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OK, it’s time for my semi-sortof annual post on the subject of Marketing.

Now, before I go on, I just want to go on record as saying that I’ll be the first to admit this post constitutes something of a rant. For that I apologize; I’m not usually given to rants here at the Zone. Musings, now… well, musings is what we do best around here.

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Out to Lunch

I went out to lunch the other day (and yes, I’m aware that some of you may think I’m always out to lunch) at a local beanery. Next door was a national chain drugstore with one of those fancy new computer-controlled marquee-thingies out front.

You’ve seen ‘em, right? They’re similar to the new scoreboard screens you see at sports events; except of course they don’t display the play of the day but a constantly-changing series of whatever are the day’s specials.

Prices are such that, immediately upon seeing said incredibly unbelievable prices, you are expected to cut across 5 lanes of traffic, slide perfectly into a parking slot like a Hollywood stunt driver, and rush breathlessly into the store to make the purchase.

You’ve gotta wonder, though, how successful these things actually are in pulling in customers. I mean, if it were me, for instance, a killer price on a gallon of milk, or 5 cents for a 10-pack of batteries wouldn’t entice me to stop (well, maybe that one for batteries might).

Now I just know you’re sitting there and asking yourself, “OK, Smart Guy; why not?” (Amazing how I can read your minds like that, isn’t it? Oh, and thanks for the complement!)

I Really Hate These Things

What I absolutely hate the most about these things is that nearly every one are so bright I’m afraid of exposure to dangerously high UV levels! Hey, you can call me obstinate (heck; you can call me Steve if you like – I don’t mind), but immediately upon noticing one of these things, my initial and automatic response is to avert my eyes lest I be struck with temporary blindness.

Thus, any possible message about tremendous savings are lost on me. (But I don’t know; it seems to me this might make for some interesting lawsuits, don’t you think?)

Also, and because I’m, you know, driving several thousand pounds of motor vehicle, there’s a limited amount of time for me to read the day’s specials anyway. Let’s say it takes approximately 10-15 seconds to drive by a given sign, and each item is displayed for about 4 seconds. So even if plenty of things might actually be worth my while to make a special stop and purchase, how would I know? I’m not likely to see them.

So I ask you: is such a sign really worth it? After all, since I can only see two, or at most or three items, then what are the odds a particular item would be of interest? (Sound of buzzer) Not bloody likely, I’ll tell you!

And speaking of driving by, here’s another obvious fact: in order for me to read the sign, I have to take my eyes off the road. Now, I don’t know about where you live, but in Houston traffic, if I do that for more than a second or two you’re likely to have to scrape me and my car off a light pole or something!

(Not that I’m a bad driver, mind you; it’s just the way it is here. Continuously keeping your eyes on the road is pretty much a requirement for survival.)

Finally, there’s the chance the message will get, well, lost in translation. As I watched this particular sign, I did notice one message that kinda caught my eye (Augh! My eye! My eye!) The first line (it was a two-line display) read, “Downy Fabric Softener”. The second line went, “Buy 1, Get 1”.

Urk?

Hmmm… I wonder if part of the message got left off – like, for instance, the word “Free”? I mean, after all; if you “buy 1”, then it stands to reason you’d probably, er, “get 1” don’t you think?

What I Learned From…

So what’s the point of this rant, anyway? I have no ideaHey, I’m glad you asked! Here’s what came to mind as I pondered this, um, “sign of the times” (sound of rimshot; sorry, couldn’t resist):

First of all, to understand any of what I’m about to tell you, you must take as a given that we are all marketers. You do understand that point, right? Nod your heads, please (sound of creaky joints). Thank you. OK; here’s just a few points, observations, conclusions, or whatever (in no particular order):

It’s better to specifically target your message – Broadcasting a message for the whole world to see, in the hopes that the numbers game will work for you is IMHO an enormous waste of time and resources. Now, I happen to know these signs aren’t cheap (I know someone who makes them). So once again I ask you: what are the odds of enough people being attracted by this sign enticed to spend their money that the store can even come close to the cost of upkeep, utility use and permitting; not to mention the initial cost of the sign? Smart marketers know the most efficient use of their budget is to target the message to their particular market.

