Archive for May, 2009
Target Marketing Helps You Hit the Bull’s-Eye
Hypothetical situation:
Ned, an overzealous darts enthusiast, buys a dartboard for a local bar. The bartender has never played a game of darts in his life and thinks it will disrupt the normal operations of his establishment. He wants Ned to remove the dartboard, but Ned convinces him to play one game, thinking he’ll be hooked in a matter of minutes.
When the bartender’s turn comes up, he grabs a fistful of darts and – without even aiming – hurls them in the general direction of the dartboard.
Ned is embarrassed. Not only did the bartender completely miss the bull’s-eye, most of his darts never even made it to the board. Two of them are jutting out of a barstool and one has poked a rather unstylish hole in one elderly patron’s Derby hat.
“See what you’ve done?” the bartender shouts at Ned. “This is a ridiculous game! Now take the darts and go!”
It’s a humorous story, but unfortunately that’s how some companies view their marketing programs. They cast a skeptical eye at their advertising budgets (“Won’t these expenditures disrupt the normal operations of our business?”) and they doubt that marketing can do anything for them.
Tweet me! Link me. Come into my space.
Does this sound inviting? It is “Social Networking”, something that is considered in today’s world a solid component for any marketing strategy.
Facebook. Twitter. MySpace. LinkedIn. They’re the online Web tools that form the framework of social networking. In the “old” days, networking required the business owner to attend gatherings such as charity auctions, professional development seminars or cocktail parties to build and maintain relationships with prospective clients.
While there’s no way to replace that kind of face-to-face interaction, the advent of the Internet – and online social networking in particular – has provided additional tools for the arsenal of the marketing professional.
How does online social networking work?
Paying the Piper for Positive Media Attention
When good old standard media relations does not work, a way to get into the media is a sometimes powerful marketing tools called an “advertorial.”
The term – a combination of the words “advertisement” and “editorial” – refers to a print or online advertisement that promotes a company’s products or services while at the same time reading like an editorial. The effect is that the reader often forgets that he is looking at an advertisement, so he ingests the selling points of the service offering, without experiencing the negative reaction readers so often have when stumbling across ads.
Diamonds, Alzheimer’s and Taking Breath Away
Three recommendations for reading came out of the recent Private Duty Homecare Association’s Leadership Summit in Phoenix:
With a focus on making joyful moments for those who are caring for a person with Alzheimer’s Disease, Dr. Jane Thibault a noted Gerontologist recommends Caring Moments of Joy by Jolene Brackey Read a news excert about this book here.
Release Your Brilliance is Simon T. bailey’s latest book and it is about taking the 4 Steps to transforming your life and revealing your genius. Simon says that everything you need to be brilliant is already inside you. (more…)
Right Brain Left Brain and Harry Pickens
Popular psychology says that longitudinal fissures separate the human brain into two distinct cerebral hemispheres - the left brain and the right brain. These sides each have different functions and cause two different modes of thinking to occur. The left brain hemisphere functions are analytical, logical, focus on exact calculations, object and look at individual parts of puzzle. Right brain hemisphere functions are holistic, intuitive, synthesizing, and subjective and look at the greater whole puzzle. I’m sure you have heard people be referred to as “right brained” or “left brained” individuals.
It is commonly believed that certain professionals and tasks lend themselves especially well to specific brain types. Scientists, mathematicians, for example, are lefty types while creative professions like designers and free thinking occupations tend to be more right brained. But occasionally, you find professions where using both sides synergistically can make a person, not just good but GREAT at what they do. Marketing is one of the professions where being great involves being both right and left brained.
