Where were the experts for Sarah Palin???

Sarah Palin Republican VP

The essentials for getting onto the  world stage  and being prepared online is beautifully illustrated by  the story  of the Republican VP mate for John McCain namely the chosen Republican VP Sarah Palin.

Why this stern warning?  Well Sarah Palin who  is a virtual unknown in political circles outside of her home state of Alaska, where she presides as Governor was recently chosen as John McCain’s running mate.  Here is the shocker  well apparently McCain’s running mate Sarah Palin does not own her own domain name   www.SarahPalin.com. What was she thinking when she neglected the online world and what were handlers thinking?   Someone is about to get rich.

PS:  Take a lesson. Before you launch yourself into the digital domain  as a business, a personal brand or a politician make sure you own your name or identity   on facebook, fliker, twitter etc.

Here is what I found be warned.

Building a Personal Brand with Blogs and Resumes

A Blog is the new resume and blogging for any marketer is essential.  Clients want to know how you think. They really do-  so now with that trade secret exposed and cast into the wind lets have a look at what makes up the essentials of a good Blog ( Next week: Facebook, LinkedIn–I am there just search for Tony Russell… then there are  ways  that I will show to launch your profile by  using   flickr, YouTube etc)

Remember:

• The blog is the new resume.  And that’s not a joke.
• Starting a personal/professional blog can be your social media resume and sandbox.
• If you work at a large organization,  ask and they will tell- you’re going to need  some corporate blogging guidelines. There are tons.
• Remember a Blog is all about the audience  so write content to elicit conversation, not act as the voice of the BIG GUY/WOMAN telling people what’s right and wrong.
• Once again remember its a conversation- find a  writing voice and editorial style and  stick to it – its your brand.
• Pick your platform wisely.  “Google juice” is what its all about so choose wisely you don’t want to run into a situation where you’re on one platform (e.g. Blogger) and want to switch to another (e.g. WordPress.
• The best way to get your blog audience to grow  is to follow the people you want following you. So keep a bookmark folder of your favorites. Study them. They are successful for a reason
• Make sure you back link to your favorites when you copy their ideas and be honest.
• Know what’s on your audience’s minds and follow the news and the trends. To grab an audience always try to hook your editorial with the day’s headlines.
• If you need advice please contact me. I will continue this post theme next week
• Good luck in building your personal brand.
  

YouTube a PR dream for Obama – a nightmare for John McCain

In PR land  if there was  to be a high noon between Obama and McCain the quickest shot would be Barack  Obama.  His public relations and marketing team is a class apart and very very quick on the draw.

Take as an example the the McCain interview with Politico in Las Cruces, N.M which is a nightmare  public relations moment for John McCain.   When asked how many houses he owned John McCain said   “I think — I’ll have my staff get to you”

Boom he was gone.

The correct answer is he owns at  least four houses , located in Arizona, California and Virginia and  Newsweek has  estimated with condo; etc he owns at least seven properties.

Now news is starting to surface that about the spending habits of the McCain’s.  Apparently (“Cindy McCain charged as much as $500,000 in a single month on one American Express card and $250,000 on another”)

All  this against the backdrop that apparently McCain’s passion is “wasteful spending “.

As a Canadian with little understanding of American politics how can someone oversee the housing crisis when he doesn’t have any day-to-day concerns about his own mortgage? Or mortgages, as the case may be? How can this person set tax rates for the middle class? All of that is implied, I suppose…

Go figure…

Brothers and sisters in PR … make sure you .. very  quickly – YouTube:

This was posted in less than 2 hrs  after the story broke. Obama’s  team is fast.

Barack Obama’s team gets it.

Clinton vs Obama is Obama ahead ?

The Gallup daily reports that the the democratic race seems to be widening between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. I love survey groups like the Gallup Poll . They get me thinking.
HAS HILLARY CLINTON LOST THE BATTLE – SHOULD SHE RETIRE?

Social Media & Obama and Clinton Campaigns

Jennifer Jones the creator and host of Marketing Voices™ recently interviewed Pete Blackshaw EVP of Nielsen Online about how the “Barak Obama and Hilary Clinton Campaigns” had used social media.

In the interview there are gems that all marketers and brand managers should take note of.

“Memory Almost Full” and Spin

BBC reports that fans of Sir Paul McCartney have been claiming a track on his latest album Memory Almost Full is about his break-up from ex-wife Heather Mills. I have a question does it matter if Paul McCartney latest album “Memory Almost Full” is about his break-up from ex-wife Heather Mills. Nope it does not matter as the BBC noted . The case is closed and the BBC is having a media moment.
And this is a marketing moment

Case closed unless you have comments.

Creating Desire and Consent

I purchased a bag of coffee this morning which was festooned in seals and declarations of authenticity and assurance. The coffee was apparently pesticide free, organic- fair trade- and another sticker boldly declared the bag was recyclable. Talk about a winner.

All those “third party authorities” had pleaded the cause to buy that bag of coffee. I was convinced and I bought the coffee . Some smart marketer somewhere with a lineage that stretches back to Edward Louis Bernays and ultimately back to Freud was having a chuckle. They had done it again. Bernay’s favorite techniques for manipulating public opinion was the indirect use of “third party authorities” to plead his clients’ causes. “If you can influence the leaders, either with or without their conscious cooperation, you automatically influence the group which they sway,”

As we know marketing and public relations has a lot to thank Benays and Freud for. We work hard to craft desire and engineer consent. As Bernays pointed out “If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, is it not possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing about it? .” Bernays called his scientific technique to which all markets are deeply indebted – the “engineering of consent.”

Here is Bernays on “Propaganda and Public Relations”

 

Send me an email

PR and why you eat Bacon and Eggs

Years ago, Americans grabbed toast and coffee for breakfast. Even juice but public-relations pioneer Edward Bernays changed that when his client Beech- Nut Packing Company wanted to stop the slide of their bacon from the menu of America . (Useful links: The Museum of Public Relations, Edward Bernays)
Bernays used his Uncle Sigmund Freud’s ideas to help convince the public, among other things, that bacon and eggs was the true all-American breakfast.

He took Freud’s complex ideas on people’s unconscious, psychological motivations and applied them to the new field of public relations.

Just click on the red headphones and listen to the Story on National Public Radio. Its a fascinating talk. In this case scroll down till you see “A Hearty Breakfast” Its Edward Bernays at his best .

Tomorrow I will post how Bernays used Freud’s ideas to create desire and nothing has been the same since in Marketing and Public relations. And why your cholesterol is so high !!

Other talks worth listening to The Age of Persuasion (Radio)