Make word-of-mouth work for you, not against you – I know there are plenty of marketers out there that believe the point of advertising is getting people to talk, good or bad, about their product. But I’m here to tell ya (and trust me; I won’t be the last to do so!): the risk of turning potential customers off – or even worse – turning them into negative evangelists is exceedingly high when what you’re doing irritates the fire out of ‘em! If your message rubs people the wrong way, you could end up being the talk of the town, and NOT in a good way.

Don’t be ridiculous! – OK; I admit I may have exaggerated just a teensy little bit about the whole bright sign/looking away thing. But it’s happened before. Folks around Houston still remember the giant Pepsi logo (it was about 25 feet in diameter and elevated nearly 70 feet high) that used to reside off Hiway 225 near Gulfgate. Honest truth here: it was bad enough during the day, but at night it was so incredibly bright it literally hurt your eyes as it flashed on and off every few seconds. Sure, the message got out: Buy Pepsi. But the message received was completely different: BUY PEPSI, YOU MORONS! Try to put yourself in the customer’s place and see how they would react to your message, your product, and especially your presentation.

OK, granted I’m no marketer (except, you know, as defined above). But these things seem so self-evident to me; how can marketers not see it? Yet sadly, there’s an entire world of examples out there about how NOT to do it right.

</rant>

So how about you? What’s your take on this? Have you run across any obtrusive and/or blatant marketing or advertising that you’re convinced will (or at least, you kinda hope it will) kill the company that does it?

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

Surely you’ve heard plenty of admonitions to set goals and plan where you’re going in life (and yes, I know – don’t call you Shirley). In fact, I’ll bet the odds are fairly good that sometime in your life you’ve sat in on at least one planning or goal-setting seminar or workshop.

But what if there’s nothing you’d like better than to make a plan and get on with it – but alas, due to circumstances beyond your control, well Bubba, it ain’t gonna happen!

What if external events conspire to actually prevent you from planning your next move?

Sheesh! Now that’s a lotta “what ifs”!

I spent a year working in Austin, Texas on a semiconductor manufacturing facility (boy, try saying that ten times real fast!) for an engineering firm located in Greenville, South Carolina.

It was a genuinely pleasant assignment: An interesting project in a decent-sized town with lots to do and see (unfortunately, a disproportionate number of my field assignments have been located out in the middle of nowhere – oddball places like West Hallelujah , or 10 miles outside of Upper PoDunk). Plus, Austin had the added benefit of fairly nice weather year round (although a mite warm in the summer), and it wasn’t far from home (Houston, Texas).

As the project began to wind down, however, our usually well-laid travel plans started to tangle up like a phone cord (sound of desperation setting in).

About two months before the project’s end date, I really began to “push” about where the next assignment would be. My boss assured me there was plenty of work, and to be honest, I wasn’t worried about losing a job. I just wanted to start planning our relocation – a “snarly” job (lots of loose ends to tie down) any way you sliced it.

A few weeks passed by with still no word, so I increased my efforts to the next energy level and started making calls every few days. I was once again assured that “they” (who are these guys, anyway?) were working on it and would have an assignment soon.

It turned out there were several opportunities – one in Richmond, Virginia, one in another city (I can’t remember where) – and I could always come back to the office in Greenville for awhile. Hey, we were OK with all the choices; we just wanted to know, you know?

With less than a month to go, we had to start making arrangements to move – wrapping up affairs, changing housing arrangements, etc. The only problem: I still didn’t know where we were going! Can you believe it? It was pretty aggravating to tell our friends, “I don’t know which direction we’re going yet, but on (fill in date here), we’re leaving!”

Believe it or not, this continued through the next week, then two weeks, and on – and on…

Arrghh! Grrbl, grrbl. Spit! (sounds of gnashing of teeth)

Finally, it was the Last Day – and sure enough, there was still no decision (sound of buzzer). All the project files had been turned over and archived, office furniture was scheduled to be returned, and I handed over the keys to the building landlord (I was literally the last to leave – and yes, I turned off the lights).

