Web Ink Now

Mini newsjacking flogs a dead horse

I'm always interested in fun newsjacking examples and here's one sent to us by Mazz PR.

Over the past week, the discovery by DNA testing of horsemeat in products sold as beef has been big news in Europe. The story broke in Ireland last month, spread quickly across Europe, and has resulted in products being pulled from supermarket shelves.

Into the furor jumps Mini with this clever ad: "Beef. With a lot of horses hidden in it."

Newsjacking.

This example from Mini is an ad, and therefore could have come from any number of companies.

For an organization associated with the news in some way, the best way to newsjack is by creating content such as a video or blog post.

When people are talking about something in the news, how can you inject your take? Can you get people to talk about you?

Effective storytelling for business

As content takes its rightful place at the forefront of marketing, I'm seeing many marketers fail at basic storytelling.

Marketers are ineffective when they use the classic "customer testimonial" format and pop that onto their blog or make it into a video. "Here’s our product. It is great. Here are customers who say it is great. Now buy some of our product." This just doesn't hold people's attention.

How interesting would a book or movie be were it to have this plot?:
Boy meets girl.
They fall in love.
They get married.

That's what most people do with their business writing.

Effective storytelling

The best stories drip with conflict. They have a hero and sometimes a villain. There is a story arc. As a writing teacher once told me: "Writing without conflict is propaganda."

Movies and novels have these elements – the best open with conflict in the first scene, on the first page, or even the first paragraph. Usually, it's one character in conflict with others (Batman against the bad guys). Sometimes it's a character in conflict with herself ("I really shouldn't go into this bar, but...").

Example of a good storytelling TV ad

Here an example of a story driven TV ad Audi aired during the 2012 Super Bowl called "Prom". I really like this ad because it is an example of all the elements of a good story. A slightly insecure teenager is unhappy about going to the Senior Prom without a date. But when Dad lets him borrow the new Audi S6 for the night, he gains more and more confidence with every mile, arriving at the Prom a changed young man. There's a confrontation and a resolution. And it all happened in one minute. (The YouTube version of the ad has 10 million views.)

Direct link to Audi Prom on YouTube.

Example of a good storytelling blog post

For an example of a story-based blog post, check out Weather Happens – Be Prepared by Kristiana Almeida on the American Red Cross blog.

Kristiana writes about her life as a kid on Cape Cod and uses that to educate on being prepared for a blizzard. Great stuff. What does the Red Cross really want? A donation. Is a donation mentioned in this post? No.

You too can be an effective storyteller

Here are a few ideas to get you thinking about telling stories that people will want to pay attention to rather than propaganda they will ignore.

- Instead of "creating copy", think about sitting in a restaurant with friends and explaining a little about your work to them. How would you say it? How would you hold your friends' interest? Write that down.

- Rather than talking about the features and benefits of your products and services, consider how you help people to solve problems.

- Who or what is the "bad guy" in your market? Is it the big, famous company that everybody does business with but nobody really likes? Is there some silly government regulation that holds buyers back? How can you weave those into a story with conflict?

- What is the status quo? Use that as the bad guy in your story.

Bonus for reading this far: Here's how I create many of the stories of success I share in this blog, in my speeches, and in my books: I think of the story as a movie or novel and cast the people from around the world whose success I showcase as my hero and traditional offline advertising and the PR pitching approach as the villains. That's what I did in this post. Audi and the Red Cross are my heroes and the traditional customer testimonial is the villain. (Shh... don't give away my secret.)

Want more?

Several years ago I wrote a free ebook Gaijin Male Model: A Case Study in Conflict-Driven Business Writing.

If you’ve got a few minutes and want to dig deeper into using conflict in your own writing, this is a good place to start. No registration required.

Content marketing and video showcase expertise and drive tons of business

You could hardly ask for a more dramatic example of how near zero-cost videos can expand reach and drive business. And it all started because Mary McNeight identified a problem that no one online was helping people solve.

When Mary couldn't find anyone in the Seattle area who would help her train her own dog Jasper for service work, it fell to her to teach her pet to be her service dog. Service dogs that help people manage disabilities like blindness and diseases like recurrent seizures and diabetes.

Later, she enrolled in puppy classes to train Liame, her new Labrador retriever puppy. In the process, she became addicted to dog training—so she made it her business.

Mary spent countless hours learning all aspects of the business, got her accreditation from the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers, and is now owner and director of training and behavior at Service Dog Academy. This business offers private training sessions and small-group adult-and-puppy training classes for both service and pet dog training. They even offer a groundbreaking train your own Diabetic Alert Dog program.

