Peace to the folk. As we prepare for Season 2, we wanted to invite you to be apart of our journey of introducing something new and using all the techniques we've discussed expansively in Season 1 to do so.

It's called "the Wall". 30+, High End Hip Hop. We're launching with Styles P at the New Parish on Nov. 5th. Feel free to join us there and our marketing process of getting there. One Love
DopeOnly Marketing

Tickets: DopeOnly.com

Peace to the folk, and I hope you're well. . Listen, this being the season finale, I wanted to switch it up some, but, at the same time, offer a glimpse into where we're going in Season 2...

 I love hip hop, but I love hip hop culture more. It's how I see the world and the various parts of it that interest me most. I'm interested in love, Blackness, Black Business, generational wealth, parenting, real estate, investing, and so on, and I want to talk about it, learn about it first hand from dope people immersed in it. These will be the coming heroes we introduce on "The Marketing Tapes". Ride with me. 

Specific to this episode, when "Black Love" came calling, I was hesitant. I don't like being out front like that, and neither does she. However, our love is wonderful, so why not let that be. We did, it was amazing. As stated, I'm interested in love. So much in fact we created a card game called "The Sweet Spot". We gathered some black folks and "played". I asked them questions from the card game, they gave, the room received. I hope something touches you. 

We wrap things up detailing another marketing technique we used in crafting "OaklandUSA" and "Cool Water" called "Make it Cool". Very strong technique, as there is absolutely no substitute for cool.  And, I conclude words to the hustla from the last episode. Enjoy! I hope we still rocking come Season 2. One Love 
🔴 ⚫️ 
#oldheadenergy 

*Marketing tip
Marketing is really just flirting 

*Activity
Does your product or service have an element of "cool"? If so, think 5 ways to utilize that cool to your benefit. If not, think of 5 ways to insert cool into your product or service. 
 

Peace to the folk. This week's episode finds us taking in the thoughts of the Golden State Warriors' own DJ D-Sharp. We talk Hip Hop, of course, but also, during our discussion, I casually begin to unpack a marketing technique of ours called "Make Somebody Give a Fuck", explaining it fully later in the segment. It's an emphasis on "Care", two fold. First, "care" as in making people form an emotional attachment to your product or service. In summary, if I, "I" meaning anyone, don't care about what you're doing, you have nothing. You have to make people care, make them give a fuck. How do we do that? Let's explore...

Secondly, I talk about "care" internally. In other words, how you see your product and service and how you present it to others. Your own care for what you're doing speaks first. Enjoy. One Love 
🔴 ⚫️ 
#oldheadenergy 

*Marketing tip
It's good when your friends support you, but you can't make a living off your friends. What you really want them to do is tell someone about your product or service. This is a currency much more valuable than their intermittent purchases 

*Activity 
1) Talk to  your friends about your product or service. Ask them what must be done to receive their endorsement. 
2) Think of 4 things you yourself care about and then list the reasons why. How can you apply this to your own product or service?    

Peace to the folk. Sometimes when I'm building a marketing campaign, I implement a strategy I developed called "Create a Persona". It's, essentially, giving personality to the idea or thought that I want to connect with people. Its real time effect can be seen in what "OaklandUSA" and "Cool Water" became, which I speak about at length in this episode. 

I asked Richie Rich "if Oakland was a person, what would you say to him or her?" It's a leading question for sure because it gives the sense that "Oakland" is already a person, but the point was to give Rich room to embody what's being asked and speak to and about something he's known his entire life. A lifelong friend if you will. From there, I give a bit of game to the young hustlas because I know what that is. 

Then, just because Rich appeared in the segment, driving home the notion of creating a persona, I put up some of a conversation we had once. It too speaks to a technique I use. Specifically, it's figuring out ways to create a renewed interest in something that people may be used to or have preconceived notions about. This piece was attached to a marketing campaign we crafted for a show we did with him. Then we extending the play with a viewing. When we did the viewing, everyone said they now saw him in a different light and appreciated him more because of it. Enjoy.
One Love
🔴 ⚫️  

*Marketing tip 
Your logo and your brand are not the same thing. Your brand is how you make people feel, an emotional connection. Your logo is that feeling's face 

*Activities
1) Does the "persona" strategy work for your product or service? Can you draw from something else to provide a nostalgic feel for people?
2) How will people connect with your product or service?
3) What is it about your product or service that makes you stand out from others?   

I confess, I like street tales. I've always wondered what would happen if streets dudes applied that same thinking to broader business and why we don't hear these tales more. I'll let those who want to uncover the street stories continue to do so. I applaud you and I appreciate your stories, but I wanna discuss the advancements made from those times and how brothers applied that thinking to where they are now. 

