Scott Moroney

Greatest Product Survey - Do You Prefer an A or B Hole?

Hardees launched a product survey that is brilliant in terms of making us laugh and clearly sets the stage well for their product.  You all remember the Coke vs. Pepsi wars of a few decades ago.  Well this could have been a very memorable campaign as well.  I don't recall seeing it much so my assumption, false or not, is that it was too edgy.  Please let me know if I am wrong. 

I love edgy commercials.  They stand out on TV.  How will advertisers get your attention online when the standards for acceptable content are so different online vs on TV?  This is a new arena for advertisers, but will the FCC step in and find a way to legitimize itself when we all continue to accelerate our dwindling television viewing habits?  In any scenario, media is evolving and it will be very, very interesting to be a part of it.  Are you an A or a B hole?  Take a look.

BackNoise Your not ready for this...or are you?

Back Noise is the next generation in employee engagement and listening.  I can't take credit for turning you on to this new tool.  I learned about it through a LinkedIn group and Chad Rothschild in his post on the new tool.  Take a look.  He explains it well and has a link.

Is this the onset of a mutation of Twitter?  In the right hands this can be very powerful.  Take what Comcast has done with their Twitter account.  They are listening and acting.  How about they take it one step further and promote their BackNoise "conversation name" and let it rip.  This expands their audience and encourages people to tell them how to improve their business.  Where else but in social media can you get your customers, those that tend to know more and mater most to your business, to help you serve them better.  Check it out and tell me how businesses...and of course the thick-skinned celebrities, can use this new tool.  I have some ideas.

Check it out.  I opened a conversation about Comcast.  Jump in and try it.

Twitter Trick - Hashtags in Your Blog Title

Yes, I tested it and it works.

To increase the reach of your blog or other feeds coming into Twitter, include the # (hashtag) symbol and a topic (#twittertricks, #comcast, #crazythingspeoplesay, etc...).  This will get your feed pushed into Twitter...and more importantly, the searches of the hashtag.   Keep in mind that Twitter and your Titles in a blog, YouTube, Flickr posts are character based (text).  This aligns to feed the # hashtag perfectly in the testing that I completed. 

The novelty of this idea is that you can reach people that are not already a follower, increase your following, and ultimately improve the performance of whatever you are doing using social media (promoting a cause, introducing a product, or entertaining with news/gossip/info). 

Pick a hashtag or create one and include it in whatever content you are feeding to Twitter.  The results may surprise you.

Does Your Board of Directors Blog?

How many Board of Directors blog about their company?

How many Board of Directors know many of their employees?

How many are in tune with what their employees or customers really really really need/want from the company?

Are they blogging about any of this?  I doubt it in all cases.

Why?

They are a bit disconnected by nature, but that is not the reason I am thinking of right now.  I would guess they don't blog because they don't have enough context to talk about.  Blogging requires context and genuine involvement/interest/voice.  If you don't have it, leave the keyboard alone.  This is why many companies leave the blogs alone...they don't have these things or don't want to share what they do have with employees or the buying/influenced public.

This leads me to the main point.  It is not exactly about blogging.  I am wondering if a Board should know more about their employee base or customer sentiment...and be able to blog about it (inside or outside).  It seems like a cool notion to see if there is a board that could do this. 

Just wondering about this notion.  Any feedback or enlightenment out there?

Social Media is actually "Marketing" Packaged Up Differently

I am not the world expert on marketing or social media, but I do see that they are one and the same in a simplistic way.  When you are considering taking the plunge or not with social media you are essentially asking yourself if you want to be involved in "marketing" or not.  I would guess if you are struggling to sign up for Twitter or listen to your customers in some community site then you are not doing much marketing anyways. 

Do I sound bitter?  Hope not.  I am pretty optimistic about how "social media" is reopening the conversation about why companies, groups and ideas need marketing.  Yes!  Your thinking about marketing again for for the first time.  This means you have some interest in what your customers are screaming to tell you through the available media.  Search your company, product, group, leaders names in search engines.  You may be surprised what you find.  You might be thrilled.  Go for it.  Who knows?

