Twitter co-founder takes aim at mobile payments

Dorsey, who was Twitter’s CEO until October 2008 and remains the social network’s chairman, said he came up with the idea for Square nearly a year ago with Jim McKelvey, a glass artist who was frustrated after losing out on a $2,000 sale because he was unable to accept a credit card from a customer.

The two started brainstorming about how businesses and individuals could quickly start accepting credit, debit and prepaid cards over the iPhone and other small electronics, and came up with the idea for a credit card reader that connects to a cell phone.

Eventually, McKelvey and a group of engineers decided they should build a gizmo that hooks up to a standard audio jack, which is common on all sorts of consumer electronics from iPhones to BlackBerrys to laptops.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Twitter-cofounder-takes-aim-apf-1023305012.html?x=0&.v=1

[Via http://lanle.wordpress.com]

5 things AT&T should do to save its iPhone business

Apple's iPhone + AT&T

Over the past month AT&T has struggled to maintain its reputation with current iPhone users. First, we heard that the company might start charging users based on their data usage in an attempt to minimize the massive amounts of data that iPhone users are prone to sharing. Then Verizon went to battle with AT&T by revealing the massive holes in the company’s 3G coverage. And in the last couple days, we saw AT&T suddenly stop selling iPhones to New York customers only to turn around and start selling them again the next day. Clearly, the company is on the defensive and it should take measures to solve these issues as soon as possible.

AT&T wanted the iPhone and it got it. Now, the company is scrambling to figure out how do actually accommodate its users. Here are five meaningful things the company can do to solve this issue:

1. Sincerely apologize and promise to treat your iPhone users well. This isn’t rocket science. You wanted the iPhone and all the business that was going to come with it. Apple gave you a gift, one that has allowed you to dominate the smart phone service provider business. It was a great move; however, since you got the business you’ve been slow to innovate and have done little to treat this precious market in a way they deserve to be treated.

   It is time to make amends and you had better do it before someone else does. Instead of making another television ad that brags about your less-than great 3G coverage, make an ad with where your CEO or iPhone team goes on air and apologizes for their past performance and then layout your plans to take you iPhone service to an all new level.

2. Expand your 3G coverage and upgrade to 4G: Verizon’s got you beat when it comes to 3G coverage. I have experienced your lackluster coverage first hand. If I leave Salt Lake City, you coverage becomes spotty and downright unreliable. It’s time to invest and add the towers you need to make sure your coverage is up to par with your competitors. While in the process, why not set a goal to offer 4G coverage as soon as possible?
3. Take a lesson from Zappos. Of all the cellular service providers, you rate the lowest in consumer satisfaction. Now’s the time to look outside the cell phone industry and learn how to provide the world’s best cell service. Take a look at every point of contact with your consumers, from the kiosks in the malls to your website, and identify ways to “wow” your customers every step of the way. Find ways to make your service easy to sign up for (not the easiest thing in the world if you are switching from another provider) and even easier to use after they have signed up. Make “solving customer problems” your number one priority. No one is better than Zappos when it comes to customer service. Take a look at them for starters.
4. Offer something for free. A while back, you launched your first app, a turn-by-turn GPS service. Instead of trying to find ways to milk your iPhone customers for every cent they are worth, why not build loyalty by offering them several key and useful apps they they really need. Free GPS would be a great way to start. But don’t stop there. Look at what apps are the most useful and needed by your customers and then figure out a way to create and offer them free of charge.

   Remember tethering? You have held up this service for some time now. It’s time to allow this to happen and it would be an excellent time to offer this free of charge to your loyal iPhone users.
   
   

5. Let your customers leave for free. Gone are the days when you can punish customers who don’t like your service. Put your business, service and technology to the test by allowing your customers to leave if they are unhappy and do it free of charge. Sure, you might argue that you have made an investment in your customers by subsidizing the cost of their phones. That is completely true; however, that is the business model you built. It’s not too late to change course.

   What do you have to worry about? A lot in the initial stages; however, if you are able to offer the world’s best service on the world’s best smartphone, you should not have much trouble with this one.

You have been given a gift. Apple selected you as the provider of choice for the iPhone. Luckily for you, Apple has held up their end of the bargain by continuing to push the envelope on the technology side. It’s time to match the world’s best phone with the world’s best service. The game is yours to win or lose.

[Via http://jwsokol.wordpress.com]

The Top Five Reason Clients Select “Therapy Online” vs. Seeing a Therapist “In Office”

Since March of 2000, (www.eTherapistsOnline.com) we have been

Online Therapy

providing to the public a pool of well qualified clinicians; mental health professionals who have at least 10 years post graduate experience, provided 6 personal and professional references that attest to their qualifications, “exhibited strong professional skills including a personal interview with a top clinician and management of our company, and in general have made it though the most rigorous screening process of any online therapy site we know of.

It has been extraordinarily rewarding to watch our “experiment” in online therapy grow at a rate we’d never dreamed would happen to where we are now one of the oldest, most established and most publicized online therapy sites online today.

We have conducted a few surveys with our clients over the years, but our most recent one is the one I find most interesting, at least right now. We asked our clients what were the top five reasons they shoes online therapy over seeing someone in office and feel the results are so interesting we wanted to share them with you.

Our research was informal and consistent only of a follow up email to 200 past clients who had purchased a session for the first time within the last 6 months asking them to share with us the top 5 reasons for selecting online therapy.

The results are as follows:

# 5:  Availability — People cited that the therapist they wanted to see was available within the next 2 – 5 days as a reason for seeing someone online. Their comments indicated that this window of time, 2 – 5 days was extremely important and they felt that contact with a professional was more important than where the contact took place.

#4:  Ease of Use — respondents cited the ease of use of the site as the 4th top reason to select online therapy vs. in office therapy.  A frequent remark was that there was little effort to “sell” them on this form of therapy which they liked “Lack of pressure to buy” something was a typical response from respondents.

#3:  Price– The cost of sessions was reason number three given. They thought the range of prices from ($39.95 for 1 email to $85 for 1 60 minute chat or phone) was affordable enough to see if this would be a helpful way of “seeing “ someone and over 72% said they purchased an additional session even though we did not ask for this information.

#2:  Intake Process – While many people complained that the intake process was long, they also felt reassurance that this was “a legitimate” site; “real professionals” and “ethical licensed professionals” if they were asking this much detailed information beforehand.  Credibility, while not using that term, seemed to be the reason they were identifying.

#1:  Skill level of the professional – We post an extensive biography of each therapist on the site and the fact that qualifications was cited was not surprising to us, al thought it was surprising that it was the number one reason.  Because most of our professionals have at least 15 – 20 years post graduate experience and they write well (as demonstrated in their bio) seems to be an important indicator for those seeking therapy. This lends support to my belief that clients who seek therapy online tend to be more professional, highly educated group of people who are looking for convenience and quality in making a decision about what type of service to purchase online and where to make that purchase.

It was a fascinating experience to review the clients’ comments. While we do not have any plans now for future surveys, we will be conducting some as we go on. We do not present this in any way as an attempt at a “scientific study “so we will not respond (mostly for time’s sake) comments critical of the methodology we used.  Our goal here is simply to share information we found interesting. All comments and suggestions are welcome.

Visit us online for online therapy here

[Via http://privatepracticemarketing.wordpress.com]

Tattooink.tv Sponsor of the Singapore Tattoo Show 2010

Tattooink.tv

=====

Flash your Tats at the Singapore Tattoo Show 2010 and you could be one of the many FACES in the coverage of the Singapore Tattoo Show by Tattooink.tv. Have a global audience admire your pride and joy tattoo/s – see you at the show.

Contact: Tattooink.tv

Call: +61 2 83070860

Facebook:

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Postal

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Sydney NSW 2002

Australia

Website: http://tattooink.tv

Singapore Tattoo Show Tat2 2010 – Jan 8 to 10 Singapore Expo

Join us till then on Facebook – http://facebook.com/tattoopride

[Via http://aplink.wordpress.com]

Life Coach's Are Rats (by Rick London c2009) Sung to Al Stewart's “Year Of The Cat”

For my  DF/Love Lee Hiller

Good Kitty

On the morning of a life coach program the entrance fee is free,

The jest of the speech is material accumulation and a myriad of slime,

At the end of the program $5000 packaged programs and you’re sorry,

Feeling an accessory to a crime.

She comes out from backstage with fake Rolex so stunning,

Thinking the audience has no brains,

Then she wonders why on Twitter that she shunned,

She’ll mutter something about Newton’s inertia reference frame,

But she smells like a rat.

She only has a sec for questions,

And prefers Mastercard or bank transfers,

She counts on you to be dense with no direction,

Till your bank balance disappears.

You later find better advice on public bathroom stalls,

And you realize like so many others you’ve been screwed,

The BS was so thick you could cut it with a knife,

So you sip another brew,

Cheers to the year of the rat.

Well she counts her cash so cruely,

Smiling like another Macy’s shopping spree,

Your migraine now is grueling,

So you tweet her, but her only answer is snide,

I can’t help being a rat.

Well the morning comes and you’d like to believe her,

But the bozos on that bus are gone.

You’d like to form a group and start a line of pickets,

But the life coach took all their funds.

Lots Are Becoming Life Coaches Yes Even Danny Bonaduci

You try to think back at a filthier stain,

But the life coach leaves a permanent decay,

Repackaged ancient wisdom is the game she lives for.

They make Michael Madoff seem okay,

To a life coach you’re a doormat.

————————————————————————————————————–

Rick London is a writer, designer and cartoonist. He founded and creates Londons Times Cartoons, the nets #1 ranked offbeat cartoon. He launched Shoes That Amuse, the world’s only famous love quote shoes which have been featured in media worldwide. He has written over 650 published magazine articles and is brand designer for Mariel Hemingway Healthy Gifts.  His funny gift stores contain over 70,000 funny tees funny mugsand other funny gifts such as LT Superstore and Rick London Collection.

