tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78741016606359939362024-03-13T23:46:16.365-04:00Flack OpsAn insider's take on the spin industry.John Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15609789524695323990noreply@blogger.comBlogger164125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874101660635993936.post-10960802384554424182023-08-15T20:37:00.005-04:002023-08-15T20:37:51.106-04:00<p> </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2IwmEsCqOjiONtLDuAj6tt-KIHoVjK8n1YEakAQJCf9tIH7Ettd9lNXya4T6i7yGvybsTM9o0yN55lLr5L5Xvyg9kXZYbMYumjiFhfdoH1aE9AvZw3sFf07hLBCAW9DibhfbQgrCaddFsxUbrresvHGykbef8kXvscf44Q5EEd4wn9Ov3C-_yCsEK-VZF/s2000/August%2015.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1126" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2IwmEsCqOjiONtLDuAj6tt-KIHoVjK8n1YEakAQJCf9tIH7Ettd9lNXya4T6i7yGvybsTM9o0yN55lLr5L5Xvyg9kXZYbMYumjiFhfdoH1aE9AvZw3sFf07hLBCAW9DibhfbQgrCaddFsxUbrresvHGykbef8kXvscf44Q5EEd4wn9Ov3C-_yCsEK-VZF/w181-h320/August%2015.png" width="181" /></a></div><p></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><p><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">One hundred days ago, on May 7, the ACL in Jake’s left hind leg
snapped. Two weeks after his surgery to repair that leg, the ACL in his right
leg snapped, most likely from lugging around that big ol’ heart of his.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Over these last 100 days, we have been through one goddamned
thing after another: weeks-long waits for surgeries, broken screws and
dislodged plates that required further surgery, and an infection that almost obviated
the need for euthanasia. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Each step of the way, he and I went through this together. We
discussed all our options and made – together – what we thought were the best
decisions based on the data we had. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Every day, and I mean every single day, I thought about the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W3sZedBfIM">drowning scene</a> in “Sometimes
a Great Notion.” We tried everything, but just as we thought we were in the
clear, the log shifted.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We used to walk five times a day, every day. Our favorite
path took us under the bridge on 15<sup>th</sup> Street to a field full of vole
colonies. They were fast, but Jake would catch one every now and then. I knew
that if I could just get him under that bridge to that field, we’d be fine. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We got close one day in July, right up to the bridge. But I
didn’t take him through; I knew it was a just a little bit too far. We never
got back there.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Since we were stuck at home for so long, I spent hours brushing
his fur – really getting in there – while singing <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1SFWU5tXAE">“Stuck With You”</a> by Huey
Lewis. Over and over. He really didn’t care for that song, I think. But he
liked being brushed.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That infection hit him last Tuesday. He spent the night at
the surgery center and when I picked him up Wednesday morning, they said his
fever was down and he was on the road to recovery. It felt like a miracle. But
it didn’t last.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">On Sunday, Jake told me it was time. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I want to give a big hug to every one of you who knew Jake
and loved him (redundant, I know) and a big “thank you” to everyone who has
ever asked about him over the years. He knew he was loved. You guys made him
the happiest dog in the world.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I really miss him.<o:p></o:p></p>John Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15609789524695323990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874101660635993936.post-79150841859487123022019-07-28T14:44:00.003-04:002019-07-28T14:44:24.737-04:00Thank You for Stroking<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
My first live televised debate was opposite Katherine
Prescott, the national president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. I played the
role of the bad guy.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEZiMaAZjKj751rR19XmkzIgIbuqI6F2euHZi_2x_fX3qA0w3EMizUkddLy-27cYDNPXX-rRfwbrs-OM2__JFpInz50bSKMScs5vFOlqSgC7yOZ6eZee58TBeoC-DAoWJ2f9NbBHOVHKWU/s1600/mafia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="839" data-original-width="960" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEZiMaAZjKj751rR19XmkzIgIbuqI6F2euHZi_2x_fX3qA0w3EMizUkddLy-27cYDNPXX-rRfwbrs-OM2__JFpInz50bSKMScs5vFOlqSgC7yOZ6eZee58TBeoC-DAoWJ2f9NbBHOVHKWU/s320/mafia.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I got to the FOX studios, I was escorted to the “green
room,” which is basically a fancy holding cell for the show’s guests. Green room
mixers are usually congenial affairs where the more well-known talking heads (everyone
else) use the less well-known talking heads (me) as sounding boards to practice
their pitch or, more likely, to boast about their latest book.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But, given the mix of guests that morning, the mood in this particular
green room was less than convivial.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There was the aforementioned Ms. Prescott, of course; her
handler, (then) Brandy Anderson; yours truly; and quite coincidentally, political
satirist, Chris Buckley, who was there to promote “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thank_You_for_Smoking_(novel)">Thank You
for Smoking</a>,” his brilliantly funny new book about lobbyists for the
alcohol, tobacco, and firearms industries who he affectionately dubbed “the Merchants
of Death.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(Quick note: at the time, I was representing two of those
three industries. I hit the trifecta some years after that.) <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To break the chilly silence in the room, Ms. Prescott asked
Chris what his book was about, and without missing a beat he pointed to me and
said, “It’s about him, actually.” It wasn’t really, but at the time there was a
lot of speculation that it was about the guy I worked for, a man so Merchant-of-Death-y
that “60 Minutes” did an entire segment on him entitled <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/meet-rick-berman-aka-dr-evil/">“Meet Dr.
Evil.”</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(Another quick note: I’d often wondered if that exchange—and
everything else that followed—really happened as I remembered it. When I
recently asked my now dear friend Brandy if I was remembering correctly, she looked
up from her gazpacho, smiled, and said, “Ayup.”)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was a seven-minute segment, which is a decent chunk of
time. But under the lights, time runs faster than a dingo with a baby so it’s
imperative to get your points across as quickly and effectively as possible.
For five minutes we were both on our game, thrusting with sound bites and
parrying with eye rolls.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But then Katherine stopped talking. She just sat there
staring at me as I rattled off my talkers, which actually threw me off my game a
little because—much like sex—debate is often more fun when you’re doing it with
someone else. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After the segment wrapped up, I went to the green room to
get my coat and noticed on my way out that Katherine was still seated on the
set with a bunch of people—including Chris Buckley—standing around her. I
figured she must be pretty famous.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I got back to the office about 20 minutes later, the receptionist
said Jeff Becker was hold for me. <i>The</i> Jeff Becker—President and CEO of
the Beer Institute. (Yes, there really is a Beer Institute. This is Washington.)
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Becker: “Congratulations, man. You got your first kill!”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Me: “Ummm … excuse me?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Becker: “You didn’t hear? Prescott had a stroke during your
debate. Way to go!”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Me:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Becker: “Did you hear what I just said?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Me: “Ayup.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Katherine recovered fully. Sadly, cancer killed Jeff in January
of 2010. I saw a lot of Washington’s elite at his wake, including then-House
Minority Leader John Boehner. But most impressive of all was the decked-out Budweiser
Clydesdale that Anheuser Busch sent to <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2010/01/13/beckers-fight-over-beer-tax-recalled">stand
vigil.</a> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I walked past the massive horse, I thought of the line
from Buckley’s novel, “Tobacco takes care of its own.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I always found it difficult to explain what it is I actually
did for a living back then. But after Buckley’s book came out, I’d just say, “Have
you read Thank You for Smoking? That pretty much sums it up.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />John Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15609789524695323990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874101660635993936.post-28732016139632942372019-06-24T16:33:00.005-04:002019-06-24T16:33:55.407-04:00Taking Equal Opportunity to Extremes<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Dad, please don’t make a scene” is the request my girls
make every time we step into an Apple store. This time it was Claire. We were
there to get her a Mac Daddy Probe, or whatever it’s called, for Christmas. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I promised to “try.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Things got off to an auspicious start. We were greeted by a
tall, red-headed self-labeled “genius” who listened to Claire’s request, opened
one of the cupboards under the Genius Bar and, finding it bare, went to the
Genius Storeroom in search of the laptop. But things quickly soured when it
became clear that Young Red had decided to take a Genius Break.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We stood there simmering for 10 minutes. Well, I simmered.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then, in an effort to <i>not</i> make a scene, I calmly
approached another genius standing alone against the wall clutching a tablet to
his chest and asked if he could help us. He smiled, pointed to his right ear,
extended the tablet with his left hand and gestured that he wanted me to type
my request.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was not going to type my request.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m not saying he wasn’t deaf. By all indications, he was
profoundly deaf, which is why I knew he knew exactly what I had just said. And
he knew I knew he knew. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“All I need is someone to help my daughter buy a laptop.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He offered the tablet again, this time in both hands, head
slightly bowed, eyebrows raised as if doing everything in his power to help me,
which is exactly what he wanted the small but growing crowd watching us to think.
And he knew I knew that’s what he was up to.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So recalling the lessons I learned in my Wonder Years from
communicating with my brother, Michael, who has always been hard of hearing, I
looked Tablet Boy square in the eyes and slowly and clearly articulated, “I
need someone to help my daughter” – turn head slowly, point to Claire, turn
head back – “buy a laptop.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYS5Ng-kIkA9Na5rUnIe-dCj0Sjpd_UrUMmC2RVg1GdTK8vFGfKeg_tI1C6JNLnn826JG1aKr4FuDZY6_giQQUPE85bRMhlNXh1rF1RQTN4kQNY-6SMYKxOm99gKDn_eq4uNzUPo6QemjP/s1600/Butch.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="284" data-original-width="640" height="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYS5Ng-kIkA9Na5rUnIe-dCj0Sjpd_UrUMmC2RVg1GdTK8vFGfKeg_tI1C6JNLnn826JG1aKr4FuDZY6_giQQUPE85bRMhlNXh1rF1RQTN4kQNY-6SMYKxOm99gKDn_eq4uNzUPo6QemjP/s320/Butch.JPG" width="320" /></a>He offered me the tablet for the third time, wide smile,
raised eyebrows. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Look,” I said slowly and clearly, looking straight into his
eyes, “this is very simple, I need …”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well, I guess technically I was making a scene at this point
because Young Red cut his break short and rushed over to explain to me that, “in
case you were unaware,” Tablet Boy is deaf “so we would all greatly appreciate
it if you would simply type your request.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"You know exactly what I
want. I told you 15 minutes ago," I said (in my head). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There wasn’t a chance in Hell I was taking that tablet from that
kid’s earnestly outstretched hands. The store had gotten quiet and people were
watching us. I had to think fast.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Do you remember that scene in “Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid” where Butch and Sundance were trapped on a high cliff with La
Forge and his men on one side and a raging river at the bottom of the cliff?
