Bradley H. Smith >

There is no such thing as web privacy. So, what the hell...you may as well be yourself.

Embrace your authenticity and free your content.

 

Not all content is pretty.

Be fantastic or be forgotten.

Someone said this to me last week. True more than ever in our world of constant content.

 

Who can forget THIS face.

When was the last time you did a deep SWOT analysis on your company?

Yeah. Me too...

Compress your photos in PowerPoint if you are emailing the PPT file.

I have experienced this dozens of times at the conferences I have hosted. Presenters try to send in PPT files that are 50MB and larger.

Quite often, this occurs with real estate, oil & gas and drilling firms. Their presentations tend to include many high-res arial photographs and maps. This will not affect the visual "screen" or projected resolution display.

 

Click on your inserted photo to activate the compress function, upper left. Sorry, there is not delete funny people function.

Don’t let your brand ego damage sales: the Kellogg’s and Kashi example.

The ONLY place Kashi acknowledges they are a Kellogg’s property is in the investor relations materials – never on the cereal boxes.

Kudos to Kellogg’s for recognizing that their shareholders like the Kellogg’s/Kashi financial brand story – but the healthy earthy crunchy folks who EAT Kashi cereal (and associate Kellogg’s brand with sicky-sweet-unhealthy cereal) do not. This was a very savvy and brand-humble decision by Kellogg’s marketing.

 

Not every “product” you may own fits under your brand, especially if you are active in M&A.  Some can be assimilated overtime, but be wary if the house brand it so concrete in a wrong direction.

 

Can you swear in an ad? Absolutely. (…depending on what the hell the context is.)

Cursing is “plain English” and – exactly as we use it verbally – you can use creatively to add “color.” I would not suggest dropping an F-bomb.

 

This ad, the final “punch-line" in a series, was sent ten’s of thousands of times in hardcopy direct mail, magazine, email and online. It did damn well.

 

DIY video (practical) tip: find a clean blank wall and light it so that no shadows show.

Do not waste energy to create some "aesthetic environment” for your subject.  Web video for business is inherently “small screen” so little details are lost or become a visual distraction. Also, complicated backrounds will add a significant lighting complexity that you just don’t need. Place your talking head in front a clean black wall – wall color does not matter. Light the wall to remove shadows from the subject

 

Don’t concern yourself about the wall lighting being even. In fact, a gradient (hot spots) will create depth. The hot spot left is a desk lamp on the floor. Simple. Cheap. This was shot (with two cameras) in a very small office.

Bottomline, my job is to make sure the prospect will take the call from sales.

RIIIIIIINNNGGGGGG.... "Hello. Oh, yes, I know of your company and have a strong impression that your solutions will help me. Come on in with your dogs and ponies." 

 

(Sales still needs tools for the close AND the client experience too )

I'm in the best selling marketing book because I believe the author's base premise.

People (prospects) want to learn what your product will do FOR THEM - not what your company does. Every bit of content you present MUST address the prospect's question - "What's in it for me." Period.

 

Congratulations on the 3rd Edition of The New Rules of Marketing & PR," David.  Thanks for making me a best practice in the book. 

Don't assume the power cable to the LCD projector is in the bag.

< sigh >