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07 January 2009 Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR [email protected] 1 IMEDIA CONNECTION: MOST READ Technology that will turn heads in 2009 JAN 7, 2009 6:01PM What cool new technology trends will emerge in the upcoming year? See what the innovative agencies are adding to their arsenals. NEXT: INNOVATION TOOLS & TRENDS Teens Don’t Think Scientists are Nerds JAN 7, 2009 5:03PM Today’s teens don’t see scientists as “nerdy,” according to a new study from the Lemelson-MIT Program, a non-profit based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology devoted to recognizing exceptional inventors. In the phone survey of 501 American teens, conducted in mid-November 2008, only 5 per cent described scientists as “nerdy.” Okay, so this post might seem like a satirical news story in The Onion, but the data in the 2009 Lemelson-MIT Invention Index, just released today, suggest that U.S. teens are eager to study science, perhaps against popular belief. (This year’s survey, the twelfth, is the first to focus only on Americans 12-17 years old and how they perceive of invention as a discipline. In the past, the sample was broad ages). Twenty-five percent of the teens surveyed said scientists are “successful.” The majority (55 percent) chose “intelligent” as a way to describe men and women in the sciences. The study also points out that among those polled, a whopping 85 percent expressed interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. And 80 percent surveyed said they feel “their schools have prepared [them] to pursue a career in these fields, should [they] choose.” But while this all seems like a rosy picture of America’s future in global innovation, two-thirds of the kids polled suggested that they need mentors in these fields and don’t have them. They don’t know anyone personally in these fields. So what’s to be done? They survey suggests that teens feel their schools are good places to learn science and math. But there aren’t enough role models — Steve Jobs, the Google guys aside— in the real world, in their real lives, to help teens truly understand how to shape careers as engineers and inventors. Does the media need to be better about covering who is innovating, beyond the usual suspects? Should scientists and technologists be more vocal, active, and in the public sphere—and in their communities? MANAGESMARTER.COM - PRESENTATIONS TOP STORIES Principles of Persuasion JAN 7, 2009 5:00PM Whether you’re conducting a one-on-one interview, motivating your sales team or delivering a keynote address, your success as a leader is defined by your ability to persuade with clarity and passion. MANAGESMARTER.COM - SALES TOP STORIES Link to Customer Loyalty JAN 7, 2009 5:00PM Maritz and Welcome Real-time introduce new program in U.S. and Canada. MANAGESMARTER.COM - SALES TOP STORIES Principles of Persuasion JAN 7, 2009 5:00PM Whether you’re conducting a one-on-one interview, motivating your sales team or delivering a keynote address, your success as a leader is defined by your ability to persuade with clarity and passion.

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07 January 2009

Today’s TabbloidPERSONAL NEWS FOR [email protected]

1

IMEDIA CONNECTION: MOST READ

Technology that will turn headsin 2009JAN 7, 2009 6:01PM

What cool new technology trends will emerge in the upcoming year? See

what the innovative agencies are adding to their arsenals.

NEXT: INNOVATION TOOLS & TRENDS

Teens Don’t Think Scientists areNerdsJAN 7, 2009 5:03PM

Today’s teens don’t see scientists as “nerdy,” according to a new study

from the Lemelson-MIT Program, a non-profit based at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology devoted to recognizing

exceptional inventors. In the phone survey of 501 American teens,

conducted in mid-November 2008, only 5 per cent described scientists

as “nerdy.” Okay, so this post might seem like a satirical news story in

The Onion, but the data in the 2009 Lemelson-MIT Invention Index, just

released today, suggest that U.S. teens are eager to study science,

perhaps against popular belief. (This year’s survey, the twelfth, is the

first to focus only on Americans 12-17 years old and how they perceive of

invention as a discipline. In the past, the sample was broad ages).

Twenty-five percent of the teens surveyed said scientists are “successful.”

The majority (55 percent) chose “intelligent” as a way to describe men

and women in the sciences.

The study also points out that among those polled, a whopping 85

percent expressed interest in science, technology, engineering and

mathematics. And 80 percent surveyed said they feel “their schools have

prepared [them] to pursue a career in these fields, should [they] choose.”

But while this all seems like a rosy picture of America’s future in global

innovation, two-thirds of the kids polled suggested that they need

mentors in these fields and don’t have them. They don’t know anyone

personally in these fields.

So what’s to be done? They survey suggests that teens feel their schools

are good places to learn science and math. But there aren’t enough role

models — Steve Jobs, the Google guys aside—

in the real world, in their real lives, to help teens truly understand how to

shape careers as engineers and inventors. Does the media need to be

better about covering who is innovating, beyond the usual suspects?

Should scientists and technologists be more vocal, active, and in the

public sphere—and in their communities?

MANAGESMARTER.COM - PRESENTATIONS TOP STORIES

Principles of PersuasionJAN 7, 2009 5:00PM

Whether you’re conducting a one-on-one interview, motivating your

sales team or delivering a keynote address, your success as a leader is

defined by your ability to persuade with clarity and passion.

MANAGESMARTER.COM - SALES TOP STORIES

Link to Customer LoyaltyJAN 7, 2009 5:00PM

Maritz and Welcome Real-time introduce new program in U.S. and

Canada.

MANAGESMARTER.COM - SALES TOP STORIES

Principles of PersuasionJAN 7, 2009 5:00PM

Whether you’re conducting a one-on-one interview, motivating your

sales team or delivering a keynote address, your success as a leader is

defined by your ability to persuade with clarity and passion.

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2

MANAGESMARTER.COM - INCENTIVES TOP STORIES

On the Edge: IncentiveArchitects vs. Incentive BuildersJAN 7, 2009 5:00PM

As you begin 2009, you have two choices to make regarding your

incentive and reward strategy: You can start from a blank sheet of paper

and design exactly what you need, or you can revise an existing program

design to get something close.

MANAGESMARTER.COM - INCENTIVES TOP STORIES

Link to Customer LoyaltyJAN 7, 2009 5:00PM

Maritz and Welcome Real-time introduce new program in U.S. and

Canada.

TECH DIGEST

CES 2009: World’s firstprojector phoneJAN 7, 2009 4:58PM

I’ll be honest here - I’ve never sat there with my phone and wished I

could project its contents onto a handy flat surface, but I recognise that

there’s a few situations it might come in handy - a camping trip, or

impromptu business meeting, perhaps. Well, even if there’s not much

demand, Logitech Wireless has a solution regardless. It’s the “Logic

Bolt”. It’s got an inbult projector, which can throw a 64” image onto any

white, flat, surface that you desire. It’s also got GPS, a 3-megapixel

camera and a touchscreen. Not exactly pretty though, is it? (via

ShinyShiny) More CES gubbins here.

IMEDIA CONNECTION: MOST READ

Website design tips for trackingROIJAN 7, 2009 4:40PM

Marketers frequently overlook opportunities to measure and boost their

digital ROI using website data. Here’s how you can close the gap between

strategy and design.

