07 January 2009
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR merrills@mercuryfs.com
IMEDIA CONNECTION: MOST READ
in the real world, in their real lives, to help teens truly understand how to shape careers as engineers and inventors. Does the media need to be better about covering who is innovating, beyond the usual suspects? Should scientists and technologists be more vocal, active, and in the
Technology that will turn heads in 2009
public sphere—and in their communities?
JAN 7, 2009 6:01PM What cool new technology trends will emerge in the upcoming year? See what the innovative agencies are adding to their arsenals.
MANAGESMARTER.COM - PRESENTATIONS TOP STORIES
Principles of Persuasion JAN 7, 2009 5:00PM NEXT: INNOVATION TOOLS & TRENDS
Whether you’re conducting a one-on-one interview, motivating your sales team or delivering a keynote address, your success as a leader is defined by your ability to persuade with clarity and passion.
Teens Don’t Think Scientists are Nerds JAN 7, 2009 5:03PM
MANAGESMARTER.COM - SALES TOP STORIES
Link to Customer Loyalty
Today’s teens don’t see scientists as “nerdy,” according to a new study from the Lemelson-MIT Program, a non-profit based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology devoted to recognizing exceptional inventors. In the phone survey of 501 American teens, conducted in mid-November 2008, only 5 per cent described scientists as “nerdy.” Okay, so this post might seem like a satirical news story in The Onion, but the data in the 2009 Lemelson-MIT Invention Index, just released today, suggest that U.S. teens are eager to study science, perhaps against popular belief. (This year’s survey, the twelfth, is the first to focus only on Americans 12-17 years old and how they perceive of invention as a discipline. In the past, the sample was broad ages).
JAN 7, 2009 5:00PM Maritz and Welcome Real-time introduce new program in U.S. and Canada.
MANAGESMARTER.COM - SALES TOP STORIES
Principles of Persuasion JAN 7, 2009 5:00PM
Twenty-five percent of the teens surveyed said scientists are “successful.” The majority (55 percent) chose “intelligent” as a way to describe men and women in the sciences.
Whether you’re conducting a one-on-one interview, motivating your sales team or delivering a keynote address, your success as a leader is defined by your ability to persuade with clarity and passion.
The study also points out that among those polled, a whopping 85 percent expressed interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. And 80 percent surveyed said they feel “their schools have prepared [them] to pursue a career in these fields, should [they] choose.” But while this all seems like a rosy picture of America’s future in global innovation, two-thirds of the kids polled suggested that they need mentors in these fields and don’t have them. They don’t know anyone personally in these fields. So what’s to be done? They survey suggests that teens feel their schools are good places to learn science and math. But there aren’t enough role models — Steve Jobs, the Google guys aside—
1
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR merrills@mercuryfs.com
07 January 2009
MANAGESMARTER.COM - INCENTIVES TOP STORIES
ShinyShiny) More CES gubbins here.
On the Edge: Incentive Architects vs. Incentive Builders JAN 7, 2009 5:00PM As you begin 2009, you have two choices to make regarding your incentive and reward strategy: You can start from a blank sheet of paper and design exactly what you need, or you can revise an existing program design to get something close.
IMEDIA CONNECTION: MOST READ
Website design tips for tracking ROI
MANAGESMARTER.COM - INCENTIVES TOP STORIES
Link to Customer Loyalty
JAN 7, 2009 4:40PM
JAN 7, 2009 5:00PM Marketers frequently overlook opportunities to measure and boost their digital ROI using website data. Here’s how you can close the gap between strategy and design.
Maritz and Welcome Real-time introduce new program in U.S. and Canada.
TECH DIGEST
CES 2009: World’s first projector phone
SHINY SHINY
CES 2009: Bog-standard P70 and E70 digicams from Pentax
JAN 7, 2009 4:58PM
JAN 7, 2009 4:24PM
Somewhere amidst all the gadgety madness, Pentax are at their stand showing tech lovers their latest compact digital cameras - the Optio P70 and Optio E70. Now, Pentax doesn’t exactly trigger feelings of enthusiasm from within, despite releasing a few cameras worth shouting about during the past year, and its latest line of mid-range digi cams are no different. In fact, the E70 (gold) looks a little dated, which explains its entry-level status, which then serves to further explain those large control buttons. Basic design aside, it’s a 10 megapixel camera with 3x
I’ll be honest here - I’ve never sat there with my phone and wished I could project its contents onto a handy flat surface, but I recognise that there’s a few situations it might come in handy - a camping trip, or impromptu business meeting, perhaps. Well, even if there’s not much demand, Logitech Wireless has a solution regardless. It’s the “Logic Bolt”. It’s got an inbult projector, which can throw a 64” image onto any white, flat, surface that you desire. It’s also got GPS, a 3-megapixel camera and a touchscreen. Not exactly pretty though, is it? (via
2
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR merrills@mercuryfs.com
07 January 2009
zoom.
TECH DIGEST
CES 2009: WowWee Cinemin Pico Projectors - candybar, swivel and dock JAN 7, 2009 3:47PM
TECH DIGEST
New developments in the Tetris world - now it helps reduce mental trauma JAN 7, 2009 4:22PM
Last time we heard from WowWee, they showed Ashley a robot at last year’s CES. I guess they decided that there’s not much money in robots, because this year they’ve got a bunch of cheap, tiny, but remarkably attractive projectors instead. From left to right, there’s the “Stick”, which takes SD cards, but also has some internal memory, the “Station”, which lets you both dock your iPod and display its contents, and the “Swivel” which has a 90° hinge, letting you project your videos skyward. It also packs a three-hour battery life, for those long sessions of lying on your back. No pricing or availability yet, beyond “2009”. Find more CES coverage here. Tempted? I sure am. Related posts: Optoma Pico portable projector - pack 60 inches in your pocket | Toshiba pico projector - nice tech but is it totally useless?
Tetris. Always with the bloody Tetris. We’ve had Tetris ice cubes, Tetris chocolate, another kind of Tetris ice cubes, Tetris watches, Tetris furniture and even Tetris MADE REAL - now it’s time for life-affirming Tetris making people better news. Basically, some doctors have been using the timeless obsessive/compulsive block-tidying puzzle game to relieve the symptoms of stress sufferers. They found that playing Tetris 30 minutes after being exposed to harrowing imagery...
3
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR merrills@mercuryfs.com
07 January 2009
SHINY SHINY
Tetris a cure for post-traumatic stress disorder? JAN 7, 2009 3:33PM
Sony could be about to unveil a wearable Walkman - the W-Series, where presumably “W” stands for “wearable” — in a very compact and attractive design. Sony Insider claims some real-world pictures of the device. The two earphones are magnetic and attach themselves to the player forming a distinctive heart shape when not in use...
