I guess I better go out and get myself a copy of “The Long Tail” by Chris Anderson, before they’re all gone.

Found this via Chris Thilk: Day of the Longtail Trailer.

Here it is, in all its YouTube glory:

Later: What the deuce?? It seems I’m having a little trouble embedding a YouTube video here…Instead, here’s a link while I work out the problem.

Actually, I’ve never been internet famous. Not unless you count the small gaggle (I think we’re between a gaggle and a horde, at present) of you, faithful readers.

But plenty of people are using social media tools to become quite famous, indeed. From the Wall Street Journal (no sense giving you a link…a story about bloggers that isn’t free!) via Steve Rubel: the Social Media Power Players.

More on that: My good mate and designer Rob (a world trekker in his own right) is just “chuffed” with Matt Harding, bottom left in the image (see Steve’s post). Click to read Rob’s post, where you can watch Matt dance badly in several countries.

This exciting new world of Viral (capital V for Mack) marketing, where everybody has a voice, means that business people must remember that technology has made it a lot easier for people to tell ten friends when they are NOT happy with you, too.

From the Church of the Customer Blog: A TV reporter from Tampa, FL is so miffed with his plumber that he posted about it on his blog, and again on Craigslist. Word is spreading, and now when you do a Google Search for Chris’s (sic) Plumbing Service, right close to the top of the results you see his warning about them, on Craigslist. In fact, it’s six results higher than Chris’ own site.

Ouch.

Here’s an interesting story I spotted today at “My Boring Ass Life,” a blog by filmmaker Kevin Smith.

(Smith as Silent Bob)

Twice this week Kevin has hit back at critics, once after Joel Siegel walked out of a screening of Clerks 2, and once today when he was criticized for putting the names of 10, 000 MySpace fans at the end of the credits. As a marketing idea, this one was brilliant, and Smith credits that one to the Weinstein Company. It got people talking and it got press. And it happened on his MySpace, which we should all know by now is free.

The real interesting part of the story is that we’re seeing a real trend here: The critics of the mainstream media are no longer safe. You’re entitled to your opinion, Ms. Critic, but so is everybody else. And in the case of Nikki Finke, she’s being blasted by fans of Smith en masse for her close-minded evaluation of the tactic. Check out the comments on his duplicate post from Myspace.

As Smith notes, not a single industry honcho or guild member has complained, even for one second. (Finke claims that putting fans in the credits is an insult to the folks who work so hard to earn those credits day in and day out) Well guess what Finke? It’s a new world, where the audience is the marketer, and is just as deserving of being honored for posterity for their word of mouth efforts in the credits, which they can then freeze frame for their friends when they buy the DVD. (Because they will. All 10, 000 of them)

Just another example of how the gap between blogging and traditional media is closing. Soon, not only will journalists have to write for their audience and Google (a skill they’re slowly mastering) but now they’re inevitably going to have to accept the fact that they’ll have to open up comments, and leave their writings at the mercy of immediate response from their readers.

I hope Clay won’t mind that I pulled this from an email he sent me much earlier today:

Traditional media is so far behind the news cycle; they report business news two/three DAYS late. By that time, it’s been digested, blogged and commented about by bloggers everywhere. Faddishness? I think not. Of course, we’re not journalists. We’re not the first draft of history. Journalistic media will always hold this place in our society.

What we do is provide the commentary in the margins of the first draft. Once journalistic media can get out of its “Traditional” (mired in print) phase and begin reporting in truly real time… well, that’ll be a different day.

I agree almost entirely, except I want to add that when the mainstream media opens themselves up to instant feedback, the way the blogospere operates, then that “commentary in the margins” will be of as much or more value than what he refers to as the first draft, and writers will be cautious of that fact, to say the least.

It’s a common theme here: Word of Mouth. I love a good word of mouth story, especially when I know that the “campaign” was premeditated and empowered by a smart company. I am a marketer, after all.

Stormhoek is an example of a company that has spent what resources they have on trying to generate good buzz, and as the blogophiles reading this already know, it’s all due to the efforts of one man: Hugh MacLeod.

For newbies, a quick catch-up: Hugh MacLeod is a marketer, blogger and artist from England, who draws cartoons on the back of business cards:

He also has interest in a few companies, Stormhoek among them. Using nothing more than a few good ideas, a bit of free product and marketing to an influential community using free channels (his blog, email, et al) he’s been able to generate loads of word of mouth for this small wine company from South Africa.

But at this point, all of that is old news. The technophiles of Silicon Valley (and the world, really) have already made Stormhoek a success, just as MacLeod always figured they would. And that’s a wonderful thing. This is very Long Tail, (we’ll get to that in a later post, when I’ve read the book!) targeting a small niche market and enjoying “boutique” success in a world of industry giants.

