THINKing

Media Bias?

OK, by now you know that I believe the media is biased beyond belief and that is a primary reason that print journalism is in the tank from a circulation perspective. The last time I brought this up, the liberals came out of the woodwork to skewer me. That’s OK. I’m a big boy. But don’t just take it from me.

Blame Weak Marketers Not Economy

OK, we have yet another story about an abysmal showing for newspapers. Circulation, according to USA Today, is down 4.6 percent for US newspapers overall. Says the national newspaper,

Circulation and advertising have been dropping at newspapers as readers continue to migrate to the Internet. Ad revenue began to decline more steeply this summer as the weak economy prompted advertisers to pull back on spending.

Get Active

My lovely bride and mystery novelist par excellence, Terry Hoover, is the queen of the vivid verb. Read the first chapter of her book, Double Dead, to see what I mean.

Join My Cause

Today, I distributed a news release through PitchEngine about a new cause marketing program. Next week I’ll be announcing the details via the My Creative Team enewsletter, Think. I am making a $500 donation to Crisis Assistance Ministry, a non-profit that provides assistance and advocacy for people in financial crisis, helping them move toward self-sufficiency.

More Cause

We talked about cause marketing recently, and I wanted to delve deeper into some of the findings of the Cone study we discussed.

Cone’s study not only shows that people say they will do more business with companies involved in a cause, but that they actually do more business with cause marketers.

Leadership 101

Despite the financial mess we are in and the negative, woe is me media frenzy, America is going to be all right. In our relatively short national history, we have been through many trials and always have come out on top. It is the good people of this country – not the government, not elected officials – who are responsible for getting us through tough times. We will help family and friends and those less fortunate members of our communities. That’s what we do. It’s part of our character.

Wordle Up

Joe Pulizzi at Junta42 wrote recently about Wordle. Like Joe, I had forgotten about it and his reminder made me go over to see how the application would “see” THINKing.

It says it right there: positioning customers is what I do.

Marketing For Just Cause – Part 2

As we discussed in part one, cause marketing – done correctly – can boost a company’s performance. Now, let’s take a look at the five steps you need to take in developing a successful cause marketing program.

Marketing For Just Cause

Cause marketing is a relationship between a for-profit and a nonprofit that brings in money and resources for the nonprofit, while providing credibility and goodwill for the business. According to the IEG Sponsorship Report, this category will grow to $1.5 billion in the US in 2008.

Go Ask Alice – Part 2

In part 1, we discussed positioning and positioning statements. Today, let’s talk about how to develop an effective positioning statement.

My approach to developing an effective positioning statement and an actionable marketing plan begins with gaining a clear understanding of your business’ acumen, what truly differentiates your organization and your market. Here’s how we go about it, and you can too: