Interactive - Social Media - Street Marketing. That is UniversalWit. Get the cutting edge of marketing with the bite of creative wit.

If you are looking for traditional marketing services, then we are probably not right for you. However, if you want to move your marketing into the future like social networking, online events, brand experiences through sound and video, texting, and other forward thinking for Web 2.0 then we just may be the guys.

For years the music companies have avoided, fought, bullied, turned a blind eye to everything that was new that would save their business.  Instead they fiercely protected their traditional business that was rapidly declining.  The IMVU deal is a great step in the right direction.

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Is your site, one of their favs?

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Recession Proof Your Business – How to Avoid Business Failure & Increase Sales in a Lagging Economy

When you’re a small business owner there’s no “Golden Parachute”, no Massive Severance Package or Stock Options to cash in on and there are definitely no bailouts. The success or failure of your small business is all on your shoulders!

Here’s Are 5 Things to Do If You Want Your Business to Fail During a Recession

1.      Don’t Do Anything

2.      Don’t Do Enough

3.      Don’t Encourage Referrals From Other Clients

4.      Don’t Create a “WOW” Experience

5.      Don’t Take Massive Action Now

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First up is Simon from Online Perception Audits.  Simon writes:

Yes (Budgets are shrinking)….. but they’re not my budgets, they are other peoples.
TV / newspapers / traditional media have been seen to losing their grip on their market share. The tide is shifting towards… different newer ways of marketing.

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First up today is Kevin from Network Solutions.  We share the same thinking on being aggressive in down markets to out maneuver your competition:

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The original question was posted on Linked In:

Are you shifting budget towards online marketing?

With the unstable economy, are you facing budget cuts? Have you made the decision to shift from traditional programs to online marketing efforts or are you planning to stick with what has worked for you in the past? I’d like to focus on this in my blog and would like to hear some additional opinions and/or real world examples. 

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Articles flooded the web and blogs all over the world echoed this sentiment.  The Democrats used SMS, social networks, and viral video to raise money, get out the vote, and drum up support.  In fact, they used it like a well oiled marketing campaign would and sometimes more effectively than corporations have had to date.

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Sinister Space is a social network devoted to horror fans.  This genre is well represented and well followed with devoted fans.

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I am going to tease you a little bit. TUSP will be making an announcement in the coming weeks about their December event to be held in downtown Pittsburgh, which will be a Guinness World Record attempt.  That is all I am going to say for now.  Tune in later for more or contact us if you are interested in sponsoring (Regional and National opportunities).

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Are Blogs dead?

That was a recent headline.  According to some reports blogs have been dead since 2004.  Guess that would make them a zombie them.  The argument is that blogs have become rampant with a marketing and advertising virus.  There are so many blogs in fact, they have become irrelevant.

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The first came from a US Army report that terrorists could theoretically use Twitter.  There is some great alliteration in that sentence.  Search Marketing Gurus (SMG) report: According a a report by the Agence France-Presse news agency, the 304th Military Intelligence Battalion contains a chapter entitled “Potential for Terrorist Use of Twitter,” which expresses concern over the increasing use of Twitter by political and religious groups.

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Women Drivers is a social networking site that caters exclusively to women who buy and influence the purchase of cars.  Members of the community can share their experiences at a dealership and voice their opinion to improve the dealer experience for women.

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So what makes these ads different from your search ads?  After all, are they not served up based on the criteria and keywords that you created? The main difference is the tone of the ad.  A search on a search engine constitutes the need for information.  A contextual ad on a website is more suited to  advertising philosophy.

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The digital music space may become even more crowded.  Reports surfaced that Facebook is investigating some sort of music delivery service. Facebook does not want to tangle with the big record companies over licensing issues nor build a service from scratch.  As such, they are looking to partner with a service in place such as Rhapsody or ILike.com.

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So in today’s blog, we stand on the backs of others…

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Our excitement was stoked again today with Google’s announcement that they are beta testing AdSense for games.  The service will add the ability to program advertising inside of a game.
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The site has partnered with Amazon and Apple for delivery.  When you view a video you can click a button that will take you to the appropriate store site for purchase.  Revenue will be shared by the partners.

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MeetUp is a social network that desires to actually get you off the computer.  Strange as that sounds, their purpose is to facilitate off-line meetings.  They bill themselves as the largest network of local groups.

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The week has of course been dominated by politics.  We don’t cover that topic in this space.  However, we have been watching the explosive rise in social networks directly related to political usage.  Just sign on to Twitter and the top of the page has popular political feeds.  Twitter is heavily used by this niche.  Facebook seems to be gaining popularity as well in the niche.  I have noticed more and more politicians with
Facebook pages as opposed to My Space as well.

The other big news of the week is the slew of companies that have taken aim at Apple’s IPhone, IPod and ITunes services.

