Marketing with Moxie

I finally gave in to the craving for latest Bright Shiny Object, the iPad. It's being shipped right now, so I've been googling just about everything I can to learn what to buy for my new baby's arrival: a keyboard, a case, how to use it for business, and more.  In my cyber-meanderings, I came across this YouTube video about a guy who built an iPad into a kitchen cabinet.  Quite clever.

This kitchenPad actually is pretty cool, and while I'm very tempted to build something like it in my kitchen, I'm not quite geeky enough to do it (and my wife would think I've gone over the techno-edge).

However, the video did inspire me to come up with the notion of "iPad Marketing 101:  Four Lessons for Small Business Marketers."

1. Be an innovator. Apple is not the best-selling brand of computers, but they keep launching products that create entirely new categories. From the Macintosh to the iPod and now, the iPad. They are always innovators -- never imitators. What new category or customer service process can you innovate in your business?
2. Build partnerships, then set them free (mostly). The myriad apps available for iPhones and now iPads is mind-boggling. Apple opened the App store, coining a new term and spawning a new industry of developers who piggy-back market to a rabid group of consumers. Yes, there are critics who say Apple controls too much software development, but the underground apps industry for "jailbroken" iPhones has no one to thank but Apple for its success. How can you leverage partnerships with your suppliers, vendors and customers to help generate demand your brand, product or service - in their voice?
3. Don't be boring. This video (and if you search for iPad on YouTube, you'll see hundreds more like it) have created an incredible buzz of free product promotion. What can you do to make your customers buzz about your business?
4. Harness Vox Populi - The Voice of the People. I was going to write "harness social media," but anymore, social media marketing is as essential to your business' survival as having a telephone number or a mailing address. The marketing funnel is broken. Through YouTube, Yelp, Blogs, Twitter and other social media tools, your customers have the power to define your brand reputation faster than a high-powered Madison Avenue ad campaign. They are vox populi - a Latin phrase that literally means "voice of the people." The term has historically been associated with broadcast journalism's "man on the street" interview. But now more than ever, the vox populi are out there in cyberspace, without anyone controlling what they say about your business, or how they say it. Start listening now to vox populi about your business by creating a Google Alerts Search today. Then get out there and spread your own social media voice by commenting, liking, rating and more.

Hmm. I watched that video again. Anyone have a jigsaw I can borrow?

Update on Thursday, July 15, 2010 at 7:13PM by Rick

A follow-up. Drat! I really tried to make the iPad work in my business life but alas, I'm selling it on eBay.  I love so much about the iPad as a device to consume content, but it simply isn't the right tool to produce content. The acid test came when I went to one of the most popular coffee shops for "work" in downtown Austin, Dominican Joe's, where on a typical weekday afternoon you'll find all kinds of working professionals conducting business, reading email, chatting -- on a PC or a Mac. There were no less than 20 people furiously typing away on a laptop or netbook, but I was the only one there trying to peck out an email or download a Word document attachment on an iPad.  And this in one of the most hip, wired cities on the planet. "Hmm," thought my Lizard Brain (read Seth Godin's stuff to find out about a Lizard Brain.) "I must not stand out. I must comply with the status quo. The iPad must not be good after all."

Truth is, Lizard Brain or not, I simply need a netbook or laptop to do my work in a coffee shop. I don't have to convert files from MS Word to Docs-to-Go and back. I don't have to carry around a keyboard accessory. I can view Flash on a client's website when I'm conducting a coaching session.  

Sorry Mr. Jobs. I tried. I really tried to make this magical device work for my business. I still think it's magical. But it' not a replacement for a netbook or a laptop to produce content in a PC world. *sigh* If I could afford to keep it for fun/consumption/being cool/letting my kids play with it, I would. But there's someone bidding on it right now on eBay. *sniff* *sniff* I'll probably have tears in my eyes as I pack it up for shipping. Then I'll order a new Toshiba netbook. Not cool. But practical.