Exposure to terrifying or highly stressful events can be really traumatic. If you’re feeling the strains of post-traumatic stress, perhaps a bit of Tetris will make it all better. Yep, you read correctly - Tetris could be your cure. Apparently... well according to that ambiguous bunch of people, otherwise known as scientists (from Oxford University), Tetris could be the healing treatment you need to get over a traumatising ordeal. How? That’s exactly what I want to know.
TECH DIGEST
Nokia 5800 ‘Tube’ finally touches down in the UK JAN 7, 2009 3:31PM
TECH DIGEST
Wear your Walkman: Sony could offer wearable W-Series Walkman JAN 7, 2009 3:31PM
4
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR merrills@mercuryfs.com
07 January 2009
BLOGGING TIPS
ATTN Writers & Bloggers: 3 More Reasons to Start Freelancing – Now! JAN 7, 2009 3:15PM Written by Yuwanda Black from Inkwell Editorial In yesterday’s post here entitled Freelance Writers: How to Make Money from the Competition, I talked about why freelance writers (bloggers too), should embrace competition. Well, last night as I was getting ready for bed, my head was spinning with more reasons you shouldn’t worry about the market being too competitive if you’re a freelance writer or blogger. So, following are three more reasons to dive on in. 1. 100,000 New Prospects a Day Who Need Your Freelance Writing Expertise: Experts estimate that as many as 100,000 new websites go live every day. The following backs this assertion up. According to Netcraft.com: The November 2008 survey [of Web Server stats] shows worldwide monthly growth of nearly three million websites, with responses now being received from a total of 185,167,897 sites. [Source: http://news.netcraft.com]. What do all of these newcomers to the web need? Content, content, content. 2. Most People Are Lazy: I’m often asked how I do all that I do (write and market my own ebooks, run an internet marketing firm, promote affiliate products, blog, update two websites, etc.).
We were wondering when the Nokia 5800 was going to show up, but it wasn’t ‘in time for Christmas’, after all. Nokia has just dropped us an email to confirm that you’ll be able to get your sweaty hands on the ‘Tube’ in the UK on Friday 23rd January. Initially, it’ll only be available in Nokia’s Regent Street and Heathrow Terminal 5 flagship stores, as well as online, but come Friday 30th, it’ll be available from anywhere. Interestingly, Nokia will be selling it unlocked and SIM-free to start with, for £250. I would get excited, but with the N97 just round the corner, the Tube can get stuffed. Nokia Shop Related posts: Nokia 5800 XpressMusic coming very soon, in time for Christmas perhaps? | Shiny Preview: Nokia 5800 XpressMusic aka The Tube
It’s because I put in 10, 12 and 14 hour days. Most people are just too lazy to work like this over the long haul. So, they quit and look for a regular 95 job; that is, if they ever even get around to freelancing full time. Freelancing is not hard, but it requires a hell of a lot of elbow grease in the marketing department, especially for the first few years. So yeah, while there may be a lot of freelance writers out there, most of them aren’t in it for the long haul. This means they’re no competition for you if you are. 3. Freelance Writer Burn Out: On the flip side of this, some freelance writers move on to other things because of burnout. I received an email just this week of a successful freelance copywriter. She’s been doing it for 15 years, and decided this year that she was going to stop taking on client projects and start writing and promoting her own e-products. In her words, “I see 2009 as my year to create and market products, as
5
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR merrills@mercuryfs.com
07 January 2009
the individual writing gigs for clients are losing their charm for me. Too much work, not enough money.”
look very meagre before the end of 2009, and a 250GB hard drive is considerably less than most gamers will need. For £1700, which is what the Xtreme 780 costs, you could make two desktop PCs that outspec this laptop.
So there you go – three more reasons to get your freelance writing website up, get your writing samples in order and start marketing for freelance writing jobs (and blogging jobs). There’s plenty of work out there – you just have to go get it! Copyright © 2009 Blogging Tips. This Feed is for personal noncommercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us so we can take legal action immediately. Written by Yuwanda Black from
NEXT: INNOVATION TOOLS & TRENDS
TECH DIGEST
The Collective Power of Individuals
Rock adds Intel’s Q9000 quadcore chip to its Xtreme 780 gaming laptop
JAN 7, 2009 3:02PM
JAN 7, 2009 3:14PM
Happening # 1 David Armano (@armano), VP of Experience Design at the Chicago marketing consultancy Critical Mass, posted an enigmatic tweet on his Twitter feed. “Hey everyone. I am going to need a very BIG favor from you. It’s going to be asking a lot. I’ll let you know more very soon.” A few minutes later he posted a request for help for Daniela, a family friend in a bad situation.
Last night, two things happened on Twitter that seem to me to point to the reality of our present day connected world, with trends that are budding now that will revolutionize many an industry and many a life.
Sadly, we’ve all heard similar stories before. But what happened next was nothing short of phenomenal. Armano’s network of 8,150 followers swung into action, spreading the word about Daniela. Within a few hours, donations had reached $5,000. This morning, donations have topped $11,700, and there’s probably more to come. Happening # 2 Tireless tech world figure, blogger, Tweeter (etc), Robert Scoble (@scobleizer) found himself in a jam.
There are very few true PC gamers that’ll willingly buy a laptop over a desktop, primarily because the performance-price difference is so great. Rock’s just added an Intel Q9000 chip to its flagship gaming laptop - the Xtreme 780, but I suspect the majority of gamers out there simply won’t care. It’s not even that great a machine. Quad-core aside, the 512MB Nvidia GeForce 9800M GTS is merely adequate, the 2GB of memory will
6
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR merrills@mercuryfs.com
07 January 2009
TECH DIGEST
Don’t Panic. The earth will keep spinning on its axis and marketers of all stripes will need to communicate and persuade customers and prospects. Focus on the meat-and-potatoes issues in your business. Invest extra time and energy to find new ways to conceive, craft and transmit messages that better differentiate and more clearly communicate the value and the urgency of your brand.
CES 2009: Pentax announces Optio P70 and Optio E70, possibly the most forgettable cameras in history JAN 7, 2009 2:04PM
Don’t Get Distracted. The economy is in a free fall. Most of us hope Obama knows more than we do. We pray that he and all those new appointees have a really good plan. He might. But whatever he’s got won’t make things better on January 22nd. So focus on the stuff you can affect. Ignore things you have no control over. We all have to assume an AA mentality by grasping the notion that most things are out of our control so we have to use our time and energy wisely to impact the handful of things we actually can exert control over; mostly ourselves. Take a short term focus. Cover each month’s bills. Take one step forward after the next. Try to ignore the daily doomsday screeching and then endless warnings that the sky is falling down.
