Zappos.com and Obamarketing

[Editorial content. All opinions expressed are my own.]

The wife and I (mainly the wife) have been looking for a pair of winter boots for our pre-teen daughter. As a man, I don’t usually “look” this long for anything. It’s been almost three weeks now…

We started at all the usual spots - mall, shoe stores, outlet, etc - and have since moved online in our quest for the perfect pair of winter boots. I’m still not sure what the perfect pair of winter boots looks like, but I know we’re still looking.

So, this weekend I had a brilliant idea to go to Zappos.com and take a look at their selection. I follow internet marketing closely (with my trusty feed demon RSS account) and have been hearing a lot of buzz about Zappos.com and their cutting-edge, Web 2.0, Obama-marketing… “Obamarketing” for short… YES! I did just coin a new word.

Anyway, we looked through the Zappos.com website. It is very easy to navigate. Lots of great choices. Easy shipping and return shipping policies. Everything is absolutely fantastic… except the prices. Since we’ve already done endless research on all the boots within a 50 mile radius of my front door, we found the prices to be quite a bit higher than what is available locally.

I immediately went on a hunt for “zappos.com discount” and “zappos.com coupon” and all the other bargain-hunting derivatives. I mean, if I could find the right coupon code, my wife would end all this nonsense and just buy the stinkin’ boots, right? Unfortunately, the best I could come up with was free upgraded overnight shipping and a few other coupon codes that no longer work.

[NOTE: If anyone at Zappos.com is reading this and would like to post a few good coupon codes in the comment section - please, feel free.]

In this economy, I believe selection and customer service are going to find themselves trumped more and more often by price… especially with gas down under $2.00 a gallon. People are willing to trade their time for a few bucks when they feel the squeeze… and I do mean “a few” bucks. It doesn’t really make sense to me, but it is the reality that we live in. Folks will waste 4-5 hours of their life driving all over town to save an extra $5. Can you say “CRAZY”?

As my father is so fond of saying, “Perception is 90% of reality”… actually, my wife will tell you that is my favorite saying too. I’ve just shortened it a bit - “Perception IS Reality”.

Here’s your take-away - if there is one:

Everyone has their own reality. In this economy, reality is going to trend towards pricing. Obamarketing is about finding out where the parade is, where it is going and getting in front of it as fast as possible. Reposition your proposition to target the reality of your prospects for maximum return… throw common sense out the window… ignore last years focus groups (those things are worthless anyway)… make the trend your friend… tap into the hidden motivators of your target group and then get out your marching baton.

Zappos.com is a great online store. They’ve got great word of mouth. Their Twitter tactics are stellar… a real Web 2.0 marketing study. I’m sure a lot more people will be using their website to research their next in-store purchase in the coming months… and they’ll sell a few more shoes themselves too.

Happy Shopping,
Mike

p.s. We ended up downloading a 20% coupon from Justice for Girls to take in-store. My daughter will end up wearing the same boots half a million other girls are wearing this year, but hey, we’ll save $7 and you can’t beat the price!

How To Measure Advertising

Michael Fortin posted Claude Hopkins’ classic Scientific Advertising on his blog for everyone to read. Pick up a copy of this book or use the link above to read it online. It is a must-read if you’re spending money advertising online.

12 Years Wasted? Ask Thomas Young.

Before my talents in internet marketing blossomed, I was better known as “Pastor Mike”.

I guess the crazy, radical, right-wing, evangelical, fundamental, ultra-conservative, bible-thumping, tongue-talking, charismatic, pentecostal, faith-healing, rapture-believing, 1-step away from snake handling figure of speech would be that I was “called into the ministry” at the Assembly of God church camp in Turner Falls, OK when I was 16 years old.

I went into full-time youth ministry straight out of college in 1992… never dreaming the ride would last 12 years. Most guys burn out on youth ministry within the first 6-12 months… they either go broke, go crazy or get invited to “go away”.

I like to say that I didn’t give up youth ministry - it gave up on me. The church I helped pioneer with my father-in-law closed in 2004. After a promising start, attendance eventually fizzled. There weren’t enough people left to keep the lights on and the doors open… it wasn’t for a lack of trying (i.e. extreme sacrifice, blind faith, wild optimism, etc.) That was 4 years ago and I still can’t figure out what the valuable lesson was… maybe there wasn’t one.