Content marketing and video production

But credentials, skills, and even passion alone don't bring in customers. Her excellent website (featuring dozens of videos that she shot and edited herself) educates buyers and generates high search-engine rankings, driving business her way.

"I've gone from barely having any students to getting anywhere from twenty to forty emails per day requesting my services and advice and verbally praising my work," Mary says. "If that isn't a story of success, I don’t know what is. I have the power to create an audience for any product or service I put my mind to. But I think I will stick with what makes me happiest, helping dogs and the disabled live more productive lives."

In 2010, Mary started making YouTube videos with an inexpensive Flip Video camera and the software that came installed on her Mac notebook computer. "Seeing a need for my students to understand how to make a Kongsicle, I produced my first instructional video," Mary says. Kongs are natural rubber-food puzzle toys for dogs, and a Kongsicle is a Kong with frozen food inside. The video is titled Best Dog Food Puzzle: The Kongsicle.

"A couple of months later, I went to the Association of Pet Dog Trainers conference, and I was startled by a young trainer who said, 'You're Mary McNeight right? You made that video on Kongsicles! I use it as a reference video for my students.' Here was this dog trainer in Florida using my materials for her classes. That was the day I understood the power of YouTube." Since then, Mary has made many instructional videos, with titles that include “Diabetic Alert Dog Scams,” Puppy Doggie Ants in the Pants, and a multi-part series on diabetic alert dog training.

The content on the Service Dog Academy site, including the video series, is created for three buyer personas: pet dog owners, service dog owners, and people who want to train their own diabetic alert dog. After her initial success, Mary purchased a $400 HD video camera, a $20 microphone, Final Cut Pro software, and, as she describes it, "some funky alien-adjustable-arm-looking lights at Home Depot, since I couldn't afford to light my videos with professional lights. The really cool thing about my content is that it proves that it doesn't have to be shiny, flashy, spiffy or cost thousands of dollars to produce. People will watch anything as long as its packed full of useful information."

Make it free

Mary's notoriety and search engine results are aided by her willingness to post content that others in the dog training business are fearful to post because they don't want to give away information for free. "A great success was a video on how to travel with your service dog, something nobody on the entire Internet was teaching people how to do," she says. "I also hosted a webinar that gave an overview of how to train a diabetic alert dog. I placed the webinar capture video on YouTube and was afraid of being banned in the dog training community. This information was not available on the Web because nobody wanted to share how they trained dogs for tens of thousands of dollars. I started getting emails and phone calls from people all over the world asking me for advice on training their dog or just outright purchasing my online diabetic alert dog training program. I’ve had dog trainers who want me to fly out to their location and teach a class on diabetic alert dog training for them.

"How cool is it that this now three-person service dog training organization is getting worldwide attention? I never would have gotten that type of exposure printing brochures or running expensive ads on local television. A couple of months ago, I even had a woman tell me the video I made saved her life! It allowed her to get enough information to help her train her own medical alert dog by herself."

Yes, Mary, it's cool. Keep up the great work and thanks for sharing your story.

A company or a guru?

As organizations need special skills and expertise from time to time, many hire a consultant on a contract basis, realizing it is more cost effective than hiring full-time staff.

Meanwhile, many people with specialized expertise choose to go independent, leaving the corporate world to run their own businesses, contract out their skills, or consult based on their expertise. I've been at it myself for more than a decade.

As I was speaking with my friend Steve Johnson about his recent foray into the world of independence, we discussed the fundamental choice that all independents must make: Are you a company or a guru? Either approach can succeed. However, we both noticed that people who don’t make the choice are positioning themselves somewhere in the middle of company and guru and they generally struggle.

Are you a company or a guru?

If you market as a company, build your business around an idea.

Although they can be a one-person company, those who go the company route typically have plans to grow their business with more and more consultants in the future as demand increases.

The marketing of this approach is to make you the CEO of a company—with the emphasis on "company." A great example is Greg Alexander, CEO of Sales Benchmark Index, who has built a very successful professional services firm focused exclusively on sales force effectiveness. While there is information about Greg on his site, the approach Greg took was to build a company.

When you go this route, write using "we" and "our" and design a site to showcase an organization, not a person. You build around a core offering and use a corporate logo.

If you market as a guru, build your business around your expertise.

Although it can be a large organization, the focus of a guru is on one person and his or her vast knowledge with everything else supporting that person.