The rather non-glamorous Pentax has revealed a couple of thoroughly mid-range new digital cameras - the Optio P70 and Optio E70. The P70, on the left there in the fetching white finish, is the most impressive model, managing 12megapixels with a 4x optical zoom, a 2.7” LCD monitor round the back and what Pentax calls its “Pixel Track Shake Reduction technology” image stabilisation tool. It’ll also come in red and silver, if you’re mainstream enough that one of the first things you look for when buying a camera is what colour it comes in. Meanwhile, the E70 (right) is a bit more “entry level” - offering “large control buttons,” a 10megapixel sensor and 3X zoom. Both will be out in the US this February...
Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow. Great relationships are forged in adversity. Now is the time to stick close to your clients and your people. Mine and harness the energy, the goodwill, the advocacy, the insights and the and ideas that often go uncollected or unexploited during the normal course of business. Invest in each other. Hold up your value proposition to a 360 SWOT analysis. Find new and better ways to reach out your customers.
Don’t Ignore Your Network. Social networking demonstrates that we are linked together. We are navigating this life together. So leverage your connections. Reach out to others. Ask questions, share ideas and share resources. The whole is stronger than the sum of the parts, so leverage the whole. Remember that the value of a network expands exponentially with use. An unused network degrades rapidly.
POSTS BY DANIEL FLAMBERG - IMEDIA CONNECTION BLOG Don’t Bring Coupons to a Party. Social media is evolving, emerging and morphing everyday. You wouldn’t come to a party at my house and pass out coupons. We’d think you were rude and gross. Facebook, MySpace and others are the digital online equivalents of that party. Understand the milieu and enter cautiously recognizing that the brand is NOT in control, consumers are. Take your cues from them and respect their sensibilities.
10 Things NOT to Do in 2009 JAN 7, 2009 2:01PM
Don’t Stop Experimenting. We are in the “wild west” phase of social, mobile and online video media. There are no ideas that are too crazy especially since our technologists are inventing, extending and mashing
7
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR merrills@mercuryfs.com
07 January 2009
up new things daily. The recession makes these platforms and the creative content to fuel them affordable and measurable. So get below your competitor’s radar and play around with images, messages and media. Who knows maybe your nutty idea will become the new “best practices”?
Add a comment | Permalink
POSTS BY DANIEL FLAMBERG - IMEDIA CONNECTION BLOG
Why CMOs Snub Social Networks
Don’t Ignore Mobile Media. The new generation of Blackberries and the iPhone are important steps on the evolutionary path toward a single multi-purpose device that combines, integrates, synchronizes and aggregates computers, the Internet, telephony, credit and debit cards, digital photography, Swiss Army knives and who knows what else. And while it might take a few years for the number of daily users to reach hundreds of millions, this phenomenon will be upon us before you can say “Tim Berners Lee.” That means now is the time to get familiar with mobile media. Begin thinking about the idea of constant access to the Net and constant consumer motion and communication. This development will forever change they way we stimulate brand awareness, preference and purchase and change shopping expectations and behavior in ways we can’t yet predict..
JAN 7, 2009 2:01PM
Millions of people have started using social media in the last year. 49 million visited MySpace or Facebook in October 2008. But more than half (55%) of 180 Chief Marketing Officers from medium to giant brands aren’t interested.
Don’t Write Off Direct Marketing. When marketing money gets tight, bean counters rule. Direct marketing continues to enjoy great public acceptance, strong ROI, measurability and an under-exposed degree of creativity and inventiveness. Direct mail, DRTV, telemarketing and other DM tactics are proven result-getters which can be pulsed or turned off and on at will. Expect smart marketers to default to direct marketing and look for smart DM players to do well in hard times.
What’s up with that?
Could it really be that the marketing leaders of top consumer and B2B brands really don’t care that Facebook and MySpace have aggregated huge audiences which are can be targeted using a range of psychodemographic criteria or are these the guys who are so out of touch they can’t hold the job for more than a year and a half?
Don’t Forget to Measure What Matters. Most marketing is assessed two ways. We measure effectiveness in returning profitable business results and we count efficiency in terms of the value received compared to the cost, usually expressed in some form of ROI calculation. There are millions of other distracting and partially relevant things to count, sort and calculate. But in a recession focus on two simple questions; “How much profitable new business did this drive?” and “Was it worth it?”
My hunch is neither.
I suspect that the survey, done by GfK Roper Public Affairs on behalf of Epsilon, a leading direct marketing services company, reflects more caution and uncertainty than outright stupidity. It’s not a stretch to guess that CMOs are skeptical about these large looming communities. Here’s why:
Don’t Abandon Customer Satisfaction. Acquiring new customers costs a multiple of delighting and retaining existing ones. In tough times you need the efficiency of happy customers referring their friends. Focus on customer service. Talk to customers. Listen to them too. Solicit their ideas and feedback. Institute loyalty and reward programs. Do whatever you can to encourage them to buy more. Emphasize customer service and include the voice of your customer in your product and marketing plans.
They’re Too New. There’s no track record, only anecdotal results. There are no proven strategies, no best practices, no brands claiming victory,
Filed under: Opinions
8
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR merrills@mercuryfs.com
07 January 2009
no clear buying tools or metrics and the weenies who typically become CMOs won’t do anything that somebody hadn’t already pre-chewed and pre-digested for them. There isn’t any agreement on what marketers should use social networks for. Are the awareness, preference or sales building vehicles? Remember these are the same guys who are just beginning to recognize and cautiously test the Internet as a viable media channel. And their doubts are probably nurtured by the sites themselves who are immature at packaging, selling and merchandizing the audiences they’ve attracted.
expect mainstream marketers to break with tradition or inertia easily.
Limited Metrics. Cookies don’t work on social networks. Measuring anything is a leap of faith. Whole Foods distributes coupons. BlendTec circulates wacky product demonstration videos, and Reebok encourages runners. But we can’t calculate the ROI, measure media efficiency or gauge relative effectiveness using the media metrics we’ve come to know and love. Absent numbers, few media buys get made.
Nobody Wants Ads. The primal attraction of these sites is the absence of advertising and the joy of connection, sharing and communication between friends. Marketers don’t know how to join the party and have few organic connections with which to “friend” customers and prospects. Gaining entrée, framing the message, devising creative executions and knowing how and when to communicate are all open questions. And while a brand like the New York Times can collect 183,000 Facebook fans and send 400,000 virtual gifts, most CMOs don’t know what to make of it. Is this a good, so-so or bad result? The social networks haven’t sufficiently answered the “so what” challenge.
The real message in the survey results is that we are clearly in the early adopter phase where mainstream marketers watch the early experimenters and try to gauge value and effectiveness. Advocates of social media need to develop a different marketing paradigm to either translate or replace the lens used by marketers to assess and buy media channels. Assuming that Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and others will last and become a regular or preferred part of consumers’ media landscape; we need to find new ways to help established and insurgent brands make new friends.
