Last weekend I was in the airport security line and saw that the bins were sponsored by Skechers.  I thought this was pretty awesome for a few reasons:

1. I just took off my shoes so I was already thinking about shoes and the fact that I need new ones
2. I just took off my belt and started to think about how I need to start working out (the ad in the bin is showing off shoes that help you get in shape)
3. This is marketing to people that can afford a plane ticket and probably have some disposable income

This goes to show that you can advertise anywhere.  You just have to pay for it.

Update: Awesome comment on reddit by Kadavy
“They should advertise slip-on/off shoes, too. I always try to remember to wear laceless shoes when I travel so the security checkpoint is less of a pain.“

My company just launched a promotion.  My buddy Andy said my title was unclear. This made me think about how Timothy Ferris tested what he should title his book. He ended up with “The Four Hour Work Week” because it got the most clicks.

I decided to do some testing to see which title I should go with.

Step 1: Brainstorm Different Titles
I kept coming up with that same titles so I reach out to my friends for some help.
Here are the 4 competitors:
A. Sell Green Award (original)
B. Win Green Giveaway (Andy’s Suggestion)
C. Sell Eco Friendly Products? Win $1600 ($1600 is the total value, but only $100 cash) (my suggestion)
D.90% chance of winning – Flying Cart Green Lights Eco-Friendly Stores. Enter and win a $1600 package. (Darin‘s suggestion)

Step 2: Get Traffic to your test with PickFu.com
(I actually first started my test with Google Adwords but it was taking a long time and getting costly.  If you have the time and resources I would suggest Google Adwords since it is a true A|B test.  With PickFu both options get read so it isn’t a true test but it is better than nothing.)
1. Go to PickFu.com and enter in your question.
2. Start with Option A and Option B from Step 1, take the winner and move down your list

Step 3: Let the Results Pick the Winner
http://pickfu.com/HL8GNY

Step 4: Change your Title
Here is the result: http://flyingcart.com/blog/flying-cart-green-lights-eco-friendly-stores/

I really think people should do this for all titles.  YouTube titles, twitter/facebook status messages (to maximize shares), product titles on your store (and ebay/etsy), and even your kids name (jk).

Thanks again to Andy Angelos, Darin Eich, and Tim Ferris for inspiring this post.  You should follow them if you want really insightful stuff.
—
PS You can apply to our awesome Eco Friendly Promotion here
PSS If you retweet this article I will send you a personal ecard from someecards

I just learned the coolest thing about Facebook advertising, CPM advertising! (apparently it has been around for a while) CPM allows you to pay per 1,000 impressions (different from CPC where you pay when someone clicks on your ad). Think of CPM as a billboard. This is great for big brands like Coca Cola and Big Budget Movies (like Avatar) that are going for mass appeal.

So… how can CPM advertising help you?  Here are a few ways:

New Restaurant/Coffee Shop/Retail Store Opening
Studies suggest that people need to hear a company’s name at least seven times before they trust and respect it enough to become a customer. By posting an ad in the background people will be more familiar with your store name. So if they walk by it they will be more likely to walk in or say something like “Yeah… I heard about that place somewhere.” The reason this can work well for physical retail stores is because on Facebook you can target a specific location (just like a billboard).

Have an Image of Hot People in Your Facebook Ad
A great way to get people to click on your ad is to have a picture of someone hot. This way you don’t have to pay for the actual clicks. If you use this strategy you better have a good way of converting the new visitors after the click otherwise you will end up with angry visitors.

Make Yourself a Brand
Sometimes all you need to do to get new business or increase your current hourly consulting rates is to be a mini celebrity. Advertise yourself like crazy based on keywords. I’m assuming the person below is using the keyword “Social Media”.

Give CPM advertising on Facebook a shot. It could seriously slash your advertising costs.

Please let me know if you enjoyed this post in the comments.

1. Aggressive Indifference. Give the “I don’t care if you buy this or not” attitude.  This is something you must do physically and not verbally.  Don’t be desperate to make the sale be calm and cool like Fonzi.

Check out Mighty Putty‘s Infomercial.  They aren’t desperate for sales.  Either you buy it or you don’t.

2. Fear of Loss. The Home Shopping Channel does a great job of using Fear of Loss by displaying a countdown timer.  Pretty much saying “Look folks this deal is going fast.  Act now!”.

3. Sense of Urgency.  Make the viewer feel as if buying a product is safer than not buying the product.  The risk is lower than the reward of owning the product. At no point in an infomercial does the viewer think “I’m afraid to buy.” Rather they will say “Your price is too high.”  It is a bigger risk not to buy the product.

Check out how Snuggie says “Order Now” to get 2 Snuggies.  I feel like if I don’t order now I will miss out on an awesome buy 1 get 1 free deal.

4. Keeping up with the Jones’ (reassuring them someone else bought it, they’re not the first).  Show the viewers that people just like them are buying the product.  Shower them with customer testimonials reassuring them that they are not crazy for wanting to buy the product.

Check out how Slap Chop gets customers to sell you their product at the 2m10s mark.

Thanks to Mike for explaining each infomercial sales technique and inspiring me to try out p90x.