Pic Tip Friday: Use bait

Pic Tip # 15: Catch some customers with bait they will bite.

Pic Tip Friday: Visibility

Pic Tip # 14: Put it where people can see it.

Target Your Audiences: Why Men Hate Going to Church

I just finished reading this book about why men either don't pay much attention in church or don't go at all. You don't have to be a Christian to realize the conclusion of the book: Males are not well represented in churches because they do not like the feminine qualities of the church. In other words, if churches would make changes to appeal to a larger audience that includes males and then market themselves to that male audience, male attendance might rise.

Knowing your target audience and developing ways to attract that audience matters.


What have you done to target audiences? Why do you think targeting audiences is important?

Pic Tip Friday: Samples and try outs

Pic Tip # 13:  Let them try it on.

Pic Tip Friday: Community

Pic Tip # 11: Find a way to make a communal experience. People like fellowship and community. It's more fun when there's someone to do it with.

Pic Tip Friday: I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine

Pic Tip # 10: Make partnerships. This pic is of a wall of fliers for different Bay Area theater companies. But it is found at Hillbarn Theatre. 

Branding Tips: Be the original

I recently reviewed Riverdance. It was a spectacular show, but not nearly as mind blowing as I expected. So why has it been so successful? Far more successful than all the knock-off dance shows it has inspired? Because it is the original!


Be the first to establish your brand, and you'll live long and well.

Digitize and keep your audience involved

SHN San Francisco, the Broadway touring platform for San Francisco, is doing something new and digital with the usual dance party that occurs at the end of the musical HAIR, which is currently playing in San Francisco. SHNSF decided to record the parties and make them available online for patrons to enjoy and share. Patrons can share videos, tag themselves in specific moments of the videos, and comment on the videos (and comments are posted to Facebook). The website also includes easy to use links for buying tickets.

SHN obviously knows how to get the word out, and its tactics are keeping patrons involved online, which keeps SHN on their minds until the next touring show comes around.

How have you used the internet and other digital methods? Do you have any specific tactics for keeping your audience involved?

When does offering personalization go too far?

Can personalization go too far?

MySpace offers a lot of options for personalizing your page, but to the point where it became cluttered, flashy, and immature.

Facebook offers applications and games. At one point, they had separate pages for users - on for information and one for applications and boxes (think "What Disney character are you?" quizzes). Facebook, too, becomes easily cluttered.

Twitter offers personalization for one solid background with a set layout for everything else.

Google+ has very little style personalization and a lot of informational personalization right now.

Who has the right idea? How much should a customer be allowed to personalize their options?

Google renaming Blogger and Picasa

Google plans to rebrand the Blogger and Picasa brands as Google Blogs and Google Pics, according to a recent report by Mashable.

I don't think it's a very smart move on their part. Good branding doesn't necessarily equal putting a well known brand's name on every thing. Just read Ries' 22 Immutable Laws of Branding (http://www.amazon.com/22-Immutable-Laws-Branding/dp/0060007737).

I see the Picasa and Blogger logos, and their names are programmed into my brain. Google will have to reprogram everything in the consumer's mind now.

Of course, it's not that big of a deal and shouldn't hurt them too bad since the products are all very different, so it's not like Coke Zero stealing business from regular Coke.

But, still, Google Pics and Google Blogs aren't very memorable names. If they want to succeed, they'll have to bet on the success of the Google name. Luckily, they're already very popular, so they may not have to deal with any problems for a while, if at all.

Chat in the Google Facebook Wars: Facebook announces Facebook Skype Video Chat

It seems that some of the Google+ versus Facebook wars is revolving around effective chatting (video or text). Facebook announced today that it will partner with Skype to offer group and video chat.

Personally, I use Skype for video chat - not Google. And I don't chat very often on Facebook.

Do you want all your chat functions in one place combined with your social media? Or do you prefer to keep them separate?

Glenn Beck's successful marketing tactics leading the way

HubSpot has a great article on the brilliant marketing of Glenn Beck's new online TV network.

