Lip-Sticking

Stop the truck, I wanna get off!

I can't believe it. We did it! We managed, with great difficulty, at times, to make it all the way from Rochester, NY to Frederick, CO...and we love our new home!

I could write a whole month's worth of posts about preparing for the trip - that was a lesson in... being the Three Stooges, I think. Yes, we had a plan. But, like all plans, it resisted our efforts to make it work. And yet, we packed (and at one point UNpacked) several trucks...and drove to Colorado, kitty in her carrier between us. Bumping along like pioneers - ok, not pioneers, they probably clumped along behind their horses at 20 mph, while we were hitting the 60s almost all the way. And, they had it way more uncomfortable than we did.

Verizon Would Rather Pay You $3.50 than Let You Pay Your Bill Online for Free!

by Guest Blogger, Lena West, Chief of Social Media Strategy at xynoMedia

Last week, I had a bear of a time paying our Verizon bill for our landline service (no we haven't gone to VoIP yet, that's another post for another time).

I was trying to pay the bill via their website, but their online interface wasn't working. I was getting some sort of system error message. So, I tried to pay on the telephone, but they charge you an extra $3.50 if you want to pay on the phone because they use some sort of third party service.

I didn't think it was fair that I should have to pay $3.50 just because their website wasn't working, so I called customer service in the billing department and asked if they could take my payment for me without charging me the fee since their website was broken. Of course, you know the answer. Nizzope.

The First Three Things I Do Every Morning

By Guest Blogger, Mary Schmidt, Marketing Troubleshooter

From my "match your marketing tactics to your (best) customers" file

Admit it – were you anxiously awaiting this to pop up in your RSS feed?  Are you waiting in breathless anticipation to the next email popping up in your in-box?

No? Well, same here.

Here’s what I do every morning, first thing in the office:

1. Open up maryschmidt email. Delete several unopened. This even when I know the sender. There are several well-meaning people that bombard me with emails on everything from lost cats to unrequested/unneeded meeting notices. Delete. delete. First priority read: the ones without attachments (I'll get to those with attachments later...maybe...if I've not forgotten.)

2. Go to my personal gmail account. Delete majority unopened (yes, even when I love the sender - see above about sending me everything), including several eletters to which I subscribed. (Don't have time now.) Report some as spam. (Google makes this very easy.)

3. Pop into Facebook. Ignore most of the status updates and all of the crap FB has plunked on my page.

Now if I – who loves electronic communication, depends on the Web for my work, and enjoys “social media” – do this, imagine what your customers do…the ones who DON’T make their living on the Web, don’t grok email, and haven’t a clue what “social media” is (and don’t really care.  Sure, you fervently believe they should, but the reality is – they don’t.)

Ways to Measure Social Media using Key Conversation Indicators

By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

Yesterday I helped plan and execute a breakfast event for RAMA, our local Rochester chapter of the AMA (American Marketing Association). Our speaker was David Berkowitz who came to share his insights on ways to measure social media. This is a question that most marketers and business owners are asking since we are now seeing a phenomenal growth from those of all ages engaging online in some form of social media. Not a black and white, easy thing to deliver at this time, but as Jeffrey Hayzlett, CMO of Kodak, said last week when he spoke about ROI he defines it as "Results on Ignoring".

David is the Director of Emerging Media and Client Strategy at 360i, a digital marketing agency located in New York City.  In his role David spearheads emerging media strategy, including social media and mobile marketing, for 360i's clients. He’s a frequent speaker that’s been on the conference circuit this year, a columnist for MediaPost’s Social Media Insider , appears frequently in Advertising Age and he blogs consistently on MarketersStudio as well as the 360i's Digital Connections, where he just posted this yesterday "100 ways to measure social media".

On the road to Colorado

OMG! OMG! OMG! WE'RE OFF! Today starts our week long road trip to Colorado. We'll be living near one daughter and one granddaughter (have two of the first but only one of the second). Will try to post and send pics, via the phone as we go along.

Many of you know that I have a 17 year old kitty (the Wabby Wibby, herself) who will be riding in the back and wailing all the way, methinks! She is already confused (and much displeased) over the interruption in her life as we pack everything away and empty the house.

Stay tuned for news from the road. And many bits of whining as we will arrive in our new home a full week AHEAD of the furniture!!!

We are using Wag World as our resource for pet friendly hotels to stop in, along the way.

Today we head to Buffalo for a last visit with daughter #2, and then on Wed. off to Chicago.

And so...off we go. To the mountains!

How *NOT* to Ask Someone Whom You Don't Know to Use their Social Juice to Help You

by Guest Blogger, Lena West, Chief of Social Media Strategy at xynoMedia

Warning: This blog post is long, but worth it.

Last week, on November 8th at 12:26pm, I received a voice mail from Michelle Christie representing a group of local women who were getting together having some sort of event. They called themselves Motivators & Creators and they were having a Women's Expo on November 23rd, at a local hotel and wanted my help promoting the event.

