiliates who advertise or promote the merchant’s offers.
While books, airline tickets, and other commodities may be sold this way, many products and services require a more consultative approach. Here the majority (or totality) of the sales process may occur offline. Unfortunately for the referral partners who initiate sales, there’s no easy way to gain visibility into this process once it is in the hands of the merchant.
We address this problem by integrating the traditional tracking methods used by affiliate marketing with a system of tracking sales information as a customer moves through the sales pipeline. All information about the sale, such as the probability of closing, what part of the sales pipeline the customer is in, and other information is now available for reporting to affiliates.
Affiliates may now see a report from the merchant or ad/referral network that shows how many customers are at each stage of the sales process, how many customers (and their deal value) are at what probability of closing, the estimated time frame to close, and other detailed reports, in addition to the common reports about what campaigns are producing the best results. Without such visibility, affiliates lack the motivation to promote offers that have a longer sales cycle or those that are not easily tracked and verified.
The visibility into the sales pipeline is delivered to affiliates, allowing them to understand the potency of their promotion efforts and the likely gains they will experience. Naturally, they may view this information either online or through offline reports. In addition, the commissions that affiliates receive are clearly documented.
By applying the PPD (pay per deal) model, now publishers and affiliates can tap into a portion of the advertiser’s profits. It can become a lucrative opportunity for any potential affiliate who has a website – from a blogger to a publishing powerhouse or even traditional off-line media.
Calculating marketing ROI:
So, how do we determine which model guarantees us higher MROI?
Return on investment (ROI) is a measure of the profit earned from the investment:
(Profit – Investment)
_________________
Investment
CPM model now became an archaic marketing method, a slowly dying advertising dinosaur.
CPC is still widely used, as some marketers just don’t know better.
Well, let’s educate ourselves a bit and learn about advantages of Pay Per Deal ad model….
Let’s compare your marketing ROI for PPC and PPD campaigns.
Example.
Scenario 1. Pay Per Click marketing.
Let’s assume that
- your monthly marketing budget for PPC ads is only $5,000/month; which means your annual budget is $60,000.
- your average order per client is $50,000
- your average CPC is $5
- your click-to lead conversion is 0.05% (common number for many B2B companies)
- your lead to sale conversion is 10%.
>> Your ROI for your Pay Per Click campaigns in this case = 3 and
>> Your annual revenue from CPC is only $300,000.
Does it make you and your CEO overexcited? Doesn’t make me hot either…
Scenario 2. Pay Per Deal marketing.
Now let’s assume you hire IdeaMama Ad Network (because we are the only provider of Pay Per Deal affiliate campaigns). You pay us $1995 setup fee, so we provide you with a lead management software and a proprietary lead and affiliate tracking system; we attract an army of affiliates to your campaign and build much larger lead pipeline than one you could otherwise afford with your budget. Our network and affiliates will be paid commission from each sale your sales reps will make with leads we generated for you.
Now our stats for Pay Per Deal ad campaign can look like this:
- your annual marketing budget for PPD ads is only $1,995 plus 10% on each deal closed
- your average order per client is $50,000
- your lead to sale conversion is 10%.
- Instead of only 60 leads per year that you can afford with CPC, we have generated for you at least 600 leads (let’s be extremely conservative here), and all at our own cost.
>> Your ROI for your Pay Per Deal campaigns in this case = 7.9 and
>> Your annual revenue from PPD is $3,000,000.
See the difference?
How do we generate leads for you?
We employ optimized combination of various marketing methods:
- Online marketing PPS, PPL (banner ads, text links, contextual links, off-page SEO, articles, blogs, forums)
- Email marketing
- PR
- Trade show and other event marketing
- Radio and TV ads
- Social media marketing
- And other methods suitable for each particular business.
If we promote your campaign even more aggressively than in the scenario described above (will design more landing pages, do more campaigns optimization, introduce more affiliate incentives, offer higher payout, then amount of leads will grow significantly.
If we generate 500 sales leads a month for you (6000 leads/year), then
>> Your ROI for your Pay Per Deal campaigns in this case = 8 and
>> Your annual revenue from PPD is $30,000,000.
