I just met one of my son’s idols.

The founder of Blendtech and creator of the “Will it Blend” series (www.willitblend.com) — Tom Dickson.
He was demoing the Q-Series on the show floor at NRA and spent a few minutes with me to tell his story.

If you don’t know him check out his videos. He has blended everything you can imagine to demonstrate the indestructability of his blenders. iPhones (www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg1ckCkm8YI&NR=1), hockey pucks, cans of coke... you name it. When I approached his booth he was finishing up a lawn rake handle. Shoving it right in. And the beast was eating it. No complaints.
But this is not a story of great product demos, but one of great marketing. He tells it like this:

He was doing crazy things in his R&D lab to try and break the blenders. His partner saw some YouTube videos of people doing outlandish things for attention and suggested to Tom that his ‘experiments’ would fit right in. 200 million views later he has attained web cult hero status. He’s been on every major talk show and each new video spreads virally like webfire upon release. He reports that in the 2.5 years since going on YouTube sales at the company have increased 1000%.
Take that recession!

He told me that his case study has been written up in “marketing publications in every language on the globe.” When I asked him how he decides what gets ground next, he said manufacturers come to him now. “Google, ‘will it blend + nike’ and see what I mean.” I did and I do. He says a video grinding starts at $30K and goes up from there. A steal for a marketer if you ask me since the videos receive around 6 million views as soon as they go up. And I asked him if there was any concern about the viral video audience being different from what you would think a ‘blender-buyer’ might be, he said no. “We were amazed to see 20 somethings walking out of Csotco with our blenders.”

The success of Blendtech and the “Will it Blend” videos is an inarguable testament to the strength of viral advertising.
And btw, Tom Dickson is a great pitchman and you should watch him if you get a chance.

First snort's free.

When did we get so cheap that we lost the art of 'try it before you buy it?'
As marketeers, we could learn a lot from the drug dealers.
If you have a product or service that you believe has market value, factor into your marketing plans the freebies.
1. We like free things.
2. We are more likely to give you some money if we feel the ROI.

Whether your peddling mandarin chicken or ad campaigns, be like the guy with the toothpicks at the mall food court.
Let your prospective buyer sample the goods. Auto dealers have test-drives, clothiers have fitting rooms, why can't agencies let their clients try on a campaign to see if they like.

Now before you jump to... 'We do, it's called spec work.' That's not what I mean.
I really see a more tangible hit. Give them a lil' bit of something that they can actually use to prove your point. And don't forget all the others that are interested in you making the sale. Your suppliers should also be willing to play out a few freebies to grease the skids.

This is not intended to tell you something you don't know. Just a reminder that you would never buy a shirt-- from the 3 presented to you mounted on black boards-- without trying it on.

We should all want the same thing, a mutually beneficial relationship that helps grow our businesses.

Pipewrenches.

Pipewrench.
brought to you by Livescribe