Fake Journalist, Fanatic Marketer - MxInstaller
This may be the future of manufacturer marketing. Each day, the once dominant manufacturer marketing machine is further drowned out by the rise of the Internet. PR hacks continue to send out boring press releases, hoping that more than a few friends will read them or that a trade magazine will copy them for literally just a few more. The model is failing, but we see a solution on the horizon.
While Mobotix continues to fade away, yet another one of their innovations may prove to be a template for future rival's success. If you have not seen MxInstaller [link no longer available], I urge you to take a look. He claims to be a 'journalist' but a particularly curious one.
In one video, MxInstaller boasts, "I am so astounded ... I wanted to acknowledge the technology and development team by putting on a suit." Now, journalists are rolling in their graves but if you are a marketer, this is absolute gold -- A video testimonial by a 'journalist'!
That's not an outlier. MxInstaller has absolutely crushed it on YouTube - with over 500,000 video views and more than 2,300 subscribers [Update 2015: now over 1.5 million views and more than 7,000 subscribers] - a massive amount for the surveillance market. The videos routinely are top search results for high traffic terms, including one video over 100,000 views and another on "How an IP Camera System Works" with over 80,000 [Update 2015: nearly 400,000 now].
What's so brilliant is that the videos are technical enough to not be seen as pure PR gibberish but simultaneously warped around Mobotix's atypical approach. While many manufacturers have blogs, typically they are written by entry level marketing people, who know nothing about surveillance. And trade magazine editors are not that much better. Most anyone can see through that. However, MxInstaller knows enough to sound intelligent especially to those not familiar with the domain - a very valuable marketing asset.
Other Manufacturers?
This could work great for other manufacturers. Find a loyal integrator, offer to pay $10,000 a month and tell them to go online and advocate the manufacturer's products. Blog posts, videos, tweets, forum comments and more - a daily stream of favorable coverage and a growing archive of technically powered propaganda, far more effective than a PR person or marketing associate copying and pasting canned press releases or writing SEO spam.
The future is exciting. MxInstaller started it, but we could easily see others - the ArecontVision Repairman, the Avigilon Fanboi, the Milestone BigThinker and more.