Shout Out

Here is my latest published article, thanks to CUES and Credit Union Management Magazine. As I previously stated and is further clarified in this article, if you plan on marketing to the Hispanic population, or are thinking of it, then do your homework and find out as much as you can before you jump into it. My experience and research have taught me that it can be a wonderful audience to market to, but just translating your website into Spanish, or doing one flyer in Spanish, or one ad, will not bring you success. Read on…

http://www.cues.org/pls/cuesp/!cues1.main?complex_id_in=3069489.3071923.3131325.11862684.page

Interesting quote about names and naming:  “I don’t think my name is likely to be worth much in the toy bear business, but you are welcome to use it” - Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt in1902.  In the U.S. in the year 1999, over 400 million dollars was spent on teddy bears, according to http://www.camelotbears.com/bears/teddy-bears/teddy_bears_about_us.html

Or isn’t it? 

Can the name of a product influence the success of the product and/or the the success of marketing a product.  We all know it really takes a great mix of so much to really influence success.  But…  I found a product locally about a year ago that might be just the exception.  It does have great labeling, it is a great product, but… does the name hold it’s success.  From what I have been able to find, BITCH Wine has been largely marketed through word of mouth, it appears, because of its name and its bottle, a perfectly chosen pink colored label, the word bitch written 77 times and then the words, ‘bitch some more’ on the back of the bottle, all ‘tastefully’ done.  So is it really the wine, Barossa Grenache (or a grenache from the Barossa Valley in Australia) as described on WineRaves:  “Color: Ruby, translucent.  Aromas: Raspberry, cherry and chocolate and a hint of spice.  On the tongue, the wine feels warm without being heavy, despite the hefty 14.7% alcohol, and is dry without being drying.  The lush fruit and chocolate flavors finish very smoothly.  This one is easy without being uninteresting”; or its name that is creating its demand.

A year later, locally to where I live, it is hard to find.  Stores say it flies off the shelf when it comes in.  Many request it.  A friend recently found a bottle for me in Saratoga Springs, NY while traveling through there and grabbed it.  I was surprised last year with my first taste that along with its name, it did have a wonderful flavor.

So, is it in the name or is it what’s in the bottle?

Going live today was the introduction to my latest published article which will appear in this month’s issue of Credit Union Management Magazine, published by CUES.   Here is the link  http://www.cues.org/pls/cuesp/!cues1.main?complex_id_in=3069489.3071923.3072754.11857639.page.  Enjoy the statistics and the article when you receive the publication.  It is my latest favorite speaking topic!!!   The potential within the Hispanic population is boundless if you approach the marketing smartly.  It is not simplistic but it has numerous possibilities and there are many great new ideas in marketing to Hispanics that work.  Enjoy!

An interesting report by RocSearch,  regarding  “what’s driving the social media ecosystem and thereby what to do and how.”

 http://www.smartbrief.com/jsp/whitepapers/display.action?campaign=RocSearch&ad=RocSearch_Digital_Gold_Outline&subscriberId=3e2c1640-5062-473a-a262-8ae7de19e5c7&issueid=4a9ce9cd-81d3-4c10-a038-ce066dbe112e

The evolution within the marketing and communication field over the past years has been quick, more than interesting, and wonderful.  Some of the ways that we do things have changed for the better, some have stayed at the same level, for now, and then there are others that appear that they can’t change.  One of those - the billboard.  Yes, the billboard has evolved in some metropolitan areas with the panels that change within minutes to display a new ad.  Besides that, how could they change.  Basically, we check traffic counts of cars passing, come up with creative copy and/or image and work on other efforts to coincide with the billboard message.  But wait, now there has come a way to count billboard effectiveness!!!!  Yes, if billboards can be changed, anything can change!!!    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/31/business/media/31billboard.html?_r=1&oref=slogin                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Here is one opinion by ways of a short synopsis - PC World’s take on what’s going on in Social Networking:  http://tech.msn.com/products/articlepcw.aspx?cp-documentid=7496427

A local health system has really stepped up their marketing and communication activities I noticed over the past two months.  I am receiving more direct mail, viewing more billboards, reading more in the paper about them.

Recently I was invited by a local financial institution to a seminar about fund development.  The seminar was to teach those in the audience a new skill set of fundraising and and a new skill set to garner recognition for non-profit entities.   It did turn out to be a system that a business would buy into.  But, as I listened to the presentation, it dawned on me that the activity by the local health system was a result of this new skill set, this system that they had already bought from the presenter.

The differences between this skill set and others that might be evaluated can be explained by a term that used to be called ’soft sell’.  In the above instance, one of the first components of this system was to invite participants to an event just to listen, not to sell anything.  As the system progresses over time, maybe months or a year, the sales cycle becomes more prominent and finally the ask or sale is presented.  

For this presenter it has worked incredibly well.  Good for her and for those she has helped.  I can see this same type of system working with educational sessions, seminars, webinars and those tools such as cause related marketing, efforts we all use that do not say directly ‘buy me’.  Intriguing!

This is an amazing example of the use of blogs in a competitive marketing sense.  Incredible power was released in the research and writing.  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120829767153417401.html?mod=hpp

There cannot be any better example of pulling in a younger generation than the skateboard design contest sponsored by the Archdiocese of New York relating to the Pope’s visit this weekend at Yankee Stadium.  http://www.archny.org/papalvisit/papal-skateboard-art-design-contest/.  As stated in the New York Post, “This is part of the culture of the city,” said the Rev. Peter Pomposello of St. Elizabeth’s Church in Washington Heights. “The Holy Father encourages us to realize that we have to take the good in our culture and capitalize on that to get the word out about Jesus Christ.”  The idea grew out of the skateboard club for children at the church.

Also, realizing the potential of getting a younger audience involved the Archdiocese even had the voting online.  All of the additional board designs will be put on display at the Boardpusher.com Web site, where anyone can pick one they like and then have it made.  Deckboard designs from the winners and other contestants will also be on sale to benefit charities and you can purchase one if you would like to donate to a child in need. 

Congrats to them for pulling together a program that realizes the potential in this generation and creating a way to relate.