Check back soon for our review and thoughts on the SES Chicago conference - I’ve just returned from the Blogging for Business session and it was excellent.

From American Gangster (2007):

“Brand names mean something. Consumers rely on them to know what they’re getting. They know the company isn’t going to try to fool them with an inferior product. They buy a Ford, they know they’re gonna get a Ford. Not a Datsun. Blue Magic is a brand name; as much a brand name as Pepsi. I own it. I stand behind it. I guarantee it and people know that even if they don’t know me any more than they know the chairman of General Mills.

Now, of course our Chicago online marketing agency doesn’t condone the career choice or the criminal actions of American Gangster’s title character Frank Lucas, but we do have respect for his business acumen and marketing abilities. It does take some serious skill to become a self-made man, after all, even if the source of his wealth was decidedly illegal (Frank went from being a nobody to the biggest drug dealer in Harlem). Furthermore, Frank’s way of making his product stand out in a crowded market where pretty much everyone was selling the same thing by giving it a memorable name - Blue Magic - and associating that name with a higher quality product was downright genius at the time.

He also understood the importance of going to directly to the source (in this case, the jungles of Vietnam) and transporting your own product - without middlemen, you can earn a higher profit and pass those savings on to your customers (like Walmart). Or his own words -

“The man I worked for ran one of the biggest companies in New York City for almost fifty years. I was with him every day for fifteen of them, looking after him, taking care of things, protecting him, learning from him. Bumpy thought he was rich, but he was never really rich. Why? Because he didn’t own the company. He thought he did. He didn’t. He only managed it. Someone else owned it. So they owned him. Nobody owns me, though. Because I own my company. And my company sells a product that’s better than the competition’s at a price that’s lower.”

Another lesson to take away from American Gangster is this one:

Frank Lucas: What is that you got on?
Huey Lucas: What? This?
Frank Lucas: Yeah, that.
Huey Lucas: This is a very, very, very nice suit.
Frank Lucas: That’s a very, very, very nice suit, huh?
Huey Lucas: Yeah.
Frank Lucas: That’s a clown suit. That’s a costume, with a big sign on it that says “Arrest me”. You understand? You’re too loud, you’re making too much noise. Listen to me, the loudest one in the room is the weakest one in the room.

Because it bears repeating - the loudest one in the room is the weakest one in the room. The flashiest websites with gimmicky taglines and lots of keyword stuffing is hardly ever the best company to go with, or the most appealing to online visitors. There is something to be said for reaching page one and allowing superior services, products, and solutions to speak for themselves- sometimes you have to get out of the way of your own marketing campaign.

Furthermore, instead of being the loudest and flashiest one in the room, promoting whatever it is you have to promote by proving how it benefits them, as well as telling people what you will do for them by establishing your online authority (instead of just getting your name/brand out there) will get more results. Think about it - who do people trust more, the annoying infomercial breed of self-promoters and similar websites, or the people who are more subdued but confident in their ability to create value and get things done?

*Disclaimer: Of course our marketing agency does not condone the drug trade or the violence featured in American Gangster.

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