[Via http://ricklondonmusic.wordpress.com]

City of Mississauga :: Marketing Consultant, New Media 142700

Job Type: Full Time 

Location: Civic Centre, City Of Mississauga, ON, CANADA; 

Job Category: Marketing 

Industry: Government 

Year(s) of Experience: 3 

Number Of Positions: 1 

Date Posted: Dec 22, 2009  

  

Mississauga is Canada’s sixth largest city with a population of more than 700,000. With well-established infrastructure and state-of-the-art facilities, the City is considered to be an employer of choice, delivering quality municipal programs and services to its citizens. Mississauga is a dynamic, diverse and progressive municipality, known for its economic strength and for being Canada’s safest city.

CORPORATE SERVICES DEPARTMENT

COMMUNICATIONS DIVISION

CORPORATE MARKETING/PROMOTIONS SECTION

requires a

MARKETING CONSULTANT, NEW MEDIA

Job Specifications:

Post secondary education in Marketing, Web Design, Information Technology, Graphic Arts, or Communications along with a minimum of 3 years progressive experience in the development and management of a large corporate Web site or equivalent combination of appropriate education and experience. Experience in all aspects of the web development lifecycle including: analysis, specification building, design and development, coding, QA testing, promotion and maintenance. Proficient in web design and development software including advanced experience using Dreamweaver, Photoshop, ImageReady and Flash. Must be highly skilled in hand coding HTML, JavaScript, Cascading Style Sheets and Action script. Demonstrated proficiency in user interface design principles and standard web design and development methodologies. Demonstrated proficiency in the development and integration of dynamic content such as Flash, video and audio content within web sites. Experience and proficiency in the development of dynamic multi-media presentations using PowerPoint, Flash and Apple Keynote. Experience with Content Management Systems (creating and deploying content). E-marketing tactical experience, including creative development that supports a broader marketing plan. Excellent oral and written communication skills. A task-orientated approach to projects and the ability to perform duties requiring independent judgment, analytical skills and initiative. Demonstrated commitment to professional development, including a track record of remaining current with emerging web technologies. Ability to work well under pressure and within strict deadlines. Strong problem solving skills and attention to detail.

Primary Responsibilities:

Under the direction of the Manager, Corporate Marketing and Promotions, the successful candidate will be responsible for coordinating and completing assigned Web page maintenance tasks and supporting the design and implementation of various web development and multi-media projects. Completion of these duties will require, but not be limited to creating, managing and integrating web pages into eCity and Inside Mississauga. Supporting the development and integration of multi-media content such as flash and video on to City Web pages. Developing and implementing dynamic and user-focused web content (both internal and external) for Communications division supported projects. Providing support and consultation to the Communications Team with implementing web-based projects. Partnering with Creative Services to develop dynamic multi-media presentations utilizing PowerPoint, Flash and Apple Keynote for high-profile and strategically important initiatives. Prioritizing and responding to web page maintenance requests from Communications staff based on defined priorities and workload demands. Partnering with Creative Services and Information Technology to advise, build and execute web site development plans based on project needs and goals. Participating in section and divisional work teams and projects as required. Assisting with the ongoing evaluation of web sites and other web services by producing quantitative performance measures. Maintaining an awareness of current trends and technology in related fields. Performing other related duties as assigned.

Salary range: $50,947 – $67,929

A Criminal Record Search will be required of the successful candidate, at their own expense, to verify the absence of a criminal record for which a pardon has not been granted.

We thank all who apply, however, only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.  All personal information is collected under the authority of the municipal Act.  We are an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Please note that once you have submitted your resume an on-line a questionnaire will appear on screen and must be completed in order to be considered for this position.

 

Click here to apply.

[Via http://gerarddolan.wordpress.com]

Top, Best, Monthly, Yearly, affordable, online, on page, off page, search engine optimization company, google search engine, marketing, seo, search engine optimization placement, web marketing strategy, independent, web 2 marketing, marketing to

Title: Top, Best, Monthly, Yearly, affordable, online, on page, off page, search engine optimization company,  google search engine, marketing, seo, search engine optimization placement, web marketing strategy, independent, web 2 marketing, marketing to the social web, For USA, India, Cambodia, China, France, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States – IT Live Web web site marketing Company www.itliveweb.com

Keyword: Top, Best, Monthly, Yearly, affordable, online, on page, off page, search engine optimization company,  google search engine, marketing, seo, search engine optimization placement, web marketing strategy, independent, web 2 marketing, marketing to the social web, For USA, India, Cambodia, China, France, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

www.itliveweb.com is top and best search engine Optimization Company for USA, India, Cambodia, China, France, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States. We work online on page and off page seo for google search engine. We work for web 2 marketing and marketing to the social web. We are affordable for all type of website, Magento, oscommerce, joomla, ecommerce. We gives monthly and yearly feature to our clients. www.itliveweb.com Online Marketing company allows Our clients to promote The website and services online at a affordable cost than traditional advertising such as yellow pages. ITLiveWeb helps you grow your business and gives traffic because We provide qualified leads from potential customers who are looking for your products and services.

[Via http://minervasoft.wordpress.com]

Leadership, Obama Style: Pretty Speeches, Compromised Values, and the Quest for the Lowest Common Denominator | Drew Weston, PhD

Somehow the president has managed to turn a base of new and progressive voters he himself energized like no one else could in 2008 into the likely stay-at-home voters of 2010, souring an entire generation of young people to the political process.

Meet the new boss…same as the old boss…

Read Article.

[Via http://wbpllc.wordpress.com]

Avatar

Cel mai asteptat film al anului, Avatar, regizat de James Cameron, a inregistrat in ziua lansarii (vineri 18 dec) incasari de peste 27 de milioane de dolari. Desi ninsorile puternice din acest week-end din America ameninta veniturile filmului, analistii se asteapta ca ele sa depaseasca suma de 80 de milioane de dolari.

Avatar este considerat unul dintre cele mai scumpe filme din istoria cinematografiei, cu un buget de peste 230 de milioane de dolari.

In ziua lansarii, pretul actiunilor News Corp. (gigantul care s-a ocupat de producerea filmului) a crescut cu 13 centi, ajungand la un pret de 13.35 $. De altfel aceste actiuni in 2009 au cunoscut o crestere de peste 49%.

———————————-

Eu nu am reusit sa vad filmul, pentru ca efectiv nu am reusit sa fac niciun fel de rezervare (nici eu, nici prietenii mei) – biletele au fost epuizate in cateva minute de la afisarea programului. Si sincer, intr-un fel parca nici nu vreau.

Ma simt sufocat de marketing-ul agresiv al acestui film. Oriunde ma intorc, aud pe cineva spunand ca de abia asteapta sa vada acest film si ca e filmul care va revolutiona cinematografia. Spun ca nu as vrea sa-l vad pentru ca, datorita acestui marketing subconstientul meu ridica asteptarea mea pentru acest film la un nivel foarte ridicat, si nu vreau sa fiu dezamagit. De multe ori acesta este si motivul pentru care nu imi place sa urmaresc diferite trailere.

Acum sper sa nu fie si cazul acestui film. O sa revin cu un comentariu dupa ce reusesc sa-l vad.

[Via http://mihaifiler.wordpress.com]

Marketing Jackass

What would the biggest challenge be for an aspiring marketer in the 21st century? Well to me the biggest challenge would be marketing to the generation of what we loosely call…. Jackasses!

Feeling confused, stereotyped, offended? Don’t be! The moral deterioration of future generations is inevitable. It says so in our religious scriptures; we are nothing but this humankind of constant moral dilution, slowly moving towards apocalypse! As a smart marketer, you have to stop whining and accept that fact, or else you would be a failure! This rampant generation of Jackasses is perhaps the most important segment for many consumer goods. Look at some of the top brands in the world – Levis, Axe Deodorant, Fast Track and all their ‘disciple’ competitor brand; they all target the same generation! There are video games where kids learn to beat up old people! Want a broader look into this…why not! Look at how the villain characters of the movies over the years have evolved – the deceitful third wheel in a love triangle in the 60s to mad scientists in the 80s to mafia drug lords and bank robbers in the 90s to ferocious vampires with symptoms of necrophilia that we see today.

Don’t you see a trend here? Our moral state has deteriorated over the years at such a rate that movie makers realized they have to lower the bar further more to establish the concept of ‘bad’ to new generation viewers. So be smart; accept the jackass-generation rather than denying their existence. Who knows, may be a future successful tagline for a cigarette brand can be: “Cigarette is bad, but drugs are worse! So be smart and choose slow death over fast death….choose XYZ cigarette today!” Marketing as a career doesn’t look that hot now, does it?

[Via http://tabletmedia.wordpress.com]

Create the new NYC condom

“Mach’s mit!” sagen die Deutschen. “Get some!” die New Yorker. Gemeint ist dasselbe: Matratzensport mit Schienbeinschoner. Problem: Wie bringe ich die Regeln auf den Bolzplatz ohne gleich als lebendige Torwand zu enden?

Während die deutschen Werber nach den spannendsten Liebesorten fragen hat die New Yorker Kreativ-Elite zum Design-Wettbewerb aufgerufen. “Design the next NYC condom wrapper” heißt die Kampagne, die ihre Zielgruppe dazu aufruft eine speziell auf New York zugeschnittene Kondom-Verpackung zu entwerfen. Auf beiden Seiten des Atlantiks setzt man also ganz modern auf “user generated content.” Gute Nachrichten für die Gilde der deutschen Kastenbrillenträger. Wir sind dran an den Innovationspächtern aus Übersee.

Fast. Denn in einer Facette ist die NYC Kampagne dann doch durchdachter. Sowohl in den Fernsehspots als auch in der gesamten Printkommunikation sprechen die New Yorker ihre Zielgruppe sehr individuell an. So gibt es Motive für jeden unterschiedlichen Distrikt, damit wirklich niemand sagen kann er hätte sich nicht angesprochen gefühlt. Gut gemacht.

Na dann, let’s get some and then just do it – aber das war ja wieder was anderes.

Natürlich ist die Kampagne auch standesgemäß bei Facebook integriert. Click and enjoy.

