what is marketing
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Is it the partner of sales? Is it the overlord of advertising?
Is it missing from your business? It depends on who you ask.
Is it the partner of sales? Is it the overlord of advertising?
Is it missing from your business? It depends on who you ask.
Voice Talent Doug Turkel, the UNnouncer
Some folks call them tchotchkes, trinkets, gifts, souvenirs or ad specialties.
They are the presents, usually logoed, that business give to other businesses as a thank you or as a possible long term reminder of a company’s name and brand. Hopefully the gift (pens, hats, flashlights etc.) are useful or at the very least fun.
This came to mind as I was going through my VOICE 2010 bag (yes, I knew I’d get around to it) and saw this gift from UNnouncer Doug Turkel.
The message on the envelope says:
Have you ever needed a surprisingly compact copy stand to use with your mobile recording rig? A minimalist frame to hold that photo you should’ve reconsidered posting on Facebook? Or a convenient place to keep your important list of to-do items front and center?
Yeah, me too. Enjoy.
Creative, different, memorable.
Now you have to go out and think up something for your business? Or do you have an idea you’d like to share with the class?
What happens when a leader questions himself?
Mitch Joel, who I have written about in this space before, is a social media thought leader. I didn’t say expert because I think the term “social media expert” has been watered down by schmoes trying to cash in with little in their credibility bank.
Mitch has loads of credibility because of his knowledge and passion for the subject of social media. So it was with some surprise that I and his other subscribers read one of his recent posts entitled “Five Reasons Why This Blog is a Failure“.
If you write a blog, this question is worthy of your consideration. In this case, someone who knows more about blogging and social media than you or me is asking this question of himself.
I hope you’ll read the wholepost but to summarizes, Mitch seems a bit obsessed with the Ad Age Power 150 which is a daily ranking of marketing blogs. Mitch is ranked #22 while his friend Chris Brogan is ranked #1. So Mitch asked his other friend Julien Smith (who has co-authored a book with Chris Brogan) about why Mitch’s blog isn’t as popular as Chris’ blog.
My point to Mitch in my comment (yes, I am one of those people that actually supports blogs by leaving comments…few people do that any more) was that we men have a problem worrying about size and who is bigger in many aspects of our lives and the answer matters very little to blogs.
To me, it’s not how many people read your blog but rather are the right people reading your blog.
Who is your audience? What do they need to know? How can you help them with your content? What do you want to accomplish by publishing your blog?
There is no Ad Age Power Ranking for Voice Over blogs so I’ll defer to our friend Google and the search term “voice over blog”. I’m ranked like 7th in a very small, niche category. Does that mean there are 6 more popular blogs than mine or does that mean I am a top 10 blogger? Is your glass half full or half empty?
For me, I write about what I am passionate about (voiceover, marketing and advertising) and most times I try and put forth stuff that will help or entertain readers.
Sometimes, selfishly, I write just to please myself.
But in either case I stay true to what I know (very well) about and what content pleases me. Hopefully that content will please my readers (I am grateful to have even the one subscriber – who may or may not be a family member, I dunno).
If it was just about the readers, this would be a newspaper and I’d sell ads. But it’s not and I don’t.
Still, I like Julien’s ideas and know that this blog (and probably yours) is a work in progress. How would you improve this blog? What changes would you suggest I make? What changes should you make in your blog?
All while staying true our (yours and mine) original focus.
I got pinged today by my friends Pam Stromecki and Debbie Oberg who own Tall Girls Design Studio to let me know that they are celebrating their 8th anniversary in business.
This is terrific news and I want to wish them a very happy anniversary.
OK, it’s a bit geeky for a grown man to watch a video of how the Batman logo has evolved over the years, I’ll grant you.
I’ve always like the Batman comics and some of the movies and there’s a chance maybe you have too.
But unlike me, you can watch this anonymously and no one will know just how geeky you are. Enjoy.
OK, so if the government bodies give it their blessing, which they probably will, United Airlines and Continental Airlines are going to merge into one airline called United. It will be the nation’s largest airline.
So what does this have to do with this blog? Marketing and advertising.
The combined airlines have announced:
United parent UAL Corp. agreed to merge with Continental in a stock swap valued at more than $3 billion that will create the world’s biggest airline by traffic. United’s name and Chicago headquarters will be retained, while airplanes will be repainted in Continental’s colors and include its globe logo on the tail.
– Courtesy of Business Week
The REAL beneficiaries of such a merger are not the passengers (trust me on this one) but rather the sign painters and the airplane painters…they are going to get rich off this deal.
First off, the United “U” logo, color scheme and typeface will be history. I liked the typeface but the rest of it who cares.
The choice seems to be to keep the Continental globe and typeface with the United name. Ostensibly, all the planes and gates will get the new look.
I predict within two years of the closing, they’ll also have a new, completely different system wide logo.
By that time, their systems will have merged, their staffs will be assimilated and a new ad agency will be brought on board (if they decide not to go outright to a branding agency like Landor.)
And the planes will then be repainted and the gate signs will change again. What they are proposing here is patchwork to make it feel internally and externally like a meshing, merging, happy pile of airline kumbaya. Graphically, though, it ain’t there. You’ll probably just have to put up with it for a few years until the change is done. Everything will then get repainted…again.
If you are just now coming out of college with a Fine Arts degree, maybe you want to brush up on your painting skills cause there’s money to be made on these birds over the next 3-4 years.
