Jon Spoelstra - Marketing Outrageously Redux

If youre a pro basketball fan, you can probably guess why Im writing the foreword to Marketing Outrageously. Since buying the Dallas Mavericks in January 2000, Ive done some outrageous things, from providing limos to take our players to our games to giving free tickets to fans who come to road games painted in Mavs colors. Ive tried to take the Dallas Mavericks, and our marketing, not only to our fans and customers but to our players and the entire NBA as well.

Some considered it outrageous when I gave out my e-mail address on national TV and radio, and at every game, and personally answered each response. To me, they were customers saying they were interested in my team. Would you not return a prospects or customers phone call? Was it outrageous when I asked every fan to join me in the owners box, which for me happens to be the seats at the very top of our arena? Some people thought so. Those seats started selling out three games later.

Mark Cuban

Cofounder, Broadcast.com;

Owner, Dallas Mavericks

I provided plush towels with the Mavericks logo to all of our players. After all, who wants to dry off from a shower in a raggedy towel? Some people thought I was outrageous when I gave them not only to my players but to all the visiting players as well. To me it was a way to send a message to potential free agents who might want to play for the Mavs that were a first-class organization that treats them better than their current team. The towels cost under $10 each, and yes, the visiting players always take them home with them! I also provide the visiting players with a complete buffet after every game, something no other team in the NBA does. All the players notice and talk about it. A little bit of outrageous marketing can mean my getting the best possible employees and, in turn, giving my customers the best possible experiences!

If youre familiar with the dot.com world, youll know me from my years when I cofounded Broadcast.com, when I was outrageous enough to believe that sports fans would take $3,000 and $4,000 computers and connect them to the Internet to make them work like $5 transistor radios so they could listen to their favorite sports teams over the net from around the world. From the second bedroom of my house, my partner Todd Wagner and I turned Broadcast.com into a business that we sold to Yahoo in 1999 for more than $5.7 billion .

To me none of this is outrageous. Its common sense. But thank goodness so few others think like Jon Spoelstra and me.

I learned about Jon Spoelstras outrageous thinking in his first book, Ice to the Eskimos. When I bought the Mavericks, I was looking for a kindred soul with new ideas I could steal. And Jon has them. Ive become a big fan. Other Mavs staffers and I regularly e-mail Jon to get his reaction to our ideas. So when he asked me to write the foreword to Marketing Outrageously , I was more than happy to comply.

In the sports world, Jon is a legend. His record of dramatically increasing revenue at the Portland Trail Blazers and New Jersey Nets is remarkable. His two workbooks, How to Sell the Last Seat in the House and Your Profits Are Brought to You by Sponsorships, sold a ton directly into the sports market, even at the outrageous prices of $800 and $1,600 each.

Jons new book is a terrific guide on how to think and act if you want to turbocharge your sales. In the first chapter he explains that marketing outrageously is the only way to really grow your company that its far more dangerous to market conservatively. I totally agree. My experience in the dot.com world, as well as the sports world, strongly supports Jons contention. Dont let the sports stories mislead you into thinking that these ideas apply only to sports. There are lots of examples like Aflac, Hyundai, and Vidalia Onion that demonstrate that these ideas work in all companies.

This book is packed with provocative ideas, like how to use a rubber chicken to get peoples attention and how to attract new customers by giving your products or services away. Its a real nuts-and-bolts book, too. It will challenge you and other people in your company. Jons title question in he has yet another big, but practical, question that everyone in your company should be asking: What Have I Done to Make Money for My Company Today?

Its not often that I find myself continuously referring to a book for motivation and guidance. But thats exactly what I do with Marketing Outrageously. Its the ultimate guide for taking companies of any size to a new level. Its full of crazy, fun ideas that can help anyone sell more. In fact, I found myself trying to out-outrageous Jons ideas. Marketing Outrageously is the cure for marketers block. You cant help pushing the envelope after reading it.

I highly recommend this book. It will be required reading for every Dallas Maverick employee and a gift to many of my friends.

Mark Cuban

Owner, Dallas Mavericks

S ince Marketing Outrageously was first published in 2001, Ive received over 4,000 e-mails from readers. (My personal e-mail address, by the way, is .)

I answered each e-mail. One of the most popular topics of the e-mails was: Where can I buy rubber chickens? (Youll have to read how I used rubber chickens in .)

I gave my readers a place where they could buy them. Now, of course, you can easily find where to buy rubber chickens on the Internet. In fact, Amazon.com offers them for less than three bucks each!

Over the years, I got e-mails explaining how some of my readers used rubber chickens.

A real estate broker used rubber chickens.A banker!A trucking company.Insurance agency, of course.A car dealer.A nursery of plants and trees.A paving company.A construction company.And, a cemetery!

Each of these companies used the rubber chicken in a very clever (and different) manner in grabbing somebodys attention.

Some told me that they ordered 25 rubber chickens to grab attention. Others bought over 100 rubber chickens. One ordered over 500. It got me to thinking: I shoulda bought a rubber chicken factory! It also got me thinking that marketing ideas are easily transferable to different industries from a banker to a nursery to a cemetery!

Thats why I have written Marketing Outrageously Redux. The ideas in the original Marketing Outrageously have now been time-tested for another ten years. In Marketing Outrageously Redux, Ive updated those ideas with plenty of new examples of how a seemingly outrageous idea can actually produce real live outrageous results for you.

When youre reading Marketing Outrageously Redux, youll feel this strong urge to adapt many of the ideas to your business. So, get a pen and a pad of paper ready, and as you read jot down ideas that will help you raise revenue in staggering amounts.

Jon Spoelstra

September 2010

Ground rule #1: If you arent willing to take a few risks in marketing, become a bean counter.