[Via http://newyankeediary.wordpress.com]

Dieting Advice - The Day Off Diet Review

The Day Off Diet is quickly becoming one of the most popular diet programs available for instant download online and unlike more expensive programs like Weight Watchers, which requires a monthly payment, The Day Off Diet is available instantly upon a one time purchase. The main reason that The Day Off Diet is becoming so popular is not the fact that it’s available for download instantly, nor is it the fact that it’s far more affordable than most dieting alternatives, nor is it even the fact that The Day Off Diet is essentially free for the first 60 days due to it’s 100% money back guarantee. No, the main reason it’s becoming such a popular choice for those who need to lose weight is that it’s far more effective than other diets.

The Main Reasons The Day Off Diet Is So Effective is…..

It’s Easy To Follow. Other programs like Weight Watchers requires you to count all of your calories, or programs such as Atkins which require you to count all of your carbs, The Day Off Diet’s ingenious “green light” food guidelines method means you never have to count anything when you’re on this diet. This makes it much easier to follow as counting calories, carbs, or fat makes your mind always on food, the last place it should be!

It Keeps The Metabolism Boosted. One of the biggest problems with low calorie diets is that they cause your body to go into “starvation mode” and this greatly slows down your metabolism and makes it much harder to lose weight and keep it off! The Day Off Diet solves this problem with it’s “day off” (every 7th day). This day off not only allows you to satisfy your cravings it also keeps your metabolism high so that you lose weight faster than on other diets!

It Turns Off The Fat Storing Gene. The “green light” food guidelines are not only easy to follow they are also going to cause your body to turn off the “fat storing gene”. Scientists now believe that some foods cause the body to turn on the “fat storing gene”. The Day Off Diet will help you to avoid those foods so that your fat storing gene is turned off and you lose weight faster!

It Allows Dieters To Satisfy Their Cravings. The weekly “day off” not only keeps the metabolism boosted for faster weight loss it also is essential to the diet’s success psychologically. By having a “day off” to eat anything you want every 7th day, it keeps dieters from “cheating” on the other days of the week. Satisfy your cravings every Saturday so you can stick with the diet the other 6 days of the week!

Also The Day Off Diet e-book comes with a bundle of valuable bonuses, including Day Off Diet Cookbook, Loose Skin Report, Strength Training Program, members only website, and more

http://alturl.com/a8ct

[Via http://reviewlastestdiets.wordpress.com]

From feature to benefit

Product creators love features – consumers buy benefits!

How many times have you heard or read an ad that was a list of features? Heaps of times probably, especially in the car industry. You know the stuff… ABS, dual airbags, leading edge technology, multiplex electrics and the like.

So why are benefits better selling points that features?

Benefits tell the potential customer the answer to the question that all consumers want answered – “What’s in it for me?”. So instead of listing features a better advertisement would translate those features into benefits. For example: … comes with the protection of dual air bags and an Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) that improves road holding and steering by regulating the braking pressure to avoid wheel lock.

How to turn a feature into a benefit

The clue was in the last paragraph. We need to answer the question “What’s in it for me?”. So next time you’re trying to work out what benefits your product offers you can use the following formula - this feature means that… = benefit

I’ll give you some examples:

• multiplex electrics means that there are fewer wires and connections so it’s easier to service and maintain
• leading edge technology means the best, most up-to-date, most efficient technology
• 6 bedroom house means this is a family home with plenty of room for all the kids and then some
• dual processor means it will process information faster allowing you to work more efficiently

Do you get the picture?

So next time you hire an ad writer, or write one yourself, make sure talk about benefits not features.

[Via http://thecopywriteronline.com]

Advertising - what works?

This is a perennial question and one I wrote one of my free articles on. I think it ’s a message that bears repeating so here goes…

Do “clever” advertisements really sell? Can you remember what the ad was for, or which brand? The answer is often “No!”.

Don’t sacrifice clarity for cleverness

It’s good if an advertisement can make you laugh but that shouldn’t be it’s main purpose. Certainly ads that make people laugh have engaged their audience but if they don’t follow through strongly enough then people don’t remember which brand or, sometimes, even what type of product the ad was selling!

So whether you’re engaging a copywriter or an ad agency, or you’re going to write your ads yourself don’t be tricked into thinking that “clever is best”; it isn’t, “clear is best”.

Cleverness wins awards for agencies

Ad agencies love “clever”, quirky ads because they are good contenders for creative awards but how successfully do they sell? Sometimes, spectacularly well, but many times poorly. Make sure your promotional dollars are targeted at selling your product or service and not at enhancing your agency’s PR efforts.

What makes a successful campaign?

We have more than 20 years experience in the advertising, marketing and PR business and can write clear, attractive copy that will sell your product or service. But if you want to do it yourself then you need some rules to follow:

• Know who your audience is
• Understand what pushes their buttons
• See your product or service through their eyes
• List the features and turn them into benefits (for more on this look out for my next post)
• Write clear copy that catches their interest and explains the benefits

Ads are just one step in the selling process

A successful ad campaign is the result of preparation, research and testing and it doesn’t have to be expensive. Contact The Copywriter Online to discuss your advertising needs or read our article “How to improve your advertising, save money and get better results”.

[Via http://thecopywriteronline.com]

Where’s the Nook In B&N’s “This Week”?

If Barnes and Noble has your email (and your spam protection isn’t very aggressive), then you most likely get Barnes & Noble “This Week” newsletter delivered to your inbox every seven days. My most recent edition of This Week had most of what I would expect in a holiday season issue– new products, sale items and gift ideas.

One thing that was conspicuously absent, however, was any mention of e-books or the Nook e-reader device. Instead, the email showcased pretty much everything but the much-hyped Nook. Why this might be I’ll get to later, but I find it interesting to take a look first at what B&N is marketing.

In-store events: Apparently, a Bob McGrath Christmas Sing-Along is taking place at my local brick and mortar B&N. Goody. I’ll give B&N credit for dutifully tracking down my current location, as I’m pretty sure my billing address as listed with them is at least six months out of date and roughly 200 miles away from where I sit now. Anyway, it is certainly fascinating that the first thing B&N throws at me is an in-store event. The bookseller seems to be stuck vacillating between marketing its digital prowess and the in-store experience, when it would probably be better off finding out how to leverage the strengths of both aspects of their business and then marketing the heck out of whatever that resulting product may be. Also curious–it is only when I click on the “see more events” link under the in-store events that I learn my location is one of the chosen ones that offers in-store demos of the Nook.

The main attraction: Deals on gift books! That’s right—good old fashioned, dead tree coffee table books. Maybe I am reading too much into this, but it is very interesting that B&N would push what is perhaps the type of book LEAST adaptable to any sort of e-reader: the big, shiny statement piece. Ansel Adams in Color, an example advertised in the email, is of little use on a black and white e-ink screen.

The remainder of the newsletter promotes products and services like in-store pickup of online orders, Harry Potter 6 DVDs and Beatles CDs.

DVDs and CDs for the holidays? This seems so 2003. Where are the Nooks? Why is the e-book store not even mentioned?

For one, it nearly impossible to “gift” an e-book. Second, the Nook has been sold out for the year for weeks, so B&N probably doesn’t want to bother wasting space and time on a product that has its own nice publicity buzz going for it already. Third, the e-mail reminds customers of the warm and fuzzy aspects of books and bookstores. Now I know that I can go into my local B&N this week to catch some free Christmas carols and browse some discounted coffee table books.

Still, this is the first piece of marketing material I’ve seen from B&N in quite some time that doesn’t mention an e-anything. Is B&N backing off of pushing their e-products because of demand backup? Maybe, but it seems more likely that B&N is taking a more holistic approach to marketing for the rest of the holiday season.

[Via http://meredithmazzilli.wordpress.com]

Should PR People be Part of the Story?

Back in the days when publicists plotted from behind the scenes: Uber-flack Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) with columnist J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster) in ”The Sweet Smell of Success.”    My first exposure to public relations came not in an agency but on the client side. I wasn’t in an official PR role but was working as an executive assistant to designer Donna Karan right at the time when her company was exploding in size and visibility. Donna was besieged with press requests from all corners of the globe 24/7. As keepers of her calendar, it was our job to coordinate all interviews with her communications team, a task of insane complexity and relentless pace. I learned a lot during that time, namely that I did not want to pursue a career in fashion PR. I’m no stranger to crazy, but fashion PR is crazy crazy. At the helm of this insanity was Donna’s head of corporate communications, Patti Cohen. Patti was — and still is, I’m sure — a whirlwind of frenetic energy with bright red hair and swags of black cashmere wrapped around her tiny frame regardless of the season. I’d sit in her office discussing calendar details while she juggled a phone on one shoulder, whipped through the master calendar (paper!) looking for 15-minute increments of Donna’s day to dole out to WWD and Vogue like a mama bird feeding her babies…all the while chomping on raw sunflower seeds she kept in a big glass bowl on her desk, right next to the towering arrangement of Casablanca lilies and a mason jar full of impeccably sharpened black pencils.

 

The wall behind Patti’s desk was covered floor-to-ceiling with Donna’s press hits. For all I know Patti started tacking them up there when Donna first started the company and never stopped — by the early 90s, when I was there, several layers of magazine articles and photos and newspaper clippings had already accumulated. It was a gorgeous pastiche, and I’d pore over it whenever Patti got wrapped up in a call and forgot I was sitting in front of her.  One day I asked Patti why she wasn’t in any of the photos to which she replied, “A good publicist is never in the picture.”

 

That stayed with me for years. Not only did I put it into practice, sidestepping photos with clients at public events whenever I could, I also passed it along to the many young publicists I went on the manage at other companies. Somewhere along the line, Patti’s advice morphed into this:

“A good publicist is never part of the story.”

Except now…we are. Or at least, we can be. Sarah Evans talked about this during a panel discussion I moderated recently on how Twitter has changed journalism and PR, and one of the points she made was how boundaries have blurred among PR,  journalist and blogger roles. There are journalists who blog, bloggers who do PR consulting, PR people who blog… It is in fact quite possible for PR people to participate in on-line conversations about their client through blogging, micro-blogging, status updates, photo sharing, and so on.

