5 ways to come up with new content

April 11, 2007

I’ve been writing a weekly marketing column since 1999 and today, as you know, I try to add new content to this blog every day.

One of the questions I often get asked is "how do you think of stuff to write about?"  Followed up with the inevitable "Aren’t you worried you’re going to run dry?"

It seems that Mohit Singhania (a fifth year student at IIT Bombay)  from Best-Blog-Basket has been wondering the same thing.  He’s started the "Be Original" project, asking writers, bloggers and other creators where they get their ideas.

I offer these ideas not just to you bloggers, but anyone who creates content.  Does your company have a web site?  Do you send out sales letters?  A company newsletter?  Hopefully this will trigger some ideas for you too.

Here’s my contribution:

The questions my clients ask:  Clients will often call me after reading something I’ve written and say "was that about me?"  Usually, it’s not.  It’s a compilation of conversations over time.  But every once in awhile…

What I read:  Books, blogs, magazines, newspapers, cereal boxes.  If it has words, I like to read it.  And with each sentence, new ideas bubble up.

My interactions: Because I write about marketing and everything is marketing…I am surrounded by fodder.  Whether it is a trip to the ER or Disney World, there’s great material just waiting for me.

My own worries/concerns/wonderings:  Sometimes I think pretty good.  Sometimes it’s even worthy of sharing.

The analogies we use with clients: Some of my favorite posts were borne from stories/analogies that we use to help clients understand a marketing or branding concept.

Of course, that’s just scratching the surface.  The reality is — if you set your mind to watching for things that make you go "hmmm," you will find them everywhere!

If you’d like to read more about Mohit and his project, you can see the full details here.  Rather than tag specific people – I am going to invite all of you to participate.  If you do, remember to link back to Mohit so he can track everyone’s answers.

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Do you have a brand inferiority complex?

April 10, 2007

Weasel words.  At McLellan Marketing Group, we use that term for the buzz words that people use when they don’t know what to say.  It’s almost like a magician’s slight of hand.  If I use these words, you won’t recognize that I’m not really saying anything.

Yesterday, I held up a mission statement that sounds like thousands of mission statements on corporate walls across the business world.  Word like "market leader" and "exemplary service" are pretty but meaningless.

David Reich adds food for thought in his post Ban the E-Word.  David points to the overuse of the word engagement and how it used to be a word that had meaning.  But now its been tossed on the pile with empowerment, paradigm and innovation.

Contrast those weasel words with this simple but meaning packed sentence. It comes from the values statement of one of our clients (they wrote these themselves, so we’re not patting ourselves on the back.) 

"Fun provides energy for success."  I not only understood every word…but it gives me a sense of who they are.  And what they’d be like to work with.

I think people use weasel words because they are at a loss.  They feel like they need to fill space or deflect our attention.  Or that somehow we won’t think they’re legit if they talk like regular people.  They’re afraid they won’t measure up.  They won’t be good enough.

They have a brand inferiority complex.

Mark True brings this point home in his elegant post Is Your Brand Sincere.  Mark talks about how a sincere brand is not a perfect brand.  And in fact, sincerity begs us to show the cracks along with the beauty.

Are you confident enough in your brand to let us see the cracks?

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A legacy

April 10, 2007

Any parent will tell you that their child/children are their greatest legacy. 

I talked about this in my belief statement a few months back.  My daughter is my gift to this world and even at 13, I could not be prouder of person she is and is becoming.

So when I heard that my friend CK has lost her mom suddenly, my heart broke a little not only for CK and her loss, but also for her mom. 

I can only imagine how proud Sandra Kerley was of her daughter’s accomplishments, talents and most of all, her heart.  And I can only imagine how much she wanted to stick around and keep watching from an earthly vantage point.

They say that the acorn rarely falls far from the tree, so it came as no surprise to me that CK’s mom was a giver as well.  One of the charities that touched her heart was Habitat for Humanity.  Home is something most of us take for granted.  Through this organization, families that couldn’t even conceive of home ownership now can.

The child.  The parent.  The community.  It’s time for us to add our voice to this story by coming together and creating a memorial that captures what words cannot.  Our friendship, our love, our respect and our admiration.

For a spirited, wise woman and her daughter…her legacy.

By clicking on the badge, you’ll be taken to a PayPal site where you can make a donation to Habitat.  We’ve also created (thanks Cam for the site and David for the badge) a memorial site.

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Does your company’s mission statement sound like this?

April 9, 2007

"We are the market leader, earning our clients’ loyalty by providing exemplary service and value.

We value honesty, innovation and our employees most of all."

If so….shame on you.

