Distractions Detract from Work

Ironic that I'm blogging about distractions detracting from work, when I probably could be doing something more productive myself. I just saw this article being tweeted about by Vocus, and I was intrigued.

Once, after a loss, former Tennessee Titans’ coach Jeff Fisher made this statement to the media about his team’s effort:

“I think you have to be able to deal with distractions, put them in perspective and move on. Distractions are the primary reason for losing football games. ”

He didn’t chalk up the loss to a poor planning, a bad strategy, or lack of effort. He pinned the losing effort on distractions.

Read more about "Why Distractions Mean Failure in Football and Marketing."

Think before you jump on a bandwagon!

QR Codes are one of the newest tools in the toolbox for many marketers or public relations professionals. As with any new technology or social media, an organization would be best served to approach these with curiosity, flexibility and strategy. Make these things work for you, and not the other way around.

Read "The Marketing Scan-gasm."

Don't forget to check out our newly restyled website at swmoprsa.org!

Think you know your audience? Watch for new trends!

Knowing your audience is HUGE in public relations and marketing....and using a consistent tone across channels helps to increase transparency and clarity of messages while communicating with your audience. It is important to note that demographic trends are changing, and this Ad Age article discusses one major lifestyle trend. Click here to read the full article.

They are a growing -- and graying -- force.


Never-married single people ages 25 to 34 now outnumber the married crowd by 46% to 45%, a stark reversal from just a decade ago, when couples held a 20-point edge in the age group, according to an analysis of new Census data by the Population Reference Bureau. In essence, selling to singles no longer means just targeting teens and those in their early 20s.

Remember: our chapter has a Delicious account to share and bookmark articles!

What about when the world tires of Facebook?

While no one is claiming that it has happened yet, there is a distinct possibility that the public will tire of Facebook. Growth slowed over the summer, and this article notes that "Some are concerned about privacy, certainly. Younger users, meanwhile, are probably irked that there parents are using the site too." What can we learn from Facebook? Where do we go from here? This article explains how an organization should build in the principles of Facebook to their own website.

Don't forget: our chapter has a Delcious account where we can share and bookmark great articles!

Get in the Game

Ever wonder what all the jargon means? Feel a little out of the loop? Read through this "Idiot's Guide to Understanding Today's Marketing Catchphrases" and get on the same page.

Don't forget - tomorrow is the PR Boot Camp - you can register now!

Article focuses on finding the right mix

Brian Solis offers insight into the marketing and PR mix in this new article, "The Hybrid Theory Manifesto," part one of three.

Hybrid Theory |ˈhīˌbrid thee-uh-ree |: The fusion of creative and communications, combining earned and paid media to enliven ideas, unite communities, amplify stories and spark desired outcomes.

Read the article here

Brian Solis has a gem of a post today, encouraging marketers to realize their place as content "publishers" as social media matures. Solis writes:

I recently called for businesses to broaden their perspective of Social Media from an experimental stage of acting and reacting, to one of learning and leading through intelligence, participation, and also publishing. Creating social profiles and broadcasting tweets and status updates is elementary, whereas creating a meaningful presence through the development and dissemination of remarkable content is judicious.

Read the full blog post here ...

Say hello to the Mayor!

I'm not referring to the Mayor of Springfield. This is the Mayor of your location. Welcome to the world of FourSquare! Businesswire posted five ways you can use FourSquare.

Branding and Rebranding

Check out this article from the Business Insider on the dangers of rebranding.

10 Major Rebranding Disasters And What You Should Learn From Them

A brand identity, name and logo is a company's public face. So you'd think companies would be really careful in figuring out how to revamp that image. Sadly, a good number of recent rebranding attempts seemed to just crash and burn.

We spoke with award-winning branding agency Method, Inc. and branding guru Rob Frankel about the worst rebranding disasters they've seen in the past few years. The lesson? A successful rebranding involves overhauling a company's goals, message, and culture -- not just changing a name or a logo.

Also, messing with a classic is, more often than not, a bad idea. Unfortunately, despite their massive marketing budgets, it seems like many major corporations (and one major international city) haven't gotten the memo.

Click here to check out 10 major rebranding disasters and what you should learn from them





Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/rebranding-failures-2010-3#ixzz0kWS7Uw4Q

Thinking Email Marketing?

Using Flowtown With Your Email Marketing Lists
 
If you've never heard of Flowtown, it’s a service that lets you import an email list, then they cross-reference that data with public social profiles. So I can find out who among my subscribers is on Twitter and Facebook. It might even tell me who’s influential. What now? It’s not like I’m going to bug those subscribers with “more targeted emails” just because they’re “social.” I got one of those emails recently, and I can think of no better way to lose my hard earned subscribers. So I didn’t really think about this Flowtown thing much. Great for 1-to-1 sales, not so much for 1-to-many marketing.


But over time, we added engagement scoring, geotargeting, and the ability to download segments in MailChimp. The combination of all these new tools changed my outlook completely…

Read the rest of the article at mailchimp.