Thoughts on ROI for Social Media Efforts
I wrote the cover story for SIPA’s November Hotline newsletter on ROI for social media efforts. What should you expect and what parameters should you use? It’s a question that will continue into 2012 and beyond. How do we know we’re spending the right amount of time on places
Lexicon Proves That Naming Is a Bit Scientific
In the category of there-is-a-business-for-everything, Lexicon stands tall. Founded in 1982 by David Placek, they are a firm devoted to inventing names for products. Among their biggest successes are Pentium, for Intel; PowerBook for Apple, BlackBerry for Research in Motion; and Dasani for Coca-Cola. They were recently profiled
Tips for Your Twitter World
Today’s SIPA Twitter Chat at noon EST will focus on renewals. These weekly Chats have produced some excellent dialogue on various topics—mobile, e-learning—so we encourage you to tune in.
The Changes Brought on by ‘Digital First’
On Thursday afternoon, I received an email from The Washington Post with a link to a story about exciting new arts and concert venues in the city. This turned out to be the cover story for the next day’s Weekend section. For a few seconds, I felt like Rip
Don Nicholas, CEO, Mequoda Group, Hopkinton, Mass.
What was your first job out of college and how did you get into this business?
I was 27 when I graduated from college. As my sons, Scott and Ryan, like to say, I was on the 10-year plan. I had gone back to school full-time two years earlier, after
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The Power and (Occasional) Glory of Email Marketing
Email marketing remains a powerful tool, so powerful that it’s almost like one of those laser weapons in a James Bond film: put in the wrong hands, bad things can happen. I saw an example this week, where a well-intentioned email led to a flurry that had people
New Thinking Puts Spotlight on nOtice
We’ve come a long way from Paul Revere’s ride for dispensing community information. But the British are still coming, at least in terms of innovative ideas. Yesterday was the launch date for nOtice, a new tool from The Guardian, orchestrated to give the community message board a digital updating. The
Deaf Ears Put Google+ at Back of Line
I received an email last week from Google informing me that a SIPA member had added me “to his circles” and invited me to join Google+. The email had a picture of what looked like an old manual dial-telephone with faces inserted where the numbers should be. The
Andy Tarczon, Founding Partner – Corporate Development, The Diffusion Group, Frisco, Texas
SIPA: What was your first job out of college and how did you get into this business?
ANDY: Wow, my 18th Consumer Electronics Show is in January. I’m not even 40, how is that even possible? Psion was the company that first took me
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Value of Marketing Conference Reflected in Speakers
Today is the early-bird deadline for registration for SIPA’s 28th Annual Marketing Conference in Miami Beach, Dec. 7-9. The way I like to give value is to list key tips previously issued by the speakers, and then present the sessions they will be leading in Miami.
1. On yesterday’s Twitter
New Study Rains on the Brainstorming Parade
I recall one off-site brainstorming session where an outside moderator was brought in to try to get at our “problems” and keep the conversation moving forward. Well, he sure did get at our problems; by the end of the day, colleagues were ready to kill each other, and he
The Finer Points of Creating a Video
An interesting theme recently on the SIPA Marketing Listserv focused on turning PowerPoint presentations into Web videos. The idea is to add varied animation/visual effects, transitions between slides, other attractive visual items (drawing and/or photos), narration and/or music. Camtasia Studio came up as one solution. Daniel Park’s new digital
Brian Crotty, President, OPIS (Oil Price Information Service), Gaithersburg, Md.
What was your first job out of college and how did you get into this business?
