or How Startups can stand out from the crowd. Saul Colt Chief Evangelist xero.com
A NYT best selling author once told me to drop the first two slides from my talks because no one cares about the about me sections of presentations
so I did but it always makes my third slide out of context.
I have sex a lot
and women love me.
but I feel funny talking about all that stuff here because I recently met a woman who is amazing and makes me want to be a better person.
so I d like to use my time to tell you about her and the last few months of my life but pay attention because there will be a lesson in there.
I realized I was crazy about her when she told me a Batman Joke
She is crazy smart. Inspiration > Influence Weekend Friends
and when I see a picture of her or when we skype Actually Her! Actually Saul!
When I dream about her Actually Saul!
You see, she lives in another city and except for the once or twice we see each other every few months our relationship is entirely online or through txt messages.
and that makes things harder. Case in point. I once played Turn out the lights (the most romantic song ever written) and couldn t really gauge the reaction #almostadealbreaker
and that s when I realized that as long as our relationship is entirely online I will always feel like there is a part of me that wants more.
Think about that.
Because for reasons I am not sure about she isn t talking to me right now.
and because I haven t set the expectation of just dropping bye for a cup of sugar the distance is only going to get wider.
So I am sad.
But my reason for being a little heartbroken right now (and also being probably in love with her) is great for you because it is the formula for creating great gorilla (not guerilla) marketing ideas that people will talk about and spread to friends and on Social Networks.
did you catch the formula?!?
My name is Saul and I am the..
A little about me
and what I do has nothing to do with seo or ppc.
Instead of that stuff I just touch people.
Good touch or bad touch my job is to create experiences that people remember.
The way to do this is to replicate my heartbreak story with a little twist.
From now on when you are brainstorming ideas you need to consciously think about her and I (preferably kissing) and about how you are going to accomplish three very important things and all 3 things, not just two out of three.
Every Idea Must.
1- Make Girls er I mean, People Laugh!
B- Make People Think.
38 Create a genuine emotion. (even if it is tears)
Makes Sense, Right?
Some of you still look confused.
Let me explain this another way.
All ideas (if they are going to be successful) must make people laugh, think, cry
There are a lot of ways to do this
but the easiest way to do this is through Pop Culture.
I ll Prove It.
Everyone probably remembers where they where when they first heard
Ok How about
51
and the Banana Stand
Well, Here s how I used Arrested Development (in a real life way) to stand out from the crowd and make people laugh, think and cry
Saul s B-Day!
Important Take Away: If you can t or don t feel like competing on other people s terms just change the rules
Like this! Redacted
This Idea is Brilliant because
it was mine
But also because it is a perfect example of laugh, think, cry.
Laugh Fans of AD got the joke right away and appreciated it. People who didn t make the connection or know of AD just thought it was something interesting and unusual. Either way people needed to see the booth.
Think. Seeing a 10 foot banana is going to make you think, even go as far as scratch your head and when you couple that with giving people actual banana s instead of regular conference swag like pens and such people where curious as to what the Catch was and needed to see the booth.
Create an Emotion. AD was a show with a rabid fan base. This idea spoke to them and made an instant impact while at the same time started conversations with the folks who had never heard about the show and just appreciated the small business connection of a fruit stand and possibility triggered memories of Lemonade stands of their youth. As for actual Crying this was done by the people on our row who spent 50-70k on trade show booths.
So was this a success?
Some Stats! -1/3 of all tweets with the Conference Hashtag where about our booth. -Conference attendee s suggested we win a prize for best booth without an actual prize existing. -we were included in most of the coverage and wrap up posts. -Gave out 2k+ bananas with a sticker and unique URL and saw that over 65% of the people got a banana checked out the link.
This is just one example. Here are about 100 more.
Freshii 58
Magicians are the right answer to any question 59
Did I mention this was at a competitors user conference? 60
Quick ways to start WOM conversations! Force people to ask questions? Make them scratch their heads! Try 100 things! Its ok if no one shows up!
More ways to start WOM conversations! Redacted
Nuvango
71 Nuvango
Remember that Do interesting things slide? Redacted 72
Remember that Do interesting things slide?
74 Remember that Do interesting things slide?
This is a perfect place to tell the story with the stranger in your room from that year at SXSW.
Last example
85
and all these ideas were born using the Laugh, Think, Cry formula
Seth Godin Agrees with me!
So in closing.
If you remember nothing else from my talk, Please make it these few things
Know where the line of good taste is with your customers and step over the line. Because crossing the line is where the conversations happen but make sure you don t cross too far and offend people. Shock them, don t stun them.
Trying too many things from this talk wouldn t be a good idea.
Because I mostly spoke of sleeping with people I care about and if you slept with them I would cut you. My wish is that you be inspired by what I shared with you, I want you to form some real relationships and dream up your own ideas but mostly, never let yourself be afraid to take some chances and step over the line.!
I m Very Romantic!
Any Questions? Contact me! Saul.Colt@xero.com @saulcolt 416-219-3259 www.xero.com Want to try xero? ask me for a discount code!