May 31 2007

Todd Andrlik’s Powerful View of the Marketing Blogosphere

May 31, 2007 – 6:55 am

He’s got a unique position: Switzerland. With a corporate marketing job, no agency allegiance, and a love for marketing, Todd Andrlik is the ideal man for the job. Todd And – The Power to Connect maintains a very important place in the marketing blogosphere, the home of the Power 150. This list ranks more than 300 of the top marketing and PR blogs out there (We’re 212 in large part due to a zero Bloglines subs rating. Hint, hint dear reader). The Todd And blog itself is funny, using a lot of great video to bring a little levity to this crazy business. Read on to learn what Todd And thinks of the marketing blogosphere.

BB: How do you base your rankings?

TA: The Power 150 is based on Google PageRank, Bloglines subscribers, Technorati rankings and my own score, which values frequent, relevant and creative content as well as the use of audio, video and graphics. Essentially, the Power 150 provides a stable, unbiased ranking foundation with a pinch of subjective measure for creativity.

BB: Given how you’ve monitored the industry, what’s changed over the past year?

TA: The marketing industry and its professionals are riding several major industry evolutions at once. In my humble opinion, the biggest trend we’re watching is the change in news consumption and distribution. It’s also clear to see technology and social media have smoothly woven themselves into the marketing fabric.

At the same time, I think there is still great value placed on the tried and true industry fundamentals. For example, while the new social media press release has been launched and slowly added to PR tool belts, professionals are finding that the traditional release format is still the preferred approach for old media. When you boil it down, I think the biggest change over the past year has been the expanding tool belt of marketing professionals.

BB: And where do you think the business is going?

TA: New niche agencies and boutiques are popping up like acne on a teenager, so I think everyone is rushing to stay current with all the changes. At the risk of losing a greater share of the corporate marketing department budget, PR and advertising agencies continue to expand their service offerings and add new specialties.

BB: Does your construction firm use new media (if so, how is it benefiting you. if not, why)?

TA: Construction is an industry that I think will be slower to adapt to new media tools and tactics. However, it’s important to me that I keep our company’s marketing on the cutting edge, so we’re currently utilizing video more and exploring RSS with our newsroom. We also monitor and pitch blogs on occasion.

BB: Your blog features more video than most (we like it). What do you like about video blogging versus traditional writing?

TA: When I first launched my blog, I did a lot of research and found the marketing blogosphere to be quite dense with several long-winded consulting-type bloggers. While there is certainly a market for that, I didn’t have the time to dedicate to such in-depth reporting. Plus, I think most marketing blogs are read by other marketing professionals, so I wanted to keep mine simple and fun.

Video is a great way for me to lighten up my visitors reading load and still be somewhat relevant to the industry. That’s why my slogan is “blogging at the very serious but often comical crossroads of marketing and media.�

BB: What was your personal favorite Todd And post of all time and why?

TA: I have many favorite posts, including several of my humorous exchanges with Leo Bottary of Client Service Insights (particularly the one about the importance of speaking pirate during presentations), but I’d say the post I’m most proud of is the announcement of the Power 150. I put a lot of effort into assembling the list and have been like a proud parent watching the list grow and serve as a tool for other marketing professionals and bloggers. Like I say, my professional life is extremely rewarding because I help companies and individuals grow and connect. The Power 150, which is now a global ranking of top marketing blogs, allowed me to do just that in a completely new arena.

BB: What advice would you give other bloggers?

TA: My advice to other bloggers is three-fold = be committed, read and leverage. Blogs are only worth the time and effort you put into them. I see many bloggers start and stop within three months.

The true benefit of blogging doesn’t come until several months down the road after you’ve established an ‘inner circle’ of other blog buddies and have a solid exchange of thoughts and ideas. Personally, I found the greatest benefit to blogging is that I’m almost forced to read other marketing blogs, which keeps me current on industry trends and issues. So, not only does that benefit me, but that knowledge also benefits my employer. Plus, I now have many new friends that I can bounce ideas off of and brainstorm with when I’m planning to implement new strategies or tactics with my own company.

