tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37372109130615120902024-03-05T05:23:36.476-05:00The Fussy MarketerBecause if marketing is worth doing, it's worth doing well.Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-9737549147156614272012-05-15T08:03:00.000-04:002017-08-22T08:07:08.042-04:00How to Hire a Freelance Marketing Writer
Don’t Overlook These Three Important Considerations
If you’re a
business seeking to hire a freelance writer to help with your marketing, you’re
in luck. It’s a buyer’s market out
there.
You’ve got many choices. There are senior people – including
journalists – who’ve been laid off from their companies due to the
recession. There are kids fresh out of
college who Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-42684926348678540922012-03-29T07:39:00.002-04:002012-03-29T12:12:48.811-04:00A Whole Lotta Grabbin’ Going On, in Marketing
Think Twice Before Using a Trendy Word
Recently, the word “grab” has rippled through our culture and the marketing and news machines that feed it.
Marketers are telling me to “grab and go” a bottle of water with my morning coffee (Dunkin’ Donuts) or to “grab my girlfriends” and come to an evening reception to learn about incontinence and heart disease (my local hospital).
Salesmen, Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-19139689818298164692012-03-22T07:00:00.001-04:002017-08-22T09:20:38.616-04:00Three Essential Questions for Your PR Firm
How to Get Useful Answers before Signing on the Dotted Line
During the course of my career, I’ve been involved in many public relations (PR) agency searches. I’ve counseled clients on hiring PR agencies and have run searches. I’ve also organized and led agency presentations when I was an executive with three large PR firms.
Here are three questions that Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-65084439466443780922011-06-28T07:11:00.000-04:002011-06-28T07:11:25.117-04:00Marketers and Communications Pros - Listen and Listen Well
Five Tips for Bringing Back the Lost Art of Listening
As a marketing consultant and writer, I often collaborate on client projects with other marketing and communications consultants retained by the clients. The purpose is usually to (1) collect information about the client’s business, strategy, products or expertise; (2) obtain the client’s feedback on programs that we have Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-41208321479562726952011-03-21T09:00:00.006-04:002011-03-21T09:15:40.033-04:00Outsourcing Your Social Media Marketing? Beware.How to Avoid Out-of-Brand Experiences that Wreck Your Credibility Social media marketing is the hot marketing trend today – so much so that many marketers can’t get enough of it fast enough. Some marketers are choosing to outsource their social media marketing programs, or portions of them. And there is no shortage of social media marketing “experts” ready to take your money and take on your Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-51116263273405845872011-03-15T09:00:00.008-04:002011-03-15T09:09:07.978-04:00Mea Culpa Marketing: Does It Work?Is “Going Viral” Worth It if It Kills the Host?As consumers, we’re increasingly being assaulted with marketing campaigns that irritate us, shock us and enrage us. The new formula goes something like this:• Marketer creates and airs a television campaign that blatantly insults or stereotypes a segment of the population, depicts anti-social behavior, or is just in plain bad taste. (Yes, the latter Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-31404675947731210842011-01-21T09:00:00.003-05:002011-01-21T09:00:08.053-05:00Three Ways to Wreck a Marketing InterviewTips for Fixing Common Mistakes in Marketing Interviews As a business writer and marketing consultant, I conduct a lot of interviews, many of them by telephone. I interview my clients’ customers, partners, external consultants and internal experts to obtain information, insights and “color commentary.” I have conducted more than a thousand interviews over the course of my career.Sometimes I am Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-61503845776957665022011-01-11T08:10:00.003-05:002013-07-22T14:22:08.416-04:00Do Your Customers See Dead People?
The Importance of Looking at Your Business with the Customer’s Eye
When your customers interact with your business, do they deal with real people? Or mindless automation? And how do you know?