Do you see the difference yet?
Now do yourself a favor, give your CEO, CMO or the Board at least one good reason why you should not be fired if you are still not using Pay Per Deal affiliate marketing model with PPD affiliate networks, and instead waste marketing dollars on CPM and CPC models that return unimpressive sales results with low MROI?
It’s time to revise your marketing plan, marketing stars!
We are coming into 2010 and old thinking has to be upgraded to marketing vision 3.0.
It’s about time for a New Year corporate resolution. We will help.
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by Olga Kostrova, CEO of IdeaMama Group | IdeaMama Ad Network | IdeaMamaClub.com |
Connect with me on LinkedIn & Facebook | Follow me: twitter.com/IdeaMama | Skype me: IdeaMama |
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So, as years go by you feel that your salary is not growing that much any longer, but amount of responsibilities and stress grows exponentially. Inspirations and passions are gone, same old job brings stable 150-250K a year ,and all you see in your future is many more years like that, slaving for other people, underappreciated, saving $50-100K a year for retirement.
Yes, it will take you 10-20 more years of uninspired, passion deprived life to save $1Mln. If you retire at 50 and live till 80, you will have to live of $33K/year – that’s all you $1Mln is good for, well, unless you wil 401K was taken cared of.
The picture sucks, doesn’t it?
Well, now as you tried the taste of shit, why don’t you get out of it?
We all know that the only way for wealth is building a company and selling it (or IPO it, which these days not as sexy option). If you have tried it and failed, or if no brilliant ideas come to your mind to start up anything, or you just don’t feel like born leader, the obvious choice is to find a company to join as a cofounder, help to grow it and take a piece of action when it’s acquired.
To play right, you have to do your math before making such move.
If a startup you are joining already raised VC funds, your piece of pie will be pretty small. If a company is self funded, have some assets and generated demand, your position in such company will be much better.
So, if you have always worked for salaries and few shares here and there in stock options as employee number one hundred something, and salary is all you know here is your alternative action plan.
- Go to a founder or CEO, sell them on your vision on how you can grow their company,
- join this company in sales or marketing executive role, negotiate $100K-$200K salary plus 1-5% and
- build it up to sell for $100,000,000+.
Let’s look at a specific scenarios…
Let’s say, you have found a cool company and negotiated 5% of equity (that’s probably what we would offer to a VP of Business development that we are currently looking to join us as a co-founder. If you know any superstar that fits the bill, please let him/her reach me at olga @ IdeaMamaAdNetwork.com).
Don’t be greedy on cash. Take $100K and make sure that the company has enough working capital. If a company doesn’t have cash available for salaries, structure your compensation for first year or so as a loan to the company, and have it paid to you when the profitability and cash flow situation improves.
Let’s assume, the company is self-funded.
Using your genius, you take to the level when it has some decent tractions and now needs expansion capital to avoid slow organic growth or slow organic death.
If the company goes for external funding and raised capital form VCs, your stock will be diluted. You now might own 0.5%, but don’t turn your face to mashed potato just yet.
If the company gets sold in 3 years here are few financial outcomes that can appear in your bank account.
Scenario 1. Company A never needed to attract external financing, grew slowly but surely into a good looking small business while remaining self-funded and carrying some debt financing if needed. You own 5% in it. The company was sold with acquisition price:
a) only $10 million (depending on the company’s assets and industry’s multiples, you most probably only need to generate $1-3 MLN in revenue to sell at this price. If you can’t do that much, why don’t you consider a janitor career?)
b) $30 million
c) $50 million
Scenario 2. Company A raised venture funding and scaled fast. You own 0.5% of equity in a midsize company. The company was sold with acquisition price:
a) $100 million
b) $300 million
c) $500 million
d) $800 million
Now imagine you do the same 3 time during next 10 years (instead of slaving for a daddy) picking the companies that had the same growth and exit strategy (just to keep the calculation simple).
Taking into consideration your salary and exercised stock over 5 years in each company, you have accumulated wealth (not considering taxes) as following.