So all due respect to Patti, I believe it’s okay for the publicist to be part of the story, or at least the conversation. I do it, but only with disclosure. I’ll tell you if I’m blogging or tweeting about a client, and it’ll be an honest reflection of my feelings.   For example:

I started taking pictures recently at the client events I attend. I’ve got the Droid megapixels, why not? There was a time when those pictures would only have been shared internally at the agency but now, why not share publicly? Especially when apps like Whrrl make it so easy.  Here’s how I captured the action at a client’s launch event last week:

So what do you think? I’d love to hear from other communications professionals on how they’re handling the transition from being behind the conversation to participating in the conversation about their clients and brands.

[Via http://ssmirnov.wordpress.com]

Overweight girls feel more lonely and anxious than their normal-weight peers, as early as kindergarten age.

How to help parents educate their children about healthy weight, healthy foods and eating habits, and a healthy lifestyle is not something many adults have experience in doing. Believe me, as a single working parent of two children for the past 14 years it has been difficult to manage the nutritional content of what my children eat. Advertising targeted at children and convenience to parents send messages of “good for you” and “healthier than” can often be taken as truthful, especially in the busy lives that we lead. 

I have always been conscientious about mine and my family’s health, and I believe that all parents are concerned about their children’s nutrition and the foods that they eat.  We can all do better by our children with a few simple changes to increasing physical activity and improving the family’s overall eating habits, including the choice of food products that are that are quick, tasty, low cost and good for our kids.

No parent wants their child to have poor nutrition, poor health or to be overweight.  However, the tens of thousands of research studies on the physical health effects and the social effects on children who are overweight and obese indicate the predicament that we, as parents, are putting our children in everyday with the foods we buy and feed our children. Not only are we unintentionally and unknowingly hurting their health, we are hurting their emotional and psychological well being.

As reported in a recent study conducted by Dr. Sara Gable of the University of Missouri in Columbia, children who are overweight perceive themselves as having worse interpersonal skills, lower social standing, and worse peer relationships than children who are not overweight. Overweight children also exhibit more internalizing behaviors, such as social withdrawal or depression. And for both boys and girls who are persistently overweight from kindergarten through third grade, these feelings of depression, anxiety and loneliness get worse over time.

The negative impact of being overweight most acutely affects young girls, who are viewed less favorably than other girls because of their weight.  Overweight girls have less positive social relations, display less self-control and act more out than girls who are not overweight, also reported in the study.

Appearance-based social pressure can be particularly brutal to children. In fact there have been an increasing number of reported cases of peer abuse against overweight children, from taunting to physical attacks. The self-esteem of children is fragile in any “normal” situation and can be destroyed when negative peer pressure and abuse is suffered. 

Obesity is a growing epidemic, as these stats confirm. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 13.9% of children aged 2 to 5 are overweight, 18.8% of those aged 6 to 11 are overweight, and more than 17% of those age 12 to 19 are overweight. Nearly 26 percent of U.S. adults are considered obese. In three states, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee, the rate has hit 30 percent.

Unhealthy lifestyles including high-calorie diets, poor exercise and hours spent in front of the television and computer screen have contributed to the surge in the number of children who are overweight and obese in the United States. A quick look at the food items on store shelves and in our own pantries will shed some light on the 37% increase in obesity rates and an 89% increase in spending on medical care for obesity-related diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and arthritis, between 1998 and 2006. Those statistics are increasing at alarming rates.

Our markets are filled with products which are not only devoid of nutritional content, but high in calories, chemical additives and preservatives. Americans are looking for products that are quick, tasty and low cost. The result of these demands have provided Americans with over-processed, high calorie, low quality foods to satisfy our grab-n-go, dollar menu, value meal mentality!  No matter what you do, food companies will continue to fill your kids’ world with junk food.

While the ultimate solution is fresh natural foods, the challenge for parents is bridging the gap between fresh natural foods and the fast food and snack products. We can replace the fast food and snacks our kids eat with great tasting scientifically designed nutritional food products that provide the same satisfaction as “junk” food while helping, not hurting, our kids.

Learn how you can help make it easier for your kids to be healthier, happier, and perform better as you begin to change your family’s nutrition habits for the better, with kid’s nutrition by design.

Contact me at:  d.adame@bellainvestmentholdingsllc.com or by phone at 832-683-9463

[Via http://bellainvestmentholdings.wordpress.com]

get me googled, SEO, Internet Marketingcolchester essex

Hi world, it’s time for our dynamic company led by Richard Saupe the genius behind the successful launch of the repairman academy. to show our new site off and receive comments and feed back.

The New Company get me googled.com is aimed at small to medium companies with a small budget currently whom would like to grow their reach geometrically and receive a greater amount of leads.

anyway check us out if you full into the sme or small business/entrepreneurship.

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richard saupe

07538538138

Ps its the time of the google, internet marketing strategies. SEO SERM SERP u name it we’ve probably heard it white hat black hat the cats hat my hat or cap LOL.

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PS we are currently working with some exciting new and dynamic companies! so if you are one and need some help come see us or call for a free consultation

[Via http://richardksaupe.wordpress.com]

The "Star" treatment from Continental Airlines

As a Houston resident, I can’t help but be exposed to the advertising and promotion of our home town airline, Continental Airlines.

Recently they went through a massive undertaking, of switching airline alliances from SkyTeam to the Star Alliance. Recently, I attended a recent Corporate Forum event, hosted by Continental, and learned more about the changeover – and it made me realize what a massive undertaking this was not only from an operations point of view – but also a marketing, communications and PR view.

It was a lot more than simply taking off the SkyTeam insignia that was emblazoned everywhere (web-site, lapel pins, stationary, decals on the airplanes, etc). As you listen to the staff, they’re excited, well educated and proud of the new alliance. And as frequent fliers, we should be excited about the expanded opportunity it presents us.

Continental invested in their staff…and re-educated them on their updated brand promise with Star.

While the process of changeover took 18 months (I believe) to plan – it was executed – OVERNIGHT with all SkyTeam visuals removed (Ugh – can you imagine!) This was the first time an airline had ever executed such a massive change.  We’re now seeing “Star Alliance” livery on several of the Continental Fleet!

From a marketing point of view, the Continental team is very savvy – I just love their play on word advertising campaigns – and their current “You’re about to receive the Star treatment” is genius. I recently came back from a trip to Tokyo – and all staff members, both on the ground and on-board were very excited about promoting the new alliance, and constantly used this phrase. LOL.

Continental took advantage of Twitter on the launch week, by asking users to tweet phrases such as “Get the Star Treatment from Continental” -  the promotion to tweet this – 2 round trip BusinessFirst Tickets…ummm yeah – I tweeted – but sadly didn’t win the tickets!

I now want to go on a ‘round the world’ trip – which is promoted on the star alliance web-site…and now, (because of the alliance) for the first time my Dad can fly from Aberdeen to Houston without having to have a separate ticket for the London to Aberdeen portion – hurray!

Congratulations Continental on an amazing branding achievement!!

[Via http://trevoreade.com]

CommunitiesDNA en la INDUSTRIA Magazine, de ASI

En Septiembre pasado, tuve la oportunidad de escribir un articulo para edicion de Octubre de la Revista INDUSTRIA de la Asociacion Salvadorena de Industriales.  A pesar de que estamos trabajando desde hace un tiempo con la Asociacion, y participamos en algunas actividades internas para los socios, realmente fue una sorpresa para mi, y accedi con todo gusto.

Les dejo aca un extracto del articulo en la revista:

Su Empresa en Web 2.0

La “Web 2.0 Conference” organizada por O’Reilly Media y MediaLive en octubre de 2004, catapultó uno de los términos más populares de la década. Sin embargo, Web 2.0 no se refiere a una actualización de especificaciones técnicas de internet, sino mas bien en un cambio trascendental en la forma en se genera y consume el contenido.

De pronto, palabras como wiki, podcast, blog, rss, videocast y otras, empezaron a aparecer en nuestros sitios favoritos [nuestras conversaciones], sumándose luego la avalancha de servicios como MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, Digg, Delicious, WordPress, Technorati, SecondLife y muchos, muchos otros.

La diferencia más notable entre la versión anterior y la 2.0, es que en el pasado, los sitios web eran herramientas para empujar información desde las organizaciones hacia los consumidores. La interacción era casi nula, rescatada nada más por un formulario de contacto. Lo que llamamos “comunicación de una vía”. Además, estos sitios, a menudo tan difíciles de actualizar como costosos, requerían de personas habilidosas para implementarse.

Al contrario, la Web 2.0 surgió del lado del consumidor. Sitios pensados para necesidades sociales y no comerciales. En estos sitios, el creador no es quien produce el contenido, sino son los usuarios quienes se vuelven los dueños del sitio al participar con fotografías, artículos, calificaciones, criticas, videos, arte y cualquier otra forma de material digital que una persona quiera compartir con sus amigos y familiares; atendiendo muy fácilmente la necesidad gregaria del ser humano.

Algunos datos interesantes

¿Pero que tienen que ver estos sitios “personales” y “sociales” con una organización? Esa fue la pregunta que contestaron muy apresuradamente, la mayoría de empresas entre 2004 y 2006; y podríamos decir que en nuestra región, hasta 2009. Ignorando completamente la importancia de los nuevos medios para sus propias marcas.

Aunque el grafico siguiente da pruebas muy convincentes. Debemos notar primero, que 39 de los 100 sitios más visitados en El Salvador, son Web 2.0. La mitad del top 10 es también de este tipo.

Esos 39 sitios representan más de la 3ª parte de todo el consumo de internet en el país volcada hacia Redes y Medios Sociales. Ganándole posición en ranking a sitios de medios de comunicación masivos en El Salvador…

 

En esta oportunidad, no se publicaron algunos datos estadisticos importantes, y a pesar de haber escrito sobre el Social Media Counts de Gary Hayes, me gustaria agregarlos aca por la naturaleza de negocios de algunos de ellos:

• Social Media es la actividad #4 en Internet, antes que el eMail.
• US$25.00 es el Gasto Mensual promedio de un usuario de FooPets en Facebook – (la comida virtual es Purina)
• US$70 Millones de Ganancias Anuales en "Regalos Virtuales" en Facebook.
• US$50 Millones (promedio) de transacciones entre residentes de SecondLife cada mes.US$3 Millones en Ganancias de DELL, por ventas en Twitter.
• US$6.5 Millones en contribuciones a la campania de Barack Obama, por una comunidad de 3 Millones de donantes.
• 80% de las empresas en USA usan LinkedIn como herramienta principal para encontrar nuevo talento.
• 1 Billon de videos vistos diariamente en YouTube.
• 54% de Bloggers publican (postean) a diario.
• 34% de Bloggers publican opiniones acerca de marcas y productos.
• Solo 14% de las personas confian en la publicidad, contra el 78% que confian en la recomendacion de otro consumidor, Segun Nielsen, en 2007.