SHINY SHINY

CES 2009: Bog-standard P70and E70 digicams from PentaxJAN 7, 2009 4:24PM

Somewhere amidst all the gadgety madness, Pentax are at their stand

showing tech lovers their latest compact digital cameras - the Optio P70

and Optio E70. Now, Pentax doesn’t exactly trigger feelings of

enthusiasm from within, despite releasing a few cameras worth shouting

about during the past year, and its latest line of mid-range digi cams are

no different. In fact, the E70 (gold) looks a little dated, which explains its

entry-level status, which then serves to further explain those large

control buttons. Basic design aside, it’s a 10 megapixel camera with 3x

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zoom.

TECH DIGEST

New developments in the Tetrisworld - now it helps reducemental traumaJAN 7, 2009 4:22PM

Tetris. Always with the bloody Tetris. We’ve had Tetris ice cubes, Tetris

chocolate, another kind of Tetris ice cubes, Tetris watches, Tetris

furniture and even Tetris MADE REAL - now it’s time for life-affirming

Tetris making people better news. Basically, some doctors have been

using the timeless obsessive/compulsive block-tidying puzzle game to

relieve the symptoms of stress sufferers. They found that playing Tetris

30 minutes after being exposed to harrowing imagery...

TECH DIGEST

CES 2009: WowWee CineminPico Projectors - candybar,swivel and dockJAN 7, 2009 3:47PM

Last time we heard from WowWee, they showed Ashley a robot at last

year’s CES. I guess they decided that there’s not much money in robots,

because this year they’ve got a bunch of cheap, tiny, but remarkably

attractive projectors instead. From left to right, there’s the “Stick”, which

takes SD cards, but also has some internal memory, the “Station”, which

lets you both dock your iPod and display its contents, and the “Swivel”

which has a 90° hinge, letting you project your videos skyward. It also

packs a three-hour battery life, for those long sessions of lying on your

back. No pricing or availability yet, beyond “2009”. Find more CES

coverage here. Tempted? I sure am. Related posts: Optoma Pico

portable projector - pack 60 inches in your pocket | Toshiba pico

projector - nice tech but is it totally useless?

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SHINY SHINY

Tetris a cure for post-traumaticstress disorder?JAN 7, 2009 3:33PM

Exposure to terrifying or highly stressful events can be really traumatic.

If you’re feeling the strains of post-traumatic stress, perhaps a bit of

Tetris will make it all better. Yep, you read correctly - Tetris could be

your cure. Apparently... well according to that ambiguous bunch of

people, otherwise known as scientists (from Oxford University), Tetris

could be the healing treatment you need to get over a traumatising

ordeal. How? That’s exactly what I want to know.

TECH DIGEST

Wear your Walkman: Sonycould offer wearable W-SeriesWalkmanJAN 7, 2009 3:31PM

Sony could be about to unveil a wearable Walkman - the W-Series, where

presumably “W” stands for “wearable” — in a very compact and

attractive design. Sony Insider claims some real-world pictures of the

device. The two earphones are magnetic and attach themselves to the

player forming a distinctive heart shape when not in use...

TECH DIGEST

Nokia 5800 ‘Tube’ finallytouches down in the UKJAN 7, 2009 3:31PM

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We were wondering when the Nokia 5800 was going to show up, but it

wasn’t ‘in time for Christmas’, after all. Nokia has just dropped us an

email to confirm that you’ll be able to get your sweaty hands on the

‘Tube’ in the UK on Friday 23rd January. Initially, it’ll only be available

in Nokia’s Regent Street and Heathrow Terminal 5 flagship stores, as

well as online, but come Friday 30th, it’ll be available from anywhere.

Interestingly, Nokia will be selling it unlocked and SIM-free to start with,

for £250. I would get excited, but with the N97 just round the corner, the

Tube can get stuffed. Nokia Shop Related posts: Nokia 5800

XpressMusic coming very soon, in time for Christmas perhaps? | Shiny

Preview: Nokia 5800 XpressMusic aka The Tube

BLOGGING TIPS

ATTN Writers & Bloggers: 3More Reasons to StartFreelancing – Now!JAN 7, 2009 3:15PM

Written by Yuwanda Black from Inkwell Editorial

In yesterday’s post here entitled Freelance Writers: How to Make Money

from the Competition, I talked about why freelance writers (bloggers

too), should embrace competition.

Well, last night as I was getting ready for bed, my head was spinning

with more reasons you shouldn’t worry about the market being too

competitive if you’re a freelance writer or blogger. So, following are three

more reasons to dive on in.

1. 100,000 New Prospects a Day Who Need Your Freelance

Writing Expertise: Experts estimate that as many as 100,000 new

websites go live every day. The following backs this assertion up.

According to Netcraft.com: The November 2008 survey [of Web Server

stats] shows worldwide monthly growth of nearly three million websites,

with responses now being received from a total of 185,167,897 sites.

[Source: http://news.netcraft.com].

What do all of these newcomers to the web need? Content, content,

content.

2. Most People Are Lazy: I’m often asked how I do all that I do (write

and market my own ebooks, run an internet marketing firm, promote

affiliate products, blog, update two websites, etc.).

It’s because I put in 10, 12 and 14 hour days. Most people are just too lazy

to work like this over the long haul. So, they quit and look for a regular 9-

5 job; that is, if they ever even get around to freelancing full time.

Freelancing is not hard, but it requires a hell of a lot of elbow grease in

the marketing department, especially for the first few years. So yeah,

while there may be a lot of freelance writers out there, most of them

aren’t in it for the long haul. This means they’re no competition for you if

you are.

3. Freelance Writer Burn Out: On the flip side of this, some

freelance writers move on to other things because of burnout.

I received an email just this week of a successful freelance copywriter.

She’s been doing it for 15 years, and decided this year that she was going

to stop taking on client projects and start writing and promoting her own

e-products.

In her words, “I see 2009 as my year to create and market products, as

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the individual writing gigs for clients are losing their charm for me.

Too much work, not enough money.”

So there you go – three more reasons to get your freelance writing

website up, get your writing samples in order and start marketing for

freelance writing jobs (and blogging jobs). There’s plenty of work out

there – you just have to go get it!

Copyright © 2009 Blogging Tips. This Feed is for personal non-

commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news

aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement.

Please contact us so we can take legal action immediately.

Written by Yuwanda Black from

TECH DIGEST

Rock adds Intel’s Q9000 quad-core chip to its Xtreme 780gaming laptopJAN 7, 2009 3:14PM

There are very few true PC gamers that’ll willingly buy a laptop over a

desktop, primarily because the performance-price difference is so great.

Rock’s just added an Intel Q9000 chip to its flagship gaming laptop - the

Xtreme 780, but I suspect the majority of gamers out there simply won’t

care. It’s not even that great a machine. Quad-core aside, the 512MB

Nvidia GeForce 9800M GTS is merely adequate, the 2GB of memory will

look very meagre before the end of 2009, and a 250GB hard drive is

considerably less than most gamers will need. For £1700, which is what

the Xtreme 780 costs, you could make two desktop PCs that outspec this

laptop.

NEXT: INNOVATION TOOLS & TRENDS

The Collective Power ofIndividualsJAN 7, 2009 3:02PM

Last night, two things happened on Twitter that seem to me to point to

the reality of our present day connected world, with trends that are

budding now that will revolutionize many an industry and many a life.

