Archive for the 'Communication' CategoryPage 3 of 3

No Sharing, Please

Published
by
Matt
on Sep 24, 2007
in Bad Marketing and Communication
. Comments

I was at a nice local family restaurant the other night. I’m sure you know the kind of place. Good atmosphere, pretty good food and pretty good service. As we got seated and I took a look at the menu, I was struck by a short phrase placed next to the upscale pick-two (think surf and turf) combo meals.

“No Sharing, Please”

I was (and still am) baffled by this. Now I’m not a scientist, but I was pretty sure that when you purchased a meal, you were entitled to eat it how (and with whom) you pleased. Apparently not. I understand that sharing at a buffet is frowned upon due to the nature of the business model, but I don’t understand how a regular restaurant can justify not allowing you to split a meal with someone.

It doesn’t take much to figure out the reason for all this: money.

The point is that you really have to be careful what messages you are sending your customers, intentionally and unintentionally.

The line might as well have said “No sharing please due to the fact that we won’t be able to squeeze out as much money per person if you do.” It had the same effect.

At least they said “please”.

The J.O.A.T. Theory

Published
by
Matt
on Sep 14, 2007
in Advertising, Communication and New Marketing
. Comments

In the sci-fi movie The Matrix (one of my favorites), there is a scene where a main character, Trinity, needs to quickly learn to pilot a helicopter. She relays the request to her operator, named Tank, who proceeds to “download” the necessary knowledge and expertise right into her brain.

Obviously we’re not there in terms of instant learning, but if you look at the fundamentals, we’re not that far off.

We probably won’t need to pilot a helicopter, but we might be looking for a good grilled salmon recipe or tips on SEO title tags. Our operator isn’t named Tank, it’s named Google, Yahoo! or MSN. And while we download the information too, it has to go through our computer screens before it gets to our brains.

We live in a world where it’s relatively easy to learn about almost anything. For example, on a whim, last night I learned how to brew beer start to finish. I wouldn’t consider myself an expert, a sentiment I’m sure I share with many others who learn things online, but I do have a working knowledge.

The point is that it’s incredibly easy to become a Jack Of All Trades (J.O.A.T) in today’s culture. And this has a huge impact on marketers. People no longer take things at face value. Fewer and fewer “just know that something works, not why it works”. And no longer, can you assume that you know more about your product or category than the people you’re selling to.

This leads to the follow assumption: Most (if not all) of your market is informed, knowledgeable, and skeptic. Act accordingly.

The Issue of Lingo

Published
by
Matt
on Aug 31, 2007
in Bad Marketing, Communication, Marketers and New Marketing
. Comments

Marketers have the good fortune of being in a discipline where it is completely acceptable to create new phrases or terms. Not only is it acceptable, sometimes it’s encouraged. If you want to be an expert on something, just make something up.

Try doing this in most other industries. I doubt you’ll get away with it. You can’t start calling a car cup holder a “vehicle dependent hot/cold beverage safety policy” or decide that you’re going to call a cheetah a “leopard 2.0 - now with speed boost!” - it just won’t work.

One of the biggest jobs of a marketing department is to create excitement and whip people into a frenzy about one thing or another. A lot of phrases that get invented are made just for that purpose. They’re like fireworks, fun to look at, impossible not to acknowledge, and easy to talk about (ooh..ahh), but once the show is over, there’s nothing left but smoke and empty sky.

However, there are a lot of great terms out there (Purple Cow, Long tail, Viral Marketing) that have taken hold in the marketing lexicon, and why is that?

Because these terms actually have meaning.

They’re connected to a concept or ideal that has substance, and that makes all the difference.

So next time before you coin a new phrase, think about how many times you’ve heard (or said) “I think that’s something that came out of the marketing department” or “That’s probably just a new marketing term for _____” and really decide if it’s necessary. Marketing is already cluttered and convoluted as it is. I guess if you’re not part of the solution, then you’re part of the problem.

A Revolution? Be a DIY Editor-in-Chief

Published
by
Matt
on Aug 9, 2007
in Advertising, Analysis, Blogging, Communication and New Marketing
. Comments

“Revolutionary” is a word that gets thrown around a lot, so you’ll understand my hesitation in using it. However, something is happening now that just might fundamentally change the way people get a lot of their information.

Every morning, my Dad wakes up, grabs his coffee and spends about half an hour reading the newspaper before work. The Editor-in-Chief (EIC) of the Philadelphia Inquirer, has decided what might be important/of interest to my father. And not only my father, but most of the newspaper readers in the greater Philadelphia area.

Every morning, I also wake up and grab my coffee, but instead of paging through the newspaper, I fire up my laptop and spend 30-45 minutes going through the new posts in my RSS reader. And who decided that these stories/posts would be important or interesting to me? I did. I didn’t have to worry about the greater Philadelphia area. I didn’t even have to worry about the rest of my family. Just me. I’m my own Editor-in-Chief.

This could be a revolutionary change. No longer do you have to let someone else decide what matters to you, now you control what information you recieve. Love the NY Times’ book reviews, USA Today’s entertainment news, and the Wall Street Journal’s economy reports? No problem. As DIY-EIC you can create your own media outlet.

