RIPPLE100 Micromarketing

From Amy, the guys, and I – 10 things to share before we open The First 100 Ripples in 100 Metros worldwide:

1. What’s a ripple?
2. Why bother? (why, of gazillion things to do, do this?)
3. Who can ripple?
4. What can I ripple?
5. What’s The First 100?
6. Where are the 100 Metros?
7. Why “metros” (they’re not)?
8. So how do I ripple?
9. What’s a Metro Ambassador Social?
10. So what?

1. What’s a ripple? Ripples are word of mouth campaigns. Marketing made easy, accessible, human no matter how big or small you are.

2. Why bother? Let’s start with the holidays. You’re already prepping your campaigns – ads, promos, websites, blogs, etc. Try a ripple  – it’s built precisely for word of mouth, the most powerful marketing that runs entirely on simplicity, and love. Ripples help you keep it real, short and to the point (thus easy to digest and share), and actionable.

3. Who can ripple? If you can read and write, you can ripple. If you can read and write and don’t have time, you can ripple. If you can read and write, but can’t or won’t or don’t even know where to start to blog, twitter or facebook you can still (and have all the more reason to) ripple. And what’s more, by rippling you’ll benefit from blogs, twitter, facebook and whatever’s next in digital media – without having to track, learn or use them.

4. What can I ripple? Anything. Products. Services. Causes. Events. Places. People – heroes, villains, political candidates. Name it. You can even ripple your ads and websites, turn any marketing into instant word of mouth. Here’s an entire thread we call 100 Ways to Ripple.

5. What’s The First 100? The First 100 Ripples™ is a limited edition software and media bundle designed to launch 10,000 word of mouth campaigns – 100 in each of 100 metros worldwide – all at once.

6. 100 Metros?

• 50 US States + DC
• 21 European countries – Austria; Belgium; Czech Republic; Denmark; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Hungary; Ireland; Italy; Netherlands; Norway; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Russia; Spain; Sweden; Turkey; United Kingdom
• 14 Asian countries – Australia-NZ; China; Hong Kong; India; Indonesia; Japan; Korea; Malaysia; Pakistan; Philippines; Singapore; Taiwan; Thailand; Vietnam
• 6 Latin American countries - Argentina; Brazil; Chile; Colombia; Mexico; Peru
• 4 Canadian provinces – Alberta; British Columbia; Ontario; Quebec
• 2 African countries - Morocco; South Africa
• 2 Middles Eastern countries - Israel; UAE

7. Why “metros” (they’re not)? Start small with big. Instead of San Francisco, LA, San Diego, Sacramento: California. Wrap 4 into 1. As demand dictates, we’ll unwrap each “metro” into ever more defined metros. In short, we let the market (you) drive metro demand and definitions.

8. So, how do I ripple? The First 100 Ripples will be available (in a few days). First come, first served until we’re at 100 campaigns per metro. For you, it’s 2 steps. 1) Know your metro/s – where your customers are. 2) Reserve your ripples – be The First 100 in your metro/s. The rest is easy, just read and write. Be done in 1 hour or 1 month, it’s up to you. Be sure to complete your ripple by Nov 2009 (exact date to be announced). That’s when The First 100 Ripples launch  in 100 Metros worldwide. 10,000 word of mouth campaigns just in time for the holidays. After The First 100, we open to the general public. From then on: anyone can ripple anything targeting any audience anywhere in the world. As often as you want. Easy.

9. What’s a Metro Ambassador Social? We describe it in detail here. We’re looking for at least 100 metrosocials – one for each metro. What’s the one place you care about in the world? As a metrosocial you can help ensure that the people, products, services, causes, events that make your place are the same ones to stake their claim as The First 100 Ripples. Forever (once The First 100, always The First 100). By your media-strong ambassadorship, advocacy, and networks, you’ll be an influential force in how marketing creates winners and losers in your metro (see next point, So what?).

10. So what? How does this make the world, or my life, better?

Think about this. Wherever you are in the world, there are at least 100 people, products, services, events, causes and more worth supporting and spreading, worth rippling. They’re different, and they’re making a difference.

• Of these, few have enough marketing resources (time, money, skills) so that we hear about them through ads, blogs, tweets.
• Unfortunately, there are too many more impostors – products, services, brands, lobbies, politicians – that don’t deserve our minds, hearts, wallets, votes. Still and by far they are always marketing’s biggest winners. They have the resources, time, money, skills to get their spin and hype and ads and blogs and tweets IN OUR FACE. (You’d be shocked how many of them hire – PAY – others to run their twitter, facebook and social media presences).
• And then, there’s the biggest of the lot. The little ones who don’t have marketing resources. We don’t hear about them. They don’t get our support. Their endeavors don’t do as well as they should, as well as they would if only we’d known. Too many of them fail. End up a statistic.

