-
Network With Randall
A Better Explanation Than Mine!
Over at Seth’s Blog he has the most amazing “quickie” explanation of marketing-to-scale.
It’s about doing what you can with what you have. With online marketing, the most money DOESN’T win by default. Throwing money at things is fine…but you don’t win the hearts of your customers (and potential customers) by throwing money at them.
Scratch that. If you threw actual money at them it might be just as effective.
But it still wouldn’t be as long lasting and have the potential for “stickyness” that good marketing with a “one person at a time” mentality and message ever will.
Blogging Made Easy(er)
Now there is an entire group of people in the city of Chicago that think blogging is difficult and time consuming. How awful is that?
I’m here to tell you a few truths: Read more
Using LinkedIn
Ok, I’ve had a few people (four to be exact) ask me about LinkedIn in the last three days.
So I’m going to tell you what I know about why you’d want to use LinkedIn and the different ways to get there. Read more
So…I’m thinking PR and Marketing aren’t the same thing…yet…
Other than my blatant overuse of ellipsis in the title of this post, I think what I’m about to talk about is pretty clear. Over at MarketingProfs:DailyFix they’re talking about the similarity of PR and marketing in the current globalized, web 2.0 land we’re living in.
You know the one, where the internet makes it easier to talk to your colleague in Sweeden than your next door neighbor with the beagle that howls INCESSANTLY but you just don’t know how to go over there and say “can you please make your dog happy so it stops braying like a donkey?”
Gosh, I wish my neighbors had Skype.
Back to the issue at hand. Is PR different from marketing.
I answer, at this time, a resounding YES!
In my opinion, the mind that is able to comprehend an online marketing campaign is different from the mind that conceives an offline PR relationship.
A lot of it is about connections. If you’ve been online for a long time, you know how to strike up conversations and get to know bloggers, podcasters and the like. To get a radio campaign going, you need to have resources and information that may not be as easy to find.
Personally? I don’t know that I want to talk to station managers, receptionists, and goodness knows who else in order to get an interview when I can go online, find a podcaster with a good listener base, and send a friendly how-do-you-do email.
It’s just easier for me. Plus it’s effective. Why would I take the time and effort I’ve spent learning how to communicate effectively online and then decide I’m going to decide to learn how to be effective at marketing my clients offline? Talk about a waste of time - plus there’s more competition. I’d be starting at the bottom of my game and spreading out my services so I’m jack of all trades, master of none.
I do see the point they were trying to make though. Public relations and marketing do start looking a lot alike when you’re putting up a Squidoo lens or a MySpace page. How is the public perceiving you when they see that page? Does your page look the same as Suzy’s from the 8th grade? If you’re a business owner I should hope not! But since the big push of Web 2.0 is to be yourself because that will help define your niche…as long as you’re aware of what you’re putting out, and it’s truly something you enjoy, go ahead and put that Justin Timberlake video on your MySpace page.
A lot of us don’t mind that he’s “bringing sexy back” - it’s got a good beat and I can dance to it.
(In case you missed it, that was me mixing my marketing with my public relations. I admitted I listen to Justin Timberlake - and I probably offended 20% of my readers, and the other 80% are laughing. I like the laughing 80% - that’s how you niche using your personality.)
So sure, you could do marketing and PR all at the same time. Good luck making it targeted and effective. If you can, you’re a better woman than I…and I’m okay with that.
Blog vs. Website (part 2)
I was thinking about this earlier today. How I just knew there was a reason that not everyone would have a blog as a website.
Your hosting company.
For WordPress blogs (and a few other types) you need:
- A linux server
- MySQL
If you have a Windows based server platform, there is a nice, comprehenisve list of free blogging software at ASPin.
Let me also take this opportunity to remind you to please, start a business blog. People want to know who you are, what you’re doing, and where your company is going. Tell them!
-
Recommend Resources