Automation and the human touch clearly aren’t mutually exclusive in customer interaction. Businesses like Zappos.com have proven this. And many smaller businesses are proving it through the use of social Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-85713338019390226462011-01-04T07:00:00.003-05:002011-01-04T07:00:04.015-05:00Navigating a Corporate Crisis: Would You Sail or Fail?Why Every Business Needs A Crisis Management and Crisis Communications PlanAs part of its year-end analysis of 2010, The Wall Street Journal published a post-mortem on the top corporate crises of the year – from BP’s Gulf oil spill to Toyota’s safety recall. With the help of crisis-communications and crisis-management experts, the article briefly examines each crisis, how effectively the company Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-52576355592229935972010-09-20T06:00:00.002-04:002010-09-20T06:00:02.499-04:00Is Business Getting Soft?Five Pieces of Weak, Confusing Patter to Ban from Your LanguagePresident Barack Obama has been criticized of late for weak messages and language. This doesn’t surprise me: he’s a 21st-century politician in an industry (politics) that’s fast reaching its nadir.What does surprise me – and scares me – is the growing number of business people who regularly use weak, unnecessary language or patter.“Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-5579931107185490332010-09-09T07:00:00.003-04:002010-09-09T07:00:05.697-04:00The Reluctant CEO BloggerWhen Blogging, CEOs Should Do it Right or Not Do It at AllThere’s been a lot of debate about whether CEOs should blog. The CEO’s main job is to allocate and optimize resources – including his own time – to meet the company’s goals. So, why don’t more companies apply this criterion to CEO blogs?In my travels as a marketing consultant, I have encountered some CEOs who start blogging and using otherJanice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-72330184835708146632010-08-20T11:00:00.002-04:002010-08-20T12:41:09.033-04:00Don’t Let Me-Marketing Wreck Your BrandGuinness’ Message in a Bottle Falls FlatMy husband likes to have a beer before dinner. Although he’s a committed Corona man, once in a while he likes to try something different. Recently, he picked up a six-pack of Guinness Draught.While taking his first sip, he froze. He heard something clinking inside the bottle. Rock? Used syringe?As it turns out, it was neither. It was not product tampering; Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-58434810730351033882010-07-12T10:49:00.004-04:002010-07-12T11:36:48.504-04:00A PR Succession Strategy – Do You Have One?Chief PR Person Leaving? Have a PR Plan, or Face the Consequences Most companies have established communications policies they follow when important executives leave. For publicly held companies, the departure of certain executives may be material information. For any company, saying the right thing is just good business. An executive’s departure (or temporary illness) may affect the company’s Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-79127248388556938732010-05-28T08:00:00.002-04:002010-05-28T15:44:33.408-04:00The Tweet Not TakenSometimes What You Don’t Say Sends the Most Powerful MessageAt an awards show last fall, the world went wild when a well-known rap star grabbed the microphone from America’s country-music sweetheart and went on a rant during her acceptance speech. People posted hundreds of thousands of messages on Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites, expressing their outrage. In the process, they of Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-75176175517252125252010-05-25T07:45:00.016-04:002010-05-25T08:31:04.623-04:00How to be a Good ConsultantThree Important Lessons from 20 Years in the TrenchesThis year, I celebrated my 20th year in business as an independent consultant who provides marketing communications strategy, consultation and content to companies. Over the years, I’ve learned a lot about what makes a good consultant, both from “on-the-job” training and from watching other consultants. Delivering great work – on strategy, on Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-39156351569495063822010-03-10T08:56:00.016-05:002010-03-13T15:55:32.273-05:00Marketing Lessons from the General StoreThe Fussy Marketer Gets Four Free Reminders of Marketing Fundamentals – along with Her Morning Coffee Although I work with clients all over the world, I’ve been fortunate in that I can live anywhere. I choose to live north of Boston, in a small town on the edge of the Western White Mountains.Practical lessons in great marketing often come from the simplest and most unlikely of places – like my Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-60792390173704318052010-03-01T08:27:00.018-05:002010-03-02T14:42:22.731-05:00When No-Boundaries Marketing is a Bad Thing The Internet has redefined customer relationships, but not always in a good way. The Internet has broken down many of the barriers