THINKing

Sunday Reading – 9-30-2007

Looking for a marketing job? Check out KnowThis’ new job search feature.

Duct Tape Marketing lays out its premise for the perfect marketing plan.

Web 2.0 newcomer TripIt is worth checking out.

Need some internet marketing ideas? Well, SEOPedia outlines 101 of them.

Finally, are you looking for new Blogger templates? Here you go.

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Press Release Evolution

According to Barks & Bites,

the news release is one of the oldest tools in the PR professionals’ toolkit and also one of the newest. Once you begin using it as your principal “conversation-starter” with audiences who find you online, you will see the dialogue and the positive results of your marketing and communications programs take on a life of their own.

Very true. The release has morphed and has a new life thanks to the digital milieu. Here’s a piece I wrote on the evolution of the news release.

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Web Politics – Update

In a recent post, we discussed what’s happening on the web in terms of presidential candidate spending and site visitation. Here’s a new report from Hitwise on the topic. According to Hitwise,

…Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson’s website, www.fred08.com, was the most visited website among all presidential candidates for the week ending September 8, 2007. Fred08.com received 34 percent of US visits amongst all the presidential candidate websites for that week. Barack Obama’s website, www.barackobama.com, received 13.49 percent of US visits for last week, the second most visits among all candidates. Following Obama’s website was Republican candidate Ron Paul’s website www.ronpaul2008.com, which received 12.88 percent of visits.

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Media Wants Insight, Gets Drivel

Just reading a piece in Navigator from Cision about how the business media is looking for insight from their business sources but typically get drivel. Too true. They don’t want the canned crap so many of my PR counterparts carefully craft to say nothing. The article contends that you should,

Can the canned speech. Nobody wants smoke blown up their behind. Sources need to have clear message points and be prepared when speaking with the media, but real opinions and verifiable facts will trump the spin every time. Lead with the truth about your business or industry and you will be on your way.

Amen, brother.

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A BlogRush of Traffic? We’ll See.

Hey, if you write a blog and haven’t heard about BlogRush, you need to check it out. Here’s the proposition: Sign up with BlogRush, install the provided widget and get ready for a boatload of targeted traffic. Does it work? I’ll report back once I see what’s happening on THINKing. See an example of the widget below.

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Going Green

Many large companies think people are stupid. These companies embrace the latest feel-good topics, purely for capital gains. The latest thing, of course, is the green movement. Most Americans, according to a recent study, understand that the move to green is purely a marketing tactic.

According to an Ipsos Reid study conducted this spring on behalf of Icynene, seven in ten Americans either ‘strongly’ or ‘somewhat’ agree that when companies call a product “green” (meaning better for the environment), it is usually just a “marketing tactic”. Consumers appear to be wary of companies who label their products as being green, or environmentally friendly, acknowledges the report. On the other hand, 4% of Americans completely disagree and 26% somewhat disagree that “green” is a marketing tactic.

What do you think? We’d love your comments on the topic.

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They’ve Got You Covered

Fast Company and Inc. are highly desirable media in which to garner coverage for yourself and your organization. How do you get in to these respected publications? Bulldog Reporter has some advice in its newsletter.

Speed your way to coverage in one of the most respected books on cutting-edge businesses by pitching narratives and fleshed-out story angles about entrepreneurs who are changing the game through innovation, says new Fast Company senior editor Jeffrey Chu. “I’m working mostly on front-of-the-book articles, and I’m a generalist,” he says. “My interests aren’t industry specific, and I’d rather not limit it. It’s more about the impact that a person or a product or a company has or could have, and how compelling the characters are.

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Our Blog Has Moved

THINKing now has moved and the url is now my-creativeteam.com/blog. Our RSS feed has changed. So, if you subscribe to our current feed, you’ll need to update your reader to access this feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/my-creativeteam/delT

And, if you are one of our email subscribers, we must ask you to sign up here for the new email delivered feed. Sorry for the inconvenience.

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Web 2.0 – Your Inner Celebrity

You know you can waste a lot of time using all the web 2.0 sites out there. For instance, there is the MyHeritage.com site’s celebrity look alike project. Upload your photo and face recognition software matches you up with similar looking celebrities.

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Commercial Jockeys?

OK, so I get this note from LinkedIn colleague Chris Abraham, who heads up a word-of-mouth consultancy. Chris is sending out pre-launch info to bloggers in advance of the announcement of Firebrand, which he says is,

A new, opt-in entertainment and marketing destination that gives consumers interactive access to their favorite brands, products and promotions. Firebrand programs the “coolest” TV commercials the way MTV used to program music videos and its multi-platform network, slated to launch on October 22, is the first to go “live” simultaneously on TV, the web and mobile. Firebrand even has CJ’s (commercial jockeys), the same way MTV had VJ’s, who will contextualize the commercials as art and entertainment, and guide consumers through playlists, contests and promotions.

CJs? Is anyone really going to spend time watching a bunch of commercials? Maybe. I’ve been wrong before. There’s more to Firebrand than just commercials. I’ll keep you posted on any new developments. Here’s a news release with more on the story.

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