By Bob Bailly
Mistakes were made, but not by me, a book by Carol Tarvis and Elliot Aronson, explores the very human tendency to deflect blame, to admit error begrudgingly and to avoid responsibility. They explore the notion that too often we hear the self-justifying, “There was nothing else I could have done.” Consider the American presidents who in the face of overwhelming evidence to the opposite have proclaimed, “I did not have sex with that women” or “I am not a crook.”
Why do we justify foolish beliefs, bad decisions and hurtful acts? How is it that as individuals we have so much difficulty admitting error and responsibility? And why are we always looking to convince ourselves that we did the best thing?
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By Alexandra Reid
As a regular feature, we provide our readers with a roundup of some of the best articles we read in the past week. On the podium this week are Velocity, Forrester, TopRank, The Washington Post, and Econsultancy.
‘You had me at hello’ – How to nail personalized marketing in B2B
Say “persona” to a marketer and nine times out of 10 he or she will need to fight an involuntary eye-roll reflex. Author Ryan Skinner is on a one-man mission to turn personas into the sexiest topic you work with. He covers a few simple ways to apply personas so that people see your marketing and think “Damn. I wish I did that.”
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By Leo Valiquette
There’s a quote that I am fond of from journalist and author Gene Fowler, who passed in 1960:
“Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.”
I could only wonder what he would say if he were alive today about making a living from writing. Content is king. It is fresh and original content, as Katie Parsons wrote the other day, which remains the strongest draw to pull in readers. And yet, we live in this contradictory age in which the ability of almost anyone to easily and affordably be a global producer and distributor of content has undermined the definition of what constitutes quality content and fostered a growing disrespect for the time and craftsmanship required to produce it.
Nonetheless, I wholeheartedly believe that a quality writer has a substantial advantage in today’s marketplace by virtue of the fact that their skillset is the basis of a premium service that is highly transferable between disciplines. The classic example is the journalist who jumps the fence into other fields, such as public relations or marketing.
I use this example because I live it. After working for eight years as a business journalist and editor, I made the leap into a PR/marketing role. Here are my lessons learned along the way.
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By Alexandra Reid
Mitch Joel sparked an interesting conversation recently on his blog when he argued that podcasts could make a comeback.
Joel runs the popular podcast Six pixels of separation and admitted that the podcast is a guilty pleasure for him to ask interesting people his burning questions. He also confessed that he had no data to back up his claim that podcasts could be on the rebound, but listed a handful of successful podcasts which are acting as indicators that consumers do in fact have an appetite for longer, in-depth and content-rich audio programming. These podcasts are:
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By Katie Parsons
In an earlier post, Leo Valiquette wrote about the rise in incidents of plagiarism among high-profile journalists. Leo contends that the timing of this increase is no accident; forgetting ethics that were learned in Journalism 101 is part of a larger cultural shift stretching professionals too thin. With newspapers, magazines and broadcast entities operating with skeleton staff and individuals being asked to do more online, it is no wonder that facts appear to be falling through the cracks.
Many journalists are not happy with the current state of things. Dozens of staff at the Chicago Tribune recently sent a petition to newsroom editor Gerould Kearn asking him — begging him — to do what he could to convince executives to discontinue the use of the content creation company Journatic. The Tribune had farmed out nearly all of its suburban coverage to the data mill, whose own executive talked publicly about how reporters simply do not need to live in the communities that they cover. He offended a few journalists in the process and then proved his own statement wrong.
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August roundup: What does it take to bring technology to market?
August 31, 2012 by Alexandra Reid
As usual, we covered a lot of ground this month on our blog. We argued that RIM won’t commit suttee, why Harper’s free trade efforts need more thought, how Don Drummond’s arguments on Canadian business are flawed, and we also offered loads of advice for PR […]
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Marketing’s hidden treasure map
August 30, 2012 by Francis Moran
Whenever I present to groups or prospects on my Four Steps on the Road to Revenue™ marketing methodology, the first sentence out of my mouth is always, “It all begins with the customer.” My point is that marketing must start with identifying a customer requirement […]
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Thinking outside the bunker
August 29, 2012 by Leo Valiquette
Effective marketing is often an exercise in thinking outside of the box to make the most creative use of the assets that are already at hand […]
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2012 B2B content marketing trends
August 28, 2012 by Alexandra Reid
Holger Schulze recently conducted a valuable LinkedIn survey on 2012 B2B content marketing trends that managed to attract an immodest 740 responses, the majority of which came from senior marketing professionals in high technology companies […]
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Harper’s free trade efforts need more thought
August 27, 2012 by Denzil Doyle
Prime Minister Harper is to be congratulated for his efforts to diversify Canada’s international trade so that we are less dependent on the U.S […]
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Great articles roundup: innovation, media coverage, overly optimistic entrepreneurs, press releases, Facebook and automation
August 24, 2012 by Alexandra Reid
As a regular feature, we provide our readers with a roundup of the best articles we have read in the past week. On the podium this week are Read Write Web, The Globe and Mail, All Things D, Small Business Trends, Social Media Examiner, and ClickZ […]
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Truth … and sincerity … in advertising
August 23, 2012 by Leo Valiquette
Have you seen that commercial for a teeth-whitening toothpaste that features two “sisters,” one of whom says, “as a professional photographer …” but as she speaks, a disclaimer pops up on the screen that states this is not a photographer, but an actress. Read zero on the credibility meter […]
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Inbound marketing: An alternative to traditional PR?
August 22, 2012 by Alexandra Reid
When we last caught up with Screach, then called Screenreach Interactive, the startup was in the process of hiring a PR firm to promote its existing platform and to give the world an idea of the diverse projects that it was helping to create […]
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By Bob Bailly
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The Future of A&R – Walabe : [...] http://francis-moran.com/marketing-strategy/top-10-questions-every-strategic-communicator-should-ask... [...]
Traditional Marketing is Dead – Long Live Bikini Waxer Marketing | Scalexl : [...] pointed out by Alexandra Reid on the Francis Moran website content marketing is becoming more and more like journalism. So, it is not just about the content, [...]
It’s Summertime…and the Networking is Easy? | THE MERRAINE BRAIN : [...] In fact, summer is perhaps one of the times least used to network, yet at the same time has shown to be the most productive time to network. People tend to be in a brighter mood compared to during the gloomy winters-especially where I am from in England! Networking needs to be fun and not approached as another chore, like mowing the lawn. (http://francis-moran.com/marketing-strategy/social-media-strategy-why-meeting-in-the-real-world-matt...) [...]