The Media Power

Approximately a month ago I went to a website called http://www.oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/ which is run by a Canadian, named Kyle MacDonald. He practically traded a small paper clip for a house. Of course it did not happen in one trade. In the website you could see how he started his journey with the paper clip and 14 trades later he managed to obtain the house. What impress me the most is he did it only within a year. WHAT A STORY!!!

He also admitted that he did not spend a cent of his money to advertise his intention. He started the trade from the craiglist website in the barter section. He basically started to tell the world about his intention from his blog. It was probably his unique story that attracted the media attention. Almost all the media from around the globe discussed about him in the middle of last year. In Australia, all the television station was talking about his incredible story. This media euphoria then further stimulates more attention from the society.

To fulfill my curiosity I further browse the internet and accidentally hit a website that asks us to vote for the most popular internet celebrity http://www.webjunk.tv/gis/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_meme. Of course these people are actually famous in the global internet community. They managed to obtain the attention from the society through YouTube, MySpace, Friendster, etc. Some of them even managed to obtained 1.7 million hits within 3 weeks. This is amazing. And hell yeah!!! This is the power of the media.

Intentionally or not I have to salute them from the marketing point of view. They have managed to utilise the power of public relation (PR) as one of the marketing aspects. In this modern society penetration through our target market could be done by different approaches. They have also fulfilled one of the basic human needs, curiosity. As human we always want to see, hear, and read something new in our daily routine. We are always curious about a lot of things. That is why we cannot be separated from the news, TV, and of course internet.

Do you have another experience or story in regards to this phenomenon? Please share. Probably you could be one of the internet celebrities =)

David Herlambang
MarketingFirst

More than just products or services

First baby, first salary, first impression, and obviously first love. What actually makes the first instances in most cases are important. Why the term first love is actually very famous in the society. Why first love is a thrilling moment which can last forever in our memory. Why the experience of having a first baby would be celebrated by most of the parents. Of course I believe that most of the readers still can remember the moment of accepting their first salary. Why people are coping with their first impression in the job interview in order to astonish their potential employee.

Why those first occasions sometimes could be very important in our life. And the most importantly why sometimes we talk about those occasions to our family, friends, and relatives. It is the experience which creates an outstanding memory that last forever in our mind from those instances. The great experience which we obtained in the first love which makes us to be addicted to it. When the first baby was born we received the enchanting experience baby inspires us in forming a good family. The experience obtained by the interviewee in the first job interview will obviously determine our future as a prospect employee.

Last night, a very good friend was telling me about his great and unforgettable experience in climbing Sydney Harbour Bridge with BridgeClimb. BridgeClimb is an Australian company which facilitates tourists or local residents to experience the thrilling and exciting climbing one of the greatest Australian Icon, Harbour Bridge. He was really enthusiastic in telling the story and encouraged me to try it. He promised that I would never be able to forget the experience if I dare to try it. He cannot even stop talking about it. And of course the word BridgeClimb was mentioned for a million times in the conversation. Silently I told myself “He is really promoting BridgeClimb in front of me and it amazingly works, because I am willing to try it”. The challenging experience actually induced the great marketing.

Do you know YouTube? YouTube is one of the fastest growing websites. They success in retaining their customers is simply due to the experience that they offer. The desire to be the centre of attention in the society is a human nature. People want to be famous and recognized by the society. YouTube offers the experience to be famous not even locally but also globally. In YouTube you could create your own video and publish it to the world. You could even create your own channel. The only limitation is your creativity. The instant famous experience then creates a great marketing publicity. Both in American and Australian news even discuss about this amazing website. Marketing without money!!!

Nothing beats word of mouth in publicity. It is free and the target market would not be defensive as if when a salesperson approached them. Whenever customers obtain a good experience, there is a high possibility that they will become loyal or even falling in love to us. Remember when you are in love? You would across the sea only to see your loved one. Customer would forget about the price when they are in love. Moreover, there is also a high possibility for them in telling their experience to their relatives. Therefore, sell more than your products or service.

Comments, opinions and questions are greatly appreciated.

David Herlambang

MarketingFirst