Ready to Build a Better Blog? Problogger.com to Kick Off 31 Day Challenge (aka FREE Training)

I noticed a query on our forum asking about training opportunities, so I thought I’d share that on April 6, 2006, Problogger, Darren Rowse, is kicking off his free program 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. This is a great opportunity to flesh out your own answers to the top questions marketers ask about social media I mentioned in an earlier post.

If you’re just getting started in blogging or are hoping to fine-tune an established blog, I’m sure you’ll get some value out of this free training. I’ve been following Problogger for a while, and have found both the website and Darren’s book to be a wonderful resource as I’ve ventured into the blogosphere.

I’m excited to be a part of the challenge. Worst case scenario, I unsubscribe after a couple of days with a start. Any other Mar-Com-ers out there want to join me? Darron mentioned that there is a group of 50 Italian bloggers who joined together to have the added benefit of the power of a group. It’d be kind of fun to see if we could give them a run for their money. I can think of a blog that could benefit from this sort of community effort….. Anyone, anyone, Buehlor?

Enough with the arm twisting, here are a few details from the instructor:

1. It is free and kicks off on 6 April.
2. Each day over the challenge period (31 Days) you’ll receive an email notifying you of a new post that contains teaching and practical tasks to help you improve your blog.
3. Tasks will be small enough to do in 10-15 minutes
4. You may unsubscribe at any point if the challenge doesn’t fit with your needs or situation.

New to blogging? Come on in, the water’s fine.

Call for Proposals: Special Issue on “Legal Issues in Global Contexts”

Technical Communication, the journal of the Society for Technical Communication (STC), is soliciting article proposals for an upcoming special issue that will examine how factors of law and of culture affect how technical communicators work in international and cross-cultural contexts. This special issue will be published in November 2010, and the guest editors are Kirk St.Amant of East Carolina University and Martine Courant Rife of Lansing Community College.

SPECIAL ISSUE DESCRIPTION
Legal issues are increasingly affecting the work we do as industry practitioners, academic researchers, university and college educators, and independent entrepreneurs in technical communication. In some cases, these legal issues involve notions of ownership, copyright, and trade secrets. In other instances, legal concerns related to privacy, disclosure, and free speech affect how technical communicators perform different activities. These legal issues are further complicated by different cultural perspectives related to working in global environments and to addressing the informational needs of different cultural groups within our own nations. Very few individuals in technical communication, however, are lawyers or have formal training in issues of law and its intersection with different cultural communication expectations and assumptions.

This special issue of Technical Communication will examine the legal issues affecting technical communication practices related to designing materials for or to working with individuals from other nations and cultures. Read the rest of this entry »

How Marketers are Using Social Media to Grow Their Business

Social Media Marketing Industry Report

Earlier this week, I received a flutter of tweets through my twitter account about Michael A. Stelzner’s hot off the presses white paper: Social Media Marketing Industry Report-How Marketers are Using Social Media to Grow Their Businesses.

Whether or not you’re involved in social media marketing today, you should take a moment to read the paper. Stelzner provides great details and plenty of charts to help you build a business case for easing into this new realm of marketing.

Major Findings About Social Media Marketing

Want to know what you’ll find in the report? Here are Stelzner’s major findings. I found these to be very interesting and spot-on with what I have experienced while working with my clients. In fact, the top three questions are always the first thing questions my clients ask! Read the rest of this entry »

The nut as an effective marketing tool

Immediately impress your clients and prospects with strategic three-dimensional marketing.

“THE NUT” ARRIVED IN THE MAIL, AS IS, without a box, for a deep visual impact (see the photo). The postal carrier was so impressed, she had to stop in and hand it to me personally. Why? Because “the nut” is a coconut!—a three-dimensional fruit sent to gain my attention. And that it did.

Hand-written quotes from numerous famous and influential people cover “the nut”. Karl Schweitzer, president and founder of MobiRez, a client, colleague, and friend, sent me “the nut” to honor our relationship and to make an impression. For him, it was the perfect marketing device.

