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blog day 2008 is today? whoops!

blogday2008

OK, not to criticize the founders of Blog Day 2008 but I only found out about it today by reading another blog. And picking the Sunday of Labor Day weekend would not have been my first choice from a publicity perspective.

OK I guess I did criticize but I’m done now being Mr. Cranky Pants.

So the concept is thus:

BlogDay was created with the belief that bloggers should have one day dedicated to getting to know other bloggers from other countries and areas of interest. On that day Bloggers will recommend other blogs to their blog visitors.
With the goal in mind, on this day every blogger will post a recommendation of 5 new blogs. This way, all blog readers will find themselves leaping around and discovering new, previously unknown blogs.

So here are 5 blogs (in no special order) that I would recommend you check out from my personal RSS list of over 150 blogs on my Google Reader about voiceover, marketing, advertising, broadcasting and other crap (woe to you who should think all those categories fall under “crap”).

1. Trafcom News I can’t articulate to you how bright and talented I think Donna Pappacosta is personally but trust me when I say she is and when you want some generally interesting insight into print, new media (great podcasting stuff) and face-to-face communications, this blog from her business, Trafalgar Communications, is a worthy read.

2. The Daily Nightly this is the blog of NBC Nightly News anchor and managing editor Brian Williams who I first noticed as a top notch talk show host guest on late night talk shows. Bright, articulate and yet still knowledgeable about world and domestic issues. His writing style is something I appreciate and his content is insightful. Other NBC News folks contribute but Brian’s posts are the ones I most like to read.

3. NewscastStudio Blog Well, to enjoy this blog you have to be an admitted behind the scenes of broadcast news geek like me who loves reading about new news sets and graphics and promotion of news (local and national). You get to see the creation of sets (before and after) of stations and networks around the country. The only salvation in my public revelation of this (my) particular geeky trait is that if there is a blog about this, I can’t be the only geek around.

4. Copyblogger To quote its author Brian Clark: “What’s the missing ingredient that prevents most people from succeeding online? Copywriting skills. Content drives the Internet, and using the right words in the right way will determine not only how well your site converts visitors into sales, but also how well you rank in search engines and how many links you get.” Exactly. Every little thing he writes about will not directly pertain to your internet or marketing strategies but enough of it will to make it a read worth your time and subscription.

5. Brand New – It’s pretty evident to anyone who knows me I’m kind of a logo design slut. The creative, the methodology, the evolution and the final product is something I find very fun. And the fact that there is usually millions of someone else’s dollars riding on its success just adds to my fun. It’s logos before and after with some often funny critiques along the way.

A final note- you’ll notice not one voice over blog on my list. You’ll also notice a plethora of links in column on the right of this post to darn near every voice over blog that I am aware of…a list that’s posted 24/7/365; not just on August 31st.

Enjoy the reads.

shallow times and shallow people

As every business owner in voice over, marketing or advertising has either used public relations for their benefit or their clients’ benefit or has been on the receiving end of a PR campaign at some level, I thought you’d find the recent experience of Michael Arrington of Tech Crunch interesting.

He received this email very recently:

From: Vanity Fair / Google
Date: August 27, 2008 9:06:32 PM PDT
To: Michael Arrington
Subject: IMPT: Google/Vanity Party Status
Reply-To: demconventionparty@google.com
Thank you for your interest in the Vanity Fair / Google Party.

We have reached full capacity for this event and are unable to accommodate additional guests.

If you have NOT received a Confirmation email–separate from the automated RSVP response– and a Party admission card with your name on it, you will not be admitted to the party. No exceptions.

If you HAVE received a confirmation email but have NOT picked up your admission card, you must reference your confirmation instructions and pick up your card by 4:00pm on Thursday. Admission cards will not be distributed at the door.

If you use the shuttle service you must have your party admission card to board. No exceptions.

Thank you in advance for your understanding,

Vanity Fair & Google Events team

Sad news for Michael, had he been wrangling an invitation or had he even been aware of the event. He had neither nor was he the lone perplexed recipient of that email.

But he did write about it….and so am I.

I’ll let you draw your own correlations between a publication the likes of Vanity Fair, celebrities and politicians (and please post them here as I know they’d make great reading).

My questions (which I also hope you’ll daine to answer) are the following: is any publicity really good publicity as the old axiom goes? As long as they spell my name right?

Maybe the publicity trick fits Vanity Fair’s branding but does it fit Google’s? Obviously the message is exclusivity but is it also awareness? Would you be willing to pull such a stunt (and make no mistake, this is a stunt) with your brand? Why?

Please open your blue book and use only your No. 2 pencil to write your essay answer. You have one hour.

Begin 😉

consult your physician before watching this video

politics








I’ll, of course, do my own voice over for all political commercials.

Tip of the hat to Ann Hackett from aHa Designs for the link.

how to use google reader

google_reader_logo

Kudos again to the team at Common Craft…simple, clear, effective.

let’s discuss – if a company is not listed on google, does it exist?

Here’s why I ask the question (and we’ve kinda talked about this before but bear with me here): a couple of times on sites like LinkedIn or in general research, I will type in a company’s specific name and hit search.

When a company’s web site doesn’t show up on the first or second search pages (especially if it’s not a generic name) I mentally dismiss the company as somehow inadequate or less than successful.

To me, their name is a vital and basic key word that should get some play early on in the search process but it doesn’t sometimes.

I realize that there are many companies who are successful who don’t yet use the internet very well, but my expectation is that a modern, successful company will have at least a modest web presence that should show up pretty quickly on Google or MSN or Yahoo.

Am I expecting too much? I am putting too much stock in Google? Have I become a technological snob? Will some companies (and individuals) just not let go of the phonebook? Or are some companies woefully undervaluing what a successful web presence means to their branding and their sales.

You have to talk me through this. What do you think?

new RSS feed for audio’connell news

If you look to the front page of the audio’connell Voice Over Talent web site, next to the title “audio’connell breaking news” you’ll see that popular orange RSS icon. I put it there at a cost of thousands of dollars and hundreds of man hours but this is what I am willing to do for you, my valued readers.

Ahem, well, maybe it cost me a little less than that but Mother always said to me it’s the thought that counts and my Father always said hyperbole sells.

Ahem, well, while Mother may have said that “thought” thing my Father never got really hyper about anything…a very calm man, he.

The point is when we publish a new press release, if you have subscribed to that news feed, you can receive it right away. For those of you still unclear on the whole RSS thing, note the “what’s this?” link next to the RSS icon, which gives you the lowdown on RSS.

Now some of you are subscribers to voxmarketising (and thank you again for that) and you’ll notice that we also reprint these media releases here (in more of a social media release-like format). You too can subscribe to the news feed (as they are separate feeds) or just read the releases on the blog as we will continue to post them here too.

We now return to our regularly scheduled blog, already in progress….