Archive for June, 2009
The Best Banner Ad … Ever?
Posted by Bob Woods in Content, Sales/Marketing, Web on June 29th, 2009
This is seriously good stuff. It’s a banner ad that once you click … you can’t stop. Just like their slogan**. Which is the point.
Pringle’s banner ad (opens in a new window)
Also, keep an eye on the Pringle’s guy in the bottom right corner. He’ll comment on what’s going on in the ad.
It’s an absolutely brilliant ad, especially because it takes the format of the banner ad into territory I’ve never seen before. Does it very successfully, too.
… and yes, I do (and did) remember that this is a Pringle’s ad. Want to know why? The darn can on her hand. Pringle’s used its rather unique selling point (USP) — the can — as the initial focal point of the ad. And it works, too.
While this is a B2C (business-to-consumer) ad — usually out of the purview of this blog, which deals with B2B (business-to-business)-related communication — we can learn from it. Do something unexpected. Take a current, accepted format in advertising and marketing (banner ad, video, white paper, case study, etc.) and take it in a fresh, interesting direction. And if it is appropriate for your business, be funny.
Talk about the ad in the Comments section below. I definitely want to hear what you think of it. Is this the best banner ad … ever?
**Although I can’t tell if they’re still using the “once you pop, you can’t stop” tagline. I hope they are, because it definitely works here.
Contact Bob Woods at Infonitum.
To Blog (Daily) or Not to Blog (Daily) – Part III
Posted by Bob Woods in Associations, Blogging, Content, Government, Sales/Marketing, Web, social media on June 24th, 2009
On this last day of our three-part series [Part I | Part II], the inevitable question is:
What happens when I just don’t have anything to write about?
Ahhh, the dreaded writer’s block — and if you’re a blogger, you’re a writer too. No matter what those true writing snobs say.
Writer’s block affects us all, believe me. Sometimes you feel like you’ve written so much, you can’t write another thing. Then there’s days when you feel like a deer looking into headlights when you realize you have a blog post to write. Other times, that “Add New Post” page just looks too intimidating to fill.
Then I remembered a post on the subject of being “dry” when it comes to specifically writing blog posts. It’s another one of those “wish I’d thought of that” kinds of things. This can be used when you’re in a situation like mine, or when you just have proverbial writer’s block, when it comes to subjects for your blog. Or if you are a beginning blogger and need a slight kick in the pants to get going. For any and all of those situations, help is on the way.
Leavin’ On a Jet Plane
Posted by Bob Woods in Housekeeping on June 22nd, 2009
… but I do know when I’ll be back again.
I’m leaving very early tomorrow morning, to go to a conference for a client of mine. I’ll be back very late Wednesday. With all of the follow-up I’ll have to do afterwards, I probably won’t be back at this blog until next week.
In the meantime, I’ve got some stuff autoposting tomorrow and Thursday. So check back for that. Or, you can just subscribe to the RSS feed here, and the new content will magically appear in your fave RSS feeder. You can also subscribe via e-mail.
Thanks, and see you soon.
Contact Bob Woods at Infonitum.
We’re Off … to the Twittersphere!
Posted by Bob Woods in Content, Twitter, Video, social media on June 19th, 2009
Because we have to laugh at ourselves every once in awhile …
… otherwise, we’ll go nuts. Have a Happy Friday and a great weekend, everyone.
Contact Bob Woods at Infonitum.
To Blog (Daily) or Not to Blog (Daily) – Part II
Posted by Bob Woods in Associations, Blogging, Content, Government, Sales/Marketing, Twitter, Web on June 18th, 2009
This is Part II of a three-part series.
If you’ve read Part I of this series (and gosh, I hope you have), you know that I don’t necessarily advocate that a businessperson or other working professional post an entry (or multiple entries) every day. It’s one thing if you’re trying to make a living from just blogging. When you have that kind of time, you’d better either be blogging or ordering your third latte at the Starbucks or whatever coffee shop you’re at. (And yes, I’d kill to have a life like that).
It’s another, though, if you’re the audience that this blog (and Infonitum) wants to attract: Businesspeople, association executives and government officials who want to use social media and blogging — and know they really should make the effort to blog — but don’t want to treat their blog like a second job.
Believe me, as a small business owner who has projects going at various stages, I feel the latter group’s pain. But I know that I have to make the effort to write some feature content twice a week, with “breaking news” content filling the rest, when appropriate (see Part I of this series for an explanation).
Now, I want to give you another opinion on this subject. It’s from a guy who feels kind of like me, but takes his feelings to the next degree.
When NOT to Use Social Media
Posted by Bob Woods in Associations, Blogging, Content, Government, Sales/Marketing, social media on June 17th, 2009
I’ve touched on this in the past. But I now have the quintessential blog post on when companies, organizations and the like should not even think about using social media.
Unfortunately, I didn’t write it. It’s brilliant, believe me. I really wish I would have written it.