As this was my first week back from being out of the office for a retreat, I asked my assistant to call her back and get the pertinent details. (I would have asked my assistant to call her back, retreat or no retreat, but my schedule was especially abundant due to my being out of the office the week prior.) I wanted to know the usual things:

• How did they hear of me? Did anyone refer them? If so, who?
• Do they want me to speak or just attend?
• How many people are they expecting?
• Who are the other businesswomen involved?
  
• How EXACTLY do they want me to help them?

I don't think these things are too unreasonable to know if you're fielding a request from someone whom you don't know to promote their event. Do you? I don't either.

So, my assistant tries for a week to get in touch with her and finally...

Researching the Women's Market - What They Leave Out

Raise your hand if you: a. are over 50. b. are happily single; c. weren't born a female; d. aren't a mother; e. aren't heterosexual; f. some combo of a-e. Oops! You're invisible (right along with me and most of my friends.)

By Guest Blogger, Mary Schmidt, Marketing Troubleshooter

I've designed and conducted quite a bit of market research and analysis over the past three decades.  And, here's an inherent problem with any kind of research: no matter how objective you want to be - you tend to skew research to fit your world view and interpret any findings via that same view. (Eating a lot of butter has to be bad for you, right? I mean, it's so fat...;-) 

That's why The Shriver Report, A Woman's Nation Changes Everything ended up being more about Mommies than women...and telling us things that many have known for years (However, I was taken aback to find out the battle of the sexes is over. ?! Really? Does Lilly Ledbetter agree?)  

Best Advice On Social Media: Do It Now!

Rochester was home to a new conference yesterday. The Social Media Club hosted a group of business professionals at the Memorial Art Gallery for "Social Media Today...and Harvest Tomorrow."

I had the distinct pleasure of being on a panel with Jenny Cisney, Chief Blogger for Kodak (the pics on their blog are outstanding - you'll spend an entire day there, just clicking around); Donna DeClemente, one of our own here at Lip-sticking (she's an online promotions professional, and moderated the panel); and John Marianetti from Martino-Flynn. Our topic was "Corporate Blogging."

I can't really report on the panel - Jenny was fabulous and obviously knows her social media - Kodak is lucky to have her; and John clearly showed that Martino Flynn is ahead of the curve with their blog, blip. I was honored to be on the panel with them, as my experiences with corporations mostly involves my Scratchings and Sniffings blog, sponsored by Purina (as well as contributing to their pet health insurance blog), and my work with the Simon Graduate School of Business, if we can call them a "corporation." 

FTC comments at PMA's Marketing Law Conference "We have no intention of shutting down the blogosphere"

By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

Last week I wrote this post about my upcoming visit to Chicago to attend PMA's Annual Promotional Marketing Law Conference which is a highly anticipated event in the industry. Since then I wrote this post about day one of the conference which was pretty jam-packed with information. Most notably was the presentation from Facebook's Corporate Counsel, Suzie White, in which reviewed with us Facebook's new policy for running promotions on their platform that I defined as "hot off the press" since it was just posted on their website the night before. Here they are: www.facebook.com/promotions_guidelines.php.

On day two of the conference we were treated to a morning session that was titled "The Eyes Have It: A Regulatory Regatta". This panel included James Kohm, Director, Div. of Enforcement for the FTC. He was the first one that really addressed the issue of the recently updated disclosure guidelines which were just touched upon in prior sessions. Mr. Kohm started out saying "We have no intention of shutting down the blogosphere. The idea that we'll go after every little blogger is not the driving factor behind these new endorsement guidelines." Well that was very reassuring to hear.

Your Top 10 Twitter Questions Answered Here, Now…

If I had a dollar...well, you know where that's going. If I had a dollar for...this or that...I'd be rich. Truth is, if I had a dollar for every time I had to answer the Twitter questions here, I would be pretty well off. Certainly, I could cover holiday shopping this year.

So...here are my answers to the most common questions I get relative to Twitter (please share your questions and answers in the comments section; I am up on the social media landscape but am always eager to learn from others - and I know many of my readers are quite knowledgable):

1. What should I call myself?
In the early Twitter days, people created funny, interesting, or creative names for themselves. But, if you’re using Twitter for business, you should use your business name, and include the poster’s name in the profile. If you’re a solopreneur, use your own name. This is a relationship building tool – let the world know who you are upfront. Ask yourself: who or what am I branding? I recommended a friend recently start a Twitter account in his company name, but make sure to put HIS name in his bio, and add HIS picture.

2. Who should I follow?
Before you start following anyone, think carefully about why you’re tackling this new tool. Is it to brand your company? Is it to brand yourself? Is it to do sales and marketing? Once you have a clear idea of WHY you’re Twittering, you’ll want to follow industry experts and people you meet who are in need of your particular expertise. Don’t follow the whole world. Even if they try to follow you.