We are, all of us, poorer. Marketing isn’t all business. Marketing determines winners and losers. And I’d be damned if it’s picking the right sides for the right reasons. It’s the tragedy of today’s commons that marketing media, even so-called social media, favors the loud and those who have resources to be consistently loud, over those who if they could only be heard would make lives better.

So what. By making marketing easier and more accessible, we’re going to level the playing field. By re-drawing the lines of who can play, we’re betting we can change how the game is played. As in any market, democratization is the key to disruptive innovation.

Soon we’ll be on. The First 100 Ripples in 100 Metros worldwide. This one’s for you, the smallest of you. Because then it’s for all of us.

Before 100 Ways, let’s take 3 steps back.

1. To ripple is to create, manage and grow word of mouth campaigns in all the places online and off where people live, love, buy.

2. Ripple100 is the web application – both software and media – that makes word of mouth (ripples) easy, affordable, relevant to anyone.

3. Anyone means anyone. Not just techies and mavens who know and have and are in Twitter, Facebook et al. Not just big brands who can afford high-priced marketing agencies or consultants. Not just people who are born marketers. Anyone especially includes entrepreneurs, small business owners, account officers, nonprofit managers, people who are ready and willing to use the latest and greatest of the web in order to achieve their marketing goals, but still are unable to because there’s just too much to keep up with and nowhere to start. The enemy of anyone is nowhere. Give anyone a clear and easy place to start, and they’ll start rippling. In Ripple100, that clear and easy place to start is literacy. If you can read and write, you can ripple. Anyone can.

Which, brings us to 100 Ways to Ripple. Yes, we’re making technology accessible with Ripple100. No, that’s not enough. Because it’s never just about technology. It’s about ideas. It’s about what makes you different, and why it matters. In fact, that’s how we start you off with every ripple.

This ripple is about [              ].

It’s different because [               ].

It matters because [              ].

100 Ways to Ripple will help you get those ripples going. Here’s what you can expect in the following days preceding our software launch:

100 Ways to Ripple:

• Retail (malls, boutiques, galleries, groceries, dealers, etc.)
• Professional Services (lawyers, CPAs, consultants, ad agencies, brokers, repairs, financial services, etc.)
• Restaurants (cafes, bars, vineyards, breweries, etc.)
• Nonprofits, Associations, Schools
• Arts, Entertainment, Events
• Political Campaigns
• Health & Personal Services (doctors, dentists, spas, gyms, salons, etc.)
• Travel Services (hotels, inns, rentals, guides, etc.)

Last but not least. 100 Ways isn’t just ours. We invite you to add your own ideas, all the ways you can be and are different.

How to word of mouth, or ripple? Get ideas here, then get started at Ripple100, where anyone can ripple anything, for any audience anywhere. Easy.

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Ripple your restaurant, or bar, or cafe, if it’s so obviously unique.

If not, dig deeper and ripple that which makes you different. Different vs. other restaurants. Different where you are. Different today vs. yesterday vs. tomorrow (in other words, what’s new? what are you launching? products? services? promos?). Different in ways that matter to us:

Like, as a restaurant:

• Your menu.
• Your signature dish , dish du jour, or any dish in your menu.
• A recipe we’ll remember you for, even if it’s not on your menu.
• Your beautiful location.
• Or convenient location.
• Or good old location, where you’ve been an institution for the past __ years.
• Or your new location. Launches always make good ripples.
• Your name – what it means, how you got it, why…
• Your history.
• The inspiration for your cuisine – a region, or person, story, movie, song…
• A cause, or non-profit, you support
• Your waiters – maybe they’re all blondes, or it’s their uniform, or just good old fashioned service.
• Your chef. Celebrity chef, guest chef, gorgeous chef, chef who comes out and meets the guests.
• An ad you ran.
• Your website.
• Your guest list. Maybe Britney Spears is a regular?
• Happy hour. Or Happy Day.
• Your bar menu.
• Or tasting menu.
• Your wine list.
• Or specialty cocktails.
• Or BYOB.
• How you prepare your food.
• Where you source your ingredients.
• How you train your staff.
• Your prices.
• The ambience that’s uniquely yours.
• The furniture, flat screens, or pool table.
• The architecture.
• The decor.
• The day of the week when you’d most like us to visit.
• A special promo.
• An event you’re hosting.
• Your appetizers.
• Your deserts.
• The nutritional value of your food.
• Your members-only, or rewards, or kids eat free offerings.
• Your child-friendly environment.
• Your couple-friendly environment.
• Your business-friendly environment.
• Your just plain friendly environment.
• Your hours of operation.
• Your entertainment value.
• A song that goes exceptionally well with your food
• The autumn leaves, or snow, that falls more magically from your windows.
• A hero you’re enthralled with, that many others are also enthralled with.
• (Or conversely, a villain you and many others detest).