Not Sure Whose There. CMOs are asking the question Butch repeatedly asked Sundance, “Who are those guys?” The preliminary answers aren’t encouraging despite the fact that 57% of users log in daily and spend more than 30 minutes per session, according to IDC. Steve Cone, Epsilon’s CMO says “the sites narrowly appeal to high school and college students.” But he’s a year behind the power curve and has a vested interest in selling CMOs other digital assets.
Filed under: Social Media A P&G executive was quoted as asking “who wants to put our message on a site where somebody is breaking up with their girlfriend?” And Murdoch biographer Michael Woolf really pooped on MySpace users saying they are “poor cretins” none of whom “has beyond an 8th grade education.” CMOs used to relying on and hiding behind refined demographic and psychographic data won’t buy a pig in a poke.
Add a comment | Permalink
POSTS BY DANIEL FLAMBERG - IMEDIA CONNECTION BLOG
Marketing Yourself in the Recession
No Control. Social networks are party lines. Anyone can edit, review or comment on almost anything. It’s the antithesis of advertising which has for decades carefully placed well-crafted and well-researched messages in precise pages and in precise time slots to meet well defined audiences. You can’t interrupt programming with an ad or push a message to people on social networks. This is the exact opposite of 60 years of advertising practice and experience. Few CMOs have a risk appetite to take a flyer or to potentially associate their brand (by design or default) with an uncontrolled range of ideas, associations, images or messages. Don’t
JAN 7, 2009 2:01PM
9
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR merrills@mercuryfs.com
07 January 2009
quickly cite an example of how you fit the job specification. Spend time wordsmithing, be introspective and write like a journalist — don’t bury the headline. You’ll have 5-10 seconds to grab somebody’s attention so pick your words carefully and be sure you are accenting you strongest selling point.
Don’t Pitch Every Job. You are anxious with one eye on bills and the other on your savings account. But restrain yourself. Many of the jobs posted aren’t real. Many aren’t right for you no matter how much you’re worried about cash flow. Pick your shots. Take the time to craft a short, punchy cover letter that translates and matches your experience to the job requirements. Doping this math for an HR person will dramatically improve your chances of making a short list.
Layoffs are a daily occurrence in this recession. Too many of my friends and colleagues have found themselves involuntarily benched. If thousands in each industry are on the street finding a new job requires a personal Zen that’s comprised of patience, routine, sustained confidence, steady action and considered risk-taking.
To effectively seek work – you have to think like a marketer and market yourself as a brand. Identify your unique selling proposition, carefully target your potential new employers, craft persuasive messages and determine ways to get the attention and consideration you deserve. But be realistic. The toughest part of job hunting is managing your nerves and marshaling your resources.
Stutter Step Your Submission. The vast majority of online applications come in during the first 24 hours after a job is posted. Huge numbers of people are applying automatically to all kinds of jobs that they aren’t remotely qualified for. Many employers can’t handle the numbers so they dump the first response wave because nobody is willing to wade through 500 resumes. So pick your shot, wait a day and then apply. There is a reasonable chance that your patience will earn you more consideration.
The good news is that thousands of others are in the same boat. There’s no embarrassment to being out of work. But that’s also the bad news; thousands are competing for hundreds of jobs. It’s a buyers market where some employers are trading up.
Set Alerts. Let jobs find you. Do a search using the keywords that fit your ideal position. Save the search as an alert. You can do this in 45 seconds on Craig’s List or at www.indeed.com, www.simplyhired.com, www.tovix.com, www.jobster.com. Each day the jobs most interesting to you will end up in your Inbox. If you like, you can set more than one using keywords for different titles or different industry sectors. All you have to do is sort out the duplicates and decide where to click to apply.
Here are ten must-do steps to keep you sane and on track toward your next job:
Create a Routine. Job hunting isn’t a full-time job, especially when the jobs you want are few and far between. Set up a daily routine. Check email, surf job boards, then walk the dog, exercise, meet friends for lunch and watch Oprah. Structure your day so that you do what you need to and reduce the likelihood that you’ll obsess about your circumstances.
Surf Social Networks. Let you r Facebook and MySpace friend know you are looking and sign up for professional groups or forums on Ning, Naymz and LinkedIn where many jobs are posted and many recruiters are lurking. Also check trade association and trade publication sites and industry newsletters many of which either have job listings or report on openings, new positions and employer’s plans.
Prepare Your Pitch. You’ll need a killer resume with several variations, cover letters summarizing your greatest hits, references and selling points to acquaint headhunters with your strengths. These are messages you can control and shape. Writing and rewriting them gives you a sense of control and comfort and is something you can actually work on while you are waiting for the right opportunity. Anticipate the questions an interviewer might ask and prepare the answers. Make a list of people you worked with and your role in each assignment so you can
Don’t Be Bashful. You can’t win if you don’t play. Tell people you are looking and what you are looking for. Most people assume that friends and family know their situation and will do the math for them. This is usually NOT true. And, while it might make you blush, you never know who knows whom. Tell your maiden aunt, your cousin Boise and your
10
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR merrills@mercuryfs.com
07 January 2009
neighbor, cousin, high school BFF or sister-in-law just might be hiring.
Filed under: Opinions Add a comment | Permalink
Publish. In an interactive world, employers will search the web or prospective employees either to identify people in companies or industries of interest or to check out candidates they’ve heard about or talked to. So while you’ve got the time share your expertise by publishing a blog or positing thoughts, comments, opinions or advice on blogs, portals, professional communities, media sites or job boards. You never know if your clever response to a news story our your nuts-and-bolts advice to an industry peer will send an employer in your direction. Remember many more people read this stuff than write posts, so consider it a form of self-marketing.
POSTS BY DANIEL FLAMBERG - IMEDIA CONNECTION BLOG
Surviving the New Year Biz Dev Stampede JAN 7, 2009 2:01PM
Engage Recruiters Gingerly. Most recruiters are actively trying to find the needle in the haystack; the perfect candidate that meets all the requirements and nice-to-haves that employers fantasize about. If you fit the profile, these guys are your new best friend. If you connect on a real job prospect immediately find out if they have an exclusive retainer or if they are pitching you on contingency. Their status with the hiring organization will drive their behavior towards you.
The layoffs of 2008 will soon give way to a manic new year’s scramble for new business in 2009. Marketers, agencies and consultants of all sizes, shapes and specialties will madly chase a shrinking pool of new assignments and do their darnedest to seduce customers away from their current providers.
If you don’t, they don’t hate you, but don’t expect a return call. Every recruiter keeps some kind of database and almost everyone remembers individuals with interesting stories, unique expertise or even oddsounding names. Many allow you to upload your resume to their sites, others are happy to collect resumes by e-mail and many post openings on their own sites and larger job boards trolling for candidates.