Butch (Paul Newman) was trying to convince Sundance (Robert Redford) that they
had to jump into the river before La Forge and his gang shot them. After
arguing that he’d rather stand and fight, Sundance finally admitted he couldn’t
swim.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And it was with that scene in mind when I finally “admitted”
to the two Apple geniuses and the crowd we had attracted that, “I can’t read!”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Young Red could not have been more embarrassed for, well,
basically all of us. He rushed back to the Genius Storeroom and got the Mac Boy
Prone and gave it to Claire. I gave him my AmEx which he plugged it into his
Genius register hanging from his belt. Then, not knowing exactly how to
proceed, he handed the device to Claire so she could sign for her illiterate
dad.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes, it was humiliating. But it was worth it to see the
expression on Tablet Boy’s face because—understanding every word I said—he knew
<i>exactly</i> what had just gone down. And he knew I knew he knew … even
before I winked at him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />John Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15609789524695323990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874101660635993936.post-83809610400161550032016-09-07T08:41:00.002-04:002016-09-07T10:18:15.664-04:00Allergan's blog post is nothing to sneeze at<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiscmo1aZo1nGBodIa7192ssjg9WWjzduh92ssvwR59tQZiuct5IXlrvEG0XSkM2VAokk5gveFGm1blP3o6eB_pCTMZGBvt4QU3aaux48LOQ-ooiDWOegLUR81rd1w27uHYIXgBJmdNHaSL/s1600/allergan.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiscmo1aZo1nGBodIa7192ssjg9WWjzduh92ssvwR59tQZiuct5IXlrvEG0XSkM2VAokk5gveFGm1blP3o6eB_pCTMZGBvt4QU3aaux48LOQ-ooiDWOegLUR81rd1w27uHYIXgBJmdNHaSL/s320/allergan.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Did the CEO of a major pharmaceutical company really publicly
vow to “not engage in price gouging actions or predatory pricing”?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes, Allergan president and CEO Brent Saunders really did,
in a blog that he posted on the company’s website this morning. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I learned about the blog post from <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/story/13694738/1/allergan-ceo-no-more-predatory-drug-pricing.html">an
article</a> on TheStreet.com, I jumped to the <a href="http://www.allergan.com/NEWS/CEO-Blog/September-2016/Our-Social-Contract-with-Patients">post
itself</a> looking for fodder for a piece I planned to write about the dangers
of making false promises in the digital age. I mean, we live in the era of the <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2016/08/29/investing/generic-epipen-mylan-discount/">300
EpiPen</a>, where you have to increase the price of your pharmaceutical
products by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2015/09/22/turing-ceo-martin-shkreli-says-hell-lower-cost-of-drug-previously-hiked-4000-percent-but-would-not-say-by-how-much/">4,000
percent</a> before anybody pays attention to you. There was no way Allergan’s
CEO promised to “take price increases no more than once per year and, when we
do, they will be limited to single-digit percentage increases.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But he did. And he encouraged his CEO peers to do the same.<span style="background: aqua; mso-highlight: aqua;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And while this is fascinating in itself and good news for
shareholders <a href="https://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome-psyapi2&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8&q=allergan%20stock&oq=allergan%20stock&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS561US561&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.5718j0j4">(Allergan
closed up 1.34%),</a> what I found most intriguing about Saunders’ blog post is
that it was a textbook example (or would that be a “kindle example” now) of
effective 21<sup>st</sup> century communications.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here are four lessons you need to learn from one of the most
unlikely blog posts on the Internet today.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>You have to have
something significant to say</b>. I’ll admit I struggled a bit as I waded
through the first few paragraphs of corporate-speak about “commitment to
innovation, access and responsible pricing ideals” before I got to “we will
limit price increases.” But then I was hooked.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>You have to be
candid.</b> Check this out. Not only does Saunders vow that, “We will not
engage in the practice of taking major price increases without corresponding
cost increases as our products near patent expiration,” but he accentuates the
point by <i>admitting they have done just
that in the past.</i> “While we have participated in this industry practice in
the past, we will stop this practice going forward.” That’s gold, Jerry! <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0qm0KUPeD8">GOLD!</a> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>It helps to speak
from the heart</b>. I’m sure Saunders’ post had to get cleared by Legal, but it
still contains the language of a man who is being honest. One small example: “I
don’t like what is happening, and despite the fact that it is hard to speak out
publicly on this, now is the time to take action to spell out what this social
contract means to me.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Deliver a call
to action</b>. A good blog post inspires. A great one directs people to act. And
Saunders does just that. “For our industry to remain a vibrant and important
part of the healthcare ecosystem, Allergan commits to this social contract and
I encourage others to formulate their own self-policing actions.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s not often that I am impressed by a corporate blog post,
especially one signed by the CEO. <a href="http://www.allergan.com/NEWS/CEO-Blog/September-2016/Our-Social-Contract-with-Patients">But
this one</a> is worth the read.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
John Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15609789524695323990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874101660635993936.post-64492061705129073492016-06-11T15:54:00.000-04:002016-06-11T15:59:53.338-04:00Four tricks to help you build a loyal, engaged, and responsive Millennial audience. Sirius-ly.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8M-SxXFyydVDxSpX-R190UMbsYpI8AaqzJYWF97k6tozlT0pPcZ1uhxoM862niPoZc9BWF3_AlDRBFJd5fT7sFzXnrc-EZLKDqTRZk41H0icezahmN2GdAAicxB53mi32MTw9N3x6NiU9/s1600/News+Anchor.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8M-SxXFyydVDxSpX-R190UMbsYpI8AaqzJYWF97k6tozlT0pPcZ1uhxoM862niPoZc9BWF3_AlDRBFJd5fT7sFzXnrc-EZLKDqTRZk41H0icezahmN2GdAAicxB53mi32MTw9N3x6NiU9/s320/News+Anchor.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">"Look at me! Look. At. ME!"</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
At 11:02 a.m. on May 25, Millennial <a href="https://twitter.com/AshleyRParker/status/735531409394176000" target="_blank">Ashley Parker</a>, a New York Times reporter embedded with the Clinton campaign, tweeted: “Young embed (born in ’91!) next to me: What the hell is Whitewater?! [Begins Googling].”</div>
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Minutes later, Baby Boomer <a href="https://twitter.com/ktumulty" target="_blank">Karen Tumulty</a>, the Washington Post’s national political correspondent, responded: “SMH. Seriously, youth is not an excuse. You are covering this candidate. READ A BOOK, PEOPLE.”</div>
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And so began the great generational <a href="https://twitter.com/AshleyRParker/status/735531409394176000" target="_blank">tweet-off</a> of 2016</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
But as entertaining as the dust-up was, the fact is there was no reason Jimmy Olsen, cub reporter and child of the digital age, should have heard of Whitewater. Just as there is no reason we relics of the Huntley-Brinkley era (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntley-Brinkley_Report" target="_blank">google</a> it) shouldn’t have.</div>
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We had no choice … and he had no need.</div>
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<div>
We old dogs got our news dolloped out to us on a strict schedule by a handful of “trusted” news hounds. When Whitewater was declared news, we wolfed down Whitewater stories every weekday night at 6:30/5:30 Central.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Our reporter pup and his millennial pack, on the other hand, are grazers who consume their news all day long from countless sources. They don’t have many cultural touch stones catalogued in their heads for two reasons. 1. With so many news outlets today, it takes a monumental story indeed to achieve “cultural touch stone” status. And 2., if they do need to learn about a historic news item, they know how to find everything they need.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
So if you plan to communicate with Millennials, you need to understand that their way of consuming information is very different from ours. You can’t simply shout “news treat!” and expect them to come running. You’ve got to create content that interests them, and then put it where they can sniff it out themselves.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Here are four simple ways to do just that: </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Discover your passionate audience</b>. You need to identify who really cares about your issues. If your strategic communications plan calls for you to target “women 35 to 54,” you’re not really targeting anybody. To discover your passionate audience, you have to forget size and focus instead on common interest. I can guarantee you that there are plenty of people you’ve never even heard of who are passionate about some aspect of your organization’s <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/your-mission-develop-quest-audiences-care-john-doyle?trk=mp-author-card" target="_blank">quest</a>. Your job is to discover who they are so they can discover who you are.</div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Learn where the Venn diagram of your story overlaps with their interests.</b> Nobody cares about every aspect of your organization’s mission, except your CEO. And he may be jiving, too. To understand what your audience wants from you, you have to understand what aspects of your quest people care about enough to talk about. To do that, search Twitter using terms that reflect your quest and see who is tweeting (and re-tweeting) about them. Or visit the sites that cover issues directly and indirectly related to your quest and read the comments section see who has dropped by. </div>
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<div>
<b>Keep the relationship alive.</b> When you have found your audience, connect with them on social platforms, subscribe to their blogs, react to their posts, react to their influencers’ posts, comment on articles that they are reacting to. (You’ll recognize the more fruitful avenues by the enormous number of “shares” and “likes.”) In short, develop a genuine relationship with your audience.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
<b>The power of the “share.”</b> Nothing pleases a blogger more than someone sharing her post. If you find interesting content, share it. But don’t just put it on your website, because nobody goes there—not even you, if we’re being honest about it. Instead, scotch tape it to the Internet’s refrigerator—Facebook, LinkedIn and other social platforms.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
It will take effort to build your audience. And your metrics will not be nearly as impressive as the proverbial “three billion impressions,” which as we all know is the teacup poodle of metrics: fascinating but absolutely useless. But this investment will result in a dependable, useful, and exponentially more engaged audience—a King Shepherd of an audience, if you will. And that will make all the difference.</div>
John Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15609789524695323990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874101660635993936.post-75217015796152731872016-06-09T22:46:00.000-04:002016-06-09T22:46:46.400-04:00Turks and Caicos! Welcome aboard! You represent the 96th nation to visit this little shake shack! Come on in and meet all the folks!! There're are cold beers in the fridge and some M&Ms and pretzels on the coffee table. Mind the iguana. He tends to snap at strangers.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3KFmutF_U3eb-yzNM9l-8jYXnqScskbYom6VICX4cfwdIHVuoa-vF3WhUBQZEZeCl-I18ZmutGkK77WvtrnFQVaGQ6-MEHDEulZVbehAlqMPodJfb6ixZJlLErcSZh7xCvO9yLwUpkVVs/s1600/Christie-Brinkley-Shares-Photos-in-Bikini-from-Turks-and-Caicos-Islands-Vacation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3KFmutF_U3eb-yzNM9l-8jYXnqScskbYom6VICX4cfwdIHVuoa-vF3WhUBQZEZeCl-I18ZmutGkK77WvtrnFQVaGQ6-MEHDEulZVbehAlqMPodJfb6ixZJlLErcSZh7xCvO9yLwUpkVVs/s320/Christie-Brinkley-Shares-Photos-in-Bikini-from-Turks-and-Caicos-Islands-Vacation.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
John Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15609789524695323990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874101660635993936.post-88722702968115772072016-06-09T22:35:00.000-04:002016-06-09T23:00:14.382-04:00To reach your audience today, fire Ted Baxter and color outside the lines<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkznKJMTeUThngm1eWB8MkB3DM_iYeESAzim_vEZSGMp1_d5rx_gEPtOaVOZ9zm7_BilM7-h2F7K6JmYajlzqnH16aq_vRbq3-yd51ePfv96oUqQ1q7CohEXTbioJ4dz7nT012Q_ukrJM5/s1600/Grandma+Claires.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkznKJMTeUThngm1eWB8MkB3DM_iYeESAzim_vEZSGMp1_d5rx_gEPtOaVOZ9zm7_BilM7-h2F7K6JmYajlzqnH16aq_vRbq3-yd51ePfv96oUqQ1q7CohEXTbioJ4dz7nT012Q_ukrJM5/s320/Grandma+Claires.jpg" width="250" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">"Oooo, part-time clerk <br />at Toys-R-Us! That sounds <br />fun, daddy!!"</span></td></tr>
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I discovered
the secret to effective online communication before Mark Zuckerberg lost all
his milk teeth.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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It was in
the mid-1990s and my new boss, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PApCMdZQnuQ" target="_blank">Rick Berman,</a> was not pleased with my progress in
