A new year is a time for resolutions, many of which will be focused on personal development and growth. That's a critical kind of resolution for marketers in 2009 as our industry continues to change at unprecedented speed, and if the bag of posts below is anything to go by, MarCom Professional remains a great source of insight and learning.
And the occasional fun too.
So despite everything, we hope 2009 turns out to be what you make it.
Best regards, Philip and the MarCom Professional team.
Steve Jobs Health Debate Reinforces Long Held PR Theory
by Trevor Young of One19
There's a theory PR practitioners hold true and that is, if a crisis or an issue (or an allegation/rumour with strong substantiation) bubbles to the surface, if the people responsible don't come out and clear the air, then the media will find its own angle, usually by interviewing others.If anything, this theory is more important that ever; thanks to Twitter, the blogosphere and proliferation of online communities, news and opinion travels faster than wildfire.
Now, I'm a pragmatist at heart and there might be valid reasons why a company or individual are slow to come forward to clear the air on a particular issue, and that's entirely understandable. More...
Persuasive Writing 4 - Structure
by Matt Ambrose of The Copywriter's Crucible
In earlier chapters you identified how to appeal to your target audience and compiled a list of your product’s benefits. Now you need to plan how to structure your writing so it leads your reader along a logical path of thought towards taking action.
Just like how a seasoned debater or lawyer prepares to argue their case, you need to assess how to communicate your points so they resonate with the reader and seduce them into agreeing to your proposition.
Remember that people make buying decisions based on logic and emotion, so your writing needs to trigger both if you’re going to persuade the reader to pull out their credit card. More...
The Poetry of Social Networking to Court Customers and Invest in Relationships
by Brian Solis of PR 2.0
Sean Percival is a published author, developer, blogger, and an overall online marketing and SEO expert. A short while ago, Sean asked if I would write the foreword for his new book, MySpace Marketing.
Que, the book's publisher, has graciously granted me permission to share the foreword with you. While the premise encompasses MySpace, as a social marketer, you could theoretically insert any "social network name" and find that the guiding principles and ideologies are perpetual.
Enjoy... More...
In the end, SEO is, in fact, all about the content
by Mindy Gofton of I-COM International
I was reading a blog post about the next big Google algorithm change on Conversation Marketing which states that searcher behavior is going to drive search rankings beginning in 2009. The post (unusually for an SEO blog) gave some evidence to back up this assertion, but frankly, this is one of the most patently obvious things I've read since I got started in this industry.
Let's look at the facts:
Google published a patent in 2005 saying it was working on this
Google has started to More...
When lawyers get in the way of PR
by David Meerman Scott of David Meerman Scott
I received a press release via email a few days ago from a well-meaning PR person. Guess what? I can't write about it because at the bottom of the release is this:
NOTICE: This electronic mail transmission contains confidential information intended only for the person(s) named. Any use, distribution, copying or disclosure by any other person is strictly prohibited. If you received this transmission in error, please notify the sender by reply e-mail and then destroy the message. Opinions, conclusions, and other information in this message that do not relate to the official business of AGENCY X shall be understood to be neither given nor endorsed by AGENCY X. More...
3rd party ad serving on mobile - a good start
by Andrew Grill of Gigafone
I caught the news over at MobiAd news about MediaCom running a campaign for T-Mobile using the Nokia Media Network, with ad serving from Eyeblaster’s Ad Campaign Manager platform. Quoting from the story:
"Third-party ad serving may become important to the mobile advertising industry, as it allows for more consistent measurement of advertising results across mobile publishers and channels. And as brands consider moving more of their budgets to the mobile channel, a high level of accountability will be important. More...
US Air Force Web Posting Response Assessment
by David Meerman Scott of David Meerman Scott
Several weeks ago in a blog post called The US Air Force: Armed with social media, I wrote about my interview with Capt. David Faggard, Chief of Emerging Technology at the Air Force Public Affairs Agency in the Pentagon. I spoke with Capt. Faggard about what he and his team are doing to get the word out about the Air Force online. I wrote about the detailed Air Force blog assessment flowchart that Capt. Faggard shared with me. It provides, in simple to understand, but in a detailed and specific way, how to react to blog posts. More...