Happening # 1

David Armano (@armano), VP of Experience Design at the Chicago

marketing consultancy Critical Mass, posted an enigmatic tweet on his

Twitter feed. “Hey everyone. I am going to need a very BIG favor from

you. It’s going to be asking a lot. I’ll let you know more very soon.” A few

minutes later he posted a request for help for Daniela, a family friend in

a bad situation.

Sadly, we’ve all heard similar stories before. But what happened next was

nothing short of phenomenal. Armano’s network of 8,150 followers

swung into action, spreading the word about Daniela. Within a few

hours, donations had reached $5,000. This morning, donations have

topped $11,700, and there’s probably more to come.

Happening # 2

Tireless tech world figure, blogger, Tweeter (etc), Robert Scoble

(@scobleizer) found himself in a jam.

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TECH DIGEST

CES 2009: Pentax announcesOptio P70 and Optio E70,possibly the most forgettablecameras in historyJAN 7, 2009 2:04PM

The rather non-glamorous Pentax has revealed a couple of thoroughly

mid-range new digital cameras - the Optio P70 and Optio E70. The P70,

on the left there in the fetching white finish, is the most impressive

model, managing 12megapixels with a 4x optical zoom, a 2.7” LCD

monitor round the back and what Pentax calls its “Pixel Track Shake

Reduction technology” image stabilisation tool. It’ll also come in red and

silver, if you’re mainstream enough that one of the first things you look

for when buying a camera is what colour it comes in. Meanwhile, the

E70 (right) is a bit more “entry level” - offering “large control buttons,” a

10megapixel sensor and 3X zoom. Both will be out in the US this

February...

POSTS BY DANIEL FLAMBERG - IMEDIA CONNECTION BLOG

10 Things NOT to Do in 2009JAN 7, 2009 2:01PM

Don’t Panic. The earth will keep spinning on its axis and marketers of

all stripes will need to communicate and persuade customers and

prospects. Focus on the meat-and-potatoes issues in your business.

Invest extra time and energy to find new ways to conceive, craft and

transmit messages that better differentiate and more clearly

communicate the value and the urgency of your brand.

Don’t Get Distracted. The economy is in a free fall. Most of us hope

Obama knows more than we do. We pray that he and all those new

appointees have a really good plan. He might. But whatever he’s got

won’t make things better on January 22nd. So focus on the stuff you can

affect. Ignore things you have no control over. We all have to assume an

AA mentality by grasping the notion that most things are out of our

control so we have to use our time and energy wisely to impact the

handful of things we actually can exert control over; mostly ourselves.

Take a short term focus. Cover each month’s bills. Take one step forward

after the next. Try to ignore the daily doomsday screeching and then

endless warnings that the sky is falling down.

Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow. Great relationships are

forged in adversity. Now is the time to stick close to your clients and your

people. Mine and harness the energy, the goodwill, the advocacy, the

insights and the and ideas that often go uncollected or unexploited

during the normal course of business. Invest in each other. Hold up your

value proposition to a 360 SWOT analysis. Find new and better ways to

reach out your customers.

Don’t Ignore Your Network. Social networking demonstrates that we

are linked together. We are navigating this life together. So leverage your

connections. Reach out to others. Ask questions, share ideas and share

resources. The whole is stronger than the sum of the parts, so leverage

the whole. Remember that the value of a network expands exponentially

with use. An unused network degrades rapidly.

Don’t Bring Coupons to a Party. Social media is evolving, emerging

and morphing everyday. You wouldn’t come to a party at my house and

pass out coupons. We’d think you were rude and gross. Facebook,

MySpace and others are the digital online equivalents of that party.

Understand the milieu and enter cautiously recognizing that the brand is

NOT in control, consumers are. Take your cues from them and respect

their sensibilities.

Don’t Stop Experimenting. We are in the “wild west” phase of social,

mobile and online video media. There are no ideas that are too crazy

especially since our technologists are inventing, extending and mashing

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8

up new things daily. The recession makes these platforms and the

creative content to fuel them affordable and measurable. So get below

your competitor’s radar and play around with images, messages and

media. Who knows maybe your nutty idea will become the new “best

practices”?

Don’t Ignore Mobile Media. The new generation of Blackberries and

the iPhone are important steps on the evolutionary path toward a single

multi-purpose device that combines, integrates, synchronizes and

aggregates computers, the Internet, telephony, credit and debit cards,

digital photography, Swiss Army knives and who knows what else. And

while it might take a few years for the number of daily users to reach

hundreds of millions, this phenomenon will be upon us before you can

say “Tim Berners Lee.” That means now is the time to get familiar with

mobile media. Begin thinking about the idea of constant access to the

Net and constant consumer motion and communication. This

development will forever change they way we stimulate brand

awareness, preference and purchase and change shopping expectations

and behavior in ways we can’t yet predict..

Don’t Write Off Direct Marketing. When marketing money gets

tight, bean counters rule. Direct marketing continues to enjoy great

public acceptance, strong ROI, measurability and an under-exposed

degree of creativity and inventiveness. Direct mail, DRTV, telemarketing

and other DM tactics are proven result-getters which can be pulsed or

turned off and on at will. Expect smart marketers to default to direct

marketing and look for smart DM players to do well in hard times.

Don’t Forget to Measure What Matters. Most marketing is

assessed two ways. We measure effectiveness in returning profitable

business results and we count efficiency in terms of the value received

compared to the cost, usually expressed in some form of ROI calculation.

There are millions of other distracting and partially relevant things to

count, sort and calculate. But in a recession focus on two simple

questions; “How much profitable new business did this drive?” and “Was

it worth it?”

Don’t Abandon Customer Satisfaction. Acquiring new customers

costs a multiple of delighting and retaining existing ones. In tough times

you need the efficiency of happy customers referring their friends. Focus

on customer service. Talk to customers. Listen to them too. Solicit their

ideas and feedback. Institute loyalty and reward programs. Do whatever

you can to encourage them to buy more. Emphasize customer service

and include the voice of your customer in your product and marketing

plans.

Filed under: Opinions

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POSTS BY DANIEL FLAMBERG - IMEDIA CONNECTION BLOG

Why CMOs Snub SocialNetworksJAN 7, 2009 2:01PM

Millions of people have started using social media in the last year. 49

million visited MySpace or Facebook in October 2008. But more than

half (55%) of 180 Chief Marketing Officers from medium to giant brands

aren’t interested.

What’s up with that?

Could it really be that the marketing leaders of top consumer and B2B

brands really don’t care that Facebook and MySpace have aggregated

huge audiences which are can be targeted using a range of psycho-

demographic criteria or are these the guys who are so out of touch they

can’t hold the job for more than a year and a half?

My hunch is neither.

I suspect that the survey, done by GfK Roper Public Affairs on behalf of

Epsilon, a leading direct marketing services company, reflects more

caution and uncertainty than outright stupidity. It’s not a stretch to

guess that CMOs are skeptical about these large looming communities.