YOUR INCOME OVER 10 YEARS:
- Scenario 1a/2a: $100,000*10 [salary] + $500,000*3 [your stock price] = $4 MLN
- Scenario 1b/2b: $100,000*10 [salary] + $1,500,000*3 [your stock price] = $5,5 MLN
- Scenario 1c/2c: $100,000*10 [salary] + $2,500,000*3 [your stock price] = $8,5 MLN
- Scenario 2d: $100,000*10 [salary] + $4,000,000*3 [your stock price] = $13 MLN
Now if you are in your 30th you have 20+ years to play startup game. In this case double all numbers ands retire with $20+ million cash in your pocket and you better have a very big pocket). 
So, that’s your roadmap for riches.
The recipe is simple - just find a cool innovative company with great assets and a visionary founder, and help to take it to the next level. If you can’t make it, then what you current employer pays you anyways? In the current economy your CEO just might decide to save a company from paying you a salary that you might not justify. Then what will you do?
Think now, and think big!
And as you get filthy wealthy, don’t forget to buy me a cup of vodka (yeah, those Russians!)
Good luck!
…
by Olga Kostrova, CEO of IdeaMama Group | IdeaMama Ad Network | IdeaMamaClub.com |
Connect with me on LinkedIn & Facebook | Follow me: twitter.com/IdeaMama | Skype me: IdeaMama |
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Film industry these days doesn’t spoil talents with opportunities, does it? Therefore the best everyone can do is to create opportunities utilizing your existing resources, knowledge and creativity.
Among resources there might be your equipment (hey, even IPhone could do), connections or earlier produced unused footage.
The challenges for many filmmakers who see viral marketing as a great avenue to express their creativity and do what they love and what they are good at, are following:
- It takes sales skills to find advertisers that are willing to spend money on viral videos
- It takes even more skills and time to convince that you are their best choice as there are thousands of other filmmakers in your city know at advertisers doors.
Much easier solution is to engage in affiliate marketing and work with a network that provides you with advertisers and campaigns to market. The only challenge is, they will never “show you the money”. You will not be able to estimate your return on investment if there will be any.
The only way to go about affiliate marketing is to forget any CPM (cost per impression), CPC (cost per click) or any other models that might bring you few bucks here and there. Your efforts might be never justified. Instead go where the big fish is. The only place for it as a Pay Per Deal advertising network with extremely high payout to its affiliates, since the product that they sell have very high price and therefore high commissions.
So here is your action plan.
- You signup as an affiliate with Pay Per Deal advertising model that provides you with advertisers that are looking to market their highly priced business-to-business or business to consumers offers. It’s obviously free to signup.
- The network will run by you campaigns that pay from $1,000 to $10,000 (some time higher) in affiliate commissions. You are paid per each deal closed by advertisers.
- Our network will provide you with login information to your Predictive Reporting System™, so you always know what happens with sales leads that your ads will generate.
- You put on your creative hat and start working on ideas for fun videos to be distributed on Youtube and other social networking sites, as well as via email.
- Advertisers’ sales teams will contact newly generated sales leads to close deals.
- You collect your commission and live happily ever after.
Here is some math for you.
Let’s assume:
- You produce 5 viral videos a month – 30-180sec ads. Total videos: 60.
- 5 of your videos in total generate 100,000 views per month (20,000 impressions each), and the other videos will fail. Hey, maybe each of your videos will generate millions views, but let’s average our expectations. You definitely should push your videos through all channels you can – friends of friends and beyond.
- Advertisers, as a result of video marketing, will receive 100 leads (0.1% conversion from view to lead) per month. A lead is generated from a link embedded in a video description that leads to advertisers’ web site, where a sales lead is captured via contact form.
- Advertisers close 40% of their sales leads which results in 120 deals a year.
- Your compensation is 120 deals * $10,000 commission = $1,200,000 a year.
If you partner with other filmmakers you can produce higher volume by leveraging rexsources, as well as better quality ads.