Typically, people who write books and speak take this approach. Trevor Young is a great example of someone who has turned himself into a guru over the years he has been independent. He calls himself a “PR Warrior on the frontline of the communications revolution.” Everything on his site is about Trevor, written in his own voice and it is very clear that he is a go-to expert.

The marketing for a guru is typically in first person, with "I" and "my" used a lot. You build around your expertise and use a photo.

You can’t be both a guru and a company

Many people try to be both. They talk about "our company" on one page, and "my work" on another confusing the marketplace.

If you're newly independent, you've got a choice to make: Are you a guru or are you a company? It is a very important decision.

When I first spoke with Steve about this a few months ago, he was signaling the market that he was both a guru and a company and as such he was neither. But it was obvious to me that Steve is a guru, because the market knows him as the tech industry’s authority on product marketing and product management processes.

"I'm sure every marketer goes through this," Steve says. "Are we promoting a company, a portfolio, a product, or a service? Most of us can only afford to do one. Once I really listened to my customers, I heard loud and clear that they wanted my expertise, not my models."

One tip to keep it straight in your head: use a [company] logo on every page to remind yourself to speak in "we" terms; use a [person's] photo to remind you to speak in "I" terms.

"I hadn’t really seen the company / guru dichotomy until David pointed it out," Steve says. "And then it became obvious."

I'm glad to see that Steve has since updated his site. Now he uses the first person and his photo is on every page. He's recently written a free ebook (no registration) called Product Management Expertise: beyond the tactical role. The ebook explores expertise needed in product management including domain, market, product, and business and includes ideas for organizing a product management team.

Hire Philippe Dubost because he has he coolest online CV ever created

My friend Mark Copeman points us to the CV (resume) of Philippe Dubost. He created it in the style of an Amazon page! This is awesome personal branding.

Here's a link to the CV.

I noticed he's updating it in real-time which is awesome. This is just so clever. (Have I gushed enough yet?)

Obviously, it shows that if you were to hire Philippe, then you'd be hiring his creativity. I call this idea of using web content to get others to tell your stories and share your ideas a World Wide Rave and my book with that title is completely free as a PDF (with no registration required) and on Kindle, iPad, Nook, and Kobo ebook readers.

In a tough job market, showing your stuff online works. That's why Lindsey Kirchoff has a great job at HubSpot even when many of her newly graduated peers are still looking for work.

American Airlines announces new branding to its best customers first

Several very positive marketing and product related experiences with American Airlines suggest to me that the company is making great progress since the parent company - AMR Corporation - filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on November 29, 2011.

Telling your best customers first

Late last week I received an email from American Airlines with the subject line "Be The First To See Our New Look". The email said that they want their most loyal customers to be the first to see their new logo and the refreshed exterior of new planes. (I am a top elite-level frequent flyer and have more than 1.5 million air miles with American). The email said that in about two hours a new look would be revealed and it teased with a hashtag #newAmerican. Then, a few hours later, another email arrived with the new branding revealed together with a link to a video Becoming a new American.

I really liked this approach of letting their best customers in on the big reveal. Most large companies would announce such a change to the media first and let the new branding trickle down to customers that way. This is very smart marketing and customer service. The addition of the #newAmerican hashtag indicated to me that American is integrating with social media. Well done.

That particular day, I needed to research an upcoming trip and I noticed the AA.com website had been completely changed over to the new look. Also that day iTunes updated my American Airlines iPhone app with the new branding. Obviously, the team at American had thought through the rollout and had it timed perfectly (at least the parts that I experienced).

American was established in 1934 and the logo and branding had most recently changed in 1968, so it was a big deal to make this switch.

Improving the customer experience

On a recent Europe trip on American Airlines, I was intrigued by the gadget being used by Frank Eschmann, who called it his "Flight Attendant Customer Experience Tablet". Turns out Frank was beta testing it and was happy to explain to me how it works.

The tablet provides details on who is in what seat and includes their frequent flyer status, so Frank instantly knew that I was among American's best customers. Passengers' onward connections are listed so when there is a delay, the flight attendants know who might need extra attention to make tight connections or rebooking.

Flight attendants also use the tablet to record passenger meal selection, which pops up as a color code while the system simultaneously records how many of each meal remains available during ordering. The in-flight announcement scripts are in the tablet as are the entire safety manual for the plane. Each of these features make it easier for flight attendants to provide good service to passengers.

The gadget is delivered via Android on a Samsung Galaxy Note with AT&T running the data and Frank said that there's email and Web interfaces so he uses it in the airports too. The gadgets are still being tested but will roll out later this year.