Here’s why:

They’re Too New. There’s no track record, only anecdotal results. There

are no proven strategies, no best practices, no brands claiming victory,

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no clear buying tools or metrics and the weenies who typically become

CMOs won’t do anything that somebody hadn’t already pre-chewed and

pre-digested for them. There isn’t any agreement on what marketers

should use social networks for. Are the awareness, preference or sales

building vehicles? Remember these are the same guys who are just

beginning to recognize and cautiously test the Internet as a viable media

channel. And their doubts are probably nurtured by the sites themselves

who are immature at packaging, selling and merchandizing the

audiences they’ve attracted.

Nobody Wants Ads. The primal attraction of these sites is the absence of

advertising and the joy of connection, sharing and communication

between friends. Marketers don’t know how to join the party and have

few organic connections with which to “friend” customers and

prospects. Gaining entrée, framing the message, devising creative

executions and knowing how and when to communicate are all open

questions. And while a brand like the New York Times can collect

183,000 Facebook fans and send 400,000 virtual gifts, most CMOs don’t

know what to make of it. Is this a good, so-so or bad result? The social

networks haven’t sufficiently answered the “so what” challenge.

Not Sure Whose There. CMOs are asking the question Butch repeatedly

asked Sundance, “Who are those guys?” The preliminary answers aren’t

encouraging despite the fact that 57% of users log in daily and spend

more than 30 minutes per session, according to IDC. Steve Cone,

Epsilon’s CMO says “the sites narrowly appeal to high school and college

students.” But he’s a year behind the power curve and has a vested

interest in selling CMOs other digital assets.

A P&G executive was quoted as asking “who wants to put our message on

a site where somebody is breaking up with their girlfriend?” And

Murdoch biographer Michael Woolf really pooped on MySpace users

saying they are “poor cretins” none of whom “has beyond an 8th grade

education.” CMOs used to relying on and hiding behind refined

demographic and psychographic data won’t buy a pig in a poke.

No Control. Social networks are party lines. Anyone can edit, review or

comment on almost anything. It’s the antithesis of advertising which has

for decades carefully placed well-crafted and well-researched messages

in precise pages and in precise time slots to meet well defined audiences.

You can’t interrupt programming with an ad or push a message to people

on social networks. This is the exact opposite of 60 years of advertising

practice and experience. Few CMOs have a risk appetite to take a flyer or

to potentially associate their brand (by design or default) with an

uncontrolled range of ideas, associations, images or messages. Don’t

expect mainstream marketers to break with tradition or inertia easily.

Limited Metrics. Cookies don’t work on social networks. Measuring

anything is a leap of faith. Whole Foods distributes coupons. BlendTec

circulates wacky product demonstration videos, and Reebok encourages

runners. But we can’t calculate the ROI, measure media efficiency or

gauge relative effectiveness using the media metrics we’ve come to know

and love. Absent numbers, few media buys get made.

The real message in the survey results is that we are clearly in the early

adopter phase where mainstream marketers watch the early

experimenters and try to gauge value and effectiveness. Advocates of

social media need to develop a different marketing paradigm to either

translate or replace the lens used by marketers to assess and buy media

channels. Assuming that Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and others will

last and become a regular or preferred part of consumers’ media

landscape; we need to find new ways to help established and insurgent

brands make new friends.

Filed under: Social Media

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POSTS BY DANIEL FLAMBERG - IMEDIA CONNECTION BLOG

Marketing Yourself in theRecessionJAN 7, 2009 2:01PM

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Layoffs are a daily occurrence in this recession. Too many of my friends

and colleagues have found themselves involuntarily benched. If

thousands in each industry are on the street finding a new job requires a

personal Zen that’s comprised of patience, routine, sustained confidence,

steady action and considered risk-taking.

To effectively seek work – you have to think like a marketer and market

yourself as a brand. Identify your unique selling proposition, carefully

target your potential new employers, craft persuasive messages and

determine ways to get the attention and consideration you deserve. But

be realistic. The toughest part of job hunting is managing your nerves

and marshaling your resources.

The good news is that thousands of others are in the same boat. There’s

no embarrassment to being out of work. But that’s also the bad news;

thousands are competing for hundreds of jobs. It’s a buyers market

where some employers are trading up.

Here are ten must-do steps to keep you sane and on track toward your

next job:

Create a Routine. Job hunting isn’t a full-time job, especially when the

jobs you want are few and far between. Set up a daily routine. Check

email, surf job boards, then walk the dog, exercise, meet friends for

lunch and watch Oprah. Structure your day so that you do what you need

to and reduce the likelihood that you’ll obsess about your circumstances.

Prepare Your Pitch. You’ll need a killer resume with several

variations, cover letters summarizing your greatest hits, references and

selling points to acquaint headhunters with your strengths. These are

messages you can control and shape. Writing and rewriting them gives

you a sense of control and comfort and is something you can actually

work on while you are waiting for the right opportunity. Anticipate the

questions an interviewer might ask and prepare the answers. Make a list

of people you worked with and your role in each assignment so you can

quickly cite an example of how you fit the job specification. Spend time

wordsmithing, be introspective and write like a journalist — don’t bury

the headline. You’ll have 5-10 seconds to grab somebody’s attention so

pick your words carefully and be sure you are accenting you strongest

selling point.

Don’t Pitch Every Job. You are anxious with one eye on bills and the

other on your savings account. But restrain yourself. Many of the jobs

posted aren’t real. Many aren’t right for you no matter how much you’re

worried about cash flow. Pick your shots. Take the time to craft a short,

punchy cover letter that translates and matches your experience to the

job requirements. Doping this math for an HR person will dramatically

improve your chances of making a short list.

Stutter Step Your Submission. The vast majority of online

applications come in during the first 24 hours after a job is posted. Huge

numbers of people are applying automatically to all kinds of jobs that

they aren’t remotely qualified for. Many employers can’t handle the

numbers so they dump the first response wave because nobody is willing

to wade through 500 resumes. So pick your shot, wait a day and then

apply. There is a reasonable chance that your patience will earn you

more consideration.

Set Alerts. Let jobs find you. Do a search using the keywords that fit

your ideal position. Save the search as an alert. You can do this in 45

seconds on Craig’s List or at www.indeed.com, www.simplyhired.com,

www.tovix.com, www.jobster.com. Each day the jobs most interesting to

you will end up in your Inbox. If you like, you can set more than one

using keywords for different titles or different industry sectors. All you

have to do is sort out the duplicates and decide where to click to apply.

Surf Social Networks. Let you r Facebook and MySpace friend know

you are looking and sign up for professional groups or forums on Ning,

Naymz and LinkedIn where many jobs are posted and many recruiters

are lurking. Also check trade association and trade publication sites and

industry newsletters many of which either have job listings or report on

openings, new positions and employer’s plans.

Don’t Be Bashful. You can’t win if you don’t play. Tell people you are

looking and what you are looking for. Most people assume that friends

and family know their situation and will do the math for them. This is

usually NOT true. And, while it might make you blush, you never know

who knows whom. Tell your maiden aunt, your cousin Boise and your

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neighbor, cousin, high school BFF or sister-in-law just might be hiring.