Best of luck.  Marketing is marketing.  The form it takes will evolve again and again as long as there are people buying things, promoting an idea or organizing events for people.  Enjoy and welcome to the party.

Working in Marketing Has Changed

Working in marketing has changed and will continue to do so.  Over the 11 years of my experience marketing has continued to do a few things:

• Get more digital
• Fight paradigms of traditional thinking
• Get more connected to business strategy

These three things make it interesting but they also tend to be the source of our many frustrations in getting the ideas to practice.  How many times have you developed a progressive program to support a product launch only to find the roadblocks are many and varied to deliver?  Where do they come from the most?  In my opinion, inside your own team.  Clients seem to like experiments at a smaller scale, but then why do our teams resist? 

Hmmmm, I say with a perplexed grin.  I think it has to do with our own self worth and protective nature.  We all want to be an expert in our area of focus.  As things change we must grow.  Growing is hard and requires constant attention.  Are we always motivated to do this?  No always.  I try, but I admit to needing time to just be the expert and not be learning something really new.

The answer to this situation then seems to be finding a good pace to learn and having an open mind.  The hottest new tools cannot all be mastered by each of us.  Find those that apply best to your clients needs and your skillset potential and dive in.  I am a true believe in working smart first and then hard.  Being smart is making the right choices I have just mentioned and applying yourself.  The hard work part comes as you support your decisions by committing to learning and delivering.

Best of luck...

A Great Prank That Has Nothing to Do with Marketing

Although it is a bit outside the normal scope of this blog, this is just too funny not to share.  Sorry guys, this is just too great not to applaud.  Whoever pulled this off, my hat is off to you....I just hope my wife does not pull it off on me.

Here are the instructions:

When your boyfriend, husband or significant other does something that makes you angry don't give in to the temptation to argue and fight.  Count to ten, remain calm and after he goes to bed, super-glue their flip flops to the floor.

It is not that crowded online

It is all about perception.  People tell me they are irritated to shop or look for info online because at times it is so hard to choose where to start.  Try a search engine is my standard answer.  They do a great job of removing the stress.

The perception that it is too crowded is easy to explain.  Your "normal" has changed.  Newspapers that once carried all those sales at the local stores are now putting all that hype on their websites because too many of the under 40 crowd does not want a newspaper delivered to their house.  It is a relic.  Your new normal is a website or mobile device. 

So why does it seem so crowded?  You and everyone else that did not come into contact around the world are in the earth's largest marketplace...the web. 

So how do you relieve this stress?  Search using your city or town ..."tennis rackets Boston MA".  This will screen out the"tennis racket" that don't have "Boston" and "MA" on the web or mobile page.

Before you go though, why are you so intimidated by the new marketplace?  Think of what options are at your fingertips.  Sounds pretty exciting to me.  Think of it like going to a nude beach for the first time, but from the comfort of your living room.   You can try it out and nobody will see you...

I won't tell.  Go dig around the web.

Wear my T-Shirt - No Box Idea

Every so often an idea pops up that is just, pretty cool.  These are what I like to call "No Box Ideas".  They have no bounds and just go for it.  I started on Seth Godin's blog where he asked who we all would like to meet to help our businesses.  This is a great question, with a great answer of course from Seth.  Not Steve Jobs, Bill Gates or Theo Epstein.  You want the engine behind these people and companies.

As I Dugg Seth's story, I came across "Getting Paid to Wear T-Shirts" on Digg.  What a great idea! 

The "No Box Idea" is to wear a T-Shirt each day for a year.  Simple, but with some new competition.  In a world with no social media, this does not happen.  In a Web 1.0 world it could happen, but would likely be dismissed as hype. 

As social media continues to grow and gain usage, we all have the opportunity to find and spread our "no box ideas".  How it happens is not important.  I discovered this one from one blog (Seth) by Digging it.  

What is your No Box Idea?