Successful Blog

Marketing Strategy ala Mickey Mouse

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Mickey Mouse shadow

With the Disney, Pixar, Murdoch deal in the news, I’ve been reading a lot about Michael Eisner again. Today Newsweek’s Nick Tabakoff has an interview with Michael Eisner, the Mouseketeer who gets credit for taking Mickey from a household name to worldwide prominence.

As Nick Tabakoff at Newsweek says,

How did he transform Disney? Simply, by making decisions.

I have a personal connection with Mickey Mouse. He and I grew up with the same initials. So I paid attention when Eisner took over. Of course, it wasn’t just making decisions that made a difference, it was the decisions that the Head-Mouseketeer made.

So How Did Eisner Do It?

  • Eisner defined the brand. Eisner let us know what Mickey stood for. A Disney movie, theme park, restaurant has values. They’re not written down for us, but we all know what they are. Movies that don’t meet the Disney brand are made for Miramax. Chefs at the 5-star Napa Rose Restaurant in the Anaheim resort have no facial hair. Everything Disney is clean, polite, wholesome, and good.
  • Eisner understands the value of quality. Nothing Disney was done half way. Disney products and content were high value for customers at every level, in every size, shape, and form. In other words, he made sure customers wanted to buy what he had.
  • Eisner differentiated his product to the point of exclusivity. They are the only Disney. Bugs Bunny wasn’t, isn’t, and never will be Mickey Mouse. Disney jealously guards all of its intellectual property to see that it stays that way. Use of a Disney song or image without permission is done at your peril. We might frown or joke about it, but it works to protect the Disney brand.
  • Eisner made more things for current customers by extending what he had.

    • Disney had made a handful of films when Eisner got there. Eisner used those seeds to grow a garden that included hits such as The Lion King, Toy Story, and Monsters Inc. He made more products his current customers would want to buy. They kept coming back.

  • Eisner branched out from where he was to make the same kind of things for new customers. Under Miramax we got Good Will Hunting and Shakespeare in Love. He didn’t go into whole new markets–a high risk venture–but changed what he had to meet new customers’ needs.
  • Eisner then extended further into Disney Cruises when the market was ready. Grown-ups get a vacation while the kids are kept entertained. Enough said there.
  • Eisner opened Disney Stores. Now he gave customers more opportunities to buy the things he knew they wanted.

The circle is complete–more things that customers want to buy, and more customers who have more opportunities to buy them–time to go around the circle again.

What Can I Take from the Mouse?

Eisner didn’t make random decisions. He followed solid business strategy. Anyone can use these strategic principles for success in any enterprise from a service business to a blog.

  • Know your brand and what it stands for.
  • Test your ideas against that brand.
  • Offer new products or ideas for the customers/readers you already have. THEN add related items that will bring new customers/readers into the fold.
  • Give every customer more opportunities to interact with your products whenever you can.
  • Let the market tell you when it’s ready. Don’t give your customers things they don’t want or don’t expect.
  • Never skimp on quality. Never go against your brand.

I’m sure you’ve heard it all before. Eisner is just one who actually did it. There’s no question Michael Eisner has his detractors. Likewise, there’s no question he made the Mouse a success. Either way, he’s not a rocket scientist. He’s just a guy who followed solid business strategy, which makes him one in a million, I’d guess.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Read more about Michael Eisner:

Newsweek: The Upside of Ego

Disney’s Dreamweaver

Steve Jobs Knocks Michael Eisner, Disney Films

BBC: Film heads and Eisner exit Disney

Great Find: The Messaging Times by Tom O’Leary

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The Messaging Times

My friends agree that one thing I do well is wander aimlessly. They also say I could stay in my condo for days on end and never leave. That’s why I seem so well suited for the Internet. . . .

Recently I followed a link from a well-stated comment by a man named Tom O’Leary back to his site, Messaging Times. I knew some folks here would want to know about this blog as soon as I saw it. Still I thought I’d check it out for a few posts. I’ve been reading it now for a while. It’s time I shared my secret.

Great Find: The Messaging Times by Tom O’Leary
Type of Blog: Online Communication and Email Marketing
URL: messagingtimes.blogspot.com
Target Audience: Bloggers who do business online or by email

Content: I first caught up with Tom O’Leary reading a comment on Tom Peter’s blog. When I followed him home, the post for the 2006 Email Marketing Benchmark Guide was on his front page. I decided to poke around a bit. This blog takes online and email communications seriously. Mr. O’Leary tries and tests things in the tradition of a true marketer, and he encourages his readers to do the same. You can almost hear him saying, “Testing, constantly testing,” into a microphone. You can also tell that this is his passion.

His posts are targeted, well-written, and show that there is experience behind the words. This screenshot of some recent posts shows that he discusses topics that don’t often find their way onto the casual marketing blog. This man knows his business and is glad to share what he knows about it.

If you use email or online to promote yourself or your business, or you ever plan on doing so, bookmark this blog. There’s just so many reasons to do so and no reason not to.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Success in a Blink and a Blink Test

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In 2005, Malcolm Gladwell’s bestselling book “Blink.” introduced the idea that we make make decisions about people and things almost instantaneously– long before we do the cognitive thinking about them.