generating media coverage of an economic study entitled, “Effects of Minimum
Wages on Teenage Employment, Enrollment and Idleness.” I just couldn’t seem to
craft a press release that made that topic interesting to reporters. Imagine
that.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Following
yet another of his increasingly menacing pep-threats, I locked myself in my
office, thought back to my days as a reporter at The Red Bank Register, and
tried to imagine what might make me pick up the phone and call the guy flacking
this report. Then I drew my “press release.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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It was a
mock-up of the faux resume of one “Les Likely,” an unremarkable teenager with a
spotty work history and a very poor command of the English language. I added a
coffee-cup ring stain in the corner and a red stenciled “REJECT” stamp in the
middle of it and had the graphics department lay out and print 150 copies. Then
I sent them to my media list with this short note attached: “Les Likely is
about to lose his job again. Give me a call and I’ll tell you why.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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And they
called. And I never wrote a traditional release again.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The lesson I
learned then—which I use to this day—is this: before delivering any message, I
must first determine exactly what it is about what I have to say that could
possibly be of interest to my audience.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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And as
important as that lesson was in the 1990s, it is imperative today. You see, the
days of making declarations in your best Ted Baxter voice and expecting the
fish to bite are over. In fact, the more Ted Baxter-y you are the less likely
you are to connect with your audiences.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Of course,
there are inherent risks whenever you color outside the lines, but the benefits
of creativity </div>
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are worth the occasional ding, such as that time my laminated
dollar-bill plan got us on the front page of The Wall Street Journal, above the
fold. I’ll let them recount it, since they tell it best:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<i><b>We were
intrigued by The Employment Policies Institute's latest cost-saving endeavor.</b>
To protest President Clinton's proposed minimum wage increase of $1 an hour,
the Washington, D.C., business-funded think tank mailed laminated $1 bills to
300 reporters at various news outlets. According to our calculations, the cost
of that little stunt could've furnished a minimum-wage earner with more than
two months of the boosted hourly rate.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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It’s true
that my heart stopped beating briefly when I read the Journal that morning. But
that hit actually lit up the phones with calls from other reporters interested
in the study, demonstrating once again that any press is good press.<o:p></o:p></div>
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John Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15609789524695323990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874101660635993936.post-35845922719790359892016-03-21T11:17:00.002-04:002016-03-21T11:17:31.146-04:00How to win friends and influence people ... through creative conflict<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvJVfd2IXb6TML7xg29EEH0EsP68L5y4PA6eqvLxXHEMBOv_jBuOwaD2eHOLKzzj6XBgqt5Q_S4QMQ1JK_rz5oGqgnCR3OcEe5B6rgStQsf4Ct72REYHFwZn-zj8xv3tHke-_S5yAt3Xls/s1600/hulk+5.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvJVfd2IXb6TML7xg29EEH0EsP68L5y4PA6eqvLxXHEMBOv_jBuOwaD2eHOLKzzj6XBgqt5Q_S4QMQ1JK_rz5oGqgnCR3OcEe5B6rgStQsf4Ct72REYHFwZn-zj8xv3tHke-_S5yAt3Xls/s320/hulk+5.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">"I did NOT shred my own shirts!"</span></td></tr>
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The secret to successful conflict is knowing what you want to get out of the engagement <em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">before</em> the opening bell.</div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #232629; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 32px; margin-bottom: 32px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Some time ago, my then local dry cleaner shredded the back panel of two of my dress shirts. I’m not talking about a slight tear. I mean this was full <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/leonardo-dicaprio-praises-the-revenant-director-over-bear-attack-scene-20151222-glszp2.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #8c68cb; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">post-bear-mauling</a> Leo DiCaprio. Obviously, something went very wrong in the back room of the Bradlee Dry Cleaners.</div>
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But when I brought them back for restitution—or at the very least a heartfelt apology—the proprietor said that I had dropped them off in that condition.</div>
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I went Hulk-O-Rama so fast and furiously that I popped the collar button off the shirt I was wearing.</div>
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Didn’t matter. He wasn’t budging. As I walked out in defeat (three shirts to the wind, as it were), I vowed never to step foot in that shop again! Nine years later, they went out of business, which I like to think I had some small hand in.</div>
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Fast forward to last week when, running late for a breakfast meeting, I saw that my freshly dry-cleaned shirt had a large grease stain running down the left sleeve from the elbow to the cuff. I grabbed a second shirt and it had a stain in the same pattern on the same arm.</div>
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Was I angry? You betcha. But this time I was ready. All I wanted from my dry cleaner was an acknowledgement that they stained my shirts. And in order to get that, I took the issue off the table.</div>
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“Hey, these two shirts both came back with these identical stains.”</div>
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“Hmmmm.”</div>
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“Now, I’m not sure how they got there, but I would imagine it happened during the dry cleaning process. It’s possible, of course, that I brought them in with these stains.”</div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #232629; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 32px; margin-bottom: 32px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
“Hmmmm.”</div>
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“It doesn’t matter how it happened, really. I just wanted to bring it to your attention in case you had a mechanical problem that you should check on before this happens to someone else.”</div>
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“I’ll refund the cost of cleaning these two shirts.”</div>
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Victory!</div>
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Now, if I had centered the conflict on who actually wrecked my shirts, her natural reaction would have been to defend herself. And—once our respective perspectives were established—any forceful argument I made would be met by an equal and opposite forceful argument from her.</div>
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Call it Newton’s Third Law of Emotion.</div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #232629; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 32px; margin-bottom: 32px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
But by setting aside the very point I needed to win—and even interjecting a smidgen of her perspective—I completely de-fanged her opposition. And then I sealed the deal by suggesting that I only brought the issue up out of concern for her other customers. Check and mate.</div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #232629; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 32px; margin-bottom: 32px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
They may not have paid for the shirts they ruined, but they at least fessed up to<em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">possibly</em> having had something to do with it. And <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0qm0KUPeD8" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #8c68cb; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">that’s gold, Jerry. Gold!</a></div>
John Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15609789524695323990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874101660635993936.post-65411308838192430122016-03-04T10:27:00.001-05:002016-03-04T10:27:29.201-05:00A lesson in humanity--from a robot<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil4XvULkvMYikMmnBf2r-WXbBEwWR0U5o7U9snmX1xRn0_Rbn96Y1LtoBqPAnql9bvcRADEUWnrJPiMc5z-P7vUjDek5NzU6THoP1_fWB27CtsyCFKOY3KIhEt9sX82HyIqlLk4RF6eedh/s1600/bugs2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil4XvULkvMYikMmnBf2r-WXbBEwWR0U5o7U9snmX1xRn0_Rbn96Y1LtoBqPAnql9bvcRADEUWnrJPiMc5z-P7vUjDek5NzU6THoP1_fWB27CtsyCFKOY3KIhEt9sX82HyIqlLk4RF6eedh/s320/bugs2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">"Well, so it's mechanical!"<br />Oh ... I get it now.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #232629; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Machines have two primary functions: they perform the task they
were built for or, failing that, they serve as emotionless objects through
which we can vent our pent-up rage and frustration. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #232629; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 24pt;">Who among us hasn’t wanted to go all </span><i style="color: #232629; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 24pt;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Office Space</span></i><span style="color: #232629; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 24pt;"> on the company printer? We slam our
car doors, punch </span><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/better-give-receive-interactive-age-john-doyle?trk=mp-author-card" style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 24pt;" target="_blank"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #8c68cb; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">parking meters</span></a><span style="color: #232629; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 24pt;">, and throw our remotes against the wall. (You
guys do that, right?) And we take out our aggression without a hint of remorse
because these are victimless drubbings. We’re thrashing machines, not people.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #232629; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 24pt;">But what if that machine looked a lot like Dave from Shipping
(or at least had Dave’s stumpy-legged gait) and you saw him being tormented by
Rick the floor manager as he was trying to pick up a box? You’d feel some
anxiety. Really, you would. </span><a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2016/02/26/atlas_the_new_robot_from_boston_dynamics_sets_a_new_standard_for_robot_capabilities.html?wpsrc=kwfacebookvid&kwp_0=110445&kwp_4=531599&kwp_1=284465" style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 24pt;" target="_blank"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #8c68cb; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">See for yourself</span></a><span style="color: #232629; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 24pt;">, starting at 1:22. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #232629; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 24pt;">You see what Rick is doing with that hockey stick? It’s inhuman.
Watch as Rick pushes the poor bastard onto his “face” at 2:05 and tell me you
don’t feel anything. You can almost hear what Dave is thinking as he slowly
rises to his foot-pads.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #232629; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 24pt;">Then, after he pauses to collect himself, you can see Dave
consider and decide against extracting robotic revenge, instead walking slowly
out the door--which he does not slam because, being a robot, he isn’t mad. We
are. At Rick, for tormenting a machine.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #232629; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 24pt;">It’s a natural response. Even </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Shkreli" style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 24pt;" target="_blank"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #8c68cb; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Martin Shkreli</span></a><span style="color: #232629; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 24pt;"> would
feel for that robot because it seems human. It’s just how we’re wired.
According to </span><a href="http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/seeing_human" style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 24pt;" target="_blank"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #8c68cb; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">research</span></a><span style="color: #232629; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 24pt;"> by
University of Chicago psychologist Nicholas Epley, anthropomorphism “reflects a
deep drive to form social connections, even with objects made of metal and
wire.” And this drive, he found, increases as our sense of social isolation
grows. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #232629; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 24pt;">And if </span><a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/30038995?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents" style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 24pt;" target="_blank"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #8c68cb; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">research</span></a><span style="color: #232629; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 24pt;"> from Duke University and the University of
Arizona is any indication, anthropomorphism is going to skyrocket as social
media (ironically) makes us all feel more socially isolated. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #232629; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 24pt;">So keep that in mind as you try to connect with your audiences.