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A rough economy typically takes a toll on marketing.  Good marketers weather the storm by showing realistic ROI for their programs. They shift resources when necessary and use these opportunities to win market share.  Yes, it is easier to grow in good times, but I hold firm to the belief that you win market share by positioning yourself in tough times
better than your competition can.

That being said, researchers have already seen a shift in marketing due to the current economic climate and expect it to continue.  Small and mid size companies have held relatively firm in their spending to date, but larger companies are starting to cut or refocus their resources in response to an increasing difficult climate.

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This has a logical explanation though as web 2.0 tools provide content that a visitor is more like to spend time with and that leads to less clicks.  Engaging content creates a better user experience and therfore a more satisfied visitor

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Eons was designed to give Baby Boomers their own home in the social world.  Targeted to the highly influential group of individuals born between 1946 and 1964, Eons is laid out similar to how My Space works.

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Check out the gallery with art from Moxy and vintage concert posters.  Gallery opens at 9PM and with the generous support of Penn Brewery there is free beer while it lasts and the sounds of DJ Astral Eric.  Then come upstairs at 10PM for Deadly Buda, Terry Kicks,  and introducing Catrina Starr.  Tickets are only $10.  Over 21 and proper dress.  Space is limited so come early and stay late in a unique urban space.

See you there.

Some times, partnering with another event instead of planning your own is the right way to go with your street marketing program.  In this case study,the brand was introduced to a new demographic ans was received positively creating additional marketing opportunities in the future.

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UniversalWit acts as a news aggregator for the AMA Pittsburgh blog and we have been re-posting the Marketing Sherpa report on online advertising.  We thought it would be of interest  to our readers as well.

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UniversalWit is pleased to found Pittsburgh’s own Temporary Urban Space Project (TUSP) in conjunction with Nine Over Ninth Productions.  Our first project is in association with Urban Evergreen’s building at 330 and 332 Third Avenue downtown Pittsburgh.

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It’s official social sites have taken down the king of the Internet and are now the most used sites.   Turns out that we all want to be social after all.  So raise a glass and salute the new champion.  I hope it is a long run.

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Sept. 13, 2008 - Kool Aid 4

The Planet Pulse joins Phoenix Management Productions in bringing Richard Vission, Pittsburgh’s own Product 19 and others to Gravity Nightclub, 1216 Pittsburgh Street, Cheswick PA 15024.  Hit the dance floor and look for The Planet Pulse crew for some special swag.  More info at www.phoenixmanagementproductions.com.

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MyDogSpace describes itself as an interactive space for all dogs and dog lovers.  I am guessing that it is mainly the latter.  I tested the site with my dog, Cole, and he just isn’t into social networks as much as belly rubs.

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Many users on Twitter are actually fake characters.  The Mad Men impersonators though were able to use sound in the character voices. AMC argued that this could mislead followers into thinking it was AMC approved.

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In this blog, we often write about how content is king.  With SEO it is no different.  Creating engaging content is a good tactic for SEO and a foundation of link building activities.

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Multiply is a sharing network.  I was first introduced to it in my search for mash ups, songs mixed together by a talented DJ.  I was able to check out some selections on the artist’s Multiply profile.

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Matt Mullenweg of WordPress (Disclaimer: This site was built on a WordPress platform and I am a big fan) announced that WordPress Multi-User will have the ability to create a social network in the next release later this year.

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Insights for Search is a new service released by Google, that allows a marketer to compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, and time frames.  This service builds on the Google Trends application release a couple years ago.

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• More email marketing is landing into spam folders decreasing the ROI for these programs

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In our continuing series of looking beyond the big social networks, we take a look at Decorati a focused social network for interior design.

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We also searching for Free Runners that would like to run, jump, tumble, etc.  in a promotional event in the Pittsburgh area.  No prior experience is necessary, but you must understand the concept.  Check Wikipedia or YouTube for details.

Both projects are compensated.  Contact us for more details.

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Beyond MySpace, Facebook & YouTube
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Cuil (Pronounced Cool) announced that they are bringing a competitive search engine to rival Google.  The distinction for Cuil is that they are former Google employees who claim to have built an even better mousetrap with more pages indexed and a more secure search environment.  They plan to offer advertising in the future as well.

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Both are small, but both have a passion for what they are doing.  Both also enjoy helping other people.  UniversalWit shares their passion.   The company began out of a love for new media and all of the wonderful new tools available.  We never get bored helping others realize their goals, dreams, or missions with the aid of social media and other web 2.0 tools.

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Web 2.0 is about interaction and engagement.  Those two words are not passive in nature.  As such, your social network campaigns should not be either.  Do you wonder why no one is visiting your social network?  Did you just hang the sign and nothing else?

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We’d like to hear from you as well.  Feel free to submit comments as an answer to ‘What are your thoughts and experiences with Google’s new Lively?’ We will hopefully share others thoughts in this space later in the week.

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