Twitter Time

Drew wrote this recently:

How to make time for social media: Twitter

Posted: 31 Oct 2009 06:53 PM PDT

As I traverse across the country talking about social media, whether it's with clients one-on-one or with conference attendees from a stage -- the "I don't have time" mantra is a common response to the conversation.

I'm with you. I get the time crunch thing. I'm caught between that same rock and hard place. But...I have figured out some ways to create time/time savers when it comes to social media. So, I thought I would share what works for me, with the hopes that you can steal some of these ideas/tools.

I'm not saying these are the only tools out there...but these are my time savers.

Saved Searches:

One of the elements of Twitter that I think most people under-use is the ability to evesdrop on people as they talk about topics that matter to you. To help me stay in touch, I've created some saved searches in Twitter's web interface.

I just check each of the searches once every few days...and I'm always current.

Private, Group Conversations:

When most people first dig into Twitter, they think of it as a very public social media tool. While I enjoy the public banter and resource sharing, for me....about 50% of my Twitter conversations are private or to a small group of people. I can use the regular DM feature on Twitter for one-to-one conversations.

But, when I want to send those DMs to a group of people, I use Group Tweet to set up private groups.

I can post updates to everyone in the group using direct messages. When the group account receives a direct message from me, GroupTweet converts it into a tweet that all followers can see.

Because I usually want to keep those updates private so that only my group members can see them, I just created a special group account on Twitter, protected it, and use that one.

Manage followers

I actively manage and use two Twitter accounts. My personal account (@drewmclellan) and our agency's account (@mclellanmarket). And between those two accounts, I typically get 25-50 new followers each day.

I simply do not have the time, every day, to check out each follower and decide if I want to follow them back or not. And my philosophy on following is -- unless they're a spammer or are really foul mouthed or only tweet in Finnish, if they follow me -- I'm going to follow them back.

So I use SocialToo.com. I have it set to automatically follow everyone who follows me. Then, about once a week (typically on Sunday afternoons) I click on the following link (right under my Twitter name) and can very quickly scan the people who have been added that week. I just unfollow the spammers, foreign speakers or those who tweet in a language I cannot read...and voila, my following list is updated. It never takes me more than 15 minutes.

I also love SocialToo's survey tool. I can create a poll...and SocialToo allows me to tweet it out and then tabulates the results. Which of course, I can tweet back out.

All of Twitter at a Glance...and Pre-Scheduling Tweets

HootSuite is the key to my Twitter life. It allows me on one screen to see:

• My Twitter Stream (what everyone I follow is saying)
• Tweets that are talking to or about me (@drewmclellan)
• Direct messages to me
• Results of searches I have set up
• My most recent tweets
• Track the stats on my tweets (how many clicks, etc.)
• Any tweets I have pending

What? What do you mean, pending tweets? I tend to be a night owl. Many times, I find something I want to share on Twitter around 1 am. None of my core followers are online at 1 am. But, if I wait until morning, I will either forget or not have enough time to tweet it. So I use HootSuite to set up a scheduled tweet for the next morning (or whenever I want it to go out).

See the box at the top of the screen shot? That's where in HootSuite, I type my tweets. I can either just click submit and it tweets immediately, or I can click on the send it later link and choose the date and time I'd like it to be tweeted. As you can see, it will also auto-shrink URLs for me.

Keeping Track of my Twitter Activity

Because I don't just use Twitter for my jollies, but it's both a business tool and I need to understand it so we can advise clients properly -- I want to keep an eye on my activity and monitor how I am balancing my tweets etc.

Twitterfriends allows me to see some very useful stats like how often am I being re-tweeted and or how many replies I am sending daily.

I can also compare my Twitter stats like stickiness (mine is 17% and Problogger's is 25%, for example) to other Tweeters. There are also some maps that show relevance, link usage and some other nice tools.

I know this was a very long post for me. I'm hoping it has been so helpful that you didn't notice or didn't mind. Stay tuned...I'm working on another couple of these making time posts.

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Get them to Spend More with You

From MarketingProfs.com:

It's All in the Presentation

At this time of year, food merchants—from purveyors of gourmet treats to large-scale grocers—are focused on one goal: getting customers to add more items to their shopping carts. 'Tis the season of the impulse buy!

Marketers who want to encourage unplanned purchases this holiday season may find the following bit of research interesting.

Researchers interviewed shoppers in a variety of food stores to isolate key factors (category and customer characteristics, and in-store customer activity) that boost, or kill, impulse shopping. Among their findings:

• Customers with coupons make fewer unintended purchases. The more focused a customer is on a specific purchase that will save money, the less likely she is to add more to her cart.
• Customers who shop more frequently buy fewer items. They may focus more on immediately needed items, and spend less time in-store per visit.
• Women tend to impulse-buy more than men. When Mom says, "Pick up some milk," Dad picks up some milk, and leaves.
• Shoppers who shop more aisles make more unplanned purchases. It's simple: The more they see, the more likely they are to buy.
• In-store displays provide the biggest boost to impulse shopping. Cool displays attract attention—and encourage purchases.