between businesses and their customers.Because of the Internet, it’s much easier to find, reach, and target the people most likely to buy your product – even if you don’t have a huge marketing budget. Because of the Internet, businesses can think creatively about Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-13266116964811779142010-02-03T10:03:00.013-05:002010-02-03T11:33:57.824-05:00Up in the Air: Social Media and the Launch of the PiperSport How social media helped sell a $140K airplaneWhen Piper Aircraft decided to launch the PiperSport – its entry into the light sport aircraft (LSA) category – the company took a traditional approach. It planned to announce the new plane at the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo 2010 at Sebring, Florida, with demonstrations, a press conference, and press rides. But Piper Marketing Director Jackie Carlon alsoJanice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-4604571776401400132010-02-01T08:49:00.008-05:002010-02-03T07:46:22.000-05:00Are You Making These Common Mistakes in PR Management? - Part 3Three Mistakes That Can Make Your PR Less Effective – and How to Avoid ThemIn my last two articles, I talked about two common and costly mistakes that businesses make in managing their public relations: leave the PR firm alone and treat PR as an afterthought.In this final article in the series, I talk about a third common mistake that businesses make – treating your PR firm like an adversary, notJanice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-12045298363946910532010-01-26T05:18:00.007-05:002010-03-26T09:45:16.840-04:00Are You Making These Common Mistakes in PR Management? - Part 2Three Mistakes That Can Make Your PR Less Effective – and How to Avoid ThemIn my last article, I talked about why leaving your PR firm alone – on its own, with no ongoing input and direction from you – is a common and costly mistake.Here I talk about a second common mistake that businesses make – treating PR as an afterthought – and how to fix this mistake.The MistakeGreat news! Your company has Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-91555738212214186862010-01-18T08:41:00.015-05:002010-03-26T09:43:55.977-04:00Are You Making These Common Mistakes in PR Management?Three Mistakes That Can Make Your PR Less Effective - And How to Avoid ThemDuring my long career working in marketing and PR (as a client and an outside consultant), I have watched companies repeatedly make three common mistakes in how they manage PR.These mistakes almost always make the PR program much less effective and therefore more expensive for the client. And they can usually be fixed Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-18477792918675266042010-01-08T07:25:00.012-05:002010-01-08T07:52:20.559-05:00Fear and Loathing in Social MediaWill the tragedy of the commons destroy social media?In a previous article, I wrote about how certain types of antisocial behavior are harming social media. I called these characters The Blammer, the Drive-by Shooter and the Hitchhiker.Today, I am adding one more character to my list: the Hijacker.The Hijacker is a more intense, annoying and destructive version of the Drive-by Shooter. This Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-38997939598656318032010-01-04T07:33:00.017-05:002010-01-08T07:43:04.120-05:00Six Words or Phrases to Ban from Marketing Writing in 2010 Resolve to set yourself apart by getting rid of the vague and the vacuousIn my many years as a marketer for technology, health care and consumer companies, I have gradually watched marketing become polluted by the vague and vacuous language popularized by politicians. As a result, much marketing writing has become white noise: everything sounds the same.Smart marketers have an opportunity to Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-24125174946589189792009-12-08T08:59:00.013-05:002010-01-08T07:56:45.364-05:00The Marketing of Paula PoundstoneHow an original comedian has built an enduring brand - and what we can learn from herI’ve been a huge fan of comedian Paula Poundstone for 25 years. I love her product: wry, intelligent and reflective comedy about the absurdities of everyday life in America. I recently saw her perform in Western Massachusetts, and it was a thrill.It was also a 100% marketing experience – something one thinks Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-36734342093464425802009-12-07T14:04:00.008-05:002009-12-08T07:49:49.371-05:00Public Relations Pros: To Get a Seat at the Table, First Get Out of the HighchairGood PR professionals are always-on, trustworthy representatives of the brand – just like the CEOPublic relations professionals often complain that senior management doesn’t take them – or the discipline – seriously. They say that PR often isn’t involved at a strategic level. This disrespect prevents professionals from doing their jobs effectively in managing the company’s brand image and Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com0