Marketing Bombogenesis

Do You Know How To Do A Blog Tour?

Do you even know what a blog tour is? If the answer is no to one or both questions, then you need to meet Steve O'Keefe. Better yet, you need to enroll in Steve's next on-line Internet Public Relations Class sponsored by the International Association of Online Communicators (IAOC).

Steve is Executive Director of Patron Saint PR, a boutique PR firm in New Orleans specializing in author and book publicity. He's also an adjunct professor at Tulane teaching Internet publicity. Steve is amazing. He has been using on-line publicity strategies for more than 15 years, and regularly leads a class teaching others what he knows. I've been in the on-line class for the past six weeks, and am awed by the breadth of Steve's experience, and touched by his generosity in sharing. The class is a combination lecture/Q&A format connected through Skype and Free Conference Call. The group of marketing professionals in the class are are brushing up on skills, and learning completely new ways to do PR--and many of us have been in the game a good, long time

Here is the syllabus we've been following:

Campaign Planning
Document Production & Syndication
Video Production & Syndication
Social Networking PR
Blog PR Web PR
Discussion Group PR
News Releases
Contact Management
Search Engine Optimization
Online Newsrooms

What's more, at Patron Saint PR you will find an incredible overview of campaigns Steve has done in the publishing industry. The specific information provided with each campaign is without par. For instance, there are the expected sample news releases, but there are also sample pitches to bloggers and discussion groups. There are sample giveaway files, and reporting documents for campaign results. That's just the tip of the iceberg. It's a gold mine.

Steve is also the author of the Complete Guide to Internet Publicity. It reads like a thriller. (OK, I admit I'm a PR geek, but I swear it's hard to put down.) There's a new edition in the works, but this book is still timely and relevant.

While this semester is already underway, keep this resource in mind to enroll in a future class. Information can be found at the IAOC blog.

Oh, did I mention that thanks to the IAOC the class is F-R-E-E? Just when you thought it couldn't get any better...

On Day One--Have Your Say and Take a Look at Web 2.0 Used Well

It felt so good to vote yesterday. I know this might sound Pollyanna, but I get a little heady making one of the most powerful statements in our democracy. That's how voting strikes me at least. Today, however, I've felt oddly uneasy thinking, "OK, I cast my vote, now what?" The simple act of voting set off a cascade of wanting to say more, do more. Then, in my in-box arrived an email from "On Day One."

On Day One is a web site constructed by the United Nations Foundation to allow citizens to share their thoughts on what they feel our president needs to do on his/her first day in office to improve our standing in the world and the lives of our citizens. Phew, a place I can put my thoughts just at the moment I needed to.

But more than that, take a look at all the Web 2.0 aspects of On Day One. On one single page I can:

• Email any or all of the candidates with my message
• Link my friends to the site via email
• Sign a petition to tell Congress to support full funding of the UN
• AND copy HTML code for an On-Day-One badge for my blog or web site page.

I did all of those things. In other areas of the site I can blog a post. I can upload my opinion piece in a You Tube video, or riff in their "9 for '09" section on issues like "Poverty," "Climate Change," or "Nuclear Proliferation." There are plenty of videos to watch already in all these sections, and they're from people of all ages. You can post it all to Digg.

Best of all, the site is clean and easy to use. I did not get lost in a morass of how-did-I-get-here links. It's just enough to make me feel involved, informed, and connected--not confused and overwhelmed.

It feels good to have a say in what's going on in the world today. Get it off your chest at On Day One.

P.S. I'm sure I received the On Day One email because I am a donor to the UN's Nothing But Nets campaign. Malaria kills more than 1 million people each year, and a simple mosquito net is hugely effective in protecting people from the disease. For only $10 you can buy a net and save a family.

Email Marketing Wisdom from the Water Aerobics Ladies

Gene Carr from Patron Mail is right. Gene is right a lot.

Gene is founder and president of Patron Mail, an online marketing software and consulting company that serves more than 1,000 arts and not-for-profit organizations with e-marketing technology and expertise. I use his service for one of my clients, and could not be happier. It's easy to use, the ongoing support from Patron Mail is outstanding. But I digress.