Based on their findings, the researchers offer these tips:

• Consider your layout. "Consumers should be encouraged to shop as many aisles as possible (in general) and be exposed to as many product categories and in-store displays as possible (in particular)."
• Mix things up. "Products that are frequently purchased (e.g., milk) should be placed in locations that will lead consumers past as many other categories as possible, or [be] displayed next to less-frequently purchased products."
• Decorate. "Making the shopping experience as pleasant as possible will increase time spent in the store"—and add to the likelihood of an impulse buy.

The Po!nt: Play dress-up for the holidays. Merchants who make the in-store experience more fun (and more lengthy) this holiday season stand the best chance of moving product.

Source: "The Interplay Among Category Characteristics, Customer Characteristics, and Customer Activities on In-Store Decision Making," by J. Jeffrey Inman, Russell S. Winer and Rosellina Ferraro. Journal of Marketing, 2009.

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Anyone Listening to the Radio?

YES!

As a matter of fact, right now I am at two radio remote broadcasts for two of my clients because they want to be on our radio stations...

And these are BIG, National Brands with some smart marketing people.

Nielsen: Broadcast Radio Still Has Reach

Contrary to popular belief, consumers are not trading broadcast Radio for new media. Far from it. Of all audio segments, broadcast Radio reaches more than 77 percent of users daily compared to 11.6 percent for MP3 players and iPods.

In total, more than 90 percent of adults were exposed to some form of audio media.

The findings, published Tuesday, are based on a Nielsen analysis of data from the Council for Research Excellence Video Consumer Mapping Study. The $3.5 million landmark study conducted in 2008 used direct real-time observation methods to record the media behavior of participants in five major markets. Earlier this year, the CRE released results for video media.

Portable audio has its highest daily reach among the 18-34 demographic, but it takes up only 7.5 percent of all daily audio usage, compared to more than a 47 percent share for broadcast audio. In fact, broadcast Radio has the highest daily reach among 18-34 year olds at 82.2 percent, compared to 81.6 percent for the 35-54 demo and 71.9 percent for 55 and older.

"There is a much more complex picture going on with audio than we ever really imagined," said Dr. Michael Link, chief methodologist for Nielsen.

"What this report shows is that 18-34s aren't abandoning Radio. Rather, they're adding new audio technologies in addition to broadcast Radio consumption."

Broadcast Radio was also widely used among users of other forms of audio media. More than 81 percent of those who used portable audio devices, also listened to broadcast Radio.

The medium also stacked up well against other media in terms of average hourly reach. Live TV reached the most people, followed by Radio, the Web/Internet and newspapers and magazines.

(Source: Mediaweek, 11/03/09)

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Planning

from Art:

This Week's Tip:
Plan Your Calls Like You Do Your Weekend

Greetings!

What are you doing this coming weekend?

You probably have some things planned. When I
ask that question in training seminars, most
people give very detailed answers: going out to
dinner, working in the yard, getting dressed up
for a Halloween party or taking the kids out trick-
or-treating...personally I'm attending the Tennessee-
South Carolina football game with a buddy..

We plan the stuff that's important.

Contrast that with the answers to these questions:

On the last telephone call you made to a prospect/
customer, what was your specific objective for the
call?

Did you have the opening planned so you knew precisely
what you were going to say?

Did you prepare a voice mail message you were ready to
deliver, velvety smooth, without hesitation?

Were your questions in order?

How prepared were you with your responses to their answers
to those questions?

What was your contingency plan in case things didn't go
as well as you'd like?

If, without hesitation, you rattled off answers to
these questions, I'd wager you do pretty well.

When people have trouble answering these questions,
chances are there are "umm's" and "uh's" in their calls.

I find it curious and interesting that many people put
more planning into their weekend or what they'll have
for lunch, than they do their telephone calls.

Quite simply, your sales success correlates directly
to your preparation. It's also the key to sounding smooth.

Being a superstar in sales, particularly on the phone,
is not a matter of "smiling and dialing," plowing through
the names, hoping that you'll stumble into someone ready
to buy.

Don't believe any trash about this being a pure numbers
game. It's a QUALITY game.

As I always say, the worst possible time to think of what
you're going to say is as it's already coming out of your
mouth.

Go back, review those questions, and be certain you can
answer them for your next call, and every one thereafter.
Do so, and I'm sure you'll show pleasing sales results.


QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"The great aim of education is not knowledge, but action."
Herbert Spencer

Continue having your best week ever!

Art

Contact: Art Sobczak, President, Business By Phone Inc. 13254 Stevens St.,
Omaha, NE 68137, (402) 895-9399. Or, email:arts@businessbyphone.com

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Friday Night Marketing News from Mediapost

Wrapping up the week? Here's the latest from Mediapost.

However, there will be 3 new updates Saturday and 4 on Sunday if you want to check back!