The key is in tracking all leads that clients receive as a result of your creative efforts, and we have taken care of this. Check out how it’s done.
So, what can you produce quickly and at no cost that can go viral?
You can find plenty of hilarious viral ads that you can’t help but will share with your friends. I wanted to post some of the best ones, but due to time restrains I have to settle for making a quick selection on Youtube and sharing a few of those that you can produce with a very little or almost no budget, by engaging friends and their resources of any kind.
You will say, I need to invest money in making my video viral. Well, it will all depend on the video.
Look at this one. It’s not an ad, but nobody expected it to become a hit either. 35 mln views – insane!
And here are some ads. Nothing complicated, just a great idea that makes one smile.
I am not known for being politically correct, so if my selection burns your eyes, go wash them and never come back. Otherwise keep watching and dream of better future then sitting in front of your computer, looking for a job.
… and this one doesn’t even have an original script – it’s based on a very old anecdote, which gives you another idea if a sense of humor is not one of your gifts.
And of course this one…
So, as you see there is always the way. Just stop doing the “same old” expecting different results. Find ways to express yourself, share your talents with those who can appreciate it, millions of people… Don’t wait things to come to you, go get’em, tiger!
If this article was useful, you might also be interested in these articles:
Voice-over artists call. Work for yourself marketing CPD affiliate campaigns on Youtube. Alternative ways to monetize your talent without relying on voice agents and inconsistent work flow. Free yourself from a need to search for voice over jobs ever again
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by Olga Kostrova, CEO of IdeaMama Group | IdeaMama Ad Network | IdeaMamaClub.com |
Connect with me on LinkedIn & Facebook | Follow me: twitter.com/IdeaMama | Skype me: IdeaMama |
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How to transform your business and become an internationally recognized marketing legend?
27 Oct2009
Yes, it’s doable…. only doable not by you, but through you.
First, you will have to transcend the whole idea of becoming a legend.
Learn to disappear, abandon “You” in yourself, the whole “me-me-me” notion – drop it. Learn to separate your ego from your authentic self and then destroy it vigorously. It will never fully disappear as the whole purpose of the ego is to keep you safe from ever changing environment and external (or perceived as such) threats.
In the hunt for world domination you might forget what brought you in this business in the first place. Wasn’t it the dream of improving things that don’t work, transforming “same-old” into “ever-fresh” and “ultimately true”?
Just step back and look at you. Aren’t you sick of yourself yet? Your little personality that wants to be larger than life itself, your tiny persona clinging to its superficially built identity… Aren’t you just bored of yourself?
Aren’t you fed-up yet from the prison you’ve built to convince the world that you matter?
Well, here is the news for you – you don’t. No matter what you do, or what you don’t do – you simply don’t matter. On the large scheme of things all your grand finale will be no more than a quick fart of the universe. Isn’t that ironic?
I can sense your contraction; I can see how your whole body resists of the very idea of being nobody.
But my very dear friend, with realization of this simple truth, this healthy disillusionment, the true journey of your true self begins… along with your one and only pass to creating something that is worth of being touched by your hand. The rest is dust. The rest is vanity. The rest is an ephemeral creation of a flawed human with short-lived desires and impulsive intentions.
Now, get your booty off the pedestal, get off your sleepers and get to real work. Work on your real dream, on that is worth of dreaming.
Couple days ago I attended BizTechDay 2009 (thank you Edith, Jini and the team).
There were many great presenters. I met Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, Kevin Rose, founder of Dig.com, Matt Mullenweg, founder of Wordpress, Tim Ferriss, author of “4-hour work week”, reconnected again with Will Bunker, co-founder of Match.com; listened presentations and mingled with a lot of other outstanding entrepreneurs.
The one conversation that stood out for me was with Michael Gerber, the author of all famous book “E-Myth”, as it touched upon some important topics, some that I ponder upon quite a bit lately. There were few points that Mike emphasized on that I absolutely agree with:
- Become a master of business design, build something that transformative and remarkable, or don’t do it. And build it to scale for a greater impact.