Advertising in the 70s vs now
by Andrew Grill of Gigafone
I read a really interesting article on the weekend in the Financial Times on the demise of the famous advertising agency Collett Dickenson Pearce, CDP to the headline writers, “Colletts” to its friends and rivals. This was on the back of a TV show I caught late on Saturday night called 100 greatest TV ads, on channel 4. Being an Australian, I had a bit of catching up to do on some of these famous British TV ads - but I’m with the program now, and have also seen some great ads. More...
Compare the Meerkat
by Giles Shorthouse of t'Internet PR & Advertising2.0
Very funny TV advert from Comparethemarket.com , and they have even set up a nice website at Compare The Meerkat dot com!
With so many boring TV adverts in the price comparison space this is a clever idea. More at Seventy seven's blog. More...
Newspapers are Old News
by Brian Solis of PR 2.0
Credit
As a follow up to my post, "Extra Extra, Read All About It! Newspapers Respond to the Social Web," new research emerges that documents the looming exit of print newspapers as a primary source of national and international news.
According to the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, a new survey indicates that 40% of respondents claim the Internet as their primary source for national and international news, versus 24% in 2007. In comparison, 35%, up 1% from 2007, rely on newspapers and 70% count on television as their main source for news, down from 74% in 2007. More...
Marketing Me: How smart digital natives reach potential employers
by David Meerman Scott of David Meerman Scott
I just love that my book The New Rules of Marketing & PR is used in many college and university classes. Frequently I’ll find references to the book on students' and professors' blogs and I often end up with students as my new Facebook friends or Twitter followers. What a terrific connection to up and coming communicators!
Kyle F. Reinson is professor of Communication at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, NY, requires The New Rules of Marketing & PR for his COMM 376 class. More...
Now, everybody knows you're a dog
by Glen Turpin of First Data Corporation (Greenwood Village)
© 1993 The New Yorker
You’ve probably heard the expression, “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.” That was then. The days of online anonymity are behind us. Hundreds of millions of people routinely share information about themselves online, and public records are online for hundreds of millions more. Now, everybody knows you’re a dog — and they know a lot of other things about you too.
But do they know the things you want them to know about you? Do you act the same and share the same information with everyone in your life? Probably not. More...
2009 PR industry predictions: clients are king
by Stephen Waddington of Rainier PR
Here are my predictions for the PR industry in 2009. None of my analysis or comment is particularly groundbreaking and almost all my predictions have their roots in the current market conditions. 1. Growth
We work in a client-led industry that tracks the performance of each of the markets that we serve. The economic outlook for next year is lousy for the most part, with no external impetus to drive additional client demand for our services. The next election or the Olympics may help in the second half, but not much. More...
You Gotta Have Faith: Taming Your Inner Critic
by Vero Pepperrell of Vero Pepperrell
I came across Tara’s post here about taming her inner critic, where she questions her abilities at live interviews and doubts her own writing skills. I believe we all have moments like this. But some are worse than others…
[I'm about to make a bold generalisation and some will have want my head off for making such a statement, but bear with me.]
Since I moved from Canada, I have seen too many Brits or Europeans be very sheepish about self-promotion. American sales people are reputed to be bubbly, brash and bigger than life, speaking louder than anyone else in the room and gesticulating endlessly to illustrate what they’re saying. More...
Lose Control of your Marketing! New free ebook
by David Meerman Scott of David Meerman Scott
Lose Control of your Marketing! Why marketing ROI measures lead to failure
Please download my new ebook Lose Control of your Marketing! Why marketing ROI measures lead to failure.
Do you market like the Grateful Dead? Or like Led Zeppelin?
(Find out in the ebook).
Here are some other things you'll find inside:
"For many executives, an obsession with ROI is just a convenient excuse to shy away from something new and untested. Yet that's exactly what the best ideas for creating a World Wide Rave are—new and untested." More...
