Marketing Japan: Internet Promotions? Don't Make Long Sign-ups!...

By Mike in Tokyo Rogers


If you are running any sort of Internet service, business or promotion that requires people to sign up to join, then at least make the sign up as short and as simple as possible.


Survey results of over 10,000 Internet users (done by Nikkei Shimbun) show that if users must click a site or a banner link more than twice, they probably won't do it.

One of my good friend's tells me how he is working on a huge cross-platform Internet promotion that has all the great pieces to a fantastic Internet Social Media Marketing success… This promotion has everything built in! It has a dedicated website using WordPress; publicity integrating old media and print to draw new potential customers to their Internet sites (they definitely need the over-40 crowd in Japan as those are the people with all the money); A Pick and Twitter component and, of course, online video, blogs, blogging, vlogs, and keywords on Google Search and Yahoo! and much more involving a full spectrum of Social Media Marketing for Japan. This is a marketeers dream come true in the year 2010... Except for one tiny problem... My good friend laments that one of the partners is stuck in old fashioned promotional thinking that doesn't fit well a all with the Internet. 

My friend asked me if I could help provide some evidence that he could show to the partner as proof that the partner's ideas were out-dated and if I could help him to convince the partner to drop these ideas.

Well, I don't know if I can help him convince someone who is stuck in old-fashioned thinking, but I gave him some data and wished him well…

That's what gave me the idea for this blog today. If you come up against the same sort of obstacle, then I hope you can refer back to this particular blog for some ammo to help you fight back.

But first, let me give you some background and then tell you what the partner's idea was. 

The promotion was a tie up between three different companies. One company owns powerful old and new media; one company can give away free vacations; the the company can provide the transport to those vacations. All three companies have a need that overlaps and allows them to help each other out and not pay someone like Dentsu or Hakuhodo $180,000 for a promotion like this... If they cooperate, they can arrange a promotion like this through my friend's company for about $9,000!

The media provider can penetrate into millions of homes and is giving that piece of the puzzle up for free as barter (they want more people to use their media). The media partner also has a massive Internet mailing list and gets over 10 million unique users a month! The problem is, instead of just running a contest where all you need to do is sign up, one of the partner's (who needs all the free promotion they can get) wants to add a quiz to the contest that forces people who wish to enter to have to do some Internet searching and research and answer questions - along with filing in personal information on an Internet sign-up form… Not only will the users  have to click through to several pages, this idea takes them off the contest page… Which makes it a very bad idea.

My friend called me and wrote to me asking for advice. Here's what I wrote:

Dear Ken (not his real name),

This is a very bad idea. From past experience and from Internet research, I must strongly recommend against doing this sort of thing in your promotion. 

Let me explain why: 

This kind of promotional idea is very old fashioned (10 or 20 years old) and will result in a contest whereby less than a few dozen people sign up. As you, can suspect, we know this from experience from mass media promotions. 

It is well known that in Internet marketing that (with data research and user surveys of 10's of thousands of Internet users done by Nikkei Research) that people will not, on average, click on a site more than twice. This sort of idea presented by your partner will result in at least 4 clicks. This will cause a huge number of interested people to drop off immediately. 

If the contest is designed so that people sign up just their name and e-mail, you will get tens of thousands of entries and hundreds of people entering several times. Effective promotion is promotion that people think about often, and can enter often.

If people must go to another page and research information and then answer questions, you will get a few dozen entries. No exaggeration.

This idea is ancient; it is like some newspaper promotional ideas for the past. Also, remember that this is a partnership promotion with benefit to all, I can't imagine that the other two partners - especially the vital media partner - would agree to this. If this partner is paying for the promotion, then I doubt that anyone would complain… But this is a barter. This is a critical point.

Think about your own experience on the Internet in the past: When you had to sign up for something, if it was easy, you did it. If it asked too many questions or became troubles-some, you dropped it. I know I do.

This problem is also talked about on page 257 of "The New Rules of Marketing and PR" by Daivd Meerman Scott. It says, "Do not use a sign-up form that requires your prospects to enter lots of data - people will abandon the form." 

