Sooner or later if you do any marketing online, you will hear about using whitepapers. But I wonder how many of the people who talk or write about them really know what a white paper is. The term has been around for at least 100 years and was first used to describe deep background documents or position papers published by the British government. They were called white papers because they were printed on white paper…
The problem with marketing on social media is that the campaigns that work are viral in nature. And you can’t create a viral campaign. You can only put your campaign out there and hope it is catching. Here’s recent example of a Twitter campaign: On a Friday night not long ago, Amanda Palmer, lead singer of the alternative girl band, Dresden Dolls, was sitting at home, alone, when she idly posted the following tweet (without…
If businesses consider creating social media or using the methods of social networking, Professor Piskorski’s research suggests that a good social strategy uses what drives online social networks in the first place, that is: “solving social failures in the offline world”. Helping “people fulfill their social needs online” is at the core of all successful social media sites. Social failure doesn’t mean being socially inept in the real world – it means that a forum…
In a recent episode of The Simpsons, teacher Edna Krabappel confiscated her students’ iphones to stop them from texting. Shakespeare be damned, because the new teacher gave the kids back their iphones and assigned them 20 minutes of Tweets on Twitter for homework. Such is this social networking world – an animated TV show imitating life. The world seems to be one big social network. It isn’t just Edna’s class who are tweeting – perhaps…
Well it seems Hostingcon has taken its toll on myself and our team in the sense that we have been very busy following up with clients since we got back hence my delayed post. I mentioned last time that I would like to explore the airline industry from both a marketing and operational angle. One of my theories, albeit I know next to nothing about the industry, is that I wonder how disappointed an airline…
Many of the Hostingcon sessions have been commented on by various bloggers and unfortunately mine was not one of them. Due to two flights being cancelled, I had an unexpected overnight stay in an airport hotel in Toronto meaning that I didn’t arrive until 6pm on Monday night – 24 hrs later than planned and 9 hrs late for my presentation. I had many people mention to me that they were in the room ready…
In writing about inexpensive forms of advertising or promotion, I asked you to think about “sudden attacks sprung from hiding.” Did the term “ambush marketing” come to mind? It’s a form of marketing or advertising that lets you enjoy the benefits of sponsoring major events, without actually paying big bucks to be a sponsor. I know, I wrote about ambush marketing a few posts back, but it deserves revisiting. Briefly, during the 1990s, a clever…
Countless thousands of dollars get spent every year on viral advertising, in pursuit of the Holy Grail of one million-plus views on YouTube. But the truth about viral videos and games is that you can’t really plan and design them – you can only create them, release them in the vicinity of a suitable host, and hope it spreads. A viral ad or video is viral only if it actually goes viral, so be skeptical…
1. Frequency. As I mentioned before, make sure your press releases are either newsworthy, or that they tell a good story: Quality always trumps quantity. But that said, try to make sure you issue frequent releases to help keep your name high in the minds of editors. 2. Target your releases. Don’t just send them out to every publication and PR service you can think of. Ask yourself who will find your release relevant and…
1. Make sure your press release is newsworthy. If it is truly a newsworthy story, editors are much more likely to use it. 2. If you are sending a release about a product or service, write a story about uses and benefits, not a blatant pitch for your business. 3. Write a compelling headline that makes people want to read more. We like to check the headlines we write using the free Headline Analyzer tool at www.aminstitute.com/headline/index.htm. 4….