Archive for May, 2011
Visible Masses of Water Droplets
1 year ago
As Wendy Schuchart @CIOMidmarket pointed out last week, IT’s list of overused buzzwords has a new #1 offender: cloud.
Here’s the IT company’s dilemma: embrace the concept, or shun it. Will ‘cloud’ really grab your customers’ attention and shout that your solution is progressive, easy to work with, or affordable? Or will it put you in a sea of sameness with companies polluting the market with the word?
So how can B2B businesses market these solutions products and services instead? I’m personally a huge fan of straight-forward language. ‘Web-based’ or simply ‘online’ are a couple of terms that More >
Marketing and PR Lessons from the New York Jets
1 year ago
The New York Jets came up just short again – and we’re not talking Super Bowl this time.
The Jets were a finalist for the “best professional sports team of the year award” at the 2011 Sports Business Awards. While the award ultimately went to the World Series champion San Francisco Giants, a lot can be learned from the New York Jets – a Super Bowl-less team (since 1969, anyway) renown for playing second fiddle to the likes of the Giants and Patriots.
In a league where media coverage comes naturally, there are still winners and losers. How did the Jets go from relatively uncovered outside More >
How to (Almost) Become the Next Lady Gaga on Twitter
2 years ago
Apparently, Lady Gaga just hit a social media milestone: 10 million followers (or, little monsters, as she likes to refer to them). My follower count seems woefully inadequate in comparison.
Then again, I’m not a worldwide pop sensation who regularly tops the charts. But I do get questions on how I’ve gained a following for my Twitter account fairly often. I’m nowhere near Gaga status, at just under 600 followers, but I have a very relevant audience that consists mostly of other PR folks and marketers looking to share ideas about the industry.
Here are some of my tried and true tips for More >
He’s Just Not That Into You or Why Companies’ Social Networking Can be Like a Bad Date
2 years ago
I just read an IBM survey about what companies expect when they embrace social media – and guess what: It’s a whole lot different than what their customers expect.
Companies want community. They want friends. And mostly, they want sales. Customers want stuff for free. They want transactions. And they’ll be a friend if they feel like it.
C’mon – we know this. Because when we’re customers, that’s exactly how we behave. So how about, when we’re designing our own social programs, we think about what we want? Then we can figure out how to appeal to ourselves – on our least-social, most More >
Why Phone Pitching Doesn’t Make You a PR Dinosaur
2 years ago
Does phone pitching sound like a pre-historic way of reaching reporters? Twitter, video, LinkedIn, etc.. have been touted as the new way to engage with reporters on their terms.
While we use social media every day to reach influencers on levels we never could with phone pitching alone – we also understand it’s important not to totally abandon traditional PR discipline.
Here is some data that supports this. A new study from the Society of New Communications Research (SNCR) finds only 1% of reporters like to be pitched via Twitter — while 34% of reporters still prefer receiving information More >