What’s new is that business is “out there for the taking” because half of all buyers will be open to switching according to “How Clients Buy”::the 2009 Benchmark Report on Professional Services Marketing produced by RainToday.com with survey help from the Wellesley Hills Group. The full detailed report is for sale on their site.
Try to find the recruiters who specialize in your industry or your functional specialty. Expect that recruiters will be a mixed bag ranging from skilled, understanding conversant professionals to half-wit jerks looking to score a quick commission. And you never know, tomorrow they can get assignment where you fit the bill.
Evidently professional relationships aren’t what they used to be. High and changing expectations, a financial crunch and the ready availability of alternatives makes the business development landscape much more fluid that’s it has been before. Add the continuing need for service and reduced ranks of internal marketers and there are more potential openings than most of us might realize. The real question is are new business seekers willing or able to do what it takes to snag the newly available switchers?
Seek Out Context. Every job you get considered for is at a different stage in the search. In some cases you are the first person they’re seeing. In other cases they already love somebody else or the one they truly loved turned them down. Get as much information as you can about where the hiring managers are in the process, their style, their formal and informal process and the culture of the organization. This will require you to dig and to push the recruiters; who often don’t know this stuff themselves. But be persistent. These critical elements vary widely within industries and even under corporate or holding company umbrellas. Understanding how you intersect with the on-going search is the most important piece of intelligence you can get because it will shape the way you position yourself and cue you about how to persuade them to hire you.
So what’s a sales guy to do?
11
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR merrills@mercuryfs.com
07 January 2009
Make it Personal. The top tier methods for getting access to potential switchers are referrals from colleagues or other professionals and providers and/or personal recognition by your prospective client of you or your brand. You have to be out there, visible and know how to get your foot in the door. The second tier of access is through presentations or in-person seminars. Again the direction is clear. You have to have something new or different to say and you have to get physically in front of potential customers to say it. The benchmarking data validates the old adage – “people buy people first; then goods and services are transacted.”
Focus on and clearly demonstrate what you know about their business, which tasks they need that you’ve done successfully a hundred times and be sure to logically show what they will win, in terms of business results – cash, profits, new customers, market share, market penetration – by picking you.
Listen Closely. If you can check your ego at the4 door and discipline yourself to let the prospects speak four words for each one you utter, most clients will sooner or later really tell you what they want. In the bench mark survey almost 4 in 10 complained that potential service partners didn’t listen to them, didn’t understand them or didn’t respond in a timely manner. If you can’t do these basic things, don’t bother to suit up for the sales game because you’ll never win.
You are Your Website. If you are real you have a website explaining who you are and what you uniquely do. Your website is the embodiment of your brand in the customer’s eye. Eighty percent of potential clients look at your website before they decide to contact you. Customers search for you or look at your site to verify your claims, assess your bona fides and/or do the background research on you and your competitors. If your site sucks, so does the perception of you and your offering.
Good Luck and Happy New Year. Filed under: Websites Proactively Reach Out. Too many marketers are afraid of the phone. The digital world is antiseptic and unintrusive. But the response rates and the engagement rates reflect this. The bench mark data suggests that potential switchers are much more open (almost 2 times as open as they were when surveyed in 2005) to phone and webinar contact than ever before. This means you need a good list and have to have something of genuine value to say or offer to entice further conversation.
Add a comment | Permalink
POSTS BY DANIEL FLAMBERG - IMEDIA CONNECTION BLOG
Creative Cues From the Hospital
Blogs and social media are just coming online as sales tools. They are worthy of experimentation but aren’t yet proven vehicles to engage potential new clients. You might get a few ideas by looking at the 14 agency blogs cited by Michael Gass on his Fuel Lines blog.
JAN 7, 2009 2:01PM
Focus on Buying Criteria. Way too many marketers get caught up in the features and never sell the benefits. And even more get way too caught up in chest beating and never listen closely enough to prospects to properly tailor the pitch. The reality is – clients want you to service them, solve their problems and make them look good. Your entire mission is to convince them that you and your guys can do this faster and better than anyone else.
Every profession has a dedicated language; those words, terms, phrases and concepts that serve as both a short-hand for practitioners and as a filter to keep outsiders at bay. In most cases these vocabularies are created or policed by professional bodies much like the medieval guilds protected the trade secrets and prerogatives of their members.
For eight out of ten buyers, the critical information for sustaining this claim is your brand and personal reputation, your category or vertical industry experience, your task or functional experience and the price you quote. Every other piece of data, every other claim, all those awards, all that other blab is extraneous.
The best example of this can be found in any hospital where the medical argot is a mix of Latin, tech terms and centuries of practice, study and innovation. Doctor’s language is a great wall of China for patients and
12
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR merrills@mercuryfs.com
07 January 2009
their families; a barrier that instills fear and confusion as it fosters dependency which is further complicated by the methodology of medical practice driven by hospital’s need and third-party insurers needs for efficiency, economies of scale, brad building and repeat business.
proactive communications burden. It’s not okay to hide, duck or wait till the customer or patient is red-faced, screaming or homicidal before sharing information. Everyone needs to understand where they are, what is happening next and what are the possible outcomes of the game. This is true if you are selling socs online, undertaking an eLearning exercise or supporting a chronically ill relative.
A visit to anyone in the hospital offers several clear directives to creatives, copywriters and marketers: 1. Expose the Process. Everyone needs to understand the basic rules of the game. In the hospital you are on your own. Doctors, specialists, nurses, students, aides and schelpers of many stripes traipse into the room and do stuff. The plan, the sequence and the goals are rarely understandable or clear and nobody is incented to tell you. Finding out what is wrong with the patient, who is managing it, what are the issues and considerations and what is going to happen next is much harder than the most complicated video game and more frustrating than the best mystery novel.
Filed under: Creative Best Practices Add a comment | Permalink
POSTS BY DANIEL FLAMBERG - IMEDIA CONNECTION BLOG
Capturing Online Video Viewers
2. Loose the Lingo. In real life most people get it and most things can be explained simply or by analogy. Consumers and patients aren’t as dumb as we look. The professional nomenclature which marks guild membership is a turn-off and a barrier to effective care, especially in cases where the patient’s family or friends need to give the medical team data, context or information. Without understanding what’s going on and what the doctors are thinking about, patients and their loved ones edit the data they share which in turn can complicate or frustrate effective treatment. This holds true across many service businesses where professional ego and distance creates an unnecessary and counterproductive adversarial situation..
JAN 7, 2009 2:01PM
3. Consider Context. Every message to a human brain is processed through the state-of-mind filter. The hospital, by its nature, is a scary and disease filled place. Anxiety is ubiquitous. Add the scary visual of a loved one confined to a bed, near naked and uncomfortably hooked up to honking and beeping machines and your target customer is lost in a sci-fi world. You must factor in the emotional context of your target audience since all medical and stressful communication has to start with the understanding that the audience is disoriented, fearful, ignorant and anxious. Too often the medical professionals’ cool, professional and familiar context rather than the patient/family context drives the message and the communications style.
