In the long ago days – say 25 years ago – news was a daily affair and it was consumed in tightly controlled, pre-packaged formats. People read their newspapers and watched the local and national nightly news. The truly committed also read a newsweekly or two and maybe even *gasp* the WSJ or NYT. What wasn’t reported in the newspaper on Thursday or on the nightly news that night just wasn’t news until Friday.

Everyone received the same news influx for almost no cost. TV news was over the air and free to anyone with an antenna and a TV set. Local papers averaged $0.25 to $0.50 per day off the shelf and less than $8.00/month on a subscription. Those crazy people who subscribed to Time or the WSJ, well, they were paying some bucks, but they were definitely not the majority of the news-consuming public. People didn’t pay to be informed. And “being informed” simply meant you’d been exposed to the same news stories that the rest of the people around you had consumed through the limited means possible. A news baseline existed for most of the population. So essentially, most people weren’t willing to pay to just ante into the knowledge game.

Nothing has changed, even though everything is different.

Think about that… cable news, the internet, blogging, citizen journalism, Twitter, real time news feeds: the methodology of delivery is different and the resources (time, talent, money) dedicated to gathering news are much expanded; but my local news is still available over the air for free and my local newspaper still costs a negligible amount. I may pay for access to the ‘net, but my news sources on it, Twitter, blogs, Google Reader… are all free. And I could go to the library or other public access point and get informed.

What have people always paid for? To be entertained. And I don’t mean any stupid hybridization like “infotainment” or “edutainment”. In a developed society, people EXPECT to be informed. It’s perceived as a right of the people and the mission of news gathering… like a higher purpose akin to medical care. Why would anyone pay for something they feel is a right? They won’t. With a few rare exceptions, this is why news subscription sites don’t work. Unless the news is specialized enough to be valuable as knowledge currency (insider information status as opposed to generally being informed), it’s not perceived as being worth paying for.

What I wonder is why magazines, who are already in the specialized information curation business, just in an expensive to produce and maintain print format, don’t continue their primary mission (entertainment) and CHARGE for the curation of their own and other’s quality, niche-specific information online. And why newspapers, who are in the public information business, in the same expensive to produce and maintain print format, keep trying to charge me to be generally informed online. If information curation is the next big thing on the internet, the people who’ve been doing it well for decades (think showbiz mags, home decor mags, cooking, parenting, yachting, golf… whatever) should be leading the way.

What do you think? Can magazine companies become curators and charge for content? Would you pay for quality niche-related content? Has that ship sailed… ?

photo credit: Flikr user Bruna Ferrara

Takes courage to share your voice, but the reward is worth it.

I’ve talked to many groups, clients, friends, family members and even some random strangers (it’s my husband’s fault, he’s just like that) about blogging and content generation over the past year. Many of those hearing my words looked at me like I had recently grown a second head. For all those out there who are struggling with the question, “Why do I (or does my business) need a blog?” or “Why do I need to update the content on my website more often than once every year or two?” here are some things to ponder:

Search engines are hungry creatures. They are always seeking new content to digest. And like any animal, the people they like best are the ones who regularly provide food. Feed the beast, and it will be your friend. Continuing with the analogy, make sure it’s good stuff you feed the beast… no one likes to receive rubber chicken when they were promised chicken cordon bleu.

If it takes three impressions at a minimum for someone to internalize a message and seven touches before they’ll take action (conventional marketing wisdom), why do you only want people to stop by your website once every 18 months? If they know fresh content is a mainstay on your digital hub (whether that’s your Facebook Fan/Like page, your website & blog, your Twitter stream, or ideally all of the above) they’ll return more frequently to check out what you’ve got.

Most of my clients tell me they want to be known as the expert in their niche or market. A blog is a great way to build that rep. Talk about what you know… about what you wish people knew about your field, about products, services, ideas or challenges in your field. Help educate your marketplace. If the challenge is no one knows they are making bad decisions, then HELP THEM know better.

Recognize that you’re in it for the long haul, and it costs way less to work with someone to help you develop a blog editorial calender, maybe edit or polish your posts and help you generate content ideas than your average yearly yellow pages ad buy.

Lots of resources are out there on blogging well. Here are a couple to get you started:

Mack Collier’s The Viral Garden

Copyblogger‘s site

Liz Strauss’s blog

And, if you’re on Twitter, follow and participate in #blogchat every Sunday night, 8PM central to 9PM central, to share, learn and connect with bloggers of all stripes, topics and backgrounds.

