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By John Uhrig On August 21, 2009
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Who has the audacity and balls to screw with Oprah Winfrey?
Açaí Berries, that’s who!
Several endorsements for the super berry that supposedly functions as dietary supplement, energy booster, and sexual performance enhancer, have used Oprah’s likeness and fabricated quotes from her favorite physician, Dr. Memhet Oz to peddle their products.
Well, it’s all a sham and O has had enough!
She and Dr. Oz are suing 40 companies either selling açaí or related products with their name endorsements on them.
Read more here at Perez Hilton: Oprah Acai Berries
Affiliate marketers watch yourselves!!!
Cheers,
John Uhrig
P.S. We’ve joined the Acai craze as well… visit: www.AcaiJuiceBlend.ca
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By John Uhrig On June 25, 2009
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In Memory: Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson June 25th, 2009
I remember seeing a Jackson concert in the mid 80’s in Toronto… I was blown away! He was a POP Icon. The later years of his life were questionable… but nobody can deny he was a musical legend.
A SAD day indeed!
My wishes go out to both families…
Regards,
John Uhrig
P.S….
- How will you remember Michael Jackson?
- What is your favorite Jackson song?
- Was Jackson the greatest pop star ever?
Place your comments below…
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By John Uhrig On May 5, 2009
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Source: wwd.com
In the beginning, Zappos.com relied on word-of-mouth to build brand awareness. Now it has achieved the final stage of its evolution - with a TV campaign airing on major cable networks.
Yet it isn’t easy for an Internet company to sell itself. Not only must it compete against other e-tailers, but even now it must contend with consumer uncertainties about shopping online.
Mike Gatti, executive director of the Retail Advertising & Marketing Association, a division of the National Retail Federation, said the most successful online merchants have built a level of trust. “Customer service is key,” he said. “A few [sites] really stand out with free shipping both ways, and they’ve made returns easy. They’ve seen where the challenges are for customers, and they’ve worked hard to make it easier for them.”
In addition to relying on word-of-mouth, Zappos also has signed with an affiliate network, where online partners, including blogs, shopping sites and comparison sites, drive traffic to Zappos and are paid a commission on the sales completed. The company is currently a member of Commission Junction, with 3,200 partners.
“For most online [companies], affiliate marketing is such an easy, affordable way to get your name out,” said Ned Farra, manager of online partnerships for Zappos. “They drive the traffic and build brand awareness. They do the work for you.”
However, Farra explained, as an online company grows it can use more cost-effective ways to drive sales, such as direct mail and search engines, which allow it to control its message more effectively.
Roughly a quarter of Zappos’ sales come from affiliates, but search engines are its most profitable direct marketing avenue, said Matt Burchard, the firm’s director of content and direct online marketing. “As the search engine marketing becomes more robust, we see it eroding the affiliate channel,” he said.
But direct marketing can only get a company so far.
In 2008, Zappos spent roughly $11.6 million on traditional measured media, according to TNS Media Intelligence. That included the company’s first TV campaign, with the tagline “Put a Little Zappos in Your Day.” The ad featured no product, but instead functioned as a brand-building exercise.
Zappos also spread the word last year through print ads in a wide range of national magazines, from Lucky to Backpacker. And its New York-based creative agency, The Ad Store, created a guerilla campaign that put ads on the bottom of airport security bins.
“Even though we have 10 million customers, our reach is pretty limited in terms of [the percentage of] the population who knows about us,” said Aaron Magness, Zappos’ business development manager. “We want to make sure that more people know who we are.”To do that, Zappos’ is entirely focused on television advertising in 2009.
“On the brand side, we have limited budgets,” said brand marketing manager Michelle Thomas, who oversees Zappos’ three-person brand division. “So that’s where we decided to put our media mix. That’s where we’ve seen the most bang for our buck.”
At the heart of the 2009 campaign is a commercial called “Step In,” which expands on the previous tagline and highlights apparel and shoes. It shows customers outfitting themselves head to toe in different types of merchandise. Also appearing in the commercial are lines from Zappos’ core values, including “Create fun and a little weirdness” and “Deliver wow through service.”