October Sales: Gains Stronger Than Expected

by Sarah Mahoney

Leading retailers say October turned out to be unexpectedly solid. The International Council of Shopping Centers, which tracks leading chains around the U.S., says its index gained 2.1% for the month, the strongest gain in 15 months. ... Read the whole story > >

Go Wide: Disney 'Sports' Complex Partners With ESPN

by Karl Greenberg

Walt Disney World Resort's "Wide World of Sports" complex is hoping for a booster shot from a new partnership with another Disney Co. property: ESPN. The effort, launching Feb. 25, puts the ESPN brand everywhere in the complex, while putting events hosted there on ESPN. ... Read the whole story > >

Huge Patrón Manhattan Billboard Salutes Yankees

by Karlene Lukovitz

Patrón Tequila is using a 225-foot-tall billboard in mid-Manhattan to congratulate the New York Yankees on their 27th World Series win. ... Read the whole story > >

Fujifilm's SeeHere.com Helps Build Homes for Troops

by Aaron Baar

SeeHere.com, the year-old photo sharing site created by FujiFilm, is branding itself as the "Home of the Free" with a new cause-marketing effort that helps an organization that builds homes for severely injured veterans. ... Read the whole story > >

Hyundai Drives Ads To Times Square

by Karl Greenberg

Hyundai Motor America is, for the first time, advertising on a Times Square billboard. The cube-shaped sign at 2 Times Square has two LED screens showing video content, flanked on each side by two banners. The ad features the automaker's Genesis Coupe. ... Read the whole story > >

Allstate Sponsors Teen Safe Driving Program

by Tanya Irwin

The Allstate Foundation is teaming up with Scientific Social Solutions to launch "Crash! The Science of Collisions" program in New York State. The program coordinator says the program's effectiveness in changing teen risk-taking is "profound." ... Read the whole story > >

P&G Gets Back to Soap Operas For Cheer

The NBA and Timberland Launch Community Service Effort

Gap Pushes Stella McCartney Kids Line

Kikkoman Blogs For The Holidays

Nokia Partners With Island Def Jam, Universal Music

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Deciphering the Conservative Shopper

Take a look at the choices that are being made:

Who's Cutting Back on What

It's common knowledge that consumers have been trying to economize in the past year. But where have they been focusing their efforts at austerity? Inquiring about specific money-saving steps respondents may or may not have taken in past six months, a new Harris Poll gives some indications.

Among the choices presented, the most popular has been "purchasing more generic brands," with 64 percent saving they've done this in the past six months. Just under half (47 percent) said they've been "brown-bagging lunch instead of purchasing it," and nearly as many (43 percent) said they've been "going to the hairdresser/barber/stylist less often." Fewer said they'd "switched to refillable water bottle instead of purchasing bottle of water" (36 percent), "cut down on dry cleaning" (22 percent) or "canceled or cut back cable television service" (21 percent).

At the bottom of the rankings were "canceling landline phone service and using only cell phone" (12 percent), "begun carpooling or using mass transit" (14 percent) and "changed or canceled cell phone service" (15 percent).

Comparing the current poll (fielded earlier this month) to a similar one conducted in June, one sees no reason to believe that consumers have been easing up on their tight-fistedness in recent months. Indeed, brown-bagging lunch was the only category not showing a rise in the number of people saying they'd adopted the money-saving behavior (and it was unchanged from June).

The sharpest rise came in the number who'd "stopped purchasing coffee in the morning," from 15 percent in June to 20 percent now. There were also significant increases in the number of respondents saying they'd "canceled one or more magazine subscriptions" (from 29 percent then to 34 percent now) or "canceled a newspaper subscription" (from 17 percent to 21 percent).

The polling found significant variations among different age cohorts in the incidence of some penny-pinching actions. The poll's 18-32-year-olds were the least likely to have been buying more generic products in the past six months (58 percent), and those 64 and older were the most likely to have been doing so (67 percent). But the 18-32s were the most likely to have started car pooling or taking public transit (24 percent).

If baby boomers look especially unkempt these days, maybe it's because the 45-63-year-olds had an above-average number of respondents saying they've been going to the hairdresser/barber/stylist less often (47 percent) and have cut back on dry cleaning (28 percent). The poll's 33-44-year-olds were the most likely to say they'd stopped buying a coffee in the morning (25 percent).

In some cases, variations in cutbacks simply reflect the differing proportions of people who tended to buy something in the first place. Thus, respondents in the 64-plus age group, which tends to have lots of regular newspaper readers, were more than twice as likely as the 18-32-year-olds to say they'd canceled a newspaper subscription in the past six months (28 percent vs. 12 percent).

(Source: Brandweek, 10/29/09)

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Beware....

from an email:

Beware of Futurists

I love attending conventions which feature futurists as keynote speakers. They are always entertaining, thought-provoking and even exhilarating when you consider the possibilities they espouse.

But they’re seldom right!

In the late seventies I attended a cable convention at which a futurist predicted grocery stores would disappear within ten years. He talked about the technology which already existed to shop virtually on your TV, strolling the aisles from the comfort of your living room, placing your order with the click of a button and having it delivered to your doorstep within the hour.

