Last week the Wall St. Journal ran an interesting article, "How Facebook Ruins Friendships," which I commented on in a post entitled, Seinfeld Said Answering Machines Prolonged Friendships Past Thier Expiration Dates; WSJ Says Same about Facebook.
Turns out one person who was quoted in the Journal article actually doesn't feel Facebook ruins friendships. Yianni Garcia, a consultant who helps companies use social media (but whose blog does not actually make it easy to find his name), wrote a rebuttal, "WSJ Misses The Point on Facebook and Relationship Piece."
I'm not sure where I fall in this debate. I know Facebook enabld me to find people I used to be in touch with and others find me. But I also think it prolongs some relationships longer than necessary. And I do know for sure that some people share more info via Facebook than they would share even around a water cooler (does anyone gather around a water cooler anymore?).
What do you think? Is Facebook friend or foe?
Friday, September 4, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
More Bad News for Sun-Times & Community Papers
The AP reports that the Sun-Times will be closing its Chicago-area printing press. That press prints up local community weeklies.
No word (printed or otherwise) about the implications of the press closing will have on those community papers.
If those weeklies move online, they'll disenfranchise seniors who tend to prefer print newspapers as their source.
No word (printed or otherwise) about the implications of the press closing will have on those community papers.
If those weeklies move online, they'll disenfranchise seniors who tend to prefer print newspapers as their source.
Getting on "The Oprah Winfrey Show"
There was a time when a lot of prospective clients asked about getting on "Oprah."
We can point to success in that a client's customer once made it onto the program. The show's producers saw an article in More Magazine that featured a senior athlete, and taped a segment with her for the episode.
I came across a good article, "How to Get On the Oprah Winfrey Show? Getting Pierce Mattie PR Clients on Oprah!"
They suggest asking the following questions:
1) How do I see myself or my product fitting into the format of the show?
2) Why would Oprah put me on her show?
3) Is my story new, unique, different - not yet covered?
There's a bit more to the article; it's worth checking out.
We can point to success in that a client's customer once made it onto the program. The show's producers saw an article in More Magazine that featured a senior athlete, and taped a segment with her for the episode.
I came across a good article, "How to Get On the Oprah Winfrey Show? Getting Pierce Mattie PR Clients on Oprah!"
They suggest asking the following questions:
1) How do I see myself or my product fitting into the format of the show?
2) Why would Oprah put me on her show?
3) Is my story new, unique, different - not yet covered?
There's a bit more to the article; it's worth checking out.
Measuring Tips for Social Media
One of the challenges of social media, one of the reasons clients often have difficulty in being able to pay for social media is the lack of standard metrics. Remember: it's not that organizations don't want to use social media. They often don't know how to justify allocating resources towards social media.
BtoBonline ran a sidebar, "Common metrics for social media
And some of the metrics may not apply to every situation, client or campaign.
But it is at least useful to start.
BtoBonline ran a sidebar, "Common metrics for social media
And some of the metrics may not apply to every situation, client or campaign.
But it is at least useful to start.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Marketing & The Importance of Claiming an Attribute
One of the goals of marketing is to get people to care about your product or service -- and to associate a specific attribute with your brand. Even if that attribute might not seem important outside the context of that need.
For example, Charmin. "Please don't squeeze the Charmin" got you thinking about softness of bathroom tissue (as they called it, instead of toilet paper). But did anyone actually squeeze toilet paper like it's a piece of fruit? Doesn't matter. All those annoying ads with Mr. Whipple registered with the public.
How about the need for mountain-grown coffee? For years, Folgers claimed its mountain-grown coffee was the richest, most aromatic kind of coffee.
What Folgers didn't tell you is that all coffee is mountain grown.
But that's an attribute they made you care about.
Wired recently provided a similar look at beer marketing: "3 Smart Things About Beer Marketing." You should check out their points because there's a lot of beer advertising promoting attributes that are either wrong or common attributes of other beers.
My favorite, which they did not list, is drinkability. Bud Light apparently thinks that all other beers -- including, one must suppose, its non-light beer version -- lack "drinkability." I think that's an absurd attribute to define, defend and associate with a beer. (I bet if you drink too much of Bud Light you might lose the ability to say drinkability.) On the other hand, pour enough money into the ad campaign, and perhaps consumers will start assessing the drinkability-ness of their preferred beverage.
For example, Charmin. "Please don't squeeze the Charmin" got you thinking about softness of bathroom tissue (as they called it, instead of toilet paper). But did anyone actually squeeze toilet paper like it's a piece of fruit? Doesn't matter. All those annoying ads with Mr. Whipple registered with the public.
How about the need for mountain-grown coffee? For years, Folgers claimed its mountain-grown coffee was the richest, most aromatic kind of coffee.
What Folgers didn't tell you is that all coffee is mountain grown.
But that's an attribute they made you care about.
Wired recently provided a similar look at beer marketing: "3 Smart Things About Beer Marketing." You should check out their points because there's a lot of beer advertising promoting attributes that are either wrong or common attributes of other beers.
