Leader Blog: We Hunt Them; We Promote Them; Take their Advice

The Grateful Dead movie Pays Homage to Healing at PR Event

Melissa Lande — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 22:00:00 GMT

According to The Reliable Source, Tipper Gore, ex-wife of almost President Al, turned up in DC last night to emcee a screening of “The Music Never Stopped,” a film about family, healing and the Grateful Dead. Invited by Mickey Hart, a world leader in world music and longtime Grateful Dead percussionist, she was joined by the inspiration of the film neurologist/author Oliver Sacks, other DC luminaries, and Mickey who, at 67 was denied a glass of chardonnay because he had no ID.

That and Tipper's wearing of her wedding ring seemed to be meta tag alerts in this story.

The piece focused on the event:

Tipper was there wearing her wedding ring.
Nancy Pelosi was there without a gavel (ok I said the gavel part).
Mickey denied a drink is big news.

"The film is based on a case study by Sacks and tells the story of a father and his estranged son who slowly rebuild a bond throught he music of the Dead. Dad's a mellow guy who favors crooners and classics but the hemp-fueled hits of the '60s provide therapeutic enough for his neurologically disabled kid," summarizes the pieces. Good summary.

The real news:

Washington luminaries came out to see the film- what did they think?
Tipper Gore is friendly enough with Micky Hart to draw a crowd, and he's no deadbeat- just a leader in world music.
Oliver Sacks has unreaveled mysteries of the brain. In this one, he uses music as an example of healing. THIS is original.

It goes on to report that Rep Jim McDermott (D-Washington), serving his 12th term in the House, harummped the question . This implies, "I don't get it." Perhaps not a Deadhead but he asked a legitimate question- basically, "Why the Dead and not, for example, Paul Simon?" The Honorable McDermottt is, in fact, honorable, and has been in public service since 1970 - not counting the Navy and the fact that he's a doctor and was interested in the film.

As a physician, Representative McDermott is especially interested in health care issues. While serving in the Washington State Legislature, he crafted the Washington Basic Health Plan, the first state program in the country to provide low-cost health insurance to the unemployed and working poor. In the U.S. Congress, Representative McDermott is consistently active on health care reform issues. He founded and chairs the Congressional Task Force on International HIV/AIDS, and championed the AIDS Housing Opportunities Act.

So please, Reliable Source, let's not give Jim a harummp. Let's just say he ASKED. And let's give the people who work in neurological health care in a productive way some kudos.

PS -And now we have a film that prove this includes the Grateful Dead. You could say it includes much artistic endeavor in general which speaks to people emotionally and helps heal individuals and relationships.

My Castle, My Rules- Read MediaPost today

Melissa Lande — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 18:47:00 GMT

Great piece in MediaPost called "My Castle, My Rules" by Julia Beardwood-- where she compares the ground rules set by The King's Speech's therapist to the ground rules that are so effective for creative agencies.

As I noted in my comments, it brings up a couple of really important issues about TRUST. Clients and agencies must work together in an environment of mutual trust, which is an interesting commodity in today's business environment. When an agency is hired, until they prove themselves, they are often viewed with some skepticism (though with relief)-- until they are a proven commodity. Aboslutely fair enough!

Building trust is a process, not unlike the therapeutic relationship-- The client/patient must trust the agency/therapist full on, or the job will not be done correctly; the interraction willl not be honest. The King's Speech showed the relationship in its ultimate state: Who is bigger than a King? And when a King needs help, he can command. But the therapist was strong enough and held his ground so well that he did not YES the King to death, which meant, he could produce results; THEY would work collaboratively. This is assistance and creative support in its finest MOMENT.Certainly my finest professional moments have always involved trust- and results.

I have also seen many of my colleagues with agencies argue a challlenge and get stuck in the argument. Sometimes that means the agency may be holding its ground but is not as skillful at creating the therapeutic relationship (so to speak) as Lionel Logue did with King George. In fact, I have seen egos flaring (both ways). Egos are allowed to be there, but they have to make room for each other and listen carefully. (You remember that TV Show: "Make Room for Ego?")

