New York Marketer

Through the Blog Smog

I sometimes hate to admit it, but I'm a generalist.  Clients often call on me to design and manage complete marketing programs from soup to nuts, starting with branding. This occasionally means that my knowledge of specific things like blogging can be a bit fuzzy.  Well, I got asked to speak later this week on precisely that topic at a Gotham Networking business roundtable in Connecticut.  So what I was I to do?  Easy.  Find an "expert's expert" and devour everything they've put together.  Although I looked at a lot of things, including a secret resource only marketing consultants have, I was really impressed with Ted Demopolous.  You can download his free ebook, Effective Internet Presence, which covers just about all aspects of developing an online presence that can help you build business.  You should also check out his terrific, easily digested book, What No One Ever Tells You About Blogging and Podcasting.  After you've taken a look, let me know what you think.

What's In Your Cereal Box?

All marketing starts with branding.  Without it, people won't have a clue what you're trying to get them to buy -- or why they should even look twice at it.  In a down economy, personal branding is just as critical as any other kind.  Last night I spoke with executive strategist Maxine Hartley's Executive Tiger Team, a group of top execs in transition.  One of my favorite ways into this kind of conversation when it needs to get concrete quickly is the cereal box game.  It's pretty simple:  if you were a product -- say a box of cereal -- what would be inside?  Who do you want to buy you? How would you be represented?  A silly rabbit?  A leprechaun?  A ship's captain?  Euell Gibbons?  What promises would you make?  There are a lot more questions like this to answer (and you get to play with crayons).  If you're having trouble coming to grips with branding for yourself or your organization, I recommend starting with a basic exercise like this -- one that involves both left and right brains and gives you a chance to be silly.  As always, I'll be glad to send you the handouts from the presentation if you email me.

Attorneys Ask the Most Interesting Questions

This morning I spoke to a group at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York with my good friend (and fellow marketing consultant Carol Greenwald).  The topic, as usual these days, was how to allocate scarce time and resources to get a good return on marketing (I'll be glad to send you the handouts if you shoot me an email).  We got a lot of interesting questions, but the one I found most intriguing was about the difference between Facebook and LinkedIn in a business context.  Like a lot of things, the advice that was current six months ago -- that business relationships should stick to LinkedIn -- no longer quite applies.  My take is this:  while the former is largely personal and the latter is largely business, I allow some business contacts with whom I have longstanding relationships to join me on Facebook.  The tone there is a little less formal (I might joke about having martinis at the Algonquin, for example), but never inappropriate (I won't confess how many).  I wouldn't post that on my LinkedIn page, but I find that doing so on Facebook is a nice way to stay in touch with people on a slightly more personal level. How do you approach this?  Let me know here -- and by all means, connect with me on LinkedIn.