Today’s interview with David Mullings of RealVibez.tv came from my request for sources on how video is being used to enable PR & media placements. Actually however, David has become more of the “poster child” for why this topic of New Marketing - encompassing Social Media, PR and Content Marketing - can be the most powerful solution to hit the business world since the fax machine.

Read this comprehensive use of all things New Marketing and you’ll begin to understand the power of these approaches.

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Tags: Content Marketing, media placements, Reggae festival, Social Media Marketing, social networking site, Video & PR, video mini-site, YOuTube

Have you seen Wordle yet? We love it! Here is the Wordle of our agency @vibe media. Not only is it beautiful, but captures what we are all about in one single picture! Well, I guess they do say a picture is worth a 1000 words (no I didn’t count)!

Tags: agency @vibe media, Word Cloud, Wordle

So TV commercials are less effective these days than they used to be, so say all the industry pundits and analyst reports. Hmmm, no kidding.

In the wake of this groundbreaking news, brands are diverting marketing/advertising dollars at a record pace to branded entertainment projects in hopes of connecting brand with content people want to watch. The question becomes how to go about it. Obviously brands can simply sponsor existing programming. PBS has sustained itself for years in part to this model. And then there is product placement, which is nothing new, but does having a brand X server in the background or holding a Pepsi can really work? Most examples I have seen are so ridiculously gratuitous as to render the result ineffective. Or least I think it is ineffective…I suppose it could be working subliminally, but let’s not digress into that can of worms.

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Tags: brand marketer, media professionals, New York Magazine, web publisher

How many people really pay attention to press releases? Answer this question: Which has a better chance of getting a story?

A standard press release for a new biography done in the typical fashion or an online documentary series featuring the author and an on-location, behind-the-scenes look at the making of the book? (read: foreshadowing for the second part follow up to this post)

The answer is as old as time. Everyone loves a great story. From the day of the caveman to the modern day movie it is a form of communication written into our very DNA. Journalists have a need to create compelling stories and the easier we make it for them to accomplish the better chance of success our topic has of becoming news. Ford Kanzler, managing partner of Marketing/PR Savvy in El Granada, CA, believes

“gaining effective publicity value often comes from bringing something new, fresh, newsworthy and interesting to an interest group or online network, while subverting the brand marketing message in favor of ‘sponsor or contributor identification only. The promotional benefits accrue from the fact that your organization or company is the one that made or helped make the story come to be seen. Too many marketers and sponsors don’t get this.”

This is precisely where social media, PR2 and content marketing converge.

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Tags: Brian Solis, journalist, Marketing/PR Savvy, media agency, media outlet, media relations programs, online documentary series, online network, online newsroom, Social Media Group, social media newsroom, Todd Defren

A friend of mine is part of a family-owned small group of restaurants. These places are an institution here, the original having been around since the early 1990’s. The newest is in a mid-to-high end suburbs and appeals to well educated, high-tech-oriented 30’s - 50’s something demographic.

He’s trying to grow and make this successful restaurant into an ultra-successful restaurant. Now, he’s also a traditional-marketing-thinking kind of guy. But, he’s realizing, like so many other companies, that his traditional advertising and marketing are no longer having the impact he wants. This target audience does not subscribe to the local paper - they get their news online. They are heavily impacted by social-review sites like Yelp.com. They are Internet-centric people and he has been doing non-Internet-centric marketing.

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Tags: Content Marketing, content synergy method, Social Media Marketing, Transparency

All PR firms have their go-to relationships in the press – this is how it works, right? But a logical question pops up given the tectonic shift in information flow from Citizen Journalist or one of a thousand blogs where your audience may consume information. So our question is how can you effectively reach out to all these?

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Tags: Content Marketing, Video & PR

I have some pretty strong beliefs when it comes to online marketing today. These are based on years of research and implementation. I thought it would be interesting to share them and get some feedback from you.

• I believe Content Marketing tied with Social Media can be the most powerful marketing force in existence - for Fortune 1000 corporations to solo experts.
• Whether it is called Online Community, Social Media/Networking or any number of other buzzwords, the whole goal is about truly engaging with your core audience and fostering them to engage with you and each other. (more…)

  Tags: Content Marketing, New Marketing, Online Community, online marketing, Social Media Marketing

The credit markets are in the tank, consumer confidence is at an all time low and to say the economic outlook is on shaky ground would be an understatement. Circle the wagons, batten down the hatches, tow the corporate line and pretend like everything is sunshine and roses. Right?

This is certainly how companies have reacted in the past anyway. In my humble opinion however, a fundamental shift has a taken place that requires – demands – that companies take a wholesale different approach than has happened in previously turbulent economic times. (more…)

Tags: Economy, Social Media Marketing

As a company providing content marketing programs for business clients, a big part of our efforts with clients include the use of Social Media & Social Networking approaches. Now, let me couch this statement by saying that, in many cases, many Social Networks are overkill for many businesses. There are 5-10 new sites popping up each day, so it can be a challenge to manage a budget and true involvement necessary to support such wide-ranging efforts.

We keep a narrow Social Media /Social Networking focus for clients just getting involved - Internet Video, Internet Audio & Podcasts, Blogging, Linked In and perhaps a FaceBook or MySpace, depending on the client. Social Media sites serve as the the medium for Educational and Conversational Content Marketing programs that companies must be including in their mix today if they want to remain relevant in the eyes of their buyers. (more…)

Tags: ROI, Social Media Marketing, Transparency

It doesn’t matter if you sell to businesses or consumers; all buying decisions are made by individuals… people. Marketing has changed and people (your buyers) have changed. They don’t want to be sold-to anymore. They have grown tired of the same old usual platitudes – quality, service, blah, blah.

Today, marketing needs to be about creating an ongoing conversation with your prospects. (more…)

Tags: Content Marketing, content synergy method