JournaMarketing

Here's another test post

We're talking about how the Missouri Academy of Family Physicians can use the Web to enhance its communications effort.  So I'm posting this to show how easy it is to update a website.

Facebook Group: 1,000,000 members in a week

About a week ago, Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert launched a Facebook group to support his candidacy for president. Today, the group has more than 1,000,000 members. This is astonishing. Even if Colbert isn't serious about running (he says he is, of course), I can't help thinking we may be seeing something historic with this candidacy -- something that's less about Colbert and politics, and more about our embrace of new forms of peer-to-peer communication. People have spent so long behind their privacy fences, not talking to their neighbors, they're eager to find new neighbors online -- people who share their interests, if not their geography.

How to tell your story in video without a camcorder

I've been working with the MO Dept. of Health and Human Services to spread the word about its fluoride varnish program. A couple of weeks ago, the team was at a school near me, so I popped in and shot some video.

I'm posting it here because 1) it's a good program that deserves attention, and 2) I want you to see how well video conveys a message. I'm not a videographer, and I used my small digital camera (on its video setting) to grab the video. Your organization probably already owns a camera like this -- and if not, someone in the office does. So borrow it next time your organization has an event, and you can easily produce something that will engage the people who are most interested in what you do.

Technorati Tags: nptech, video, mohealthysmiles, communications, PR

I can't afford (to commit to your cause)

Here's what Seth Godin thinks of people who tell you they "can't afford it:"

That's not true.

At least it's not true almost all the time. Very few of your prospects literally can't afford it. What they are really trying to say is, "it's not worth it." As in, it's not worth reprioritizing my life, not worth the risk, not worth what I'll have to give up to get this, not worth being in debt for.

One response to repeated cries of "I can't afford it" is to lower your prices. A better response is to tell a better, more accurate story, and to tell it to the right people. The best response is to make something worth paying for.

Godin is writing about business, but it applies to any organization. If people won't commit time or money to your cause, it's because they don't see any reason to do it. They've found more worthwhile causes -- whether that cause is sleeping in on weekends, or saving to buy a Lexus. Instead of asking for a smaller commitment, make your story more compelling. If your product or service isn't worthwhile, after all, they're not going to commit to it, even a little bit.

Technorati Tags: nptech, marketing, story-telling

Social Networking Resources for Nonprofits

Shannon Turlington has posted a list of resources you might use if you're at a nonprofit, and trying to figure out how to use social networking to communicate more effectively. To Shannon's list of "Essential Blogs to Read," I would definitely add Beth's Blog. But maybe everyone who is looking for this resource already knows about Beth, and that's why she's not listed.

Technorati Tags: social_networking

Convince your boss that online communication works

In a pre-Internet world, our best communications tool was the equivalent of a bullhorn. We would pull it out and talk to 1,000 people at a time -- even though we knew only 50 of those people cared about what we had to say.

It was easy when we could walk into our boss's office and say, "I talked to 1,000 people today." It didn't matter that 950 of those people were completely irrelevant to our organization.

Part of your job as a communicator (especially at a small organization) is to explain to management that you have to let those 950 people walk away. Most of them were never going to buy your product, or donate to your organization in the first place.

Instead, you can use the Internet to focus your resources on the 50 people who are already connected to you. It's far more efficient, because 50 friends of your organization can do a better job of spreading the word about you in your community than your single bullhorn.

Technorati Tags: nptech, blogging, PR

I'm getting o-- uh, what was I saying?

This is how you know you're getting old: you copy a string of text to move it to somewhere else on your screen. But before you paste it, you've forgotten what you copied in the first place. Then you decide the easiest thing to do is to copy the string of text into a file so you can see what it is, so you'll remember where you want to paste it.

Journalism, public relations, and good conversation

I had a great time this afternoon speaking with the Southwest Missouri chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. I talked about one of my favorite topics -- the convergence of journalism and PR/marketing, and how professional communicators should think of themselves primarily as story-tellers. And I got a lot of good feedback about the challenges of time and money facing people who'd be in charge of implementing these projects on the ground.

I haven't used SlideShare before, but when I get around to it in the next couple of days, I'm hoping to post the slideshow used for the presentation, along with some notes. When I do that, I'll post it here, too.

And thanks to everyone at the SWMO PRSA for inviting me to speak. I had a blast!

Technorati Tags: PRSA, SWMO, PR, marketing, journalism

Caucus Classroom & Creativity

We're working with the Iowa State Education Association to produce the Caucus Classroom.  It's a project that involves students in Iowa covering the presidential caucuses as reporters.  The best report each week will be featured in a commercial on the statewide radio network, Radio Iowa.  And all the students' reports will be featured on the website, which is tied to the Radio Iowa site. 

This project is a great example of how small steps (like starting a blog and a podcast) open an organization's eyes to all sorts of interesting possibilities.  The ISEA is starting to capitalize on the Internet as a very important part of its overall communications plan, not just something it has to deal with as an afterthought.  That's leading to all sorts of creativity -- and it's where your organization will be in a couple of years if you make a commitment to integrate online communications with everything you do.

Technorati Tags: nptech, blogging, ISEA, radio, creativity, communications

Fez power: how small ideas become big ones

If you work for an organization with something interesting to share, and you take a little time to share it, it will spread.  The Order of the Fez is proof.

A couple of months ago, my friend and colleague Steve Mays received a fez from his wife after her visit to New Orleans. He posted a photo (left) to his blog, along with a goofy call for others to do the same.  Steve said anyone who owned a fez and sent him a picture would become a member of the Order of Fez.  Ten years ago, this idea would have died a quick death.

But because we're all so connected online, one of our friends in Wisconsin nabbed a fez and sent in a photo.  So did a few others -- including me.  It was just a stupid way for some friends to show solidarity.  But then a funny thing happened.  Steve started getting emails from people he didn't even know (in England, even)!  A guy named Joe from Fez-o-rama -- one  of the world's leading sources of fezophernalia -- found Steve's little site.  My son's even getting in on the act (unbeknownst to him).

So what's the point?  If one guy's weird fez photo can generate attention from like-minded individuals from all over the world -- and it can -- how much more attention can you generate for the really valuable ideas you have about the work you're doing? By creating something informational or entertaining, and sharing it online, you open the door to valuable relationships with people who care about the things you're doing. If it works for the fez, it will work for your organization, too.