But I have no problem pointing you to it, because not only do I think it is brilliantly written, I agree with 99% of it. Here it is, at the ever-excellent ReadWriteWeb. Go read it (don’t worry – that link opens in a new window so you won’t lose this post), then come back here.
To Blog (Daily) or Not to Blog (Daily) – Part I
Posted by Bob Woods in Associations, Blogging, Content, Government, Sales/Marketing, Twitter, Web on June 16th, 2009
This is Part I of a three-part series.
One of the biggest questions you see a lot when it comes to the subjet of blogging — be it for personal or professional reasons — is, “Geez, do I hafta blog every day? And if not, how often should I blog?”
Of course, the quick answer to that question is, “no.” You can blog as little or as much as you want. Of course, you may not be as successful at whatever goals you want to achieve if you don’t blog a lot. Or even too much.
So now you’re saying, “Well, Bob, now you’re acting like a politician. You haven’t really answered all of my questions. So I don’t hafta blog every day. So how often should I blog?”
At the risk of sounding like a politician, I can only answer that question with, “It depends.”
Fox News and Social Media – Not So Much
Posted by Bob Woods in Content, Video, social media on June 15th, 2009
Now here’s a company that gets it just a little bit, when it comes to social media: Fox News and its Fox Nation social-media effort. David Bullock and Jay Deragon discuss the new site, in an effort to highlight the best practices of large brands as they look to effectively engage social media as a viable channel for communication and content distribution. They’ll also illustrate how new media can be utilized by small- to mid-sized business.
If you’ve got some time (about a half hour), I’d recommend that you watch this video. It’s really informative.
http://www.vimeo.com/4062656By the way, I’m going to be doing these types of videos myself … and soon. If you didn’t watch this particular video above, I’ve listed some of my take-aways from it. If you did, see if you agree with me:
Blog Preview
Posted by Bob Woods in Associations, Blogging, Content, Government, Housekeeping, Sales/Marketing on June 12th, 2009
I’ve written a lot of blog posts over my Internet “lifetime.” Topics related to real estate, social networking, sales and marketing, and even a decent amount of fun stuff.
While I’m getting this site up to fighting strength, I’m going to re-work and publish those posts that are applicable for the site’s specific audience. I’m hoping that you’ll derive the same benefits that readers at my other blogs have received. Those postings will start next week.
In the meantime, if you want to check out those blogs:
- Sibdu Blog, covering commercial real estate topics and news. This site even has my video and audio productions.
- Portalfuze Blog, which concentrates on social media-related topics
I’m writing as myself on both of those blogs for my clients, being eCREsystems and Portalfuze — by the way, I devleoped the content for both of those sites, too. When I get the content for this site fully up and running, you’ll understand how blog postings can help you and/or your company build credibility and a “voice” for whatever community it is you serve.
Contact Bob Woods at Infonitum.
WordPress 2.8
This Web site had WordPress 2.8 installed for much of the day today. It’s a brand-spankin’ new version of the popular blogging platform that more and more people and companies are using to not only blog, but upon which to build entire Web sites.
I’m using it for Infonitum’s Web site, because it is very easy and there’s lots of really cool features you can add to these sites for free. That’s a price that cannot be beat.
I was pretty pumped about the platform. Pumped like a balloon that’s filled about as much as it can be. So, what happens when a little bit of stress is put on a balloon like that? Yep, it pops.
That’s what happened to me today.
One of the nice features of WordPress is something called its visual editor. It’s used in writing blog posts and other content pages within WordPress sites. You’ll see it in other kinds of platforms as well. The visual editor performs a lot of the heavy lifting for people who either 1) don’t know the language that makes Web pages look like they do; or 2) know the language, but don’t want to get bogged down in coding a post. I’m in the latter category.
When I upgraded from 2.7.1 to 2.8, though, that underloved-but-really-needed piece of the platform went missing. AWOL. History. Toast.
Since today was my day to try to put together most of this site, having this happen was more than a bit of a disappointment. I won’t go into details; suffice it to say, my last resort was to blow away the entire 2.8 installation and downgrade back to 2.7.1. Problem solved, except for the fact that I lost about 4 hours of work on the site. Yep, not happy.
I’ve been burned in the past by upgrading too quickly. Like the time when I turned my iPhone into an iBrick for several hours after a failed upgrade. I’ve been caught up in many bad upgrades of Windows, too, along with many other failed and headache-inducing software upgrades.
Yet I still do it. Why? I think it’s because I always want something that’s better. Stronger. Faster. Kind of like the 6 Million Dollar Man.
At least potential clients of mine know that I’ll bring that “better, stronger, faster” mentality to any project for which I am hired. More on my company’s services is coming soon, as I fill out the site with my own content.
(For those of you who came along from my earlier Twitter post, expecting to see a glowing review of WP 2.8 — well, things changed. That tweet was written before all of the problems I had with the new version. Let’s just say I had a lot of stars in my eyes when I first downloaded 2.8. Oh well. C’est la vie.)
Contact Bob Woods at Infonitum.
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