And the marketing team took those values to heart. As evidence of its “Do more with less” tenet, it created eight different spots out of the ad concept, which it will use throughout the year and tailor to specific seasons.
Magness said that the firm is being more careful with its budget this year and reduced its overall ad spend. “We did large-scale testing last year, like the airport bins. But this year, we’re testing smaller things,” he said, adding that the decision resulted from an evolving strategy and was not directly related to the recession.
Other aspects of its TV push are product placement and event sponsorships. For instance, in early March, Hsieh appeared as a guest on an episode of “The Celebrity Apprentice,” in which the contestants had to create a comic book character that represented the site. The winning choice, a character called Miss Z., was featured on the Zappos site.
The company also sponsored the televised West Coast Conference basketball championships in Las Vegas last month, as well as the Sony Ericsson tennis tournament in Miami. Tennis player Sam Querrey, who competed in the tournament, is being sponsored by Zappos - the company’s first athlete endorsement deal.
In addition, this winter, Zappos will return as the presenting sponsor of the Las Vegas Marathon. Thomas said the company is choosing its events because they’re local or have a special tie-in to Zappos’ goals.
“[The tennis sponsorships] came about internally,” said Thomas. “People here were passionate that we needed to be involved in the tennis space, and the demographics work out. We’re still working on what that whole sponsorship means.”
But while Zappos will be popping up more at events and on TV this year, it’s not abandoning its online efforts, particularly its social networking on sites like Facebook.com, YouTube, Twitter and its own blogs.
“We use real Zappos employees in our e-mail, blog and social networking efforts,” said Magness. “We don’t use it as a sales tool, but as a way to show customers that there are real people behind the business.”
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By John Uhrig On May 5, 2009
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Source: BtoB Online
New York-After years of growth, online sales are forecast to contract this year due to continuing recessionary pressure.
The projected decline, reported by Internet market research company eMarketer in its report, “E-Commerce in a Recession,” will be slight, down just 0.4% to $133 billion. This compares with e-commerce sales growth (excluding travel) last year of 4.6% and 20% in 2007.
EMarketer projects that from 2011 to 2013, online sales will rebound to double-digit growth, “assuming that the economy will begin to recover in 2010.”
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By John Uhrig On March 19, 2009
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What is your “Unique Selling Proposition,” or “USP”? What is it that makes your product stand out from the competitions? What is the main selling point of your product or solutions?
For example, if you are selling cell phones, what makes your cell phone different from the thousands of other cell phones out there? Why would anybody buy your cell phone instead of your competitors’?
At our exclusive, members-only Day Spa & Salon Business marketing web site (www.BeautyIndustryMarketing.com), we are able to boast the following USP:
“The Internet’s #1 Site for Tested & Proven… Day Spa, Salon, Medical Spa, Beauty Salon & Massage Marketing Strategies for attracting interested client’s who will pay, stay and… refer!”
… And this is something virtually nobody else is doing online. Sure, other people publish marketing material and strategies.
Other people push out marketing information. But almost NOBODY does in-depth strategies for this specific niche with direct response marketing principles in mind. Plus, NOBODY comes close to the dominance we have in the search engines for this niche. That’s unique!
Domino’s Pizza used to guarantee “30-minute delivery or it’s free!” They didn’t even TRY to sell you on the quality of their pizza, (you’d agree… not best pizza) because they guaranteed fresh, hot pizza at your door in 30 minutes or you didn’t pay. That made them stand out from all the other pizza places in town!
FedEx promises “if you Absolutely Need it there overnight” — something no other mail carrier or courier service could do when they first broke into the marketplace and made a name for themselves. They grew in leaps and bounds from that USP and guarantee in one!
To fine-tune YOUR unique selling proposition, start by asking yourself:
- How does my product or service do its job better than the competition’s?
Going back to the cell phone example, the question would be: How does my cell phone make phone usage and experience better than the competition’s?