There's also the issue of "I'm the vendor; you're the king." And in a recessionary economy, there is fear, so agencies, against their better judgments buut because of their need for food and shelter, take on those client that they know will never have that trust. Or those that they have to YES to death. I must warn that YES-ING to death can mean death. In the case of Enron, the agency (accounting) yessed the client and did something unethical. The good news is it brought about SOX legislation. The bads news ias that millions of dollars in funds were lost to honest workers. Ugh. Horrible.

Just that alone is a reason to be ethical but even more so, building that trust gives way to the best work, the most creative interchange, MOMENTS of greatness. And yes, the analytics tell the story-- but it's the great story that makes the analytics work.

Chairmen of The Board: Frank Sinatra & Len Riggio- Visionaries

Melissa Lande — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 18:00:00 GMT

Controversial King of Retail Book Publishing Speaks about Transformation Growth That Is Happening in Publishing -- "more than the analysts have projected"

Not really sure why they referred to Ole Blue Eyes as Chairman of the Board though he led the Ratpack, a elegant group of entertainers who were the "IT boys" (one girl) back in the forties, fifties , etc. It's just when it came to entertainment and the best show on earth, Frank Sinatra set the standards and sang the standards.

When it comes to bookselling, Len Riggio, loved by some, envied by many and dispised publicly by others (just like Frank) has been Chairman of the Board Of Barnes & Noble, Inc. since he founded it in 1986. His store is also the greatest publishing show on earth (and the best place to do homework), only eclipsed by the advent of Amazon when it entered the e-commerce fray, but a Chairman is a Chairman and leaders perceive growth.

I don't have the full Riggio dossier -- just the rumors over my 3-decade career but, like Sinatra, he appears to be one of those guys who keeps his friends very close and his frenemies at bay -- till the time is right

The time was right today when he appeared as keynote speaker at this morning's annual meeting of the Association of American Publishers (AAP), his first appearance there in 11 years, people wanted to hear what he had to say.

From reports, I gather,

He is excited about the possibilities the Rocket eBook holds for his company and the industry at large. "Think of all that could have happened had we all led the digital age together instead of following it."
"Too many of us see bookselling as a zero sum game--that there's a limit to how many books people will buy and how many books people will read."
Riggio chooses to see beyond that scope. Rather than "get locked into the Darwinian embrace for market share," Riggio said that digital has already proven "market size is readily expandable, and expanding markets lift all boats."
Endless possibilities lurk in ebooks -- he notes readers now have a bookstore, an entire publishing company in their pockets. "The power of this cannot be minimized. If you think there's a limit to how many books people can read, you're back to a zero-sum game."
Riggio perceives the digital marketplace as exponentially greater than most people do--"the analysts, the people covering our industry," assering that the digital book market is "growing more rapidly than almost any sector of any industry has grown in 30 years."
"We're not merely replacing sales of bound books," Riggio argued. "Even if you were to do a linear projection of ebook sales, you would have to conclude that our industry is on the cusp of transformational growth. For those of you who are treating it as incremental growth, I don't think you're going to get there."
Win-Win for physical bookstores and traditional publishers to continue to prosper in this new era. From Barnes & Noble's perspective "a world without bookstores...is just not going to happen. We will adapt to whatever the new world brings us."
A funny comment: "Call them bricks and mortar if you will," Riggio said, but "they're not exactly clay tablets." (I liked this line). He underscored that BN's superstores occupy ever-more valuable real estate as the front entrances to America's malls because "landlords see the profitable connections between the upscale readers" they draw and traffic for the rest of the mall.
Wall Street is still skeptical -- and Riggio reports that "our emergence as a major digital player will enable us to continue to support our retail stores and make them stronger." To reinforce the point, Riggio said that over the holidays "during the two-period when our digital device sales actually soared, our comparable book sales of printed book products increased the highest number we've had in years. These things are connected."
BN members who own a Nook device--with "our customers buying millions of devices in the stores"--"are buying 60 percent more units" than other members.
PEACETIME HAS ARRIVE. Riggio (heart) Publishers. "In all the years I've worked with pubishers I have never been so confident that our interests were so obviously aligned. Nor have I ever seen this level of committment from publishers in terms of capital spending and technical innovation, all aimed a securing for pubishers and us key positions in the marketplace of content, so I thank you for all you do."
But lest us not send a kiss without some advice to the publishers (and take note!) Where "the internet had a way of disintermediating people who had content for sale, the digital universe fosters and enables those who have content to sell."
In the digital world's limitless shelf-space he sees Barnes & Noble with "a catalog of 20 million books or more," with publishers helping to fill that catalog. Riggio suggested everything from shorter slices of content (chapters of books, brief biograhies, essay, novellas, and single stories), "publications in color, sound and motion," a new wave of digital color books, and "books for which updates can be sold."
"You could add thousands of ebooks to your catalogs with little or no plant costs, and many of those books are in the libraries of your offices," Riggio advised.
And he pointed out "you actually sort through ten thousand times as much content...compared to that which is published."
Applying publishers' curation, narration and packaging, Riggio said, "your brand and your expertise will prevail."