I had a creative writing degree and thought since I could write, I would be a journalist. My first job was at a newspaper called The Daily Record in Baltimore. Problem
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Hail ‘Caesar’! A Great Call to Action
Watching the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s (STC) production of Julius Caesar here in Washington, D.C. a couple months ago, I just thought, “That Shakespeare guy would have made some copywriter.” The power of persuasion he gives to Mark Antony’s famous speech can serve as a lesson for all of us
Issues and Answers from Our ‘Mobile’ Webinar
Here are 11 tips from SIPA’s recent Webinar on Going Mobile for Publishers: Developing a Content Delivery System for an Increasingly Portable World – presented by Andy Swindler, president of Astek Consulting, and Joanne Valentino, director marketing & communications for The Medical Letter Inc. The actual webinar is now
Innovations in European Postal Systems Set New Tone
Clemens Beckmann is the executive vice president of innovation of the German post office’s mail division. Now when is the last time you heard the words “innovation” and “mail” used together in the United States? Mail volumes decrease by 1-2% every year, the post office here loses millions
Barbara Weckstein Kaplowitz, Big Huge Ideas, Potomac, Md.
What was your first job out of college and how did you get into this business?
Assistant to director of research and communications, Local and State Chamber of Commerce Division, Chamber of Commerce of the U.S. It was an exciting place to work. My window looked across Lafayette Park
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It Still Proves Better to Give Than Receive
“This one’s on me.” I’m pretty sure that most of us have said this at some point of our adult lives, probably in the context of giving comfort to a good friend by treating him or her to a cup of coffee, a glass of wine or beer,
Selling ‘Solutions’ Can Bolster Your Advertising
I noticed this in today’s New York Times article on IBM’s naming of Virginia Rometty as their next chief executive: IBM “’is selling business solutions, not just products,’ said Frank Gens, chief analyst for the technology market research firm IDC. ‘Rometty has been at the forefront of that effort.’”
It made
Know What You Want at the Outset
During SIPA’s free-for-members Webinar last week—titled Going Mobile for Publishers: Developing a Content-Delivery System for an Increasingly Portable World (and now posted on our Website!)—Andy Swindler and Joanne Valentino waxed technologically about the realities of going mobile. Swindler and his Astek team have worked with Valentino’s group, The Medical
Frank Joseph (Mister DM™), Consultant, Washington, D.C.
What was your first job out of college and how did you get into this business?
Reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago, the legendary, beloved and much-missed training ground for cub reporters. I’ve had a lot of luck in my life, for which I’m profoundly grateful; the year
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Seven Tips and the Sessions to Cover Them
Here are some excellent tips to keep in mind for your business—and the upcoming sessions at SIPA’s 28th Annual Marketing Conference in Miami, Dec. 7-9 that will cover those topics.
1. Find an underserved group or a lonely and under-appreciated group within the organization. If there is a highly
Accelerated News Cycle Creates New Roles
It seems that every day my lead could be, “Things are just changing so fast.” The latest comes from the Nieman Journalism Lab site at Harvard. Megan Garber reports that www.nymag.com, the website of New York Magazine, is now publishing new content every six minutes.
Okay, well, at least that’s only
Eloquent Defense Saves Parliamentary Tweets
(SIPA’s Twitter Chat set for tomorrow! See instructions below.)
Wow, Twitter certainly reaches wide and far. Silicon.com reported yesterday that MPs (Members of Parliament) voted against a motion that would have banned tweeting inside the House of Commons. I must give kudos to writer Nick Heath’s lead: “To tweet or not to
Ricky Warren, Marketing Manager, Research Ltd, London
SIPA: What was your first job out of college and how did you get into this business?
RICKY: I began my career as a communications executive for a not-for-profit business called the Society of Chemical Industry. With an honours degree in biology with science communication, my foot in the door
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SIPA’s First-Ever Twitter Chat Set for Wednesday
On July 6, 2011, the nation’s first White House Twitter Town Hall took place. After an introduction by Twitter creator Jack Dorsey, President Obama walked into the room like Jay Leno, shaking hands with invited guests as he made his way to the podium where a laptop computer was
Getting the Room Temperature Right for Innovation
The Innovation of Excellence blog led us this week to a presentation titled Re-Thinking Creativity & Innovation (& Play), by Ben Rennie, the director of 6.2, an agency and innovation lab in Melbourne, Australia. (They have a very interesting website. Why do we all look so much better with
When Moving Forward Means Letting Go
The great 73-year-old actor Frank Langella – he was nominated for an Oscar for playing Nixon in the film Frost/Nixon– was interviewed on National Public Radio over the weekend and was asked about getting older. He said that he’s found a kind of strength in recent years that he wasn’t
Craig Huey, president, Creative Direct Marketing Group, Torrance, Calif.