Estamos a sus ordenes, si tienen un ejemplar de la revista a la mano y quieren comentarlo, o si quieren conversar sobre estos datos.

Saludos,

[Via http://communitiesdnablog.com]

Where Marketing Pilgrim Leads, Google News Follows!

Did you know that Marketing Pilgrim is more awesome than Google?

Seriously! I can prove it!

Google has just announced that Google News is now more mobile friendly–meaning it will recognize that you’re viewing the site from your iPhone, Droid, etc, and serve you a page optimized for your phone.

This new version provides the same richness and personalization on your phone as Google News provides on desktop. Our new homepage displays more stories, sources, and images while keeping a familiar look and feel. Also, you can now reach your favorite sections, discover new ones, find articles and play videos in fewer clicks. If you are an existing Google News reader on desktop, you will find that all of your personalizations are honored in this mobile version too.

Here’s how it looks:

So, how are we better? We had a mobile-friendly version of Marketing Pilgrim up WAY before Google did. Point your iPhone to www.MarketingPilgrim.com and you’ll find a streamlined version of the site:

See? We.Are.Better!

Social Media Monitoring in Just 60-Seconds. Guaranteed!

[Via http://ecommercesnews.wordpress.com]

Raio X: Hotelaria

Foto: http://portal.anhembi.br/

Você gosta de receber os amigos em casa? Fica querendo agradar, arrumar tudo com antecedência, desde o lençol e toalha que o visitante vai usar, até procurar saber o que ele gosta de comer, quais atividades pode fazer, pra onde levar na cidade? Então talvez você tenha o perfil de hoteleiro! O curso de hotelaria ensina como superar as expectativas do cliente, fazer com que ele seja tão bem tratado, que se sinta em casa! O Bacharelado em Hotelaria possui matérias básicas de um curso de administração, como marketing, matemática financeira, contabilidade, introdução à administração, inglês, TI etc, e também possui matérias específicas para o mundo da hotelaria: recepção, alimentos e bebidas, enologia, governança, lavanderia, entre outros. O profissional de hotelaria pode atuar em diversas áreas, como hotéis, spas, bares, restaurantes, parques de diversão, shopping centers, entretenimento, eventos, cruzeiros marítimos, catering, hospitais e empresas. Algumas áreas que começam a crescer são a hotelaria empresarial e hospitalar: Dentro das empresas, o hoteleiro é peça fundamental para atuar na qualidade do serviço prestado, desde como a empresa atende seus clientes no telefone, qual tipo de revista deixa na sala de espera, como serve um café, quais profissionais precisam vestir uniformes e muito mais. Na saúde, vários hospitais de alto nível contam com departamento de hotelaria, cuja função é trabalhar para receber bem os “hóspedes” e seus visitantes. Para crescer na carreira de hotelaria, o profissional deve ter fluência em outros idiomas, estar disponível para viagens e até mesmo para mudar de cidade ou país. É uma carreira sem rotina, pois cada dia traz desafios novos. É também uma carreira que exige muito trabalho, horas extras e disposição. Portanto, para ser hoteleiro precisa-se gostar de trabalhar muito e ter facilidade de lidar com todo tipo de pessoa. É gostar de servir o próximo, seja num hotel cinco estrelas, num evento ou mesmo em casa, recebendo um amigo.

(Isabela Munhoz)

[Via http://talentoeatitude.wordpress.com]

Personas

Personas are an attempt to keep it real:

Personas are fictional characters designed to help you empathise with people, usually customers or clients. They do this by forcing you to imagine the life, emotions, motivations, strengths, weaknesses and habits of the people you want to reach. Aiming to reach everybody is dumb.

They’re a tool for anybody who’s in the business of service, information or learning - In the broadest senses of the words. This means Information Architects but it also includes receptionists. It’s most everybody who has a job in the 21st century.

The general advice about personas is that you:

• Base them on real people
• Make them as ‘lifelike’ as possible (including giving them names)
• Stick them on the walls and talk to them when you’re designing stuff
• Take the three suggestions above literally

Here are some guides on how to ‘do’ personas:

Data Driven Design Research Personas View more documents from Todd ZakiWarfel.

An introduction to personas and how to create them from Step Two Designs

Developing Personas from usability.gov

The Origin of Personas by Alan Cooper (who is the ‘daddy’ when it comes to personas)

Crappy Personas vs Robust Personas by Jared Spool

Using Personas to Create User Documentation from Cooper Consulting

Personas and the role of Design Documentation from boxes and arrows

Personas are not a document by Jared Spool

A little thing about personas from Adaptive Path

“We don’t use personas. We use ourselves” from 37signals

Perfecting your personas from Cooper Consulting

Examples of persona design:

Persona Patterns from eightshapes

Persona Pattern from eightshapes

Design Ethnography from Semantic Foundry

Persona Pattern (visit site for larger version)

Real or imaginary: the effectiveness of using personas in product design from frontend.com

Example Persona from frontend.com

This last one’s not really about personas, but about empathy mapping. It’s from Dave Gray, founder of XPLANE, and I love it.

Empathy Mapping from Dave Gray

[Via http://cleavefast.wordpress.com]

Why Writers Should Say No to Writer Mills and Yes to Free*

Do I really think writers should write for free? No. As I’ve written before, writers should be paid for their time, expertise and skill. More specifically, writers should be appropriately paid for their work.

Am I encouraging writers to say no to $15 for a 1,000-word article at Demand Studios (or similar mills), but yes to writing for free? Yes.

*But only in certain circumstances—such as those listed below—should you consider unpaid writing opportunities.

• It’s mantelpiece worthy. If there’s a publication where you’ve always dreamed of seeing your byline, it might be worth it to you to write for free (or, at least, what feels like free). For me, it’s an indie magazine that I’ve been reading for years. They pay writers very little but offer lots of opportunity. Many of the mag’s contributors credit their bylines there with new high paying, high-profile work.
• Your portfolio is anemic. If you need a portfolio piece or two to get into a new industry, it may make sense to craft copy in exchange for work samples. Should you go this route, try to do the work close to home, such as for a non-profit you support or through contacts you trust. Be sure your client understands why the work is at no cost and get permission to use the work on your website. If the client is extremely happy with the results, don’t be shy about asking for referrals!
• You need a good deed. Many non-profit organizations are in need of specific skills and your way with words could help. Now, I’m not recommending that you do grant writing for free or on spec. But you can give back by editing a newsletter or helping to refresh stale web copy. Bonus: Thinking this can help with your tax bill? Not likely. Check out June Walker’s tax advice for indies if you want more information.
• It’s better than writing a check for advertising. If a guest post on a highly respected industry blog can get you in front of your prospective clients and give them a taste of your expertise, then it’s better than advertising. Ideally, you’ll build this into your marketing plan and treat your investment (your time) as part of your budget. Using her own experiences with Mashable and Copyblogger, Maria Schneider (of Editor Unleashed) offers 5 Questions To Ask Before You Write For Free. I’d like to add a sixth question: Is your next client reading this blog/ site/ publication?

Writer mills are not good options for meeting the circumstances above. Here’s why:

• Writer mills don’t have PIE. Michelle Goodman describes PIE as “paid in exposure,” meaning that you actually benefit from the low-paying or free work through new work that pays you what you’re worth. Places like Demand Studios, LoveToKnow, eHow, AllVoices and the like are not destinations for editors scouting new writing talent or marketing managers seeking a sizzling copywriter.
• You have to write and promote. With writer mills, you are responsible for promoting your articles through avenues such as your own blog and social media accounts. Your efforts are to drive traffic to the company’s site. If you write a guest post for a popular, highly respected site in your industry, that site can help generate new readers and even new clients for you without you having to do any promoting. The benefit is yours.
• You’re making someone else a whole bucketful of money. Erik Sherman’s WriterBiz blog digs up the truth on these sites and shares the chilling numbers. For example, Demand Media (also known as Demand Studios) has received more than $355 million in venture capital since 2006. Compare that to paying a writer $15 for an article and the numbers don’t add up.

As always, when it comes to writer mills and writing for free, there are arguments on all sides. Personally, I was disappointed to learn that Copyblogger doesn’t pay its guest bloggers. It’s such a fantastic site for writers that I just assumed the posts were paid. And, I admit it, I still think it would cool to see my byline there. Something tells me it gives great PIE.

Have you had experiences working for free that you would or would not repeat? The floor is yours!

[Via http://jesakalong.com]

Cause marketing campaign by HP

HP have launched a new cause marketing campaign created by Goodby, Siliverstein & Partners at http://summitonthesummit.com as part of their “the computer is personal again” campaign.

Some celebrities will be climbing Tanzanian Mt Kilimanjaro starting January 7th 2010  in order to raise money for clean water globally.

Through the website you can donate money to the cause by sponsoring a foot whereby 1 cent is equivalent to 1 litre of clean drinking water.

The celebrities climbing the mountain will record their experiences using video, images, blogs and tweets created on their HP notebooks which will be displayed on the 16, 709, 709 pixel high site represented at the altitude the media was created. Additional data such as the celebrities heart rates, weather patterns etc will be displayed on the site.

You can also tweet the team and download a badge which can be distributed through various social media channels.

Check it out in January.

SRC AdWeek

[Via http://jaxinteractive.com]

The Case of the Missing Referrals

One day, the phone just stopped ringing. At first, you may not have noticed it. You were busy serving your clients, keeping up in your field, and getting the bills paid, like all good professionals do. But then a project ended or a client quit, and you didn’t have a replacement waiting in the pipeline.