My thoughts:

I agree completely with the article (plus I love Glenn Beck). I have friends who have been watching his FOX show on YouTube because they don't have the money for Cable, but this may be closer to home for them and more worth their money, especially with the convenience of having it on-demand.

Also - great thoughts on the disappearing gatekeepers. With online content, you can control things yourself - it's just a matter of using the right techniques to make sure you're not lost in the crowd.

Go here to read the full article.

Popular airline trends in customer service and marketing and why Copa Airlines does not meet those standards

I returned from The Dominican Republic a little over a week ago, and I was less than satisfied with the customer service, public relations and marketing policies exhibited by Copa Airlines.

With JetBlue and Virgin America airlines offering individual video screens for each customer as well as spacious, leather seats for the cabin class, expectations are high, especially for international flights. Based on my experience with these and Copa Airlines, I decided to put together a list of what I expect from a good airline when it comes to customer comfort and service.

Comfortable seats: Not necessarily leather seats, but roomy and comfortable, nonetheless. Copa's seats were comfortable enough, but were nothing compared to other airlines - even domestic airlines.

Free video for each person: Copa had video, but there was only one screen for every couple of rows, and the videos played were preselected. Grant you, it was free to watch them, but considering that British airlines had individual screens for every person back in 2002, I think Copa has had plenty of time to improve. JetBlue and Virgin America offer a cool map feature that lets you see where your plane is, as well as free TV channels and movie options that are on a constant loop.

Pillows, blankets and headphones: On this count, Copa passes. They made these items freely available and easy to access.

Friendly flight attendants: For the most part, Copa passes, but when I asked for an extension seat belt, the flight attended gave me an unfriendly look that made me feel very inferior and stupid.

Not over overbooking flights: On my return flight from Panama, Copa overbooked the flight by 36 people. I understand overbooking by a few people to guarantee a full flight, but 36 people! That's just ridiculous, poor business dealing.

Not making the customer feel guilty/Not forcing the customer to give up seats: Copa tried to convince my group of 15 people to give up our seats due to the overbooking. They pretty much made it look like they had already taken our seats away, even though we had confirmed seats. They wanted to pressure us into volunteering our seats by making it look like we didn't have seats in the first place. Bad public relations, Copa. Try to make a better impression next time.

Reasonable offers for giving up seats: Copa offered to pay for hotel and food, as well as to give each of us $300 in flight credit for Copa. None of us ever planned on flying Copa again - we don't go to Latin America very often. Plus, $300 isn't even enough to pay for a one way flight with Copa, which only offers expensive international flights. Airlines used to offer free flight credit in exchange for giving up your seat. What happened to those days? And if you're going to overbook by 36 people, you really should be willing to deal with the consequences.

So what's on your list of positive airline relations?

Arts marketing and education cuts

I just started reading "Arts Marketing Insights" by Joanne Scheff Bernstein. I'm finding a lot of interesting tidbits in addition to the larger picture presented by Bernstein, and I want to share some of these marketing tidbits and my thoughts on them over the future weeks as I read this book. Here's the first:

"The lack of arts education in the schools in recent decades has created at least one generation of young adults who feel that the arts are not for them, that the arts are elitist and something not easily accessed or appreciated." (page 13)

Educational program cuts seems to be an increasingly controversial topic, and here we find its consequence in the arts industry. Younger people don't feel like they can be a part of the arts because they don't spend as much time around the arts as they grow up. The media portrays the arts like opera as a high and mighty thing not to be shared with the casual, average people.

The problem presents arts marketers with new opportunities, however. It is our job to fill the gaps left by a lack of arts education. Thus, many arts organizations are offering new educational opportunities to parents, schools and their children. Some companies are also focusing on reaching out to the more casual person who would not dress up for a concert.

It's time to adapt.

How are you adapting to the modern trends? How can marketers educate and reach a younger audience?

