I read Andy Sernovitz's blog and highly recommend it to you. He basically writes about common sense in business: good marketing (and not as good), word of mouth, looking from outside of the box, customer loyalty, social media, blogging, podcasting, conferences and seminars, interesting books...

In a previous post that I wrote, I was asking how a blog could sourprise or give something unexpected to its readers. The whole idea of that post came out from a chapter of a very worthy book: The Simple Truth of Service.



So, If I like what I read: that book and Sernovitz's blog... Why not put it into practice? That's why I'm giving away a copy of that book. That is thejournalmarketing.com way of giving something unexpected to its readers.

You just have to spread the mouth of this post. It doesn't matter the way you do it, just tell someone about this optimist book on this blog (both, the book and the blog). To participate the contest, just share it!

How?
1. Leave a commentary
2. Post it on your blog, web, etc.
3. Podcast about it
4. Talk about on Facebook, Linkedin, etc.
5. Make a video and upload it on Youtube
6. Let your imagination run free

Do not forget to let me know by a commentary or an email how you spreaded the word.

Last week of February I'll randomly choose a winner and send him/her the book for free. (Even if you are from South Korea).

Updated April: Alex P. was the winner. CONGRATS!

Only 2 days and Bush is gone. I'm not going to take stock of his 8 years in the White House. This is not the site.

During the USA Presidency elections we could see some good examples of marketing campaigns related to the candidates and a product or brand. We showed an example in this blog.

Two more cool and interesting examples have been launched on the Net.

The first one comes from an always surprising Spaniard advertising agency: Shackleton. They have developed a site which main idea is to help users to organize a George W. Bush farewell party. You can even buy a special edition watch made by Swatch.

Bush Farewell Watch

The second one comes from the giant of furniture IKEA. In this case Ikea's campaign follows Obama's campaign slogan in some way. If Obama used to say "Change we need"; Ikea says: "Change is coming". This site embraces you to change the Oval Office with Ikea furniture.

Embrace Change

yahoo.com pure essence

That's what this graphic designer does on this site: webwithoutwords . The author has launched a experiment. He tries to undress, remove, take off all the words, pictures, ads, etc of very well known websites. In a nutshell, to show the structure and analyze it.

Apple, Youtube, Wikipedia, John McCain, or Barack Obama sites have already been analyzed. Some of them are better than others. Obama or McCain? According to Paul Armstrong -the graphic designer- Senator Obama site was a better interface than his opponent.

In some way, your website says a lot about you:
- It's your showroom
- It's your catalogue
- It's your front desk
- It's your warehouse
- It's your portfolio
- It's your desk
- and last but now least... it's your face! (But always... in some way)

How is yours?

I made a mistake. According to Benjamin Zander, the music director of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, I should say: "How fascinating!" That's why I have some good and bad news today.

Let's start the good first.
The blog has a new domain name and this means a new tittle as well:
THE JOURNAL MARKETING

But… why?
1. Easier to remember
2. Easier to spread
3. Easier to show up if you Google its words
4. No dashes
5. Brand name
6. It looks more professional (but just look)

(Here you will find some tips about Domain Name)

And now the mistake...
I didn't ask you dear readers! I should have launched a contest about this blog domain name. In my opinion the domain works fine. But your opinion matters or at least I'm interested in. So, please, let me know what you think about the new name and domain. If you like it or not or what would you have chosen?

Ah! By the way, do not miss Benjamin Zander video. How Fascinating!!!

View from The Residence

When talking about Word of Mouth there is a very effective point:

>> Give something extra that customers wouldn't expect

For the honeymoon my wife and I went to Mauritius Island and stay at The Residence (5*GL). Of course we were paying a premium price but we were always getting much more than we expected:

- You ask for room breakfast and you get flowers, newspaper, weather forecast, smile from the butler... (and food!)
- We asked for a DVD movie at the reception and it was already taken. Someone returned it few minutes later and they called us (we didn't tell her our room number)
- A free lunch on the beach in a pretty cool picnic basket (the best cheesburguer never eaten)
- And so on, so on, so on, so on...

But you do not need to be luxurious hotel to give to your customers something unexpected.

- Gas station or garage: free car washing or air freshener
- Bakery: some extra cookies or a piece of chocolate
- Butchery: once you have already weigthed and printed out the sticker put an extra slice of whatever meat you are cutting
- Fruit shop: the same, give an extra piece of fruit or some vegetable that is about to espoil or you are accumulating stock (but not already spoiled. DO NOT KILL YOUR CUSTOMERS!!!)
- Office supplier: there are tons of possibilities
- But... What about a blog???

I would love to hear/read about your ideas.
Just... post a comment with your opinion, some other examples, or a link about it.

One Madison Park

When I was about to work at Tissot last year by this time, I went crazy looking for an apartment in Manhattan. Craigslist and some websites were my first options. I ended up finding a great one -East 92 street and Lexington avenue in Manhattan- through a friend connection. Very handy location, nice roommates, and a cool apartment.

During my "house hunting" I came across to something pretty interesting and not very common in Spain which I would call "Housing e-Marketing" (real estate e-marketing). I mean, on line marketing about apartment buildings. Websites that are on the Net even if all the apartments were sold out with a lot of information about the building itself: Why?

- It makes much more valuable your apartment.
- There is always someone moving in or out.
- If you want to rent it, you can link to the official site.
- If you want to sell it, you can link to the official site.
- It's plenty of useful information about the building.
- If you throw a party, your guests will find a map, how to get there, etc.

The following Yankee examples are amazing. Only if you've got "some money" you will able to buy the first one (the modern one of the picture that illustrate this post).

One Madison Park: its apartments are sold out -what a pity- but if you can afford the three floors penthouse... hurry up!!! It's only $45 million.

Chicago Spire: designed by the Spaniard architect, Santiago Calatrava. For just $5.7 million you get a 4-bedroom suite apartment and a fantastic view of Chicago.

And the first Spanish example I saw last week: Jorge Juan 7. Located in Valecia downtown, but that's far away from the Americans ones.

Jorge Juan 7, Valencia City

A building is always alive and having a website makes it even more interesting. We've got to keep learning from American real state marketing which although the crisis is pretty good.