Feedburner has nothing to do with overcooking a meal. If you are not a chef in the kitchen, you CAN certainly cook better online with feedburner.
Feeds are ways that online content is distributed to a broader audience than to just one online user or reader. They kind of work like customized subscriptions to online info...and the info is automatically delivered to your refrigerator, then table and can either consumed or thrown out...errrr...delivered to your news reader, email or web portal.
With the growing use of "crackberries," content can also be delivered through "widgets," "gadgets," mobile devices, and posted to other blogs, websites podcasts, and news/sports/weather/outlets to anywhere to be read, heard or viewed by other users.
Who feeds? Internet content feeds for most major news media such as CNN, ESPN, USA TODAY, ABC News, Washington Post, AP, Reuters, PBS, etc.; Anything that is a news item and appears in Google News from local papers to congressional staffers to favorite magazines; Hundreds of thousands of bloggers, podcasters, and videobloggers; and Apple's iTunes offers mucic and podcast downloads.
There are literally more than 2,000 different feed reading applications, aka "news aggregators."
Confused about what to shop for? It is a bit abstract, but once you have the right recipe, you will be serving a customize feast that is what you want to know about, listen to or view.
For more info...contact me to learn more about where to shop and to get the perfect list!
Google Analytics offers user-friendly features that allows marketers, not necessarily IT people...to gain insights into website traffic. This includes learning or finding out more about:
Where users come from;
Measurement of unique visitors:
Pages that are landed on;
How long users stay on certain pages;
What pages are never accessed;
How users move across copy, photos, aka content;
What links are clicked on...or not;
Which page designs, headlines or graphics convert more visitors to make a sale or take action;
View AdWords ROI without importing cost data or adding keyword tracking codes; and
Track different online campaigns from emails to keywords.
Now, here is the "official" definition:
Google Analytics (abbreviated GA) is a free service offered by Google that generates detailed statistics about the visitors to a website.
Its main highlight is that the product is aimed at marketers as opposed to webmasters and technologists from which the industry of web analytics originally grew.
Integrated with AdWords, users can review online campaigns by tracking landing page quality and conversions (goals). Goals might include sales, lead generation, viewing a specific page, or downloading a particular file. These can also be monetized.
By using GA, marketers can determine which ads are performing, and which are not, providing the information to optimise or cull campaigns.
GA's approach is to show high level dashboard-type data for the casual user, and more in-depth data further into the report set.
Through the use of GA analysis, poor performing pages can be identified using techniques such as funnel visualization, where visitors came from (referrers), how long they stayed and their geographical position.
It also provides more advanced features, including custom visitor segmentation.
Users can officially add up to 50 site profiles. Each profile generally corresponds to one website. It is limited to sites which have a traffic of less than 5 million pageviews per month (roughly 2 pageviews per second), unless the site is linked to an AdWords campaign.
And did I say it is free.
Whether you do your own marketing or hire an agency or freelancer, this tool or some other web trends report is a must-do in you marketing toolbox toward measuring along the way to reach goals. If your web campaign is not measuring up, then it is time to change strategy, write different copy, add or delete a web page, change graphics, or try completely different tactics.
So strengthen your marketing initiatives today and so that your website has the WOW! that converts users into customers, believers and followers.
Learn more about how to get website WOW! and contact me for a free consult.
If your affairs aren't public...they should be! Don't hide or cover up!
According to the Public Affairs Council, there are five reasons why public affairs is more important than ever: 1. Public Distrust is growing; 2. Brands are valuable, but fragile; 3. Big Government is here to stay. At all levels, the government’s involvement in business is increasing, not decreasing; 4. Life is not fair. Terrorism, trade wars, government deficits, frivolous lawsuits—all of these eternal challenges can have a big impact on a corporation or association; and 5. You can’t go it alone. Every organization is tied to the communities it serves and governments that regulate its activities.
The most important thing to remember when it comes to public affairs is that unless you target the message to your audience of influence: elected officials, lobbyists, CEO’s, local community, and media directly, and ofetn with different messages, the action, attitude or influence desired will be missed.
Do you know:
Who your key publics are?
If your tactics reach them?
How to change messages for different publics?
If you need help reaching the right people, contact me to create a WOW communication piece, special event or write a brand new plan!
Is your blog a reason for your readers go in another direction for information because they don't trust what you say?
In a recent poll:
80% of those polled said they used corporate blogs to get information;
Of those who used them, only 16% rated them 4 or 5 on a five-point trust scale;
Only 16% of online consumers who read corporate blogs say they trust them;
Among people who regularly read blogs (at least once a month), 24% trust company blogs; and
Among people who blog themselves, 39% trust them.