If you post it, they will not necessarily watch it is the emerging lesson from YouTube, LiveVideo and the entire class of evolving video community sites. The emergence of limitless user and brand generated online video content has attracted widespread comment and a land rush by content owners abd creators to meet potential friends and customers on these sites. But the use of this channel to ache8ive marketing objectives is as beguiling as it is intriguing. I’m astounded at the sheer quantity of material that ranges from stupid cat tricks to TV bootlegs to endless confessions to well produced material created specifically for web viewing and downloads. Overnite we’ve become a nation of film directors and videographers committed to the notion that a picture is worth a thousand words and a moving picture is exponentially better.
4. Get Real. Humans are physically and emotionally sturdy. Evolution has wired us to nimbly handle threats and to instinctively process information. There is little or no point in withholding information or attempting to guild the lily, especially to people supporting patients with chronic or persistent ailments. Nobody thinks medicine is a precise science. Everyone understands that there are multiple variables at play. But few of us have the patience to slog through dis-information or the knowledge to piece together the real story from fragments and snippets of data and opinion parsed through a large and unknown cast of characters.
David Parmet, an online PR expert, argues that “social media are not sales channels, they are conversation channels” so that marketers should “think of yourselves as conversationalists” and emphasize the connection by listening and reacting rather than trumpet the product message. And while we think that we can intersect with and begin a conversation with prospective customers using this “infotainment” or “edutainment” venue, getting eyeballs and turning those eyeballs into
5. Tackle the Topline. Take charge of the communications burden and tell customers or patients the topline. You have the affirmative,
13
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR merrills@mercuryfs.com
07 January 2009
sales is still a matter of trial and error.
POSTS BY DANIEL FLAMBERG - IMEDIA CONNECTION BLOG
Consider my going-in assumptions
The 8 Second Imperative JAN 7, 2009 2:01PM
1. My clients’ psycho-demographic are on these sites 2. My video material is searchable, tagged and can be aligned or grouped with like material 3. By linking video with my website, blog, Myspace page, iTunes or other content sources, I can faciliate broad and easy access to my message and stimulate traffic 4. If the content is compelling or resonates with my target audience, they will help drive traffic and share the links to virally extend the campaign
Half of all the people clicking on your landing page bail out by the time 8 seconds elapse according to SilverPop. Optimizing landing pages is the fastest, easiest most cost effective thing you can do to improve sales, lead generation and customer engagement.
So we put up a sequence of 3 videos aimed at 25-35 year-old mostly male IT guys in small and medium, businesses. Our creative was a mix of live action video showing “real” working situations and animation using World of Warcraft characters as a projection of emotional reactions to routine office situations.
Each minor step you make will increase process flow and drive incremental conversion. The objective is to instantly orient visitors and make it as easy and as intuitive as possible for them to do what you want them to do. Everything starts with the understanding that a click onto your landing page is a gift from God with a half-life of a nuclear isotope. It begins degrading as soon as it granted (8 seconds) and it represents the BEGINNING of the conversation not the end.
Here’s what we’ve learned: A. Shorter clips get more views B. Animation ghets more play than live action
As a site operator or marketer you must do everything possible to extend the 8 seconds into a registration, a download or a sale. Most of the moves are logical and require no extra technology. According to MarketingSherpa, the average e-mail landing page converts between 5.6 and 11.3 percent of those who click, depending on the offer. E-commerce landing pages produce conversions in the 5.6-7.6 range.
C. Search engines drive a decent amount of traffic to video sites D. We doubled our traffic by actively commenting on blogs and posting opinions in communities and including a link to our video E. We think more links and more connections will yield more traffic.
So here are the “rules” — for LANDING PAGE OPTIMIZATION — BEST PRACTICES
F. The burden of creating interest is entirely on us. Unlike TV or cable channels where no matter what you do somebody will watch your stuff, we have no baseline audience online.
1. Use Readable URLs. Don’t get fancy. The URL validates your credibility and reassures visitors that they are in the right place doing what they came to do.
Filed under: Video Add a comment | Permalink
2. Mirror the Offer Copy and Design. Where they land absolutely has to look, feel and read like where they came from. The e-mail, the mailer, the keyword all must be reflected in the landing page. If not, your prospect is confused and given an incentive to exit. It helps if all of this looks like the website too. 3. Repeat the Call- to-Action High on the Page. You hooked them with this in your communications. Remind them why the came and what you want them to do as soon as they get there. 4. Create Distinct Landing Pages. Too many marketers dump clicking visitors onto their home page. You might as well abandon them in Grand Central Station. For each marketing vehicle you need a separate
14
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR merrills@mercuryfs.com
07 January 2009
corresponding landing page that mirrors the look, tone, copy and call-toaction of the ad message. These can be easily templated and cloned. Its about creating distinct and simple URLs and mapping marketing vehicles to landing pages. Its also about focusing on one task and one goal at a time.
POSTS BY DANIEL FLAMBERG - IMEDIA CONNECTION BLOG
Brand Strategy Must Drive Integrated Marketing in Web 2.0, 2.5 or 3.0
5. Focus on Action Sequences. Site visitors expect a logical step-bystep flow. Give it to them. Anticipate how they think and what they want and build the landing page to deliver simple, easy-to-follow buying or registration sequences.
JAN 7, 2009 2:01PM 6. Use Short Copy Above the Fold. Never Scroll. It’s a game of glimpses and nanoseconds. Say it short and in 250 words per page or less. If the copy is dense signal impact or call out key ideas by using subheads. The population is aging so 10 point type is the minimum readable size. Use images to reinforce and illuminate. You are not writing an epic, you are writing a postcard. If they have to scroll, they abandon. Fight for simplicity. Most successful pages are dark type on a white field. Also relax the need to include every branding element and hero shots on the page. Clickers know who you are and where they are. They are anxious to do something other than romance your brand or fight your intramural battle. You have captured the attention of a prospect now capture the order. Most successful pages lose the hero shots and have minimal brand elements. A landing page is not the forum to work out your entire branding gestalt. It’s about facilitating action.
Web 2.0 was about finding, developing and embracing interactive technologies to engage customers, prospects and other constituencies. Web 3.0, says Clark Kokich of Razorfish, is about integrating these cool new toys to work together to achieve business results. While Michael Leis jokes about the nomenclature, Clark’s underlying thought is spot on; the holy grail of integrated digital marketing is to frame a vision of a fully realized multi-dimensional interactive relationship between a brand and its customer base and then implement that vision using the latest and greatest tools we can find to achieve predictable business results.