Rather than speak of the sweeping societal benefit of your organization,
product, or service, describe instead how your organization, product, or service
helps Dave in shipping. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #232629; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 24pt;">As novelist </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Price_(writer)" style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 24pt;" target="_blank"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #8c68cb; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Richard Price</span></a><span style="color: #232629; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 24pt;"> said,
“The bigger the issue, the smaller you write. Remember that. You don't write
about the horrors of war. No. You write about a kid's burnt socks lying on the
road. You pick the smallest manageable part of the big thing, and you work off
the resonance.” </span></div>
John Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15609789524695323990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874101660635993936.post-12133321326337203952015-10-20T09:57:00.000-04:002015-10-20T09:57:03.162-04:00The Seven Commandments of Social Media Marketing<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitNLBHXHaSfTqZYAp8ONF2NZFE9ZOYizhgupm4-jjFOjVFvBTk7PqOw-5Cdkohjunw4OjqVH31Tx1hZIdzOrFlHtxEMVXV-iNw2va24Bctre749AXRugzf89e5DdOJzgU9hIfM1536Pbz3/s1600/strangelovewarroom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitNLBHXHaSfTqZYAp8ONF2NZFE9ZOYizhgupm4-jjFOjVFvBTk7PqOw-5Cdkohjunw4OjqVH31Tx1hZIdzOrFlHtxEMVXV-iNw2va24Bctre749AXRugzf89e5DdOJzgU9hIfM1536Pbz3/s320/strangelovewarroom.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">"I don't want to alarm anyone, gentlemen, <br />but now might be a good time <br />to start praying."</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Just hours after some drunk guy Kamikaze-ed a stolen Cessna
150 into the South Lawn of the White House, my boss came down to my office to
personally express his disappointment that I hadn’t briefed him on <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/stolen-plane-crashes-white-house-lawn-25682235">the
incident</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was September 12, 1994 and the PR world was trying to
re-calibrate itself into the perpetual “rapid-response mode” that was the
hallmark of Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign, made famous in the
documentary “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXZdaP4SvD0">The War Room</a>”
that had come out the year before. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once that film hit the theaters, my boss put me in charge of
gathering up the world’s news and reading the summaries to him every morning at
7:00 as Earl drove him to the office. If a plane crash landed at the White
House in the middle of the night then, “Dammit, John, I need to know about it!”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fair enough. But this was 1994 and the Internet—and my twin
daughters—were still toddlers and no help whatsoever in gathering news. So I
had to get up at 5:00 a.m., scan four newspapers, watch CNN and the local news
programs, and listen to the radio news station all while feeding my kids breakfast—one
Cheerio at a time. A War Room operation this was not.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was reminded of this Cronkite-ian nightmare recently when
a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/war-room-displays-box-office-clout-of-a-faith-based-audience/2015/09/01/c3c4174e-5062-11e5-8c19-0b6825aa4a3a_story.html">new
movie</a>, also called “The War Room,” broke the box office with its unconventional
promotional strategy. Marketed solely through social media, the movie <a href="http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=warroom2015.htm">debuted at
number two</a> after “Straight Outta Compton,” raking in $11.4 million in its
opening weekend—nearly four times what it cost to make. (As of yesterday, it
had racked up $65 million in ticket sales.)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Much like the original “War Room,” this movie provides
critical lessons about the changing rules of successful marketing and
communication. Here are seven big ones:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Be religious in your
audience targeting</b>—“The War Room” was made by evangelicals for evangelicals.
Period. “Our bull’s-eye audience are people of faith and the church,” said
director Alex Kendrick. And because he wasn’t trying to entertain a mass
audience, Kendrick’s film resonated with his religious audience. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Preach to the choir</b>—According
to Kendrick, they “intentionally showed the film to pastors and community
leaders to get their support.” But the power of these co-conspiratorial
relationships is magnified exponentially on social media. People listen to
people they trust. And while you may not have a network of churches in your LinkedIn
contacts, you do have a flock of Facebook friends who, in turn, have flocks of their
own. And so on.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Don’t worship false
matinee idols</b>—Do you remember Johnny Depp’s blockbuster hit <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/mortdecai-becomes-johnny-depps-fifth-consecutive-box-office-bomb-10003543.html">Mortdecai</a>?
Of course you don’t. It disappeared from the theaters faster than John Wilkes
Booth. The fact is A-list star power doesn’t guarantee butts in movie-theater seats
anymore. But if you cast an unknown, you might have a prayer. And if that rookie
actress happens to be Priscilla Shirer—best-selling author and daughter of the
Rev. Tony Evans, one of the most well-known pastors in America—well, buddy,
your prayers are gonna be answered. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>In the beginning,
move heaven and Earth</b>—There’s a reason people dress like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLNLt-l1Z7A">over-stuffed Oreos</a> and
dance at shopping malls. There is a power and excitement to launches that is
only magnified by social media. To hype their opening weekend, the producers
spent months reaching out to fellow pastors, Christian book stores owners, and
community leaders, and implored them to “encourage the people that you’re
leading and the people that you are influencing … to see ‘War Room.’” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Cast bread upon the
waters</b>—And this outreach paid off in ways they probably hadn’t anticipated.
After seeing several Facebook posts about the movie, Danielle Wright—the host
of an online radio show called “Power of Prayer”—arranged a private screening
for more than 200 church leaders a day before the film was released. Guess what
they preached about that weekend?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Judge not? Best ye be
judged</b>—If you want to secure that critical buy-in from influential
community leaders, you’re going to have to invite critical comments from them first.
In order to build strong bonds with the network of influential pastors who
drove millions of parishioners to the movie, the filmmakers invited the pastors
to view and criticize early versions of the film … five times. This was quite
clever, really. Once the pastors had a hand in editing, the film’s ultimate
box-office success was now their responsibility.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Remember the Good
Book</b>—Social media marketing is a multi-platform affair. To inspire
communication about their movie, the producers wrote seven different online
“War Room” bible study guides, including a “<a href="http://www.lifeway.com/Product/war-room-bible-study-leader-kit-P005727824">leader
kit,</a>” that can be yours for the low low price of $24.99—less than the price
of a bag of buttered popcorn and a small diet Coke. Bless their hearts.<o:p></o:p></div>
John Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15609789524695323990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874101660635993936.post-70891606575859279542015-08-22T11:39:00.000-04:002015-08-22T11:39:31.302-04:00The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy of Social Media Myths<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj60ZjI7bAErVHZTXip5nkHx0akR20NnQyh5B_bvZv8NSCfxn-NB6mGUM9qCatON4qNE9asK5eRQcvT8royZNsc5JX5anYIKpq1NEt_W33oEHNuyDIzsLviNFW15YuuVVmLVpD5COwBnoID/s1600/Jack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj60ZjI7bAErVHZTXip5nkHx0akR20NnQyh5B_bvZv8NSCfxn-NB6mGUM9qCatON4qNE9asK5eRQcvT8royZNsc5JX5anYIKpq1NEt_W33oEHNuyDIzsLviNFW15YuuVVmLVpD5COwBnoID/s320/Jack.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">"I just want to talk to you for a minute <br />about your obsession with 20th century <br />communication tactics."</span> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #232629; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 32px; margin-bottom: 32px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
The last time I hitchhiked, I got picked up by a cop who ended up racing me back to my apartment at burglary-in-progress speed—with the sirens blasting and the lights a-flashing—because there really <em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">was</em> a burglary in progress … in my apartment.</div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #232629; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 32px; margin-bottom: 32px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Earlier that night I had gone with some guys I knew from school to a <em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">genu-wine</em>honky-tonk bar in Mesa, Arizona to ride the mechanical bull and drink Coors. This was a rare treat for a Jersey boy like me because Coors didn’t ship east of the Mississippi back then and the closest thing we had to a mechanical bull back home was the bumper-car ride at Asbury Park.</div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #232629; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 32px; margin-bottom: 32px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Unfortunately, after we spent all our beer money the guys thought it would be a hoot to leave the “city boy” stranded at a cowboy bar miles from the bright lights of Arizona State University. So I had to hitch a ride home.</div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #232629; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 32px; margin-bottom: 32px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
When this young cop pulled up and told me to get in, I figured I was going to spend the night in the drunk tank. But he was cool and offered to drive me back to Tempe. We were about a mile from home when a call came in about a <em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“burglary in progress … La Crescenta Apartments … 1029 East Orange Street ...”</em></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #232629; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 32px; margin-bottom: 32px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
“Hey, that’s my apartment complex!”</div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #232629; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 32px; margin-bottom: 32px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“… large white male approximately six-foot four inches, 240 pounds has kicked open the door of apartment 209 …”</em></div>
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“Hey, that’s my apartment!”</div>
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“That’s really your apartment?”</div>
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“Heck yeah!”</div>
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“Some bitch. Well, hang on, boy. We’re gonna catch us a bad guy!”</div>
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True story.</div>
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As it turned out, the “large white male” who kicked open my apartment door wasn’t there to rob me. He came by to kill me. Apparently, he got it into his head that I was romantically involved with his best gal, who also happened to share the apartment with me and a couple other college kids. Why he thought we were having a fling I will never know because I sure as heck didn’t tell anybody.</div>
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I bring this up as a cautionary tale for those of you who have not yet fully embraced social media—especially my friends in the <em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ideas industry</em>, like trade associations, foundations and other nonprofits. You may think you’re getting along just fine with your 20th century ways, but Social Media is getting ready to bust through your organization’s front door and beat the crap out of your outdated communications, membership and fundraising programs.</div>
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Here’s a quick quiz to see what kind of danger you’re in. If you answered “yes” to even one of these myths, you’re at risk of getting your metaphoric doors kicked in.</div>
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<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Our target audience doesn’t use social media.</strong> You’re targeting dead people?</div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #232629; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 32px; margin-bottom: 32px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">We don’t have the manpower to get involved in social media.</strong> Yes, you do. They’re sitting right there. See that guy working on that press release that no one will ever read? He’s a hilarious blogger with thousands of followers. And that woman next to him who has been laying out the quarterly newsletter for the past two days? She posts great things about your organization nearly every day. They’d both be delighted to stop creating products that no one reads and dive into online campaigns that will yield immediate results.</div>
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<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">We don’t have enough content to be active online</strong>. Are you serious? You’re in the ideas industry. Everything you produce is content. Everything you’ve <em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ever</em>produced is content. Your biggest challenge will be digging through it all to pick out the best stuff.</div>
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<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">There are too many platforms. We can’t be on all of them. </strong>Exactly. Nor should you be. But you do need to be on some of them, preferably the platforms that your key audiences frequent.</div>
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<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">We already have an online presence.</strong> No, you really don’t. Bringing on an intern to tweet links to your press releases is not an online presence.</div>
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<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Social media is hard to learn.</strong> Riding a mechanical bull is hard to learn. Social media is easy-peasy … and a lot less painful. Remember when you had to call Dell tech support to ask them how to turn on your computer? Remember when you were afraid of email? Well, look at you now.</div>
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<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Social media is a fad</strong>. Yeah, Johannes Gutenberg got that a lot, too. The fact is we humans will always latch onto the latest technology that allows us to most effectively communicate with the people we need to connect with. And we will stick with that technology until something more effective comes along. We never go back.</div>
