I’m researching an article I’m writing for Electronic Retailer magazine.

In my research, I find a great quote on a blog. 

I search for contact info for the blog owner to ask permission to use the quote (Yes, some people still ask permission before using other peoples’ content.  I’m one of them)

My search is in vain.  There is no contact info anywhere.  No email.  No phone.  The “about” page is blank.  In fact, the real name of the owner of the blog isn’t even visible.  It is a well written, fully updated blog, with no human persona whatsoever. 

I guess I won’t use the quote, and this person won’t get free press exposure. 

Lesson:  If you have a blog, make sure people have a way to contact you!

PS – Want to contact me?  You can click **CONTACT MARTY** under the blogroll headings to the lower right OR you can click “About Marty M. Fahncke” and click CONTACT MARTY under my picture.  Simple, right?

A few weeks ago, I watched a real life “Jerry Maguire” story unfold right before my eyes.

Except in place of the Sports Agent business, it was the DRTV (aka Direct Response / Infomercial / Electronic Retailing) business.  And instead of Tom Cruise as Jerry Maguire, it was a woman named Jolie O’Dell.

The moral of this story is how narrow-minded many people in the DRTV business can be.  This might be a long post, so if you don’t care about the DRTV business, stop reading now and get back to work. 

Otherwise…read on:

In January of 2008, I gave a speech about Social Media Marketing at an Electronic Retailer Magazine conference in Los Angeles. 

The speech went fantastic, judging by the number of people who came up to me afterward to thank me and ask questions.  Four hours after my presentation, just as I was packing up to leave, an energetic young woman named Jolie O’Dell came up to me and told me how much she enjoyed my presentation, and how inspired she was to use the information to help her company.  Turns out Jolie works for one of the top agencies in the DR business.  I won’t mention the agency name here, but suffice it to say they are an icon in the industry. 

When Jolie introduced herself, she  told me her job title was  “PR and New Media”.   As she explained it, her job was to help the company she worked for figure out the new media business, including blogging, social media, and all things internet. 

My first hint of a problem came when I heard her job title.  The internet is “New Media”?  It’s 2008 for crying out loud!  CompuServ started in 1969, and I had my first Prodigy email account in 1989.  That’s almost 20 years ago people…the internet is NOT “new media”.

OK, back to the story.  After we met, I connected with Jolie via LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, and I quickly realized she was a smart cookie, with a great perspective of the future of online business.

About two weeks ago, she posted to Twitter that she had been asked by her managers to stop publishing her own private blog.  Yikes!  Talk about “Big Brother”.  Several of us posted back that this was a big red flag, and perhaps she had better start looking for a new job.

Shortly after that, she posted a “Manifesto” which had been written and delivered to her company CEO.  (This is where the Jerry Maguire part comes in)

The manifesto had such scandalous and idealistic (said with tongue firmly in check) suggestions such as:

“Make sure key employees are using LinkedIn, social networks, chat, blogs and microblogs, industry networks and forums, and social video and music sites, both for personal enjoyment and for staying abreast of developments in social media. We need to be early adopters and testers of new media on an individual basis and develop a regular method of keeping one another informed and excited about social and other kinds of new media.”

“Work together within the agency and with clients to fundamentally change attitudes so we can all make progress, reach consumers in innovative ways, and continue to be a powerful marketing ally through the next decade of operation and those to follow. “

“Commit to research and development in meaningful ways. Rather than displaying sporadic interest in this technology or that, take the time to be informed about a wide range of technologies and possibilities.”

Read the entire manifesto here

NOTHING in this document was bad advice.  In fact, some of the tips looked suspiciously familiar, as I think they were taken from the aforementioned speech I gave. 

What was the company reaction to Jolie’s manifesto? 

They FIRED her!

I’m actually not surprised.  Since 1999, I have been beating the drum of internet marketing to the DRTV industry.  It was been the s-l-o-w-e-s-t process imaginable. 

It’s only been in the past year or two that the official industry trade association (Electronic Retailing Association or ERA) has really paid attention to the impact of the internet on the TV business. 

In fact, I think the association has been dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century by their own trade magazine, Electronic Retailer Magazine, which is staffed by a group of visionaries who have been leading the charge of internet marketing information within DRTV.  (Disclaimer:  I’m a regularly featured writer for this publication)

Bottom line, when a “New Media” expert gets fired because they are trying to push their company into the “New Media” they’ve been hired to leverage, there is something REALLY wrong with the company, and the industry in which that company plays.