I think this is pretty sound advice and it's obvious that Len has the gist of the industry by the long and the short tail.

"Readers require you to help them rationalize the dizzying variety of content they must sort through" in today's era of abundance, which he sees as an opportunity for companies to publish far more digitally than they ever have in print.
His final suggestion was brilliant and I have been it happen already with one of my own clients, which publishes an annual guide. " How many of the books that you publish lend themselves to an update?" he asks. "what about working with us to make an offer of that update available to all those who bought the ebook?"

Everything has changed -- we can see how the industry reacts but the reality is, ebooks are here, B&N wants in and B&N will get in (excuse me, they ARE in, are you kidding?) So listen. If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere... it's a new moment for an industry that has always been 80-20. 20% of the books make 80% of the sales.

Start spreading the sales

We'll look at the specs

You want to be a part of it- in old New York (or globally)

He closed with enthusiasm, saying "we've got a lot of work to do together" during "this exciting moment in our history--so let's get it on."

In other words, there's plenty to go around. That's a neat new concept in a cut-throat gentlemen's business and coming from Riggio, very cool.

With thanks to reporting from Publishers Lunch.

We are Not Surprised: B2B Sites Rise Big in Linked In Logins

Melissa Lande — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:33:00 GMT

A piece today in e Marketer Digital Intelligence looks at some research on how B2B marketers are using Linked In more and more for targeting specific actions in social media. The article is absolutely on target:"Business-to-business (B2B) websites share the same reasons to offer social sign-on to their visitors as business-to-consumer sites—a wealth of information on their registered users, plus the ease of allowing users to carry their identity around with them rather than forcing them to fill out yet another online form. But data from a major social sign-on provider suggests that B2Bs need to offer more than Facebook Connect to serve their business customers."

Facebook is making a lot of heat in the business community, much more than we ever thought possible because of its "personal" identity-- With the recent announcement that Facebook is discontinuing support of the Static FBML app in favor of iframes, that is more good news for business users on Facebook since FBML was restrictive ...the new Facebook iframes will help Facebook be a source for better inbound marketing. According to Hubspot's David Well's in a post today, not too much pain involved creating a landing page this way.

This is a lot of technical blah blah for my customers who just want us to do it for them. Basically, we will be using Facebook far more moving forward for Landing Pages and B2B marketing, but have always utilized Linked In for taregting. The big study by Gigya reporting a dramatic increase in the use of LinkedIn accounts to sign in to B2B sites between July 2010 and January 2011 doesn't surprise us. Gigya says in that time the share of logins using a LinkedIn username and password rose from just 3% to 20%.

In the past, Gigya reported just a tiny slice of all B2B logins were devoted to LinkedIn, while most used Facebook. That landscape is beginning to change as more site visitors choose to separate their business activities on social media from their personal ones.

“Although LinkedIn has always had the professional social graph, they’ve really made some great moves over the past year especially to encourage more communication and collaboration among people using the service,” says the Gigya company blog.

Interestingly, we've always seen Linked In as the obvious easiest and most direct way to target B2B users with target audiences they desire. Facebook is just "what people do" and with the new innovations, it will make more sense even though it's been winning all along. In the end, social marketers have to use every medium possible and keep up with each in its updating to find their way into the micro niches, our favorite places.