- You have to transcend your life to transform your life; you have to transcend your company to transform your company. Be able to always live in the “now”, always look at your company with fresh eyes, disregarding your past plans, past goals, past accomplishments and failures. Go beyond your own needs; dream what your company can become since ‘now” to effect many lives.
- You don’t make music. Music comes through you when you do your job. It was a lesson Mike has learned from his saxophone teacher. Merle Johnston used to say to him “Michael, you don’t make music. Music finds you. Your job is to practice to get yourself ready.” Entrepreneurship is, first of all, the power to create. But creation is not something that you do. Creation is something that is done through you. Your job is not to become an entrepreneur. It is not to create. Your job is to commit to the process of becoming an entrepreneur and then to practice what entrepreneurs do so that entrepreneurship can find you when you’ve practiced enough to be ready. Commitment and practice. Commitment and practice.
- Entrepreneurial dreams are not personal, they are impersonal. It’s not about your Ego, it’s about your destiny.
I was astonished to know that one of Michael’s favorite book is one that is on my list of THE main books of your life, or the last book you will ever NEED to read – “I am that” by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj – the most powerful book you will ever read (if your level of consciousness evolved to the degree when you can fully comprehend it). You can open any page any time and it always answer all fundamental questions that can ever arise in your mind.
I was just trying to find on the net some of Mike’s quotes on dreaming beyond the ego and ego-driven motives, but instead I just stumbled upon this article on Evan Carmichael’s web site that I find very relevant. (I first met Evan few years ago in Toronto at Indigo book store during one of VC presentations. It’s been a while…)
So I want to share it with you:
”The Costs of Ego” by Jerry Pinney.
“Ego is the invisible line item on every company’s profit and loss statement.”
—David Marcum and Steven Smith in egonomics: What Makes Ego Our Greatest Asset (or Most Expensive Liability), Fireside, 2007Fifty-three percent of businesspeople estimate ego costs their company 6 to 15 percent of annual revenue; 21 percent say this cost ranges from 16 to 20 percent.
That’s somewhat astonishing, considering “ego” is difficult to measure by any standards. But even if ego accounts for only 6 percent of revenue, the annual “cost of ego” would translate to nearly $1.1 billion to the average Fortune 500 company—roughly equal to the average annual profit of these same companies.
Big egos invade every team conversation, boardroom debate, marketing plan, client interaction, contract negotiation, employment interview and performance review. There’s no question it gets in the way and is a major cause of bad decision-making.
Most of us strongly believe our ego is healthy, contributing to self-confidence, optimism and success. Most of us don’t have overinflated egos, but we’re capable of letting them run amok—and our personal success and organization’s performance pay the price.
Using five years of research, David Marcum and Steven Smith write about the costs of ego in egonomics (Fireside, 2007):
• The person who develops an idea trumps the quality of that idea
• Hearing, but not listening
• People thinking “me first, company second”
• Only the “right” people have good ideas
• Pressure to fit in
• Failure to challenge status quo
• Candid discussion saved for outside the meeting
• Failures being buried and never mentioned again
• Silos created and tolerated
• Meetings going longer than necessary
• Fear of making mistakes or admitting themCompanies can be populated with talented, high-IQ people with no shortage of vision, education, experience or good intentions, yet they may still have an undercurrent of out-of-control egos responsible for huge losses in productivity and profits.
Liability or Asset?
There’s a significant difference between “big ego” and ambition. Professionals usually start out with big ideas, a healthy ego, ambition, talent and ideas, which drive success. With good timing and help from others, great things invariably happen.
But there’s an inherent trap. When people begin to believe their “own press,” successes create the illusion that they alone were responsible for workplace accomplishments. “Big ego” may then take over, leading to the belief that future accomplishments will be just as successful.
Ego Is a Good Thing?
Titrated properly, ego is inherently positive, providing a necessary level of confidence and ambition. Left unchecked, however, ego goes on a hunt, seeking more of what bolsters it. But overconfidence and unbridled ambition can also attack our talents and abilities, with big ego leading to bad decisions.