But the reason I write this post today is because this “little wine that could” doesn’t just make for good blog posts and technology conference small-talk fodder, but apparently it’s worthy of being immortalized in song:

The Stormhoek Song, by Rob Lane, aka the Weekend Wino.

This is when word of mouth achieves a level of magic, when the community of users feels so strongly about your product that they pour their heart and soul (and considerable talents) into evangelizing on behalf of your company. And as a customer, who would you trust? The copywriters and creatives paid thousands to craft the pricey print ad, or the fan who wrote a song about how much he loves the product, with no encouragement at all?

Important note: Hugh and Stormhoek have never “led” their community to say anything in particular. They’ve just provided some free product to people they thought might spread the word, and then got out of the way. And now they have a free jingle, with built-in passion and a kick-ass steel drum accompaniment, IMO.

I have GOT to find a bottle of this stuff for my wife! Hugh? When can we expect a Canadian distributor?

(Use of the word evangelist is courtesy of the Church of the Customer Blog)

One of the many blogs that I check in on (daily) is by David Meerman Scott.

David and I share a lot of beliefs when it comes to how to build a great website, and successfully promote your business with it (read: make sales). Simply put, we’re both fans of content first; give your readers some value on your site, and they will become your customers. The biggest mistake you can make as a business is not having suitable information on your site to match your search terms, especially when there’s a bulky ad-spend on the line.

Today I read a post by David that made me say “Yes! Eureka! Tell the world, David!” Okay, all I actually did was click over to write this post right away, but I do emphatically support the logic he’s throwing down. Here’s a quick excerpt:

“Remember, driving people to a site or landing page is just the start of a sales process. Compelling web content drives people to action.”

If you haven’t already, go to David’s home page and download “The New Rules of PR,” and that should convince you to buy “Cashing in with Content.”

Keep up the good work, David.

When you do things right, it’s amazing what can happen.

Keeping in mind that word of mouth is still the most powerful form of marketing, why don’t more companies focus on giving their customers a reason to be evangelists for their cause? It’s a simple formula: Give the people who already care about your company a bit of incentive to tell their friends about you, and they just might create a viral marketing phenomenon on your behalf. As I keep seeming to repeat in each of my posts (stop selling, you snake!) Tell Ten Friends is based around the principle that if you use this logic, and use some of the available technology online, you can make magic happen for your company, for your brand, and of course for your bottom line.

Let’s recap the events of yesterday: Chris writes a blog. It’s a good one, and it’s about Movie Marketing. Big studio contacts Chris, and empowers him to talk about their upcoming film. Mack takes notice, and is blown away by the vision and cooperation of said studio. He encourages others to spread the word, and we do (We’re not used to that kind of treatment from big business, you see. I’d love to see the number of resulting links from each one of these posts, when the dust has settled on this one).

So now a slew (I counted them. It’s officially a slew) of bloggers are spreading the word on behalf of a studio with a marketing budget big enough to move mountains all on its own. All because they had the good sense to throw a bone to the people most likely to tell the world about them. Mack says it best in his post from today:

“We talk, we spread ideas, and enjoy doing so. We especially love to talk about companies that are smart enough to talk to us. The question your company needs to ask itself is: Why didn’t you give us a reason to talk about you?”

Well said. And this doesn’t just apply to the blogging community. Every company worth its weight in salt knows that it’s more expensive to find new customers than it is to retain existing ones. To the tenth power or so, if I’m not mistaken. So here’s what I suggest…Even out that ratio a bit. Spend a bit of time and effort, and maybe even some cash to empower your existing customer base to tell ten friends about you.

To quote Seth for billionth time (I’ll have to paraphrase in this case, I’ve searched enough urls in this post as it is): Being remarkable doesn’t have to be too difficult. You just need to give people a reason to make a remark about you. It’s really that simple.

Thanks once again to Mack Collier and all of the members of the Viral Community for participating in this shining example of what’s possible when you make the effort, and please the right people.

Okay Mack, I’ll bite.

A while back, I talked about how blogs are becoming more and more influential, and as a result, smart PR people would start pitching bloggers in the same way they’ve pitched traditional media for eons. I know this, because I’m one of those PR guys contacting bloggers, and occasionally someone deems me worthy of being one of those bloggers with a suitable audience, and I’ll get pitched.

Well, in the world of movie marketing, they don’t get any more influential that Chris Thilk. Chris is a MySpace friend, and I’ve been a subscriber to his Movie Marketing Madness for some time, although the guy posts so frequently that I’ll have to admit, I can’t keep up. But Chris’ efforts have not gone unnoticed by the likes of Universal Studios, who contacted him and offered all of the info on how they’re marketing the upcoming feature length remake of Miami Vice.