My favorite, which they did not list, is drinkability. Bud Light apparently thinks that all other beers -- including, one must suppose, its non-light beer version -- lack "drinkability." I think that's an absurd attribute to define, defend and associate with a beer. (I bet if you drink too much of Bud Light you might lose the ability to say drinkability.) On the other hand, pour enough money into the ad campaign, and perhaps consumers will start assessing the drinkability-ness of their preferred beverage.
Value Charts, Pricing & Cash Flow: Three Aspects to Focus on in the New Normal
To succeed in the "new normal," i.e. that period after the economic recovery, businesses are going to have to make new assumptions and take new approaches to their businesses. Media properties, for example, can't expect that a recovery will lift them back to the good ol' days of 2006-2007.
That's certainly true when it comes to the strategies and tactics companies should deploy as part of their PR initiatives.
While I generally address the media and PR, in this post I thought I'd quickly address three critical success factors for companies that want to survive in the new normal.
First ideas came from Norm Brodsky's excellent book, The Knack: How Street-Smart Entrepreneurs Learn to Handle Whatever Comes Up. Brodsky is a serial entrepreneur -- actually a concurrent entrepreneur, running several businesses at the same time -- and a columnist for Inc. Magazine. According to Brodsky:
We've met with LeveragePoint, and are impressed with their intelligence and insight. Its blog on Value Chart brings an interesting perspective on developing "value models that clearly show how much economic value your customers get" from using your offerings. The article, "Using Value Charts to Plot Pricing Strategy," looks at four key scenarios:
That's certainly true when it comes to the strategies and tactics companies should deploy as part of their PR initiatives.
While I generally address the media and PR, in this post I thought I'd quickly address three critical success factors for companies that want to survive in the new normal.
First ideas came from Norm Brodsky's excellent book, The Knack: How Street-Smart Entrepreneurs Learn to Handle Whatever Comes Up. Brodsky is a serial entrepreneur -- actually a concurrent entrepreneur, running several businesses at the same time -- and a columnist for Inc. Magazine. According to Brodsky:
- Protect your capital. Spend it only on things you're certain will generate positive cash flow in the short term.
- Maintain the highest monthly gross-profit margin you are capable of achieving. Do no go after low-margin sales. It's too much work and costs too much money to chase low-margin customers.
- Spend time developing relationships with your highest-margin customers. Let low-margin customers come to you, and negotiate the price up.
- Balance the need to make the sale with an understanding of the risks and costs involved.
We've met with LeveragePoint, and are impressed with their intelligence and insight. Its blog on Value Chart brings an interesting perspective on developing "value models that clearly show how much economic value your customers get" from using your offerings. The article, "Using Value Charts to Plot Pricing Strategy," looks at four key scenarios:
- Premium Strategy: in which the customer is "willing to pay more because they perceive higher economic use value." This can help you achieve Brodsky's goal of selling at the highest margins you can achieve.
- Penetration or Discount Strategy: in which the company decides to aggressively grab market share with a low price.
- Neutral Strategy: In which the company selected a price equal to its competitor with the goal "to be the preferred vendor because of better differentiation."
- Low Cost Leader: "essentially a more extreme form of Penetration Pricing... Obviously this strategy can only be sustained with a significant cost advantage."
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Lessons Learned from Keeping a Clutter-free Desk
I've kept my office clean for a month.
That may not seem like much of an accomplishment to you. For far too long, I lived by a desk cluttered with files. I always knew where things were so I didn't think I needed to make a change.
But my wife finally, um, helped me see the errors of my ways.
Actually, I think she didn't believe I'd be able to keep my desk clear of clutter. And I wasn't sure if I could, either.
But I have. And I like it.
I learned some good lessons in clearing the clutter and maintaining a clutter-free desk.
That may not seem like much of an accomplishment to you. For far too long, I lived by a desk cluttered with files. I always knew where things were so I didn't think I needed to make a change.
But my wife finally, um, helped me see the errors of my ways.
Actually, I think she didn't believe I'd be able to keep my desk clear of clutter. And I wasn't sure if I could, either.
But I have. And I like it.
I learned some good lessons in clearing the clutter and maintaining a clutter-free desk.
- It's easier to actually be organized than not.
- I have more room to spread out papers and files when I need to. (And then I can put them away when I don't need them.)
- Old clips and notes are like boxes that remain unpacked 60 days after a move: You'll never get to them. (This weekend, I also cleaned out a box at the basement at home from when we last moved -- 12 years ago.)
- Social media tips from 2006 no longer are that relevant. Yes, we're still in the midst of a social media revolution, but way back in 2006, the focus was on blogs and podcasts, not social networks like Facebook (mostly MySpace), YouTube and Twitter.
- Back in 2006, trying to figure out appropriate metrics for social media did not exist. The lack of accepted metrics continues to be a problem these years later.
- I actually get more things done.
- I have a nice cherry wood desk.
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