Publish. In an interactive world, employers will search the web or

prospective employees either to identify people in companies or

industries of interest or to check out candidates they’ve heard about or

talked to. So while you’ve got the time share your expertise by publishing

a blog or positing thoughts, comments, opinions or advice on blogs,

portals, professional communities, media sites or job boards. You never

know if your clever response to a news story our your nuts-and-bolts

advice to an industry peer will send an employer in your

direction. Remember many more people read this stuff than write posts,

so consider it a form of self-marketing.

Engage Recruiters Gingerly. Most recruiters are actively trying to

find the needle in the haystack; the perfect candidate that meets all the

requirements and nice-to-haves that employers fantasize about. If you fit

the profile, these guys are your new best friend. If you connect on a real

job prospect immediately find out if they have an exclusive retainer or if

they are pitching you on contingency. Their status with the hiring

organization will drive their behavior towards you.

If you don’t, they don’t hate you, but don’t expect a return call. Every

recruiter keeps some kind of database and almost everyone remembers

individuals with interesting stories, unique expertise or even odd-

sounding names. Many allow you to upload your resume to their sites,

others are happy to collect resumes by e-mail and many post openings

on their own sites and larger job boards trolling for candidates.

Try to find the recruiters who specialize in your industry or your

functional specialty. Expect that recruiters will be a mixed bag ranging

from skilled, understanding conversant professionals to half-wit jerks

looking to score a quick commission. And you never know, tomorrow

they can get assignment where you fit the bill.

Seek Out Context. Every job you get considered for is at a different

stage in the search. In some cases you are the first person they’re seeing.

In other cases they already love somebody else or the one they truly

loved turned them down. Get as much information as you can about

where the hiring managers are in the process, their style, their formal

and informal process and the culture of the organization. This will

require you to dig and to push the recruiters; who often don’t know this

stuff themselves. But be persistent. These critical elements vary widely

within industries and even under corporate or holding company

umbrellas. Understanding how you intersect with the on-going search is

the most important piece of intelligence you can get because it will shape

the way you position yourself and cue you about how to persuade them

to hire you.

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POSTS BY DANIEL FLAMBERG - IMEDIA CONNECTION BLOG

Surviving the New Year Biz DevStampedeJAN 7, 2009 2:01PM

The layoffs of 2008 will soon give way to a manic new year’s scramble for

new business in 2009. Marketers, agencies and consultants of all sizes,

shapes and specialties will madly chase a shrinking pool of new

assignments and do their darnedest to seduce customers away from their

current providers.

What’s new is that business is “out there for the taking” because half of

all buyers will be open to switching according to “How Clients Buy”::the

2009 Benchmark Report on Professional Services Marketing produced

by RainToday.com with survey help from the Wellesley Hills Group. The

full detailed report is for sale on their site.

Evidently professional relationships aren’t what they used to be. High

and changing expectations, a financial crunch and the ready availability

of alternatives makes the business development landscape much more

fluid that’s it has been before. Add the continuing need for service and

reduced ranks of internal marketers and there are more potential

openings than most of us might realize. The real question is are new

business seekers willing or able to do what it takes to snag the newly

available switchers?

So what’s a sales guy to do?

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Make it Personal. The top tier methods for getting access to potential

switchers are referrals from colleagues or other professionals and

providers and/or personal recognition by your prospective client of you

or your brand. You have to be out there, visible and know how to get

your foot in the door. The second tier of access is through presentations

or in-person seminars. Again the direction is clear. You have to have

something new or different to say and you have to get physically in front

of potential customers to say it. The benchmarking data validates the old

adage – “people buy people first; then goods and services are

transacted.”

You are Your Website. If you are real you have a website explaining

who you are and what you uniquely do. Your website is the embodiment

of your brand in the customer’s eye. Eighty percent of potential clients

look at your website before they decide to contact you. Customers search

for you or look at your site to verify your claims, assess your bona fides

and/or do the background research on you and your competitors. If your

site sucks, so does the perception of you and your offering.

Proactively Reach Out. Too many marketers are afraid of the phone.

The digital world is antiseptic and unintrusive. But the response rates

and the engagement rates reflect this. The bench mark data suggests that

potential switchers are much more open (almost 2 times as open as they

were when surveyed in 2005) to phone and webinar contact than ever

before. This means you need a good list and have to have something of

genuine value to say or offer to entice further conversation.

Blogs and social media are just coming online as sales tools. They are

worthy of experimentation but aren’t yet proven vehicles to engage

potential new clients. You might get a few ideas by looking at the 14

agency blogs cited by Michael Gass on his Fuel Lines blog.

Focus on Buying Criteria. Way too many marketers get caught up in

the features and never sell the benefits. And even more get way too

caught up in chest beating and never listen closely enough to prospects

to properly tailor the pitch. The reality is – clients want you to service

them, solve their problems and make them look good. Your entire

mission is to convince them that you and your guys can do this faster and

better than anyone else.

For eight out of ten buyers, the critical information for sustaining this

claim is your brand and personal reputation, your category or vertical

industry experience, your task or functional experience and the price you

quote. Every other piece of data, every other claim, all those awards, all

that other blab is extraneous.

Focus on and clearly demonstrate what you know about their business,

which tasks they need that you’ve done successfully a hundred times and

be sure to logically show what they will win, in terms of business results

– cash, profits, new customers, market share, market penetration – by

picking you.

Listen Closely. If you can check your ego at the4 door and discipline

yourself to let the prospects speak four words for each one you utter,

most clients will sooner or later really tell you what they want. In the

bench mark survey almost 4 in 10 complained that potential service

partners didn’t listen to them, didn’t understand them or didn’t respond

in a timely manner. If you can’t do these basic things, don’t bother to suit

up for the sales game because you’ll never win.

Good Luck and Happy New Year.

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POSTS BY DANIEL FLAMBERG - IMEDIA CONNECTION BLOG

Creative Cues From theHospitalJAN 7, 2009 2:01PM

Every profession has a dedicated language; those words, terms, phrases

and concepts that serve as both a short-hand for practitioners and as a

filter to keep outsiders at bay. In most cases these vocabularies are

created or policed by professional bodies much like the medieval guilds

protected the trade secrets and prerogatives of their members.

The best example of this can be found in any hospital where the medical

argot is a mix of Latin, tech terms and centuries of practice, study and

innovation. Doctor’s language is a great wall of China for patients and

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their families; a barrier that instills fear and confusion as it fosters

dependency which is further complicated by the methodology of medical

practice driven by hospital’s need and third-party insurers needs for

efficiency, economies of scale, brad building and repeat business.

A visit to anyone in the hospital offers several clear directives to

creatives, copywriters and marketers:

1. Expose the Process. Everyone needs to understand the basic rules

of the game. In the hospital you are on your own. Doctors, specialists,

nurses, students, aides and schelpers of many stripes traipse into the

room and do stuff. The plan, the sequence and the goals are rarely

understandable or clear and nobody is incented to tell you. Finding out

what is wrong with the patient, who is managing it, what are the issues

and considerations and what is going to happen next is much harder

than the most complicated video game and more frustrating than the

best mystery novel.