Ultimately, the marketing blogosphere is a giant think tank. It provides oodles of research, resources and advice if bloggers know how to use and leverage it for their own good.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Digital Marketing | Comments (3)
May 30 2007

Five Easy (& Cheap) Ways to Boost Your Brand

May 30, 2007 – 8:01 am

Branding is one of the heftiest tools in a marketer’s toolbox. It’s so important we measure its “equity”. Yet, when asked to define it, many companies break their brand down to a logo and a few corporate colors.

I think branding is the art and science of making an impression.

Luckily, there are ways to make a great impression without spending a lot of money.

1. Use Testimonials – When someone else talks about how great you are, it’s 1000x (at least) more effective than when you talk about yourself. Period. So use lots of testimonials to help your prospects imagine what it’s like to work with you. Don’t have testimonials? Simply ask your best clients to supply them. Still having trouble? Maybe you need to work on exceeding your customer’s expectations.

2. Have a Founders Story – Facts and figures are boring. Stories sell. Answer this question – “Why the heck did you decide to get into business in the first place?” *Poof* – here’s your Founder’s Story. Prospects yearn to work with passionate companies, so don’t be afraid to showcase your personality.

3. Be Consistent – For recognition you must repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat repeat yourself. That means saying the same thing over and over again. You might feel like a robot, but you’re helping your audience learn how to remember you. A consistent brand is a remembered brand (which is a referred brand).

4. Have Fresh Eyes – The curse of knowing too much about your product or service is assuming everyone else has your same perspective. Step outside your experiences and look at your brand from a newbie’s point of view. Need help? Use a focus group.

5. Be Yourself – Eventually these prospects that you’ve worked so hard to attract will become clients. A brand’s success is defined by how closely a customer’s experience matches their expectation. Fluffing your brand with false claims will only lead to disappointment if you can’t make good on your promises. Your customer’s perception is your reality.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Andrea Morris | Posted in Digital Marketing | Comments (0)
May 29 2007

GeoCommons Social Media Release Case Study

May 29, 2007 – 7:56 am

To announce the forthcoming public beta release of FortiusOne’s GeoCommons site at Where 2.0 this week, we decided to engage in the new social media release (SMR) format. Our goal was to create excitement in anticipation of the release.

gcsmr.jpgIt seemed like a logical move as one of GeoCommons’ core communities will be publishers of social media, for the most part bloggers, as well as contemporary media. So we opted to make the announcement as an SMR, optimizing it’s format for maximum success. Further, the use of an image in the release seemed to play to GeoCommons strengths, showing the powerful information conveyed on a singular map.

After a couple of weeks of research, getting used to the bulleted form, researching press wire services, and determining how to push the information out to target audiences, we executed a GeoCommons SMR late last Monday. As you can see it was a highly visual document.

The overall success of the project was outstanding. We received significant media coverage in a variety of traditional and new media forms. This included Information Week, Directions Magazine, O’Reilly Radar, Google Earth Blog, Mashable and 3 Point D [Since publishing, Wired joined the mix]. Several more stories are in the works. Overall, the blogosphere picked up the story creating scores of mentions in a very short time period.

Further, our outreach to the blogging community was value-based, not simply pitch centric, inviting the community to use the maps for their own purposes in whatever way they wanted. As such we started a dialog with several bloggers, and anticipate they will give GeoCommons a whirl. We really see this as a peering technology, and the world of social networks will drive the actual usage of GeoCommons maps to its tastes. So we anticipate that GeoCommons will be found valuable to bloggers and other social network users, and that the maps will start being used in place of older push-pin types of mash-ups.

The end result was the site got hit hard when we turned the lights on this week, bringing a total of well over 1000 potential users into GeoCommons [Note: As of 11:07 p.m. on 5/29 we had more than 2000 potential unique users visit GeoCommons].

