WARNING!! You may need a barf bag. Proceed with caution.

Imagine this. You are a fly on the wall in the NBC programming boardroom. One executive has a genius moment and comes up with a remarkable idea… “Let’s start a variety show and try to bring an old, tired, TV format back into [...]]]> What was NBC thinking?

WARNING!! You may need a barf bag. Proceed with caution.

Imagine this. You are a fly on the wall in the NBC programming boardroom. One executive has a genius moment and comes up with a remarkable idea… “Let’s start a variety show and try to bring an old, tired, TV format back into popularity”! Great idea says another executive, “But who will star in such a groundbreaking show”? Another executive says, “I know…Rosie O’Donell”. The entire boardroom applauds and agrees that the idea of a new variety show is on the cutting edge of entertainment. Another 90 year old executive removes the oxygen tube from her nose and asks “Who could we get to make guest appearances on Rosie’s show”? Suddenly, from the speaker phone sitting on the conference table, a feeble voice calls out from the nearby nursing home and says that Clay Aiken and Liza Minnelli would be fantastic guests to premier the shows debut”.

Here are two of the “A-list” guests that premiered Rosie Live

After watching the clip below, one has to wonder how such a show could fail? Clay Aiken prances on-stage wearing a prince outfit and they both remind all 177 people in America, Russia and Packfudgistan who happened to be watching the show about their gayness. Then he prances off stage as if he’s riding a broomstick horse. Once again I must ask, What was NBC thinking? What is going on at this network?

Try to watch this clip below of Rosie and Alec Baldwin without throwing up. It’s terrifying to say the least and this video clip should be looped on a TV inside O.J. Simpson’s jail cell. Only then would OJ regret that he murdered his wife and Ron Goldman. This loser, Alec Baldwin, takes a shot at Christians also for no apparent reason. It’s sad to see such a deterioration of a man who was once a fine actor. His Saturday Night Live appearances are some of the funniest of all times. Is it just me or is Conan O’Brian’s appearance in this clip, clearly a threat from the higher ups to appear so this show will have some form of Star Power? It’s obvious he didn’t want to be there and watch what these two idiots do to one of the only “Stars” that NBC has. Warning, it’s horrible and I apologize up-front for this video clip.

Click the Play button below and listen to Alec Baldwin bash his 12 yr. old daughter on voice-mail. Keep in mind that NBC obviously thought that Baldwin would be a great first guest to appear on Rosie Live. He refers to his 12 yr. old daughter as a pig. Who’s really the rotten pig? NBC must think that we all have a very short memory.

[display_podcast]

I can think of a more appropriate show for these two individuals to star in. I can’t help but think that if you want to be successful in marketing a product, take a lesson from NBC. Just do everything exactly the opposite as NBC did for this show and you should be a hit.

NBC Variety Show Sponsored by Nutrisystem

This should be the NBC’s next show.

One lucky turkey received the pardon.

The problem was that after her [...]]]> Bad Video Marketing

Gov. Sarah Palin recently went to a turkey farm in Alaska for a Thanksgiving Day ritual of pardoning a turkey. Much in the same fashion as all of our Presidents do at Thanksgiving. Sure enough, she selected one turkey to receive the pardon.

One lucky turkey received the pardon.

The problem was that after her ceremony she stopped to do an interview. She stopped in the wrong place. Check out the video and what is happening right behind her. I was very surprised that one of her handlers did not stop the interview and set it up with a different camera angle. This is a good example of “bad video marketing”.

As is my custom here on frugalpr.com I like to end each article with a free iTunes download for your listening and download pleasure. I really couldn’t find a suitable song for this article other than “I’m sorry” by Buckcherry. I’m really sorry Mr. Gobbler but you tasted very good on my plate last week.

Enjoy my free music download

Buckcherry. “I’m Sorry”.

[display_podcast]

Success is not always about substance. You can have all of the substance in [...]]]> Yesterday was Thanksgiving Day. I hope everyone has something to be thankful for. I’m thankful first and foremost for my family. I would be nothing without them. I’ll be hitting the gym this afternoon to burn a few of those calories off.

Success is not always about substance. You can have all of the substance in the world but if you can’t get your foot in the door, what good is it? We live in the age of American Idol. The better your image, regardless of your talent, the longer you stay on the show. If you want to stay in the game longer, work on your image.

Image is everything in marketing your small business

I want to leave a thought with you today. “Image is Everything”. It’s all around us. If you do not project the proper image, you will not be successful. I was watching VH1 this morning and it’s all about image for these artists. They are larger than life beings. They have cool videos. One guy walked into a roadside diner. I’ve done the same thing many times in my life but never as cool as this guy. He walked in slow motion. When the hot girls looked at him, their heads turned in slow motion. When the waitress took his order, it was damn sexy when she whipped out her order pad in slow motion.

If I could only walk into Wal-Mart in slow motion and nod to the 75 year old greeter chick as her silver hair slowly flew from the breeze from the overhead “fly-fan”. If I could only reach slowly for my Gillette “Cool Breeze” deodorant stick as an overweight housewife wearing gray sweat pants pushing a cart with a crying baby slowly gave me a sexy glance. That would be cool. I would be the coolest guy in Wal-Mart. It’s only an image but you will be perceived differently. Keep this in mind when marketing yourself and your business.

Who is cooler?