Suddenly you realized that it had been quite some time since any new prospects were referred to you. Yikes, what’s going on?

Whether you’ve been in business ten months or ten years, it can take you by surprise when referrals suddenly dry up. When business is thriving, referrals routinely arrive in one of two ways — either you hear from prospects who say they were referred by someone else, or people in your network pass along the name of prospects who need you. If neither of those things are happening, you have a problem. Without referrals, you’ll have to work much harder to get new business.

But where have your referrals gone? You may need to put on your detective hat and do some sleuthing to find out. Here are some of the most common reasons why referrals disappear, and what you can do to get them back.

1. You’ve dropped out of sight. When was the last time you attended a networking event? Volunteered on a committee? Wrote an article? Spoke in public? Sure, you’ve been busy, but if you stop being visible in your target market or professional community, people forget about you.

Clues: The only appointments in your calendar are client meetings. When you run into colleagues, they say, “I haven’t seen you in a long time.”

Solution: No matter how busy you are with client work, make it a practice to do at least one thing each month that keeps you visible.

2. Your network has stopped expanding. When your contacts are limited to people you already know, your referrals are limited to only the people that THEY know. Without anyone new in the circle, there’s nowhere for fresh referrals to come from.

Clues: You haven’t added any new names to your contact database in months. You can’t follow up with your network to stimulate more referrals, because you’ve already talked to everyone you know.

Solution: Ask the people you know to introduce you to any of their contacts who might be helpful. Spend some time getting to know these new folks. Then they will become your contacts, too, and your network will automatically expand.

3. You’re networking with the wrong people. Perhaps your clients are consumers, but your networking contacts mostly have a corporate market. Or all your networking is through your professional association where most of the members are direct competitors.

Clues: You’re in touch with many people on a regular basis, but no one is referring to you. When a referred prospect does contact you, their needs aren’t a fit for what you do.

Solution: Identify categories of people who have regular contact with your target market, and are likely to encounter needs you can fill. For example, a small business accountant will be more likely to get referrals from networking with attorneys, financial planners, and bookkeepers than by spending time with corporate consultants, health practitioners, or other accountants.

4. People think you’re too busy. When you give the impression you’re overwhelmed with work, your contacts will stop referring to you. But if you wait for your workload to lighten before putting out the word you’re ready for more, it will usually be too late.

Clues: You hear that one of your old referral sources sent business to a competitor. Someone tells you, “I thought you weren’t taking new clients.”

Solution: Return phone calls and emails from referred prospects promptly, even when you’re too busy to help them. Refer them on to someone else you trust, then thank the person who sent them to you. This will encourage your contacts to keep referring in the future, as they know their referrals will always be taken care of.

The secret to avoiding the “feast or famine” cycle that plagues many professional service businesses is to stay visible instead of hunkering down in your office, and nurture your network even when you don’t need it. In order to keep a constant flow of referrals coming, you need to give your referral-building activities the same high-quality, consistent attention you give your client work.

That way, you’ll be able to focus your detective skills on solving problems for your clients instead of having to worry about where your next client is coming from.

Copyright © 2009, C.J. Hayden

C.J. Hayden is the author of Get Clients Now!™ Thousands of business owners and independent professionals have used her simple sales and marketing system to double or triple their income. Get a free copy of “Five Secrets to Finding All the Clients You’ll Ever Need” at www.getclientsnow.com

Cultural Object of the Week: The Tampon Stun Gun

Yep, you read that correctly, there is a stun gun that exists that is shaped like a couple of tampons.

The stun gun, named “The Pink Stinger,” was created for women who was to carry a stun gun, but do so discreetly. It as 50,000 volts of power.

My initial response to this object was “awesome.” However, having thought about it a little bit more, I’m not quite sure how I feel about it, other than that it certainly is interesting.

Is it taking a women’s product and making is powerful, thus empowering women? Or, is it reinforcing negative stereotypes of women being “crazy” while menstruating? It openly acknowledges the fact that women are more likely than men to be the consumers who purchase stun guns, which opens up discussion about rape, sexual assault, and gender.

Discuss. What do you think of the tampon stun gun?

Source:Inventor Spot

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Click http://www.AlexTita.com/vip Cursuri Online: Cum Castigi Bani Adevarati Pe Net RAPID cu Afaceri Online REALE! Eliberarea de Limitarile Actuale, Putere & Influenta, Relatii Armonioase, Implinire!

 

Quando il guerrilla marketing diventa guerrilla urbano

Mailorama.fr, una società web francese, ha avuto la geniale idea di inventare un guerrilla marketing di forte impatto.
L’idea era quella di regalare (anzi, gettare letteralmente) buste con denaro contante da un autobus ai passanti di Parigi. Erano stati stanziati ben 100.000 euro in contanti; preparate 5.000 buste contenenti dai 5 ai 500 euro.
L’autobus avrebbe dovuto girare nella zona di Champ de Mars sabato 14 novembre 2009.
Dico avrebbe, perchè le forze dell’ordine hanno bloccato l’iniziativa.
Sì, proprio così. Per motivi di sicurezza la società Mailorama (una controllata di Rentabiliweb) ha dovuto cancellare l’azione di guerrilla, perchè nei pressi della torre Eiffel nel giro di poco tempo si sono radunate circa 5.000 persone, tutte pronte a raccogliere le buste con i contanti.
Secondo voi queste 5.000 persone come l’hanno presa questa ordinanza di sicurezza?
Direi non bene….
Lanci di frutta contro automobili e negozi della zona, piccole risse con i giornalisti e (sembra) distruzioni di auto delle forze dell’ordine; insomma da un guerrilla marketing pianificato ad una guerrilla urbana improvvisata.
Che dire…con la crisi che c’è in giro forse Mailorama avrebbe dovuto pensare ad un guerrilla non a sfondo economico.

…o forse le forze dell’ordine non dovevano revocare la manifestazione?

Una cosa è certa: il guerrilla non è stato fatto, Mailorama ha risparmiato 100.000 euro e adesso il suo brand è su tutti i giornali nazionali e internazionali; in fondo l’obiettivo è stato raggiunto.
Che avesse pensato anche a questo?

Doug Richards School for startups! Entrepreneur & Businessman

I’m Excited today, I had the pleasure, along with about 150 people to spend 8 hours in the pressence of a Dragon…Yes A Dragon!  Doug Richards. Courtesy of  the Business Hub at Essex University(free tickets for new and existing businesses in Essex and Suffolk)The crowd was a real eclectic group from unversity students with bags of enthusiasm(comes from a Greek word “entheos” meaning God within)to entrepreneurs well on their way to their first million!

If you haven’t seen or heared Doug Richards speak. You need to get across to Schools for startups and book your self onto one of his courses. Doug Richards talks about business both of common sense and about stuff that is intuitive and counter intuitive. He really knows how to seek those hidden assetts and opportunies in a business and then help you to realise them. He demonstrated that money is not the only asset, but a creative mind and some balls are equally as powerful. Doug is really amazing and if I could get him to be a partner or a mentor I would pay the price. He would certainly shake my little world up!

School for start ups Event hosted by Essex University

Please leave  a Comment and get over to his site or google him.

Yours Positively Richard Saupe 07538538138 01206 43 43 43(Colchester Office) 66 Kendal Road Co1 2BS Ps. Not Your Normal marketing coach. I walk my talk, and I don’t talk if I have Nothing to Say.  I only work with dynamic busy people that have made a commitment to working a plan! Oh and before I forget… I offer a completely Free service if What we do has no effect on your business or you don’t like me(the latter is not really my goal)! Pps I know time is the most important commodity that people in business have, that’s why I operate a Fast Track Implementation (NO Drival, NO BS) Just a Clean Logical Process for increasing Your online and Offline domination. I offer this in 2 ways, I show You how to do it in 10-20 mins a week, but this has a massive upfront commitment from you. probably 2 months if you work alone or I can Implement and then show You the 10-20 mins ritual per week to keep it Going. I equate it to walking up a ski slope with your skis on, a rack sack full off books and  a laptop and holding a coffee in your mitted hand, while resiting your national anthem back wards! it has taken me 6 months to get my head around keywords SEO SERM and google with all it’s tools and social media networking eg face book, twitter and wordpress. Oh did I add I’ve been a programmer for 15 years and it was in no way intuitive. I don’t say any of this to scare you because I’ve had so much fun learning, doing and dominating! I just want you to understand it is time consuming.

 Pps Call Now. Before I get too busy.  I have lots of personal interests related to my passion (business).

Are you coming back?

There are a lot of stores to choose from to buy just about anything, and there is still just 24 hours in the day (and typically very few to dedicate to shopping).  Of course now you can buy almost anything online as well.  While online shopping has its limitations it wins big for convenience.  I recently attended a seminar and the audience was asked, who has bought something online after 10pm—nearly everyone in the room raised their hands.

I’ve shared the statistic before; that the number of hours Canadians spend shopping has drastically decreased.  Just ten years ago the average Canadian spend 140 hours a year shopping—that number is now down to just 40 hours.  So what are you doing to keep your customers coming back and spending time in your store?

I encourage my clients to think of their competition as far broader than other businesses in the same category.  Today each and every business competes for the most valuable commodity – your customers time.

Given the decreased shopping hours, increased shopping choice and the overscheduled consumer, retailers have never had to work harder to keep customers coming back.  I admire the tactics of some of the American retail chains.  Many retailers of highly consumable goods bring their customers back regularly by printing out a time-limited coupon with the customer’s receipt. 

Couponing was a very important marketing and product trial tactic for decades, then in the 1990s couponing rapidly declined in popularity, but with the Internet and now mobile marketing, coupon is back and stronger than ever before. 

I am a big fan of both Michael’s Craft Supply Store and Bath and Body Work’s couponing programs.  At the time of purchase both of these retailers print out custom coupons to motivate customer to return for a discount (or free product) during a time-limited period.  These coupons work (for me anyhow) because:

• The type of products they sell.  You can return frequently to these stores and always find something to buy.
• The coupon cannot be used immediately—you must come back – usually about one week later.
• The type of discount.  Discounting can be a dangerous game that must be thought-out for the long-term strategy.  You do not want to create discount dependant customers.  Discounts should be positioned as time limited or as a customer reward.