Enchantment as It Relates to Marketing & PR: Guy Kawasaki

Melissa Lande — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 18:07:00 GMT

A new blog post by Hubspot's leader Brian Halligan today carried an interview with Guy Kawasaki, author, co-founder of Alltop and former chief evangelist at Apple, can tell you how. In his new book, Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions. Kawasaki explains how any business can enchant as well as the most compelling brands. He argues that in business and personal interactions, your goal is not just to sell but to bring about an enduring and delightful change in others.

I call this an "ah-ha" moment. As a marketer, I've been so lucky to work with clients that brought "ah-ha" moments to their customers -- not only because of their brands but because of the details in the moment. For example, Douglas Ward, lifetime veteran of the high seas, continues producing poignant tips about cruising and cruise ships. I'm currently working on his 26th edition (26!) of Berlitz Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships, and his writing is very witty, yet comprehensive. He has the edge of a writer like the New Yorker's Anthony Lane, yet remains objective and comprehsnive in his reporting. A fine art. Ah-ha!

When I was agency-of-record for the tax and accounting group at Thomson Reuters for 18 years, I experienced "ah-ha" moments every day. One would think-- from tax analyses? The answer is that the insight of this company's knowledge was so variegated and deep that I oooed and aahhhed through each press release. I renamed the editors there THE BRAINTRUST -- what enchantment to write about their findings.

There have been so many other "ah-ha" moments with various clients. No I didn't work for Zappos or Apple (oh well!) but Lande Communications has managed to snag customers on the (pardon the expression, please please) cutting edge. There has been something obviously meant to be- and yes, we beoieve in The Law of Attraction.

Back to Mr. Halligan's interview with Kawasaki, I enjoyed the author's 3 tips on how marketers can make their products more enchanting: (These bullet points are quotes)

First, tell the story about why you created the product. Don't use any industry-jargon and cite any marketing studies. Explain why you created a personal computer that anyone could afford or a search engine that produced better results or an airline that you would look forward to fly on.

Second, plant many seeds. Don't just suck up to the A-listers and upper-echelon visible journalists and analysts. Reach out, instead, to the great unwashed masses and hoi polloi. In the flattened new world that we now live in, it's the "Lonelyboy15" and "Brooke888" who make or break a product. A-listers et al report the news, they don't make it. Their blessings, for example, certainly didn't cause the success of Facebook or Twitter.

Third, show people your magic. During the summer, the folks at NovaScotian Crystal open up the factory to enable tourists to watch how craftsmen blow glass. By showing these visitors the magic, the company has an easier time selling them crystal pieces. Showing how you make something is enchanting, so create factory and office tours. If you're ever in Las Vegas, contact Zappos for a tour, and you'll see what I mean.

If you are interested in making your business for enchanting, then you might want to take the Enchantment Aptitude Test on the book's Facebook Page.

I guess we all need to check out this book. Also blessed with marketing publishing projects, we know that a book (aka "content") can enrich your soul, inspire you, and in itself, be its own "ah-ha" experience.

Social Media- a Tweet for Applause- Vote Shorty Awards-update

Melissa Lande — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 19:54:00 GMT

Remember Chicken Little said the Sky is falling. Now birds are falling from the sky. Enter Twitter. Keep the birds flying. Vote with me. In The Shorty Awards.

Part of Social Media strategy is being social. Standing in solidarity.

Part of networking is meeting people and the other part is building relationships.

Part of building the relationships is referring, helping, matching like-minded problem-solvers with another.

And part of promotion is winning awards. Generally, my company has survived 30 years without going after them, but there are some new ones now that pique my interest.

One such is The Shorty Awards : http://shortyawards.com. It salutes those who excel at Twitter -- interesting tweets, making a difference, making money, raising money.

Twitter is one of those practices that you either love or hate. I'm on the positive side because as LeaderHuntress, I'm finding new people in my micro-niche areas of expertise that I haven't found previously. I'm not sure if it's the abbreviated way of staying in touch and on top of things- but people are out there creating strategies and making incredible comments on Twitter. The last Presidential election was won through Twitter. It's all good.