It was an exciting presentation to say the least. But alas, the last time I checked, people are still going to the grocery store 30 years after that prediction.

I once attended a seminar where I purchased a tape of Faith Popcorn (what a great promotional name!), making predictions about the future. It was exciting stuff, so I put that tape in a time capsule at my home and listened to it ten years later. When I opened my capsule, I discovered that less than 5% of her predictions had become reality.

I have since done the same thing with a number of futurists…..reviewed their material years after their predictions, and none of them ever beat Faith’s record of 5% success.

But I still love to hear these fantasies, and I encourage anyone who has the opportunity to attend a futurist’s presentation to do so. It’s a great opportunity to take your focus off of the problems of the past and consider the possibilities of the future.

Just remember that market acceptance of technology does not keep pace with technology. The first FM radio license was granted in 1937, yet 35 years later, less than 25% of the cars on the road had an FM radio.

And it wasn’t that long ago that people who claimed to predict the future were burned at the stake as witches.

Technology is being accepted much more rapidly with each ensuing decade, but the futurists’ predictions seldom reflect reality. Knowing this, I still encourage you to consider their theories as a way of broadening your horizons and opening your mind to new ways of doing things. Just don’t rely on their predictions as the foundation for your business plan.

Wayne Ens

ENSMedia Inc.

705.484.9993

www.wensmedia.com

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Understanding the Buyer

Last month I featured an article from Sharon Drew Morgan that was sent to me by Jill Konrath.

Today, we feature another article from Sharon Drew:

What do Sellers Need to Understand – and When?

As a sales professional, you learn early on that your need to ‘understand’ a buyer. But what, exactly, do you need to understand?

On the sales end of the equation, you NEED to understand the prospect’s situation to make sure you are placing the appropriate solution in the right place. This same data will give you ability to fine-tune your presentation and pitch to ensure the buyer understand how your solution will fit in their environment. You also need to understand the buyer’s vision, and criteria for Excellence.

There is no way to truly understand anything else.

I know I”m bucking up against some resistance here, but hear me out. You will never understand the private, idiosyncratic issues going on within the buyer’s environment. You might ask questions about these things, hoping you’ll glean enough data to help you target your pitch. But if that worked, you would have closed a lot more sales. And, an outsider can never understand what is really going on inside of anyone else’s situation. There are relationship issues, company politics, history, working relationships, ego issues, rules, vendor issues, partner issues. An outsider can never ‘grok’ the import, the nuance, the residual feelings, the unconscious biases, that go on between people…especially people you don’t know and in groups you aren’t a part of.

I’ve been writing and speaking about the off-line decision issues for decades. This last year, folks are beginning to talk about them and start using the terms I’ve been using all along. Yesterday I got a cold call from a local vendor who actually had something I might be able to use. As the call was ending, I said I didn’t have the bandwidth to think about it now (book launch took over my time) but I’d take his number and call him when I was ready. He then said to me: “Can you please tell me when you’re going to make a decision?” I smiled, knowing he was probably told by a manager to start ‘finding out’ about people’s decision making (and knowing that my work had finally come into the mainstream of sales thinking) and didn’t have a clue what it meant or how to go about it.

Here is the rest of my conversation with the sales guy:

SDM: What will ‘knowing when I’m deciding’ give you?

Rep: What? I just need to know.

SDM: Why?

Rep: If you’re not going to be deciding within a month, I’ll call you back. Would a better question have been: Can I put you down for an order in a month?

This is a real conversation. Did the seller need to know when I was deciding? What would he have done with that data? What did he expect that question would do…make me commit? He never managed my issues: What did I need to know? How was I going to choose to buy?

Imagine if our new jobs as sellers include helping buyers understand how they will line up their internal, off-line decision issues – the people that need to be involved, the historic issues that must be resolved, the buy-in that must be encouraged - that need to take place so they are free to choose a solution. Not the issues involved with a purchasing decision, necessarily. Often, the internal issues have absolutely nothing to do with the buyer’s need, yet they must be handled.

Here is a simple way to look at the new skills I’m suggesting: in the first stages of the buyer’s decision making – you know, that behind-the-scenes part that we are not privvy to - buyers are unfamiliar with the steps they need to take as they lurch toward solving a problem. If you could take the part of a GPS system and just offer coordinates for choice, the buyer (driving the car that the GPS system is not involved with) would easily find where they were going (they must drive alone, and watch the scenery that you can’t see) and you could be there at the end with the solution.

We can’t understand the exact specs of a solution until the buyer has traversed the journey. Knowing ‘how they buy’ or ‘how they decide’ won’t help the buyer choose you. Add Decision Facilitation to your sales skills. It will make your job easier to not have to understand so much at the front end, and save it for the back end when the buyer really can hear about, and use, your solution.

sd

Check out my new book: Dirty Little Secrets: why buyers can’t buy and sellers can’t sell and what to do about it. Read two free chapters, testimonials, and much more. Then buy the book.

www.dirtylittlesecretsbook.com
www.newsalesparadigm.com
www.buyingfacilitation.com

www.sharondrewmorgen.com

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Thursday Night Marketing News from Mediapost

Click on the headlines...