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So unless you know something about social media that Blockbuster, Tower Records, Newsweek, Kodak, and two million unemployed travel agents didn’t know, you’re going to have to stop canoodling with your 20th century tactics, open the front door and invite Social Media in for a beer. You guys are going to be working together for a long time.</div>
John Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15609789524695323990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874101660635993936.post-38993103245563074182015-08-04T10:46:00.000-04:002015-08-04T10:46:15.343-04:00Candor-Intuitive: 7 steps to help you become your authentic, imperfect self<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQB9AUytg2zHy3jm0Y6wnKebORJiz2uDO8LOAKqyGwxWIOPBWZt-08ITepYe3p-8i35ZV2jlJOq0XKzTbM2u7NckG2A0IiVK43pxZBVz6anIqL7G_kZbBIwjD8tZGTe8cIS5sl25vbCVnU/s1600/o-NARCISSIST-facebook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQB9AUytg2zHy3jm0Y6wnKebORJiz2uDO8LOAKqyGwxWIOPBWZt-08ITepYe3p-8i35ZV2jlJOq0XKzTbM2u7NckG2A0IiVK43pxZBVz6anIqL7G_kZbBIwjD8tZGTe8cIS5sl25vbCVnU/s320/o-NARCISSIST-facebook.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">"Don't worry, Beautiful. <br />He's not talking about us."</span></td></tr>
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I’m so claustrophobic that a half-full metro car can rattle my jimmies. So when a sudden apocalyptic thunderstorm forced me, my family and 3,000 other tourists to seek shelter in the lobby of the Tavern on the Green restaurant in Central Park, I freaked out.</div>
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As people jammed into the Tavern, the mob grew into a frothing sea of wild-eyed tourists that carried us deeper into the bowels of this over-priced tourist trap. Suddenly, a wave of Midwesterners crashed into us from the right, ripping Karlyn from my grasp. As I watched my daughter being swept away by a riptide of obese Iowans—her blond head bobbing up and down in a sea of “I Heart NY” t-shirts and Styrofoam Statue of Liberty crowns—I panicked.</div>
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Acting on pure lizard-brain survival impulses, I zipped around to make a dash for the exit. Unfortunately, in my blind panic I didn’t see the rather short, kind of cute, full-figured woman behind me, or her two crutches which I proceeded to knock out from under her.</div>
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I knew that if she fell, she would be trampled by the mob, so I instinctively grabbed her and held her upright. Unfortunately, all I could grab in that mob scene were her breasts. True story. Here I was, holding up a complete stranger by her Playtex Cross Your Heart bra—in full lift-and-separate mode—staring directly into her eyes which were ablaze with shock, anger and … well, I’m not quite what that other emotion was, but it was about as far from “happy” as an emotion can be.</div>
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There’s a reason we Americans are so protective of our personal space. That invisible force field that keeps us an appropriate distance from each other also keeps terrible, horrible, awful things like that from happening.</div>
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But social media is tearing down the personal space between us, stripping away the social constructs that have kept us lifted and separated from each other for most of the last 100 years. Social media has drawn us all into the crowded lobby of the Internet, scrunching us so closely against each other that our every flaw is exposed and shared with the world.</div>
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The impact of this new candid camaraderie has been most profound on the glitterati. The “experts” and “leaders” and “stars” of the 20th century whom we trusted, obeyed, and adored have been stripped of their magic by the Internet which showed us that, in a lot of ways, even the most magnificent among us really are just frightened little men and women pulling levers behind a curtain.</div>
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But there is a lot that is troubling about this new reality for those of us in the <a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.doylemcdonald.com/blog/a-helpful-hint-for-the-bandwidth-generation" href="http://www.doylemcdonald.com/blog/a-helpful-hint-for-the-bandwidth-generation" style="background: transparent; color: #1944f0; text-decoration: none;">Bandwidth Generation</a> who took some comfort in having our stars so far out of our reach. We didn’t want our heroes to be human; we wanted them to be flawless models we could emulate. </div>
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And even though we knew we weren’t ever going to play in the big leagues or kiss Demi Moore on the silver screen, we worked hard to get as close to our dreams as possible. We perfected our game, hid our flaws, and presented idealized versions of ourselves to the world.</div>
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And now, after all that work, artificial perfection has been trumped by unscripted authenticity. It seems that Millennials--the 80 million people between the ages of 18 and 35 who are taking over the world--really do prefer <a data-cke-saved-href="http://matrix.wikia.com/wiki/Redpill" href="http://matrix.wikia.com/wiki/Redpill" style="background: transparent; color: #1944f0; text-decoration: none;">red-pill reality</a> over blue-pill perfection. Consider this: last week, Hillary Clinton's campaign launched a $2 million TV ad campaign that features a scripted, edited, and damn-near perfect 60-second commercial in which the presumptive nominee waxes nostalgic about her mom. It's gotten 80,000 views.</div>
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Meanwhile, a video of late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel <a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LzXpE1mjqA" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LzXpE1mjqA" style="background: transparent; color: #1944f0; text-decoration: none;">tearing up</a> over the death of Cecil the lion, which came out the same day as Hillary's ad, has nearly eight million views--one hundred times more than Hillary's polished ter ... ribute to her mom.</div>
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If it isn't already abundantly clear, let me spell it out for you: it’s time to loosen the tie, unclench the fake smile and start being real. Here are seven simple things you can do right now to get back the authenticity you spent your entire career trying to hide:</div>
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1.<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span>Praise others. (Extra points if you praise your <a data-cke-saved-href="http://espn.go.com/high-school/track-and-xc/story/_/id/8010251/high-school-runner-carries-fallen-opponent-finish-line" href="http://espn.go.com/high-school/track-and-xc/story/_/id/8010251/high-school-runner-carries-fallen-opponent-finish-line" style="background: transparent; color: #1944f0; text-decoration: none;">competitor.)</a></div>
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2.<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span>Apologize when you screw up. Immediately. <a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KniUNdVZvH4" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KniUNdVZvH4" style="background: transparent; color: #1944f0; text-decoration: none;">Sincerely</a>. And as publicly as necessary.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.701961); font-family: adobe-garamond-pro; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28.7999992370605px; word-wrap: break-word;">
3.<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span>Say “I don’t know” when you don’t know. And promise to follow up when you do.</div>
<div id="yui_3_17_2_15_1438634939063_6082" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.701961); font-family: adobe-garamond-pro; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28.7999992370605px; word-wrap: break-word;">
4.<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span>Be grateful. It will change your life.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.701961); font-family: adobe-garamond-pro; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28.7999992370605px; word-wrap: break-word;">
5.<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span>Give credit. No one can <a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5Gppi-O3a8" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5Gppi-O3a8" style="background: transparent; color: #1944f0; text-decoration: none;">make a pencil</a> without help. Credit those who helped.</div>
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6.<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span>Don’t boast. Yes, it’s important to tell your story, but try not to use your Trump voice. It’s very annoying.</div>
<div id="yui_3_17_2_15_1438634939063_6071" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.701961); font-family: adobe-garamond-pro; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28.7999992370605px; word-wrap: break-word;">
7.<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span>Be nice and mind your manners.</div>
John Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15609789524695323990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874101660635993936.post-76273627426671916462015-07-20T17:08:00.000-04:002015-07-20T17:08:44.572-04:00Brand Building: It's Not Just for Mad Men Anymore<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBT4BOCKw-JHI0cCbz5RTuTzySQY2bWlt5O6DpovEkbv5PB27ibKp0y4KIvltNNx28L8FRf1_aZkZsYD2wBcIVwwbI5HygExE3bY5yxPFvJGDhzH4BWkDB1U9MOoZ7T03KPYARYmpFZbsp/s1600/bosom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBT4BOCKw-JHI0cCbz5RTuTzySQY2bWlt5O6DpovEkbv5PB27ibKp0y4KIvltNNx28L8FRf1_aZkZsYD2wBcIVwwbI5HygExE3bY5yxPFvJGDhzH4BWkDB1U9MOoZ7T03KPYARYmpFZbsp/s320/bosom.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">"Sure we're a unique demographic...for 1981. <br />But we'll be busting out big time in 2015!"</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back when we would willingly sit through seven-and-a-half
minutes of commercials to watch 22-and-a-half minutes of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORKyyHBy6JQ"><i>Bosom Buddies</i></a>, corporations spent literally billions of dollars
on advertising to convince us to trust their brands.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Brand-building was strictly the purview of corporate America
because it was prohibitively expensive. In order to reach lil ol’ you,
advertisers had to blast their messages repeatedly to one of the demographic
groups you belonged to. Target demographics, as defined by Madison Avenue, were
massive chunks of the US population awkwardly grouped in the tens of millions
by a handful of characteristics like gender, age, income, race, and geography. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It took a lot of money to make an impression on such
enormous clusters of society. But there was no alternative. You needed clear
and compelling communication in order to effectively build your brand. Today
the opposite is true. Literally. You need a clear and compelling brand in order
to communicate effectively.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You see, social media has splintered the 20<sup>th</sup>
century demographic model into untold millions of self-selected communities. These
online communities have come together organically based on common values, experiences,
and interests. And communication within these communities is generally restricted
to people they trust … others in their communities. Outsiders simply haven’t <a href="https://www.doylemcdonald.com/blog/trust-fund-the-value-of-building-trust-in-a-cynical-world">earned
their trust</a>. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So if you—an outsider—want to communicate with them, you
need to first present a clear brand that shows you share their values,
experiences or interests.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The good news is that it’s a lot easier and cheaper build a
trusted brand than ever before. Social media has turned us all into <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0804503/">Mad Men</a>, giving us powerful production
and distribution tools we need to create and manage our brands.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The bad news is that many people—particularly those who have
built successful pre-Internet careers without giving a second though to building
a brand—are intimidated by the prospect of having to take responsibility for
their own brand. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But unless you’re planning to retire in the next year or
two, brand building is in your future. If you’re ready and willing to learn
more, we’re ready and willing to answer your questions … for free! Just <a href="https://www.doylemcdonald.com/got-questions">click here</a> and we’ll get
things started.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
John Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15609789524695323990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874101660635993936.post-7041943720052684902015-06-23T18:21:00.002-04:002015-06-23T18:23:05.588-04:00Mission Critical: Is your mission statement killing your organization?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGjh2dSNixoy557hj3AeoXGq6WtBVxZZ2-OFcfEIpXXAstS-ch0OdGeXLdDq3mfnH1w-a9Faj9PHfkRIW-XMMOJ_BOXHG6RsxkAXxYo7qYJcjAd3c-62fKFRVej_TXKa-cXIerBUh50kxb/s1600/monkey2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGjh2dSNixoy557hj3AeoXGq6WtBVxZZ2-OFcfEIpXXAstS-ch0OdGeXLdDq3mfnH1w-a9Faj9PHfkRIW-XMMOJ_BOXHG6RsxkAXxYo7qYJcjAd3c-62fKFRVej_TXKa-cXIerBUh50kxb/s320/monkey2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">"We waited three years ... for THIS??"</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Like
HAL 9000 from Kubrick’s masterpiece <i>2001:
A Space Odyssey, </i>Kodak—the once undisputed leader in its field—is now
singing “Daisy Bell” to an increasingly hostile audience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Case
in point: When Kodak unveiled its first smartphone last January at CES 2015,
analysts <a href="http://www.gsmarena.com/kodak_im5_android_smartphone_to_launch_in_uk_soon-news-11162.php"><span style="color: windowtext;">expected</span></a> the long-awaited phone to go on
sale in late March, likely in the United Kingdom. Instead, Kodak missed the
deadline by two months, opted for the Netherlands over the UK, and gave their
phone the same name as the Perez-Hilton manufactured <a href="http://perezhilton.com/2012-02-22-introducing-im5-boyband#.VYM4G_lViko"><span style="color: windowtext;">boy band</span></a> that was unleashed on the public shortly
after Kodak filed for bankruptcy protection back in 2012.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Not
that anyone noticed. Kodak’s big announcement would have been the proverbial
one-hand-clapping were it not for intrepid reporting by PhoneArena.com and the <a href="http://www.ecumenicalnews.com/article/kodak-launches-its-first-android-smartphone-but-might-not-be-worth-the-price-30634"><span style="color: windowtext;">Ecumenical</span></a> News. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And
not that anyone cared. The reviews from Kodak’s big reveal back in January were
the tech-community equivalent of, “Aww, Kodak! Let’s just scotch tape that to
the refrigerator door so everyone can see it.” TechRadar.com labeled it </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://www.techradar.com/us/reviews/phones/kodak-im5-1280602/review"><span style="color: windowtext;">nothing special</span></a>. And the Verge <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/5/7498999/ces-2015-kodak-phone-im5"><span style="color: windowtext;">warned</span></a>: “This is the first Kodak phone, and
it’s probably not for you.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 12pt;">We know this mighty has fallen.