People lose their inhibitions on Twitter- --maybe because it's short and fast and maybe you will miss it -- but anyway. Take note, my Twitter friends. Vote with me for some fine social media professionals. You're my friend; they're my friends; Vote with me:

The Shorty Awards

HUMMoney - (finance)
MingleMediaTV - (television)
HUMNEWS - (news)
The Concept Farm - (design)
Judy Shapiro - (innovator)
Displaced Journalists - (journalists)
MySavvyTraveler - (travel)
Hank Wasiak - (author)
Cpublicity - (social media)
CSR Cooperative - (charity)
BarnYard Group - (entertainment)

Last time I ommited the wonderful @peacefilmfest (politics) SO VOTE FOR THEM TODAY- The voting is closing!

Thought Leadership: Small Businesses Are the Backbone of Our Economy

Melissa Lande — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 21:16:00 GMT

Most top thought leaders say Small Business is the backbone of the economy. Why? In the US, small business (less than 500 employees) accounts for around half the GDP and more than half the employment. Regarding small business, the top job provider is those with less than 10 employees. The most recent available data shows firms with less than 20 employees account for slightly more than 18% of the employment.

What are the challenges of small businesses?

Finding customers, of course. Keeping customers. Making smart marketing decisions like inbound marketing and PR. Ironically, the messaging that is "out there" doesn't match some of the hard realities of small business challenges.

TO FOLLOW THE MONEY YOU HAVE TO GET THE FUNDING

Small businesses use several sources for capital, including self-financing through the owner; loans; credit lines; private stock; grants, investors; banks-HAH! Let me pause-banks. HAH!

Many small businesses are financing themselves through credit cards and personal loans, always a poor choice, albeit common these days. Credit lines are far more attractive but harder to get, despite the PR messages that are being aired. And then there's the SBA, which, for a very small business is not a viable option because the loans are more than what is needed; and then, of course, even though the SBA guarantees a portion of the loan to the issuing bank and relieves the bank of some risk of extending the loan to a small business, it also requires business owners to pledge personal assets and sign as a personal guarantee for the loan. All roads lead to the bank, credit check, and loan officer.

Recently I did some unofficial investigative "questioning" of small businesses and then banks in NYC. Even with new initiatives in place for banks to create more funding for small businesses, most would not admit that chances of that trickling down to small businesses are small, but one manager of a very large branch of a very large bank in a very large city said, "We lent out $17-million last month. No small businesses."

Studies show that one third of small businesses are running into trouble due to cash flow and a core competency in financial activities and less cash to hire the lawyers/accountants needed to help with innovative solutions. (I have talked to numerous accountants and those handling small business say it's hard to get funding.) Many companies are using their budgets inefficiently in marketing, again, because of their lack of that core competency. Should I advertise? What about banner ads on the web? Peer to peer marketing; what's that? And websites.

One of my small business interviewees and I had a conversation. Scene 1.

ME: What are you doing with your website to add inbound marketing?

HIM: I just met a cool website guy and I'm using him.

ME: Is he offering inbound marketing?

HIM: What's that?

ME: That's when you do things with your website designed to produce customers, build relationships, draw interest, get the phones ringing. We can actually show you your return on investment.

HIM: I don't really know what he's doing.

ME: And you gave him your credit card?

HIM: He said he'd take out $5,000 and make my website better.

ME: (Taking a breath)... Not to be disrespectful, but how could you give your credit card and not know what will happen with the money?

HIM: That's not my expertise. It's his.

ME: And he didn't explain anything?

HIM: No. But he had a great portfolio. (Pause). My wife is going to kill me.

ME: I think you'd better call him and find out what he's doing.

SCENE 2. A week later.

HIM: I tried to get that website guy and he didn't get back to me so I called American Express and cancelled the order, but he had already taken the money to another account.

ME: (silent for a change).

HIM: They're investigating and will get me the money back. Then I want you to explain inbound marketing.

P.S. This is normal in a small business universe.

OK I'LL EXPLAIN MARKETING AND THEN YOU GET THE FUNDING. YOU KNOW, SMALL BUSINESS IS THE BACKBONE!

And all of this leads back to the bank and funding. So how viable is it for small businesses to hire vendors who can help them? In a recent article in CFO called "Credit Still Scarce for Small Companies," Alix Stuart writes about tense relationships between banks and small businesses as documented by a 2010 survey by Greenwich Associates. Overall satisfaction levels were down across the board, in large part because companies were having a hard time borrowing, according to Chris McDonnell, a vice president at Greenwich Associates, in the CFO article.