2. Loose the Lingo. In real life most people get it and most things can

be explained simply or by analogy. Consumers and patients aren’t as

dumb as we look. The professional nomenclature which marks guild

membership is a turn-off and a barrier to effective care, especially in

cases where the patient’s family or friends need to give the medical team

data, context or information. Without understanding what’s going on

and what the doctors are thinking about, patients and their loved ones

edit the data they share which in turn can complicate or frustrate

effective treatment. This holds true across many service businesses

where professional ego and distance creates an unnecessary and

counterproductive adversarial situation..

3. Consider Context. Every message to a human brain is processed

through the state-of-mind filter. The hospital, by its nature, is a scary

and disease filled place. Anxiety is ubiquitous. Add the scary visual of a

loved one confined to a bed, near naked and uncomfortably hooked up to

honking and beeping machines and your target customer is lost in a sci-fi

world. You must factor in the emotional context of your target audience

since all medical and stressful communication has to start with the

understanding that the audience is disoriented, fearful, ignorant and

anxious. Too often the medical professionals’ cool, professional and

familiar context rather than the patient/family context drives the

message and the communications style.

4. Get Real. Humans are physically and emotionally sturdy. Evolution

has wired us to nimbly handle threats and to instinctively process

information. There is little or no point in withholding information or

attempting to guild the lily, especially to people supporting patients with

chronic or persistent ailments. Nobody thinks medicine is a precise

science. Everyone understands that there are multiple variables at play.

But few of us have the patience to slog through dis-information or the

knowledge to piece together the real story from fragments and snippets

of data and opinion parsed through a large and unknown cast of

characters.

5. Tackle the Topline. Take charge of the communications burden

and tell customers or patients the topline. You have the affirmative,

proactive communications burden. It’s not okay to hide, duck or wait till

the customer or patient is red-faced, screaming or homicidal before

sharing information. Everyone needs to understand where they are, what

is happening next and what are the possible outcomes of the game. This

is true if you are selling socs online, undertaking an eLearning exercise

or supporting a chronically ill relative.

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POSTS BY DANIEL FLAMBERG - IMEDIA CONNECTION BLOG

Capturing Online Video ViewersJAN 7, 2009 2:01PM

If you post it, they will not necessarily watch it is the emerging lesson

from YouTube, LiveVideo and the entire class of evolving video

community sites.

The emergence of limitless user and brand generated online video

content has attracted widespread comment and a land rush by content

owners abd creators to meet potential friends and customers on these

sites. But the use of this channel to ache8ive marketing objectives is as

beguiling as it is intriguing.

I’m astounded at the sheer quantity of material that ranges from stupid

cat tricks to TV bootlegs to endless confessions to well produced material

created specifically for web viewing and downloads. Overnite we’ve

become a nation of film directors and videographers committed to the

notion that a picture is worth a thousand words and a moving picture is

exponentially better.

David Parmet, an online PR expert, argues that “social media are not

sales channels, they are conversation channels” so that marketers

should “think of yourselves as conversationalists” and emphasize the

connection by listening and reacting rather than trumpet the product

message. And while we think that we can intersect with and begin a

conversation with prospective customers using this “infotainment” or

“edutainment” venue, getting eyeballs and turning those eyeballs into

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sales is still a matter of trial and error.

Consider my going-in assumptions

1. My clients’ psycho-demographic are on these sites

2. My video material is searchable, tagged and can be aligned or grouped

with like material

3. By linking video with my website, blog, Myspace page, iTunes or other

content sources, I can faciliate broad and easy access to my message

and stimulate traffic

4. If the content is compelling or resonates with my target audience, they

will help drive traffic and share the links to virally extend the campaign

So we put up a sequence of 3 videos aimed at 25-35 year-old mostly male

IT guys in small and medium, businesses. Our creative was a mix of live

action video showing “real” working situations and animation using

World of Warcraft characters as a projection of emotional reactions to

routine office situations.

Here’s what we’ve learned:

A. Shorter clips get more views

B. Animation ghets more play than live action

C. Search engines drive a decent amount of traffic to video sites

D. We doubled our traffic by actively commenting on blogs and posting

opinions in communities and including a link to our video

E. We think more links and more connections will yield more traffic.

F. The burden of creating interest is entirely on us. Unlike TV or cable

channels where no matter what you do somebody will watch your stuff,

we have no baseline audience online.

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POSTS BY DANIEL FLAMBERG - IMEDIA CONNECTION BLOG

The 8 Second ImperativeJAN 7, 2009 2:01PM

Half of all the people clicking on your landing page bail out by the time 8

seconds elapse according to SilverPop. Optimizing landing pages is the

fastest, easiest most cost effective thing you can do to improve sales, lead

generation and customer engagement.

Each minor step you make will increase process flow and drive

incremental conversion. The objective is to instantly orient visitors and

make it as easy and as intuitive as possible for them to do what you want

them to do. Everything starts with the understanding that a click onto

your landing page is a gift from God with a half-life of a nuclear isotope.

It begins degrading as soon as it granted (8 seconds) and it represents

the BEGINNING of the conversation not the end.

As a site operator or marketer you must do everything possible to extend

the 8 seconds into a registration, a download or a sale. Most of the moves

are logical and require no extra technology. According to

MarketingSherpa, the average e-mail landing page converts between 5.6

and 11.3 percent of those who click, depending on the offer. E-commerce

landing pages produce conversions in the 5.6-7.6 range.

So here are the “rules” — for LANDING PAGE OPTIMIZATION —

BEST PRACTICES

1. Use Readable URLs. Don’t get fancy. The URL validates your

credibility and reassures visitors that they are in the right place doing

what they came to do.

2. Mirror the Offer Copy and Design. Where they land absolutely

has to look, feel and read like where they came from. The e-mail, the

mailer, the keyword all must be reflected in the landing page. If not, your

prospect is confused and given an incentive to exit. It helps if all of this

looks like the website too.

3. Repeat the Call- to-Action High on the Page. You hooked them

with this in your communications. Remind them why the came and what

you want them to do as soon as they get there.

4. Create Distinct Landing Pages. Too many marketers dump

clicking visitors onto their home page. You might as well abandon them

in Grand Central Station. For each marketing vehicle you need a separate

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corresponding landing page that mirrors the look, tone, copy and call-to-

action of the ad message. These can be easily templated and cloned. Its

about creating distinct and simple URLs and mapping marketing

vehicles to landing pages. Its also about focusing on one task and one

goal at a time.

5. Focus on Action Sequences. Site visitors expect a logical step-by-

step flow. Give it to them. Anticipate how they think and what they want

and build the landing page to deliver simple, easy-to-follow buying or

registration sequences.

6. Use Short Copy Above the Fold. Never Scroll. It’s a game of

glimpses and nanoseconds. Say it short and in 250 words per page or

less. If the copy is dense signal impact or call out key ideas by using

subheads. The population is aging so 10 point type is the minimum

readable size. Use images to reinforce and illuminate. You are not

writing an epic, you are writing a postcard. If they have to scroll, they

abandon. Fight for simplicity. Most successful pages are dark type on a

white field.

Also relax the need to include every branding element and hero shots on

the page. Clickers know who you are and where they are. They are

anxious to do something other than romance your brand or fight your

intramural battle. You have captured the attention of a prospect now

capture the order. Most successful pages lose the hero shots and have

minimal brand elements. A landing page is not the forum to work out

your entire branding gestalt. It’s about facilitating action.