Okay, this question might seem a bit silly (unless you’re selling cell phones), but ask the same question of your product or service. Then continue asking yourself questions like:
- Does my (cell phone) cost less than the competition’s?
- Does my (cell phone) last longer than the competition’s?
- Does my (cell phone) look more attractive than the competition’s?
Does it ship faster? Come with special features? Less dropped calls? Use up less energy? Have better apps? What does your product or services do or offer that makes them unique?
To Smarter marketing…
John Uhrig
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By John Uhrig On February 17, 2009
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Read the amazing true story of how one woman, with no previous business experience, earned $436,797+ in 2002 and now earns MUCH MORE than that … just by selling other people’s stuff online!
In her down-to-earth, sincere and often humorous style, Rosalind Gardner guides you through the entire process of building an affiliate marketing business on the ‘Net.
Frequently revised and updated to reflect industry changes, the Super Affiliate Handbook now consists of 236 pages and 124 screenshots that will show you step-by-step how to become a Super Affiliate. You’ll learn how to pick the best affiliate programs, negotiate a commission raise and save time, money and effort on everything from affiliate software to web hosting.
To learn exactly how she does it, Click Here.
It’s a great resource and worth looking at!
Can be used in such places as:
- commission junction affiliate marketing network
- clixgalore affiliate marketing sale web programs
- web site traffic sale affiliate marketing programs
- affiliate marketing classifieds
- junction affiliate marketing network commission
Cheers, John Uhrig
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By John Uhrig On January 30, 2009
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Using the same technology that lets Android users work with their Google email accounts offline, the Mountain View company has introduced an email application that liberates millions of Gmail users from unreliable connections.
By adding the Google Gears plug-in to their browsers, Gmail users can now read, search, star, label, and respond to emails offline. Next time they connect to the web, Gears will automatically convey the messages.
The service is still in an experimental stage — you can open and read attachments, for example, but you cannot send them — but Google positioned Gears as a solution to what Google calls “flaky connection mode“; that is, when an internet connection is unreliable or weak in this case, Gears utilizes the local cache as if it were disconnected, but still synchronizes your mail with the server in the background.
“Our goal is to provide nearly the same browser-based Gmail experience whether you’re using the data cached on your computer or talking directly to the server,” writes Andy Palay on the Gmail blog.
Gmail already syncs with mobile phones, like its Android platform, and other units that support Gears — a key part of the company’s Web app strategy, writes TechCrunch. It launched a Gears version of Google Docs in March ‘08, and ultimately plans to offer enterprise customers an offline version of Calendar.
Yahoo continues to lead the pack in terms of sheer number of webmail users, but Google has kept its eyes open for opportunities within the niche. In November, for example, it gave Gmail users voice and video chat capabilities.
Source: MarketingVOX.com
Cheers,
John Uhrig
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By John Uhrig On January 29, 2009
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Well, you may know I like to talk about SEO, back links and internet marketing. Backlinks are a critical part of SEO and your overall marketing strategy online. So I had an idea??? — How about some free backlinks for Underground-Internet-Marketing.com readers?
Basically, I thought people might like some free marketing.
9 Free Back Links From StudioMonochrome collection of sites.
Here is how you can get 9 free “do-follow” back links to any 3 URLs that you choose (3 links to each of your 3 URLs).
- Link to this post from somewhere using some great anchor text like “free backlinks“. This gets me some much needed link love. Thanks! If you don’t have an easy way to generate a link (like a blog), then you can “Digg, Delicious or Furl” this post instead.
- “Twitter” the link to this post and tell about this offer. This gets some traffic to this promotion. Thanks!
- “StumbleUpon” this post. More traffic. Thanks!
- Leave me a comment in the area below this post… indicating you intend to participate. I will confirm you are “in the game!”
- Write a good article that includes 3 links to 3 pages of your choice. Use whatever anchor text that you like. Use PLR content if you like, but do not violate copyright laws or copy someones stuff.
