Watch as we uncover from their own website what happened IN ONE DAY…

First, December 17, in the morning — as I know because Area 224 was hosting a webinar and we wanted to zero in on metrics. We used this graphic from the Groupon web page:

Next, lets’ show you what we just uncovered, from their site, a mere 30 hours later, as of about 5:30 Central Time on Friday the 18th.

In one day, they sold 27,286 “Groupons” and saved customers $4,997,629. ($183 in savings per Groupon sold.)

OR, looking at it this way — just today’s deal alone — a Brite Smile spa treatment thing — has sold 828 times, at $185 per. Generating $153,180 in revenues. Split between the companies, I’m sure.

Am I questioning their numbers? NO. I’m in awe of them.

You?

Big Business Paying Attention to The Right Marketing Focus

Yes, we’ve talked to quite a few big business people — large, publicly traded companies, for example — who have decided that they need to take yet another look at how they are allocating funds. And being nimble enough to shift — sometimes on a dime — to Social Media Marketing and Mobile Technologies.

Case in point: Allstate Roadside Services, whose Mobile App is already off to a rousing start. [DISCLOSURE: Area 224 has a client relationship with Allstate Roadside Services to support this Mobile App.] The marketing push around this involves an integrated campaign — not JUST social media — but the decision to launch this in the first place stemmed from success the business had with MINI and a mobile app for MINI users.

Startups Jumping in With Both Feet – And Using the Bootstrap

No better way to start a business than to bootstrap and learn along the way. We did it with U Sphere — and boy did we learn a ton here about what makes things successful and, in our case, why things don’t scale or monetize enough to support the long-term business case.

Bootstrapping — building your business through sweat equity, looking under couch cushions for money, funding efforts out of cash flow — will give you the ability to understand just what the market will support. Or not support.

In any event, it seems like every day we’re tweeting with or getting a request to connect with a new startup. Most will not succeed, but some will figure it out. And all have the ability to learn from what the market tells them. (We did.)

Niche Within the Niche – Find it and Succeed

Self-serving mention of our Real SMM business — Social Media Marketing for Real Estate — and how it’s poised to make some things happen for the real estate industry.

Specifically, helping Realtors make better connections with consumers — i.e., people who will buy a house from them. Going after the overall real estate industry is, IMHO, too broad a focus. The “How Do You Market Yourself?” within real estate question — that’s a niche we think Social Media Marketing can help answer. Not all Realtors will want to get it, but the niche within the niche is where we’ll look for customers.

B2B Marketers Will Figure Out Social Media Marketing

It’s not going to happen overnight, but there’s something in each of the three other blurbs above for the B2B Marketing world.

For instance — where best to focus marketing dollars? Since SMM is trackable, moving ad dollars from print to online will give much better ROI data. Often, the business trade publications (maybe ironically) are the best place for online marketing — usually there’s a robust list, really good niche traffic numbers, and editorial content that drives visitors. (Because trade reporters with really good relationships are the ones breaking the industry stories that can drive traffic for right-now visitors that aren’t reading the print publication.)

We’ve talked to B2B marketers about sorting this out — we were part of a great discussion last week at Website Magazine’s Roundtable Discussion. (Disclosure — that’s not the official name, but Area 224 was there, at a round table, under a sign that said “Social Media Marketing.” The format of the networking event was great — move around every three minutes and talk about your business issues and learn from each other. Which we did.) It’s an investment — Social Media Marketing is an investment. B2B Marketers know that. How to best allocate the investment will take time to figure out — but the answer comes back to one of the discussions we’ve had over and over.

Why Do You Want To “Do Social Media Marketing” In The First Place?

Customer Service? Market Research? Public Relations? Executive Positioning?

B2B Marketers who know that up front — “Hey, let’s use Twitter to do brand research and see if anyone knows who we are?” — are poised for success.

So, Why are You Bullish on the Business Climate?

I happen to eat this stuff up: nothing in the business world is more thrilling than getting something off the ground.

I won’t share what he’s doing just yet — he’ll do that on his terms and when he’s ready — but I will tell you that our conversation ended up centering on the three things every business NEEDS. Right Now. Be prepared to be surprised, as these won’t be what you think you’d read in this space.

1. Influencers — and a Strategy to Reach Them. Let’s assume that Jim has a crystal-clear value proposition for his business (something he has and didn’t need to explain at all). Who is most important to connect with?

Jim knows his influencers and he’s actually sitting down with them already. The strategy, for him, is coming up with the WIIFM: “What’s In It For Me.” These influencers can be enticed, sure, with the right “thing” — maybe it’s an affiliate relationship, a cross-selling agreement, a cross-promotional idea.

Jim’s well on his way to sorting this out. I like his approach already, and the word “co-opetition” comest to mind.

2. Distribution — Getting The Stuff To Market. Nice, one, Jim — he’s already mapped this out. There are people who can use the widgets and happen to be the logical distribution channels for what he’s got. He’s picked up the phone and called them — again, WIIFM — and talked about what partnering would do for them.

He’s used the term “sub it out” a couple times already: he will tap the right people to implement this solution, so his value here is in his expertise in this niche. (Which is actually a niche within a niche, one of my favorite approaches.) This niche expertise brings us to thing three…

3. Positioning, or, in this case, “Brand Jim.” Because he has his crystal-clear value proposition, and it is something he is 110% passionate about, this will be pretty easy. But the proper positioning here is vital.

I’ll offer that steps 1 and 2 will help quite a bit with these. Aligning himself with the right people (he’s doing that already) helps “position” him as the expert in the understanding of this “niche within a niche” and what it means to the consumer. It’s impossible for him to be positioned as the low-cost leader here, because of the nature of his distribution channel and the influencers he’s already worked with. If he got different influencers on board, he could paint himself into a corner, something he’s very careful about. Plus, there’s a value exchange: you’re not just buying the widget but also the implementation of the widget AND Jim’s expertise in helping you use the widget.

Will this three-step program make you wildly successful? No guarantees of that.

But we’ve seen many a product and service launch that were missing one of these three, and that can doom you from the get-go.

Happy Launching!