Consider these organizational “strengths,” which can backfire:
Strength Return Costs
Charismatic
+. Paints a vision, inspires others, attracts talent, keeps people motivated-. Manipulates bad ideas to sound good; people overlook substance for style
Dedicated
+. Produces, doesn’t let obstacles overcome the end goal, finds a way to get things done—no matter what
- . Won’t consider alternatives, resists changes (even when they provide better outcomes), cuts off creativity in the name of “getting things done”Optimistic
+. Isn’t frozen by reality, even when it’s negative; can help people get through difficult times; reminds people of better times ahead
-. Won’t listen to bad news, believes a positive outlook can overcome anything, rejects bad news as the pessimism of the naysayers
(For a complete table of strengths and their returns and costs, visit www.egonomicsbook.com)
These subtle differences become leaders’ ultimate blind spots.
Four Signs of Big Ego
Your coworkers and team members are usually aware—much earlier than you’ll ever figure out—that your ego has become overinflated. Here are four telltale signs:
1. You find yourself being defensive. Defending ideas ultimately turns into becoming defensive.
2. You continually compare yourself to others. In truth, being too competitive actually makes you less competitive.
3. You seek acceptance to justify your ego needs. You crave respect and recognition from others, which eventually interferes with your success.
4. You make a point of showcasing your brilliance.Your ego may be in control if you experience the following:
• Viewing a colleague as a rival and planning how to “beat” him/her
• Taking it personally when someone disagrees with your ideas
• Disagreeing with someone simply because you didn’t come up with the idea first
• Prematurely criticizing the competition’s strategies without considering their value
• Compulsively following a competitor’s lead, just to “keep up with the Joneses”
• Comparing others’ external environments to your own (signs of status or wealth, without regard for inner values)3 Keys to Maintaining a Healthy Ego
There are three keys to developing a balanced ego:
1. Humility
2. Curiosity
3. VeracityWithout losing confidence in who we are or lessening the importance of what we’ve achieved, humility creates a desire to reach the next level of performance. It doesn’t lose sight of “me,” but it also prevents our personal needs and agendas from interfering with open dialogue and intense debate. Humility channels our ambitions into the success of “we,” rather than a selfish and short-lived agenda of “me.”
Once humility creates an open mind, curiosity drives the exploration of ideas. It gives us permission and courage to test what we think, feel and believe to be true, reminding us we don’t know everything.
Veracity is the habitual pursuit of the truth. It’s not that people don’t want the truth, but we often don’t want all of it—particularly the part that’s hard to hear or doesn’t support our agenda.
If openness and progress are the outcomes of humility, and innovation is the aim of curiosity, then veracity is the light that exposes the truths hidden in the shadows of our habits and comfort zones.
The subject of ego is also explored in my previous article “20 reasons why a gigolo can make the best marketing leader. The sexiest business blog post you will ever read. From a great lover to a great CEO. “ Read on, comment, tweet, reblog, and keep coming back for more food for thoughts.
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by Olga Kostrova, CEO of IdeaMama Group | IdeaMama Ad Network | IdeaMamaClub.com |
Connect with me on LinkedIn & Facebook | Follow me: twitter.com/IdeaMama | Skype me: IdeaMama |
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Have you ever thought what makes the best lover? Have you ever found the answers? If it’s to be true that are you are paid for what you are good at, the representatives of one ancient profession might have answers for you. Since I’ve neither hired neither interviewed one, 
let me give you my own some tips – use them or misuse them.
Close your eyes for a moment, inhale, exhale… now read on…
1. A great lover makes you disappear. He touches you gently, your body, your mind, your soul, and makes you forget yourself… makes your ego vanish. He disappears himselves and dissolves in you. The sense of separation is no longer present. All your experience is a bright light that blinds you – so pure, so primal, that a tear of unexplainable ultimate joy drops on your cheek. His lips touch yours softly, he gets inside of your body, your mind almost forcefully making you weaponless, he takes you over and you never know where his body ends and yours begins. It’s a sense of oneness beyond comprehension. The tantric state of zen, of no mind. So can a great dreamer, great leader do to you – it leaves you speechless, thoughtless, makes your drop your previous belief systems and conceptions, so you give yourself fully and unconditionally to one long breath together.