Automotive

Chrysler Unveils Ambitious Five-Year Plan

by Karl Greenberg

Chrysler, under the aegis of Fiat since early this year, revealed its five-year plan during an all-day event at its Auburn Hills, Mich. headquarters on Nov. 4. ... Read the whole story > >

Automotive

Dodge Cars To Target Lifestyles, Ram Becomes Sub-Brand

by Karl Greenberg

Ralph Gilles -- formerly Chrysler's wunderkind designer and the force behind vehicles like the Chrysler 300 -- is now president and CEO of the Dodge brand, and he admits he has his work cut out for him. ... Read the whole story > >

Hospitality

Kayak.com's First National Ads Aim To 'Flip' On Awareness

by Tanya Irwin

The Kayak.com travel search engine is hoping to "flip" from a well-kept secret among frequent travelers to a tool used by mainstream travelers every day. ... Read the whole story > >

Retail

JC Penney Promoting Joyful (And Affordable) Giving

by Aaron Baar

It's been said that "it's better to give than receive." JC Penney is looking to prove that with its holiday marketing effort that highlights the "Joy of Giving." ... Read the whole story > >

Food

Perishables Sales Booming At Retail

by Sarah Mahoney

After a year of steadily shaking up consumer habits in the supermarket, the recession has produced some clear winners -- and new research from Nielsen shows that most of them are on the edges of your local grocery store. ... Read the whole story > >

Food

Kraft Net Revenues Decline, But '09 Guidance Raised

by Karlene Lukovitz

Kraft Foods Inc.'s Q3 '09 net revenues declined 5.7% to $9.8 billion, as a result of unfavorable currency effects and divestitures. In addition, for the same reasons, the company lowered its organic net revenue growth projection for the full year from 3% to 2%. ... Read the whole story > >

Best Buy Launches Black Friday VIP Promotion

Sprint Intros Eco-Friendly Packaging

24 Hour Fitness Ads To Feature Olympic, Paralympic Hopefuls

Keystone Resort Offers Sweepstakes

Harley Taps Davie Brown For Product Placement

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Survey says....Saturday Spending

But you better not wait until Friday to advertise....

Americans Spend the Most on Saturdays

That's from recent Gallup survey data of consumers' "self-reported average daily spending in stores, restaurants, gas stations, and online." It shows that Americans spend the most on Saturdays, and the least on Tuesdays.

Gallup found some other interesting patterns in the data, too. For example, Americans spend significantly more during weeks when they earn a paycheck. Dennis Jacobe and Jeffrey M. Jones of Gallup say this "paycheck effect" has been particularly strong in recent months. One possible explanation, they say, is that Americans could be less comfortable using credit than they once were, and prefer to shop when they have cash on hand.

The survey also found that average daily self-reported spending was much higher for men than for women -- $73 versus $53, respectively -- and is also highest for adults age 30-49.

Source: The New York Times (11/02/09)

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New Ad Campaigns

From Amy:

Hidden guacamole. Leftover chicken. Identity tracking. Let's launch!

VERSUS is launching a new series, "Sports Jobs with Junior Seau," Dec. 2. Like Discovery Channel's "Dirty Jobs," this show focuses on thankless behind-the-scenes sporting jobs ranging from UFC cornerman and MLB batboy to IndyCar pit crewmember and LPGA caddy -- all tackled by NFL linebacker Junior Seau. "I never had to close a 3-inch cut with one hand ... change 4 tires in under 10 seconds, and stop a 100 mph linedrive. Until now," says Seau in a 30-second TV spot, shown here. Print ads, running in Sports Illustrated, Maxim, Rolling Stone, Playboy, Sporting News, Men's Fitness and Men's Health, feature Seau donning his NFL jersey while completing tasks unrelated to football. See the ads here, here and here. Viewpoint Creative made the TV spot and Big Picture Group created the print ads.

You can't hide too many surprises in running medals. An NBA Championship trophy, on the other hand, is brimming with possibilities. "Your NBA Destination," ESPN's campaign promoting its NBA coverage, returns with Lamar Odom, a first-time championship winner, receiving a lesson on "Trophy" secrets from Magic Johnson and James Worthy. The trio is traveling on the ESPN bus, watching TV. Odom is snacking and coddling the trophy when Johnson opens the trophy top to reveal a heaping load of guacamole. This is my kind of trophy. Worthy goes even further, revealing a heated drawer of nacho cheese at the trophy's base. Watch the ad here, created by Wieden + Kennedy New York.

Ever wonder what leftover chicken looks like when it's shocked with a defibrillator? Me neither, but we find out in a TV ad for Bisquick. A wife runs to the refrigerator, grabs the leftover chicken and whisks it off to the ER in "Leftovers." Rather than cutting off clothing, a doctor cuts away plastic wrap covering the carcass. When chicken remnants meet defibrillator, the slimy chicken slips off a gurney and onto the floor, devastating its owners, who realize the five-second rule does not apply here and the chicken can't be saved. "Keep your leftovers alive," ends the ad, driving viewers to Bisquick.com for recipes. See the ad here, created by McCann Erickson and edited by Crew Cuts.

