Marketing Communications

I’ve been stumbling a lot lately and, no, it’s not because I’ve been hitting the bottle a little too much.

Stumble Upon is cool service that helps you explore the Internet in a surprising, entertaining and efficient way. Essentially, you indicate your areas of interest – personal, professional, social – and, with a click of the Stumble button on your browser, you are directed to a random web page that matches your interests. There’s a lot more to it, but that’s all you need to know for now. Here’s a good explanation about Stumble and how to get it set up on your computer.

Anyway, I’ve decided that every Friday, I will bring you my Five Favorite Stumbles of the Week. Most will be related to public relations and marketing, but occasionally I may share a quirky, off-beat site that will make you laugh or cringe. Who knows?

Here are this week’s offerings:
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I started reading Joe Vitale’s “Hypnotic Writing: How to Seduce and Persuade With Only your Words” the other day. Sure enough, I’ve been in a trance ever since!

Joe offers all sorts of great tips on how to keeping your writing interesting, informative and, most of all, motivational. I was particularly impresed with his “Five Secret Laws of Hypnotic Persuasion” as described here:

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I finally caught the new Microsoft ad featuring Jerry Seinfeld. About the best thing I can say is that it’s not a ripoff of anything Apple has done, contrary to what Bill Gates and his henchman do with software.

I know Seinfeld made a fortune with his show about nothing in particular. That’s the sort of the feeling I get from this commercial. It’s 90 tortuous seconds about…nothing in particular. Two well-known but essentially boring guys put into artificially ridiculous situations.

At least Apple manages to interject some product benefits in its Mac vs. PC ads while being entertaining. I know nothing more about Vista — that’s what they are advertising, right? — than I did before I saw the ad.

What’s amazing is that the Microsoft brain trust probably reviewed a dozen concepts from Crispin Porter and Bogusky - the same creative team behind the creepy Burger King commercials - before deciding to sink $300 million into this campaign. Imagine how bad the others might have been.

You know it’s a dud when a Microsoft spokesman had to offer an explanation to the bewildered public about the strategy behind the weird campaign: “This first set of ads features Bill Gates and comedian Jerry Seinfeld. Think of these ads as an icebreaker to reintroduce Microsoft to viewers in a consumer context. Later this month, as the campaign moves into its next phase, we’ll go much deeper in telling the Windows story and celebrating what it can do for consumers at work, at play and on-the-go. At that time, I’ll be back to share more information about our plans to further strengthen the bond between consumers and Windows - one of the most amazing products, businesses and brands of all time, and, with the right tenacity, passion and agility from all of us, a story that has many great chapters to come.

Yeah, I can just sense the anticipation as people wait for the next installment.

I’m not the only one panning Microsoft’s effort. It’s pretty much getting blasted all over the Internet. The folks over at Techdirt have compiled some of the best critiques.

Of course, Microsoft is probably happy with the amount of attention the ads are getting, negative or not. But I can’t imagine they sold one more copy of Vista today based on the ad. And isn’t that what it’s all about?

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I met with a potential client the other day to discuss developing a marketing and advertising plan. He was excited about some specific strategies and tactics he wanted to use. But when I asked him what he hoped to accomplish, he was less than specific.

“Increase our sales a bunch, I guess.” he said.

It was like he had some inherent desire to execute a marketing plan but no clue about what he wanted to see happen. If you don’t know where you’re going, it’s pretty likely you’ll make a few wrong turns along the way. And how will you know if and when you arrive at your destination?

When it comes to putting together a marketing plan, follow these five guidelines:

Identify Your Goals. Be specific and include milestones to assess your success. For example: “I want to increase sales by 10 percent in Pennsylvania over the next six months.” Have goals for the next six-months, 12-months and 18-months.

Set deadlines. Establish a drop-dead date for everything and stick to it. Don’t let other projects get in the way. Marketing is the lifeblood of growing a business. If you miss deadlines, it will throw off your ability to measure results against your stated goals.

Acquire the Tools You Will Need. Make a list of the resources you will need to execute your marketing plan. Budget is at the top of the list. Allocate enough dollars to do the job right. Skills are next — writing, graphic design, SEO, printing, etc. There are plenty of freelancers out there who can do those jobs. Unless you are proficient and can afford to spend substantial time on these tasks, consider outsourcing.

Develop an Action Plan. It should be specific enough to get the job done but flexible enough to adapt to rapidly changing markets. Allow enough lead time to create advertising campaigns, direct mail pieces, newsletters and such so they hit at just the right time. A calendar book devoted exclusively to your marketing plan is essential so you can see how various tactics will interact.

Just Do It. If you don’t see results right away, don’t give up. Marketing and public relations plans take time to take root. A well-crafted marketing plan is designed for the long haul, which is why knowing what you are trying to accomplish is so important.

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I’ve always believed that third-party endorsements are a great way to add credibility to copy. After all, I can say I’m great, but if somebody else says it, someone without a vested interest in my success, that carries much more weight.

The problem with many testimonials is that they come off sounding canned and solicited. Does anyone really talk in superlatives, with losts of exclamation points?

Over at Copyblogger, Dean Reick just wrapped up a terrific four-part series about testimonials, their importance and use. The final installment reveals subtle ways your can integrate testimonials into brochures, newsletters and sales copy.

Here are my favorites from his list: Continued

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