Lessons Learned

Here are some experience-based tips from our GeoCommons SMR effort:

1) Reporters got the gist of the SMR. It seemed like we had less conversations about having to resend the release, and more discussions right off the bat about how the technology works. We also got many more proactive calls from the media. I attribute this to how the SMR’s bulleted form quickly distills facts and eliminates the need to de-spin stories. Bullets also help writers spin their own stories.

2) Use the multimedia options and show SMR readers your story. The embedded intelligent map greatly helped this announcement.

3) While Vocus’ PRWeb seemed like the best option with its hard-core social network tagging and search engine optimization capability, it was not optimal. As you can see, the SMR was garbled by their quoting technology, slamming the text between the quote and the map. This hurt the effort as we did not promote the PRWeb version of the SMR with its Digg, del.icio.us and other social media tags, instead referring community members to the FortiusOne site version, which was more aesthetic.

4) PRWeb’s editorial team almost rejected the SMR on Sunday, the day before release. We had to appeal the decision on Monday, and scrambled to find an alternative. This was after researching and confirming with PRWeb the week prior that they could send the SMR via their web service. It also made the firm look bad to the client. Points three and four are the pains of breaking new ground, but until PRWeb can iron these wrinkles out we’ll use MarketWire.

5) Because FortiusOne was in stealth mode for a few months, we needed to come out with a bang. This presented issues as the social network community and media corps had not heard from us in a while. We preceded the GeoCommons announcement with a funding release that was picked up by Red Herring and the Washington Business Journal. This eased our credibility factor when community members did a quick search on FortiusOne.

All in all, it was a very successful effort, and there’s no question that we’ll suggest usage of this format with all of our clients. We think this is a great and better way to help companies communicate.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in PR Industry Trends | Comments (44)
May 27 2007

Some Thoughts on Pitching Bloggers

May 27, 2007 – 10:06 pm

There’s much debate about communicating directly with bloggers, caused by the Vocus controversy. What is right, what is wrong. Where to begin….

What’s wrong is treating bloggers like traditional media outlets. New media content creators do not have any obligation to “report� or field inquiries. They don’t have to write up a kind review of your product (even if you comp them something), and a great majority distrust traditional public relations tactics. Consider the most successful tactic to date involves literally bribing bloggers with free stuff. This practice has been dubbed by the Wall Street Journal as giving blogola.

Specific tactics will continue to evolve in this realm as bloggers and social networks determine how they want to be communicated to… But the major issue with pitching towards bloggers is that when this occurs, a company’s community participation tactics are not strong enough to command respect without having to push. When strong social network relationships are not in play, news that may be of interest to a community cannot be communicated naturally and virally. This puts an organization or company in a position of weakness as it forces marketing to promote initiatives rather than to attract attention. Social media is not conducive towards this kind of promotion.

When there is a strong social network strategy in play, members of the community feel tied to the organizations efforts, and if they believe in the organization, are often willing to help promote it. The Splashcast team’s intelligent dialogue with the blogging community before the company’s launch is a great example of engaging a community before an initiative hits the market.

That being said if an organization must promote in an outbound fashion, our experience demonstrates that a very simple pitch must be drawn up for new media outlets that’s very customized to each particular blog or content creator. Any pitch must be about the new media outlet’s interests/content direction, and must provide value to them by providing some sort of facts, service/product or information that’s of interest. That can include early trials of products or services, but be wary, as this does not guarantee positive write-ups, and if the information/product/service is poor, you better expect a negative write up (see Vocus issue).

Use of only one URL should be included in the pitch, pointing the outlet back to more information in one central location (such as a social media release). No pitch should overtly demand or request pick up, instead providing an “FYI� only. The pitch is usually submitted as a tip via a web form on the site, or emailed to the blogger IF their site invites tips.

Then once you send your pitch, let it go. Period. That means do not follow up or harass the blogger/content creator. At all. If there’s no pick-up or interest, take it as a sign that your company just engaged in shameless promotion instead of creating value for your community, and start your new media strategy over. And be happy you didn’t get slammed by one of the bloggers. Begin again by building value for the community instead of trying to exploit its members by pitching them.