Most recently, when my company did a media promotion (on a TV station and radio station) for a week whereby people only had go to the Internet contest page and  enter their name and e-mail, we got over 9,000 entries. In another campaign, when we required them to go to another page and research a question (That campaign was for a world famous automotive parts company) and all people had to do was go to the auto parts maker's homepage and answer a question we got only 14! Fourteen!? Yes, 14. You read right.

Also, once again, I seriously doubt that your media partner, a company that is a trend leader in Internet marketing will agree to this sort of out of date promotion... After all, they are giving you access to millions of people at a barter. I don't think that you or your partner are in a position to demand this sort of thing from them.

Lastly, think of the damage to you client's name when people think, "Oh? I can win! How nice." Then they go to the contest page and see that they have to do a bunch of things to enter; answer questions, provide personal data, click a bunch of times  to enter in a contest where the chances of winning are about 1 in a million? No way.

The average person will think two things about you and your client. They will associate these two things:

1) You and your client's name

2) Troublesome

You can't have that. The Internet is quick… Buzz on the Internet is fast and it is not forgiving if that buzz is bad.

I strongly suggest that you either convince your client to change their mind, or, if they are insistent, find another partner. There isn't a company in the world who isn't interested in the new way of Marketing, marketing in Japan, and the new rules of PR.

Then I signed off.

I wonder if what I wrote and the data I sent will help at all...We'll see.  

But for you, my dear reader,  if you get anything out of this blog, then make it this: Have online contests as often as possible but do not require people to enter too much information. Ideally, just an e-mail address is best.

Notes: Here is an article about a newspaper in the UK who required an Internet sign-up - for contact that is free - and it seriously damaged their readership numbers. See here. http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2010/06/incipient-paywall-costing-newspaper-online-readers.ars

There's many companies out and about that are making these mistakes for you so you don't have to… Just pay attention and learn the lessons from them. Now that's intelligent marketing!


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Get High Google Rankings: Blog and Write Everyday!...

By Mike in Tokyo Rogers

It is my purpose to get my name and the name of my company and service out to the public in the most effective way possible; and the best way to do that is to use the Internet. The Internet is targeted marketing and media and it allows me to focus my message to the audience; and it does it for free. I cannot think of a cheaper price than free, can you? 

I go to the Internet to get great information with a focused message; and I get that information for free. I hope that this is the same reason some of you good folks come to see me everyday. I'm trying to give you all tips on how to empower yourselves and increase your business in Japan everyday. 


One reader asked me how it was possible that I was able to get my name at #1 on a Google search if someone merely searched "Mike" and "Tokyo" (remember that there are millions of foreigners in this country and there's been many many famous Mike7s to come here; think Mike Tyson in Tokyo, etc., etc.) Well, let me tell you that you can do the same thing too! You can get high rankings on a Google or Yahoo search in the most cost effective way possible. But, just starting a blog or a vlog and letting sit there isn't going to do it.


You can either buy search words like BP did for "Oil Spill" etc., or, if you are on a limited budget, then you can put in the effort. Elbow grease is the answer, my friends!  


I believe that the only way to get great Google or Yahoo search results is to keep hammering away at putting out a lot of good quality stuff on a consistent basis. You must keep at the blogging and writing and to continually put up good quality, useful stuff, for your readers. You need to put up new information at least 3 times a week and you need to keep the message focused.


But how to keep the message focused? That could be tough, especially if there are so many topics that interest you. Like me. I'm interested in many things Japan. So I write for three different places; my blog, my company blog, and on wwwlewrockwell.com 


This blog (my blog) is targeted to foreign businessmen wanting to sell their products and services in Japan to the Japanese... Only. (If that seems obvious or absurd, realize that there are many foreigners in Japan trying to sell their products and services to the other foreigners living here. I do not deal with those). That's why this blog is called, "Modern Marketing Japan." 


On my company blog, Universal-vision.jp, I mirror items on this blog, but I also place Japanese language news releases there too. Here's a recent example. The final place that I try to blog consistently is at Lew Rockwell. Lew Rockwell is the most read Libertarian site in the world and ranked by Alexa in the Top 15 of the most read sites in the entire world. 


Blogging, making YouTube videos, Twitter, Myspace, Facebook, Mixi and doing U-Stream are all important but remember that just setting up a blog or a YouTube channel and then putting up new information on it once a month or once every two months is just not going to get you the results you need. You need to put up new blogs, information or videos at least three times a week.