The question is how? The smart money’s on their mission statement. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 12pt;">Before Kodak started Chapter 11 of
their tragic history, their <a href="http://www.answers.com/Q/What_is_Eastman_Kodak's_mission_statement">mission</a>
statement was a 110-word board-room war cry that spoke of “a </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">world-class, results-oriented, diverse culture based
on our six key values” that offered their “customers and consumers
differentiated, cost-effective solutions” in pursuit of their “fundamental
objective … Increased Global Market Share and Superior Financial Performance.”
[Caps theirs.] </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 12pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 12pt;">By contrast, Instagram—which
became the <i>new</i> first-name in
photography when Facebook acquired the company for $1 billion in cash and stock
just two months after Kodak signed their articles of surrender—doesn’t have a
mission statement. It has a quest: “</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">To
give all users a view of the world as it happens.” And it seems to be working
for them. RBC Capital recently <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/06/21/instagrams-ad-revenue-could-soon-surpass-twitters.aspx">reported</a>
that Instagram could generate more than $2 billion in ad revenue next year. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The
jarring contrast between Kodak’s mission and Instagram’s quest is a cautionary
tale for those organizations still clutching to the “What’s good for GM”
mentality of the 20<sup>th</sup> century. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">To
be successful in the Interactive Age, you need to have a connection with your audience
or your customers (or your “customers and consumers” if you’re not into that
whole <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be7Og9Gc_KY">brevity thing</a>)
well before you try to sell them your product or service. Simon Sineck
demonstrates this quite beautifully in his <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action?language=en">TED
Talk</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">And
the most meaningful connections begin with a <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/your-mission-develop-quest-audiences-care-john-doyle?trk=mp-reader-card">shared
quest</a>. Unlike a mission—which is a directive from an external source that’s
nailed to the break room wall right above the coffee maker—a quest is driven by
a passion that comes from within to achieve a purpose that you hold dear. By publicly
declaring your quest, you will find and attract entire online communities who
share your goals, and your passion. And who will rally with you in pursuit of your
shared quest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">And
that’s when your successful journey really begins.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
John Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15609789524695323990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874101660635993936.post-14221221627555383952015-05-23T15:24:00.002-04:002015-05-23T15:24:49.958-04:00The Power of Experience over Tchotchkes in the Interactive Age<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF6NzGdo5bijriaylkfgS_fJNJEvP8Ji9ybaRUOYFA-e5qEZ0PI1rHbV6jPmObqXteax2mhwk6v8CRHG2ung7_mQjjCAKkKnYsFFZ1zlT9DlOyquOuVnp19Zt6Q_0uvJ8ibT-kFgLFpnS8/s1600/marine+coffee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF6NzGdo5bijriaylkfgS_fJNJEvP8Ji9ybaRUOYFA-e5qEZ0PI1rHbV6jPmObqXteax2mhwk6v8CRHG2ung7_mQjjCAKkKnYsFFZ1zlT9DlOyquOuVnp19Zt6Q_0uvJ8ibT-kFgLFpnS8/s320/marine+coffee.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">"The struggle is important, <br />but I got what I came for."</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Marius Overhand’s first run-in with the law—and Billy Clifford’s last—occurred in the R&S Auto store located right across the street from the Middletown, NJ police department back in the summer of ’71.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
As a prank, Marius stuck a tennis ball in the front pocket of his jeans. He was pretending to shoplift to scare Billy who was such an altar boy that he’d hang his head after stealing second base in Little League. The joke backfired when Marius couldn’t get the ball out of his pocket before store clerk caught him.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Within seconds—literally—Middletown’s finest were screeching into the R&S parking lot with their lights blazing and their sirens screaming, which is a bit much since they were stationed right … across … the street.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
(Now, there is some debate as to why an auto parts store was selling tennis balls. The most logical response I got from my twilight bark was that they were probably sold as potential trailer-hitch covers, which is good enough for me.)</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Anyway, the reason I brought up the now-legendary "one too many balls in the jeans" caper is to demonstrate that, prior to the Internet, “stuff” was a lot more important to kids. Today, young people value experiences far more than the material possessions needed to have those experiences.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Case in point: on our walk yesterday, my dog Lucy and I found a baseball … and a complete set of catcher’s gear that had been left behind the night before. Think about that. In 1970s suburban America, some of us would risk arrest to pilfer a tennis ball. Yet today, a kid will “forget” to bring home his catcher’s gear.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
There are a couple of reasons for that. First, cool stuff was a lot harder to come by when we were kids. Back then, an $8 Timex watch was your “special Christmas gift,” an electric typewriter (with eight-character memory erase!) was your high school graduation present, and a new color-TV console in the neighborhood led to an impromptu block party.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Today, every kid in America is walking around with an HD TV in their back pocket. Not to mention a computer, a “hi-fi” stereo system, a video production studio, and a better two-way wrist TV than Dick Tracy ever had.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Second, young people don’t actually need to own as much stuff because they can rent practically anything in today’s sharing economy. I loved my ’69 Chevy Impala, my lime green Schwinn 10-speed, and my beat-up record collection. But my daughters wouldn’t dream of owning any of that when they can simply Uber, Bikeshare, or Spotify.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
The new way of thinking about “stuff” is neither better nor worse. But it is something you’re going to have to take into account if you want to communicate more effectively with your audiences.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
One simple step: lighten up on the tchotchkes. There ain’t no room in a micro-apartment for a shelf full of baubles, especially stuff that promotes the organization more than its cause.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Which leads to a more nuanced but no less important point—when promoting your organization and its cause, keep in mind that your audiences see your organization as the <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">vehicle</em> and your cause as the <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">experience</em>. And there are plenty of other vehicles out there.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
So lead with the experience; lead with your quest. Connect with your shared vision. And take the time to develop a relationship based on your mutual goals—perhaps over a nice cup of coffee—<em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">before</em> you offer them the mug.</div>
John Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15609789524695323990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874101660635993936.post-46494960146451007282015-05-15T20:41:00.000-04:002015-05-15T20:41:12.746-04:00In the Interactive Age, it is better to give THEN receive.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSX1-6AQIsMOxaNl-cf9fq_hssaXvGmg_t8RX8GVmn8CSkMRBVEG6GckMQYWhSD8YPRtj75czynxu7GHOSR8WV0atoCdczzsj4F_GN3hiBbgFlcS2vk2n_QWHn9hCQYOlIQvpW-vxvIXji/s1600/Lil+Rascals.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSX1-6AQIsMOxaNl-cf9fq_hssaXvGmg_t8RX8GVmn8CSkMRBVEG6GckMQYWhSD8YPRtj75czynxu7GHOSR8WV0atoCdczzsj4F_GN3hiBbgFlcS2vk2n_QWHn9hCQYOlIQvpW-vxvIXji/s320/Lil+Rascals.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">"Tell me more about how much you<br /> like my ring tone."</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had already dropped three quarters into the meter before I
saw the flashing message: “No parking. Construction only. You will be towed.