Click on comments if you want to add to this list, or see what others added.

Remember: if it’s different, or if it matters, it’s worth a ripple.

I was sitting across Clayton Christensen in his Harvard couch a few weeks ago. Talking innovation with the dean of innovation. Remarkably the thread wasn’t about all the things Clay had figured out. Instead, gray areas. Places literally – where the world’s foremost expert on innovation was still trying to figure it out.

Innovation: In Washington, where he sought to inject it into health care reform (wonder why nobody’s calling it health care innovation?). In India, where he sought to apply it in bottom of pyramid ventures; and in the Philippines, where analogous bottoms, I suggested, could be turned upside down. In Singapore, an entire country and modern day miracle built on innovation that yet finds itself hungry for more.

I entered that meeting a skeptic and left not needing Google to point me to Clay’s website. This giant of a man (he’s 6’9), fervent Mormon, Harvard and Oxford trained Clayton Christensen had managed to put in words, in one english sentence, all the code we’d been programming in Ripple100.

“An innovation that is disruptive allows a whole new population of consumers access to a product or service that was historically only accessible to consumers with a lot of money or a lot of skill.” (Italics are mine, bold are Clay’s). The point is bold: Disruption via Democratization.

That’s precisely what we’re doing at Ripple100: Giving Entire New Populations Access. To Marketing. Where it persists as the rarefied realm (or “intuition”, as Clay calls it) of ad agencies, PR firms, design shops and other highly skilled consultants, Ripple100 is making marketing Do-It-Yourself. Life kitchen renovation, only much easier and for less than the price of a good frying pan.

This is our holy grail at Ripple100: technology – and a place – where anyone can ripple (i.e., create, manage and grow marketing campaigns about) anything anytime for any market anywhere in the world.

To succeed, we are obliterating the still-too prohibitive costs of marketing circa 2009 – costs in terms of money, time, skills to do marketing.

We’re making it as simple as this: if you can read and write, you can ripple.

But leveling the marketing playing field, opening it to new segments of users – that’s just the start. Who gets to play re-draws how it gets played. There will be winners and losers, and in our cross-hairs is what we believe will be the next relic of the industrial age: advertising. Who gets to do marketing determines how – how authentic, inclusive, constructive and mutually rewarding we can re-make marketing to be. All those things advertising consistently fails to do.

So, thanks Clay. You zeroed us in on the key lever: who. For a guy who was never into gurus, I now count myself a big fan and hopeful practitioner of Clayton Innovation. Disruption via democratization. Opening up rarefied places so more people can get there, and thrive in it. In Ripple100, that place is marketing. That place is days away from opening up to you.

How to word of mouth, or ripple? Get ideas here, then get started at Ripple100, where anyone can ripple anything, for any audience anywhere. Easy.

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Ah, retail. Just in time for the holidays. If you can buy things there, it’s retail. Stores online or off. Big malls, strip malls, outlet malls, boutiques, antiques, art galleries. Don’t forget catalogs.

Ripple your store if it’s so obviously unique.

If not, dig deeper and ripple that which makes you different. Different vs. other stores. Different where you are. Different today vs. yesterday vs. tomorrow (in other words, what’s new? launching anything? products? services? promos?). Different in ways that matter to us.

Like, as a store:

• Your merchandise.
• Your focus on just shoes.
• Or handbags.
• Or jewelries.
• Or men.
• Or women.
• Or kids.
• Or the great outdoors.
• Or great causes, or non-profits you support
• Or, back to your merchandise, the full variety of your offerings.
• Or where you offer them from.
• Maybe it’s a quaint little shop tucked in the cobbled streets of Amalfi.
• Or the trendiest avenue in New York.
• Or you’re multichannel.
• The fact that customers can browse and shop online.
• Or in-store.
• Or in 73 countries.
• Or via catalog.
• Or all of the above.
• And the fact that they can return no questions asked.
• Or free shipping.
• Or buy one take one, or any of its ingenious permutations.
• Your prices.
• Your holiday promos.
• Your people.
• Your stores.
• Your furniture, decor, or the 100 inch flat screens that adorn your walls.
• The music that blares, or hums, from your stores.
• The name of your store.
• Your history.
• Your service.
• Your happy customers.
• The other stores that make you worth the trip.
• Or the trip itself – maybe it’s the scenic drive, or British Airways’ fly now pay later promo.
• Or the town fair or fiesta or festival that marches right past your front doors.
• Or the al fresco dining place just 10 steps from your door.
• The free samples you’re giving out just this week.
• The free samples you gave out last week.
• Your after-sales service and warranties.
• You’re always over-stocked.
• Your clientele.
• Your personal shoppers.
• You’re bespoke only, nothing off-the shelf.
• Everything’s off-the-shelf.
• Your (gulp) liquidation sale.
• Your half off on everything this Tuesday only every Tuesday.
• Your “you’re going to love the way you look, I guarantee it” guarantee.

