NMTV Interview: Aaron Strout, Powered, Inc

February 28, 2009 By 7 Comments

Over on the pirate ship, we kicked off the 2009 New Marketing TV (NMTV) schedule with Colin Browning interviewing Aaron Strout of Powered, Inc.  We will be filming regular interviews for NMTV and also have something else really cool that we’re cooking up below deck.  Make sure you subscribe to the NMTV feed.

The video is below in 2 parts.  If you can’t see this video in your feed reader, you can access it here: Part 1 & Part 2

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Filed Under: Interview, New Marketing Labs, Social Media, Videos Tagged With: , , , ,

Who I Learn From on a Daily Basis

February 25, 2009 By

One of the best parts of my day is being able to interact with all of you via this blog, Prime Cuts, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and more.  I truly appreciate the conversations that we’re able to have and always looking to find ways to engage more.

Thank you for all that I learn and the friendships that I continue to make.  I hope that I’m helpful to you as well.

Note: This mosaic is a list of approximately the first 400 people of my Twitter list.  If you’re not included here, you were not left out on purpose.  I value that we get to interact.

If you’d like to build a similar mosaic, you can grab the code from Twitter Mosaic.

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Filed Under: Communications, Community, Social Media, Twitter Tagged With: , , ,

Walking a Dog and Marketing Campaigns

February 22, 2009 By 3 Comments

dogparkThis morning I was walking my dog, Sasha, as part of my normal early morning routine.  Every morning I always seem to see the same people also outside walking their dogs.  What is interesting to me is that even when I’m running a little early or a little late, it seems that I run into the same main group of people each morning.  This got me thinking about marketing campaigns.

Do you think Nylabone or any other dog food/treat company would be highly successful running a television, radio, or email marketing campaign just before AM rush hour or just after PM rush hour?  My guess would be that they would have marginal success.  Why?  Because just before leaving for work and just after coming home is when people usually walk their dogs.  So, they have to think differently.  Come up with new methods.  I know my dog would love a treat if there was a little station that had a trial of the newest Nylabone flavor near where I walk her.  Catch my drift?

When it comes to marketing campaigns, everyone has an opinion and a stat to back it up.  Whether it’s that 100,000 people drive past a particular billboard or Mondays suck for sending email campaigns or this radio spot is targeted right at 7:56a because that’s when the radio has determined the most listeners are tuned in…there is a stat for everything.  Don’t get me wrong, stats matter a lot and I rely on them all the time.  But, what if, in addition to stats, we just used some common sense or talked to our friends, family or colleagues and got their opinion?  What if we experimented and then analyzed the results afterward thus creating our own stats?

I’m not sure if this all makes much sense but it’s at least what I’m thinking about right now.  What are your thoughts?  What do you use to decide what marketing campaigns to run with and when to launch them?

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Photo by: Cocoabiscuit

Filed Under: Marketing, Marketing Strategy Tagged With: , ,

Eating at the Social Media Steakhouse

February 20, 2009 By 5 Comments

Today, Danny Brown takes over my blog with a guest post about eating and social media…two of my favorite things :)

I’m a man that likes his food. While I may not always be the healthiest of eaters, I do try and stay away from the junk and eat as much homemade food as possible. Not always easy to juggle with time constraints, but I try.Being a meat lover, I’ve already told Justin that if I’m ever in Northampton, MA then I’ll be stopping over at his Caminito Argentinean Steakhouse for a house special. I already have a huge amount of respect for Justin, and the fact that he can feed me meat just adds to his star!

It’s pretty apt that he has this steakhouse, as I’ve often said that using social media is a lot like eating at a good steakhouse.

Strategy Appetizers

You always have to start somewhere, and it can be confusing. Looking at the menu, not knowing what you want with so much on offer. Sure, your friends may have been there before, but who’s to say you’ll always like what they do?

Best approach? Take your time. Find out what looks good to you and your tastes. Don’t be afraid to experiment a little – after all, if you don’t like your first choice there’s always the next time. The main thing is go with what you feel would be best for you.

Recommended starters: flickr, Facebook, MySpace

Filling Up On The Main Course

Once you’ve overcome your curiosity and wetted your taste buds with the appetizer, you’re ready for the main course. This is where you can really go to town. You know what you like and what works for you, so now’s the time to start satisfying your hunger.

Don’t be afraid to experiment. The great thing with main courses is that you can really mix and match to get a meal that’s just right for you. Take traditional courses and add your own flavor. Treat it like a buffet, if you want – mix up side dishes that wouldn’t normally be recommended and add little nuggets here and there as you go along.

The trick to really enjoying a main course is knowing that it’s the reason you’re here. Don’t be left disappointed – sample the dishes that appeal to you the most.

Recommended main courses: twitter, blogging, technorati, friendfeed, LinkedIn, delicious, Viddler

Spoil Yourself With Dessert

The way to finish any good meal (apart from a great wine) is with dessert – it just adds the perfect touch to a (hopefully) perfect experience. Besides, who doesn’t like spoiling themselves?

What’s ideal about desserts is that there generally aren’t any bad ones. Unless you have an aversion to sweet things, then there are all sorts of decadent goodies waiting for you. Best approach to dessert? Just lick your lips and dive in!

Recommended desserts: Wordcamp, Podcamp, tweetups

Of course, everyone eats differently. How do you satisfy your hunger?

——

dannybDanny Brown is the owner of Press Release PR, a boutique agency combining traditional PR and marketing with social media. He provides consultancy services to clients in both the consumer and commercial markets, from small start-ups to Fortune 500 businesses.

He is also founder of the 12for12k Challenge, a unique charity project using social media to change the lives of millions in 2009. You can read more from Danny at his social media PR and marketing blog or connect with Danny on twitter.

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Filed Under: Caminito, Guest Post, Social Media, Social Media Strategy Tagged With: , , ,

Linking PR and Journalists Together via Twitter

February 19, 2009 By 11 Comments

journchatEvery Monday night at 8p ET it begins.  People get comfortable in front of their computers and they begin sending out messages apologizing for what will take place over the next 3 hours for those who aren’t joining.  Suddenly the Twitter stream starts filling up with messages being tagged #journchat at an alarming rate.  Have you experienced this yet?  Have you been wondering what it was?

#journchat was started by my friend and PR superstar, Sarah Evans.  As Sarah describes, she started #journchat because

…I believe there is a need in this evolving world of media and public relations for some major dialogue between those who can make it happen.  The mission of #journchat is to keep an ongoing, open dialogue between journalists, bloggers, and public relations professionals…

It turns out that Sarah was right about her belief that there was a need for dialogue between PR and journalists.  As of this week’s discussion, #journchat has become the #1 trending topic on Twitter for 10 weeks in a row during the discussion.  What is really amazing is the speed at which it becomes the top trending topic.  Within minutes of starting each week, #journchat pops up in the trending topics on Twitter Search.  Not long after that it takes the top rank.  There are literally a couple thousand tweets sent during the #journchat discussion.

If you haven’t popped over to #journchat yet, it happens every Monday from 8p to 11p ET on Twitter.  To join and track the conversation, you can use Twitter Search to monitor what’s going on.

I think this concept could be replicated in many other communities.  What I like so much about it is that it uses the existing tools to bring together this particular community regularly each week.  The conversation then continues throughout the week on Twitter as well as on the #journchat Facebook fan page.

Have you tried #journchat yet?  What did you think?

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Filed Under: Community, PR, Twitter Tagged With: , ,
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