tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37372109130615120902012-02-20T05:45:50.994-05:00Because if marketing is worth doing, it's worth doing well.Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.comBlogger401100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-65084439466443780922011-06-28T07:11:00.000-04:002011-06-28T07:11:25.117-04:00

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 created; or (3)

Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-41208321479562726952011-03-21T09:00:00.006-04:002011-03-21T09:15:40.033-04:00

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.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-51116263273405845872011-03-15T09:00:00.008-04:002011-03-15T09:09:07.978-04:00

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-31404675947731210842011-01-21T09:00:00.003-05:002011-01-21T09:00:08.053-05:00

Tips 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-61503845776957665022011-01-11T08:10:00.003-05:002011-01-11T08:10:00.194-05:00

The Importance of Looking at Your Business with the Customer’s EyeWhen 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 media

Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-85713338019390226462011-01-04T07:00:00.003-05:002011-01-04T07:00:04.015-05:00

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-52576355592229935972010-09-20T06:00:00.002-04:002010-09-20T06:00:02.499-04:00

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-5579931107185490332010-09-09T07:00:00.003-04:002010-09-09T07:00:05.697-04:00

When 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 other

Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-72330184835708146632010-08-20T11:00:00.002-04:002010-08-20T12:41:09.033-04:00

Guinness’ 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.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-58434810730351033882010-07-12T10:49:00.004-04:002010-07-12T11:36:48.504-04:00

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-79127248388556938732010-05-28T08:00:00.002-04:002010-05-28T15:44:33.408-04:00

Sometimes 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.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-75176175517252125252010-05-25T07:45:00.016-04:002010-05-25T08:31:04.623-04:00

Three 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-39156351569495063822010-03-10T08:56:00.016-05:002010-03-13T15:55:32.273-05:00

The 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-60792390173704318052010-03-01T08:27:00.018-05:002010-03-02T14:42:22.731-05:00

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-13266116964811779142010-02-03T10:03:00.013-05:002010-02-03T11:33:57.824-05:00

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 also

Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-4604571776401400132010-02-01T08:49:00.008-05:002010-02-03T07:46:22.000-05:00

Three 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, not

Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-12045298363946910532010-01-26T05:18:00.007-05:002010-03-26T09:45:16.840-04:00

Three 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-91555738212214186862010-01-18T08:41:00.015-05:002010-03-26T09:43:55.977-04:00

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-18477792918675266042010-01-08T07:25:00.012-05:002010-01-08T07:52:20.559-05:00

Will 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-38997939598656318032010-01-04T07:33:00.017-05:002010-01-08T07:43:04.120-05:00

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-24125174946589189792009-12-08T08:59:00.013-05:002010-01-08T07:56:45.364-05:00

How 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-36734342093464425802009-12-07T14:04:00.008-05:002009-12-08T07:49:49.371-05:00

Good 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.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-33476456517472565962009-11-16T11:39:00.017-05:002009-12-08T06:43:03.929-05:00

Hysteria, slackerism and other bad habits to watch out forThere are several online brands – including Amazon.com, Zappos and Dan’s Chocolates – from which I would buy practically anything. Their customer experiences are spectacular: efficient, empathetic, and enjoyable.Office superstore Staples has long been on my list – until recently.Don’t get me wrong: I love Staples.com’s ease of ordering,

Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-83363597446044746582009-10-30T12:27:00.013-04:002009-10-30T15:20:08.152-04:00

How Hafner Vineyard avoids the trap and builds a brand that pops.I spend a lot of time in this blog talking about the use of Internet technologies to build brand image and sell products, particularly for smaller businesses. David Meerman Scott recently wrote a blog article about technology marketers’ use of stock photos of people – you know, those indistinguishable photos of

Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-59274397633554096642009-09-28T08:44:00.015-04:002009-10-03T07:14:41.227-04:00

Just because you can say anything online, doesn’t mean you shouldFor me, one of the best things about social media is the ability to learn things from other people.Because of people’s willingness to share expertise, I have learned a lot from professionals in my field and the industries I cover, as well as from talented amateurs. I hope I return the favor by writing this blog and participating

Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-82154979471652186842009-09-14T07:25:00.007-04:002009-09-17T11:27:05.768-04:00

A journey into the dark underbelly of Janice L. Brown’s Twitter life In my last blog post, I wrote about how I created my own Twitterverse to meet my business and personal goals.Here are some of the ways that I have created my own private Twitterverse, and what you can expect from me if you are part of it:I tweet about topics of professional interest to me: technology, healthcare, marketing,

Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-92015462087442060592009-09-08T08:00:00.009-04:002009-09-08T08:37:46.213-04:00

As a marketer, what can I learn from my own behavior?When I began my career in marketing and corporate communications many years ago, I created a regular morning ritual. I would get up very early, skim the major business daily newspapers, clip stories for my files, and forward select articles as a courtesy to my clients. To do my job correctly, I have always found it important to stay on top of

Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-20909534372928147752009-08-28T08:29:00.020-04:002009-08-28T15:33:13.552-04:00

Why It's Vital to Put Your Best People ForwardI am getting a lot of calls from businesses today about social media marketing. The gist of these conversations is usually: “I need to get some of that social media.” And many of these conversations conclude with “But I don’t have the people to put into it.”My advice: then you should forget it.That may sound a bit unilateral, but for the most part it

Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-19184830701340566132009-08-21T08:52:00.013-04:002010-01-04T09:39:50.217-05:00

How to avoid being an accidental blammer, drive-by shooter, or hitchhiker. Social media marketing is evolving pretty quickly, so many of us are learning as we go. Learning means trying new things, and testing limits. Unfortunately, I am seeing some people really testing the limits of social media – to the point of being anti-social. I think a lot of this behavior may be inadvertent. But it goes

Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-24265485341466508912009-08-10T10:18:00.012-04:002009-08-10T10:58:16.623-04:00

I saw two pieces of video in the last few weeks that drew my attention.The first: J&K’s Wedding Entrance Dance video, a homemade video that went viral on YouTube and helped answer the burning question: “How will YouTube make money?”The second: the infamous Beer Summit, a video storyboarded (and probably scripted, she said cynically) by politicians and apparently shot by a pool news

Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-76009164910351184432009-08-06T17:33:00.013-04:002009-08-07T12:34:29.173-04:00

Why It's Important to Have a Policy for Handling Bad NewsDavid Meerman Scott, author of the international best-seller The New Rules of Marketing & PR and World Wide Rave, has a great interview in the Oneicity blog about how the new rules can help nonprofits. This statement caught my eye:“DMS: Many company executives and public relations people trace their worries about social media to their

Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-48402931025211337122009-07-30T07:04:00.022-04:002009-11-23T07:55:28.058-05:00

An Interview with Tanya Fox of Naples TomatoCompanies are flocking to social media for marketing purposes. However, beyond acquiring and keeping customers, social media can improve daily business operations – as Naples Tomato, a nationally recognized restaurant in Naples, Florida, is finding out.The Fussy Marketer recently interviewed Tanya Fox (photo), who manages the social media program for

Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-643445679282953422009-07-28T08:32:00.011-04:002009-10-07T09:19:13.520-04:00

How to Interview a CustomerWhen writing a customer case study, you typically only have one chance to interview the customer, so it’s important to get the interview right. In my last post, I talked about how to structure an interview. In this post, I will talk about how to conduct an interview.Tip #1 - Record and Transcribe, Always: You cannot effectively take notes, ask questions, and think of

Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-44992427248193773272009-07-21T09:05:00.008-04:002009-07-24T14:25:18.996-04:00

In my last post, I talked about modernizing the customer case study and bringing it into the Social Web. Even in the Social Web, prose is prologue: a story doesn’t exist until you write it down. So, in this post, I talk about the first step in creating a customer case study: the interview.This step is crucially important. When writing a case study, you typically have only one shot at the

Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-32575021492324831642009-07-14T11:30:00.007-04:002009-07-14T11:45:28.612-04:00

Is the customer case study becoming obsolete in today’s Social Web? A world where every customer has an audible opinion and an instantaneous, inexpensive way to broadcast it?No. The customer story is more important than ever. Here’s why.The customer case study is the marketing intellectual property that gives people the detailed story as presented by your brand. But it’s also the source document

Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-80568455171585718662009-07-14T11:16:00.005-04:002009-07-15T10:08:47.982-04:00

Peter Shankman (founder of the terrific “Help A Reporter Out” service) and his colleague Sarah Evans had a great blog article yesterday, entitled “Is Your Social Media Expert Really An Expert?” Great reading and sage advice for companies seeking professional help in navigating Twitter, Facebook and other social media as part of corporate communications strategies.A follow-up statement by Peter on

Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-31798286624469283962009-07-07T09:08:00.004-04:002009-07-07T09:29:35.802-04:00

The venerable Washington Post became the story itself last week. The occasion: a series of “salons” to be held at publisher Katharine Weymouth’s home that would bring together Beltway insiders and Post reporters with sponsors who paid anywhere from $25K to $250K for the privilege. The story, of course, went all over the Internet, and it’s not surprising why. The Post – with its long-standing

Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-69083387143620682352009-07-02T08:10:00.012-04:002012-01-24T14:54:59.134-05:00

You betcha. This new style of marketing is as relevant to clients selling high-ticket B2B products as it is to clients selling B2C. I’ve seen it in my own work: for example, the power of social news sites and bloggers to reach database architects. In early 2007, I helped launch Vertica Systems, a company with an ultra-fast, low-maintenance relational database management system (RDBMS). This

Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-51933105882791476682009-06-29T10:10:00.004-04:002009-07-01T14:48:22.247-04:00

If the Web gave marketers reach, the Social Web gives us responsibility.To be successful with social media, marketers need to create better, more “sociable” content – content that’s thoughtful, clear, and meaningful to customers.More so than ever before, content needs to “pull.” It needs to engage readers intellectually and emotionally. It needs to earn their time, as well as their confidence –

Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3737210913061512090.post-46659743300429252022009-06-29T09:52:00.003-04:002009-06-29T10:05:57.799-04:00

I grew up in the 60s and 70s. This was a time of great political turmoil and activism – a lot of it pretty effective. As a result, I have remained a bit of a rebel.I’m also a closet optimist. In spite of the terrible economy and our decreasing individual freedom, I believe that people – working together – can achieve things that institutions can’t. And that the Internet is a powerful force in

Janice L. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00847943350579603427noreply@blogger.com0