Flickr photo courtesy of slight clutter.

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What to do when your client is in crisis

April 9, 2007

In most cases, our clients/customers come to us in a relatively calm state and we can react to them in our usual business manner.  But what needs to shift if your client is in crisis mode?

I pondered this question this weekend, as I was a client in crisis mode.  The perfect time for some marketing observation! 

As many of you know, I was struck down by a kidney stone (actually 2) this weekend.  If you haven’t ever had one – it is the most excruciating pain imaginable.  They call it a writhing pain, because when you have one, you are in such pain, you can’t hold still.  You literally writhe in agony.

I’ll give you my prognosis at the tail end of the post but for now, let’s look at what needs to shift when a client is in crisis.  And yes, that’s how small a kidney stone is.  Humbling to say the least.

They need you to acknowledge that they are in crisis.  They want to know that you know.  This is not the time for "can you hang on second" or "do you want some coffee."  When I staggered into the ER hunched over, clammy and in pain, they didn’t wait to take my insurance information.  They whisked me back to a room immediately.

They need to be your only priority until the crisis has passed.  This isn’t the time to take another call or put them off until the next morning.  They need you now.  Tammy, my ER nurse, didn’t leave my side until she had the IV started and she’d administered the first dose of morphine. 

They need reassurance.  They want you to tell them you’re going to be at their side until it’s over.  This isn’t the time to sugar coat things or say it’s going to be okay if it isn’t. But they want to know they won’t be going it alone. 

They need empathy.  If a client is in crisis, they’re most likely angry, scared, worried, sad or in pain.  They want you to recognize that emotion in them and help them get it under control.  Sheila, the attending nurse practitioner made sure I knew that she was going to be aggressive with the pain meds until I was comfortable.  She wanted me out of pain as much as I did.  (Well, maybe not quite as much!)

They want to see action.  That’s the most reassuring element of all. They want to know you are doing something to get them out of their crisis. The whole ER team hustled me in and out of the CAT scan and got me the meds I needed quickly.  When the morphine wasn’t stopping the pain, they rapidly moved up the pain meds food chain until they found one that did. 

Dealing with a client who is in crisis mode is usually not pretty. They’re in full panic mode.  But, if you can stay with them and get them through the crisis – you’ve earned a loyal client who will come to you in confidence, knowing you’ve seen them at their worst.

How have you dealt with clients in this frame of mind?

As for the stone saga – I’ve still got the two stones.  They haven’t passed yet.  Right now, they’re causing a tolerable amount of pain, so I am temporarily sprung from the hospital.  The bummer about kidney stones is their unpredictability.  These could pass without causing me much more pain and I could get by with the prescription meds. Or in a blink, they could send me back to the hospital.  But…I know which hospital I’d go back to.  Thanks to their understanding of how to deal with a client in crisis!

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Milestones and Kidney Stones

April 7, 2007

Submitted by Mike Sansone

Guest posting here is becoming a theme
Primarily because of commenting milestones
Today I take a shot at writing a post
Not in celebration, but due to kidney stones.

Just talked to Drew, he’s doing okay
His stay in the hospital I hope soon passes
(And that’s not the only thing)
He asked if I would converse with the masses.

If your email doesn’t get answered right away,
or you’re missing Drew’s wit on Twitter
I’m sure he’ll be back real soon,
For the Top Dog is a real go-getter.

I’m sure you stand with me thinking of Drew
So leave a comment or email him a shout
Get well, my friend – we love you!
Until then, rest easy and… ‘bunny out’

P.S. It seems I do this once a year. Should I start marketing this service?

Photo at Flickr by Kitten

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Here’s to the Age of Conversation

April 6, 2007

Here’s how it all happened.

I posted about a project called We Are Smarter than Me which gives people a chance to help author a guest book.

In the comments of that post Gavin Heaton said “Great concept! And it sounds like it could be fun … but you know what, Drew? I reckon between a few of us we could knock out a short book…All we need is a theme and a charity …”

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Had to get out of my own way

April 6, 2007

A few days before this blog received its 1000th comment, Gavin Heaton’s Servant of Chaos celebrated the same milestone.  Just like I invited David Reich to be my guest blogger to commemorate the occasion, Gavin asked the same of me.

Wow…what a daunting task.  It’s a very cool thing, don’t get me wrong.  But it’s also nerve wracking.  If you bomb on your own blog, that’s  one thing.  But to bomb on someone else’s?  Yuck.

Check out my post on Gavin’s site.  If you don’t read Gavin’s blog, you need to start.

Check out David’s post here on The Marketing Minute.  And check out David’s blog, My 2 Cents.  It is always worth the read.