Could you start a discount program that rewards your loyal customers without devaluing your product or creating a dependency on coupons?

Until next time

Melanie Taljaard

Reaching Beyond Your Front Door

A few months ago I lived in a city with 4.5 million people.  I now live in a rural community of 16,000.  I’ve spent the past 2 years working with artists from across Ontario, and without fail each of them believes they’d be better off if they were showing their work somewhere else.  Small town Ontario artists have told me they “need to be in Toronto”, and large city artists have told me that they’d be better off being “a big fish in a small pond.”

I believe both are right.  In order to be successful, you need to have your feet in both worlds.

You need to build a strong audience for your work in the place you choose to live.  Be creative and seek out places and spaces where your work will be welcomed.  Engage your audience and ask them to participate in your growth by spreading the word about your work.  Build a community to support your work.

And you need to reach out beyond where you live in order to expand and grow.  No matter where you are and how large and diverse the population is, at some point you will reach a saturation point.  You may continue to sell work, or to fill halls, but sometimes you’re expected to repeat the same work over and over again.  Which can stunt your creative growth and make your career feel like just another job.

One way to do that, to reach out beyond your front door and test the market elsewhere, is to use social media as a marketing tool and as a tool for testing the creative waters.  There are hundreds of tools out there that are free to use.  Why not give them a try?

Over the course of this blog, I will be talking a lot about social media and encouraging you to give it a try. We’ll start with the very basics and take small steps.  One or two techniques for you to try at a time.  And tips for how to use the time you put into social media marketing effectively.

Step 1?  If you haven’t done so, sign up for a Facebook account and a Twitter account.  Facebook has 250 million active users worldwide.  And while it’s nearly impossible to get accurate numbers from Twitter, it is growing faster than any  other social media outlet.  These two will give you the most widespread and diverse audience for the work that you do.

OK.  Go.  I’ll check with you tomorrow.

Slow Your Social Media Roll

Social media can be very powerful for small businesses, but many try to do too much too quickly. Start by making a social media plan – write goals for what you want to achieve with social media, and try to keep your messaging focused on your target market.

Sometimes it can help to make a profile for your target market. How old are they, where do they live, what are some of their values. Having a detailed picture of who might be interested in your products will help you customize your messaging.

Action Steps:
- Write down the profile of your target audience. Give them names!
- Set goals for social media and keep them in mind the next time you Tweet!

Speaker Summary - Marcia Macomber, Cornucopia Creations

The advantage to writing your own speaker summary is getting to add things you forgot to say, or show samples of things you forgot to bring! Continuing along Patty’s theme of tips to help with managing the holidays, I reminded members that another product I offer individuals or businesses is custom holiday greetings cards (which I forgot to bring to the meeting). The examples shown below are my personal cards and one client’s, but it will give you a bit of an idea of what can be done with a little Photoshopping.

Ginny

Ginny Xmas Card 08

This brief example merely shows how I can dress up a non-holiday item (my dog) with holiday attire (particularly advantageous since most dogs don’t like to wear Santa hats of goofy holiday ribbons!)

 

Xmas Card 07

And the sample directly above merely demonstrates heavy application of Photoshopping with LOTS of elements that were not included in the original photography (including a fanciful vineyard view from my house and lots of decorations I’ve never actually applied to my house).

For some clients, I embellish their original logos and build upon them into a holiday theme. Here is one for Bayou Closets’ logo and holiday card:

The gator is frequently added to their promotional literature as a separate element, but it is not part of their logo. If you or anyone you know is interested in custom greeting card work, there is still time before the holidays are completely upon us. The printing cost is surprisingly competitive to the cost of off-the-shelf boxes of cards and is fairly quick in turnaround. Contact me for details.

For demonstration purposes I brought along a finished picture of my niece. Here are the “before” and “after” versions side by side. From the original I extracted the key element and eliminated scratches and poor coloring from the print before dropping in a very different background (her favorite color) to make nice gifts for the grandparents.

 

These techniques can also be applied to business photography. Here is an example of one of several print ads I designed for Sidelines, Inc. (and coincidentally, I also did the product photography since the clients hadn’t gotten the shot I needed). In this instance, I wanted to give the impression that the basket had fallen from a considerable height and had just landed. So this involved much experimentation and fanciful adjustment to achieve this effect with a still-life photo.

I showed a few other samples of work, along with examples of others’ product promotion that I deemed ‘good’ (Kraftmaid cabinetry) or ‘bad’ (a banking ad) for the execution of their design and message in print. In short, it pays to get the message and imagery right the first time. Otherwise, it is a waste of your marketing investment dollars.

Brand advertising and awareness was discussed as opposed to simply product advertising and promotion. Both are quite valuable and are most effective when mapped out in advance how you will roll out simultaneous or sequential campaigns for greatest impact in the marketplace.

The 501 Strategy...

It’s 5 o’clock somewhere, goes the old saying.

Though this is a saying that people ask in the middle of the day when wanting a drink, I believe it’s a question that anyone doing anything with mobilizing people need to ask with all seriousness.

If it’s 5 o’clock somewhere, then what happens at 5:01?

Too often, our goal is just to get to 5 o’clock. if we can just make it… we’ll be happy. Really? That’s all?

Over the past several years, I have had a front-row seat in watching some pretty amazing and huge events take place. I have also been a part of planning several meetings myself that last over a few days time. From retreats to business meetings, I have both planned them and ran them. In that, I can say from personal experience, for many of them, I was just thrilled to get to 5 o’clock.

Never once did I ask… what happens at 5:01?

Okay, great meeting, but, what will the attendees do with this experience? Generally, attendees will get pumped up and momentarily encouraged. But, by the time they go back home… it’s like playing a really bad game of telephone.

I know I said orange, but by the time it got to the other side of the room… the word was now… elephant. What? How is that possible?

In this, I am realizing how short-sighted I was. Not only was it critical to put on a quality event that stimulates thought, reflection, and change, but… I needed to spend a lot more time thinking about what that change looked like.

I needed to spend a lot more time thinking about what happens at 5:01. In other words, if my event is over at 5 o’clock, what happens next? How am I engaging people post event? How am I providing resources, areas of opportunity, action points for growth going forward… post event?

It is not enough to come into a city and put on an event, or to host a retreat,  or business meeting, and then leave.

What lasting effect will you leave behind?

In going forward, I would propose that before you launch a campaign or post an agenda, etc. about something you are planning, ask yourself one question… what will happen at 5:01 when this is over?

I would propose knowing the answer and have already developed the 501 strategy. Why? For this to be sustainable, don’t you need on the ground leaders who take ownership? Don’t you need boots on the ground at 5:01 ready to mobilize, engage, reinforce, build up, connect, train, and act?

Sure, it’s great to train these leaders up for action during an event. But, I would argue that you are training them to be reactive. But, at 5:01, we need them to be proactive. And to do that, you better have thought through your 501 strategy from the start.

Otherwise, we miss massive opportunities to transition mountain top experiences to life level applications. When we miss that opportunity, experiences can rarely stick.

In the book selling world for so many years, I often wondered… what happens when that guest walks out of the store with that book? Now, some might say… it’s just a book, relax. On the contrary, I believe the power of a good book and the connection that can be made with a good story. In this, what would happen if we developed a 501 strategy for that guest in particular to a specific book to help them dig deeper as to how that story can apply to their life?

Just getting our guest out the door with a book in hand is a great thing. But, getting them out the door with a book in hand …and a resource for us to walk together in reading that book after they leave the store is greater.

I had an opportunity to do this once with New York Times bestselling author, Paul Young for his book, The Shack.

For sure, we sold a ton. We also heard both sides of thought about the content of the book. Some was true and some was not true. But, instead of leaving it alone, we decided to develop a 501 strategy for our guests. In this case, we sat down with Paul and interviewed him. The result, a free website was built using wordpress. On this website, we posted the entire 120 minute interview with Paul.

Does anything say you care more about a guest than a post sale or post event ongoing engagement with them? Not just follow-up, but engagement.

Isn’t that what’s at the core of what I am trying to convey with the 501 strategy? I’m not interested in how you are going to follow-up. I am interested in how you will engage. don’t be confused, they are two different postures.

Conventions or large public gatherings should have 501 strategies too. And like selling a book, what is more important? Getting people to the event or what the people will do… post event?

Sure, sweep into a city and throw a party, in the process, pump the local economy up. But, what is the lasting effect? Is it sustainable? does it translate? Of course, you need to sell books or get people to an event to plant the seed of your message. But, how will that seed then grow?

Building a seamless 501 strategy is perfect soil to watch this come to fruition.

Anyway, just a few thoughts. Sorry for the ramble.

You follow? What are you planning? What are you selling? What does it look like in action?

It’s 5 o’clock somewhere… what happens next?

The Brands With The Best Stories Win

Our Fresh team met with a potential client a few months ago.  This firm tried several marketing plans in the past that have cost them thousands of dollars, but produced minimal results.

This time we were pitching them on a Social Media marketing plan specific to their online storefront.

Their virtual storefront is their only presence – all online and they serve clients throughout the entire US market from their small physical location here in the Northwest.  Their client list reads like an A-List of firms – you would recognize all of them.

The conversation locked up when they struggled with the idea that a web-based buying experience could really make that much of a difference to their bottom-line.  (This conversation happened before Amazon.com’s most profitable quarter ever!)

An idea hit me to take a risk with this thought – I asked everyone in the room, including the Fresh team, what Seattle restaurant was their favorite place for a fine dinner.  Daniel’s Broiler for their nightlife and view, The Edgewater Hotel for it’s view of the sunset and fireplaces, the Salish Lodge for it’s ambiance, location near a waterfall, character, Third Floor Fish Cafe for its location on the water and so on.

Not ONE PERSON said anything about the food.  !?

When we go out to eat isn’t the food the most important thing??

That’s not the case.  Casa Bonita in Denver is legendary because inside transforms into another world.  You’re inside a structure so heavy that when it was built it began sinking into the ground from the weight of the concrete.  Inside looks like you’re dining outdoors in Acapulco, Mexico complete with a starlit sky, divers plunging off of high cliffs into water below, volcanic rocks, caves, mud pits and a city center of stores.