January 2, 2007.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It had taken me 40 minutes to find that spot. There was no
construction nearby. And I was pretty damned sure that it was 2015. That is
until I heard the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkM0m-fB2Uw">theme
song</a> from “The Little Rascals” coming from the suit pocket of the guy
sitting at the café I was parked in front of. At that point, boiling over with rage
at this effed-up city and temporally unhinged from the anachronistic no-parking
notice, you might have convinced me that it was 1969 and I was sitting in the big
red chair in my mom’s living room, playing hooky and watching The Little Rascals.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The guy let the song play out its natural break before he
answered (wouldn’t you?), staring at me with that “dig me” look that this town
is known for. Rather than irritate me, the guy’s ring-tone home-run trot
actually reminded me of a very important lesson about successful communication that
I’d been meaning to talk to you about.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On October 24, 1936, Hal Roach released <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fecePolQs98">“Pay as You Exit,”</a> The
Little Rascals 148<sup>th</sup> and arguably most important short comedy film. You
see, the 74-year-old “Pay as You Exit” short actually holds the secret to
successful communication in the 21<sup>st</sup> century—<b>it is better to give THEN receive.</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The plot of the show is simple: in order to attract an
audience to their production of <i>Romeo and
Juliette</i>, Alfalfa invites everyone to see the show for free and tells them
to pay as they exit only if they enjoyed the performance. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And it is precisely that simple formula that is separating
the communication winners from the losers on the Internet. Organizations that freely
give away their best material are attracting people who are interested in their
key issues—some of whom would be willing to pay for a deeper dive in the info
pool.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Those who are still hoarding their cache of information in
hopes of attracting pay-to-play customers are becoming increasingly irrelevant
in a world where knowledge is free. Sure, your organization may be the
uncontested champion of the arcane details of your “highly specialized” field, but
if you are hiding that info behind membership dues, outrageous download fees,
or other monetary considerations, you won’t be the champ for long. People will
find a free way around you.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You will fare much better giving away as much information as
you can, attracting those interested in your topic to your helpful, free
platform, and developing a reputation as the go-to resource on your given
issue. If you’re content is as good as you think it is, you’ll have plenty of
people paying as they exit … and even more when they tell their friends about
your amazing website.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A little known fact: The actual title to the Little Rascals’
theme song is “Good Old Days,” which presumably referred to a simpler pre-20<sup>th</sup>
century era—a time before people viewed information solely as a commodity. Back in the 20<sup>th</sup> century, nobody gave
away information. (You think Hal Roach let his audience “pay as they exit”?) So
when we start giving away our content, we are not marching forward into some
brave new world. We’re actually returning to a much more natural way of communicating
with people.<o:p></o:p></div>
John Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15609789524695323990noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874101660635993936.post-82852293933266099652015-03-03T12:21:00.001-05:002015-03-03T12:21:41.878-05:00The Helicopter Parents have landed and they’re coming for your children.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNETuc8Xp3lOmiP2SJWZ-_T1SB0PAc7lXSpbg1tHaL1UJLtUHhgRXn1fP8t_gdy963sUTwAwwEykppgEkO7sHbHRI50UN-7Acr5f9J5VXx3WJGiWAS3hBd_ZDIL1taJBB8lDloUgzSnFiv/s1600/ddt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNETuc8Xp3lOmiP2SJWZ-_T1SB0PAc7lXSpbg1tHaL1UJLtUHhgRXn1fP8t_gdy963sUTwAwwEykppgEkO7sHbHRI50UN-7Acr5f9J5VXx3WJGiWAS3hBd_ZDIL1taJBB8lDloUgzSnFiv/s1600/ddt.jpg" height="163" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">"And don't forget to look both ways before <br />you cross the ... oh, to hell with it."</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">The Montgomery County, MD parents who were accused of child neglect for letting their 10-year-old son and six-year-old daughter walk home from a park unchaperoned were found responsible for “unsubstantiated <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/decision-in-free-range-case-does-not-end-debate-about-parenting-and-safety/2015/03/02/5a919454-c04d-11e4-ad5c-3b8ce89f1b89_story.html" target="_blank">child neglect</a>” by the county’s Child Protective Services.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Can you imagine what the charges would be if those parents let their kids chase the mosquito man truck down middle of the street in a blinding fog of DDT ... like our parents did?</span>John Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15609789524695323990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874101660635993936.post-24417419338900535242015-01-30T00:02:00.000-05:002015-01-30T00:02:26.977-05:00Good Kipp, Bad Kipp: Comcast's dis-service culture starts at the top<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcuwi6LOFfnnwic0Yp8LR2ZnuaZzTBLS0r3dlsC8o4miqocsFgTHjqO60yZlTm3RQIURMaXSpTl6dvUeQNiACDElbaD5k1VdsLNVzqDmJvLSqtTEfmaTrQYFXnZJFI6l-MFu7XfU3T3o64/s1600/spoon-boy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcuwi6LOFfnnwic0Yp8LR2ZnuaZzTBLS0r3dlsC8o4miqocsFgTHjqO60yZlTm3RQIURMaXSpTl6dvUeQNiACDElbaD5k1VdsLNVzqDmJvLSqtTEfmaTrQYFXnZJFI6l-MFu7XfU3T3o64/s1600/spoon-boy.jpg" height="133" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">"The spoon thing? Bag of shells. But for the <br />life of me I can't cancel my Comcast service."</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
One of the least vulgar Urban Dictionary definitions of "<a data-mce-href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Comcastic" href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Comcastic" style="color: #743399;" target="_blank">comcastic</a>" is <em style="border: none;">"something that is not merely horribly bad, but actively offensive in some universal way,"</em> as in “Comcast’s customer service is comcastic times xfinity.”</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
The latest chapter in their saga features a “rogue” employee who <a data-mce-href="http://elliott.org/is-this-enough-compensation/comcast-thinks-husband-ahole-put-writing/" href="http://elliott.org/is-this-enough-compensation/comcast-thinks-husband-ahole-put-writing/" style="color: #743399;" target="_blank">renamed one of their customers</a> “a**hole” over a billing dispute. But this employee isn’t alone. Comcast seems to be a veritable rogues’ gallery of vindictive “customer service” reps.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
And it apparently starts at the top.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Steve Kipp, Comcast’s regional VP of communications who’s doubling as road manager on this most recent apology tour, was himself Comcast’s “Rogue of the Month” back in May 2011.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
The cable exec's swan dive onto the hard slab of public opinion was prompted by <a data-mce-href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-tech/post/comcast-yanks-funds-for-nonprofit-after-tweet-about-fcc-bakers-jump/2011/05/19/AF7aGG7G_blog.html" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-tech/post/comcast-yanks-funds-for-nonprofit-after-tweet-about-fcc-bakers-jump/2011/05/19/AF7aGG7G_blog.html" style="color: #743399;" target="_blank">a tweet</a> that expressed appropriate—and pretty much universal—disgust that the FCC Commissioner who voted to approve the $30 billion Comcast/NBC merger "is now lving FCC for A JOB AT COMCAST?!?" (sic) Much to Kipp's chagrin, the tweeter was Reel Grrls, a nonprofit that teaches media production to young women, and which is funded in part by Comcast.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
So Kipp fired off this email:</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
"Given the fact that Comcast has been a major supporter of Reel Grrls for several years now, I am frankly shocked that your organization is slamming us on Twitter. ... I cannot in good conscience continue to provide you with funding ... I respect your position on freedom of the press. However ... I cannot continue to ask [my bosses] to approve funding for Reel Grrls, knowing that the digital footprint your organization has created about Comcast is a negative one."</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
For this digital dressing down, Kipp received the widespread condemnation that Comcast seems to court on a regular basis But he also gave us the <em style="border: none;">opportunity</em> to review a few basic PR commandments:</div>
<ol style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 24px 1.5em;">
<li>Don't cite your respect for the First Amendment just before punishing someone for exercising their First Amendment rights.</li>
<li>If you're a multi-billion-dollar corporation with a reputation so compromised that your marketing slogan is commonly used as an insult, don't threaten charitable nonprofits.</li>
<li>Before you hit “send,” take a breath and consider what <a data-mce-href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLAbh_LceNw" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLAbh_LceNw" style="color: #743399;" target="_blank">Mickey Rourke said</a> to William Hurt in <em style="border: none;">Body Heat</em>. “Any time you try a decent crime, you got 50 ways you're gonna [screw] up. If you think of 25 of them, then you're a genius … and you ain't no genius."</li>
</ol>
John Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15609789524695323990noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874101660635993936.post-76591577966477123362015-01-25T14:20:00.000-05:002015-01-25T14:22:52.871-05:00Bleak House Revisited<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGkA5vgex_oPdKbw88BYpXU4Ce42z5xTaDW8_B5XtwJK8iKOQEgELZsvkiY-OIAj5nmQ6w9-UQF4yQr0cGPvjULHVvvnsZYPkS4anyiE1GP4GgcBjWRKEL1Ojhwn_ghrX5aIBs91libU0H/s1600/molester.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGkA5vgex_oPdKbw88BYpXU4Ce42z5xTaDW8_B5XtwJK8iKOQEgELZsvkiY-OIAj5nmQ6w9-UQF4yQr0cGPvjULHVvvnsZYPkS4anyiE1GP4GgcBjWRKEL1Ojhwn_ghrX5aIBs91libU0H/s1600/molester.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">Bert G. channeling Charlie D.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I was looking at the FlackOps analytics and saw that just today someone came to our fine establishment after searching "john doyle consultant hornback" and "bert g. hornback falsely accused." Our googler no doubt had great expectations of finding <a href="http://flackops.blogspot.com/2014/02/dylan-tarnished.html" target="_blank">this article</a> and it appears this person found it, because he or she seems to have revisited the post several times--either that our they shared the link with friends.<br />
<br />
Either way, I would be a less than hospitable host if I failed to offer my assistance to this inquisitive soul. So I am reposting <a href="http://flackops.blogspot.com/2014/02/dylan-tarnished.html" target="_blank">the article in question</a> in hopes that our mutual friend will see that, indeed, I did not falsely accuse acclaimed Charles Dickens scholar, Bert G. Hornback, of anything. I simply posted his email to me in which he admitted being ... let's just say, inappropriate. My contribution to this post was to simply offer context--the hard times I went through, if you will--and additional insight where it was lacking.<br />
<br />
I also note that it is exactly one week shy of a year since I originally posted that piece. In honor of the occasion, I think I'll have a drink. The only question left--olive or twist?<br />
<br />John Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15609789524695323990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874101660635993936.post-24004989077732186322015-01-15T19:46:00.000-05:002015-01-15T19:46:00.649-05:00Today's Lesson: Lessen the Lessons<div class="mceTemp" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">
<dl class="wp-caption alignright" data-mce-style="width: 310px;" id="attachment_2171" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; background: rgb(241, 241, 241); border-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #888888; display: inline; float: right; margin: 4px 0px 20px 24px; max-width: 632px !important; padding: 4px; text-align: center; width: 310px;">
<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; color: black; font-weight: bold;"><a data-mce-href="http://doylemcdonald.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/swim1.jpg" href="http://doylemcdonald.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/swim1.jpg" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; color: #743399;"><img alt=""Still think it's all fun and games? Try swimming with your legs chained together."" class="wp-image-2171 size-medium" data-mce-src="http://doylemcdonald.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/swim1-300x202.jpg" height="202" src="http://doylemcdonald.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/swim1-300x202.jpg" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; color: #444444; height: auto; margin: 5px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="300" /></a></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; color: #444444; font-size: 11px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px 5px;">"Still think it's all fun and games? Try swimming with your legs chained together."</dd></dl>
</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Want to kill a kid’s interest in something he enjoys? Make him take lessons “to get better at it.”</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
When I was a kid, I liked to swim. My technique was appalling but I could cut through the polluted water at Ideal Beach with no effort at all. And whenever I stepped on a crab, I was a regular Mark Spitz.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
But apparently this wasn’t good enough for my mom, who signed up the four of us kids for swim lessons at the Red Bank YMCA.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Everyone who takes swim lessons at the Y starts as a Pollywog before advancing to Minnows, Flying Fish, and then the ultimate achievement—Sharks. Being a Shark in and of itself was pretty cool. But they also got to use the high dive, so you just had to get to Sharks.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
First, however, you had to graduate from Pollywogs by demonstrating that you could swim … their way. Apparently, what I was doing did not qualify as swimming, so I got stuck with the five-year-old Pollywogs while my brother and two <em style="border: none;">younger</em> <em style="border: none;">sisters</em> advanced to Minnows. I was 12 years old.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
It gets worse.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Before they even let me paddleboard with the other kiddies during free time, I had to demonstrate that I knew how to hold my head underwater without breathing. To do that, they had me bend at the waist with a paddleboard in my outstretched hands, take a breath, put my face in the water, exhale, turn my head to the left to take in a breath and repeat the process 10 times.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