What do you think?

I am SO excited for this movie to come out!

Watch the official trailer for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian here:

My Kids and I loved the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and I know we’ll love this one too.

About a year ago, I bought a domain related to the Prince Caspian movie.  I had a creative business idea around it, but haven’t had time to execute.

I’d like to offer the domain for sale if anyone can put it to good use. 
The domain is:
http://Prince-Caspian-Movie.com

Click here make me an offer 

For years, I’ve recommended a service to my clients and colleagues called PR Leads. 

It’s a service which connects experts with reporters.  If you are an author, speaker, consultant, small business owner, or information marketer, PR Leads is a cost effective way to get yourself quoted in the press.  At a cost of just $99/month, it’s the best publicity bargain I’ve ever seen.  

Until now…

Recently, a new service was launched called Help A Reporter Out. 

It is essentially the same service as PR Leads, only FREE!

It’s called Help A Reporter Out, and it connects PR people and journalists looking for sources.  Once you subscribe, you receive about three (sometimes two, no more than four) emails a day with reporter, editor and freelance writer queries, written so you can quickly and easily scan the topics for relevance. 
 
If the topics do not apply to you or your clients, just hit delete.

If they do, you may contact the reporter or editor directly, as instructed.
 
Note that Peter Shankman, the list facilitator, is very strict about helping out these reporters.  Respond only if your information (or your client’s info) is relevant and on target.  If not, and you send non-relevant emails more than once, you’ll get bumped off the list.  Quickly.  I’ve seen it happen.

The query emails also tend to include a link to a fun site, or a funny story about his day. It’s a nice refreshing change from the boring, non-funny emails we usually deal with.

Reporters can post queries HERE

Expert sources can sign up HERE

As I said, it’s FREE! Peter asks that if you find it useful, then you make a donation to any animal rescue charity or animal hospital.
 
You can forward the queries to others who are a fit, but do not post any queries (or the editor/reporter contact info) on any blogs or public websites.  I received permission from Peter to post this particular note, since this is a private group and I’m helping to spread the word to both subscribers and media to sign up.

CLICK HERE for more info

In the old days, I did all my own car maintenance. Oil changes, repairs, etc. I even rebuilt and replaced engines.

Those days are long gone, and now even the most simple automotive maintenance tasks are “outsourced”. I always have the “full service” oil change done on a regularly scheduled basis.

This is a little lesson in checking the work you are having outsourced:

I’ve done several family road trips in the vehicle in the one year I’ve had it. Since my car is almost brand-new, I don’t worry about anything breaking down on it. However, before a long trip, I would usually double check the oil, water, and tire pressure…just in case. Oil – full. Water – full. Tire pressure - 32 psi. All is well.

This past weekend, we were doing a 650 mile round trip, so I did my usual “clean out the car, and check the vitals before hitting the road” ritual, even though I had just had the full service done that same week.

Oil, check
Water, check
Tire pressure, check…wait a minute. I just noticed something. The fine print on my tire says 44 psi, NOT 32 psi! I didn’t realize, but my low-profile, performance tires needed WAY more pressure than regular ones.  I guess the guys at the oil change place never paid attention either. 

For a year, I’ve been running 12 pounds less than I should have been. DUH!

What difference does that make? Easy. On this latest trip, my gas mileage went from 26 miles per gallons to 30.38 mpg!

Over one year, and 25,000 miles, that little mistake has cost me $485 in extra gas.

Lessons learned:

• Check the pressure in your cars tires, and make sure they are at maximum recommended pressure
• When outsourcing any part of your business, or your life, make sure the person(s) you are outsourcing to follow the proper instructions
• Don’t assume the “experts” do things right every time. Whether it’s oil changes, advertising agencies, or medical doctors, get a second opinion, and double-check their work.

A while back, I posted about Comcast playing games with internet users by blocking access to some sites and services without their knowledge or permission.

This whole thing is tied to the Net Neutrality issue.

Now, AT&T is saying the internet will CRASH by 2010 if they don’t invest $19 billion to fix it.  Of course, the next step is going to be recouping that money through “premium” services, charged directly to you and me.  The opposite of Net Neutrality.   Check out Yahoo Tech’s take here.

As an internet marketer, I’m going to be watching this issue VERY closely…and you should too.

Whenever I give speeches or write articles about internet marketing strategies such as blogging, social media, etc. I always try to make a point to my audience that “the internet never forgets”. 