The same survey evaluated several thousand banks and only 34 of them made the cut as a winner of Greenwich Excellence Awards, which recognize a number of categories. "One category that saw meaningful changes relative to previous years was 'credit policy,' which includes banks' willingness to lend. Only 5 banks received sufficiently favorable scores to make the cut in that area in 2010." The following table shows those banks:

The good news, as reported by CFO attributing McDonnell, is that "companies that are considered creditworthy by banks and are looking to borrow are getting very competitive terms and pricing since banks are vying for these accounts and want to be able to report that they're lending money."

OK let's follow that thought to a land of more inbound marketing, creativity, flexibility and happiness.

Douglas Ward Shares His Wisdom with Associated Press

Melissa Lande — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 21:27:00 GMT

You can't teach a bad cruise new tricks or even get your money back necessarily, but you can learn a few things about how to recoup losses (except the ones fromt he casino-tough luck!) Associated Press ran a story on how consumers can make "good" on losses that they incur on their cruise vacations during their Cruise Week coverage. For example-- will a cruise line reimburse you in full if there is a hurricane? Read the story and find out. Or note thhat the Berlitz Cruise Guide 2011 has 10 pages from page 703-713 dedicated to hardcore advice to cruisers, including a section of when things go wrong.

Thought Leaders are thought leaders for a reason and author sdOUGLAS Ward's more than 40 years at sea objectively rating ships and their features give him top authority in this area. So we thought you'd want to see what the Master of Sea Ceremonies has to say about "when things go wrong" in this excellent piece by Beth Harpaz, AP.

By BETH J. HARPAZ, AP Travel Editor Beth J. Harpaz, Ap Travel Editor – 2 hrs 41 mins ago

NEW YORK – Rogue waves, norovirus, mechanical problems, bad weather. Not every cruise is perfect. And when things go wrong, passengers are sometimes surprised that they are no more likely to get a refund than if they went to the beach for a week and it rained every day.

The only difference is — you can drive away from the beach. But once you're on a ship, you're stuck there until the cruise is over.

"There are things that can happen on a ship, like rogue waves, that don't happen on a land-based vacation," said Brad Hatry, cruise consultant at Pisa Brothers Travel in New York. "The biggest unknowns to most first-time cruisers are weather-related problems. The cruise companies are likely to be very unsympathetic if you're complaining about rough weather, and if you read the fine print, they have no liability to refund your money."

Passengers were so angry about a December cruise on the Norwegian Sun that one of them created a website, MyBadCruise.com, to air their grievances. The ship lost power in one engine and skipped scheduled port calls in St. Thomas and St. Martin as it limped back to Florida, stopping instead at two tiny islands. As compensation, Norwegian Cruise Line gave every stateroom $100 onboard credit and passengers also got credit toward a future cruise of 30 percent of the price of the original cruise.

Pat Werdin, of Hayesville, N.C., was one of many passengers who felt the compensation was inadequate. "We finally got a letter from NCL, but it basically said, 'If you read the fine print, we did more than we had to, so that's too bad,'" said Werdin, who missed a business meeting in St. Martin because of the changed itinerary. She also said the credit she received — 30 percent of the $399 she paid for the seven-night cruise — does not go very far toward rebooking. On the other hand, she added, "nobody died, nobody lost a finger. We had nice weather and good cruise food."

Anthony Klang, an American Express Travel Services representative and cruise planner, says "it is extremely rare to get a full refund and a free cruise" as compensation for cruise trouble.

But occasionally it happens. The Carnival Splendor lost power in November after an engine room fire, stranding passengers at sea with no electricity, overflowing toilets and substandard food. Passengers received a full refund plus transportation costs and a free future cruise priced at the same amount paid for the Splendor trip.

Passengers aboard Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas also got a full refund after the ship listed several times in rough weather in the Mediterranean last year, resulting in passenger injuries, broken furniture and damage to public areas of the ship.

In both of these high-profile cases, full refunds were "smart customer relations," said Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor in chief of CruiseCritic.com. "Unhappy passengers can really wreck a marketing plan."