:) Another $.02 delivered.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Digital Marketing | Comments (10)

Thinking Bloggers and Pitching Blogs

May 27, 2007 – 9:57 pm

thinkingblogger.jpgThe Bin has gotten some great write-ups of late from friends in the blogosphere. Rich at Copywrite, Inc. dubbed me a thinking blogger, and called the Bin one to watch. For the record, as a thinking blogger right now I’m pondering about what a smug, hypocrite Bono is after reading his publicist’s letter to a journalist in the June issue of Vanity Fair. Humanitarian or phenomenal ego? As an owner of every U2 album released, let’s just say I’m disappointed.

In his post, Rich challenged me to write up five blogs that I would call thinking blogs/bloggers. Rather than write Rich up again and since he has already been dubbed a thinking blogger, it would be great to write up some link love to some other smart writers who could stand to be recognized for the first time in the Bin. Consider this our weekly Blogs of Fire entry. OK, here we go!

Engage in PR’s Kyle Flaherty seems to have a pretty good idea of how to engage in the 21st century PR environment, as well as the sad state of our industry. For a great write up check out this post (note, the Buzz Bin is written up in this one), “Are We This Misunderstood?”

PBS blog Media Shift written by Mark Glaser has a great write up about how interviews continue to survive, no matter the media format. He’s right by the way, our most popular posts tend to be our interviews. People just love them!

PR Differently is a good one in NYC. And yes, another blogger that has slammed Vocus’s misguided effort to teach everyone how to pitch bloggers… with the Vocus press release. Whoops.

Susan Getgood’s Marketing Roadmaps has given me food for thought on occasion. Most recently, she too, entered the how to pitch a blogger fray. The impetus… Vocus again. Note, she hit the magic button: Give, don’t take.

Lastly, the New PR from Ryan Anderson looks at PR as a profession and debates whether or not if we’re really spammers at heart. God, another article that once again demonstrates how bad many of the practitioners in this business are.

These last three entries brings up the great how do you pitch a blogger debate. We have never weighed in on this, but because I like these entries so much… Check out this blog post.

As all the five of you have now been dubbed thinking bloggers, we encourage you to pass the good karma along and dub some thinking bloggers!

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Digital Marketing | Comments (6)
May 25 2007

The Way of Second Life

May 25, 2007 – 8:28 am

A recent article in The Baltimore Sun talks about companies choosing Second Life to host a virtual job fair and find their candidates. Second Life is a 3-D social networking space.

Before I fell across The Baltimore Sun, I fell across Musashi’s Blog, which propelled me to go check this out for myself. I went to Second Life and joined for free. Then I created a persona, or avatar, as they call it. I choose a name, a funky one, and then picked an image to represent me. I chose cool city chic. She had brunette hair, just like me.

But apparently that’s not the idea. All relationships in Second Life are completely anonymous, except for the job seeker. Here, the company will know your real identity and, the article says, it’s important not to be too “over the top.�

What in the world constitutes over the top. Companies are going find candidates cruising different clubs and islands in Second Life. As a PR professional, when I was looking for a job a few months ago, if someone sent me to Second Life, I don’t know if I’d inquire further. But then again, I don’t have an ipod or a My Space profile. I’d still prefer to meet over a cup of coffee.

I have to admit I didn’t explore Second Life, further than registering. I might go back in there when I have the time. Musashi says it’s like a video game. I think it’s too much. It’s easier when job candidates aren’t avatars and you meet face to face instead of a 3-D social networking platform. I think the world is becoming like the Jetson’s. Â

Nonetheless, check out Musashi’s blog. In great detail, he tells you everything you need to know. I think I’m going to sit this one out.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Michele Capots | Posted in Digital Marketing | Comments (0)
May 24 2007

How to Handle Negative Blog Comments

May 24, 2007 – 2:11 pm

So recently, we engaged in a paid review exercise to see what people think about our blog. One guy, Alex, trashed the way our blog looked (He did like the content though).