7. Limit Navigation. The purpose of a landing page is to close.

Eliminate any choices that don’t focus on the goal. Don’t kid yourself

about up sells and cross sells. Get the download, the registration or the

sale first, then make your second move. If they want to see your whole

site, they’ll go there.

Right now they’ve granted you a click. Your job is to eliminate extra

opportunities to go elsewhere and do other things. Reduce clickable

elements. Eliminate as much navigation as possible. Its a magic focused

moment. Keep it that way. Keep your eye and their’s on the prize.

8. Collect Only Absolutely Necessary Data. Don’t be too nosy. If

you can get bye with just an e-mail address take it and follow up later.

Forms scare a healthy number of site visitors who instinctively

understand that if they give you data, you’ll be hocking them till the end

of time.

Obviously orders and payments require collecting more data. But

streamline everything you can. Make it as easy to enter data as possible.

Don’t ask visitors to type the same stuff over and over. But do ask them

to opt-in for future communications either newsletters or by permission

to message them again.

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Brand Strategy Must DriveIntegrated Marketing in Web2.0, 2.5 or 3.0JAN 7, 2009 2:01PM

Web 2.0 was about finding, developing and embracing interactive

technologies to engage customers, prospects and other constituencies.

Web 3.0, says Clark Kokich of Razorfish, is about integrating these cool

new toys to work together to achieve business results.

While Michael Leis jokes about the nomenclature, Clark’s underlying

thought is spot on; the holy grail of integrated digital marketing is to

frame a vision of a fully realized multi-dimensional interactive

relationship between a brand and its customer base and then implement

that vision using the latest and greatest tools we can find to achieve

predictable business results.

It’s a grand but very difficult grail. Why?

Four reasons. 1. Because it forces us to get past the “amazing” features of

each new tool and focus on end-user benefits rather than first user

bragging rights. 2. Because the tools are constantly evolving and we are

unlikely to settle on a few at the risk of missing the next big thing. 3.

Because it requires both agencies and clients to overcome organizational

and attitudinal silos with their attendant politics of self-interest in

service to a greater goal. 4. Because it requires marketers to balance

measurable business effectiveness against probable marketing

efficiencies which demand a combination of proven tactics and carefully

considered experiments; risks that both agencies and clients are

generally afraid of.

But there is a way forward, if marketers would adopt these four tactics:

Follow a Boss. Altitude is the only predictor of successful marketing

integration. Somebody at the top of the organization (possibly a CMO)

has to be the boss, make decisions, broker arguments, set the direction

and establish the party line. It’s a stick-your-neck-out posture that

requires vision, guts and political savvy. Too many post-modern, post-

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industrialist MBA-trained managers publicly shrink from the very notion

of a boss, but without it, the natural politics of bureaucracies will

overwhelm and undermine any effort.

Build Consensus Goals. The most effective marketers have a vision

that sets a goal which then determines a logical series of priorities that

drive creative, channel and spending decisions. This is that big strategy

piece that everyone talks about and aspires to but few actually

accomplish. A broad but quantifiable goal gives context to all the varied

tactics and lays out hypotheses for finding synergy within an

organization and its marketing partners which can be mapped out as

tactics and executed in a coordinated and thoughtful way through a set of

channels. The game is won on the choice of strategy not on the choice of

channels.

Harness the Mule Team. Nothing great ever gets done unless

everyone is in-harness and pulling in the same direction. This requires

the greatest application of energy and force and is most affected by

staffing choices and vendor selection. Nobody sets out to create a

dysfunctional operation, but too many of us end up with one because we

don’t have the discipline or the appetite to harness, direct and motivate

our team in a single direction.

Picture & Measure an EndState. Too many marketing efforts attack

immediate pain points or address immediate problem areas. Not enough

start with an understanding of what the brand needs and wants in terms

of its relationship with clients and their identification with the brand that

drives adoption and purchase of its products or services. Brands need to

set awareness, preference, attitudinal, purchase, loyalty and interactive

goals, and then deploy marketing programs to engage customers to

achieve the stated objectives. Then measurements of business

effectiveness and internal efficiencies can be used to genuinely steer the

ship.

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POSTS BY DANIEL FLAMBERG - IMEDIA CONNECTION BLOG

SEM Data Provides CreativeCuesJAN 7, 2009 2:01PM

The key words and phrases customers and prospects use most can be

creative cues for other forms of branded messaging. But too few creatives

mine the insights from SEO analytics.

Maybe its because SEO is considered to be an arcane art like alchemy or

maybe because the data-centric nature of SEO puts off copywriters, but

there is little connection between these players who often work on the

same brand. To my way of thinking, it is missed cue and waste of

resources. It seems to me that effective key words or phrases — defined

as those words and combinations of words that prompt significant clicks

— are proven indicators of rational or emotional brand or behavioral

triggers. And given the wide variety of ways people search, it’s a veritable

shortcut into the consumer psyche.

Something about these words or phrases instantly communicates a

brand value or a proposition that searchers understand, believe and are

willing to click on. What better cue about how to craft messages that will

resonate with target audiences. And while two-to-five words do not an

ad, an e-mail or a sell sheet make, there is an explicit direction to be

discerned.

Writing effective key words is like origami. You have to twist, turn, fold

and re-fold your ideas, expectations and copy points in unusual and

sometimes surprising or convoluted ways to create a short pithy and

motivating message that strikes a chord with searchers. The task

is daunting. The writer is trying to psyche out potentially millions of

searchers coming at a question from an infinite number of perspectives

with an infinite number of expectations, points of view and search

habits. So when you craft a phrase that attracts a significant amount of

traffic, its a fair bet that something in the choice of words and/or the

sequence of words creates a meaning, an understanding or an answer

that speaks to potential customers. Is anybody willing to ignore this kind

of intelligence?

I’m asking everyone I work with to mine keyword successes and draft

contextual language and proof points around them to build compelling

marketing communications assets for use online and offline. I’m also

insisting that we export the test-and-learn sensibility and discipline from

the SEO world into the creative and design process.

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POSTS BY DANIEL FLAMBERG - IMEDIA CONNECTION BLOG

Ten Marketing Lessons FromInventorsJAN 7, 2009 2:01PM

Inventors aren’t like you and me. They think about things that don’t

exist; that aren’t there. They operate on a different frequency.

They iterate, incubate, massage, manipulate and relentlessly test ideas.

They seek to fix things and fill voids that you and I aren’t conscious of.

Some ideas are radical, some incremental, some innovative, some

ingenious, some simple, some complex, some inventive, some derivative,

some sequential and some inexplicable. Some turn into real things.

Others are just fantasies. Some become prototypes and some, though far

fewer, become viable products.

Attending the 36th Annual Salons Internationale des Inventions in

Geneva reminded me how small the box, I try to think outside of, really

is. Being in the company of engineers, mechanics, grease monkeys,

practical thinkers, fantasists, futurists, gear heads, wizards and nudniks

has brought on a full marketing gestalt reminding me of fundamentals

that too often are taken for granted and reinforcing he ruthlessness and

competitiveness that characterize the marketplace for products and

ideas.