I spent some time this week editing my feed reader and was reminded again about how much good information exists out there on the interwebs. Also a lot of bad, really bad, information… and I want to make sure to share the good stuff with you guys.

I compiled a beginning list on the Journal Record’s PR blog (yes, I write that one, too) and am asking that you add your thoughts to the list. We’ll all be better together, and I am definitely about connecting people and ideas. I hope you find some (new to you) nuggets of PR goodness and that you’ll share your favorites with us.

Please feel free to either comment/share here or over on the Record’s site, as you wish I’ll gather submissions from both sites and prepare a more in-depth list of resources and people based on everyone’s shared links.

PR tips and PR People:

Twitter hashtag #PRtips and one of the main contributors, @CyndyHoenig

@Kristen_Okla (Kristen Turley)

@techpr (Marivic Valencia)

@dustinpyeatt (Dustin Pyeatt)

@rcrissinger (Rob Crissinger)

@wiredprworks (Barbara Rozgonyi)

PRSA on Twitter

PRSA web site

@SternalPR (John Sternal)

PR wonderfulness

PR Sarah Evans web site

The Fight Against Destructive Spin

PR Squared site (and also @TDefren on Twitter)

Ragan Communications (and also @MarkRaganCEO on Twitter)

Brian Solis web site

The 360 Days in a PR Life blog

PR Breakfast Club blog

For how not to do PR:

The Bad Pitch Blog (not always work suitable)

(NOTE: this is by no means a comprehensive list… I follow and interact with LOTS of great PR-types, especially on Twitter. For more, try this Twitter list.) Remember… better together. Leave your favorite resources/tweeps/sites in the comments

My brother is a 29-yr-old police officer in a mid-sized town in Kansas. He is also pretty close to squeaky-clean. Knowing those facts makes the following story even more funny. Trust me.

So…. my brother is in Nashville for an FOP convention (for the uninitiated, that’s the Fraternal Order of Police). While wandering around the sights after the convention wraps, the sole of his boot starts to separate. He, being the McGyver type and also a serious cheapskate, decides to use superglue to reattach the sole. He makes the repair, and satisfied with the results, winds up the trip, packs and heads to the airport.

As he goes through the security checkpoint and goes to pick up his belongings from the xray conveyor belt, he notices his boots are sitting atop the xray box and TSA agents are approaching him. They let him know that they’ve discovered a discrepancy with his shoes… can he explain?

He tells them the story of the separated sole and the resulting repair. They “uh-huh” him, ask for his ticket, photo ID, when his plane is supposed to be taking off and where his flying companion is (“Did someone just drop you off here, sir? Didn’t you arrive with anyone else?”) My brother points out his patiently waiting (and quietly laughing) buddy. More TSA agents arrive and escort my brother and his suspicious shoes to a little room for further questioning.

He tells the separated sole story another 3 times to various agents. He tells them why he’s in town… they “Uh-huh” him again and huddle in the corner of the room, discussing the suspicious boot. An agent explains that they’ve seen a round metal disc inside the sole of the glued boot and this is the problem. My brother, being the resourceful guy he is, volunteers to cut open the boot to retrieve/examine whatever the thing is… saying, “If I dropped a quarter in there, I want it back, of course!” The agents don’t see the humor and tell him they cannot cut it open to look (what if it blows up?) and they can’t ask him to cut it open, either.

Being a police officer, he understands that for what it is… we can’t ask you to do it, but you can do it yourself if you want. So, given that they are in a TSA area, no one has a knife. My brother takes a key and saws at the glue. After a while, an agent procures a knife, cuts a hole in the sole, examines the metal plate inside the boot, and returns the boot to my single-shoed brother.

He made his flight and is determined to repair the boot. But not with superglue and not right before a flight.

The moral of the story? No matter how sensible, logical, well-meaning or well-thought out your actions may be, in the wrong context, they’ll make a TSA agent cut open your shoe.

Always consider the context.

Go for WHY: http://www.flickr.com/photos/oberazzi/318947873/

List posts have their place, and I know they are good for traffic. I’ve written them, too. But our super-connected world and the constant flow of information seems to be driving us to oversimplify complex subjects and interactions. By creating lists. Lots of lists. In some cases, lists of lists.
I’m not against all lists… I believe in a to-do list, a grocery list and have tweeted & retweeted helpful design tip, font and how-to lists. But not all things can (or should) be reduced to a bulleted list.