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Bloggers sharing for profit — the next wave?

April 6, 2007

After only two months of blogging, one of the best things I’ve noticed is how sharing and supportive most bloggers are.  They’re eager to help others get noticed and read through tipping, links and kind references.  There seems to be very little ego in the marketing blogosphere.

So it doesn’t surprise me that Drew, on getting his 1,000th comment at Drew’s Marketing Minute, would invite the author of that comment to write a guest post.  What a wonderful and generous way to mark a milestone.  And how fortunate for me that the 1,000th comment happened to be mine.

Drew’s invitation is typical of the sharing mindset that is pervasive throughout the marketing blogosphere.  I think it’s a major reason so many of us become active bloggers.

But what do you do when someone asks you to share information when it’s for their commercial gain? 

As blogs are becoming recognized by marketers as an important form of social media that can influence and motivate, public relations and advertising agencies are starting to pitch bloggers, in hopes of gaining write-ups about their clients’ products and services.  Since blogs are such personal forms of mass communications, marketers realize they can be powerful persuaders.

In the past several days, I received my first two pitches from PR people.  Each represents a different end of the spectrum of professionalism.

My first pitch came from Harley Jebens at Click Here, a Dallas interactive marketing agency where our blogging friend Cam Beck works.  Harley’s email to me was simple, straightforward and professional – he identified himself and his agency and said he was attaching information on a campaign my readers might find of interest.  No hype – no obnoxious push.  A news release and website were attached, if I wanted more info, along with a promise to answer any questions if I gave him a call or email.

Although I have no interest in talking about The MySpace page for the Travelocity Roaming Gnome  it was a professional pitch and my compliments to Harley for a good try.

The second pitch came from a book publisher’s PR department.  It was an email full of hyperbole about a book unrelated to anything I write about. In the email, the publicist tells me (not asks) that it’s something my readers will want to know about.  How could she know that if, obviously, she hadn’t done her homework by looking at my blog.  It wasn’t even addressed to me by name; it said Dear Blogger.  The pitch told me where to buy the book.  (You want me to write about your product and you won’t send or offer to send me a review copy?  Thanks a lot.)

In the 30 years I’ve been doing public relations at agencies large and small, including my own firm for the past 15, I’ve learned what works and what doesn’t.   The second pitch method does not work.  It wouldn’t work if I were pitching a writer at a newspaper or magazine, and it won’t work to get into a blog.   

I approached several bloggers on a client’s behalf for the first time back in January.  After researching to find blogs on parenting, I viewed as many as I could, to get an idea of what they write about.  I emailed the authors, with an approach similar to what Harley did when he pitched me – honest, transparent, not pushy.

The response was encouraging.  Most responded by asking questions and/or asking to talk with my client before they told their readers about the product.  Some took me up on my offer to send a product sample.  One blogger asked me to have my client post a comment on her blog, talking about the product.  A few didn’t respond and probably chose not to talk about the item.  Overall, the client got some positive reviews and  spirited discussion of the product’s merits in comments.

Key is that the approach was done gently and professionally, with full disclosure and no deception or trickery.  No attempt to sneak onto a blog by posting a "sell" as a comment, as I saw tried just this week on two blogs.  (One of the bloggers was annoyed and quickly deleted the comment.  Lucky for the offending PR person that he didn’t choose instead to blast the product being pitched.)

You may have already been pitched by a PR person.  If not, I bet you will in the coming year as the PR profession discovers the blogosphere.  How bloggers are treated by marketers and their public relations representatives seeking to use their channels of communication will make a difference, since, ultimately, the decision will be yours as to what you care to share with your readers. 

How would you prefer to be pitched?

~ David Reich, My 2 Cents

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Eye tracking study yields surprising results for bloggers

April 4, 2007

The Poynter Institute wanted to take a scientific look at how people read news and if there was a difference when the news was presented in an online, tabloid or broadsheet format. 

It’s the largest study they’ve ever done and is the first time they’ve compared both print and online media.

The Institute just released the results of their EyeTrack07 study.

Here are some findings that will not be a surprise:

• People are drawn to alternative story forms like Q&A’s, timelines, sidebars and lists
• Photos get a lot of attention in print
• Real photos got more attention than staged or studio photographs

Here’s the surprise:

The largest percentage of story text read was in the online format.

• 77% online
• 62% in broadsheet
• 57% in tabloid

And…nearly two-thirds of online readers, once they selected an item to read, read ALL of the text.

Interestingly, the study was partially funded by mainstream print newspapers. You can download a teaser of the research results.  They’ll also be selling the full results in mid-April.

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