Media Emerging

"Scott, why do you, a copywriter, experiment so much with Twitter, Facebook, Del.icio.us and Google AdWords?"

Good question. In short, I do it for you. You…my client. You…the start-up owner. You…the busy senior executive at a "We’re Not Small" business.

You’re busy running a company. You want to use these tools to grow your business, but you don’t have the time to learn. And for crying out loud, where do you start?! There’s a lot of "stuff" out there.

Let me make a confession: I’m a complete Internet amateur.

If you want an "expert" on SEO, pay a consultant $5,000. I saw a report from a professional SEO consultant yesterday. It was six pages of boilerplate with the client’s name spliced in at a few places. Buyer beware.

If you want a MySpace expert, talk to your kid.

On the other hand, if you want a guy who has run a small business, who speaks to Main Street business owners every day, talk to me. I don’t follow the rule book — I discard the rule book. I get online, I start a social media account, and I screw around with it until I find a way to make it work for business. And I can probably find a way to make it work for your business.

Want more info on iGoogle or YouTube video marketing? Need tips on corporate blogging? Click the orange RSS button in the upper left corner to subscribe to my blog. I blog about this stuff all the time. Skim through my archives. E-mail me a question. I putter while you work…I’m not inventing the wheel, I’m just figuring out how to use so you don’t have to.

When you run a business, there’s always a temptation to copy the marketing ideas of other companies. After all, those ideas are proven to be successful, and most of the work is already done for you.

Besides, it often seems like all the great taglines are already taken. Even setting aside the possibility of a copyright infringement lawsuit, imitating your competitor’s advertising is a bad idea. Here are a few reasons:

It makes your company look lazy.
When your customers see that you weren’t willing to do the work necessary to create original marketing, they may wonder how industrious you’ll be when you make a product or perform a service for them.

It fails to convey the uniqueness of your brand.
You’re working to offer products or services that are distinct from those of your competitors. That’s what creates demand, right? Why hide your features and benefits behind marketing that’s obviously unoriginal?

It reinforces your competitor’s brand in your customers’ minds. If you saw an ad with the tagline, “Cabbage: It’s what’s for dinner,” you’re probably going to think of a tender, juicy steak rather than a bowl of slaw. Consider all the businesses that have used a play on the “Got Milk?” tagline. Can you name them? Do you remember what they do? I don’t. All I can think of is a tall glass of cold milk (and maybe a warm chocolate chip cookie).

Imitation may be the highest form of flattery, but you’re not in business to generate traffic for your competitors. It’s much better to use fresh, original ideas to communicate your company’s distinctive message. So, resist the temptation to copy someone else’s marketing.

For my part, I’m about to give in to the temptation to eat something tasty. I’m getting really hungry for some reason.