Janet Lee Johnson | The Art of Marketing

This week I’m going to “do as I say,” “walk the talk,” and (in doing so) get back into blogosphere basics…

It seems I’ve been spending more time on Twitter than blogging lately, which I’ve heard from several people recently. I have come to feel more interest and creativity in creating 140 character blurbs and following others recently, and blogging has seemed more like serious writing as a result.

But it’s time to get serious again, for many reasons.

Last week I challenged the members of our Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN) marketing committee to help enliven the OEN blog and spread the wealth of knowledge by sending me the Top 10 Marketing Tools they use - and why.

We figured that entrepreneurs (and our colleagues) would probably appreciate a glimpse into the minds and habits of a bunch of smart marketers - learning about the tools they use. The ensuing conversation and collaboration inside the room was so enlightening that I can hardly wait to share what I learn!

I’m going to start my Top 10 Marketing Tools list with some of what I believe are “blocking and tackling” basic tools. Now, I’ve got a decidedly “online” bent so you’ll want to round out your tools by reading others’ lists - for sure.

Tool #1 - A Smart RSS Reader

Any marketer interested in making their lives easier in collecting information about their own reputations, their products’ reputations, their brand reputations and their competitors’ reputations must have a smart RSS reader in their toolbox.

Why do something manually when you can have a FREE product do it for you?

I define “Smart” as a reader that will do more than deliver persistent search results into your mailbox - although if you have to start somewhere, start with Google Alerts, which will do just that.

I use Attensa’s RSS products. They’re clients, many of the employees there are colleagues, and I’ve always appreciated the work they do in terms of their consistent interface design across platforms, smart enhancements and well-programmed applications.

To me, as Smart RSS Reader will:

1. Search multiple engines in addition to the major search engines and deliver content so you can have another view of where your conversations are happening. It’s nice to have a view (beyond what your SEM tools tell you) of engagement levels on del.icio.us tags vs. Technorati tags, for example.
2. Allow you to ‘train’ the reader as to where you’re spending your attention - so it will filter high-attention results right to the top of your feeds, and the low-attention results will appear down your results lists. That way, your most reader will help prioritize your feed results for you.
3. Let you get your work done beyond simply reading feeds within the application. For example (I’ve blogged about this before), I can comment on blog posts from within Attensa - while my attention is focused on the subject at hand. I can tag articles within Attensa, and it’ll post my tags to my del.icio.us account for me as well - maximizing my work efforts.

Any time you can find a tool that will work for you, learn from you, and enhance your productivity (AND it’s free to boot…), what’s there not to love?

Share This

I had an interesting discussion yesterday with my friend Michael Sampson. He’s a blogger, content author and perpetual student of collaboration technologies and real-use cases for them.

Michael’s recently finished an ebook called The 7 Pillars Analysis of Microsoft SharePoint 2007 where he has ranked it as a collaboration platform on a seven-point scale. Without giving too much away, he said SharePoint failed his collaboration litmus test on six of the seven pillars.

Well, you can imagine the stir that’s beginning to cause…

His post about the eBook was picked up on CRN, and the comments there are pretty typical of the blogosphere fanning the flames of a discussion. One comment, from Andrew Brust, Chief of New Technology at twentysix New York, was especially passionate; and in response, Michael published an Open Letter of rebuttal.

In fact, on his “Effective Collaboration” blog, there’s quite a stream of conversations around the specific merits of his opinions, cause and effect, and even a little ethical drama playing out.

In our chat, I told him it might be interesting to further the conversation at the SharePoint conference coming up next week in Seattle. (That made him just a little nervous… I think.) I also wonder (on my own) what the Jive Software guys would think of the paper?

My bottom line? If you’re going to take a stand in the blogosphere, and (particularly when you) point out the emperor is only wearing socks, enjoy the reaction… ’cause you’re going to get it.

I believe Michael is perfectly capable of holding his own. And I’m anxious to watch the story unfold. Regardless, I hope it spurs sales. Likely it will. Any PR is good PR, after all…

Share This

I’m speaking on March 10 at SEMpdx’s SearchFest on managing your online reputation. SEMpdx is an event I’ve been to for the past couple of years here in Portland, and I’ve always learned a ton by attending. I’m happy to pass along a discount from the show organizers to everyone… Here’s how you get it:

1. Register for SearchFest at www.searchfest.org
2. Enter the code SF8SPK in the “Coupons/Gift Certificates” text box and click “Add.”
   (This is at step 3 of the shopping cart)
3. Enjoy your day at SearchFest

Note - registration prices or SearchFest go up another $50 again on March 1 - so be sure to sign up now. This discount will not be available ‘at the door’

Share This

I talk a lot on this blog about linking SEM (search engine marketing) efforts to PR efforts - I call it SEMPR - to boost awareness and relevancy online. It’s my opinion that my clients should get the benefit of integrating both efforts, rather than keeping them separate, as most marketing communications teams do.

(I was a VP managing corporate marcom efforts for many years, and I neglected to link them in my organizations. Most of my peers still do….)

In a very passionate post over on Micro Persuasions, Steve Rubel (long time blogger and PR pro) has taken a very pointed view on the subject he calls “SEO Shenanigans” - that of gaming social media solely to improve search results. In his very articulate argument, he states:

“Some respected experts are advocating launching social media marketing programs solely for the purpose of influencing search engines, rather than with the intent of fostering collaboration and genuine communication.

This represents a clear and present danger to the fabric of the community. If you care about the social web, then you should be alarmed.”

Good content and collaboration should always be the foundation and intention of any marketing effort, otherwise, why bother?

Some truths I’ve learned about both SEM and PR:

• Shortcuts in content quality are outed quickly online - who cares about your blog/tweets/facebook profile or your press release if I can’t learn anything about or from you? If I can’t, you’re largely going to be ignored - regardless of your search relevancy or reach.
• Fostering true collaboration will result in meaningful conversations. When I was at Marqui and we [unintentionally] started an ethical debate among bloggers and traditional media, the conversations weren’t always pleasant, but they were meaningful. And, by the way, those conversations without content were dismissed quickly as being without merit.
• Linking search engine marketing and PR efforts are jarring for each profession, usually. I’ve found the people in each vertical to be wildly opposed in many ways - how they think, measure and relate, for starters. On one hand, you’ve got relationship/rolodex-driven folks who measure awareness and reach in months, if not years. On the other hand, you’ve got measurement-driven folks who relate to spreadsheets and percentage shifts in A/B tests in days or weeks…
• But just because it isn’t easy doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it… with the right intention (collaboration and conversations) and content (properly written, tagged and optimized) for the best possible results.

Finally, I agree with Steve’s parting salvo:

“….the SEO shenanigans for the sake of SEO has to stop. If you’re going to play in our sandbox, follow the community’s (unwritten) rules.”

…Even though following “unwritten rules” is nearly impossible. Which is why smart marketers will always turn to other smart marketers - even us unruly consultants and those with opposing positions whom we listen to - in order to learn more.

Share This

I was fortunate to be quoted in an excellent article called The Tao of Crafting SEM Partnerships by Marty Weintraub at aimClear over on the Search Engine Watch blog. As you may recall, I am to be the maiden sacrificed to Marty at the SEMpdx conference in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, we’ve met via phone and it turns out he’s a very nice guy. AND, an excellent writer to boot.

Turns out Lisa Williams from MEDIA Forte Marketing is also a potential sacrificial maiden on our panel, which deals with online reputation management. Ben Lloyd from Amplify Interactive will moderate the panel, and I have a feeling it’ll be a very fun session.

Looking forward to meeting Marty and Lisa - and expanding my network of potential partners - at SEMpdx.

Share This