There’s a lesson to be learned about new media from negative comments about the Buzz Bin. I believe that simplicity in design architecture is a must in any media form, and find busy blog designs to be pretty annoying. To be frank, I’m not sure Alex’s Blog to Make Money is the most aesthetic blog I’ve ever seen. But that doesn’t mean I’m right, he’s right or anywhere in between. So I’m just going to keep going as if nothing was written (though I did address Alex’s RSS comment).

Why? It’s negative!

Because new media is about freedom of speech. We can believe in a thing, hold it to the light for conversation, discussion, and yes, critique. That is what happens when you take a stand, and become known for it. You highlight a perceived truth, and hold your ground with unwavering integrity. And if you are taking a stand on a topic as controversial as the PR 2.0 debate in our industry or as minor as blog design, you should expect some heat. That is a God-given right in this country.

Negative comments do not necessarily mean you must yield, comment back or engage in crisis communications. Contrary views are not reasons for anger, to strike back, or to quit. They are a discussion. Blog criticism can be a catalyst to define your view further, and stand strongly behind your beliefs. And they can also make you change a la addressing an RSS issue.

I believe that new media strategies are absolutely essential for businesses and marketers that want to be successful in the 21st century. Several of my clients have reaped enormous rewards from them as has my company, Livingston Communications. That is because together we’ve engaged in dialogue with our communities– and took the heat good and bad.

Those of us that contribute to the Buzz Bin commit to continue our portion of the great dialogue about new media and its impact on businesses. Until our next posting, be well. And feel free to comment if you like or hate our blog design.

P.S. Also, a thank you to Alex for taking the time to write a thoughful criticism. It was helpful.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Digital Marketing | Comments (5)

Goodness Gracious, Great Blogs of Fire!

May 24, 2007 – 6:18 am

blogoffirelarger.jpg

If you haven’t noticed Technorati revamped everything yesterday, and that means something. What? I am not sure. I do not like the lack of rankings with the “authority” system being the sole barometer of where a blog stands. Personally, that broke one of my corporate benchmarking goals for 2007. In fact, the new search function is much more difficult, but the blog-only s.technorati.com search function works well, so we’ll see. I may become a Google Blog Searcher.

I’m not the only one. Read Kami Huyse’s breakdown of the change. I like Kami’s writing a lot, and find myself sourcing her quite a bit in my new book. She’s got PR savoire faire, my friends, and should be mandatory reading for anyone in the biz.

There’s a great blog called ProBlogger. Kami actually turned me onto one of Darren Rowse’s posts from last year, which gives bloggers tips on how to leverage Digg events (or Stumble Upon or Twitter or ….) to build a larger community within your blog. A very insightful posting, which makes sense for anyone considering a larger blog strategy.

Search Media Gurus remind us that social media is more than Digg and Stumble Upon. The take home boys and girls? “Before you apply [Digg optimization techniques] – know your target audience. If your targeting Digg, then [implementing] suggestions make sense, but if you understand social media goes well beyond those news type sites, approach the suggestions with caution. In the end, it’s all about knowing your audience.” Well said.

Vocus apparently stepped on itself with a well-intended, value-building white paper for its clients, five keys to good blogger relations. Unfortunately the five keys were great ways to anger every blogger out there. Marketing Roadmaps reports this misstep by the PRWeb owner. To me, this is yet another indicator that our business — PR pros — just don’t get new media. Period. And we have a long way to go, too.

Locally, I’ve had the privilege of discovering D-Ring, a great blog that bridges new media and the military. Currently being discussed, the DoD’s decision to block YouTube and MySpace. Supposedly this is a proactive measure to stop bandwidth drains… Uh yeah, like getting people not to think at all. Writer Steve Field does a nice job debating the whys and hows of the military decision.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Digital Marketing | Comments (3)
May 23 2007

Will Double Branding Be the Demise of Traditonal Media?

May 23, 2007 – 6:45 am

Friend of the Bin Al Ries recently made the point of how “double branding” dilutes a brand’s overall effectiveness. Yet the age of Daimler-Chrysler, AOL-Time Warner, and Sprint-Nextel demonstrates that double branding is a tactic that although ineffective, is not going away any time soon.