Brilliant marketing tweets to learn from

HubSpot had an interesting post today on "12 Awesome Tweets to Inspire Marketing Transformation." Here's just a taste (some of my favorites) of the thought-provoking, under 140 characters tweets:

Being in the Yellow Book is like advertising in a book... that is closed most of the time. #transform (via @stacieverbic)

Good marketers have a social media presence, not a resume. A sweet blog is more telling than a degree. #transform (via @RachelGettingIt)

Don't be pushy. "Buy, buy, buy" will result in "bye, bye, bye." #transform (via @elumic)

No time to create content = no time to make money. #transform (via @lightbodymedia)

If Google can't find you, neither can prospective customers. #transform (via @seibways)

What do you think of these tweets? Are they accurate? What are some of the more interesting marketing tweets you've seen?

Read more: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/11918/12-Awesome-Tweets-to-Inspire-Marketing-Transformation.aspx#ixzz1JL8FEnjx

Seth Godin's Seven Questions to Think About

A good reminder of the need to be flexible and nonjudgmental in work - Here are Seven Questions for Leaders to think about from Seth Godin's blog:

• Do you let the facts get in the way of a good story?
• What do you do with people who disagree with you... do you call them names in order to shut them down?
• Are you open to multiple points of view or you demand compliance and uniformity?
• How often are you able to change your position?
• If someone else can get us there faster, are you willing to let them?

Read the rest of Godin's points here.

Lessons learned from spam emails: Writing concisely and clearly

I received a spam email at my school account the other day. You know, one of those emails asking you to help relocate money from some foreign bank account to various charity organizations. Needless to say, I didn't bother replying. But these emails do make me laugh. They're so terribly written, you'd have to be an airhead not to recognize them as spam.

Their mistakes are mistakes marketers, or any writer, should be careful to avoid. While the poor grammar and sentence structure may be obvious in a spam message, the mistakes in your own writing are much more difficult to notice.

Good writing is concise and clear. It does not contain random changes in case or structure, and it does not contain excessive wording. While your writing will probably never be bad enough to give a reader a headache the way a spam message does, it can still lose a reader's attention.

• Stay active ("She sells sea shells by the sea shore" is much better than "The sea shells were sold by her at the sea shore.")
• Cut excess words.
• Make sure your writing is clear of any jargon.
• Make sure you keep indicators like "that" or "then" when you're writing to a broad audience.
• Stick to basic punctuation, but realize it may change for different countries.

For more specifics on writing concisely, I recommend reading The Yahoo Style Guide, which you can purchase on Amazon or read on Yahoo's website.

What are some tips you have for making your writing effective?

The importance of mobile marketing

If you ever doubt the effectiveness of reaching your customers by mobile phone methods, check out Facebook's success. Facebook is very good at following trends to make itself grow. One of those trends it has recently expanded upon is the use of mobile apps. According to blogger Liz Gannes:

Facebook says it has more than 200 million active mobile users, who are twice as active on Facebook as non-mobile users.

Click on over to Liz Gannes' blog to read more about Facebook's most recent mobile methods.

Marketing vs. Public Relations

Two interesting opposing viewpoint posts over at HubSpot echo some thoughts and questions I've had for a while: Are public relations and marketing two completely different things? Or, do they contribute to one another? Or, are they becoming the same thing?

While many of my teachers and several of those I follow on the web seem to believe marketing and public relations are two separate things, I've come to think of them as integrated with the possibility of becoming one thing under the right circumstances, especially when it comes to social media.

Social media networks like Facebook and Twitter can be used to inform, to interact with publics, and to remind publics of a company's product. For example, at Sierra Repertory Theatre, one marketing person heads the social media efforts, posting links to interesting articles and interacting with customers about theatre, but also linking to ticketing systems, commenting on the success of shows, and reminding customers that they only have a few days left to see shows.

I worked for Sierra Repertory Theatre a little over the summer and found that the theatre company has a one-person marketing department that handles both marketing and public relations. The position basically involved maintaining positive relationships with theatre goers and with theatre reviewers at various area newspapers, but it also involves dealing with subscribers and maintaining subscriptions and donations.

In this case, it would seem that marketing and public relations overlap.

What do you think? Can public relations and marketing work together or become one? Are sales driven by public relations?