The impact of this on marketing is huge. As people become more selective, they might not be interested in the entire paper anymore, but the segmented content that matters to them. Pretty soon, RSS feed advertising will become a more efficient and effective way of reaching people compared to traditional media outlets. As the feeds become more segmented, targeting audiences will become easier, for example the NY Times already has 67 individual feeds.

If you’re trying to stay ahead of the game, then you can’t ignore the power of RSS and the growing number of DIY-EICs. After all, if you don’t understand the way that people are interacting with their media, then how can you expect to reach them?

Attention MySpace - You are hideous.

Published
by
Matt
on Jul 9, 2007
in Communication, New Marketing, Web 2.0 and Web Sites
. Comments

I must have missed the boat on MySpace.

I know the network is huge, but it’s full of spam, fake friend invites, and bad ads. Plus it’s really, really ugly. If you’re an organization trying to establish a consistent brand or image, there are much better options when it comes to social networking. To illustrate this point, Let’s look at two key factors in social networks and some MySpace alternatives.

Building a Brand
If you’re looking for a cool way to present your brand, AND connect with people, look no further than Virb. (www.virb.com). Virb is a new network with a clean, easy interface that’s extremely customizable. If you want to see some of the possibilities for Virb profile pages, check out Naive Clothing on Virb, or the page for designer/artist Garrett Miller (also awsome - Adam Morse). Compare them to one of the better MySpace pages I’ve seen - Nixon Watches.

Establishing A Network
If you’re looking to connect with a large number of people in the most meaningful way, Facebook (www.facebook.com) is the way to go. What started as a networking site for college kids (I’m a 3 year veteran, so if you have any questions feel free to ask) has now opened it’s doors, and it’s API, to everyone. Facebook’s interface and GUI are much cleaner than MySpace and the ads are much less obtrusive. Now that the API is open, applications are starting to emerge that expand Facebooks functionality to equal or surpass MySpace.

ASAP

Published
by
Matt
on Jul 5, 2007
in Blogging, Communication, Interaction Marketing and Marketers
. Comments

At this writing, over 25,000 people subscribe to Darren Rowse at Problogger.net. According to Technorati, Seth Godin’s blog is the 12th most popular on the internet. They are web-celebrities. The rock stars of our age. Yet when you write them an email, not only do they write back, but usually within half a day. They must get hundreds or thousands of emails a day, yet I get responses quicker than when I email most of my friends.

If someone cares about you/your company/your blog enough to write you an email, then you should care enough to write them back as quickly as possible.

To end this with a question to all of you: How accessible/responsive are you? How long does it take you to respond to the average email? Do you treat business letters different than fan mail/comments?

Ways to Connect with ANM

Published
by
Matt
on Jul 3, 2007
in Communication and New Marketing
. Comments

Since this blog started (about 4 months and 38 posts ago) it’s come a long way. Hopefully you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing. It’s been an interesting, and trying, journey thus far, and I’m excited to see what the future holds. That being said, I thought I’d take a minute to outline the ways that you can connect with ANM, because marketing is as much an art as it is a science, and any feedback or input is always appriciated.

(NEW!) The Email Feed
As you can see on the left side of the page, I’ve recently opened up email subscriptions for the site. If you’re interested in keeping up with ANM, but don’t want to use the regular RSS feed, then just type your email address in the box and follow the instructions from there. (Don’t forget to verify your subscription!)

The RSS Feed
The trusty standard RSS feed. You can subscribe with any RSS reader by clicking the big orange RSS logo to the left, or by clicking here - A New Marketing RSS Feed.

Comments
As I said before, marketing thrives on interaction. So if you see something you disagree with - Let me know. Or if you have something to add to the discussion - Go for it. It’s easy, fun, doesn’t require registration, and contains no Trans-Fats!

Contact Me
I’d love to hear from you. If there’s something you’d like to discuss, a question you have for me, or if you just want to say hi, feel free to email me at MattJMcD@gmail.com

Avoid A Malcommunication

Published
by
Matt
on Jun 25, 2007
in Communication and Marketers
. Comments

If a miscommunication is a wrong message, than a malcommunication is a bad message. Use these conversational tips to avoid them in the future.

– Write to be said not read - This is pretty simple. When you read something, you’re basically saying it in your head. So write things that sound good, not just look good. The best way to get better at this is to think conversation not corporate when putting something together. That doesn’t mean avoid a professional tone, just don’t write something that always sounds like a press release.

– Their voice, not yours - When people read something, they hear their own voice reading it. So no matter how eloquent you think you sound reading what you wrote, it doesn’t make a difference in the end.

– Be Spartan - People have much less time today. So why is everything still so verbose? If you can get to the point in a few sentences - do it. Fluff was okay in high school, but it’s not okay for ANY business communications. Bold and bullet points are your friends.

–Please, Readers..Be Personal - Write as if you’re really writing to somebody. If you’re writing a press release or something that doesn’t have a direct or single recipient, this is a little more difficult, but that shouldn’t stop you from injecting some of your own personality into whatever you’re working on. If you are writing to someone, then write to them! Personal communication shouldn’t sound like a scripted infomercial.