I've heard Gene talk about how a patron's association with an arts organization is really an extension of their lifestyle, and they treat e-mail from that organization accordingly. He's also cited the stat that 73% of patrons know that e-mail saves an organization considerable money when compared to direct mail. By opting-in for email communication, patrons feel they are helping the organization cut costs. (And they are.) Gene also talks about how patrons over 50 years of age are a fast-growing segment of ticket buyers/supporters who rely on e-mail.

Let's bear out Gene's theses with a conversation I overheard in the ladies locker room at my gym. These two gym buddies of mine were were discussing their support of the Boston Symphony Orchestra as they wriggled from their swimsuits after a water aerobics class. (It's a sight. Trust me on that.) Both were season ticket holders.

Swim Lady #1--"I've been a long time BSO supporter, but I'm afraid to give them more money."

Swim Lady #2--"Why?"

Swim Lady #1--"I'm afraid they're going to flood my mail box with more paper. They send me too much stuff as it is. It wastes money, and trees, and I just throw it away."

Swim Lady #2--"I don't mind the email though, do you?"

Swim Lady #1--"Oh not at all! That's fine. To me, that's a service. I can just sit at the computer, see what's coming up, buy extra tickets if I want, then delete it. The email is fine. I don't want that to stop."

Swim Lady #2--"I feel the same way."

As I said, these are two gym buddies of mine that I talk to all the time. Just want to point out that Swim Lady #1 is 72. Swim Lady #2 is 75. Yup, Gene's right again.

Here's a link to one of Gene's posts that presents the stats on the huge percentage of US marketers using email strategies. While you're looking it over, subscribe to his blog for a lot of good advice.

Wham-O! It Goes Viral

In today's Boston Globe (1/27/2008), Joanna Weiss wrote a fun article in the "Ideas" section about how Wham-O toys understood and used the power of viral marketing long before it was called viral marketing. The company that brought America the Hula Hoop, the Superball, and the Frisbee (originally called the Plato Platter, by the way) regularly used a process they called "seeding the market" to create the buzz that drove sales. Their techniques included the tried-and-true like demonstrations at county fairs, and getting newspapers to cover hula hoop contests. They understood that "seeding" local neighborhoods with FREE toys will get you noticed in a hurry. Every Wham-O executive who took a plane was required to carry a Hula Hoop on board. If you were on that plane you'd ask about it, wouldn't you?

Now we have  agencies making big bucks focusing solely on viral marketing. It's the subject of books and studies. I personally know two Buzz Agents. The viral strategy can even lead to big trouble with Homeland Security, if you recall the two guys who got nailed for putting those LED signs on bridges in Boston to promote Aqua Teen Hunger Force. But forward-thinking businesses and entrpreneurs have long been using viral marketing or "seeding" techniques, or whatever it was called back in the day. I can think of a lot of cliches that apply, but like the Hula Hoop, what goes around, comes around.

Two Smart Guys With Smart Things to Say About the Presidential Campaign

Gene Carr, President of Patron Technologies and David Meerman Scott (The New Rules of Marketing and PR) are two "smart guys" I rely on. In recent weeks, both of these smart guys riffed on marketing aspects of the presidential race. Both touched on, as Gene says, "the chasm that lies between the traditional media (i.e., television) world and the new media (i.e., Internet) world in which we are all now living."

In a recent blog post, Gene provides a vivid analysis of how the recent debate in Nevada shows how our "television networks still believe that they are living in a world in which they rule." He makes a great case for how the public’s thirst for authentic information will force much more direct contact with the candidates. Obama Nightly Webcast, anyone? Gene has a "Presidential Web Watch" happening on his blog.

In his blog, David M. Scott points out that as TV continues to bombard us with details about the candidates TV ad buys, they completely missed the most significant marketing news of the campaign to date. Not one TV outlet reported the news that when John Kerry endorsed Barack Obama, he passed on millions of email addresses to the Obama campaign. This email bonanza is an assest potentially worth a hundred million dollars in donations (or more). Here's the link to David's post on this marketing news that only he has pointed out.