This episode is furthering our discussion with The Delinquents, talking about "Town Business" in particular. Side bar: I've always wondered who was the first person to say that. Anyway, within our conversation, Vidal clearly illustrates a principle I live by, at least as it relates to marketing, "Disruption". Its a concept I first came across reading a book by Seth Godin called "The Purple Cow". I speak at length about it at the end of the segment, and specifically about "OaklandUSA" and "Cool Water". Great book. Short, concise, powerful. Suggested reading for sure. 

I like The Delinquents, as people, as artist, and as men. I also like the way they think and their ability to apply that thinking. They prove you are not defined by your circumstance, only your own inability to recognize that very thing. 
One Love
🔴 ⚫️  

*Marketing tip 
Nothing sticks in your head better than a story. Stories can express the most complicated ideas in the most digestible ways  

*Activities 
1) Identify the way or ways your product or service is different from your competitors 
2) How can you make it different or standout? 
3) Think of 5 ways you can seize someone's attention and aim it towards what you're doing 

This episode finds us talking to Money B of the legendary hip hop group Digital Underground. He's a mentor, a friend. I always call him to get his thoughts because I know he's going to give it to me exactly how he sees it. Always a joy to speak to him. 

Specific to the episode, I thought it would be dope to introduce you to an audience that I'm actively trying to reach. It's like a real time act of marketing. Seems to me, one day someone said "hip hop is a young man's sport" and everyone just believed it, not even considering that hip hop was growing up right along side us. What, do I stop being hip hop when I reach a certain age? Of course not. Hip Hop shaped me; mind, body, and spirit, causing it to also bleed into my parenting, my world view. It's the reason why a father can sing Mary's J's "Be Happy" and Ashante's "Foolish" and Ella Mai's "Boo'ed Up" with his daughter note for note and not miss a beat. Father and daughter, harmony.  Hip Hop did that. I got something for these folks.  Feel free to join me. 

At the end, I speak about how I feel about inspiration and a book called "The Code of an Extraordinary Mind". Years before KBLX started doing the Father/Daughter dance, I thought to curate something fresh in that space. They beat me to it, I moved on. I respect ideas, period. Without going into full details, I told Erk about it and he immediately suggested that I read this book. I did, it changed my life.  Listen closely to the story because it pauses in the middle for a treat...a Rappin Ron unreleased verse. Courtesy of my homie Pep. Enjoy. One Love 

*Marketing tip 
Your friends can and should support you, but you can't live off your friends 

*Activities 
1) Once you've identified your audience, craft 5 tweets, post, emails, or specific messages that these folks will be prone to respond to 
2) Try them on the people you have a personal relationship with, but make sure its people who you have also identified as a part of said audience  

As stated, I'm into marketing. This episode is the thinking behind Cool Water, told anecdotally. I also discuss a concept I like to call "extending the play", which means to create something that can create something else, and so on. Enjoy. 

*Marketing tip 
1) You really only need 100 people to love it because if they love it they're only going to tell people they know will appreciate it. 

*Activities 
1) Identify your "tribe" outside of your immediate circle. Who are these people? How do you reach them? 
2) Find ways to make people want to protect what you're doing, which is to say only telling folks they know will appreciate it. 
3) How can you make what you're doing cool?

Cool Water 2022, September. (Tickets on sale now) 
One Love 

Episode 3 furthers our conversation with The Delinquents, discussing the legendary Lake Berryessa picnic and how it came to be. I really enjoyed this segment, as it relates to marketing, because it has a natural arc to it. As you listen, you'll hear both G-Stack and myself express a lack of understanding as to how Lake Berryessa became so big, and then Vidal speaks to The Delinquents ability to move all throughout Oakland, and from there it became so clear. It's the people, man. They, The Delinquents, were building their tribe, all the while creating cohesion in Oakland, and then providing an outlet for all that shared energy to blossom...Welcome to Napa, jet Skis up; Outta Control. 

*Marketing tip: 
Never underestimate the strength of "word of mouth". It is the most powerful tool we have at our disposal. It's attached to trust and protection, two things needed in any successful marketing campaign. Specifically, people are more likely to trust the word of someone they know and people who love something, and take pride in telling others, are only going to tell people they know will appreciate it, thus protecting it.


*Activities: 
1) Identify 5 people you believe would be willing to tell others about your product or service, and not just because they know you, if thats the case, but because they truly believe in what you're doing.
2) Think about ways to make your product or service "cool". (We have an entire episode on the idea of "cool", but because it plays so prominent here, I thought I'd offer it as something to begin thinking about.)   

Closing the segment is "Finding Your Audience", enjoy. 
*I introduce a concept called "water balloons", which I speak to at length in coming segments, but briefly...
Remember filling balloons up with water as a young kid and throwing them at people? You can apply this same thing to your messaging. "These" water balloons are filled with your messaging in order to impact the right audience. Upon landing, washing over them in a way that resonates.