If it’s a complex subject, treat it with the depth it deserves. A marketing communications plan, encompassing goals, objectives, strategies, tactics and metrics should be more than a list of items. A public relations plan should be more than a list of ideas or publications and an editorial calendar. When we start to work with a new client we ask a lot of questions about their business… not just about what they sell and who they sell it to, but about things like:

Where does your money come from? Revenue? Profit streams and margins?

What is the recent history of the market segment you inhabit? Near future changes or evolutions you expect? Long-term future or potential?

Adjacent markets? Competitive markets?

What factors in the market and within your company’s revenue map do you control or influence?

We augment with our own research and then we tackle goals and objectives, clearly grounded in the business case for what we’re doing. The marketing communications plan addresses how the goals and objectives fit the larger picture of the business and where it wants or needs to go. When you start with a good WHY, all the WHATs and HOWs become much easier to define and later on to sell to the people who have to sign the checks to see them implemented.

It’s Halloween. Part of a three-day celebration (at least, in the Catholic church) called Hallowstide. All Saints’ Day, or All Hallows Day, is November 1st. The eve before is therefore All Hallow’s Evening… All Hallow’s e’en… Hallowe’en. The day after (in case you’re curious) is All Souls’ Day, or Day of the Dead.

Before you start wondering what you’ve gotten yourself into with this post, I’m not writing about theology… this post is about communication and its meaning. Over the past 25 years many Christian denominations have systematically tried to rename and reframe Hallowe’en into a celebration of Fall to avoid demonic overtones. The crazy part of that process is that it brings Hallowe’en much closer to its likely original origins in a dim, dusty, pre-Christian past as a harvest festival and pagan celebration of plenty before winter’s grip took hold.

It amazes me that many of the same people who decry the secularization of Christmas blithely remove the “Hallowed” from Hallowe’en and don’t see it as a similar reframing exercise. Communication, at a basic level, is about the understanding between two people, a sender and a receiver. What is sent (intended) and what is received (perceived) are immaterial… it’s what is understood between them that defines what was actually communicated. Before you decide that a concept, product or message needs “reframing,” be sure you understand its essence and meaning… sometimes what needs reframing isn’t the message, but rather the mindsets of the participants.

And the best way to change mindsets is not through push messaging, but through education and open, honest dialogue.

This post is inspired by a conversation with @billhandy and @freshpeel on Twitter, and by Bill’s (lengthy, but good) post about the science behind communities.

My key takeaways/thoughts on the subject are:

Bigger isn’t necessarily better
The ties in your community matter
Work yourself out of a job if you want to matter long-term

Bigger isn’t necessarily better because the value of a community must be defined through a particular set of lenses. Think about the value of your home. The key question is… value to whom? We all think about value of a home as the price we’d get if we sold it to another person interested in living in it. What about the value of your home as potential raw material for a new project? The value of just the land your home is on, to a non-residential user? The value of the goods/furnishing inside? The lens used to evaluate value makes a difference. You need to define the purpose of a community before you can assess its value. If the purpose is to create “a community of bicycle enthusiasts” you need to re-think. You’ve defined who you’re after (bicycle enthusiasts) but not WHY they’ve come and WHAT you hope they’ll do for or be to each other. A better purpose (lens) would be seeking to create “A place where bicycling enthusiasts can share knowledge about the best trails/rides so others can discover and enjoy them, too.”

NOW we have something… we know we’re seeking current riders to anchor the community (new riders would be welcome, but won’t necessarily have the foundational knowledge about best trails/rides to share). We know we’ll need to try to build that community in a space where sharing and organizing information, including potentially maps, photos, written descriptions, even user calendars, will be easy and seamless. We know that search/discovery within the community will be important. AND… if we build it smartly, we can define value to potential marketers of trail-proven cycles, gear, lodging and food/supplies.

ALSO… we have a community built on shared, strong affinity for not just a hobby (cycling) but a particular aspect/segment of that hobbyist community (longer rides/trails/trips). The strength of the ties in your community matter… they’ll drive longevity and advocacy. If people self-identify as belonging to that group, our carefully constructed place should give them a portal to other like-minded individuals and space to share their passion. They’ll seek out others to join who also share that passion if they love the space.

