Creating a "SUPER" buzz?

With all the hype of the Super Bowl going on now, sometimes the game gets overshadowed by the commercials. This year, there have been several controversies already.

There's the Tim Tebow anti-abortion ad sponsored by Focus On The Family. Then, there's the Gay Men's dating internet site. And, I just noticed that one of the Go Daddy commercials was banned by Super Bowl.

Of course, seeing "Banned" across the video feed, I had to check it out. The commercial tells the story of a former football player who now goes by the name "Lola." He's now in the women's lingerie business and gets his domain name through Go Daddy, etc., etc.

There's really nothing bad at all about the commercial. But, now the "buzz" created by the commercial getting "banned" will probably create a bigger stir and result in more people going to the Go Daddy website to view it.

That's a good lesson in marketing and advertising. Whether or not P.T. Barnum said it, the old adage, "It doesn't matter what they say about you, as long as they spell your name right." does hold water. People will talk about these "banned" commercials probably more than they will about the ones that actually air in the Super Bowl -- unless the ones that air in the Super Bowl are really out of this world.

There's another quote attributed to P.T. Barnum that is brilliant. "Without promotion something terrible happens ... nothing!"

Businesses need promotion. LOTS of promotion. It's not enough to open the doors, throw up a sign and hope for that "word of mouth" advertising to bring people through your doors in droves. That means print, radio, tv, social media, press releases and shouting from the rooftops.

Does your business ever do anything that might be "newsworthy?" Do you ever try to tell anyone about it? Do you post to websites and write letters to the editor of your local paper using your business name? Sometimes people are so worried about offending that they don't do anything that they feel might be controversial.

Create a buzz. When you go to a sporting event, the only way to make it on the Jumbotron is by creating a spectacle of yourself. If you sit on your hands, it's just like P.T. Barnum says .... nothing will happen.