As David Meerman Scott wrote in the bible of new media marketing, The New Rules of Marketing and PR, when he quoted the president of The Concrete Network;


"You need to think about how a series of one hundred news releases over two years will benefit your business and then commit to it, understanding that nothing is an overnight thing." 

Of course, this is all a part of my ever continuing opinion that, if you want to succeed in Social Media, Marketing and the Internet, then you must continually produce content by writing and on your own blog and give it away for free. 


Write a lot but keep messages focused... By the way, I have another new article on Lew Rockwell about silly things in Japan here.


I hope you get a laugh.




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Three Years on a Japanese Internet Rock

Many bloggers (or U-Streamers, or fans of Twitter, or Pick) sometimes get disappointed because after they upload their first 3 or 4 blogs, for business or pleasure, they see that they have few regular followers, or even worse, few visitors. It can be quite discouraging. So they then quit.

That's the worst thing they could do.

If you are going to create a blog or a U-Stream or do any sort of Social Media, then, before you start, make sure that you have made your mind up to dedicate at least 3 updates a week for a minimum period of three years.

Three years may seem like a very long time, but, in Japan, we have an old saying that goes, "石の上に三年" and translates to: "Three years on top of a rock." (Yes, I know that this is a saying that seems to mean nothing, but remember that the Japanese are very minimalist). The legend behind this proverb is that if you sit upon a large rock for at least three years, it will finally become warm.

OK, let me translate for you; what this saying really means is that if you keep trying, you will succeed.

If you follow the tips of having a focused message in your blog, vlog or other online activities, including Social Networking, then those people interested in your message will find you; and that's just smart marketing... It just takes time.

The other part, besides dedicating to doing your blogging, or whatever for at least three years, is that you must also make the herculean effort to blog at least three times a week. This is critically important if you want to get more attention and higher rankings on a Google search.

If you do this then you will get results. I guarantee it.

One of Japan's top pop star's Koji Kurumatani (left) and George Williams

I gave this exact same advice to George Williams in December of 2009. George was worried - like everyone else - on how he could stay on top of the game and give himself a needed advantage over the competition. I recommended that George start Twitter everyday and also to make his own U-Stream channel. (He did those and he now also does Pick. We are setting up his very own multi-media Internet channel this month. Stay tuned!)

I also made sure that George understood that there was a catch to doing U-Stream and Social Networking; it had to be done with regular consistency. George has taken this advice to heart and his U-Stream channel has taken off. The channel is called GeorgeTV and it is one of the, if not the, most popular U-Stream channels in all of Japan.

Some might say that they need a catchy idea before they can blog, or video blog (vlog), or U-Stream... A catchy idea is great... And some people will not write or vlog until they come up with a catchy idea. This is a mistake. I would suggest that forcing yourself to be consistent will help you to come up catchy ideas. If you use your brain consistently, you will come up with the ideas. More importantly than catchy ideas are persistence.

From doing the U-Streaming consistently, George was able to promote himself and, quite quickly as a matter of fact, build a buzz for himself and the show. So much so that now George regularly has famous Japanese stars wanting to be on his U-Stream show.

Is that cool or what?

A few days ago, George had Koji Kurumatani on as a guest and those programs consistently garnered more than a 1,500 viewers each time.

Not only have the rewards been tangible on the Internet, but it has paid off quite handsomely on antique media as George has gotten many job offers and even a 6-hour television special on Fuji TV! How did he get the Fuji TV show; a show on the most prestigious TV network in all of Japan? Because the station wanted to do a show about music that featured a guy who was a leading expert on the Internet and U-Stream and there was George!

He also appeared on the most popular women's TV show in all of Japan, Ladies 4, and was offered a morning time slot on the oldest and most famous FM radio network in all of Japan; Tokyo FM.

What actually makes me chuckle about all this sort of thing is that I have given the same advice to others that I gave to George. But they just don't do anything. George takes action. That's why George is getting job offers left and right...

George "gets it." He is consistently out in front of the competition and driving ahead with new ideas... So, he gets the nod.

If you want to get ahead of the competition, remember, not only do you need to know about new ideas and technology. You need to use them and do them consistently.

If you don't, then you can be sure your rivals or competition will.

It's not rocket science, it's smart promotion and intelligent advertising and marketing.
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