While it seems that the market is dominated by major players like Bic® or Gillette®, Dubin is finding a niche in the market by providing high quality razors for just $1 a month. Recognizing the high cost of disposable razors, DollarShaveClub.com was able to find a way to import razors made in South Korea for a fraction of the cost of what Bic® or Gillette® charge for their products.

The business model of DollarShaveClub.com is interesting, but the most interesting thing about the company is its marketing and how quickly they have found success. Through a simple, catchy video that went viral almost overnight, the company now has the majority of their products on back-order and are flooded with new orders everyday. The video highlights the advantages of using their service and keeps the viewer’s attention with a humorous approach.

The video was posted on March 6, 2012 and now has over 4.5 million views. In a world of social media and viral campaigns becoming more and more powerful as a marketing strategy, video marketing has a huge impact.

If you are not doing any video marketing, take a note from DollarShaveClub.com and incorporate it into your marketing strategy right away.

One of the newest social networking websites, Pintrest, is making it possible for your business to obtain more information about your customers quickly and effectively.  This is mostly because of the way Pintrest is organized.  There are several different categories that items are placed into.  These can be Women’s Fashion, Food, Home, and Technology.  Depending on what your business is, you can look into the categories and for each item that is up there you can instantly see what people are saying about an item and what items are most popular.  An example of this is if you run a food or cooking company.  You could search through popular recipes and cookware, see what people are most interested in, and then adjust your website to directly market these things.   If you have a product that is “pinned” you will be able to see what people are saying about it, positive or negative, and alter your marketing strategy from there.  In a way it is an instant feedback about your product that is hard to get from anywhere else.

• Don’t get whipped – Now at first you might think I am saying don’t let your competition “whip” you.  But our first lesson is very different then getting a paddling.   In Secretariat’s third and final race of the Triple Crown many argued that he could not win.  He was a short distance racer and the sheer length of the Belmont Stakes would be to far for him.  But in the end, Secretariat crossed the finish line 31 lengths ahead of the nearest competitor, and set a track record that has never been close to broken.  Now ask you self, how many times did the jockey Ron Turcotte have to whip Secretariat to get him to accomplish this amazing feat?  The answer, not even once.  This astounding victory happened because Secretariat had the right attitude and wanted to win as much or more than anyone else on earth.  So your goal should be to “not get whipped” and by that I mean, no one should need to whip you in those greatest of races.
• Love what you do – Secretariat loved to run, and he loved to race.  He was well aware of when the big races were coming up, and he prepared himself mentally and physically for them.  I absolutely HATE it when people use the excuse that Secretariat had the perfect body, and shape, and look.  Blah blah blah.  Many horses have had excellent to perfect bodies and never amounted to anything in the racing world!  What set Secretariat apart was his attitude, his work ethic, and above all his LOVE for the race.  Now its time for a reality check, right from your gut.  Do you love your business?  Do you love your industry?  It’s okay if you don’t, you can make a perfectly good living just fulfilling the supply and demand the the world needs.  Just don’t expect to be the greatest you can be unless you LOVE it day and night.
• Copying perfection will not get you perfection – The last lesson to learn happened after all the races ended.  Secretariat became stud for hire, and many breeders spent big bucks to have him over for a visit.  But out of all the offspring how many went on to break his records and become the next super horse.  None of them really.  Of over 600 offspring, none of them hold a candle to his accomplishments.  So in the context of your business, are you building something great, or just leaning your ladder against some one else’s wall.  If you want to be great breed your own success, and make a better stallion.  Every time you copy another business, you’re cutting yourself short in the long run.

As you think about your business, think about what race you are running, and how Secretariat got to be the first one to cross that finish line when it really counted.

First and foremost, you always want to write for your client and potential clients. Ironically, it turns out that this IS writing for the search engines. Sometime ago the grand masters that run the search engines noticed that the overall quality of the internet was being affected by people attempting to write for SEO purposes. Consequently, “writing for search engines” has taken on a different meaning than it once had. It now means to simply write content as if you are writing to your best friends  (easy on the expletives and inside jokes, of course) to tell them about your amazing product or service that you have to offer. Along with that new found understanding you can also follow these 3 simple distinctions to help you develop your content.

1. Humor – Making someone laugh is a great way to be memorable and if you can somehow wrap your message into that humor…all the better!

2. Controversy – Please keep reading…it’s not what you think – We don’t want you calling people out or getting all soap boxy but you can certainly question something in your industry in-general or convey to your audience how you feel differently about an accepted norm in your industry.

3. Facts – Of course the old stand-by that is still as strong as ever as-far-as content goes. Write truths and you’ll be rewarded. Fill your site with real facts that people can digest and share with anyone who may be interested.

Of course a mixture of all 3 is ideal but most of us have our struggles with at least one of these. If you keep them in mind though you’ll be amazed at how they begin to work themselves into your writing. Soon your site will be written for both people and search engines and that’s how to ultimately be content with your content.

- Re-marketing ads with a nice incentive convert the best.

- Relevant Search Ads convert the 2nd best.

- PPC Display / Banner Ads have the lowest conversion rate of the three.

Search ads tend to be the focus of most pay per click campaigns because of the ease of setup and the higher conversion rates.  Many ppc managers shy away from display / banner campaigns because the conversion rates are typically significantly lower then search ads.  The power of display advertising is not in the direct response, but the post visit potential.

The low conversion rate of display / banner ads can be offset by re-marketing to banner ad customers who went down the conversion funnel.  Driving lots of lower cost traffic via banners can increase your re-marketing traffic and conversions.  Its necessary to drive as much traffic as possible from as many sources as possible to narrow down your target customers or those who went further down the conversion funnel.

Simply put, display / banner advertising if used properly in conjunction with re-marketing campaigns can increase the overall conversion rate of your display marketing efforts.  Don’t let the low conversion rates of display scare you away, instead embrace the potential all that new traffic holds.

So how can you see Google’s new experimentation taking place?  It is mostly beginning with movies, actors, music, and television shows.  These items when searched in Google will create the typical search results, which includes the Pay Per Click ads at the very top, followed by the SEO results.  Now, you might find more information on the right side of the screen.  If you are searching for a television show, you might see a brief synopsis of the show, when it first aired, when it ended, the writers, and the actors.  There may also appear pictures of the cast and crew that work on the show.

Google seems to be testing out whether or not this feature on the search results page actually attracts people to click on it.  From what has been seen with their experimentation, it seems that they want to grab the attention of people who are looking for a quick answer or link to what they want.  It could possibly eliminate the need to click on a website and then search the site to find what you want.  So go search for your favorite TV show on Google today, and see what you find!

Repin things that you think are interesting but try to add new things to the board. Think of Pinterest as an ongoing conversation that you are having with everyone else online. How do you want to interact with all of those people? Where do you want to lead the conversation? I just try to let Pinterest speak to the masses by ensuring that my profile represents me, my style and just things I generally enjoy. The best way you can add to the conversation is by sharing new pins and categorizing them WELL. This allows people, whom are searching for the items that you are pinning, to find them with ease. I’m always amazed at how many new and awesome websites that I come across just by paying attention to other people’s original pins. This is really where you can set your Pinterest account apart from many others. Pin items from those cool little websites that not very many of us know about. Share the products that you love because they make your life easier in some way. Share things that are on your wishlist. But most importantly, have fun decorating your board just like you did with your room back home. Happy Pinning!

This creative visit Utah ad made use of all four sides of the tunnel.   Immersive ads like these are far more impactful then then regular banners.