This result is not surprising. In the last few years, consumers have become more sceptical about corporations and even more sceptical their government. Consumers likely don't trust company blogs for the same reasons they don't trust corporate advertising and certain media outlets or reporters.
What would make anyone trust a blog more than a news release, ad or message from the CEO, Director, Mayor or City Manager?
Does this mean blogs are on their way out? No.
It just means that communication professionals, marketing folks, publicists and anyone else who blogs has to be extremely thoughtful about what they post. Here are a few things that make a blog more credible:
Utilize a key strategy of being customer or client focused;
Create a community for readers that encourages feedback and comments;
Don't hide the name of the person who writes the blog;
Respond or address comments, especially any negative ones;
Blog about hot topics readers would like to know your opinion or "side"; and
Be a voice in the community, be that a place, your brand or area of expertise.
If you'd like to know more about writing plan for your blog, want honest feedback about your blog or want to start a blog, contact me at 407-341-9866 today!
Watch this 1976 public service announcement that actually ran on national television.
How does it make you feel? Does the message provoke or prevent panic? Is it rational and real or reactionary?
Fast forward 33 years.
The swine flu emerges again.
Now as the swine flu, a.k.a. H1N1, swept across our globe, a country was shut down, stories about pigs consumed the 24-hour news cycle, and the panic played out on the world stage when the Vice President "gave his personal opinion" about the pandemic.
Yep...it is true that in the world of communications, if it bleeds, it leads. The media devoured the drama of his quote and then they went on and on about every aspect of the what if's, why not's and how come's of H1N1. Many reporters and media types hypothesized and proselytized and then repeated it again and again about the pandemic to the point of what I saw as fear mongering.
Anyone in a leadership position as well as the media are held to a high standard to tell the truth, share advice and also serve for comfort in a time of crisis. Certainly any representative of the White House should know more about dangerous situations or things that might hurt U.S. citizens. I can tell you thought with my background in crisis communications and issues management, I cringed when I heard the V.P. Biden's comments. He told the truth...or did he?
In retrospect, we now know there seemed to be a missing link called education about H1N1 (or even better a black hole) and it went all the way to the White House. That meant the creeping pandemic was allowed to become its own pandemic of speculation instead of known facts.
Maybe the CDC didn't have all the facts? Maybe the U.S. doesn't have a strong interoperable disaster plan with Mexico? Maybe this experience was a dress rehearsal for the U.S. and its health organizations and government agencies to get in gear before we are faced with a much stronger version of H1N1 or worse?
Fortunately, knowledge is power and someone at the Centers for Disease Control sat up and took notice. The CDC began pushing out news release after news release. As their public relations efforts kicked in and crisis management began to play out, most responsible media outlets and journalists began to consciously report the facts.
The Drs. dedicated a one-hour episode to the topic. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta reported on the virus from Mexico City. And White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs issued an apology for Vice President Biden's comments that he wouldn't recommend taking a commercial flight or riding in a subway car because swine flu can spread in confirmed places. And the V.P. gaffed again on the Today Show as he tried to clarify his earlier comment. Once again, the White House put out a statement almost making it look like Matt Lauer set him up to answer the question to get a fear answer.
From all of this, know that when facing a crisis, the truth should always be primary. But with managing the message, the truth should be facts presented so that everyone understands them.
As always, feel free to contact me with questions, to speak to your group or if you need a hand with your crisis plan or help handling any type of public relations issue. Hopefully you won't need the training, a plan or me, but it is always better to plan an escape route proactively than being in the middle of the street and using the "wish I may, wish I might form of crisis management" and hoping that the oncoming bus won't hit you...or at least not too hard.
When blogging for yourself and/or for friends or family, there really are no rules. But if you are blogging for business, you are writing your own articles, so here are a couple of things to consider:
As a blogger, you are a publisher! Blogging can be part of a brand. Even if it is the brand of you! Think about your goals as a blogger. Do you want to be seen as an expert? Do you want to share your personal ideas and thoughts? Do you want to get people thinking? Do you want feedback? Or do you just want to use it to document your life?
You can have more than one blog. In addition to WOW!, which focuses on marketing, public relations and events for business, I have a personal blog about "stuff" that I share only with with friends and family.
Create your blog in a word document. Sometimes it is easier to use spell check in Word. And in a third world country, you never know when the electricity is going to go out and you lose everything you wrote for the last hour!
Stick to one area of interest for business. Be the expert in your field! If your blog is for business, or sales and marketing purposes, feature a key "story" or idea for each post. More than one post a day is ok too...especially if a blog is timely.