I picked up the phone and called my boss. “I’ll tell you what,” I told him, “you get a desk ready for me in Greenville, and I’ll be there in three days.”

You know, there comes a point when you can do all you can, but sometimes you just have to let what’s gonna happen, happen. It may not be the best experience (and take if from me, this one was aggravating beyond belief!), but the truth of the matter is, you can probably survive it just fine, thank you very much.

How? Well, it can be a lot easier if you follow just a few simple guidelines:

Plan what you can – Hey, just because we couldn’t plan everything didn’t mean we couldn’t plan something! Since we had three possible destinations (actually four, if you counted throwing in the towel and going back to Houston), we developed three different contingency plans. These included (for the places we didn’t know) maps, possible hotel locations, cost of living information, travel route maps, etc. Sure, it was a lot of extra work (not to mention a royal pain in the, er, southern regions), but at least we were as ready as we could be for the choices we had at the time.

Understand that you can’t control everything – (Rule #1: You can’t control everything. Rule #2: See rule #1.) It is my personal belief that sooner or later, everyone will learn this lesson! See, there are bound to be times in your life when you simply can’t make everything happen the way you want. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say most things are beyond your (complete) control (so far, my personal score is something like Me-3%; Life-97%). But is this an unusual state of affairs? Absolutely not (and welcome to reality – also known as The Middle Zone)! So what do you do? Try these four little words: Get used to it!

Keep your sense of humor (or if you don’t have one, get one!) – And trust me; this one bit will do more for your well-being than all other advice combined. By far and away the best advice I can offer anyone, anytime, anywhere: lighten up! The best defense for the inevitable pitfalls, conundrums, and outright roadblocks life tosses your way is to learn to relax, find something to laugh about, and just move on. C’mon, admit it; sooner or later you’re probably going to look back on the situation and laugh anyway – so why not now? It’ll be much easier to handle, AND, has the added benefit of impressing your friends with what a great, well-balanced individual you are!

Now who wouldn’t want that?

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So what about it folks? What’s been your most aggravating experience with this sort of thing? Can you add anything to the above list?

(Photo: More Winter by nico 0512)

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

[Note from the Proprietor: Speaking of the book, The Age of Conversation, yesterday I mentioned the chapter I contributed. Well, just to prove to you I really can write concisely and within ridiculously tight restrictions (400 words, on the money!), here’s it is. If you have yet to purchase the book (and why are you waiting?), well, you’re missing out on some amazing insights from 102 other folks.]

The Age of Conversation makes me think of… bridges.

Consider: We all know about bridges, right? You’ve seen and crossed hundreds, even thousands of them in your lifetime. Have you ever thought about what a bridge does? And while you’re pondering that, just exactly how do bridges relate to conversations, anyway?

A bridge, in terms of its function, connects or reduces the distance between two points. In other words, it makes it easier for you to get from here to there. Sounds reasonable, don’t you think? But what I find most interesting is the word applies equally to physical and non-physical worlds.

Now, before we go on, let’s consider the term conversation. Think of it as the use of speech for the informal exchange of views, ideas or information. You’ll note it’s also defined in terms of function.

For example, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco links together two points of land, effectively and dramatically reducing the travel distance between them. A barrier (the water) has been bridged.

In the same way, two people, even with wildly differing views on a particular subject, can bridge those differences with a single conversation, resulting in common understanding. Again, a barrier (differing viewpoints) has been bridged.

In a sense, then, the conversation is the bridge.

It has been rightly said that the secret to good blogging can be found in the art of conversation. What’s more, the proliferation of the World Wide Web has made it possible to conduct multiple conversations with folks anywhere there’s an appropriate computer and internet connection. And that’s exactly what makes it so powerful.

Conversation, when employed wisely, can easily become an effective tool for bridging geographical, political, and ideological barriers. I talk to you; you talk to me – but watch out! You’re in a construction zone; a bridge is being built!

Distance? What’s distance to an electron traveling at the speed of light? Geography? No problem; all physical boundaries are irrelevant. Well, then what about political boundaries? Countries, cultures and/or ideologies can often be formidable boundaries. But here’s where the true power of conversation begins to shine forth for all to see.