As a passenger, I think the availability of the tablets will benefit me. Frank says he loves using it, so anytime my flight attendant is happy, I'm happy. And the more they know about me, the better.

American Airlines and the future

While new branding and product improvements like a gadget for flight attendants are relatively minor when it comes to the complexity of an airline, these several positive experiences suggest to me that American has a bright future as they emerge from their recent troubles.

How to use Instagram, Pinterest, and 500px to sell an expensive product

Okay, so Instagram and other photo sharing services are a fun way to share photos with your social network. But how could you use the applications to market your product or service?

When Doug Eymer, a Boston-based creative director, was ready to sell his home, he turned to his Instagram feed at deymer and other photo sharing services to get the home out to prospective buyers.

"We have a unique house in a great spot on the water, and we know that water is prime real estate," Doug says. "We also have an incredible view. We feel like that that adds a significant amount to the price of our house, although it’s not something you can really measure. So I started documenting sunrise every morning, and putting them together into a collection. What's really cool is how the marsh grasses change colors and the leaves in the background change colors. It's an ever-changing view."

Doug snaps the photo each morning and shares the series Sunrises at 31 Bow Street (now well over 100 photos) on a wide variety of social networks and photo sharing sites including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, Foursquare, and Pinterest. He also uploads each day's photo to photo sharing sites including 500px and Flickr.

"On 500px I have sets with all of my photographs, including a set for my sunrise photographs," Doug says. "500px is great as far as followers; and as soon as you post, you start getting feedback right away. Usually it’s like one or two words 'love it, great'. And 500px also gives you a lot of information about the activity on your photos, you can rank what the favorite photographs are, which is kind of cool information. You can see what people are responding to."

Marketing using original photos

When Doug listed his home with a realtor, the photo series became a valuable asset, which the realtor linked to. "The realtor that we used was pretty web-savvy, and he was also posting information on his blog about the photos and he mentioned them on Facebook and on Pinterest," he says.

The approach of documenting the view from his home as the seasons change is a subtle but very effective form of marketing.

"It's brought a lot of attention to our house, especially from people in town and that’s built positive word-of-mouth," Doug says. "There are a few people who respond every morning and I think they look forward to seeing what photograph I'm going to post. When I first started, we had a red canoe that was in the yard. I always made the red canoe part of the photograph. One day we had some high water, and we moved the canoe so it wouldn't float away. People said, 'What happened to the canoe? Where did it go?' Then someone made the leap and said: 'It looks like summer’s over. The canoe has been put away'. That was pretty interesting. It was just one little thing, people letting me know that they were actually watching it."

Taking the photos offline

Doug has taken his photo series offline in a very clever way. In various rooms in the home, he has laptop computers and iPads running a continuous slideshow of his photos of the ever-changing view towards the water from 31 Bow Street. "As buyers walk through the house, especially the rooms which overlook the view, we can show how it changes over time. There's summer, the beautiful changing leaves, and photos of wintertime with ice. It gives people another window on what's outside, and gives them an idea of what is there to look at."

Original photos, shared on Instagram and other photo sharing social networking services are a powerful way to showcase you and your offerings. And when you take your photos and integrate them into your online and offline marketing, you set yourself apart from the pack.

Disclosure: Doug is a personal friend and has been my go-to designer for all my projects for the last decade.

Advice on getting media coverage for your business

Last month I was a panelist in a session called Get Famous Fast: Helping entrepreneurs win at media relations at the MassTLC Innovation 2012 Unconference.

Our ringmaster Scott Kirsner just posted the full audio from the session on his Boston Globe Innovation Economy blog. If you find yourself with a little time during this quiet holiday period, the audio from this session contains 35 valuable nuggets of wisdom from the panel.

As Scott says: "Our goal was to capture advice from everyone in the room about how entrepreneurs can build relationships with reporters / bloggers / TV producers, and how to successfully pitch story ideas to them."

Joining me as panelists were Kate Castle VP Marketing at Flybridge Capital Partners; Dave Balter founder and CEO of BzzAgent; Laura Fitton, HubSpot's Inbound Marketing Evangelist; and Matt Lauzon who co-founded Gemvara.

I previously blogged about the panel here, but at that time did not have the audio.

Photo courtesy of Scott Kirsner.

Market competition and your business

There are many ways to compete in a marketplace. You already know them.

But are you really conscious of your place in the market?

