Wedding Pictures and a Jewelry Blog

A friend of Franki and me writes a blog, Adornments by Lynn. She's quite the prolific blogger, having picked it up a little over a year ago and not writing several blogs for b5media.

Congratulations on your blogging success, Lynn, and thank you for posting the pictures of Adima and Roshini's wedding.

Sometimes Less Really Is More

How far would you go to make a point? Denver Water clearly appreciates the power of bold messaging. They worked with Sukle to create this multi-platform campaign encouraging Denver citizens to use water more efficiently.

The result is an extremely compelling campaign that attacks the audience in unexpected places. It forces the audience to take note. From truncated benches to 'incomplete' billboards, Denver Water makes its message heard loud and clear. This is a great work, folks. Don't miss these additional images of the campaign over at Houtlust.

Learfield Interaction

We had the opportunity to sit down with Sam McPheeters of Learfield Interaction last week - Learfield is a cool company that works primarily in the radio space creating content for advertisers.

They have branched out into blogs, and you can see them here at Learfield Interaction on a Typepad account, where they chief blogger and operations director, David Brazeal, was kind enough to mention us.

What's interesting, or at least should be, is that in certain ways, our two companies are competitors. Franki and I sell blog marketing as one of our product marketing efforts, but so too does Learfield. And yet we link each other - how can that be?

Primarily it's because of the stage we're in for business blogging. There are so few consultants out there that the biggest challenge we all face is educating decision makers on the benefits of business blogging, not winning a piece of business once a decision maker is ready to go.

Also, they're bigger than we are and focus on different niches - but still, there are sections of each of our audiences that could hire either one of us. So we met with Sam and talked to Dave to find out how we could work together, instead of worrying about how we might compete.

And if we're successful at working together, all of our clients win.

Which reminds me - if you are looking for superior podcasting - working with a company that actually puts together top quality podcasting as part of a larger marketing campaign - there's someone I want you to talk to named Sam.

-Jim and Franki

St Louis Business Blog Help

**CANCELLED FOR FEAR OF WEATHER**

The monthly help session for St Louis Business Bloggers will be this Friday at the Kaldi's Cafe and Bakery in Chesterfield Valley.

The time is 7:00-7:45, and we'll be talking about tracking statistics with sitemeter, adding widgets, and anything else you want to know.

At the end of the meeting, we'll trade links for everyone at the meeting, an important first step in bringing traffic and Search Engine Rank.

See you there.

How the Sun Starts His Day

I didn't want to like them. Trust me, I tried to ignore them. After all, it's a sausage commercial. But suddenly I find myself looking forward to discovering what Jimmy Dean's "sun" will do next.

In the end, I blame the persuasive power of "serial" commercials. By building a continuing storyline and showing us characters in various situations, we get to know them. We relate to them. In this case, we're humored by the silliness of the concept and the "sun's" genuine likability. Who knew he dealt with domestic issues like the rest of us? Was frequently misunderstood? Or that he called in sick to work occasionally?

Like a book or new television show, serial ads often take a while to "stick." In this case, I let these spots pass virtually unnoticed until "We Have Time" aired. Something about his exasperated, "Guys, I have to illuminate the entire eastern seaboard in 15 minutes. I think we have time." got my attention. The guy in the sun costume wasn't trying to be serious. He was trying to funny and relatable. He was saying in as many ways possible "You think you're busy? Even the sun has time for a Jimmy Dean breakfast." And it was working. He was working.

Whether or not I run out to buy sausages for breakfast, I love these commercials. Thumbs up from both Durbins for a fun campaign with enough pull to be TiVo-proof in our house. And kudos to Jimmy Dean for placing all of the spots on the web site.

Bathroom Chic? If Charmin Gets Its Way

Event marketing is seeing an unusual test by a major brand. Charmin is putting its tissue paper to the test using a 20-stall restroom in the middle of Times Square. Their attention-getting motto? "You're in New York. Go in Style." Cute. Questionable, but cute.

Reportedly, the stalls and accompanying billboard are impossible to miss if you're in the area. The stunt will continue today through Devember 31st, making it possible for shoppers and city dwellers to try the brand in "real life" situations. For those interested, a six foot tall "Charmin bear" will be on hand for photo ops.

It certainly raises brand awareness, but how does it affect the brand image? At first pass I thought this was tacky. But looking at the details has changed my mind. here are my thoughts:

• I do admire their boldness and their tongue-in-cheek motto. It brings levity to an otherwise private topic.
  
• Location. Location. Location. Busiest season of the year, middle of Time's Square... impossible to ignore. Terrific strategy for the even planners.
  