Apple launched "Switcher Cams," an online ad running though Nov. 20 on CNN, New York Times, Slate, Wired, YouTube, The Onion, NFL, ZDNet and Ars Technica, among others. Mac and PC watch a row of hidden cameras follow former PC users walking into an Apple store. Rather than upgrade to Windows 7, PC users are buying Macs instead. PC has tolerated enough, so he leaves Mac for the trenches, where he prevents a PC user from entering the Mac store. "One down, Mac. Thousands and thousands to go," he proclaims. Watch the ad here, created by TBWA/Media Arts Lab.

Identity Guard launched three TV spots that track users' identities once they've charged something. The first ad brings us to Nigeria, following a woman's purchase of sandals online. A boy rides through the city of Lagos, clutching this woman's credit card information. He arrives at his destination, with a lookout keeping watch on things. You're led to think the ad will end with the boy selling off this info, which isn't the case. He's simply filling the sandal order. See the ad here. "Boxers" is hysterical. A man orders golf clubs online, at home in his boxers. What's amusing is that the boxer-wearing man follows his identity to a server room, atop a woman's desk, along a conveyor belt and atop freight, carrying his purchase. Watch it here. A man hands his credit card to the cashier in the final ad, seen here, and she broadcasts his personal information throughout the store and beyond. Smith Gifford created the ads, edited by Crew Cuts.

A series of open car doors beckons drivers to hop in and take a spin. "An Open Door" promotes the Xbox game Forza Motorsport 3. The spot shows a series of luxury cars with the driver's side door opened. Cars are left in the road, found in a showroom and in a garage; an unseen driver gets into the last car, peeling down the road. The last car is videogame footage that allows average folks to drive an expensive sports car however they choose. "Where dreams are driven" ends the ad, seen here. The spot is running in the U.S., UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada, Mexico, Australia and Japan. T.A.G. created the ad and Universal McCann handled the media buy.

If real life isn't filled with enough pressure and anxiety, your gaming life can be. Hill Holliday created a launch video for Immerz, a pair of headphones that sit on your chest while you play video games, watch movies or listen to music. Low-frequency vibrations are sent into a player's chest cavity, allowing him to physically feel what his in-game character feels. A video game character speaks directly to the screen, telling the gamer, "what if you could feel what I feel. All this pressure and anxiety ... changes our relationship a bit, doesn't it?" The video ends with a gamer strapping on his headphones and immersing himself in the game. See the video here.

Hellmann's created a film to raise awareness for The Real Food Movement, which recommends that Canadians buy Canadian food to support local farmers and to import food only when necessary. Some numbers are staggering. For example, "for every apple we export, we import about five. For pears, it's one out and 700 in," says the voiceover. According to the film, Alberta imported more than $170 million in fresh vegetables in 2004 while exporting $400,000 worth. Yikes. Watch the film here, created by Ogilvy Toronto and produced by Sons and Daughters and Toronto & Crush.

Random iPhone App of the week: Discovery Communications launched the Discovery Channel App, which contains video clips from shows like "Mythbusters," "Dirty Jobs," "Time Warp," "Deadliest Catch" and "Cash Cab." The app also offers various quizzes, photo galleries, programming schedules and updates from Discovery News. Those interested in purchasing full show episodes can do so via links provided that connects users to the iTunes Store. The App, created by Rhythm NewMedia, can be downloaded for free from the App Store.

Amy Corr is managing editor, online newsletters for MediaPost. She can be reached at amyc@mediapost.com.

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More Wisdom from Steve Clark

Yesterday and Today, I'm featuring a couple of articles I received from Steve Clark:

"Let the 80/20 Principle Pay Off for You"
by Alexandria Brown

It pays to play to your strengths. But how do you pinpoint the areas that will increase revenue and earn you more money? Simple: by following the Pareto Principle. Developed by Italian economist and sociologist Vilfredo Pareto, this short, simple rule states that 80% of our results come from 20% of our activity.

You may have heard that we wear 20% off of our clothes 80% of the time, and the same 80/20 rule applies to business. For instance, 80% of your sales come from 20% of your customers. Conversely, 80% of your complaints come from 20% of your customers and 80% of the profits made in your industry come from 20% of the companies. The exact percentages may vary, perhaps 75% and 25% instead of 80% and 20%, but the concept remains the same.

By identifying customers and areas that are most valuable to you and your business, you can boost your bottom line without working longer or harder. In fact, you'll be working smarter. At the same time as you're finding your most profitable areas, you also need to think about those customers or products that are not performing well and may actually be dragging down you and your business.

For instance, if you own a secondhand music store, you probably have some inventory that is flying off the shelves and other products that just aren't selling, no matter how low you price them. By dividing your products in categories (perhaps by music genre), you could see which items your customers are buying and which ones you should stop carrying. By matching your products to customer demand, you'll be able to turn over inventory more quickly and make more money, all without adding more square footage or spending more money on advertising.