Inventing is a supreme act of optimism. An inventor rejects the status

quo in favor of what might be. An inventor assumes there’s something

different and better yet to come. Inventors articulate the revolutionary

impulse that drives our civilization.

Here are ten lessons these guys have taught me or put me back in touch

with:

1. Feelings Matter Most. How we feel determines what we want and

what we do. The feelings are the drivers not the rational arguments or

the features and benefits. Marketers have to communicate or stimulate

feelings to move the needle.

2. There are no fresh or free experiences. Everything is filtered by

language, culture, experience, media and context. Every choice – words,

color, image, music, tone, face etc – hits pre-set buttons which condition

the response. We all bring a huge bag of pre-judgments to every

experience and every message and we be conscious of what they are and

how they might impact our audiences.

3. Be Open to the Other. Other people really do think and process

differently. Their brains work differently. Their neural pathways are

different. Be open to inflections, interpretations and new inventions.

Allow yourself to be surprised or to stand in wonder or in awe of

something new or different. Accept alternative points of view.

4. Accept Good Enough. Reject the impulse to perfect things. Nothing

is really ever perfect and yet the demand perfection precludes the

articulation and implementation of things that are truly good and useful.

Don’t wait for utopia. Accept and advocate incremental change for the

incremental value it adds to ideas and to our lives.

5. Anticipate Predictable Reactions People respond to change in

predictable ways. . You can see the mental gears grinding as people sort,

filter, file and compare something new with their stored database of

information and experiences. By understanding the spectrum of

predictable reactions, marketers can better shape initial presentations

and follow-up messages.

6. Vet Every Word and Image. Framing a single idea and

communicating it to a room full of people who come from different

places, think differently, use words differently and hear differently is a

challenge. There are no common definitions for words, no common

understandings about what is funny, cool, sad or ironic. It increases the

challenge of copywriting and creative thinking by a full magnitude.

7. Differentiate or Die. What’s new, what’s different, what’s better

and why should I care are the inventors’ and the marketers’ benchmarks.

If it isn’t different or different enough it dies. Marketers must exert

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maximum effort and creativity into positioning and framing the

differences. Without one; you’re just another “me too” brand.

8. Simple Trumps Complex. The simple idea is the most easily

understood. Often complex mechanics or technology is required to bring

the simplest idea to life. If in doubt, default to the simpler choice.

9. Don’t Fear the Unknown. Open yourself up to new possibilities.

See stuff others don’t. Ask for things that don’t yet exist. Demand new

ways of doing things. Change your altitude, your attitude and your

perspective. Shift your lens and your focal length to illuminate stuff

that’s been there all along that you never noticed before.

10. Fight for Your Ideas. If it’s good enough to propose and put

forward; it’s good enough to fight for. Don’t let others trample your ideas

or modify them out of existence. Marshall your arguments and your data

and leverage your intuition. Marketing is as much an art as a science and

those who seriously practice need to have conviction, backbone and the

willingness to fight for a good idea.

Filed under: Opinions

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POSTS BY DANIEL FLAMBERG - IMEDIA CONNECTION BLOG

Engaging Bloggers to GeneratePRJAN 7, 2009 2:01PM

Bloggers are opinion leaders. They can influence brand awareness, set

customer expectations and reward or punish service delivery or lapses. I

buy these arguments. What I’m not sure about is how to address them to

get the best spin for my clients.

In one instance, I searched Technorati, Ice Rocket, Sphere and Google’s

Beta Blog Search tool to identify people blogging in our category,

industry or product category. I built a list of 65 people and personally e-

mailed each of them. I wrote a straightforward e-mail identifying myself

as a representative of the company, soliciting their opinions and offering

a free product trial. Five responded. Three took the trial. Nobody wrote a

syllable about our product.

The next time I sent the same universe a press release announcing a

product innovation. The release resonated with several trade papers and

consumer reporters. My “press” mailing yielded several inquiries, a small

wire service story and three product reviews in desirable specialty

magazines. The bloggers remained on radio silence.

Since then I’ve been mulling the problem – how do you reach out to and

influence bloggers who can in turn influence your customers and

prospects?

Then I read an essay by Andy Sernovitz on iMedia Connection which

opened my eyes to a radically different approach to these citizen

journalists. He essentially argues that you need to join their party rather

than invite them to yours. Like journalists, bloggers set their own

agenda. Those seeking to influence the agenda have to intersect it on its

own terms. Influencing their posts and their audience requires following

their threads, commenting on their posts and presenting your product or

your point of view in their context.

You still have to be forthright, upfront and clear about who you are and

who you represent. You cannot disguise yourself or pretend to be an

uninterested civilian inserting product or brand references. But it’s about

aligning what you are pushing with what they are thinking, talking and

writing about.

Filed under: Social Media

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POSTS BY DANIEL FLAMBERG - IMEDIA CONNECTION BLOG

Psyching Out SearchersJAN 7, 2009 2:01PM

The fun and the frustration in search marketing is trying to understand

and anticipate how people think. The mental processes by which people

try to find things are often thought to be predictable, but new research in

the journal Cognition, reported in Business Week, suggests that people

file, sort, filter and associate words and ideas much more individually

that previously thought.

On one hand the individualized processing model makes sense. Each

person has their own personal and squirrelly system and syntax for

putting ideas together. Just think about how people come up with

passwords or how they choose to set up file folders and sub-folders. On

the other hand, you’d imagine that public education and standard

teaching approaches and textbooks in reading, basic math and language

skills ought to net out broadly used word associations and tactics for

retrieving and pairing data and information.

The prevalence of individualized associations and perceptions of

similarity and difference have several implications for search marketing

and requires marketers to be creative in linguistics and taxonomy..

1. Cover the Basics. Articulate and embed basic words that describe

your product or service and the benefits end-users can expect from using

your brand. Be as expansive as possible. Think of as many ways as saying

the same thing as possible.

2. Cover the Mistakes. Be sure to plan on searches that misspell or

use plural forms of your brand name and the product names. Embed

and/or buy all the mistakes, variations, regional nuances (e.g hero,

grinder, hoagie, sub, submarine sandwich) Assume that nicknames,

idioms and even derogatory words will be used in the attempt to find you

efficiently.

3. Cover Product Cognates. Plan to embed or buy all the products

that naturally go together (peanut butter & jelly) and as many of the

variations (peanut butter & marshmallow fluff, peanut butter & bananas)

as you can think of. Be as expansive as possible and use both brand and

generic names of product sets to be sure the customers find you.

4. Cover Product Details. Huge numbers of shoppers surgically

search and shop. They want a medium-sized red cotton v-neck sweater

with 3/4 sleeves. Each and every SKU needs to be specified this way to

optimize the likelihood that they’ll find the product on your site and that

you’ll maximize the value of your SEO or PPC effort.

5. Cover Trigger Associations. Think like a sitcom writer and try to

anticipate which ideas, needs or stimuli might trigger product or service

associations. Fall prompts thoughts of Thanksgiving. Football cues beer.

And there are millions more. Remember you are trying to psyche out

millions of individuals who process information in zillions of different

ways.

Filed under: Search

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