• With wheelchair accessibility and baby changing stations, this will certainly appeal to families and mothers with small children (hence the ever-present bear).
  
• Attendants will be cleaning the stalls after each use, thus maintaining a very high standard in each of the units. You can't build a brand with your tissue scattered about the floor. Excellent (albiet necessary) move on the part of P&G.
  
• Procter & Gamble is unquestionably offering a much needed service to the busy holiday crowd. Appreciative consumers will remember the experience and the product.
  

At the end of the day bathroom tissue is never glamorous, but at least P&G is having a little fun this holiday season.

Hat tip: Agenda, Inc.

Become a Brand Blogger

One of the quick keys to success as a blogger is picking a topic or company is popular but doesn't get a lot of blog attention and making it your own.

From Television Shows to Specific Companies to hot Local Topics, a blogger can turn themselves into the "goto" blogger for a specific brand merely by being someone interested and interesting.

Jeremiah (the Web Strategist), is interested in picking a brand and making it his own. An acquaintance of his, Rob Safuto, blogs about Marriot, and has struck up a conversation with the Marriott people with his posts. It's a great strategy, both for traffic and for media mentions, and every blogger should think about incorporating brands they like into their posts.

Is it shameless linkbaiting? Sure, but discussions about a consumer's view of a brand are exactly what the web-surfing public is hungry for. It's the whole purpose of searching a brand on the web, from hotels to software to book titles. We want to know what someone who is "just like me" thinks about a product. A good business blogger can quickly become both an asset and a detraction for major brands.

Picking a brand doesn't have to be your sole topic. Some very successful bloggers choose a topic they have an interest in and add it to their blogging mix. Heather Hamilton, a Microsoft blogger who writes about marketing, wrote reviews for "The Apprentice" television show because she loved the show. The posts built up traffic and her personal brand, but that was a side effect of her talking about a show she was interested in.

I'll be moderating an ERE panel on recruiting blogging with Heather in April - she'll be getting a question about the Apprentice and her posts, but don't tell her;)

Brand blogging is powerful because it fulfills the promise of blogging. Average people talking about their likes and dislikes. And if it brings you a few more clicks and eyeballs, well, that's the very definition of a win-win.

Spend Your PPC Money With Us

I'm a blogger, so it's only fair to say that this post is not going to be objective concerning the power of PPC versus blogs in driving online sales.

I think PPC is oversold to small businesses and have yet to hear anyone that is happy with it. Strong words? You betcha - but it's time to take the gloves off. I can't sit through another meeting hearing about thousands spent on PPC with no results to show.

PPC is a great idea. I'm not an expert at it, but I do know that several large companies with excellent web expertise make a lot of money with targeted search ads. Clearly it works for some people.

At the same time, I know a lot of local St Louis businesses that have experimented with PPC and have nothing to show for it but monthly invoices and no sales. These small businesses tend to be sold a bill of goods on how PPC is a great search tool, but all too often they have no position in the organic search results, and thus every month there's another bill in the mail with no long-term performance.

Blogs can fix that.

My answer is based on anecdotal information, but it's important in my mind to help small business owners paying thousands of dollars in ill-conceived and ill-advised PPC campaigns and seeing no results. Quit paying your ad agency or web partner the PPC money and hire a decent blogger. If you are spending more than $500 a month in PPC and not seeing the results, then hiring the services of a competent blogger is really your only choice.

Why do blogs work? When done right, they push high quality content out to the search engines on a regular basis. They are categorized, archived, and highly-linked (also bonuses for search engine ranking). Also, organic search results (as opposed to ads at the top and on the side of the results) are trusted more by the consumer. And blogs don't cost you money every time someone clicks on them (no click fraud on a blog).

Is it easy? No. But it's cheaper than PPC with better results, even if you're paying a blogger to write about your industry.

Does our company sell blogging services that benefit from this situation? Yes, we do. There's no point hiding it, and we want to be upfront about it. But please, please - if you are a local St Louis business pouring money down a PPC hole and seeing no results, call me. I will tell you what you should do and you can do it on your own or hire us to help you. At the very least, I'll connect you with some St Louis bloggers that can help you make the decision.

And I say all this with the utmost love in my heart for Google.

An Extra Benefit for Escaping Cubicle Nation

I'm a big fan of Pamela Slim's Escape from Cubicle Nation. Her blog about the power of small business and entreprenueurship is a regular boost to serotonin levels, and golly there's a lot of good information packed into her work about how not to become bogged down in your workplace (whether that is at home or in a cubicle).

We do work from home for Durbin Media, and that's one of the reasons Pamela's posts seem so relevant. Franki has been working on her own for several years, and has prior experience running a home business (she was a dotcom entreprenuer before it was cool). For me - I've worked in small businesses, but always for someone, and my last small business was seven years ago.