Here are some areas to consider in your own business:

*Employees - Who is your rock star salesperson and what you can you do to help them achieve even better results? Also, who is underperforming and might they be better suited to other tasks? Both are important considerations.

*Customers Calculate how much revenue you're getting from each customer and subtract the cost of administrative time or other costs to maintain that relationship. Once you've figured out which customers are in your top 20%, you can make some strategic decisions about how to better meet their needs.

*Markets - If you sell products to different markets, evaluate these markets with the same principle you used for evaluating your customers. The markets that are earning you the most money should become obvious, so you can start examining the direction in which the company is headed.

Once you've identified areas that aren't paying off, you have to be ruthless and kick them to the curb. Your business cannot flourish if you're spending valuable time and resources on customers or products that are unprofitable. Once you make the strategic decision to cull wasted space and focus on areas that earn more money, you'll have a much better chance of surviving, and even flourishing, in a competitive business environment.

© 2009 Ali International, LLC

Self-made multimillionaire entrepreneur Ali Brown is devoted to creating financial freedom for women globally through the power of entrepreneurship. To learn how to create wealth and live an extraordinary life now, register for her free weekly articles at www.AliBrown.com

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Steve's Weekly Tip: Respect Yourself

Too often managers and owners of small businesses let somebody else do the planning.Instead of scheduling their meetings around their own timetables, they often set up meetings around other people’s timetables. It’s important to remember that your time is just as valuable. This is just one way to manage your time more effectively. Other tips include:

* Devote only an hour a day to answering your e-mails, if that. Many managers drop everything they do to respond to an e-mail or at least read it as soon as it pops up on the screen, causing distraction.

* Schedule time for yourself so that you can focus on a task without an interruption. That means no phone calls and no e-mails.

* It sounds obvious, but try to get eight hours of sleep each night. The more sleep you get, the fewer mistakes you make and the less inclined you are to waver from your plan of action.

* Don't try to do everything yourself. Hire good employees and train them well, then delegate some of your tasks to them.

* As for meetings, keep them short and to the point.

About Steve:

Steve Clark is the CEO of New School Selling, Inc., an international business development and marketing company. He consults and coaches business owners, sales executives and entrepreneurs to develop and implement more effective sales and marketing strategies that increase revenues and improve profit margins.

You can learn more about Steve by watching this 4 minute video.

Want to See More Articles Like This One?

See Steve's New School Selling Blog.

"Entrepreneur and Executive Sales Coach, Steve Clark publishes the highly acclaimed "Tips for Profitable Persuasion" weekly ezine. If you're ready to explode your sales and skyrocket your income while working less get your FREE copy at www.newschoolselling.com."

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Wednesday Night Marketing News from Mediapost

Hard to believe it's Wednesday already. Harder to believe it's NOVEMBER Already....

Ford Drives 21% Rise In October Sales

by Karl Greenberg

The domestic automakers have something to feel good about; Ford Motor is doing best. The company, which reported a profit in the third quarter, also posted strong October sales versus the previous month. Market share topped 15%. ... Read the whole story > >

Kodak Shoots For YouTube Consumer Connection

by Aaron Baar

Many consumers may still think of Kodak as mainly an enabler of still images. But the company is becoming deeply involved in the Web's most popular site for moving pictures: YouTube. ... Read the whole story > >

Holiday Cheer: Major Retailers Launch Cause Initiatives

by Sarah Mahoney

Retailers aren't just starting the holiday discounts early this year -- they're even getting a jump on the warm-and-fuzzy part of Christmas: Macy's, J.C. Penney and Wal-Mart Stores are all unleashing major cause-related initiatives. ... Read the whole story > >

Mrs. Freshley's Using Facebook To Pick Persona

by Karlene Lukovitz

Mrs. Freshley's, a snack cakes brand from Flowers Foods, may sound quaint, but its marketers aren't. The 13-year-old brand is asking for Facebook submissions to find "the real Mrs. Freshley." ... Read the whole story > >

GMA Study: Shopper Marketing Still Siloed

by Karlene Lukovitz

Shopper marketing continues to grow in importance for CPGs and retailers, but its effectiveness is being limited by insufficient integration with out-of-store marketing and media channels. ... Read the whole story > >

Forrester: 8% Gain Predicted In Holiday Sales

Verizon Wireless Pulls Out Stops For Droid Launch

Robots: The Latest Trend in Consumer Electronics?

Cars.com Heads To Super Bowl

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The Customers You Don't Want

It's true, you really don't want every possible person to be your customer. Here's an example of one such case from the Church of the Customer Blog:

Kicking out unwanted customers

Posted: 30 Oct 2009 10:34 AM PDT

"Don't talk during the movie or we will take your ass out."

