Read just some of the stories, then think about whether you are too connected. I find this happening with some of the new toys out there, including Foursquare and Facebook Places. Do we really need this much connectivity? Does this really help us connect?
I wonder if people will be able to flush digital from their systems, even for a short time. There are several people in the office who are in the middle of the Fat Flush system. No comment here on whether that is effective. But, could they undertake a Digital Flush? I expect that would be a much harder task to complete. Now, gotta go check my emails.
I travel for my job. The joys of traveling for work can include stays at wonderful hotels, exceptional meals that you would never cook for yourself at home and endless people watching entertainment. The flipside of traveling for work provides amusing “Murphy’s Law” storylines for sharing at cocktail parties or the dinner table.
On a recent weekend jaunt to “beautiful” Newark, NJ, I arrived at EWR (a facility that has not changed in years and is still as dreadful today as it was 20 years ago-http://www.panynj.gov/airports/newark-liberty.html) to find that the ONLY rental car company that was off-site was the one where I had reservations. After taking a car to the plane, to a train, I needed to take the shuttle bus to get a car to drive to the hotel.
The irony in all of this is that I could see the hotel with the brilliantly lit neon sign at the top, shining like the North Star. Basic orienteering for a kindergartener would have scored easy access to the facility. The rental car company was also within eyesight, however there were numerous chain-linked fences with barbed wire and approximately four highways between the cars and me!
Once on the bus we drove in circles for ten minutes to exit onto the highways continually, looping out of the nautilus and finally ending at my destination. As I complete the paperwork for my rental my cell rings with news that there are complications with the event and we may not be able to participate as planned. I finally get the car and have to navigate BACK through the nautilus of roads and fences to return inside the airport property where my hotel was located, all the while receiving additional calls including my crew telling me they were not able to pick-up product.
At this point it was late and I was tired and had traveled hours. I am left in limbo regarding IF we even have an event to attend and think how appropriate it is since we can’t get product either. Once at the hotel the phone calls regarding all the “issues” went on until after 1 AM.
At 7 AM the calls began again. For the next two hours I field calls and learn that we cannot proceed as planned. So, I place calls to change travel arrangements for my return home. No go! Nothing was available so I had 24 hours to kill in the maze of roads and fences.
After making arrangements to meet a friend for lunch I head to the hotel lobby to get cash. The ATM is broken. I head out and reach one toll, then another, and then the third. I am buried in lane 6 of a 9 lane road feeding into 3 lanes to cross the George Washington Bridge. The toll is $8.00 and I have $7.42. The toll taker was so nice and only took $7.00, leaving me with $.42!
My friend and I agreed to meet at the Pepsico Sculpture Garden, a beautiful sprawling exhibit of art and foliage on the grounds of Pepsico corporate headquarters, open everyday of the year! As I pull up to meet my friend, I see the ending to this crazy 24 hours of travel, “GARDENS CLOSED FOR PARKING LOT REPAVING.” I had arrived at Wally World. I love to travel.
This is a completely untapped consuming market and our clients can gain a huge competitive advantage marketing here. Reaching the dead makes perfect sense as a consumer market, since it's well known that spirits tend to spill things, leave lights on, scare people (which could create a need for medical attention) and do other things that create markets for our clients.
We also expect to create a new set of brand ambassadors among the dead. There will be a natural brand affinity and endorsement opportunity because of the targeting, which we expect will please the spirit world to no end. They'll be sending signals back to their living-world friends and relatives that will encourage them to use our clients' brands. To provide metrics on endorsements and campaign success, the Ecto-Net will feature a "channel this" button.
We're also implementing an Ecto-Net monitoring system, code named The Dead Zone, which will track in real time any other signals sent from the afterworld, so we can monitor campaign effectiveness.
The entire afterworld marketing network is a new approach to social media and networking that has never been tried before. We looked on Topeka and saw some promos from mediums, but that's old technology. We're planning to bring on two consultants with expertise in the afterworld, including Peter Venkman and Egon Spengler.