7. Limit Navigation. The purpose of a landing page is to close. Eliminate any choices that don’t focus on the goal. Don’t kid yourself about up sells and cross sells. Get the download, the registration or the sale first, then make your second move. If they want to see your whole site, they’ll go there.
It’s a grand but very difficult grail. Why? Right now they’ve granted you a click. Your job is to eliminate extra opportunities to go elsewhere and do other things. Reduce clickable elements. Eliminate as much navigation as possible. Its a magic focused moment. Keep it that way. Keep your eye and their’s on the prize.
Four reasons. 1. Because it forces us to get past the “amazing” features of each new tool and focus on end-user benefits rather than first user bragging rights. 2. Because the tools are constantly evolving and we are unlikely to settle on a few at the risk of missing the next big thing. 3. Because it requires both agencies and clients to overcome organizational and attitudinal silos with their attendant politics of self-interest in service to a greater goal. 4. Because it requires marketers to balance measurable business effectiveness against probable marketing efficiencies which demand a combination of proven tactics and carefully considered experiments; risks that both agencies and clients are generally afraid of.
8. Collect Only Absolutely Necessary Data. Don’t be too nosy. If you can get bye with just an e-mail address take it and follow up later. Forms scare a healthy number of site visitors who instinctively understand that if they give you data, you’ll be hocking them till the end of time. Obviously orders and payments require collecting more data. But streamline everything you can. Make it as easy to enter data as possible. Don’t ask visitors to type the same stuff over and over. But do ask them to opt-in for future communications either newsletters or by permission to message them again.
But there is a way forward, if marketers would adopt these four tactics: Follow a Boss. Altitude is the only predictor of successful marketing integration. Somebody at the top of the organization (possibly a CMO) has to be the boss, make decisions, broker arguments, set the direction and establish the party line. It’s a stick-your-neck-out posture that requires vision, guts and political savvy. Too many post-modern, post-
Filed under: Email Add a comment | Permalink
15
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR merrills@mercuryfs.com
07 January 2009
industrialist MBA-trained managers publicly shrink from the very notion of a boss, but without it, the natural politics of bureaucracies will overwhelm and undermine any effort. Build Consensus Goals. The most effective marketers have a vision that sets a goal which then determines a logical series of priorities that drive creative, channel and spending decisions. This is that big strategy piece that everyone talks about and aspires to but few actually accomplish. A broad but quantifiable goal gives context to all the varied tactics and lays out hypotheses for finding synergy within an organization and its marketing partners which can be mapped out as tactics and executed in a coordinated and thoughtful way through a set of channels. The game is won on the choice of strategy not on the choice of channels.
The key words and phrases customers and prospects use most can be creative cues for other forms of branded messaging. But too few creatives mine the insights from SEO analytics.
Harness the Mule Team. Nothing great ever gets done unless everyone is in-harness and pulling in the same direction. This requires the greatest application of energy and force and is most affected by staffing choices and vendor selection. Nobody sets out to create a dysfunctional operation, but too many of us end up with one because we don’t have the discipline or the appetite to harness, direct and motivate our team in a single direction.
Maybe its because SEO is considered to be an arcane art like alchemy or maybe because the data-centric nature of SEO puts off copywriters, but there is little connection between these players who often work on the same brand. To my way of thinking, it is missed cue and waste of resources. It seems to me that effective key words or phrases — defined as those words and combinations of words that prompt significant clicks — are proven indicators of rational or emotional brand or behavioral triggers. And given the wide variety of ways people search, it’s a veritable shortcut into the consumer psyche.
Picture & Measure an EndState. Too many marketing efforts attack immediate pain points or address immediate problem areas. Not enough start with an understanding of what the brand needs and wants in terms of its relationship with clients and their identification with the brand that drives adoption and purchase of its products or services. Brands need to set awareness, preference, attitudinal, purchase, loyalty and interactive goals, and then deploy marketing programs to engage customers to achieve the stated objectives. Then measurements of business effectiveness and internal efficiencies can be used to genuinely steer the ship.
Something about these words or phrases instantly communicates a brand value or a proposition that searchers understand, believe and are willing to click on. What better cue about how to craft messages that will resonate with target audiences. And while two-to-five words do not an ad, an e-mail or a sell sheet make, there is an explicit direction to be discerned. Writing effective key words is like origami. You have to twist, turn, fold and re-fold your ideas, expectations and copy points in unusual and sometimes surprising or convoluted ways to create a short pithy and motivating message that strikes a chord with searchers. The task is daunting. The writer is trying to psyche out potentially millions of searchers coming at a question from an infinite number of perspectives with an infinite number of expectations, points of view and search habits. So when you craft a phrase that attracts a significant amount of traffic, its a fair bet that something in the choice of words and/or the sequence of words creates a meaning, an understanding or an answer that speaks to potential customers. Is anybody willing to ignore this kind of intelligence?
Filed under: Opinions Add a comment | Permalink
POSTS BY DANIEL FLAMBERG - IMEDIA CONNECTION BLOG
SEM Data Provides Creative Cues
I’m asking everyone I work with to mine keyword successes and draft contextual language and proof points around them to build compelling marketing communications assets for use online and offline. I’m also insisting that we export the test-and-learn sensibility and discipline from the SEO world into the creative and design process.
JAN 7, 2009 2:01PM
Filed under: Search Add a comment | Permalink
16
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR merrills@mercuryfs.com
07 January 2009
1. Feelings Matter Most. How we feel determines what we want and what we do. The feelings are the drivers not the rational arguments or the features and benefits. Marketers have to communicate or stimulate feelings to move the needle.
POSTS BY DANIEL FLAMBERG - IMEDIA CONNECTION BLOG
Ten Marketing Lessons From Inventors JAN 7, 2009 2:01PM
2. There are no fresh or free experiences. Everything is filtered by language, culture, experience, media and context. Every choice – words, color, image, music, tone, face etc – hits pre-set buttons which condition the response. We all bring a huge bag of pre-judgments to every experience and every message and we be conscious of what they are and how they might impact our audiences.
3. Be Open to the Other. Other people really do think and process differently. Their brains work differently. Their neural pathways are different. Be open to inflections, interpretations and new inventions. Allow yourself to be surprised or to stand in wonder or in awe of something new or different. Accept alternative points of view.
Inventors aren’t like you and me. They think about things that don’t exist; that aren’t there. They operate on a different frequency.
They iterate, incubate, massage, manipulate and relentlessly test ideas. They seek to fix things and fill voids that you and I aren’t conscious of. Some ideas are radical, some incremental, some innovative, some ingenious, some simple, some complex, some inventive, some derivative, some sequential and some inexplicable. Some turn into real things. Others are just fantasies. Some become prototypes and some, though far fewer, become viable products.