If you've been to an Alamo Drafthouse, the movie theater chain in Austin, Texas, then you've seen that semi-serious warning couched in a fun "public service announcement" before a movie showing. Theater founder Tim League knows that talkers mar the movie-watching experience for everyone else, and he does not tolerate them -- even if they punch the windshield of his car.

See, Tim was a customer recently at one of his theaters. A nearby loud-talker was asked by a theater waiter to keep it down. The customer protested, loudly, demanding to know who was offended by his talking. The waiter pointed to Tim.

Then it gets better... OK, worse.

After the the movie, the incensed customer followed Tim to his car, badgering him with anger. It climaxed with the customer punching the windshield of Tim's car, vowing never to return to an Alamo theater again.

To which Tim wrote on his blog:

"Fabulous.You sir are exactly the type of patron that I never want to see at an Alamo Drafthouse ever again. People who continue to talk when the movie has started are impolite, self-absorbed losers who were never taught common decency by their parents. WE DON’T EVER WANT YOU AT THE ALAMO. Please take your business elsewhere for the rest of your life....To our friendly customers, stay vigilant, report talkers and keep our theater safe from the raging hemorrhoids of cinematic society."

This happens all the time inside stores, movie theaters, sporting events, airline flights; an obnoxious customer makes everyone uncomfortable, and everyone in charge is oblivious.

Commenters on Tim's blog post love that he is standing up for them. If you stand with your best customers at the expense of the bad ones, you'll win bigger. The customer is always right -- if it's the right customer.

BONUS: Here's a years-ago example of an Alamo no talking "public service" video. This one stars the late Texas Gov. Ann Richards.

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The Fabled Press Release

One Traditional method of getting attention is losing steam. From MarketingCharts.com:

Less than Half of PR People Deem Press Releases ‘Useful’

In keeping with the recent spate of gloom-and-doom forecasts for both print media and old-school PR practitioners, only 49% of today’s professional communicators say they think press releases are “as useful as ever,” according to recent poll of corporate communicators conducted by Ragan Communications and PollStream.

The poll also found that another 33% of the the 401 respondents see press releases as “a necessary evil that won’t go away soon,” in large part because of disclosure rules for public companies set forth by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Releases Lose out to Social Media

One of the main reasons for the decline of the press release is the recent explosion of the use of social media in public relations and the perception that releases are less relevant in those venues. A majority (64%) of respondents who issue releases say they target them most often to print outlets, while 23% send them to online news and financial sites.

The poll also found that many PR pros often forego writing a release unless it’s for a specific reason or if they aren’t confident they can reach their audience any other way.

Nearly half (45%) don’t see releases as relevant as they once were because of the growth of social media and the ability to target reporters and editors in more personalized, direct ways. At the same time nearly one-fourth each blame the waning interest in the press releases on the demand for a more trustworthy and/or engaging information source (23%) and the decline of the newspaper and magazine industry (24%).

Are Releases Dying?

In an article entitled “Don’t trash press releases yet,” Ragan.com’s Lindsey Miller sheds light on why some communicators in the survey chalk the release’s demise to shrinking news sources. “As news sources become more obviously biased and decrease in size and content, publics are turning to other sources of information,” she quoted one respondent as saying, adding that another blamed companies themselves for the declining quality of the releases. “Companies have become too self-protecting in their releases. Everything has been tossed into the legal CYA blender, and what comes back is bland and over-processed.”

Miller noted that corporate communicators are increasingly using social media as a way to get around “canned” information, and to personalize, target and reach reporters who are increasing busy with more beats and less likely to read the proliferation of releases that cross their desks everyday.

About the survey: The survey is part of the POLL-arized series of polls about corporate communication that is the result of a partnership between Pollstream and with Ragan.com.

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2009 isn't over yet

Even though a lot of us are focusing on next year already.

Today and Tomorrow, I'm featuring a couple of articles I received from Steve Clark:

"What to Think About as the 4th Quarter Comes to a Close"
by Steve Clark

What you do between now and the end of the year will impact your 1st quarter of 2010 greatly.

What are you going to do between now and the end of the year?

Here are some questions for you to ponder, reflect and hopefully act on:

1. How many prospects do you want to contact between now and Dec. 31st?

2. Based on your closing percentages how many 1st time conversations will you need to have to hit your production goals? How many do you need per week?

3. How many names do you have on your written prospect list TODAY? (Hint – you need to have more than the answer to question number 2).

4. If you do not have enough names on your prospect list when will you sit down and work on your list?

5. What is your prospecting plan? You do have a written prospecting plan for the 4th quarter don’t you? Is it broken down into measurable, weekly activity?

6. How will you track and keep score of your activity?

7. Have you made daily appointments with yourself to prospect? Are they written in your calendar?

I urge you to sit down and devote some quality time to answer these questions and make a plan. After all, in the absence of clearly defined goals and objectives anything becomes acceptable.

"Entrepreneur and Executive Sales Coach, Steve Clark publishes the highly acclaimed "Tips for Profitable Persuasion" weekly ezine. If you're ready to explode your sales and skyrocket your income while working less get your FREE copy at www.newschoolselling.com."

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