Look, consumers have so many options. But as you can see there’s even more ways you can ripple – ways you can tell us what makes you different, why it matters, and why we should buy from you.

Click on comments if you want to add to this list, or see what others added.

Remember: if it’s different, or if it matters, it’s worth a ripple.

How to word of mouth, or ripple? Get ideas here, then get started at Ripple100, where anyone can ripple anything, for any audience anywhere. Easy.

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Ripple your event or passion, if it’s so obviously unique.

If not, dig deeper and ripple that which makes you different. Different vs. others. Different where you are. Different today vs. yesterday vs. tomorrow (in other words, what’s new? what are you launching? events? pieces of work? promos?). Different in ways that matter to us:

Like, as an entertainer:

• Your carnival
• Or antiques show.
• One-of-a-kind jewelry
• Or the special materials you use.
• Children’s art
• Or how to preserve it.
• The reunion concert of the century (or at least for your town/region)
• Benefit concert and who its important to
• A day or a week of events and the theme that ties them all together.
• Your art gallery’s grand opening
• A music festival
• or any festival.
• The next big sporting event
• A networking event for your industry
• or for women
• or entrepreneurs.
• The party you just can’t miss
• A museum everyone should know about
• A last man standing competition
• or Mr. or Ms. townie.
• Family affairs with something for everyone
• Your tuber-wear party (or cloths or wine or chocolate…)
• An unusual place that may take people by surprise
• The costumes or required attire.
• A special appearance by a special person
• The variety
• The sounds or instruments or maybe lack of.
• A hero of the day, the week, the year.
• How the audience participates
• Or how they are the show.
• The reason to laugh or cry
• The games to play.
• A record that will be broken
• Or at least attempted.

Click on comments if you want to add to this list, or see what others added.

Remember: if it’s different, or if it matters, it’s worth a ripple.

How to word of mouth, or ripple? Get ideas here, then get started at Ripple100, where anyone can ripple anything, for any audience anywhere. Easy.

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Ripple your do-good non-profit, or association or your education program.  No matter what your status, you’re probably always looking for ways to make your case and get people’s attention.  You have a cause that’s worth fighting for.

If not, dig deeper and ripple that which makes you different. Different vs. other causes. Different where you are. Different today vs. yesterday vs. tomorrow (in other words, what’s new? what are you launching? products? services? promos?). Different in ways that matter to us:

Like, as a cause:

• Share your campaign
• Or event
• Your History.
• The reason it all got started
• Or why the world needs you.
• The people who inspired or sacrificed.
• The problem we can’t solve individually.
• Who you help
• Or oppose
• Or want to get involved.
• How you help
• What you’ve accomplished.
• Your goals
• Your pains
• A fundrasier
• Or other ways you raise money
• Or get volunteers.
• Recognizing your supporters
• Your volunteers
• Or opposition.
• The location
• A program
• A story
• A protest
• A special day for those that care
• Your theme song or just one that makes a lot of sense
• What you can do for others
• Where people can go for help
• The video that says it all
• A petition to sign
• Or a letter to send.
• Politicians who you support
• And those you oppose.
• A way to save a life
• Or to touch many.

Click on comments if you want to add to this list, or see what others added.

Remember: if it’s different, or if it matters, it’s worth a ripple.

How to word of mouth, or ripple. Get ideas here, then get started at Ripple100, where anyone can ripple anything, for any audience anywhere. Easy.

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Professional services. That’s you if you call us clients (not customers). And often we call you “firms”. Law firms. CPA firms. Consulting firms. Software firms. Marketing firms, or agencies, whether you do ads, PR, SEO, web development, graphic design, etc.

Ripple your firm if it’s so obviously unique.