There’s a possibility that maybe, just maybe, a few of those years were well spent on Thomas…

Thomas Young
Early in my 12 years of youth ministry I met Thomas Young. It was under rather unusual circumstances… almost everything with Thomas was a tad “unusual” - at least for me.

How did I meet Thomas? Well, I heard a noise outside my office. I was already jumpy about working at the church alone. Eventually, I got up the nerve to go investigate and there he was… a young teenager quivering behind the sanctuary door. To this day, I’m not exactly sure why he was hiding or who he was hiding from - all I know is that the first time I saw Thomas, he looked at me like a deer in headlights, held his finger over his mouth and whispered “shhh. be quiet.” I held my peace and waited until he felt like the danger had passed - and that’s where the whole thing started.

Thomas started coming to my youth services soon after. Nobody dragged Thomas to church. He didn’t come because he had to. Thomas came to church because he wanted to. When I kept attendance, Thomas was always one of the teenagers with perfect attendance. He hardly ever missed church for a lot of years. Our youth group was called Power House Youth, PH Youth for short.

I Don’t Believe In God
Thomas would tell you himself that he didn’t even believe in God. He would ask me, “Mike, how can I believe in your God when he lets all of these bad things happen to me?” Through the years, Thomas made some extremely good arguments. His points were alway well thought out and his logic was sound. Thomas was extremely intelligent. I figure he was at least twice as smart as me and I always felt like a light-weight in the heavy-weight championship. Each time, I would give him what the Bible said about his concerns. He was respectful of what I had to say, but would eventually return with an argument in the contrary.

Being a good pentecostal, charismatic, bible-thumping youth pastor - I would preach the hell-fire sermons, the “don’t miss heaven for anything” sermons, and the “God loves you so much he would leave the 99 just to find you” messages too. Each one preached with the hope that perhaps that night would be the night that Thomas would respond to the altar call… he never did. (He wasn’t beyond laughing at me during this part of the service, but raise his hand? No, he didn’t do that.)

He never did - until one Wednesday night many years later. I can remember that night as clear as yesterday. It wasn’t because I had prepared a “flames of hell lickin’ your boots” message - as a matter of fact, I remember that I had just phoned it in. No preparation to speak of, no fervor, no zeal, no passion - just an opportunity at the end of my lazy sermon for anyone who doesn’t know the Lord to raise their hand and accept Jesus as their Savior.

And then it happened…
One hand went up. It was the only hand in the room. Thomas looked up at me with his hand held high and I could tell he was serious. My heart jumped out of my chest and I invited him to the front of the room. Thomas prayed with me that night and made a public confession of Jesus Christ before everyone in the PH Youth room… and then he went away.

I hadn’t seen him for many, many years. I knew he had an extremely troubled life. We emailed a few times, but didn’t keep in good contact. It was my fault for not being more proactive. He knew what I believed and didn’t feel comfortable coming around. That’s my fault.

A few months ago, Thomas showed up for service at the community center where we meet for church now. He stayed for the whole service. The Pastor later told me that he was very attentive throughout the entire sermon. After church, Thomas pulled me aside to tell me he was dying. Years of abuse had damaged his body. His liver was in ruins… the details of which he asked me to keep private “shh. be quiet”.

My Son Is Dead
This afternoon I received a phone call from Thomas’ father - “my son is dead”.

What do you think Thomas came looking for while I was wasting all those years in youth ministry? He came looking for hope… hope that life was more than the sorry sack of crap he was carrying around, hope that God loved him in spite of it all and hope that the next life would be better.

If Thomas closed his eyes hoping that everything I said was true… that’s the best 12 years I ever wasted.

Sacrilegious

Not a long post today.

After all, I’ve got to work… but, it does feel a bit sacrilegious when the rest of the world has stopped to honor the memory of those we lost on 9-11.

MSNBC was playing back minute-by-minute coverage of the terrorist strike. I was trying to watch and scarf down a bowl of Raisin Bran before work, but my eyes kept swelling involuntarily with tears as a giant lump welled up in my throat… i couldn’t swallow - like trying to eat popcorn during the first few minutes of “Saving Private Ryan”.

I eventually put down my bowl of soggy cereal and went to work…  still… it feels sacrilegious. I feel like I’m disrespecting the memory of all those who perished this hallowed day seven years ago.

Sarah Palin Church Video

“I grew up at Wasilla Assembly of God. Nothing freaks me out about the worship service.” - Gov. Sarah Palin

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