SIPA: What was your first job out of college and how did you get into this business?
CRAIG: In college and when I graduated with a secondary education credential, I had been working part-time on direct marketing for political and Christian campaigns. I decided instead of going into
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Jobs Leaves Behind Machines – and Quotes – to Live By
In grazing the Internet to try to measure the un-measureable, global impact of Steve Jobs on our society, I came across a Chinese website—check out the little birds flying around—that listed some of his most famous quotations. This was after watching BBC this morning and
Asking the Right Questions and Getting Key Answers
“Now more than ever, it’s increasingly important for publishers to maintain a mobile presence,” Ben Bassi of CommonPlaces told a SIPA 2011 Conference session in June. “If you’re looking to optimize your site for mobile phones and tablets, there are a few different approaches.”
At a roundtable there, Greg
Getting Sales and Marketing Teams on Same Page
There has always been a bit of a disconnect between sales and marketing. One wants to build the brand and expand the channels, while the other needs solid leads and has to focus on the next sale. But there are ways to bridge this gap. A research provider
Robert Lerose, Lerose Copywriting, Uniondale, N.Y.
SIPA: What was your first job out of college and how did you get into this business?
ROBERT: I went to work for a small newsletter publisher that covered the real estate market in New York and the surrounding suburbs. They put out special directories on a different sector of the
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Different Phrases for Different Places
From yesterday morning’s Marketplace on National Public Radio:
[Host] Jeremy Hobson:
I don’t have OnStar in my car, but I do have a cell phone in my pocket, and I assume that there are companies that would be more than happy or maybe are already using that data to sell to marketers.
David Lazarus
Anderson’s Email Charter Puts Onus on Sender
So I cut out this commentary on Sunday from The Washington Post by Chris Anderson, the one who is the curator of the TED Conference, not the editor of Wired (and not Chris Andersen, who has the most tattoos of any NBA player). In the paper it’s headlined, “Do
New Survey Finds Word of Mouth Stronger Than Ever
It’s no wonder that Facebook wants to add all these features so that you’ll see what your “friends” are watching, doing and, yes, even thinking. And the “circles” and “hangouts” of Google+ seem to be taking us in the same direction: “You share different things with different
Russell Lawson, Managing Director, Optimus Education, London
SIPA: What was your first job out of college and how did you get into this business?
RUSSELL: I actually avoided work once I finished University and went travelling for a year. I came back five years later, after having wandered through central and southern Africa and southeast Asia, got
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Stephen Reily of Vibrant Nation accepts the annual Mequoda Rocket Award, which honors the fastest growing Mequoda Gold Member website
September 20, 2011 (Waltham, MA)— The Mequoda Group awards growing special-interest online publishers each year with the Mequoda Rocket Award. The award is given away to the Mequoda Gold Member who has experienced the highest growth
The Power of Video to Draw People in
The popular D.C. Shorts Film Festival just concluded here in Washington, and watching the various films only reiterated the power of video—at any length—to draw you in. Arlin Godwin who produced “The Man in 813,” which won the outstanding local film, told us that he didn’t have the
A Little Social Marketing Etiquette Can Pay Big Dividends
In her new book, Content Is Ca$h: Leveraging Great Content and the Web for Increased Traffic, Wendy Montes de Oca—an occasional speaker at SIPA conferences—offers her 10 rules of social marketing etiquette. (I added #11.) So while you’re getting those marketing messages out there, just remember that
New Program Advances Software-Generated Articles
How important is good, original content? I became a little worried the other day when I read a story in The New York Times about a new start-up company in Evanston, Ill. (Northwestern University) called Narrative Science.
Said the article: “The company’s software takes data, like that from sports statistics, company financial