Herein lies the danger – and also the exhilaration. With every post, a bridge magically springs forth that can span any conceivable barrier that could possibly be thrown in its way. Step across, if you dare.

The choice is yours.

(Photo courtesy of Zoey Bluesky)

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled program to bring you this news flash…

Last year Drew McClellan and Gavin Heaton made publishing history, producing the first-ever e-book of its kind, The Age of Conversation. Having been accidentally mistaken for a marketer, I was privileged to be one of 103 authors who contributed a chapter. (Limited to 400 words! Can you imagine me limiting myself to 400 words on anything?)

Now a hard copy of AoC sits proudly on my bookshelf, gathering admiring glances from the Beautiful, the Powerful, and the Glitterati who come to visit.

I’m tellin’ ya, it required an incredible amount of behind-the-scenes work, herding over 100 writers into line (sorta like herding cats, no doubt), cutting, pasting, editing, pulling hair, sobbing uncontrollably at the drop of a hat… But I think all would agree Drew and Gavin did a great job (even though SOMEbody changed my chapter title! *sob*).

The end result was spectacular. Not only has the book gained international attention, sales of the book at lulu.com (and hopefully, soon to be available at Amazon.com) have to date earned over $10,000 for Variety, a children’s charity. Now there’s something to be proud of!

Well, the news just broke this week, and unbelievably, these two crazy people nut jobs fine upstanding fellows want to do it again! (Sound of crowd going wild with excitement!)

And YOU are invited to help. How, you ask? Simple!

Go to this website and read all about it. And in the spirit of an election year, you even get to vote!

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

Darren Rowse at ProBlogger has a great series of posts on running a competition on your blog (see here and here for the first two articles), and it prompted me to ponder a bit (that grinding noise you hear) about our monthly group writing projects – which are quite different from competitions – we have here at the Zone.

Interested in running a group writing project of your own? Great! When done right, it can be lots of fun, introduce you to many new folks, and help increase your visibility in the Blogosphere.

Having successfully completed 8 group writing projects (one per month since May ‘07 – except we skipped October), I think I can claim some measure of expertise on the subject. So before you make the big announcement, here’s a few questions you should ask yourself before you start.

• Is it Worthwhile? – By worthwhile, I mean will it create value for both the participants and the readers? (And lest you think this one is obvious, I assure you it is not!) One thing that keeps people coming back is when they feel like they’ve gained something from their participation. Back during my very first project, I talked about how much we as bloggers like to share what we know, how often we’re asked for help, and how freely help is available from our fellow bloggers. It was a great proof-of-concept, and has proven itself to be true over time. I’m convinced it’s what keeps folks coming back for more.
• One-time, or Recurring? – When I proposed that first project, I had no idea what would happen (sortof like giving a party, but not knowing if anybody will come.) But after that first time, it was obviously worth repeating. I was a little worried, though, about “participation fatigue” setting in, and in fact, it sorta did. But ironically enough, it wasn’t my readers; it was me (it’s one reason I skipped October). If you don’t know which way to go, well, try it once and then decide.
• How Often? – Having made the decision to repeat, I had to decide what the best interval was; once a month seemed a bit much at first. After all, since each project takes up an entire week, it leaves only about three weeks to get ready for the next one. Would that be too soon? Will my readers get tired of it? And what about Mary Lou? But making the interval too long meant people might forget. So far, I’d have to say that once a month has worked just fine. Plus, readers now know to expect a new one every first Monday of the month.
• What’s the Topic? – For my particular projects, I needed to identify topics that were broad enough such that as many people as possible could participate. It’s not as easy as it sounds! Give careful thought how you word your project definition. On the other hand, your project(s) might be much more specific than mine are. The key idea is to make sure you don’t inadvertently exclude potential participants. For instance, when the topic was The World of Sports, I did my best to make sure even “non-sports folks” could be included. I think it worked, too.
• Does it Fit Your “Brand”? – You should ask yourself, does this project fit my brand? And yes, you have a brand, whether you acknowledge it or not – especially if you’ve been blogging a while. Make sure your projects build on it; otherwise you’ll lose your already faithful readers. Alternatively, you can use writing project to help establish your brand. It’s essentially what I did here at the Middle Zone, where the MZM brand reflects the concept lessons learned from life. Thus, our writing projects not only established that brand, but continue to support it perfectly.
• Where are Entries Posted? – This can be a biggie, and should be considered carefully. From the beginning I asked people to post their entries on their own blogs, reasoning that if nothing else, I was giving folks an idea for a post. Most people, in spite of good planning (or at least good intentions) probably welcome a good post idea, so who would complain? All I did was ask them to link to the project kick-off post (so I would know). I then posted a wrap-up of all the links when it was over. (At first I asked participants to repeat the list of links on their own blogs, but I soon dropped that requirement because I no longer, well, beg for links.)

