Archive for the ‘Trends’ Category

How People Learn About Their Communities– It May Not Be Where You Think

Thursday, October 20th, 2011

I’m teaching about 100 freshman and sophomore Mass Comm students this semester at the University of South Carolina. I actually have 260 students. But I figure, I might be “teaching” 100 of them. And one of the things we discuss often, is “where” and “how” they get their news and find out about local happenings.

According to a survey by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism and Internet & American Life Project, contrary to much of the conventional understanding of how people learn about their communities, Americans turn to a wide range of platforms to get local news and information. Overall, the picture revealed by the data is that of a richer and more nuanced ecosystem of community news and information than researchers have previously identified.

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“Like It” or Leave It

Monday, May 2nd, 2011

According to a 2011 National Online Consumer Behavior study by CityGrid Media and conducted by Harris Interactive, the Facebook “Like” button is the new consumer preference to show support online for local businesses. However, no single factor or source overwhelmingly influences the final choice, including highly-touted deals and discounts, according to the report. (more…)

Little Lies and Small Promises

Tuesday, September 28th, 2010

“I’ll be out of bed in five minutes,” is not a true statement because it’s a promise not meant to be kept. It actually means, “go away, I’m sleeping, I’ll say what I need to get rid of you.”

“Your call is very important to us,” is not a true statement either. The truth is self-evident.

“I promise I’ll tell the manager about this,” is of course not a real promise either. It might be uttered with good intent, or might be designed to get an annoying customer to go away, but still…

You can already guess the problem with little lies. They blur the line, and they lead (pretty quickly) to big lies. The worst kind of little lies are the ones you make to yourself. Once you’re willing to lie to yourself, you’re also willing to cheat at golf, and after that, it’s all downhill.

Companies that refuse to break small promises have a much easier time keeping big promises. And they earn a reputation, one that makes their handshake worth more.

Given that expectation and trust are just about all we have left to sell, it seems to me that little lies and small promises are at the very heart of the matter. And they’re a simple choice, nothing requiring an MBA or a spreadsheet.

It all depends on what you want to stand for.

from Seth Godin at sethgodin.typepad.com

Get Me In! Get Me Out!

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

I love PR (public relations)
Photo by JerrySilfwer
These days, more and more clients are hiring us for one of two reasons—“Get me in the news!” or “Get me out of the news!” Advertising is what you buy from the sales department of the media. Public Relations (PR) is what you get from the news department—some of it good, some of it not so good.

How many ads do you suppose a good news story is worth?
Q: Which of the following statements is false?
1. Thomas Edison invented electric light.
2. Guglielmo Marconi invented radio.
3. Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone.

Regardless of which statement you think to be untrue, you’re exactly one-third correct; because all three statements are false. (more…)

A quick word about the competitive environment

Monday, October 12th, 2009

icearrow“Rainy days and Mondays always get me down”– or at least they did Karen Carpenter as I grew up hearing her sing the song. Today is Monday and it’s pouring rain. I’m actually writing this blog article to waylay my having to go out and get wet delivering some printing jobs to clients. In my mailbox this morning I found a short email about competition. It conveyed some simple thoughts. See what you think about them.

  • “How good am I?” is the second question that every business owner must answer. “How good are my competitors?” is the first.
  • Like it or not, your competitors set the height of the bar you must jump.
  • It’s a weary old saying, but true, “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.”

And as venture capitalist I knew once told me, “We learned quickly that the most important predictor of success is determination. At first we thought it might be intelligence. Everyone likes to believe that’s what makes startups succeed. It makes a better story that a company ‘won’ because its founders were so smart. But while it certainly helps to be smart, it’s not the deciding factor. There are plenty of people as smart as Bill Gates who achieve nothing.”

So, essentially making money is easy:

  1. Sell what people want to buy
  2. Offer it at an attractive price
  3. Occupy a high-visibility location
  4. Wave your arms and draw a crowd

Maybe you can’t have all of those, but I have never seen the combination fail. Need some help? We’re here.