A rant, just because I feel like it... (find out who I'm blaming for my ornery mood at the end of this post).
Web2.0 Words matter, I know! But the abuse of short-hand terms makes me crazy. Web2.0 is classic abuse. It's become a catchall for anything "conversation related."
Platform I abused the term platform back in 2001/02 while at a technology start-up. It's making a MASSIVE comeback to it's own detriment. It's so innocuous and generalized that it simply is a useless term. Let me ask you this...
Is Windows a platform?
Is Google?
Is Microsoft Office?
Is Facebook?
Yes, of course they are... so someone please tell me - what do you mean when you say platform?
Social Media Strategy Using this phrase is 99.9% of the time a shield to mask the fact that we have no idea what to do next. We'd rather talk about our "Social Media Strategy" than discuss the fact that we don't control our messages anymore.
The "New" something Regular readers should know by now that I'm a Seth Godin disciple. However, didn't we go through the "New New" thing ages ago? Didn't I read a book about that? Godin is talking about "The New Marketing" and Jaffe's agency is "a new marketing company." It's all shiny and new, isn't it? I'm not saying they aren't both absolutely RIGHT... but this post is about words and how they drive me nutso.
So Who is to Blame? This is the 2nd ornery post and/or comment I've made on my blog since I started Joseph Jaffe's new book Join the Conversation. The guy is spot on and the book is brilliant. But it's putting me in a bad mood. He's partially to blame, and I'm going to tell him so when we eventually meet.
But Jaffe didn't make me write this blog... no... the catalyst was this podcast from 1to1Media. Anyone want to play a new marketing terms drinking game with me as we all listen? (Was that over the line?).
To say that The Leukemia & Lymphoma's Team In Training program hasn't positively affected the world we live in would be to deny the life changing experience that more than 340,000 participants have had in completing a road race of some sort. I was lucky to be a part of the "team" for a few years and am thrilled at the great marketing they have been doing ever since.
Most recently they launched a 20th anniversary celebration site along with an expanded online community, both which are terrific and exciting for alumni and participants.
They've even created a special video to help them get the word out. I continue to love the positioning and the marketing that surrounds the biggest of these types of programs.
Just to show how objective I am (and not just a shill for LLS), I'd say that the community is a great start, but so much more could be done with it! Why not let participants upload their own scrapbooks or create their own blogs? I also don't understand why the message boards (and most recent posts) aren't on the homepage. I hope they continue to build this community and continue to build out more ways to engage folks over time (I'm sure they will).
In no particular order, here are my favorite posts from 2007 - a year in which I again didn't blog enough (or by some accounts, blogged way way too much). It was a tough year and I learned a lot about marketing, myself and the world. I also played a lot of golf (but no where near enough by my count).
Ok, here goes...
Favorite Post #1 - Great Marketing in the Oddest of Places A post about the good work that the MTA does with their newsletters and keeping their customers informed, and laughing.
Send me an e-mail and ask me anything you want about marketing, non-profits, strategy or anything that you are curious about. I'll post the answer up here as a blog post.