OR

OR

OR

OR

Case in point since I mentioned American Idol. These wannabe music stars all dream of making the big time. A high placing in the American Idol contest could certainly propel these singers way ahead of the pack. They could leap frog into a position that would take many years of hard work, practice and luck. What gets me about this show is the fact that just by being on it, can almost guarantee success. You don’t even have to win. Come in 4th, sign a deal and then we all have to observe and listen their mediocrity for the next couple of years as every TV show and radio station seem to cram them down our throat.

Example: Kellie Pickler’s image was manufactured

For instance, let’s take Kellie Pickler. She has become quite the babe now. She didn’t start that way though. Remember all the Pickler Mania? You couldn’t turn on the TV without hearing her name for 11 weeks while American Idol was in season. After hearing all the hype, I watched the show one night and looked at my wife and said, “What’s up with her”? Cute…yes. Can she sing?…no, not really. The show or her publicist was trying to force this girl on the public and manufacture a star much like all of the boy bands of the eighties and nineties. I had nothing against her but I thought she had very average talent. She spoke with a hokey, heavy, cute southern drawl saying “Hey Yall” every other sentence. She was able to project this image and lasted week after week while singers with more talent but less hype were eliminated.

BEFORE AND AFTER PHOTOS

Check out the video of Kellie Pickler. This is before her image was manufactured. Pay attention to her remarks about keeping it real and just being herself. How long did this philosophy of hers last?

Check out her “After” manufactured image and video. Notice “Kellie Pickler’s enhancement” in this video. This is what this young girl was willing to do in order to market herself and sell her product. Her eyes and lips appear to be altered also. All in the name of marketing.

I’m not bashing Kellie Pickler. This young lady made decisions about how to market herself. She altered her body and her style. This is a perfect example to illustrate what you should consider as you market your business. You are competing with other businesses in your area or your niche. Make yourself look cool even if you aren’t. Your bottom line will benefit from it.

Enjoy my free music download of Kellie Pickler

Don’t You Know You’re Beautiful

[display_podcast]

Here’s the deal. You need a professionally designed marketing presentation for yourself or your business. You can’t afford to pay someone a huge amount of money to produce it [...]]]> How To Build A Frugal Marketing Presentation Part 3

Learn these simple frugal marketing and public relation tips and you could save some really Big $$ Money.

Here’s the deal. You need a professionally designed marketing presentation for yourself or your business. You can’t afford to pay someone a huge amount of money to produce it for you. You also can’t afford not to come in with a presentation that will dazzle your prospective clients. What can you do? The answer is, produce it yourself.

This is part 3 of “How To Produce A Frugal Marketing Presentation”. You may want to check out the first 2 articles in this series.

Frugal Marketing Presentation Part 1

Frugal Marketing Presentation Part 2.

This is a real case study of my small construction company and an immediate need to create a professional presentation. My local Chamber of Commerce needs a new building. We received a letter inviting us to give them a proposal. I know that we will be competing against other construction companies and I wanted a way to set ourselves apart. I was pretty sure that I could come in with something unique. I want to capture their attention and what better way than with a video specific to the project. It certainly can’t guarantee that we will win the project, but they will remember me. I will brand my company with this video. It may serve me well in the future.

A vital part of my presentation was to insert a corporate video into my video presentation. A video inside a video so to speak. The problem was I didn’t have the video file on my MacBook. I needed a way to capture the video from the corporate web site. I used a great little screen capture program called iShowU. This is a Mac program and will allow you to capture anything on your screen and immediately convert it to a Quicktime movie file. Amazingly easy to use, just set your recording area and hit the record button. Click stop record and the quicktime movie of your capture appears. Simply drag this quicktime movie into your Apple Keynote Presentation slide and voila! You look like a professional video editor who has just performed some video magic.

Check out the video below. It’s a 30 second clip that I captured from the corporate web site for the modular home manufacturing company that I’m pushing. I used this clip and more, for my presentation. My prospective client has no idea that I didn’t create this video myself. It’s professionally done and when you do this, you create a professional image of yourself to your client. The video itself is not very exciting, well…it’s boring ok? But it may excite you when you use this type of example in your own presentation. I needed material and a way to capture it. iShowU came to my rescue. There are many screen capture programs on the market. I prefer iShowU due to it’s simplicity and it works so well with a Mac. It’s also inexpensive. Depending on your operating system, the basic package is $20. The newest HD version is only $59.95. You could hire me for $50/hr or just grab yourself a cool little program like iShowU. Stay tuned for future articles from me about this fantastic, inexpensive program. You can check it out for yourself below.

[display_podcast]

If you are ever faced with a situation like this, it’s good if [...]]]> Frugal Marketing on a Budget

Here is my update on my weekend project. I have to produce a presentation for my company. I have almost no time to complete it and I have no budget. I’m competing against 4 other builders for this bid.

If you are ever faced with a situation like this, it’s good if you have developed the skills necessary to do this yourself instead of paying someone else. Even if I were to pay someone for help, my time frame is such that it is doubtful that anyone could help me. If I could not build my own presentation, there is a good chance that I could not even compete for this project. I wouldn’t want to pay anyway because that’s why I’m writing about frugal marketing and PR.

I work off an Apple MacBookPro laptop with a 17″ screen. Everything that I am doing to prepare for this presentation will be done from my laptop. The drawing below was made with my Apple Keynote 08 software that comes installed with my Mac. Through the simple use of lines and text I was able to design this plan to use in my presentation. These are certainly not construction drawings but will look good in a presentation. Best of all…it’s free. I didn’t pay anyone.

Feel free to listen or download my latest free iTunes download.

Daughtry “Feels Like Tonight”

[display_podcast]