Janet Johnson | The Art of Marketing

I’ve not blogged enough recently. And it’s not because I haven’t wanted to, because I have… In fact, I’ve got a ton of interesting projects I’d love to talk about, but I can’t quite yet. For several clients, it’s because I’m under NDA. For others, it’s because I’m helping their businesses be more competitive, and it just doesn’t seem fair yet to share.

At the same time, I’ve felt an additional pressure when I blog to be more ’serious’ and ’scintillating’ since my posts are being distributed over on the Content Management Connection blog. Once you’re syndicated, it seems the pressure to perform is ratcheted up.

Sometimes, adding value to the online conversation is just plain hard. Especially when I’m not particularly funny or edgy or whimsical, even on a good day! (I’ve found plenty of great bloggers default to some innate trait to help them out of a void.)

So I feel as if this blog post is a bit akin an old Seinfeld episode… a post about nothing. Except to admit (and that’s exactly the point) that sometimes it’s hard to participate in the blogosphere… Or the Twittersphere… and be “on” all the time.

But confession is good for the soul, the sun is pouring through the windows here in Portland, and I live a dream life. I’ll be inspired all day, I just know it. And I hope to add value again by sharing some of that inspiration. Meanwhile, the muse awaits…

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I’m sitting alone at a table in the Pearl Bakery this morning, having been forgotten by my 9:00 appointment. Which is fine, because I’m drafting off of someone’s unsecured network and feeling productive with an extra hour of work time. But I’m probably making people around me nervous as my shoulders shake from laughing so much.

I just got today’s installment of the BeThree newsletter, one of the few non-tech, non-marketing newsletters I read. Because it’s compelling and perfect. Today’s installment is brilliantly titled “The Traveler’s Trots.” Of course I had to open it!

Talk about descriptive phrases… (forgive me if you’re squeamish, but these girls can paint a vivid visual picture):

“….the thought of getting a shot in the butt to avoid unloading a Montezuma’s Revenge poop smoothie in a foreign public bathroom is not an option.”

And the photo at the top? I just have to show it here. Again, perfectly done. (Okay, sorry for those of you whom might take offense, but I think it’s most excellent.)

Sign up for this newsletter to experience descriptive writing. Oh, and it’s powered by PDX’s very own eROI team… thanks to Dylan Boyd for turning me on to this treasure.

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I got a note last week that I just have to take the time to expose to the air… from my friend Gillian. Her words struck so personally I feel moved to blog them:

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I hope you don’t mind me reaching out to each of you on a rather personal note…As most of you know, I lost my father to pancreatic cancer 9 months ago today. Although pancreatic cancer is one of the major cancer killers, it still receives little to no government funding or support.

Some of you may have heard of Dr. Randy Pausch, a 47 year old Carnegie Mellon professor who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, whom through his “last lecture” has gotten lots of media attention (Prime Time, Good Morning America, and yes, even Oprah). Well, here is his recent powerful appeal to Congress - it would mean a lot to me if you would take a moment to listen to it.

If you are so moved, here are a few additional ways to help:

1. Write your local legislator
2. Donate to the cause (be sure to earmark your contribution for RESEARCH) - through my mother’s efforts to raise awareness we have raised almost 30K in research funds in my father’s name, James J. Kennedy
3. Continue to stay educated through http://www.pancan.org/ and http://www.lustgarten.org/

I appreciate your time with this and I can only hope that what we do today will make a difference.

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Apparently Gillian received a huge response to her note, and there were some further follow-on clarifications:

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I know there were some questions about donating to PanCan - it sounds like the only way to earmark the donation for research and/or make the donation in my father’s name (James J. Kennedy) is to either:

• call PanCan at 1-877-272-6226 and make the donation over the phone or
• mail in a check that has the information in the memo. The form for this and info about how to do it is here.

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Gillian and her mom are just trying to raise awareness. Apparently her mom is quite an expert on pancreatic cancer now. If anyone has questions, I’m happy to connect you with them.

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I love SmartBriefs. Extremely smart newsletters on various industries - from consumer electronics to construction and real estate, from telecommunications to travel and hospitality - there’s likely a newsletter for your industry.

I subscribe to, and read (almost every day), IAB’s SmartBrief (see example here) on the interactive industry.

Dosage: delivered daily.

Cost: Free

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In an effort to show, rather than tell, I’m putting forth my personal Top 10 Marketing Tools in a series. I asked the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network’s marketing committee to send me a list of their top 10 tools, and will be posting about them over on the OEN Blog.

(It’s spring break, so I haven’t seen any of them yet… So here’s my second in the series, to inspire action when they return:)

Tool #2: A Smart Search Engine

I have to admit, I’ve used Google for traditional searces for years. But when I went out on my own, I discovered that a roving worklife meant I was never sure I would be at the same computer all day. I’ve long been a fan of SaaS technology (software as a service - where you go online and login to manage information) and iGoogle, the personal Google service, has saved my bacon many times.

They’ll tell you - when you type in “what is igoogle” to your google tool bar in your browser - which is fantastic in and of itself - that:

Google offers the ability to create a personalized iGoogle page that gives you at-a-glance access to key information from Google and across the web.

• Your latest Gmail messages
• Headlines from Google News and other top news sources
• Weather forecasts, stock quotes, and movie showtimes
• Bookmarks for quick access to your favorite sites from any computer
• Your own section with content you find from across the web

I don’t use it as a personal “portal” to all things online. I use it because:

• It gives me access to Google Docs and Spreadsheets, where I can set up living documents to capture and share notes, track action items and collaborate in meetings with clients. No matter where we are, we’re quite literally all on the same page.
• I used to be on a Dell with Outlook and a Blackberry, and could never get my calendar to synch with my PDA. (A great lead-in to Chapter 3) I kept my calendar online in Google’s calendar application, and while I wasn’t able to view my calendar (again, I’m not technical or patient enough to set it up correctly) from my blackberry, I could get to it from any computer connected to the internet. (A great selling point for SaaS) And, it would send alerts to my blackberry, which helped me get to meetings on time.

Beyond iGoogle (back to just plain Google for a bit), I use Google as a spelling tool and a dictionary. It goes like this:

You can’t get a fast read on whether you’re spelling a word correctly or not than to type it into your Google toolbar - take one of most commonly misspelled words - accomodate. If you’re unsure, in a flash you’ll know,

“Did you mean: accommodate?”

(While you’re at it, check out the results around the spelling correction in Google - you might see some smart search engine marketers trying to capture common misspellings for their clients.)

I use Google to quickly find sources for quotations - who knew John Heywood wrote: “Many hands make light work…” You can also find complete song lyrics in the same way.

But there are cooler things :

• like putting your UPS tracking number into Google to find out where your package is
• putting your flight number into Google to find out where the plane is…
• figuring out who called you by knowing where the 541 area code comes from… instantly
• …and don’t even get me started on Google maps - it’s the greatest thing for those of us who used to have to rely on CitySearch to find restaurant phone numbers… thank goodness for Google.

…those are the quick timesavers that make Google one of the Top 10 Marketing Tools I use.

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