Fans built their own social networks around NCAA brackets for years before any of the new forms came along. People used to use the ancient forms of bulletin boards (real ones with pushpins, and later, email). Now, you can just do more of it. I'm in the Citizen Sports $5K pool (on Facebook) and the NY Times bracket, which only gets you an iPad. Either way, it's more action!
By offering specific in-depth services to a distinct customer group WSJ attempts to broaden their product line. This new service will be priced between the current WSJ and more expensive services such as Bloomberg.
The immediate reaction by some subscribers was that they were not interested in continuing to receive the “Amateur” edition of the WSJ, many threatening to drop their subscriptions. They were insulted, for the most part, and angry at any price increase that would accompany this change.
The venerated WSJ has changed dramatically over the past several years, partly due to the change in ownership to Rupert Murdoch (News Corp) but also in response to the ongoing struggle of the newspaper industry to continue to attract subscribers. Some of the changes have been to add a Personal Journal section, more features, travel, food, areas that give the newspaper a broader appeal.
Does WSJ really know what their paper’s appeal is? How many subscribers actually delve into the technical financial analysis, and how many tuck it under their arms or leave it on their desk as a career accessory? Will creating a “professional edition” by definition make the existing paper a publication for lay people? Are they eliminating more readers with this strategy than they gain?
Just one of the dangers of segmentation of customer base – you have to be careful not just how you define, but how you label.
Occasionally for popular media, viewer or reader movements have stopped closings. Gourmet is certainly popular among its readers. It's the advertisers who aren't supporting it. But, subscribers don't pay enough to keep the business viable. For readers to save Gourmet, they'd have to show advertisers their value. They'd also have to pay more for content. Read the comments in the NY Times note about the closing. Many love the content, and love getting more information online.
Current media models show that consumers love content, but don't love paying. High quality content costs money. Through mass selection, good content still comes through, but filtering is required to find it. Through this model, Gourmet doesn't work as a business. What if Gourmet recreated itself only with editors, who did nothing but surf the internet for highest quality food content that is Gourmet-worthy? This sounds like a Google model. Ouch.
Net of Guy's comments. Does he use ghost tweeters? Yes. Does he use Twitter for marketing? Yes. Are you shocked? Apparently, some people in the media business, including marketers and digital media experts, were.
Some reactions:
He thinks Twitter is a tool. I think Guy is a tool.
Is Guy Kawasaki singlehandedly ruining Twitter?
Guy Kawasaki: Twitter Spammer
You can read more of the saga, with links to the original sources of all of these comments, at the Clix Marketing PPC Blog, run by David Szetela, owner, blogger and Twitterer.
To allow equal time, Szetela interviewed Guy on his PPC Rockstars radio show on WebmasterRadio.FM. If you missed it, as I did, you can read all the Twitter comments at #PPCRockstars. They are astounding, as many for their cattishness as anything else. Samples:
Is this a Guy hanging? This is like knocking batteries off shoulders
Guy picks on SEO experts who can't create content but uses ghostwriters...WTF!
Ask him if spamming twitter users for traffic is a business plan Garage would invest in
And one that sums it up:
WTF is everyone so wound up about? It's a frackin radio show.
Yikes people. Twitter has many uses. One thing I like is how it's infinitely customizable to a user's need. Create the network you like, that's relevant to you. Don't be so naive as to think you won't come across marketing. This isn't Facebook, you know.
While it may not be a good time to own a radio station, it is not a bad time to advertise on one. Radio listenership remains robust. According to the WSJ article, average time spent listening is 18.5 hours per week. Radio provides immediacy and usually does so more efficiently than TV. Good radio creative works.
Radio's share of advertising dollars is going down, because of the targetability and relevancy of many different online media and proliferation of cable TV options, which can often target as well as or better than radio. But, radio still has its benefits and should have some share of a robust advertising budget. Just not the same share it used to have. Welcome to the new world. And, station owners, don't expect a bailout.
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