UFO's in Marketing

When Seeing is Believing
By Marvin Double

UFO's have been the subject of much discussion and controversy over the years. Skeptics and believers have squared off on opposite sites of an ongoing debate about their existence. If nothing else it all makes for some interesting copy countless, movies and documentaries. Putting aside the cartoon, let me just state here that, this article isn't about alien space craft real or imagined. It is however about close encounters with UFOs of the marketing variety. Very specifically these UFOs are of the Twitter variety - intrigued? I hope so, please read on.

What do UFOs have to do with marketing?
Bear with me while I provide a bit of background - it's painless and there's no pop quiz.

Marketers everywhere subscribe to several basic marketing principals. One of these is something called a USP. The "USP" (Unique Selling Proposition", sometimes also called a Unique Selling Point).

In short the USP is a marketing pitch build around the unique qualities of the product. These are the things which make it desirable. USP are the annoying marketers push at us relentlessly with advertising. Wikipedia has an article which offers a nice overview of the subject).

The Twitter Twist
Sounds like dance I know, but it's not. Marketers, especially affiliate marketers, promoting products or services on Twitter, face and interesting dilemma. The USP for many products or services are frequently incompatible with social media.

It's no big secret that Twitter has become a hot marketing tool. But USP's that work elsewhere simply won't fly on Twitter. Most USP's are simply to blatantly commercial for social media.

Turning a USP into A UFO
You're likely way ahead of me already, but don't go to far ahead of you miss the best part. By using something I'm calling the Twitter Twist, which is not a new dance, you can turn a Unique Selling Point into a UFO (Unique Friendly Opportunity) that will fly - yes I did intend to make a pun.

Using a UFO isn't just some kind of marketing subterfuge, in fact it represents a huge fundamental shift in how marketing will done everywhere. What exactly is a Unique Friendly Opportunity? Simply put it's a promotion that invites and engages instead of selling. Perhaps the UFO is simple in principal but not so much in planning and execution. There is a learning curve when it comes to shifting away from the traditional USP marketing methods.

With the rapid evolution of social media the UFO concept is still being defined. What works or doesn't is still much a matter of trial and error. Companies such as the Mars band, makers of Skittles are ahead of the curve and already out in front of this trend. A Recent notable example of a UFO is the famous Skittle social media campaign which crashed Twitter. You can read about it in Bizweek's story, "When Skittle Met Twitter" .

The Skitter campaign has been controversial in marketing circles. Just like the the topic of alien space ships, marketing UFO's have believers and skeptics too. While social media marketing isn't yet ready to shoulder out traditional marketing methods there are indicators that point to a sea change in how marketing will be done in the future.

I'll have more about UFO's, how to make them and use them, in future blog posts so keep a sharp lookout. Unlike the other kind, my UFO's won't be at all hard to spot.