It's a new experience, but the more I do it, the harder it will be to go back inside. Oh, and there's one more benefit.

A quick list of things that are different about working from home.

1) You cook your own meals when you're hungry.
2) There is no commute
3) Taking an hour off in the middle of the day for a walk or a workout is boss-approved.
4) If you are stiff from sitting in a chair for 6 hours, you can lie on the ground and stretch.
5) The coffee and tea are better (we've switched to brewing just tea for the health effects)
6) There's less stress about getting to work, which means planning meals is a lot easier (no more fast-food runs).
7) No expense account means no Krispy Kremes, no happy hours, and no Applebee's or PF Chang's lunches.
8) The extra hour a day in commuting time is now used for working out.

The result? I've lost 25 pounds since leaving my corporate position. 25 pounds. Granted - I could have done this while at work, but having my own schedule to follow and the 8 points above have helped make this happen (without going on a diet or following a regimen of eating and working out). In fact, now that I see how much weight came off - I'm actually trying to knock off another 15 pounds, just because I can!

Please don't take this as bragging - for me it's still a sense of wonder. In taking more responsibility for my work life by starting my own business with Franki, I find myself taking more responsibility for my health. That's quite a side benefit.

Well I'll Be A Monkey's Uncle

Admittedly, I've been waiting to use that phrase for some time now. But Coolzor gave me a great excuse today by pointing out the rising popularity of cavemen in advertisements. He points us to the Homo Wranglerius in the Wrangler print campaign for Basic Cut jeans. The implied message, I assume, being that these jeans are a less refined counterpart to Wrangler's other denim styles. Predecessors as it were. Interesting. But is this the best use of our prehistoric friends?

Geico, on the other hand, drives it home with the "so easy a caveman could do it" campaign. The initial spot came out of left field, and they did an excellent job of building on the story with the "airport" spot. These commercials seem to get funnier as they age ("I'll have the roast duck with the mango salsa"). They've chosen great stories, comical situations and clever visual contrasts to build a great storyline. The topper came today when I discovered the latest spot done up Fox News style. A must see.

I love the simplicity and tone of the Geico campaign. It's a bit self-mocking, and they've all but eliminated the suggestive gecko from the scene (much to my relief). They drive the point home, are memorable and build the brand effectively. Exactly what a good campaign is intended to do. It has even inspired spoofs. Always a good indicator of success. Now that's putting the cavemen to good use.

Life Imitating Art

Sure, sure. I know. It's the nature of technological advancement that necessitates the shrinking of every conceiveable gadget. But just for fun, I had to highlight Apple's latest release of the iPod Shuffle. Yes, it's tiny. But under the shadow of the SNL Steve Jobs product announcement spoof from last fall, it's downright hysterical. I'm just waiting for the pequeño to arrive at my local store.

Some People Claim to "Live" in Their Cars. Marc Horowitz Really Did.

I'm gone two weeks and return to find an American is living in his Nissan Sentra for a promotional campaign. I love this country!

In case you missed it, Marc Horowitz proved that you can in fact live in a Nissan Sentra. The $40M campaign was created to give credence to the Sentra's tagline: “The next generation Sentra. You could pretty much live in it.” Best of all, Marc blogged the experience so that we could all know the joys of waking up to the sunrise through the windshield of an import.

Love it or hate it, the spots are at least DVR-proof. We were forwarding through commercials until these raw, unpolished-looking scenes took over the screen. To be fair, this isn't a glamorous campaign. But let's admit that the Sentra is not a glamorous car. So targeting 20-30 year olds this way isn't necessarily a bad idea. Especially when you factor in the impetus for the campaign, as shared by Motortrend:

"Inspired by the research photos taken inside the cars of hundreds of 20-30 year olds, the all-new 2007 Nissan Sentra will debut this month in an unprecedented marketing campaign. The research demonstrated that young people use their car as if it were another room in their home -- filled with gym clothes, sports equipment, music (in all delivery forms), food, and ways to communicate with the outside world."

Whether or not it boosts car sales is yet to be determined, but it was good to see something different on the TV screen. To get a better sense of what comedian Marc endured, visit his 7 Days blog to learn about requirements & boundaries, pranks pulled on him and personal hygiene tips too unsavory for the small screen.

St Louis Business Blog Help

Don't forget this Friday the 3rd at 7 a.m. is another meeting for business blogging help at the Kaldi's Cafe and Bakery in Chesterfield Valley.

We'll be walking Jason Christian through the set-up and optmization of his small business blog, and many other people interested in building a business blogging community will be there.

Free links for attendees - last time there were 14.