MY ONLINE FOOTPRINTS

LinkedIn - Todd And

Facebook - Todd And

Technorati - Todd And

Google Shared Items

Twitter - Todd And

Delicious - Todd And

iTunes iMix - Todd And

SlideShare - Todd And

ADMIN

Lies, Damned Lies and PR Surveys

July 31, 2006 | Leave a Comment

According to Mark Twain (pictured above), “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.”

Matthew Stibbe of the Bad Language blog probably falls into the Twain camp. He wrote about PR survey abuse back in June. Personally, I think “abuse” of research by PR folks may stem from email marketing. Or, at the very least, has been enabled by the proliferation of email marketing. It seems like every web-based email marketing application offers a survey tool.

Stibbe says that “100 percent of the writers in my household thought PR generated surveys were bogus.” Ouch. They can’t all be bogus. When I represented professional service firms, we used research as one of our many PR campaign tactics; however, I like to think our surveys weren’t abusive and, instead, provided valuable news to complement reporters’ articles. Here’s one example of how (I believe) we avoided survey abuse and showed value:

Law Firm Survey: In 2002, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) was passed. It was the largest piece of legislation affecting publicly-traded companies since the reforms of the Great Depression. Many law firms scrambled to assemble corporate governance teams that could make millions of dollars by helping their clients comply with SOX. At the time, one of my law firm clients had a huge securities litigation practice and was representing many of the giant companies under investigation by the SEC - still, they were late to the “corporate governance-team” game.

To demonstrate the firm’s expertise in corporate governance, we leveraged it’s database of CEOs and CFOs, and… yes… created a survey (using our email marketing vendor of course). The survey aimed to measure CEO and CFO opinions about the execution, cost and value of SOX. For the first time (at the time), research shed light on the mass mind-set of C-suite executives from public companies (many Fortune 1000) about the implementation of SOX. The results were not only valuable to the lawyers and their clients, but also to the media (and their corporate readers).

In the end, we generated more than 300 media placements over four months, including a ton of tier-one coverage. Plus, the lawyers were able to highlight the results with their own clients. Bottomline, the firm quickly became a thought leader in corporate governance and the phones rang off the hook with numerous requests and leads.

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

Posted by toddand | Filed Under Management, Marketing, Public Relations, Strategies+Tactics

The Audience Is Up To Something!

July 31, 2006 | Leave a Comment

[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xAA71Ssids”]

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

Posted by toddand | Filed Under Video

Mar’CAT’ing and Prrrrrrrrr

July 28, 2006 | Leave a Comment

It’s Friday! Jeans day! So, to loosen things up a bit, here are not one, but two funny cat video montages. Enjoy your weekends!

[youtube=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIqhUCZgwXQ“]

[youtube=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cCdoXIlKMw“]

By the way, I’m allergic to cats. I have a dog. Here is a photo of my dog, Wrigley (left), and my parents’ dog, Molly:

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

Posted by toddand | Filed Under Video

Whose MKTG Is It Anyway?

July 27, 2006 | Leave a Comment

For 14 years, my favorite hobby was improv comedy. I performed on nights and weekends with the same troupe for seven of those years. We never looked at the troupe as a money maker even though we did have “paying” gigs. (Don’t get the wrong idea by “paying” gigs. When I calculate it, my annual improv salary for 14 years was $21.43.)

The experience, however, was invaluable. Not only was I laughing my butt off every time we rehearsed or performed in front of an audience, but I was also gaining critical communication, presentation and interaction skills that would prove priceless in business settings.

As part of this rare behind-the-scenes look at the world of improv, I can tell you that there are several rules of improv. In my troupe, compliance with these rules was encouraged, not enforced, because we found that the occasional disregard for a rule was indeed hilarious to the audience. Below are some improv rules that can be applied to the business world, especially marketing and PR.

// Yes And… (the crux of improv) – The rule here instructs performers not to negate or deny; rather, add and build the scene. In general, this is a great philosophy, but I find it is especially useful in meetings and brainstorm sessions. Of course, we all know that never saying no just isn’t an option. Try it sometime… instead of rushing to say no to a suggestion, say yes (even if just mentally) and recommend new ideas for improving, supporting or building on top of the original suggestion.