Edit yourself. A senior public relations professional once said "write what you write, and then cut at least 10%". How awful it seemed at first to cut out "my" wonderful words! Eventually, I learned to delete flowery adjectives (four meticulously unique and specially compounded, botanically formulated new-age hormones), flip sentences to write action-oriented content (use "is" not "will be"), and edit superfluous words from content (that is one word that can often be cut out of that sentence because deleting that will cut that copy by at least that much) - some words, such as that, can be deleted from copy without changing the meaning of the sentence.
Use bullet points or numbers. Formatting helps break out or define thoughts and makes it easier for readers to follow content.
Use subheads. Just like a magazine or newspaper article, subheads improve readability.
A picture is worth 1000 words. Post photos at the top and/or insert them throughout the content. Photos break up copy and add interesting graphics.
Be mindful of tense. Monitor flipping back and forth between yesterday, the present moment and the future. If the tense changes, use transitions, so the content is more clearly read.
End with a call to action. Always ask for the business, feedback or comments.
If you need help getting your blog started, want to know how to blog to market yourself and your business, or need someone to "ghost write" your blog, contact me at mmonte@hotmail.com or 407-964-1557!
You can lead a horse to water... But you cant' make it drink.
Four days after a grand opening event, the restaurant manager questioned the fact that he had not “seen much publicity." He said, “I believe that event was a waste of time and a failure.”
At the event:
150 guests were in attendance;
30 reporters represented different media outlets;
Extremely positive comments were heard during the 2 1/2 hours;
Someone thought the WOW! moment (video and photo op) aka grand opening blessing came from a famous book (oh it was an original idea...mine : -);
An hour into the event the mayor's staffer cancelled all his other obligations that evening because he was having a great time and did not want to leave; and
The night went off without a hitch (not exactly what happened behind the scenes, but who knew except for us?).
Now...about what he did and/or didn't do:
Gave the internal and external marketing and public relations team two weeks to pull off the event (the team already put in the plan the pre-event work would require at least a month);
Distributed invitations two days before the event by email and a few hand-delivered invitations to elected officials (the plan suggested...and Miss Manners would say that invitations should be sent out at least two weeks ahead of time);
Cancelled the $500 live entertainment because it was “too expensive” two days before the event and didn't tell anyone (the original budget was $1,500);
Didn't order the $2 nametag logo'd credentials and didn't tell the team (this was also in the plan);
Didn't put together the media kit (he had insisted on doing it himself because he loved the design he had created for the CD cover; so the marketing team with the help of bartenders made black and white copies and stuffed kits in plain blue folders 30 minutes before the event was to start);
Forgot ???? to bring collateral, i.e. to go menus, catering menus, brochures (again...in the plan);
Produced a much “less than special” goody bag as a take home (the day before he had shown everyone what it was going to look like, and then we all said...under our breath...NOT exactly the same one!);
Finally, held the dress rehearsal 45 minutes before the event (it had already been rescheduled three times); and
Failed to send any kind of thank you to guests...not even an an email (his final task in the plan).
Even though the client did not fulfill his assigned sales and marketing tasks, (a day-by-day two-week checklist was provided) he pointed a finger at the marketing and public relations team and said:
“Business is too slow."
"There wasn't anyone here the night after the grand opening except for one couple."
"We paid a lot of money for the grand opening and are not seeing the results."
"Why are we not on the front page of the newspaper?"
"Why has channel X not been here to do a story?"
"Why is there not a story on X website?”
As the saying goes...you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. And that is hard for a client to understand when they are a bull.
Long story short, two days after this one-sided conversation, the clips poured in and a reporter from a national media outlet called to set up a story.
The media and invited VIP guests had been lead to the water (otherwise at this event known as Martinis, Fois Gras and Crustinis), they just didn't drink as fast as the client expected.
Marketing, public relations and events are not exclusive. Though each uses different tactics and measurements, they all support the sales function. And like a ball of snow gathers more and more snow as it rolls down a hill getting bigger and bigger, so works the process of sales and marketing.
The client and the marketing and public relations team must work hand-in-hand. If a task is assigned. The delegate must perform...whether assigned down by the client or up by the team.
Do you want to know more about how to lead a horse to drink? Even if you have a beer budget, together, we can teach that horse to love it as much as drinking finest of champagnes.
- Configuring information or data to reveal trends, raise issues, identify opportunities and solutions;
- Ability to concentrate for long periods to deepen understanding or learn skills to generate unique ideas;
- Thinking strategically while quickly bringing the big picture into view for disaster/crisis situations and issues management;
- Figuring out how people who are different can work together productively;
- Fostering ongoing dialogue between and among teams, partners and/or individuals.
- Skill set to research, plan, manage and execute Satellite Media Tours, special events, public relations campaigns, media events and branding.
Can't cook? 
Google Analytics...
You can lead a horse to water...
Posts