What does that mean?  It means that EVERYTHING you do and say on the internet will eventually be found, for better or for worse.
 
Case in point:

Recently, my daughter and I participated as “extra’s” for a movie called Last Ounce of Courage.  It’s the story of a small town mayor who fights the commercialization of Christmas.  My daughter is a pro on movies sets, having been an extra in a number of movies over the years.  She was very impressed by the friendly nature of the director, producers, and staff.   She even got to meet an actress she really likes named Jenna Boyd.  Overall, it was a very interesting experience, and we’re excited for the movie to come out at the end of the year to see if we got any “screen time”. 

One person I don’t remember meeting was Steve Deaver, who is listed as the Unit Production Manager on IMDB. 

Today on Mr. Deaver’s blog, he stated “the movie is going to suck big time”.   Here is a screen shot from the post…

WOW!

Even if he believes it’s true, I can’t believe someone being paid for a job would diss their client like that. 

I don’t know exactly how the business hierarchy of a movie production works, but if I was the person in charge, I’d be calling this guy on the carpet. 

Possibly, this guy never expected anyone connected with the movie to see this statement. 

The problem is, he forgot that the internet never forgets. 

Now, don’t YOU forget…

My presentation yesterday about marketing on Social Networking sites LinkedIn, Facebook, and Myspace went fantastic.   The audience rated it an average of 4.75 out of 5.  Thank you all!  
(Replay of this event is available – CLICK HERE)

Now it’s time to tackle the social communication site “Twitter”. 

Lots and lots of my business associates are loving it, so it’s time to find out what all the fuss is about. 

Check out this short video for a very simple explanation of what Twitter is (and isn’t).  It’s what finally got me off my butt and on to Twitter.

By the way, my Twitter address is http://www.twitter.com/fawnkey.  Feel free to “follow” me.  Or, if you are already on Twitter, send a shout-out so I can follow you!

     VS      

I started using the Mozilla Firefox browser several years ago for two reasons:

#1  Internet Explorer (IE) kept crashing in the middle of trying to get work done
#2  According to all of my internet/tech tech savvy friend, Firefox was “better”.

Well, I’m back to using Internet Explorer.

The “crashing” situation is the main reason.  When IE crashed, it just gave me an error, then shut down all of my browser windows.  Annoying but not drastic.

However when Firefox crashed, it locks up my ENTIRE computer, forcing a hard restart.  This is not only annoying, but has on more than one occasion caused me to lose important work in other applications…and hard restarts can’t be good for my computer. 

Furthermore, two websites I visit frequently (including my bank) don’t operate correctly on Firefox. 

Therefore, I just switched back to Internet Explorer as my default brower. 

I must say, I really don’t think there is a big difference in the “browsing experience”. 

The only thing I miss about Firefox isn’t even Firefox itself. Instead, it’s a brilliant little third party plug-in called “Search Status”, which allows you to monitor the Google PageRank and Alexa ranking of any site you are visiting at a glance.  I LOVE this application, but can’t seem to find a similar one for IE.   Anyone know if such a thing exists?

PS – Sorry Seth, but I’m going to screw up your stereotype…I’m a power user visiting your site on IE. 

“2008 is the year of the social network…are you ready?”

If you were wondering what had me on the road for over 12,000 miles last month, the topic above is one of the main reasons.

I was teaching companies such as Nike, Williams-Sonoma, Beach Body, Motorola, and many more how to how to leverage social networks such as Facebook, Myspace, and LinkedIn to reach over 300 million passionate and receptive users worldwide…

…and now I’m going to share this information with you!

If you are an entrepreneur, marketing executive, coach, consultant, author, small business owner, writer, or you would just like to understand how to leverage the power of Social Networks to market your products and services…

…then join me on Thursday, April 17th, 2008, during a special 90 minute Webinar, where you will learn the do’s and don’ts of marketing on social networks…

…and we’ll explore a variety of marketing strategies ranging from guerrilla marketing to traditional media buys.

There will also be time to answer YOUR questions about Social Networking and Social Media Marketing.

A few case studies we’ll explore during this event:

• How one company made $250,000 in a SINGLE transaction from a social networking lead
• How a small start up secured a prospect database of 2.1 million PASSIONATE users of their product in only
  4 months (with ZERO marketing cost!)
• Which live event organizer used social media to generate $50,000 in registrations at the click of a mouse
• Nike’s social media play, and what you can learn from it
• And much more!

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Click here for more information

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See you on the 17th.