// Trust and Teamwork – This one is a natural for the business environment. Just as improvisers need to trust fellow cast members on stage, professionals (who arguably are on stage every day) need to trust that their colleagues will support them in the office and offer to help when it appears necessary. Additionally, professionals should feel like they can approach their colleagues to request assistance, if needed.

// Give and Take – Know when to be the aggressor and when to sit back and let others take the lead. When performing as part of a troupe, improv comedians cannot always control the spotlight… they need to know when to share opportunities for laughs and, on the flip side, they need to know when to take a joke that is given. In business, such a rule is applicable to the delegation of roles and responsibilities, as well as giving credit where credit is due.

// Listen, Watch, Concentrate – Listening is critical in improv and a good majority of improvisational warm-up exercises are meant to strengthen listening skills. Obviously, listening skills are vital in all walks of life (just ask my wife when she accuses me of not listening to her). Personally, I think the strongest marketing pros are those who listen well and have intrinsic awareness of their surroundings. They’re able to really hear their colleagues, company executives or clients, and understand their respective needs/wants/requests. We all have long to-do lists at work, but it’s important not to close ourselves to our immediate surroundings, which may cause us to overlook an opportunity, forget to acknowledge a job well done, or let things fall through the cracks.

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

Posted by toddand | Filed Under Marketing

Q Is For Vacation

July 26, 2006 | Leave a Comment

After several weeks of researching the Treo and Q, I went with the Q. It made sense for me because I first need a phone, second a PDA. Q is hands down the best phone quality. The biggest downfall to the Q that I read about is it’s lack of touch screen. Since this is my first smartphone, I don’t have touch screen tendencies = no learning curve. Finally, it helped that the Q was $200 less and still had equal or better reviews than the Treo in many cases.

Anyway, with the new toy at my side, I can’t resist the urge to learn everything about it. That said, I may take a break from the blog for a night this week, so I can become one with the instruction booklet and tinker with my new toy. Thanks for understanding. Anyone else have new toys to talk about?

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

Posted by toddand | Filed Under Technology

Linkamania I

July 26, 2006 | Leave a Comment

The web is a world of many wonderful things. Below are some links to random pages that I’ve discovered over the years.

Smack A Penguin (try to beat 502)

Leave a comment and share your “eggstra” special links.

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

Posted by toddand | Filed Under Links, Marketing

PR Two Point Oh!

July 26, 2006 | Leave a Comment

As a new blogger, I was thrilled to read John Wagner’s post today about SHIFT Communication’s brand new ebook PR 2.0 Essentials (30 pgs, 1.2 MB, full post), which can be found on SHIFT’s blog PR Squared.

Also check out SHIFT’s social media press release template.

The folks at SHIFT have some great stuff to share. Thanks SHIFT!

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

Posted by toddand | Filed Under Public Relations

Psst. Viral Marketing! Pass It On…

July 25, 2006 | Leave a Comment

Viral marketing is like smoking in the 70s… it’s fresh, cool and sexy to do. Check out BusinessWeek’s viral marketing story and slideshow. Just in case, here is the Wikipedia entry on viral mktg.

The forthcoming movie, Snakes on a Plane, is the perfect example of viral marketing success. Just google the movie title… it had twice as many results (15 million) as Citizen Kane did when I searched. While viral marketing occasionally happens on its own or with little help, most cases of viral marketing have lots of research, planning and creativity in the background.

In the spirit of viral marketing, here is a link worth sharing. Check out the Flash video clip.

Oh, and here is another good one (below) with an investment tip… buy gold!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEAb8Hbk_Q4]

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

Posted by toddand | Filed Under Advertising, Marketing, Public Relations, Video

Alex, What Is A Brand?

July 25, 2006 | Leave a Comment

If PR and MKTG was a category on Jeopardy and the $1000 answer was “A Promise,” I’d buzz in and respond in the form of the question “What is a BRAND? Alex.” And I’d be right.

A brand is a promise. Just that simple.

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...

Posted by toddand | Filed Under Marketing

Big Crispin Ad Guys

July 25, 2006 | Leave a Comment

BusinessWeek called them the “Craziest Ad Guys in America,” but I’d classify them as the smartest and hippest. They’re the folks at the ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky. They’re the geniuses behind the subservient chicken and countless other quality spots.

Listen to the BusinessWeek cover story podcast on CP+B here…