Oh, sure; there are plenty of other considerations when running a group writing project, and in fact yours may be nothing like mine. But at least these questions should get you thinking in the right direction.

So What About You?

OK, up to now I’ve done all the talking; now it’s your turn. What writing projects have you been thinking about lately? Do they fit the model I’ve outlined above, or are they a different animal altogether? (Although I’m getting pretty good at doing it my way – there are most definitely plenty of other ways to do it.)

Share your ideas here and maybe we can all learn a thing or two!

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By the way, for those of you who missed it, our most recent and just-completed group writing project, BLOGAPALOOZA! What I Learned From 2007, was conducted a bit differently. In addition to the usual way of doing things, this time I gave folks the option to guest post their entries right here at the Zone. The idea was to reward participants with external links to all the posts at their own blogs. (I’m afraid you’ll have to read the above link to see how it was structured.)

As it turned out, it was a great success. There were quite a few guest posts (28), and I handed out 327 links (if I counted right). Plus we hit a new record for project entries (30)! But (as expected), it was a lot of extra work cutting, pasting, checking links, etc.!

Here’s the wrap-up post if you’d like to see who participated, with links to their posts and their blogs.

And while you’re at it, entries from all previous What I Learned From… projects have their own permanent “Hall of Fame”, the WILF archive page.

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

Well, Blogapalooza’s over, and Bubba, I’m tellin’ ya - I’m beat!

See y’all tomorrow!

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

[Note from the Proprietor: Here’s one final entry that somehow got stuck in various spam boxes and/or draft folders. Besides, it pushes our total participation to an amazing 30 folks, so I just had to include it!]

Inquiring minds want to know: What were the most amazing, profound, surprising, or even whacky things you’ve learned over the last year?

Here’s an entry from Karen Hanrahan, also known as Mother Earth, who blogs at Best of Mother Earth:

Karen Hanrahan here from Best of Mother Earth. You can call me Mother Earth if you like; everyone else does. I affectionately know Robert from the comment section of Liz Strauss’s Blog, and have been reading Middle Zone Musings ever since.

I think what I learned most from 2007 and blogging is how much I enjoy writing.

What I learned from 2007

June - That quality sourced information about household toxins are hard to
find (Toxic Household Chemical Facts and Statistics)

July - That having the urpy burpy, too many bbq’s, and too much travel blues
has its natural solutions (Urpy Burpy, Too Many BBQ, Too Much Travel Blues)

August - That there is brilliance in being domestic and really funny images
on flickr about voice activated blenders (Domestic Brilliance)

September - That I Don’t Speak or Think Dog

October - That I love to cook and the fact that this song is in my head
every time I make this dish cracks me up (Hakuna Matata Fritatta – Crunchy
Apple Waldorf)

November- One can never have too much gratitude (Product of the Week: I am Thankful for You)

December - That I can find humor in just about anything (Winter Fashion Police – Arrest Me Now)

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So what’s it all about?

Friends, if you’ve written about it at your blog in 2007, then you’re invited to join us for this special edition of What I Learned From… Care to share with us your favorite/ best/ most controversial/ strangest, etc. posts? (You get to pick one from each month you’ve been blogging in 2007.)

Well, don’t just sit there like a bump on a pickle; click the link, check out the simple instructions, and jump right in! Get your entries in by Sunday night, January 13, and I’ll publish them all right here at Middle Zone Musings.

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!