2. A great lover makes you melt. Have you ever made love after smoking marihuana? Oh, of course no. None of us have done such terrible thing! Well, your enemies probably did, so ask them how it was, then ask why exactly those are the best experiences of their lives. It because all your rough edges fade away; all worries, anxieties and intrusive memories become unreal and irrelevant and all there is the present moment. (What your enemies might not know is that with diligent meditation practice you can get high without drugs. Practicing pranayama before jumping in bed with some hot stuff is highly recommended). The great leader is not one that gets his crew on dope; he is the one who can calm your monkey-mind, naturally reassure you in a safe ride, even if it’s a ride through a jungle set on fire.
3. A great lover is one that mastered a great dance. He merges with a partner in one astonishing dance. He leads gently and takes your mind places where it never has being before; and all you wish if for the dance to never end, since you can never dance with the same grace on your own. The same is with one’s vision. If you merge with the minds of people you lead, if your merge their perceptions with your vision and capture their imagination, they will want to hold tight to you, as they never accomplish such “nirvana” on their own.
4. A great lover makes you feel special. He doesn’t waste his words on flattery, he genuinely notices your Self in you, your authentic self, he acknowledges your presence… So does a great leader acknowledge your importance in the outcome, your role in his dream that you will make your own.
5. A greater lover is a generous giver. Your desire is his command. He showers you with little gifts just to make you smile. He is full of little surprises just to make your heart to skip a bit. As he enters your bedroom, he immerses in the world of your desires; he intuitively senses your needs and is here to please. Your satisfaction is his greatest aim. In the moment all that matters is your happiness. So does a great entrepreneur – he is driven not by his own ambitions and ego; he is fueled by unstoppable desire to serve.
6. A great lover is a willing receiver. As you gently touch his body, he merges with the touch, he becomes the touch. His body follows your hand, then it moves in a magnificent dance with your body. A great lover receives the generosity of your heart as kindly. So does a great leader. He receives with grace and sincere appreciation.
7. A great lover won’t try to impress you; he will be impressed by you. So does a great leader, he won’t walk around you like a peacock, he will instead make sure that whatever you do decorates your life with the greatest wonders.
8. A great lover is a charmer. He allures you with his words, with a tone of his voice, with a movement of his body. So does a great leader, he knows what impact his physical expressions make on your consciousness, he uses it skillfully to deliver his massage.
9. A great lover is vocal. He moans to communicate his pleasure, he vocalizes his fantasy whispering them in your ears, he vocalizes the desires that he wants you to fulfill. A great leader is a great communicator. He mastered all tools available to him to communicate his goals in such manner that no place to doubts in your mind is left.
10. A great lover is courageous. He is adventurous. He is explorer. So is a great entrepreneur, a great visionary. He takes you places that your mind has never dared to explore on your own.
11. A great lover keeps you guessing. He is ever changing, ever evolving. So does a great leader. With his own resurfacing he presses your “restart” button and makes you start fresh, with no yesterday, and no predictability of tomorrow. Nevertheless he keeps you confident in tomorrow – that’s an art of managing a paradox.
12. A great lover keeps your waiting. Anticipation just makes things spicier, provokes fantasies, it awakens one’s imagination. So does a great entrepreneur, he is great at timing his moves… like a wild cat.
13. A great lover hides under veil of mystery. So does a great leader, once in a while…. not always revealing all answers – he might not even have them. But he asks questions that create the suspense and motivate you to find the answers, to find many alternative answers, and then to find the right answer, one single answer that is true to you.
14. A great lover is playful. So does a great leader. He humors his followers, he entertains them, he tricks and let be tricked once in a while, he laughs with them.
15. A great lover is a BDSM master; he is great in dominating, even better at submitting. So is a great leader; he mastered both – he leads and follows with grace.