The group’s owner/moderator won’t matter… the group’s own cohesion will serve as glue. If you successfully work yourself out of a job building the community, the value of that community as a sellable, marketable thing increases. “Ownership” can be transferred easily since the group’s members feel ownership… it’s their space. If the community remains a hub-and-spoke connection (each person individually connected to the center, but not many community-member interactions) it’s in danger of becoming irrelevant, regardless of how large it is at the moment. Miley Cyrus had a huge Twitter following. She quit Twitter. Other than tweets lamenting the fact that she’s gone, that community is fast becoming irrelevant on Twitter.

So… to wrap it all up:

Know why you’re building a community, regardless of the venue.

Have a clear purpose and direction and take deliberate actions so you attract the right kind of self-elected community members.

Make it a place where people are there for the THE BIG IDEA so the community won’t falter if you need to back away.

What do you think… how do you best build community?

Humans are hardwired to communicate. My infant daughter cannot yet utter an intelligible syllable, yet she communicates quite effectively what she needs, wants and desires.

Babies are masters of non-verbal communication

Writing with purpose

While talking with a friend and colleague today, discussing blog posts, I had an epiphany… writing blog posts isn’t the hard part. Knowing what to write about, in a general sense, isn’t hard. Writing for a specific audience is the hard part. Thinking in depth about who you’re writing for ~ really ~ is the key to good writing in any medium, anyway, so this isn’t an Earth-shattering revelation.
Everyone who writes “gets this.” Know your audience… yeah, yeah… whatever.
But I challenge you to go beyond “writing for people interested in marketing” (for instance)… are they neophytes? Experienced but still enthusiastic? Jaded? Bored with the field and seeking new inspiration? A post that would appeal to a neophyte marketer and one that would appeal to the jaded among us are likely very different posts even though both would be written for people interested in marketing.
If you’re blogging for more than the joy of self-expression, get that intimate with your goal and objectives, too. Think about (heavens, write down!) how reaching your more clearly-defined audience will help you achieve them. Be prepared to prune posts and post ideas so they serve the needs of your intended audience and further your objectives.

So… who are you writing for, and to what end? And, for fun and to see how well I’m targeting my writing, who do you think I’m writing for?

I dropped my oldest child, now a freshman, off at school to attend his first high school dance tonight. I’d already cautioned him about appropriate behaviour, being where he was supposed to be when he was supposed to be there, etc., etc., when I realized I was delivering the same admonitions my own parents slung at me before my first “real” dance way back when. I took a deep breath, looked him squarely in the eyes, and told him I knew that he knew what I expected from him, and I knew he’d come through. And to have a good time.

Now, I’m not a new-age parent, or parent-as-friend practitioner, either. We walk on the stricter side of life when it comes to expectations and consequences. I know that my son understands what my expectations are because I’ve clearly communicated them to him over the course of many, many interactions. I also know he understands the consequences if he violates my trust in him because he’s experienced those many times as well.

Clear communication is the foundation for successful interactions, be they in business, among friends and co-workers, or between parents and children. Do you…

1. Clearly communicate what you want to have happen in a given situation? Be home by 9:30. Call us to set up a free appointment to evaluate your current materials. Order online.
2. Clearly explain any options or choices? Think of menus in restaurants, options on cars, travel packages… so many things could be improved through clear communication of any choices the buyer may have. My kid can either have me drop him off and pick him up, or one of the parents I know and trust among a select group of his friends. Those are the options.
3. Set expectations for timeframes and urgency? If the deal expires at MIDNIGHT, let me know! If your grass seed only performs optimally when planted in March, tell me. If coming home 2 minutes past 9:30 is still considered late, better let the kid know.
4. Revisit the important points as needed? Did your kids eat their vegetables after only telling them to do so one time? Mine didn’t either. Sometimes you need to repeat yourself in your copy, in your verbal presentation or in your parenting.
5. Deliver the promised results? If he’s late, he’s grounded. When we say it will ship today, it will ship today. It really is a free, no strings attached evaluation of your current marketing material.

If you clearly set expectations with your customers (or your kids), including noting the choices or options available, sharing any relevant urgency, reminding them of the important parts and delivering what you promised, your interactions will be much more fruitful.

Have any additional basic communication rules? Please share them in the comments.