Back to business: To some, this might not sound all that odd. Doesn’t it make sense that the most popular movie marketing blog would be the target of studios trying to get a bit more “press” for their films? Yes, it makes perfect sense, but the precedent thus far has been anything but cooperative from the studio side. Summary: Paramount Pictures doesn’t get it…and if you must see Transformers the movie, download it!

And so today we applaud Universal Studios, and remind the world that not all bloggers are evil critics, waiting to lash out at any business willing to put themselves out there (I applaud Dell for finally starting a blog, especially when they knew they were going to be shell-shocked for the first few weeks).

Keep up the good work Chris, and big thanks to Mack for this post, too. Although writer’s block isn’t a problem these days, it’s nice to sink my teeth into a story/cause where I can feel like I’m making a difference.

Update:: Chris is keeping a running tally on bloggers that have sank their teeth into this item. We look forward to his column on Miami Vice!

Update #2:: So is Mack. This is a perfect example of viral marketing at its best. Universal, you are setting a good example, and reaping the benefits of “getting it.”

Tell Ten Friends has its first “employee,” not counting Rob, who is his own man, and is more the boss of me than the other way around.

Meet Sigrid the Intern, who joined Tell Ten Friends yesterday evening and is already putting her time in. She was already a blogger, on both Friendster and MySpace, and now has her own home (mandated by me) on Wordpress as well. And a snappy new email address: tellsigrid@gmail.com.

It would sure be encouraging for this energetic, young and underpaid new marketing intern if you drop by her new blog to say a quick hello. Maybe even subscribe (the feedburner feed is still coming, so watch for that announcement) to find out what she’s up to, and what she learns along the way.

Now, I must send her a handful of ebooks to catch her up on what we’re up to here at Tell Ten Friends.

Welcome Sigrid, and big thanks to my wife Alex for finding me an intern who works through the night!

One of the easiest ways to promote the virtues on new media marketing is to remind clients that everything that you do to attract customers online can be measured for its level of effectiveness. Site stats, blog subscribers, email newsletters, online conversion rates; it’s all completely measurable, and 100% accountable as an investment.

Not so with traditional media. But that might be changing (even though it’s not going to make much difference, imo). Seth Godin reported the other day that Nielsen will finally be rating the viewership of commercials. This is scaring everyone in the TV ad business. They’re afraid of what they might find out. I’ll make a prediction: You’ll find out that for the most part you’re setting money on fire. Plus, you still won’t be able to equate viewership to sales, so alas you’re still not proving any definitive value on your investment. He also reports the belief that newspaper distribution numbers are a lot less accurate than they used to be, likely in an attempt to keep up the illusion that people are still reading them (my words, not his).

I know sometimes I sound like such a critic of mass media, but for the most part I’m not. I watch a lot of t.v., and a lot of commercials. I read a lot of newspapers, too. I just disagree with the cost of mass media advertising, and the lack of accountability for the money spent.

Advertisers must be feeling the same way I do, too. This week in Canada, one of the largest media networks (I say media, because they own several) bought out one of the other big ones. BellGlobeMedia, already a media behemoth in Canada, now owns all of CHUM’s TV and radio stations, consolidating the media landscape in Canada even further. It’s funny too, since CHUM only just recently abandoned the concepts that their company was built on, and very quickly proceeded to tank, and get swallowed up by the competition. Full disclosure: I’m a former CHUM employee (a rather jaded one at that, but then again right now they all are). I used to edit the Speaker’s Corner show in Victoria, with my good friend Dan Lupton, among other duties. One former CHUM employee shares her recollection of what once was, in this touching article from BC’s The Tyee.ca. Carla, I too bought into Moses’ vision, and although I haven’t even met the man, I still believe in it.

Finally, to round out this gloomy look at the state of the TV business, I point you to Adcouver, where Ryan Ashton (who now lives just three blocks from me) relays a post from Steve Rubel about how YouTube has reached 100 million video streams per day, while the major US networks are reporting record lows in their ratings.

Is the future bright for television? Yes, but not the way we know it now. The major US networks should first learn a lesson or two from the likes of Rocketboom, who now have a new host, and she’s great! Hell, they could learn a lot from any number of the millions of kids out there with nothing more than webcams and ideas, that have made YouTube the success that is today.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have an episode of Entourage to download.

Update: Holy hell! Talk about great TV! Found in the Rocketboom episode today: Human Space Invaders, and Human Pong, et en Francais, aussi!!