16. The greatest lover is one that connects you with “God” (whatever it might mean to you); so is a great visionary. He unites you with something that is beyond you, beyond your community, your nation, your generation, your civilization. It feels greater that anything constructed by your own mind. And you let go of yourself to fully entrust your path to a passionate leader with a great mission.
17. The greatest lover is one that is free. So is the great human… he is free from the past, free from the future; his lungs are full of present… the future is relevant only as a fuel to make the present more intense, more meaningful. He is ultimately free, and he has a great capacity to get you out of your own prison. He knows You, better then you can ever know yourself… unless you realize that you are him, and he is you, and all separations are the act of mind… and the life is a dance, is a flow of the world river that we call life…
And as per 18-20. Why don’t you add them as your comments? I am sure you have plenty of advises in this department.
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If you believe you are a true leader with outstanding business development skills, you might learn from this article how to turn your talents into a multimillion dollar bank account.
If you enjoyed this article, continuation of my stream of consciousness on this subject can be found in my next article “How to transform your business and become an internationally recognized marketing legend?” (coming soon – bookmark this blog and come again).
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by Olga Kostrova, CEO of IdeaMama Group | IdeaMama Ad Network | IdeaMamaClub.com |
Connect with me on LinkedIn & Facebook | Follow me: twitter.com/IdeaMama | Skype me: IdeaMama |
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Yesterday I exchanged a hug with Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne, founder of the Sarvodaya Shramadana movement of Sri Lanka, after his speech at Stanford University. If one wants to learn a viral marketing and the methodology of building brands from the bottom, I think he is a man for you.
Dr. Ariyaratne has led peace marches and meditations with millions of poor people, and what is absolutely noble from my perspective, is that he was able to gather 950,000 people of Sri Lanka at the same time in the same place to manifest their intension to advocate non-violence in any forms of interactions between countries, political and economical groups, and between individuals themselves disregarding the underlying circumstances.
I asked him, how he managed to mobilize a million people, what processes and means of communication they have in place to do so. He said “We first came to villages to “give”, to help, to contribute. Now it takes us less than a month to bring together a million of people for any cause”. It’s amazing how the kindness, compassion, and open heartedness are contagious. The power behind pure intensions should not be underestimated. You want to engage millions? Give first. Give not to get, but to give. This concept is quite foreign in western society, and of course every marketer that tries monetizing on it will be coming from the wrong place. There will be no altruism in their actions; there will be always a commercial motive. The viral power of altruism is a sociological phenomena that might be taken into consideration simply as a learning model. You cannot duplicate it in commerce, but you can learn from it. Learn how to engage consumers, how to build your organization, and how to help yourself and your employees to live the life of purpose.
Dr. Ariyaratne is often called by journalists Sri Lanka’s “little Gandhi,” even though he won the Gandhi Peace Prize in 1996, the Niwano Peace Prize, the King Beaudoin Award and many other international honors for his work in peace making and village development. Ariyaratne is “like” many other leaders of popular movements. But his unique, nationwide brand of “development from the bottom up” has an enviable track record of success that endures.
When telling the story of Sarvodaya it is tempting to speak in sheer numbers. The largest non-government organization in Sri Lanka, this grassroots movement involves people in more than 11,000 villages rediscovering their ability to influence their own destinies. Sarvodaya has energized them to build more than 5,000 pre-schools, community health centers, libraries and cottage industries; establish thousands of village banks; dig thousands of wells and latrines; promote biodiversity, solar energy, rehabilitation…and peace.
The movement is open to anyone. One can visit a participating village and see houses built by Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and Muslims next to one another. New homeowners eagerly tell of their close friendships despite different religious and cultural traditions–friendships that come from working together for common goals.
It is in the building of such roads that the movement actualizes its most moving testimony of greatness. In village after village where hopelessness and poverty ruled, Sarvodaya has engaged people to live by the motto: “We build the road and the road builds us.”
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by Olga Kostrova, CEO of IdeaMama Group | IdeaMama Ad Network | IdeaMamaClub.com |
Connect with me on LinkedIn & Facebook | Follow me: twitter.com/IdeaMama | Skype me: IdeaMama |
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