Last week, Reuters reported that Canadian researchers have found that people make just such decisions about Internet sites, deciding in less than a blink whether they will stay or click away from them. Here’s a link to the article.

Reuters Screen Shot Article Link

I wonder what Reuters was thinking to write an article so short that you miss the whole thing if you blink?

A Blink Test

Before you blink away, you might try this the next time you bring up your blog or web page. Try to see your blog as if it were one you’d never seen it before.

  • 1. Close your eyes for a minute. Then open them once the page is up.
  • 2. Pay attention to where your eyes fall first. Is that where you want them to?
  • 3. Look at a blank wall or a blank piece of paper for a minute. Then look back again. What attracts or distracts you? Does anything make you want to stay or leave?

Use what you find out to make sure your blog gets a “yes” in that first blink.

THIS JUST IN:
Gary an SOB over at Blogoplex did a test on several blogs including this one . . . Click through to read his blink test results. See whether you agree.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Re;ated articles:
Blog Promotion: Checking Out Curb Appeal
Five Design Basics to Never Forget
Blog Design Checklist
Great Photo Resources to Support Readers

chartreuse (Beta) Thinks Outside the Knee Jerk Reaction

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Chartreuse bottle image

Chartreuse. It’s a drink. It’s a color. It’s a drink. It’s a color. It’s a drink and a color. That’s not relevant here.

What’s relevant is it’s a blog called chartreuse (Beta). It’s also the name of the MAN who writes it. He’s a thinker, who brings original ideas to the table.

Winds of controversy have been blowing again. This time over a blogger who set up a site called Amblogger–to mean Amateur Blogger–and took the exact code for the design from Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger site. The stolen version is no longer up, but Darren has a screen shot in his discussion of the incident. I won’t recap the story that will be retold.

I want to tell of a new voice on the scene, chartreuse (Beta), who after analyzing all of the data, came up with a different read on what happened and with what could have been a more propitious response. He thinks outside the knee-jerk reaction to find the logical solution that works. Read his article which I’ve linked to the image below, and you’ll see what I mean. Boyhowdy, I like how this man thinks.

Link to Article at Chartreuse (Beta)

chartreuse (Beta), next time you’re in Chicago I’d like to buy you a drink–any color you choose.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Thank you, Blogarithm–But Why?

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Remember when I spoke of backlinks that were totally bogus?

Well this has me totally confused. . . .

In checking my backlinks for Letting me be . . . random wondering and philosophy I found this link to Bookarithm.com, a page that says their subscribers subscribe to me. Being a visual person, I was taken by how the page on which I’m linked at a glance seems to imply that I am a subscriber too.

blogarithm page

We know I’m fair and I’m nice, but I’m not necessarily the most savvy chick. Until I checked my links, I didn’t know that this blog existed. At least I thought I didn’t, but maybe I had subscribed. The info said date added 10/25. Added to what? I wondered. Did I add it to Blogarithm and not remember? I’ve made mistakes before. You know that.

Thinking perhaps my memory was slipping, I decided to check whether I had signed up for an account–one that I didn’t remember. I tried to login. Here is the message I got.

blogarithm setup

Nice to know my memory is still in tact–or at least that theirs is as bad as mine is. I put on my detective hat and did a little blog-digging. Went straight to Wholinkstome to see what this blog was about. Here’s what I found.

blogarithm wholinkstome

Now I am totally, completely, undeniably, and utterly confused.

Why would a blog with a PageRank 7 need to link a little blog like me? I appreciate the benefit of the Google Juice, believe me. Thank you, Blogarighm, but I’m not sure I understand why.

I just got !!! The subscribers are likely to subscribe to Michael Noggs blog not to Blogarithm–I knew I was making a mistake in here somewhere.

As my friend Nancy says, “Liz, sometimes your so fast, and sometimes you’re sooooo sloooow.”

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Speaking of Zeitgeist–Don’t Leave Trends

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Blogger know thyself.

While you’re finding out how your readers search, why not personalize Google to find out what you might learn from your own search trends?

Just last week Google introduced Trends–a feature that lets you look at your top searches, clicks, and other info about your personal search activity. To use it, you only have to sign on to your Google account when you search.
All of the details are described for you at this page of the googleblog_blogspot.com logo.

The key features of Personalized Search offered through Trends are that it

  • Orders your search based on what’s relevant to YOU. Over time, new search results are ordered using your search history, particularly what you have clicked on in the past, to deliver more personalized and relevant results to what you are looking for.
  • Past searches–web pages you have browsed– are available to you for browsing, researching, and removal.
  • Labels and bookmarks you attach to your Personalized Searches can be accessed from any computer.

I’ve been playing with it for the last three days and here’s what the read out looks like.

Google Trends

I’m thinking this could be very useful for that “where did I see that” syndrome. No extra work, a better record. I like that.

–ME “Liz” Strauss