4. Accept Good Enough. Reject the impulse to perfect things. Nothing is really ever perfect and yet the demand perfection precludes the articulation and implementation of things that are truly good and useful. Don’t wait for utopia. Accept and advocate incremental change for the incremental value it adds to ideas and to our lives.
5. Anticipate Predictable Reactions People respond to change in predictable ways. . You can see the mental gears grinding as people sort, filter, file and compare something new with their stored database of information and experiences. By understanding the spectrum of predictable reactions, marketers can better shape initial presentations and follow-up messages.
Attending the 36th Annual Salons Internationale des Inventions in Geneva reminded me how small the box, I try to think outside of, really is. Being in the company of engineers, mechanics, grease monkeys, practical thinkers, fantasists, futurists, gear heads, wizards and nudniks has brought on a full marketing gestalt reminding me of fundamentals that too often are taken for granted and reinforcing he ruthlessness and competitiveness that characterize the marketplace for products and ideas.
6. Vet Every Word and Image. Framing a single idea and communicating it to a room full of people who come from different places, think differently, use words differently and hear differently is a challenge. There are no common definitions for words, no common understandings about what is funny, cool, sad or ironic. It increases the challenge of copywriting and creative thinking by a full magnitude.
Inventing is a supreme act of optimism. An inventor rejects the status quo in favor of what might be. An inventor assumes there’s something different and better yet to come. Inventors articulate the revolutionary impulse that drives our civilization.
7. Differentiate or Die. What’s new, what’s different, what’s better and why should I care are the inventors’ and the marketers’ benchmarks. If it isn’t different or different enough it dies. Marketers must exert
Here are ten lessons these guys have taught me or put me back in touch with:
17
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR merrills@mercuryfs.com
07 January 2009
maximum effort and creativity into positioning and framing the differences. Without one; you’re just another “me too” brand. In one instance, I searched Technorati, Ice Rocket, Sphere and Google’s Beta Blog Search tool to identify people blogging in our category, industry or product category. I built a list of 65 people and personally emailed each of them. I wrote a straightforward e-mail identifying myself as a representative of the company, soliciting their opinions and offering a free product trial. Five responded. Three took the trial. Nobody wrote a syllable about our product.
8. Simple Trumps Complex. The simple idea is the most easily understood. Often complex mechanics or technology is required to bring the simplest idea to life. If in doubt, default to the simpler choice.
9. Don’t Fear the Unknown. Open yourself up to new possibilities. See stuff others don’t. Ask for things that don’t yet exist. Demand new ways of doing things. Change your altitude, your attitude and your perspective. Shift your lens and your focal length to illuminate stuff that’s been there all along that you never noticed before.
The next time I sent the same universe a press release announcing a product innovation. The release resonated with several trade papers and consumer reporters. My “press” mailing yielded several inquiries, a small wire service story and three product reviews in desirable specialty magazines. The bloggers remained on radio silence.
10. Fight for Your Ideas. If it’s good enough to propose and put forward; it’s good enough to fight for. Don’t let others trample your ideas or modify them out of existence. Marshall your arguments and your data and leverage your intuition. Marketing is as much an art as a science and those who seriously practice need to have conviction, backbone and the willingness to fight for a good idea.
Since then I’ve been mulling the problem – how do you reach out to and influence bloggers who can in turn influence your customers and prospects?
Filed under: Opinions
Then I read an essay by Andy Sernovitz on iMedia Connection which opened my eyes to a radically different approach to these citizen journalists. He essentially argues that you need to join their party rather than invite them to yours. Like journalists, bloggers set their own agenda. Those seeking to influence the agenda have to intersect it on its own terms. Influencing their posts and their audience requires following their threads, commenting on their posts and presenting your product or your point of view in their context.
Add a comment | Permalink
POSTS BY DANIEL FLAMBERG - IMEDIA CONNECTION BLOG
Engaging Bloggers to Generate PR
You still have to be forthright, upfront and clear about who you are and who you represent. You cannot disguise yourself or pretend to be an uninterested civilian inserting product or brand references. But it’s about aligning what you are pushing with what they are thinking, talking and writing about.
JAN 7, 2009 2:01PM
Filed under: Social Media Add a comment | Permalink
Bloggers are opinion leaders. They can influence brand awareness, set customer expectations and reward or punish service delivery or lapses. I buy these arguments. What I’m not sure about is how to address them to get the best spin for my clients.
18
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR merrills@mercuryfs.com
07 January 2009
POSTS BY DANIEL FLAMBERG - IMEDIA CONNECTION BLOG
with 3/4 sleeves. Each and every SKU needs to be specified this way to optimize the likelihood that they’ll find the product on your site and that you’ll maximize the value of your SEO or PPC effort.
Psyching Out Searchers JAN 7, 2009 2:01PM
5. Cover Trigger Associations. Think like a sitcom writer and try to anticipate which ideas, needs or stimuli might trigger product or service associations. Fall prompts thoughts of Thanksgiving. Football cues beer. And there are millions more. Remember you are trying to psyche out millions of individuals who process information in zillions of different ways.
Filed under: Search The fun and the frustration in search marketing is trying to understand and anticipate how people think. The mental processes by which people try to find things are often thought to be predictable, but new research in the journal Cognition, reported in Business Week, suggests that people file, sort, filter and associate words and ideas much more individually that previously thought.
Add a comment | Permalink
This issue contains posts from between Dec 31, 2008 7:01PM and Jan 7, 2009 2:00PM. To change your settings, visit http://www.tabbloid.com/22792.5de6a9c1
On one hand the individualized processing model makes sense. Each person has their own personal and squirrelly system and syntax for putting ideas together. Just think about how people come up with passwords or how they choose to set up file folders and sub-folders. On the other hand, you’d imagine that public education and standard teaching approaches and textbooks in reading, basic math and language skills ought to net out broadly used word associations and tactics for retrieving and pairing data and information. The prevalence of individualized associations and perceptions of similarity and difference have several implications for search marketing and requires marketers to be creative in linguistics and taxonomy.. 1. Cover the Basics. Articulate and embed basic words that describe your product or service and the benefits end-users can expect from using your brand. Be as expansive as possible. Think of as many ways as saying the same thing as possible. 2. Cover the Mistakes. Be sure to plan on searches that misspell or use plural forms of your brand name and the product names. Embed and/or buy all the mistakes, variations, regional nuances (e.g hero, grinder, hoagie, sub, submarine sandwich) Assume that nicknames, idioms and even derogatory words will be used in the attempt to find you efficiently. 3. Cover Product Cognates. Plan to embed or buy all the products that naturally go together (peanut butter & jelly) and as many of the variations (peanut butter & marshmallow fluff, peanut butter & bananas) as you can think of. Be as expansive as possible and use both brand and generic names of product sets to be sure the customers find you. 4. Cover Product Details. Huge numbers of shoppers surgically search and shop. They want a medium-sized red cotton v-neck sweater
19