Like everyone else, we’re watching BP and wondering if the oil spill will ever stop.

It may not. In the event that we’re still having this discussion in July 2011, here are three moves that BP can make right now to minimize loss of brand equity.

1. Cut prices at every one of your service stations by 25% effective immediately.

Why? You’re going to lose tons of business anyway.

For instance, heading out of town this weekend, I filled up on gas. I bypassed your station in Evanston, IL. Better to support the Marathon guy down the road. I made this decision simply because I didn’t want to give you more money than I already had to.

Then, on the Indiana Toll Road, my hands were tied. BP or nothing. Darnit. So I filled up at a BP station.

But there’s more to this, right? I mean, local dealers who sell BP have franchises and buy gas from you and all that stuff I don’t understand.

So it’s these guys that are gonna lose business. And lots of business.

Thus the 25% cut in prices. That will make me think twice. Right?

2. Buy an acre of Louisiana swamp land for every hour that the spill continues.

Pay market prices. Donate the land to the State of Louisiana. Call it a day.

3. Accept any Louisiana fishing claims without batting an eye.

If I have a shrimp boat in Louisiana, and I’m toast, I probably don’t have Environmental Insurance. Business Interruption Insurance. ANY INSURANCE. I’m not saying people can make crazy claims, but if a 40 year-old guy in the Bayou says he makes $75K a year fishing and will lose everything, cut him a check.

4. Know all that “Beyond Petroleum” stuff you have been doing? Do it again. And again. And again.

I want to see wind farms. I want to see soy biodiesel. I want you to revisit all those ads from a few years ago where you talk to people on the streets and they tell you what they want out of an oil company.

I want to see those ads and I want to see them now.

5. Get a YouTube Channel NOW.

See the ad up here? It has 200,000 hits.

Search for “BP” on YouTube and stuff like this comes up.

Not press conferences, updates from your executives, video of your own.

Get a channel and get it NOW.

Capitalism, Free-Market Economy…boy, we could go on and on. In this case, though, here’s one side of the story about a small brewer in Vermont, a beer called “Vermonster” and a cease-and-desist order from a much larger company.

First, the video:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbG_woqXTeg

Now, what do you think? Does Matt, the guy in the video, go too far — risking everything to keep his name? Does the large company go too far — since it’s a different category (energy drink vs. beer).

And does Matt use video effectively?

Okay, you’ve got a small business, or you’re thinking of going into work for yourself. Or you’ve just left Corporate America and you’re figuring out what’s next.

Here are 9 Quick Tips on how to start using Social Media Marketing (and Web Marketing and Internet Marketing) to Make Some Noise!

1. See if your business name or your own name are available on Namechk. Don’t focus on getting all of your names, but do get the big ones.
2. While you’re at it, don’t ignore your own name — if you have a business, you’ll want to nab your personal space in case you need it later. If you are a sole practitioner — like you’re in Real Estate — you’ll want to use your own name instead of a business name.
3. Twitter: it might scare you, it might seem like a ton of work, it might seem like everyone is saying stuff like “I am eating soup right now.” Don’t worry about using Twitter as anything other than a conversation engine, and spend some time using it before you even ask for the sale. If ever.
4. Do you have a web page? Do you have a blog? How about both at the same time. We recommend WordPress. It’s easy to use, and, even though it’s a blogging platform, it’s also a Content Management System, or CMS.
5. Video is a great way to simply, effectively and inexpensively tell a story. If you don’t have an expensive video camera, use a Flip. Video yourself talking about your business, make it two minutes or less, and post it to YouTube. AND post it to Metacafe. Why them? See item 6.
6. Metacafe rules when it comes to getting your video actually seen. Keywords and metatags and all that — it’s the number two site in the US for video sharing.
7. Start collecting email addresses in the most ethical way possible: use a service like aWeber. Double opt-in is direct marketing lingo for asking your permission, then sending you a note double-checking on that permission before sending a marketing message. Better than Constant Contact, in our opinion.
8. Blogging is great. But be sure to take time to comment on others’ blogs. Don’t sell people stuff — just find something you agree with or disagree with in the post, and make a comment about it. Spend 10 minutes a day doing this and it will pay dividends.
9. Remember, it’s not hours: it’s output. It’s not about efficiency, it’s about effectiveness.

Go get em!

Free Content, without any FTC disclaimers necessary. First, watch this video:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw4U_fZ8vaI

We probably need an FCC disclaimer for this next one -- it’s the “Ernie Anastos Chicken Video” and, if you haven’t seen it, take a look here:

--> SPOILER ALERT: This is NSFW <--

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdnXYWSa56w

Then Area 224 weighs in on the keys to making your own viral video.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GUf-lN9OKM

Thanks for watching!

Happy Friday. It’s been a productive an effective week here at Area 224 HQ. We could list about 1000 things that happened, including our article that appeared on Ragan.com, but instead we want to focus on one EFFECTIVE tactic for promotion of your business.

Video.

First, take a look at the video we just produced for Real SMM -- our suite of Social Media Marketing tools for Realtors and Real Estate Professionals. Here it is.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueMxEw_ssbI

Are we tooting our own horn here? You betcha. (We’d be crazy if we weren’t tooting our own horn, plus Seth Godin does it for Brands in Public, so why not us?)

I’ll let you pick apart the video if you like -- production values, what’s with the guy’s haircut, did the host stammer, whatever.

The points behind this post are these:

1. Perfect is good. Done is better. This is one of my favorite quotes. Is the video promotion idea sitting in your head? Do you have a camera? Can you do some quick editing on a Mac? No excuses.

2. Approval processes be darned. Once small and mid-sized organizations realize that it’s easier to ask forgiveness instead of permission -- and once management sees that you (front-line person, mid-level manager, whomever) are pretty good at delivering messages…well, they’ll let you do more of them.

3. Niche -- You’ve Got One, Right? One mistake many make with videos is figuring that they are a failure if they’re only watched 10 times. Depends on the ten people watching them.

Some sites, we have to say, are much better at allowing you to target niches with your videos. We happen to like Metacafe for this: their keyword search methodology is really good for niche marketers.

Even if you aren’t a niche marketer, you can become one -- and you should become one. An expert in a broad topic, such as Public Relations, usually has niche expertise about a specific industry they have a lot of clients in.

Now go make your video.