The Company Newsletter Sent Multiple Times – AKA Email Chinese Water Torture

January 22, 2008 By Jeremiah Staes Leave a Comment

A little tip.

If you’re a company providing turnkey email newsletter services, don’t solicit me with three identical emails in four minutes that annoy me and motivate me against you so much that I feel compelled to blog how much of an error you’ve made.

Obviously, the folks at Proven Systems have made an error already – they haven’t de-duped (removed the duplicate entries) of their email list they must of bought from someone. Anyone who does a pro communications campaign knows you need to take out all the duplicates so you don’t annoy people.

Secondly, they bought a list. I don’t remember signing up for this – it’s not Bac’n (company newsletters and things that you want from sellers) but it’s spam. Buying a list is useless in email marketing, unless you’re selling something where you’re trying to con people into clicking to buy on the spot. I consider pretty much any email list that is not organically grown from direct-opt in spam.

So there. I was motivated enough to say something about it. Most people won’t be, and they’ll never do business with you and just say nothing.

Reminds me of when I was talking with a prospect who thought that since no one was complaining about their site, nothing was wrong – even though they were literally selling less than $100 in product to 10,000 visitors.

The reality is people, if they don’t like a site, just leave. They won’t tell you why as you’ve already wasted their time, they just won’t buy.

p.s.- I just got FIVE more indentical emails from these folks today (1/23).  They’ve got them multiplying now.

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Podcasting helps NPR ad revenue go up 2.5x and Rises as Growing Business

January 21, 2008 By Jeremiah Staes Leave a Comment

A quicky but goodie, sent to me from my good friend Shawn (get a blog, a Twitter, or something already!!!)

It highlights a few things – first, that NPR has leveraged podcasting to increase their ad revenue from $18m in 2002 to $46m in 2007.

Not to mention, there is room for independents, too. Wizzard says their network of 30+ podcasts is work $100m – and $300m if you include the streaming content.

In short, no one can say this is a record-in-your basement game anymore. It’s serious business. Multi-million dollar business, with access open to smaller publishers.

This AdAge piece brings up great points – that there is a large market for podcast advertising, and that in fact, podcasting your content can increase it’s audience.

As the TV networks have seen with video on demand and streaming video, they risk decreasing the size of a live audience that can be sold to an advertiser at a higher premium for the sake of making content available to consumers whenever they want it.

But the experience of ESPN’s “Mike and Mike” may change some minds. Traug Keller, senior VP, ESPN Radio, said the popular talk duo’s ratings on the 350 ESPN Radio stations actually increased after their show was made available on iTunes, XM and Sirius satellite radio.

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Filed Under: Advertising, Podcasting

NYT: Facebooks’ Childish, and people want work for free

January 19, 2008 By Jeremiah Staes Leave a Comment

Saw a great post in the NYT today with lots of links, and thought I should share it with you for the weekend.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/19/technology/19online.html?ref=technology

Interestingly, it covers the whole “Scrabulous” thing on Facebook. IP (Intellectual Property) online is a sticky subject – but to think that someone created something that’s basically a copy of what someone else has done “without thinking through the legal aspect” is weak, lying, or patently stupid.

I personally enjoy this link from the article, “Facebook Apps Are For Toddlers.” Following the rathole, I stumbled upon this blog which shows another interesting truth – that even in this world of democratized media that “everyone can participate,” it’s still only the cream of the crop that make money, just like before this revolution. New opportunities, absolutely. New frontiers – but some of the rules don’t change.

Also, it links to this ad for someone to anchor a promotional video for a company – for free.

The ironic thing – it’s for a labor organization (probably a jobfinder). If you’re going to use outside talent, pay them. You’ll get much, much better results – and I almost guarantee you, it won’t be 30 minutes with an amateur.

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How To Get Inspiration

January 18, 2008 By Jeremiah Staes Leave a Comment

A common question in today’s world of 9-5, M-F, and sometimes, constant 24-7 work. It’s either creatives having a block, or managers looking to get more productivity out of a creative department (or IT department – I’d make the argument that programming, is in fact, creative, just a different kind).

Here’s the secret – honor thy energy.

If you’re a creative, your “life energy” is a little different than most folks. And, if you’re trying to tap into previously undiscovered creativity, you need to realize it just doesn’t appear. You need to give it space to do so.

What does that mean?

It means it’s going to show up when you expose yourself to creative situations, and when you work comfortably.

That means that although a suit-and-tie atmosphere devalues you for working at 7:30p and not at 7:30a, it’s OK. Some of my greatest creative inspiration has come after Thanksgiving dinners, or in the middle of a conversation. That’s tough for others to live with, but it’s how it goes. You can’t just “produce” art at a time that your body and mind don’t want to.

I also strongly advocate folks take a good look at David Allen’s GTD system and 43Folders on productivity. I’m not saying you need to join the cult, but there are really good ideas. A key to being productive is not having stress… and having a “mind like water” attitude. Not to mention, avoid timesinks… a great synopsis on avoiding timesinks is here.

But backing up a moment, what is “mind like water?”

Let’s draw a metaphor. The water is your brain, your soul, your you – the rock is the stuff you have to deal with. What happens when you throw the rock in the water? It creates waves and distorts for awhile, but eventually returns back to a serene state.

I’m guilty of this too – where something happens and it just discombobulates you to no end. But, if you keep in mind to keep your mind like water, you’ll be more creative, come up with better ideas, and be much, much more productive.

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Interactive Media Job Board Now Live!

January 16, 2008 By Jeremiah Staes Leave a Comment

People like to talk about the problems they have. And one of those problems, many times, is that they don’t have a job.

Well, now, we’ve set up a job board specifically for those looking to get employment in the interactive media field.

This board is national, because our blog here has a national audience. However, you can easily narrow it down to a city, and search by radius.

For instance, if you’d like to see who’s hiring interactive folks in Detroit, just follow this link.

That said – let’s say you’re a fellow interactive firm or a company looking for interactive workers. Our readership is very astute and smart – and you can offer them jobs for a measly $25 for a 30-day listing as an introductory offer. The great thing about our partner is you’ll also have the ability to list nationally for talent, as well as near where we’re at.

We’re looking to be a resource to all of you in the interactive community on both sides of the coin, and look forward to your feedback and your future employment.

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