- Use plain text HTML only. Use anchor tags in your plain text. No fonts, no paragraph markers, etc. Just plain text, carriage returns, and anchor tags.
- Email me at: (info @ studiomonochrome.com) proving you’ve done 1-3 and include the post text. Use “free links” in the subject line.
- I will post your article to 3 blogs in our StudioMonochrome marketing Network. This will result in 3 live posts on the net, each containing 3 links for a total of 9 backlinks for you free of charge.
- Be patient. Every post on our StudioMonochrome network is approved by an actual human. Network security is the top priority. It will take a few days for your posts to go live.
- I will email you with the list of backlinks. This list is confidential. You may not share the URLs with anyone ever.
That’s it — I get some much needed love… and you get some backlinks, FREE. I get some traffic, backlinks and we all win!
Simple. Transparent. No B.S.
Rules for this offer (can change without notice).
- This backlink offer can expire without notice. I’ll certainly stop offering this at some point.
- One offer per individual.
- First come, first served.
- Whatever I decide goes. I am a fair guy, so don’t worry. But if I cannot post your content for some reason, the deal is off. I will explain why.
- I can change the rules whenever I want (in case I’ve forgotten something).
- Post, sites & links must be 100% completely non-religious and family friendly. No exceptions. StudioMonochrome’s network has very strict rules on this. No profanity, porn, religion (includes Christmas, St. Whatever Day, etc), hate, etc. If you are worried about your content, ask me first.
- Feel free to use PLR for your content if you like.
- Do not put all three of your links at the bottom of the post. Mix them throughout the content naturally. (top, middle, bottom)
- Again, you may not reveal the location of your posts. The information is confidential. I will tell you, but you cannot tell anyone, ever.
That’s it for now… please let me know if you have any questions.
This should work out well for all of us!
Cheers,
John Uhrig
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By John Uhrig On January 27, 2009
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Let’s face it: a growing number of people are using Twitter these days, spending a lot of time on Twitter, and still need to get things done on Twitter.
If you want to spend a lot of time conversing with people on Twitter, that’s great … but many people still need to get their tasks done. Let’s take a look at how to do that.
Why use Twitter to get things done? Twitter isn’t necessarily the best platform for getting things done … but if you’re already using it a lot, it might be easier or faster for you to do things while still in Twitter. Note: I don’t take responsibility for any of these services — if they don’t work well, check with them! 
Here’s how:
1. Reminders: Need a quick reminder that you have an appointment, or need to follow up on something later? Follow “timer” on Twitter, and send it a direct message with a reminder time and it will ping you at that time. For example: “d timer 30 pick up Chloe”.
2. To-do list: A couple of popular to-do services are on Twitter: Remember the Milk (on Twitter) and Nozbe (on Twitter). Follow them and send them direct messages to add things to your to-do list, or to check the items on your list.
3. Calendar: If you use Google Calendar (gCal), go to Twittercal, then follow gCal on Twitter and add events by sending direct messages to gCal. For example: “d gcal meeting with paul tomorrow at 7pm”.
4. Delegate: If you’re going through your to-do list or email and find a task that’s better suited for someone else, sending that person a direct message (assuming they’re on Twitter) can be quicker and easier than sending an email or making a phone call.
5. Follow up: The same applies to following up. I’ve done it a bunch of times — instead of opening up your email program, composing a new message, typing in the person’s address and the subject line, and then writing the email … you can just direct message them on Twitter: “d zen_habits don’t forget to answer my interview questions, you berk!”
6. Accountability with goals: Want some extra motivation to achieve your goals? Announce through Twitter or on your blog that you’re going to post your progress updates every day on Twitter. For example, if you’re trying to eat healthier, you can post everything you eat on Twitter. Trying to exercise? Post your workouts on Twitter. It’s great motivation, and you can get some support and encouragement from your Twitter friends.
7. Get info or ideas quickly: If you have a good Twitter network, you can ask a question and usually get a few responses quicker than many other methods. I’ve gotten website and service recommendations, ideas for a post I was writing, restaurant recommendations, people interested in a job, and more.