While both companies may begin with the best intentions for equality, once dilution is recognized one brand overtakes the other to recoup lost equity. A very recent example is Cingular-AT&T, who announced this week the complete destruction of the Cingular brand.

Looking to the future, Robin Sloan and Matt Thompson have produced EPIC2015, a predictive, Orwell-esque YouTube video analyzing the potential merger impact of online conglomerates Google and Amazon. “Googlezon” pairs the advanced algorithm technology of Google with Amazon’s superior personal information tracking and recommendation system, eventually causing the collapse of the traditional media powerhouse, the New York Times.

Is this hypothesis realistic? Could these two companies co-exist in double-branded bliss?

Looking at Ries’ philosophy and Google’s propensity for acquisitions instead of mergers, I’d say it’s highly doubtful. But who knows what the future will bring.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Andrea Morris | Posted in Digital Marketing | Comments (0)
May 22 2007

Warren Brown Gives the Buzz Bin a Sugar Rush

May 22, 2007 – 9:11 am

art-warren_brown.jpgHe’s a TV star on the Food Network, and a local entrepreneur who’s been on the cover of magazines. His Cake Love and Love Cafe stores has become the rage of the Washington metro area. Oh yeah, the cakes are great, too! Meet Warren Brown, a very successful business man who understands marketing (check out his blog)!

BB: You’ve become a very successful baker. How does it feel?

WB: I’m blessed and honored to work with a team of enthusiastic people who enjoy working at the bakeries and café. Over the past five years I’ve done a lot of different jobs for the business both in and outside of the bakery and each has been a great experience that I would never trade-in.


BB: How did Sugar Rush benefit your business?

WB: The exposure from Sugar Rush on Food Network was a great shot in the arm for every aspect of CakeLove and Love Café. My business is all about cakes from scratch and re-introducing the public to this time honored tradition is a wonderful thing. People come to Washington, DC to visit national landmarks and then pop by CakeLove or Love Café for an afternoon treat. It’s a lot of fun to meet visitors who appreciate all of the work that goes into each cupcake, cookie, and layered cake.

BB: What’s next for Cake Love?

WB: A bunch of things: a new bakery in Shirlington, VA later this summer. A cookbook on how I bake from scratch titled CakeLove. Podcasts on simple baking steps that help me get the right texture in cakes and cookies. It’s always busy at CakeLove.

BB: You use a variety of marketing tools to get the word out. Can you detail what works best?

WB: I think that the best way to market a business is to put a real live voice behind the company. One that doesn’t speak from prepped statements, but instead just goes with the voice that’s in the heart. Everyone can sense integrity and we all sincerely appreciate it, whether the news is good or bad. When it comes to visual representations, I think pics that show the business in action are what people want to see. When something appears staged everyone in this culture is cued to believe there’s little worth trusting.

BB: How does your blog work with all of these mechanisms?

WB: Recently I’ve come to learn that my blog is a place people surfin the web will read what my staff bemoans as endless diatribes about the topic of the day. I’m a lawyer afterall—I enjoy a hearty digression into topics that relate to my business both directly and tangentially. Not just to blab on and on, but to practice active discussion about how I run my business and what issues make a difference to me.

One thing that’s fascinating about running a business is that the more I learn, the better my business operates. Posting my thoughts on the blog helps me, sometimes forces me, to develop them so they’re coherent—er, at least that’s the goal!

BB: What’s the key to your successful interaction with the community?

WB: Showing up to events, being genuine, and focusing on the contribution of individuals.

BB: What tips would you offer other businesses?

WB: Research constantly. Learn by reading, listening, talking, and observing. It’s really tough to know absolute truths about the marketplace, but some certainty comes with exhaustive research. Ask questions until the answers begin to sound repetitive, then start at it again from a different angle so there’s a chance for a different point of view to hit your ears.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Digital Marketing | Comments (1)