Consider, for a moment, the effectiveness of your marketing if you sent your version of “the nut” to tightly targeted prospects. It most definitely would be remembered; people would stop to admire and inspect it. It could even become the buzz of the office. On thing is for sure—it would make an impact. Read the rest of this entry »

Communications is both simpler and more complex.

Producing communications projects is increasingly becoming both simpler and more complex. It is far simpler in that the functionality in the tools needed to create effective communications have blurred. For example, if you want to create a dynamic, interactive element, Macromedia Flash is an obvious choice but this tool requires considerable effort to develop expertise. Most administrative assistants will be tempted to point out that, on the surface, Microsoft’s PowerPoint can create some of the same elements. The project’s production appears simpler in that the functionality is available on any computer using Microsoft Office.

In fact there are very legitimate, and technical, reasons for using a tool like Flash. Understanding these issues and mastering these alternate digital tools is essential. Going forward we will discuss specific projects, the tools capable of creating these projects, and the relative strengths of each.

The Pace of Change

I’ve been thinking a lot about the pace of change in the world. Was it only a few years ago that print newsletters were all the rage? I can’t imagine printing a newsletter at this point. Five days and $2,500 to proof and print the thing, all for employees to spend 45 seconds max with it. Forget it. Let us do it in HTML and we’ll email it to them. You could send one out every day if you really wanted to, and they look just as good as the printed ones. And infinitely cheaper. Everybody wins.

I Want a New Site Again!

I have a freelance client who wants to redesign their site again. It is an interesting dilemma because in my day job I am able to influence the conversation regarding website design and when you tweak or modify existing sites versus redesign and relaunch. This particular client, however, seems to bounce based on what was seen, heard, or felt on a any given day. As a result, I have very gently begun to have a dialogue client regarding why you redesign a site, the difference between redesign versus editing and evolving your site, as sites are dynamic and always changing, and here is the kicker, what is the business case for this initiative.

It occurs to be that the business case is a conversation we can, and should have in all our roles. We are simply to busy to be chasing down projects based on folk’s whims. The most important question in any marketing project is, what are we trying to accomplish. So the thought for the day is what is the business case for this initiative? Then start working.

A terrific article on sensible web design

Site Loading? Skip Intro? You’re Kidding? I’m Outta Here.
© 1999-2008 Duo Consulting
“I have very little time to indulge website publishers with their theoretical coolness. So when I visit your website do not ask me to wait while your site loads so you can show me how cool you think you are. Because what I am thinking, as those seconds tick by and you keep me informed to the nearest one hundredth-of-something with a snazzy loading time line, is how much you are all about you.”

Follow the link above and read a great article, in my opinion, on how practical sensible website design is much more effective than flashy, “arbitrarily cool” designs.

Really, The World Needs Another Blog?

Welcome to the new Society for Technical Communication (STC) Marketing Communication SIG Blog. The STC is the largest professional community of writers, editors, designers, programmers, developers, and other content developers. Much of the content developed by Society members is manuals and documentation and when folks think of technical writers, that is probably the first thing that comes to mind. The fact is however, that over the years many of our members have needed to work in the marketing communication realm.

Marketing communication is content that has a high degree of technical sophistication yet still requires best marketing communications practices to be employed.

Marketing communication is often thought of as all fluff, and lacking substance. Other technical communication is often perceived as dry, difficult to read (insert boring), and generally a “drag” to read.

The marketing communication SIG is blogging to promote the knowledge that technical communication can be a happy marriage of the two worlds, producing well written, well designed, interesting to read, informative, and compelling communications.

Periodically members of our SIG will post current best practices, unique new tools, and information relevant to crafting effective, good communications that elicits a response from readers.

If you are responsible for producing actionable, technical communications, this blog will be a site you will want to bookmark.

Post Number One

Here we come world, the Marketing Communications SIG Blog. Your resource for information on marketing communications from a technical communicator’s/writer’s perspective.