COMING AT YOU WEEK OF 12.21.21
WELCOME TO THE HOLIDAY EDITION ❄ ❄
We dressed up for you. But before the party starts, don’t forget.👇🏼
January 11: Advice from Adam Alter
We don’t just think Adam is cool. The world has agreed about that. He wrote these two books:
1) Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked
2) Drunk Tank Pink: And Other Unexpected Forces That Shake How We Think, Feel, and Behave
Plus, he gave this famous Ted Talk that has over 4 million views. So we will not be accepting excuses for missing that week’s newsletter.
THIS WEEK’S MOST IMPORTANT MARKETING NEWS
TIKTOK IS OPENING A CHAIN OF DELIVERY-ONLY RESTAURANTS ACROSS THE US
To pull this off, they’ll be partnering with Virtual Dining Concepts and Grubhub. The restaurant menus will be full of foods featured in viral videos from the app. And wow, we are thrilled about this. We don’t care how bad the food is, we just freaking love when businesses do weird crap. And by weird crap we mean unexpected stuff that could definitely fail. ‘Cause that’s what it’s all about, man!
Anyway, TWITTER MADE A 2022 PLANNER WHICH IS MORE USEFUL THAN WE EXPECTED
They included a section about finding your brand’s Twitter voice which prompts you to fill in the blank for scenarios like, “The background image of their phone would be ____.” Stuff like that can be a good exercise.
Then for each month of 2022, they prompt you to choose key objectives and fill out a post-mortem (a report of what did/didn’t work that month). If you take the time to choose objectives and analyze your performance, you can pretty much guarantee a stronger social game.
SHIPPING PRICES WILL INCREASE IN JANUARY
This isn’t out-of-the-ordinary. This year FedEx, UPS, and DHS are all increasing their prices by about an average of 6%. But, USPS is increasing their prices by about 3%. Remember to communicate well with your customers if you plan to adjust your shipping costs accordingly.
If you run an online store through Shopify and use their Shopify Shipping, then you’re privy to the better rates that they negotiate for you.
INSTAGRAM IS TESTING 60-SECOND VIDEOS IN STORIES
In case this hasn’t ruined your life before, Instagram breaks up videos in your stories to 15-second segments. But they’re testing expanding that to 60 seconds. That makes it way easier to edit videos in stories, and it could make Instagram stories a bit more like TikTok.
It also has implications for ads. Right now video ads in stories are limited by that time limit, but it looks like that will be changing soon. 🤞🏻
HOW TO DO GOOD FOR THE WORLD AND YOUR BUSINESS
(WITH EXAMPLES)
Jacob Marley is the creepy ghost featured in A Christmas Carol
We agree with good, old Jacob Marley that “mankind [is our] business.” And that’s the number reason we think that giving is crazy cool. We feel all warm and fuzzy when we help people out. But giving happens to also be good for business.
We’re gonna show you examples of giving campaigns so you can (1) be a good person and (2) help your business.
Our examples talk about campaigns that:
- Donate revenue from certain purchases to a worthy cause
- Raise so much money that they make news headlines, which grows awareness of their business
- Gift a product or service to the winner of a raffle and people can enter the raffle by donating to a nonprofit
A STRONG CONNECTION BETWEEN THE CAUSE AND YOUR BRAND
“I’ll never forget the 12-year old girl who walked into my room in the ER as a nurse. Attempted suicide. As I did her assessment, she muttered some words under her breath. ‘If only I could throw away my phone.’”
Meg Miles, the founder of Wilma (a workout app for women) told this story. She explained, “I knew from that moment on I never wanted to be the reason someone felt ‘less than.’ And how much I wanted to build a platform that could lift + encourage.”
With that story, Meg introduced a giving campaign for her company that would raise money for Primary Children’s Hospital. People could donate in a few ways, including buying a subscription to her fitness app. She donated all subscriptions bought during the campaign.
Your initiative’s success is connected to:
(1) the strength of the connection between your brand and the cause you donate to
(2) your ability to convey that connection
The story Meg shared is compelling. Plus, it explains why the company will be donating to Primary Children’s. AND, it rings true with anyone familiar with their offering. Meg talks about how her experience influenced her to make something that lifts and encourages, and the product she’s made walks that walk.
INDIRECT DOESN’T MEAN ‘NO RESULTS’
The Instagram community, @SharonSaysSo, raised enough money to forgive $147 million dollars of medical debt. That is a pretty penny, and the world noticed. Sharon McMahon, the account owner, ended up being interviewed by ABC News, The Daily Show, CNN and many more about her account and the money her community raised.
Sharon makes money teaching paid courses about the American government. While this medical debt forgiveness initiative had no direct tie to how she makes money, it drastically increased awareness about her, grew her social following, and therefore increased course purchases.
She was also strategic when choosing where to use the money they raised. RIP Medical Debt is an organization that purchases large quantities of medical debt which allows $1 raised to forgive about $100 of debt.
OUTSIDE THE BOX A BIT
Solar Negotiators is encouraging people to donate to the Resiliency Center of Fresno by offering a free solar installation. Each person who donates at least $50 to the cause is entered in a raffle to win.
Solar Negotiators helps people find the right solar provider. So they raise awareness of their business, while encouraging people to donate. 👌🏾
WE HOPE YOU’RE MORE INSPIRED TO GIVE
Now a word of caution to this tale: if you fake it, you will fail. As in, if you make a giving gimmick instead of a giving campaign, people will notice and it won’t help you.