I couldn’t do it. For six weeks I couldn’t do it.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Those six weeks passed slowly. I’d watch as nervous new kids—“fish” we called them—entered the pool for their first day of swim lessons. And then, when they learned their lesson, I’d pat them on the back and wish them well as they advanced to Minnows. Sure, I was envious at first. But I knew I was never getting out of that hell hole so—over time—it made me happy to see those little tykes get over the wall, so to speak.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
As the summer--and our swim lessons--were coming to a close, I asked my instructor in a final act of desperation if I could turn my head to the right to breathe. “Sure,” she said. “A lot of good it’ll do ya.”</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Well, it worked. I could swim—their way. In one day, I graduated from the Pollywogs, blew through Minnows and became a Flying Fish. By the end of the week, I was a Shark.</div>
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True story.</div>
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But now I hate to swim. And I’m afraid the same thing is happening to people who enjoy telling stories. You can’t swing a life guard’s whistle these days without smacking into some self-described expert who wants to teach you how to tell a story.</div>
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Well, I’m here to tell you that you already are a great story teller. Sure, there are ways you can improve your unique technique, <a data-mce-href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCKf71dc_ps" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCKf71dc_ps" style="color: #743399;">as you’ll see in this video</a>*. But when it comes to telling stories, you’re incredible. A regular Mr. Limpet.</div>
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* This video originally appeared in our <a data-mce-href="https://doylemcdonald.com/video1" href="https://doylemcdonald.com/video1" style="color: #743399;">QuASAR Method Video Series</a>.</div>
John Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15609789524695323990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874101660635993936.post-77057658733013576122014-12-30T18:57:00.000-05:002014-12-30T18:57:02.485-05:00Channeling your inner sewer monster to connect with your audiences<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">"And these stones were imported from ... <br />try to keep up with me people. There's<br />still more to see on the tour."</span></td></tr>
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<span id="goog_2146861349"></span><span id="goog_2146861350"></span>My experiences with sewers goes back to my early childhood when I got stuck in a debris catch basin about 20 yards into a sewer pipe near our house in Camp Lejeune. I was only stuck there for 10 minutes, but I spent every second desperately trying to hoist myself up out of the trap. The wall was just a little too high for me to escape, so all I managed to do was waterboard myself. That experience has left me terrified of the sight and sound of water rushing through culverts. True story.</div>
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Years later, we hoodlums would line up empty <a data-mce-href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aY-9MKuw3A" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aY-9MKuw3A" style="color: #743399;" target="_blank">Knickerbocker Natural</a> beer bottles on the sewer grate near <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/marius.overhand?fref=ts&ref=br_tf" href="https://www.facebook.com/marius.overhand?fref=ts&ref=br_tf" style="color: #743399;" target="_blank">Marius Overhand</a>'s house and throw rocks at them until the cops drove by, which usually gave us about five minutes of bottle-smashing time.</div>
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The most hilarious sewer-moment of my life actually involved Marius. After a night of drinking (a lot of) Knickerbocker Natch', we convinced ourselves that all of the coins we had dropped down the holes in the manhole cover on Bayberry Lane were still there and that it only made sense to get a crowbar, lift the manhole cover, and scoop up the loot.</div>
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Once we lifted the cover, Marius jumped in and climbed down. To our great disappointment, there wasn't any money down there. To Marius' greater disappointment ... well, I'd better let him tell the story. But remember, we had drunk a LOT of Knickerbocker Natural.</div>
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But I've matured some since then and am now putting sewers to a far greater use--as the <a data-mce-href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Wbb90rpH3k&list=UUpwd7BO_F4CUrDML5QQLTyA" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Wbb90rpH3k&list=UUpwd7BO_F4CUrDML5QQLTyA" style="color: #743399;" target="_blank">centerpiece of a lesson</a> on how to connect with your audiences. You can check out the video <a data-mce-href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Wbb90rpH3k&list=UUpwd7BO_F4CUrDML5QQLTyA" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Wbb90rpH3k&list=UUpwd7BO_F4CUrDML5QQLTyA" style="color: #743399;" target="_blank">here.</a></div>
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If you didn't already, check out the Knickerbocker Natural link above. It is a bizarre--yet strikingly accurate--super-8 portrayal of young men being idiots in the early 70's. It made me a little verklempt, not gonna lie.</div>
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Also, if you have any sewer-related tales, share them with the class in the comments section.</div>
John Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15609789524695323990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874101660635993936.post-49542126730723458392014-12-12T10:22:00.001-05:002014-12-12T10:22:40.511-05:00The Pepcid Generation--Overcoming the challenges of the inter-Internet crowd <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">"Live streaming?? Mister, we can't <br />even get channel 9 half the time."</span></td></tr>
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If you’ve ever shoved a <em style="border: none;">Frampton Comes Alive!</em> 8-track into the cassette player bolted to the dashboard of your mom’s Dodge Dart …</div>
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If you’ve ever pulled the kitchen phone so far into the dining room in a futile attempt to get a little privacy that you stretched the spring right out of the cord …</div>
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If you’ve ever thumbed through yards of Dewey Decimal drawers in search of a code that will lead you to a distant corner of the library where the book you need for your term paper used to be hidden before it was checked out by someone else …</div>
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You’re part of the inter-Internet generation.</div>
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The inter-Internet generation is comprised of millions of people just like you who are struggling to keep up with their younger social-media savvy staff while trying to convince their older Internet-ignorant boss that their organization needs a stronger online presence.</div>
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Meanwhile, social media is disrupting your tidy little 20<span style="bottom: 1ex; font-size: 10px; height: 0px; line-height: 1; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">th</span> century infrastructure that was humming along just fine until about two years ago. Your event attendance and membership numbers are down, the media wants to know if you will be "streaming" your news event (while your biggest technical concern is how to attach your organization’s logo to the podium), and the one reporter who did show up asked you, "How many trees did you have to kill to make all those press kits?"</div>
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Sound familiar? If so, <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/DoyleMcD/app_427089034046612" href="https://www.facebook.com/DoyleMcD/app_427089034046612" style="color: #743399;" target="_blank">click here</a> to learn how you can use social media to take back control of your staff, your boss, and your career.</div>
John Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15609789524695323990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874101660635993936.post-61163997919384567552014-12-10T16:34:00.000-05:002014-12-10T16:34:56.793-05:00Can ya hear the train a-comin'? It's rollin' 'round the bend ...<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">"Hold on a sec. I can't hear you <br />over that train whistle."</span></td></tr>
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And it's about to crush your organization.</div>
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The train is called progress--communications progress to be exact. Social media is reshaping our communications landscape in ways we never imagined. It is disrupting companies and organizations with such speed and such force that 20th century corporate giants are toppling over like <a data-mce-href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_g7L6l3hxI" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_g7L6l3hxI" style="color: #743399;" target="_blank">Russian semis</a> in a YouTube video.</div>
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Having reshaped corporate America, social media disruptions has its sights set on the ideas industry--trade associations, nonprofits, advocacy groups--any organization that trades in ideas.</div>
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You need to act. You need to get out of the way of the train. <a data-mce-href="http://doylemcdonald.com/quasar-series" href="http://doylemcdonald.com/quasar-series" style="color: #743399;" target="_blank">We can help.</a></div>
John Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15609789524695323990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874101660635993936.post-44701088657953990682014-11-29T16:07:00.001-05:002014-11-29T16:07:26.036-05:00Be wary of Weight Watchers' ways.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOY0IhV7Q0_FRuyJv4ZkGmII0a8ZStN1HCJ82nzGhqifaIyZNYVfphef5fWoInlrp4QF3u86KX2q_Go_d1Iux0rE9QatGZDBEO11zIGJ07Q71bjnBh_ry5uyVFGHpaUBKzXcv_Ggqt8RrN/s1600/video3.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOY0IhV7Q0_FRuyJv4ZkGmII0a8ZStN1HCJ82nzGhqifaIyZNYVfphef5fWoInlrp4QF3u86KX2q_Go_d1Iux0rE9QatGZDBEO11zIGJ07Q71bjnBh_ry5uyVFGHpaUBKzXcv_Ggqt8RrN/s1600/video3.png" height="222" width="320" /></a></div>
Weight Watchers is in an existential tailspin. This <a href="https://doylemcdonald.com/video3" target="_blank">short video</a> explains what they must do if they hope to survive in the Interactive Age.John Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15609789524695323990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7874101660635993936.post-30375604635485937192014-11-18T19:01:00.002-05:002014-11-18T19:01:55.614-05:00Skip this post if you communicate better than Bono.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;">"We sent out the release, we tweeted a link <br />to the release and posted it on Facebook <br />and still no pickup. I think it's time <br />we turn it up to 11." </span></td></tr>
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As we <a data-mce-href="https://doylemcdonald.com/everything-need-know-communicate-interactive-age/" href="https://doylemcdonald.com/everything-need-know-communicate-interactive-age/" style="color: #743399;" target="_blank">recently reported</a>, U2 apologized to the world for shoving their latest album down every iTunes-owner’s throat, explaining that they were afraid their album “mightn’t be heard" because "there's a lot of noise out there.”</div>
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And while Bono and the lads are trying dynamic, innovative and breathtakingly stupid tactics to be heard through the noise, you're still sending out press releases. Granted, you did tweet a link to that release with this grabber: "Check out our latest press release by clicking here," but you're still not getting the attention you used to get back in the good ol' days.</div>
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You're not alone. According to the <a data-mce-href="http://info.naylor.com/2014-association-communications-benchmarking-report" href="http://info.naylor.com/2014-association-communications-benchmarking-report" style="color: #743399;" target="_blank">2014 Associations Communications Benchmark Report</a>, "associations of all sizes, industries and operating budgets are communicating ... even less effectively with members than they were as recently as three years ago."</div>
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The solution is simple, really. Rather than attempt to cut through the noise by outshouting your competition, why not create content that your audiences want to hear and let them find you instead?</div>
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This is the secret behind the success we're having with our Be Heard Formula, a process we developed to help our clients get their stories heard through all the noise.</div>
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At the heart of the process is the principle of “giving away your best stuff,” which is what this post is all about. <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/DoyleMcD/app_427089034046612" href="https://www.facebook.com/DoyleMcD/app_427089034046612" style="color: #743399;" target="_blank">Right here</a>, you'll find a short video that explains exactly what we do to help our clients break through the noise. Check it out when you have a moment (even if it’s just to see me stuck on the side of the road in Bethesda MD waiting for a truck to haul my motorcycle back to the shop).</div>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; color: black; font-weight: bold;"><a data-mce-href="http://doylemcdonald.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/ad-chart-3.png" href="http://doylemcdonald.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/ad-chart-3.png" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; color: #743399;"><img alt="We got these results in two hours using one of our Be Heard Formula tactics." class="wp-image-1895 size-medium" data-mce-src="http://doylemcdonald.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/ad-chart-3-300x144.png" height="144" src="http://doylemcdonald.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/ad-chart-3-300x144.png" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; color: #444444; height: auto; margin: 5px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" width="300" /></a></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; color: #444444; font-size: 11px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px 5px;">We got these results in just two hours using one of our Be Heard Formula tactics.</dd></dl>
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And after you <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/DoyleMcD/app_427089034046612" href="https://www.facebook.com/DoyleMcD/app_427089034046612" style="color: #743399;" target="_blank">watch the video</a>, give us some feedback. Was this information helpful? Are there particular challenges that you’d like help with? And how about the video ... did you like it? Go ahead. We'll all be glad you did.</div>
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See you on the other side.</div>
John Doylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15609789524695323990noreply@blogger.com0