If not, dig deeper and ripple that which makes you different. Different vs. other firms. Different where you are. Different today vs. yesterday vs. tomorrow (in other words, what’s new? launching anything? products? services? promos?). Different in ways that matter to us.

Like, as a firm:

• Your breadth – we’re a full service ________.
• Your depth – e.g., we only do IP law, and only for software.
• Your sweet spot – the mix of expertise, track record, and passion that few can match.
• Your reputation – what you’re know for.
• Or would like to be known for.
• Your big-time clientele (the best names trust you).
• Your small-town clientele (you make time for everyone).
• Your 75 years in the business (you’re tried and tested).
• Your 5 weeks in the business (you have fresh ideas).
• Case studies and/or work samples – show us, don’t just tell us.
• Your white papers, or PDFs.
• Or citations in the Wall Street Journal, or Main Street Herald.
• Or court testimonies you’ve given.
• Your typical engagement.
• Your 5-step process that begins with discovery and ends in measurement.
• The powerpoint of your 5-step process.
• The method to your madness.
• The madness in other firms’ methods.
• Your name.
• Your partners.
• Your partners’ partners.
• Your partners’ rolodex.
• Your partners’ schools and degrees.
• Your partners’ portraits, specially commissioned.
• Your culture.
• Your history.
• Your location.
• Your office.
• Your community – and how you’re a part of it.
• The cause, or nonprofit, you support.
• Your new service that you’re unveiling next month. Launches always make good ripples.
• Your fees.
• Your guarantees.
• Your quick turnaround times.
• Your non-billable hours.
• Your office hours.
• The art, decor or furniture that adorns your halls.
• Your dress code, or lack of it.
• Your movie – if your firm were a movie, or song, what would it be?
• The cappuccino or single malt you serve at your reception area.
• Your receptionist/s – (yup, we’ve seen this before).
• Your gray hair, or no hair, or too much hair.
• Your pet.
• Your food or drink or cigar of choice.
• Where you take clients for food or drink or cigars.

Basically, ripple anything that shows your personality. Because in professional services, unlike in products or even other types of services, we spend tons of face time with you. Makes it easier if we like you. You, not just what you do.

Click on comments if you want to add to this list, or see what others added.

Remember: if it’s different, or if it matters, it’s worth a ripple.

Coming out of a 5-week fix. Partly technology, mostly culture, the rest serendipity. Worked on how we work. Startup mistakes 327-341, check. Product and team, stronger. Timing and economy, better. Decision makers back from summer. More bandwidth, and more of it tuned into marketing. As managers zero in on the last quarter push, as black friday and holiday sales come into view, as 2009 annus horribilis comes to its suspenseful climax (will consumer confidence rebound? will there be enough deals to lure them back?) – Ripple100 just might be the difference.

Supposed to go down to the 50s later this week. Nice relief here in the US Northeast. The heat wave is over. The economy wants to turn. Michelle Obama wore shorts in 104 degree weather, while on vacation. Even my golf swing is in line – fine today, gone tomorrow. The world is right again. We just need to give consumers something to cheer.  

We’re (almost) on. The First 100 Ripples in 100 Metros worldwide. Do it yourself marketing, yours in a few days.

And yet in lieu of the much anticipated rush and panic, I’m looking at: Calm. Eerie, except it’s not just me. The whole team, calm. Amy, calm. David, calm. Abe, calm. Bob, Eric, calm. I, calm. Still lots to do for sure. But we’re executing (you know it’s good when you don’t need an adverb; you can just say period.). We’re navigating all the bumps and twists; somehow at every turn, we find among ourselves someone or another who is able to put the rest of us on their back. When that happens again and again and again you start knowing you’re going to get it done. 

So days from launch and I can rest at day’s end. I can sleep. I can be present at table. My 12 year old doesn’t have to rib me about my wandering thoughts while his mom nods her agreement. I can savor food; I can sip wine. I can even catch up on reading (Darwin’s Sacred Cause – How a Hatred of Slavery Shaped Darwin’s Views on Human Evolution). I can ponder the parallel stretch between that great scientific endeavor and this our startup endeavor. Not in terms of magnitude of result or impact, but in terms of the most sublime of stirrings that fuel and drive human endeavor. That stirring, for Darwin it turns out at least as it’s posited in the book, comes from a hatred of slavery, which in turn was premised on theory that white and black originated from and as such are different species. My stirring comes from hatred as well – of ads and technologies that perpetuate this species of spin, hype, duplicity, noise-mongering and outright lying. Instead of leveraging these same underlying technologies to give us something better. Something that makes us all better.  

Days from launch, and I am blogging again. Nobody’s perfect.