8. Do real work: It’s possible to do real work on Twitter — people have written stories or posts by writing them in little chunks in Twitter. It might be worth a try. But if that doesn’t work, my strongest recommendation is to turn Twitter off when you need to do some real work. Then, when you’re done, reward yourself with 10 minutes on Twitter.
Other useful Twitter services:
- Tweetbeep: A service to keep track of keywords through alerts that you set up. You’ll get an email notification if anyone mentions you or your brand or your blog posts in their tweets. Note: It looks like this service is down right now but they say they’ll be back soon.
- StrawPoll: create a poll. Your Twitter contacts can participate in the poll by simply sending an @reply message.
- TwitResponse: allows you to schedule delivery of your tweets — very useful if you want to set up a bunch of tweets in the future.
- Zen Habits: Yes, you can get updates on the latest Zen Habits posts, as well as The Power of Less Tips of the Day, and more.
What are your favorite methods and services to get things done on Twitter? Share in the comments area below! I look forward to your insight!
Thanks John Uhrig…
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By John Uhrig On January 22, 2009
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A new creative breakthrough is all you now need in order to get your Google AdWords pay-per-clicks FREE!
A man from New York uncovered what he calls an “oversight” on the part of 99.9% of all marketers that allows him to get otherwise paid-for advertising at Google as well as all other search engines that allow sponsored ads.
And no, nothing about his “secret” is illegal – nor does it require you know someone on the “inside” at Google, Yahoo Search Marketing, MSN and others.
Instead, the New Yorker boasts proudly “…this is something that I caught onto just before 2000 when there was so much search engine craze running around, and started doing small things just to test at first … which later I expanded on after getting the hang of it.”
This same fellow went on to start and operate 16 separate online companies selling everything from pet food, DVDs, children’s toys & games, books, software, and sold not only his own manufactured products but became an affiliate for other web businesses – all the while applying his mastermind secret.
Over the course of nearly 8 years the New Englander confesses “I’ve actually gotten over $87 million in advertising using my secret I never had to pay for … and the largest share of which was more recently in Google PPC as well as other forms of paid advertising at search engines … all which I got for free …”
His secret is so powerful he’s able to monopolize any niche online, and can always secure the top first-rate spots just above the usual organic results featured on most search engines.
Although, he still has to set up an account with the specific search engines – but after applying his secret he’s removed from having to pay for all the costs otherwise involved.
Again, nothing about his secret is either illegal or steals from the search engines.
One spokesperson from one of the most popular search engines said chuckling after being made privy to this remarkable secret “Wow! This is really unique … and in my expert opinion it would only serve to enhance and bring more business to us at [name of search engine withheld for legal & confidentiality reasons] and not cause us to lose business in the slightest. Astounding!”
The northerner revealed in his nearly 8 years’ of applying his secret he’s done well over $300 million in sales revenue with a diverse line of products, most recently in the last two years netted nearly $166 million after really “buckling down and pressing my secret to its fullest potential.”
Now to everyone else’s fortune, the city slicker is releasing his secret for getting unlimited amounts of pay-per-click ads to the general public. But he’s not promising any of us for how long.
A bit of an eccentric, the gentleman says “We’ll see just how long I can make it available before it saturates things.”
One famous public web guru pointed out although this man may gain economically more so as a result of the publication of his secret “he’s already so amazingly rich whether he continues or discontinues its sale will neither make nor break the man, but not grabbing it for yourself while it’s still available could prove devastating for you as you may only have one chance, and a very limited one at that, to get this and apply it.”
It is currently available at:
Internet Marketing Programs Read How!
…so you may want to head on over there now and get it.
It’s in a very easily readable format, quickly and readily understood and can be mastered by anyone with even a 5th grade reading level.
While you’re there, why not scroll down and see for yourself the huge successes others are now having with this incredible breakthrough in targeted advertising now made freely available to the rest of us?
To your marketing success,
John Uhrig
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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