CP Bomb
Am I the only one who is using YouTube to market their designer gifts/apparel in my stores?
I use gorilla marketing tactics to do my on-line marketing and it really works! The key is simple: just imagine your hottest idea, just think of what will really blow people away; then do it!
For example: Set off a commercial bomb in the form of a design supplemented via a video that shows the design. Post this on YouTube or any video service. The bomb explodes as viewers watch the video, become curious and visit your shop. The bomb continues to explode over time as more and more people watch your video. The more shock and awe your design and video generated then sales go through the roof!
This is NOT my original idea. I took college level courses in advertising and marketing and supplemented my studies with reading popular books about marketing, including those related to subliminal seduction. One of my instructors use to work for a major advertising firm in New York City and he taught me that in addition to target marketing you need to have a unique product, one that creates shock and awe. This is why Super Bowl commercials and so much other advertising uses sexuality, celebrities and/or something that is wild and crazy to get attention. You have to get people's attention FIRST, before you can sell anything!
Now I realize that my CP Bomb video on YouTube is not Super Bowl quality material. It is just me beep, beep, beeping like those Emergency Broadcast System weather PSA's you hear when there is a tornado or hurricane on the horizon and they interrupt your favorite show on the television or radio. Boy does that piss me off! I wish I could make my videos pop-up in the middle of what everyone was doing on the Internet and tell them to hurry on over to www.byteland.org/cafedeart or www.talgsd.com and get their daily dose of T-shirts! :-)
But there is no way that I know of, legally, to make pop-up ads that would suddenly appear out of the great void of cyberspace! If this technology did exist it would certainly be considered viral in nature. But I mention this as it relates to the concept of gorilla marketing (Google and read book by same title). You have to set a bomb under people's butt to get their attention these days before they will buy anything! Unless you do that you will always be panhandling for pennies, nickles and dimes!
I've set off a number of bombs to market my designs. One of the most recent is the White House Yard Sale I'm conducting on the south lawn of the White House. This is an on-line yard sale. Just the idea of a yard sale on the south lawn of the White House is so bizarre that it gets people's attention. I'm actually advertising this on YouTube, Craigslist and even eBay! After all, in these hard, economic times, I would not be surprised if the Obamas doesn't soon have to have a yard sale at the White House to make ends meet! :-) Hopefully if they do they will use my White House Yard Sale signs which are available at http://www.byteland.org/whitehouse
Using video to market designer PoD merchandise is a great idea. The more eye catching the videos, the greater will be your sales and potential profits. The possibilities are enormous. Imagine what happens if you make a WetTshirt video and it goes viral with millions of viewers. Then if only 1% - 3% visit your shop and buy a product you still have 10,000 to 30,000 hits!
Appealing to the masses is what radio and television advertising does. Although commercially broadcasted videos are not yet there, the potential still exists. If you make yourself a celebrity on YouTube and/or create a celebrity status with your designs, fame and fortune will result.
I've been experimenting with video advertising on YouTube and it has resulted in more sales for PoD designer products. And guess what? Ads which use sexuality get greater response and result in increased sales. Also any ad with uses some type of shock and awe gets higher views and more response. Quite frankly the more bizarre the ad, the more odd, unusual or unique, then the more people who will be attracted to the ad, hence whatever the percentage which then visit one of my stores, the greater will be the number of buyers.
So fellow artists/designers, if you want to really boost your sales, do what the professionals do: use commercials and broadcast them on YouTube or other popular video communities. Also use display type advertising and post it widely on the Internet via such services as Craigslist, in blogs, and on your own websites which you can have listed on Google and other search engines. I also send out press releases and/or PSA where applicable to the print and on-line media. The idea is the same: try to create a news worthy, sensational design and story to go with it. Then as others repeat your story which includes a link to your store by clicking on the pic of your design, you will get increased traffic which translates to more products selling and bigger profits.
You don't have to be a genius to do gorilla marketing. You simply have to understand what gorilla marketing means. Think of it like this. If you set off a bomb in the form of a commercial, people will take notice. That's exactly what the CP bomb design does. The target audience is frustrated CP shopkeepers who are professional artists, designers, photographer and other creative and talented people. They know their designer PoD goods are worth more than a 10% markup commercial in the marketplace, which is, by the way, the entire global community of the Internet. So they are going to take notice of the CP bomb design. So is everyone else. No one likes to be exploited by management. So when people hear about the CP bomb design they are going to be able to identify with me because I am enabling them to express their frustration. Therefore frustrated CP shopkeepers will like the CP bomb design. But guess what. I already know these people can make their own design. I am not trying to get them to buy my design. It will be everyone else who sees this design and the related video who visits my shops and buys other designer products who is my target market!
This is an example of gorilla marketing. I am using the CP bomb design and video to get attention. This is similar to what happened when an artist working for a newspaper in Europe made a design of Mohammed with a bomb in his turban. This drew immediate attention around the world. There was a media frenzie. More newspapers were sold as a result. All the fuss was over a cartoon. The CP bomb is just a cartoon. It is not great art, simply a simple cartoon. But it is stuff like this that gets everyone's attention. That's exactly why YOU have taken notice! And this is why it works and is called "gorilla marketing."
So I recommend that everyone who is interested in boosting their sales light a fire under someone's butt. Set off some firecrackers with your designs. Sure, making great designs is a plus factor. But even simple stick figure designs can have universal appeal and strike the heart with a chord that rings far and wide. You just have come up with an idea that catches everyone's attention and go with it!
Another example of this is the Stop Smoking design I produced. This is just a stick figure holding a heart that says, "Mom, I Love You! Stop Smoking!" See http://www.byteland.org/stopsmoking/index.html
I made a number of variations of this design. Guess what? Now it is popping up on buses in the streets of a major university city. The design was so cute and compelling that I was contacted by a community organization to use it in their anti-smoking campaign. Of course to do so they must link to my store! :-)
This is gorilla marketing. It means blow people away with clever, eye catching designs, themes and concepts. It means using all media, be it music, video, etc., to market your design concepts. Don't be afraid to associate with iconic figures or symbols. For example: the Statue of Liberty crying or smiling; The Presidents on Mt. Rushmore incorporated into a design; or even Santa Clause pumping gas in these hard times. The concept of a design, creating something that is odd, unique, profound or even profane will do more to promote your designs than just waving a flag. Basically you have to scream "FIRE!" as in a crowded theater, and get out of the way to avoid being trampled by the stamped that results to your website.
But don't forget the basics. I have several domain names that I use to associate with my designs and shops. For example, I created Byteland at http://www.byteland.org and TALGSD at www.talgsd.com.
I don't expect people to wear my Baby Jesus Says Byteland T-shirts, but hey, if they do it is free walking advertising. What can be better than an icon loving you and plugging your name to everyone from the Pope to the midnight geek browsing the net! Having a domain does help, however, generating traffic to my shops regardless of what service I use to produce products. In addition to PoD like PrintFection I also use big guys like Amazon.com. How? I simply make books, illustrate the covers with my art and designs and presto, I'm a publisher! This may also involve collaborative efforts with other writers. You see what happened with Twilight and Harry Potter? Well you can be sure I rode their coat tails!
Just imagine; think of all the greatest commercials you have seen on television. Then imagine how you can make a video about your designs or how you can make a design that blows people away! Just imagine how you can light a fire with your bright ideas. Then just do it! People will be flocking to your shop and your stuff will sell like hotcakes!
For great gift ideas and the hottest apparel, click on any of the links below where you can shop for all your heart desires! We have hundreds of thousands of top quality gifts and apparel for all occassions. Thank you for your patronage!