How do your customers define you? How do you define yourself? What makes you special? You’ve got to know what you do better than the other guys and deliver even more of that.

You cannot do everything so letting the other guy offer the cheapest price or have the slickest product is just fine of you’ve, say, got the very best service.

Produce markets in Morocco

This past long weekend I was in Morocco and became fascinated with the local produce markets. I went to several in Marrakech and a country market in Asni at the foothills of the Atlas Mountains that's held once a week.

The produce sellers offer the same basic items and sell in a similar way. But lingering and observing, I noticed ways the proprietors differentiated.

Location - Some sellers got prime position near the entrance to the Medina (ancient walled city) in Marrakech. A similar strategy was to stake out a position near the entrance to the marketplace in Asni. I'm not sure if these spots go to the first to arrive in the morning or if somebody is paid, but there are definitely good and bad locations.

Product – It was orange season in Morocco. The oranges were at nearly every stall and were delicious and cheap. I ate so many I thought my skin would turn orange. If everyone basically sells the same thing, how do you differentiate product? Then I noticed that some sellers had leaves still on the oranges they were selling. This indicated that the fruit had just been picked because the leaves quickly wilt.

Comfort – A few stalls had coverings where people could shop outside of the hot sun. While this might be comfortable to haggle over some fruit and veggies, it was very bright and the direct sun enhanced the look of the products so…

Display – When artfully arranged in direct sunlight, the items just looked tastier.

Service – Being friendly, offering a free sample, tossing in a few extra, packaging in two bags instead of one to make it easy to carry are indications of good customer service, another way to differentiate.

Price – When everyone sells the same thing, there’s a low cost provider. But with margins thin, that’s a tough position to be in.

Advertising – Some of the sellers called out information about their fruit and vegetables.

Sales – Some sellers tried to hustle people into their stalls. But usually the hard sell doesn't work.

Kindness – Some sellers just smiled and caught your eye.

There are probably other ways the produce sellers differentiated that I didn’t notice. Certainly as I don’t speak the local Berber language, there was a lot happening that I didn’t catch.

How do you compete?

We all compete for business in a crowded marketplace of ideas, services, and products. There are many different ways to compete and differentiate your offerings. Copying the other guys is a tough way to succeed.

You've got to know how you're different than the other guys.

You've got to stake a claim as being the best at something.

Photos by David Meerman Scott taken with an iPhone 4S

What converging mainstream and social media means for marketing and PR

Too many people are still hung up with outdated artificial demarcations between "mainstream media" and "social media", arguing that one is more legitimate. This leads to flawed marketing and PR strategic decisions.

This is especially true of many (but not all) public relations agencies whose reps do their clients a disservice by focusing on one form of media over another.

Nonsense. The distinctions have nearly disappeared. You've got to eliminate your prejudice.

Whenever this subject pops up, I'm prompted to ask some questions:

- What is a blog?
- What is an online news site like Huffington Post?
- What is it when a print newspaper like the New York Times or a television network like the BBC publishes an online news site?
- What is it when readers can post comments to on an online story from a magazine?
- What about when a reporter for the BBC maintains a blog?
- What are the Twitter feeds of New York Times reporters?

Guess what? It's all just real time media!

The Huffington Post is a technically a blog. It is written on the Blogger platform so there is no difference technically when I write for the Huffington Post or when I write on Web Ink Now, my personal blog.

The Huffington Post is a blog, but is one of the most important news sites on the Web with a recent Alexa ranking as I write this of 77, making it in the top 100 of all sites of any kind in the world.

The Huffington Post is a blog, but won the Pulitzer Prize in the category of national reporting for senior military correspondent David Wood's 10-part series about wounded veterans, Beyond the Battlefield.

The BBC is mainstream media, but readers can comment on stories (and thousands do).

The New Yorker is a magazine, but people can share links to stories within the site using widgets for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+, and Tumblr.

What the blurring of mainstream media and social media means for your business

When your buyers search Google or another search engine for information related to your business, they don't really care if the top results come from a "news site" like the BBC, a "blog" like the Huffington Post, or your own content rich Web site. So you need to eliminate the bias.

When buyers ask a question on social media they are happy when someone sends a valuable link to information on the web. They don't scrutinize what’s recommended to them and dismiss the blog content and only read the remainder. They're happy for something that educates and entertains.

The best marketing and PR strategies must include creating your own content, including text, video, and images. It should also include strategies for getting noticed by important voices so they write about you, which comes back to the content you create.

photo credit: DanAllison via photopin cc