Archive for November, 2008

I’ve been trying to figure out just how effective Twitter can be as a marketing tool. After all, how much mileage can you get out of 140-character tweets?

Apparently, a lot. Tweeting forced a major drug manufacturer to deep-six a new marketing campaign. Seems as though thousands of irate new mothers, upset at what they felt was an unfair depiction in an ad for Motin, turned to Twitter to voice their displeasure. The outcry was so loud and so forceful that McNeil Consumer Healthcare, maker of Motrin, decided to pull the ad.

Now, you can argue about how offensive the ad was — as a 53-year old man, I thought it was kind of clever — but you can’t argue that Twitter was a powerful vehicle for social change.

Popularity: 34% [?]

This week’s Stumbling is focused on blogs, websites and search engines. Seems as thought there are always better ways to do things.

It seems like a new social networking site, micro-blog, or aggregator pops up every day. Who has time to keep up with all of them? How do you know which ones work and which are a monumental waste of time? Can a business really afford to be everywhere? The editors at Inside CRM have done a lot of the leg work for you with their list of 50 social sites every business needs a presence on.

Loyal readers know I’m partial to everything Google, especially its search engine capabilities. But some people, especially writers, may be looking for a different experience in scouring the Web for information. At LearningXL, Laura Milligan has put together a list of 100 fun and useful search engines for writers.

On a related note, the folks at Education Portal have put together a list of 12 insightful blogs that every writer should be reading. Wait a minute…PR Prowess isn’t on the list?

Everyone is looking for an edge when it comes to Internet marketing. Ensuring your website is performing at peak efficiency is a crucial part of that overall strategy. Brayn Eisenberg has 33 tools that can make your website better.

At Write-to-Done, Leo Babauta has put together a list of 10 mistakes that could be kiling your blog. He does not pull any punches. No. 1 on his list: less than useful posts.

Popularity: 62% [?]

I’m a sucker when it comes to free reports. If I come across something online that looks useful or interesting, I’ll gladly give up my email address for the privilege of downloading it.

Of course, the downside is my inbox is immediately flooded with a steady stream of emails asking me to subscribe, buy, join or otherwise spend money for some product or service. A few examples, without naming the guilty parties:

• After downloading a free report on October 20, I have received 14 emails from one company, including two on one day and three on another.
• After downloading a report on Nov. 1, I’ve received seven emails from another company, including two in one day.
• In a third instance, I’ve received 80 emails from a company I downloaded something from on June 26.
• By coincidence, a client I work with showed my an increasingly aggressive, almost annoyed series of emails he received from a company begging him to sign up for a several hundred dollar coaching course.

So, my question is this: when it comes to autoresponding systems, how much is too much? Once a day? Twice a week? Three times a month?

At what point does the recipient become numb and stop paying attention? Or worse yet, unsubscribes? Now you’ve turned off a potential customer who, at one point at least, thought you had something valuable to offer?

Popularity: 24% [?]

Most marketers know testimonials are a powerful sales tool. But not all testimonials are created equal.

What is the best kind of testimonial to generate new sales, to produce extra profits for your business? Is it best to have the President of the United States endorse your product? Or is it better to have a no-name from down the street say the same nice things?
Continued

Popularity: 24% [?]

Leslie Richard thought she was doing her fellow business owners a favor when she took Vision Media Television to task in a blog post. The North Carolina businesswoman said she felt “creeped out” after learning that VMT’s offer to include her in a news story that would run on PBS, or maybe CNN, would cost her about $25,000. Hoping to alert other small businesses to what she felt was a misleading sales pitch, Richard used words like “scam” and “lies” in her blog post.

Not a good idea. VMT got wind of the post, sued Richard for $5 million in lost revenue and $15 million more in punitive damages. Lawyers have been working out a settlement after Richard agreed to take down the blog post.

The lesson here is that blogs do not enjoy special protection when it comes to libel or defamation. As attorney Marc Zwillinger says in the story that appeared in the November issue of Inc.com, anything posted on a CEO’s blog — including reader comments — can be construed as carrying the weight of a company’s endorsement. That can put an entire business in jeopardy, he says.

Added Seth Godin: “Blogging is a cheap and scalable way to talk to interested people. But understand that while you advocate for your company, you are also walking a tightrope from a legal and business point of view.”

Popularity: 16% [?]