But the food at Casa Bonita is cafeteria quality at best.  You don’t go for the food.  You go for the experience.  And we see other models of this around the country including the Rain Forest Cafe (a step up from Casa Bonita fare) and at the Jordan Commons in Salt Lake City.

It’s the customer experience, the buying experience, how people feel about your brand that’s most important.

All of the Seattle restaurants mentioned above have fantastic food, but … our favorite place for exquisite dining in Seattle?  It’s called Tropea and it’s in a little strip mall in Redmond.  But the FOOD is simply fantastic.

Let me rattle off a few other brands you may have a gut feeling about – Starbucks, Nordstroms, T-Mobile, Marriott, Zappos.  These brands are not the lowest price, but they have award-winning customer service and experience.

The potential client I spoke of above is a Fresh client today as this illustration was a turning point for them.

Brands who can tell their stories win.  Are you ready for us to help you tell your story?

Contact me at mike@freshconsulting.com or on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mikewhitmore

All the best,

Mike

O cateringu

Catering (jak chyba każdy wie) polaga m.in na organizowniu przyjęć, posiłków..
Jakość wykonania świadczy o firmie cateringowej, dlatego też każda z firm cateringowych stara się zaprezentować najlepiej jak potrafi. Stąd też wielki naczisk na dobrze wyszkolony personel.

W ostatnich lat następował wzrost dobrobytu w Polsce, stąd też zwiększyło się zapotrzebowanie na usługi cateringowe. Oczywiście popyt na catering istniał od dawna, widocze to było szczególnie w wiekszych miastach- np. catering w Warszawie, jednakże duży skok “zapotrzebowania” usług cateringowych dopiero niedawno można było odczuć.
Wszystko układało się bardzo dobrze, do momentu kryzysu. Niestety kryzys ekonomiczny swój odcisk niczym stygmat położył także na wszystkim co okresla się słowem catering oraz gastronomią.

W tej chwili firmy z branży cateringowej odczuwają spory kryzys… np. catering Warszawa ma kilka już na wpół upadłych firm. Najbardziej dotkliwie skutki kryzysu w cateringu odczuły młode firmy.. nie mające dużej ilości referencji, które zapewniłyby im klientów na ich usługi cateringowe.
Niestety jak to mówia business is business.

Heart-shaped chocolates and buns of gouda

It occurred to me while reading the Sunday newspaper recently that the stuff in the ads and the stuff in the editorials don’t jibe. This is blatantly evident at any time of year, not just Christmas. The tinsel won’t be off the living room floor before we’ll be greeted at every turn of a page and every store-front with smiling Victoria’s Secret models tempting us with heart-shaped chocolates and grapefruit sized bottoms.

Next, it will be green thongs for St. Patrick’s day, exemplars of the runway offering Easter finery, size 2 and under of course, followed by a couple of months worth of string bikinis.

The complimentary side of the coin is an endless barrage of TV presentations featuring early middle aged machismos who, but for the grace of Viagra, would be mere helpless noodles. If all it takes to look like THAT is a little dysfunction, hell, it might be worth the inconvenience!

Meanwhile, plain brown wrappers everywhere peck out diatribes of anti-sexuality as money changes hands at warp speed in the marketplace. Women who haven’t seen size two since ninth grade, if ever, wax indignant about being sex-objects. They should be so lucky. Men who couldn’t bench-press their own shoes snort disapprovingly while secretly enjoying every tease commercial and print ad.

Like it or not, mating season is year-round for the human species. Pheromones fill the air, idealized female’s presenting carefully accentuated characteristics of sexual attractiveness, and rock-solid young males who shave before every meal and exude surplus testosterone fill the fanciful field of vision. Yet, any man who dares to ogle is a “pig” and any woman who shortsightedly purrs at the image of the handsome jocko selling the car that “turns you on” instantly falls off the moral dado in the estimation of her peers doing the same thing more discreetly.

If it is so foul, why does it take an orgasm to sell everything from a pair of living room curtains to a cheeseburger? Who’s selling and who’s buying? The answer is we all are, but we’ve developed this façade of disgust like PITA people secretly enjoying a good steak.

It’s really quite amusing when you think about it. I’ve never seen a gorgeous woman with legs all the way up to her ears complain about being pleasing to the eye, and I’ve never known a man who was offended to overhear himself being referred to as a “hunk”. On the other hand, I do notice a lot of lard butts loitering about the lingerie, and I’ve been guilty of looking at the spandex in the sporting goods store as though an intense stare would miraculously allow me to actually wear the stupid things without looking like an oversized Gouda cheese.

I think the only society ever to be successful at accepting their natural functions as healthy and downright fun were the Tahitians of Margaret Mead fame, but we “civilized” them a long time ago.

Domuz Gribi, Ergenekon, Güneydoğu ve Medya...

Şu günlerde gündemimizde üç öncelikli konu var. Domuz Gribi, Ergenekon ve Güneydoğu… Bu üç konuda olaylar geliştikçe ülke olarak hala kurumsal bir devlet olamadığını görüyoruz. Çünkü neleri, ne zaman, nasıl, niçin, ne şekilde yapacağımızı hala bilemiyoruz. Yani kurumsallık sınavımız devam ediyor. Grip mi olacağız aşı mı ? Aynı anda iki farklı savcının aynı konuyu ve belgeyi soruşturması ne kadar normal ? Güneydoğu’yu doğuya mı yoksa batıya doğru mu açıyoruz ? Birilerinin İmralı’daki kişinin gelecek seçimler de milletvekili olması için çalıştığı doğru mu ?

Bu üç konunun ortak noktası nedir ? Medya… Çünkü tüm gelişmeleri medya üzerinden özellikle de gazete mecrasından takip ediyoruz. Hem de medyanın verdiği şekliyle. Başka şansımızda yok zaten. Peki bu kadar önemli gündemlere rağmen ülkemizde gazete tirajları neden hala 4.4 milyon adet  ve artmıyor ?  Basın Reklam Platformu yeni kampanyasını şimdi yapmayacaksa  ne zaman yapacak ? Domuz Gribi, Ergenekon ve Güneydoğu konularında haberler yeni değil biliyorsunuz. Ama hala neden aynı soruları soruyor ve kafa karışıklığı yaşıyoruz. ?

Örneğin Domuz Gribi; kurumsal ve sağlıklı düşünebilen ülkelerde şu anda bizdeki kadar panik havası neden yok ?  Hürriyet’te Eyüp Can’da yazmış. Ben de somut eklemeler yapayım. Çok yakınım Amerika’da hem de Meksika sınırına yakın bir bölgede. Sürekli iletişim halindeyiz. Ama o bizden daha sakin ve temkinli. Bu Amerika’nın H1N1 virüsü karşısında kayıtsızlık ve panik arasında sakin bir yöntem izlendiğini doğruluyor. Oradaki gelişmeleri özetlerken bizimde sakinleşmemizi ve medyanın bize yansıttıkları karşısında daha sağlıklı düşünmemizi kolaylaştırıyor. Neden Sağlık Bakanlığı ilk kez bugün gazetelere bilgilendirici reklamlar vermeyi akıl ediyor ?  Neden reklamların üzerinde aşı ile ilgili bilgi yok ? Medya mensupları neden hala her önüne gelen uzmana  aşı olacak mıyız diye soruyor ? Grip yayılana kadar  kararsız kalanlar, aşıların gelmesiyle hem de sağlık bakanlığı ile birlikte neden harekete geçtiler ? Ama ne hareket geçmek. Kamuoyunda panik havası estirecek kadar. Ailelere çocuklarını okula göndermemelerini sağlayacak, sıvı sabun ve alkollü mendil satışlarını bir hafta da patlatacak kadar. Önce aşıları sağlık personeline yapacaklarmış biliyorsunuz. Acaba rica etsek sonra da bizim medya mensuplarına yaparlar mı ? Bu şeklide kaç kişi yaptığı haberin ve yorumun arkasında durduğunu da öğrenmiş oluruz.

Sonra şu meşhur Ergenekon davamıza gelince. Belge sahte mi değil mi ? İmza yaş mı, kuru mu ? Neden 4,5 ay beklendi ? Belgeyi sızdıran kim ? Hükümet gündemi saptırarak nereye gidiyor ? Belgeye kağıt parçası ve komplo diyen medya mensupları da neden birer birer özür yazıları yazıyor ? Üçüncü kez zor durumda kalan Genel Kurmay Başkanımız  neden hala suskunluğunu koruyor ?  Acaba ne yapacak ? İstifa mı edecek yoksa başka kurbanlar mı verecek ?  Yoksa hiç bir bakanın veya Başbakan’ın istifa etmediği bir ülkede o da sonuna kadar görev de mi kalacak ?

Güneydoğu’nun sonunda açılımı yapıldı ?  Bu muydu açılım ? Diyarbakır da 100 bin kişi nasıl toplandı ? Organizasyonu kim-ler  yaptı ? MHP lideri gençleri sokağa dökmeye mi çalışıyor ?  Neden İmralı’ya deniz yoluyla yüzbin kişi de biz topla-ya-mıyoruz ? Binlerce şehitimize, milyarlarca dolarımıza ve 24 yılımıza mal olan bu sorunumuzun yeni açılımı konusunda acaba Kurtuluş Savaşımız öncesinde o bölgeyi paylaşan ülkeler ne diyor ? Amerika PKK’nın banka hesaplarına koyarken neden bu kadar geçikti ? Bu konuda niçin bize destek oluyor ? Avrupa neden açılıma ılımlı ?

Bu soruları çoğaltmak mümkün ? Yanlış anlamayın bunlar medyadan çok sokaktaki vatandaşın soruları ? Diyeceksiniz ki medyamız ne iş yapıyor ? Bu sorular daha önceden ilgili kişilere sorularak cevapları bulunamaz mıydı ? Mahalle muhabbeti yaptığını itiraf eden medyamız, kendi problemleri ile uğraşmaktan toplumsal refleksleri zayıflamış görünüyor. Yoksa hala bu kadar neden kafamız karışık olsun değil mi ?