Douglas Ward, author of "Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships 2011," says you're more likely to get help with a cruise problem if you booked through a travel agency and ask your agent to plead your case. "If you book your cruise online, it may be difficult to get compensation when things go wrong," he added.

Ward also recommends travel insurance. Cruise companies typically offer cancellation insurance when you book, but examine the policy carefully: It may not offer much more than a future cruise with the same line if you cancel for a covered reason.

In contrast, a policy from a third-party insurer will typically give you cash back rather than credit, according to Carol Mueller, spokeswoman for Travel Guard insurance. Among other things, such policies typically compensate you if you cancel your trip because of illness or a death in the family; if an airline delay causes you to miss your cruise departure and you have to book a new flight to catch the ship in the next port; or if you become ill onboard and the cruise line quarantines you, Mueller said.

Third-party travel insurance typically costs between 5 to 7 percent of the trip, Mueller said. You can either buy the insurance yourself by contacting an insurer directly within 15 days of booking your trip, or, if you book with a travel agent, the agent can add the policy to your purchase.

Insurance can't help you, though, if weather or mechanical problems result in a changed itinerary or a less-than-perfect trip.

Lorri Hafer, who with her husband worked as a musician on cruises for 10 years, has faced "norovirus, missed ports, mechanical trouble, political turmoil, and rough seas." Her advice on how to cope is philosophical: "In bad situations that you cannot control, as a wise captain once said to us, 'You row with the oars you are given.'"

About Law Firm Websites & Social Media Citing Expert Robert Ambrogi

Melissa Lande — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 16:11:00 GMT

Robert Ambrogi's LawSites blog took a stab at answering the question, "How is a law firm website like a cave or a middle school dance?" in a recent post.

Bloggers who don't put in the time to take all the steps consistently are classic shoemaker's kid without shoes.

So the Ambrogi's caveman analogy says that the dwellers wait for a "woolly mammoth will just happen to enter the cave (a form of ancient food delivery)?" That doesn't happen, which is why you have to get your club, leave the cave and get social.

Says Ambrogi,"A law firm website is the beginning of your online marketing, but by no means the end. Think of it as your home base, a launching point, a point of reference and a sort of electronic brochure."

Social media was created so you can engage with your prospective clients and current ones. If you do that by chiming into their conversations, Ambrogi says, maybe you will interest them enough that they will want to learn more about you.That's when the revenue comes in -- it's not a sit and wait kind of activity. Same with public relations. Anything in communications takes consistency. And strategy.

You will surely create some new relationships and links along the way when you go social. When you go ballistic, you'll create the wrong kind. It's an art to get out there and intrigue the right audience in the right tone. More about that

Back to his middle school reference: Ambrogi asks readers to consider the web as a middle-school dance. No matter how great the student looks and how much he or she wants to meet the newest hot guy/girl, if he/she acts like a wallflower, nothing will happen. (And then, tears.)

If you don't completely engage in social networking (or with your fellow classmates) -- by creating a Twitter account (and actually tweeting), signing up for Facebook, or adding a LinkedIn profile -- join some groups- then you are absolutely missing the opportunity to "explore other social and professional networks that fit your practice or where your potential clients are likely to be."

Your website is how people learn about you, but if you're not in the web conversation, your law firm may end up being a wallflower too- is Ambrogi's analogy (with a great headline!) What to say and how to say is another story. Who to hire to do communications strategy and why is as well. Cookie cutter blah blah will not showcase your expertise in a way that attracts clients that need it.

No PR Lobbyists for Dutch Prostitutes, Latest Target of Taxman?

Melissa Lande — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 02:24:00 GMT

Lande Communications has been working the PR side of the legal/tax/accounting niche for more than 20 years. We've long noted that tax reporters are forever asking for stories with a twist and a real life anecdote. Lately we've been looking at PR micro niches-- the story within the story. So here's one on taxation on the world's oldest profession that we first saw in Accounting Today:

"Prostitutes who operate openly in Amsterdam’s red light district have been warned by Dutch authorities that the government will begin enforcing tax collections on their earnings."

According to the Daily Web CPA, while prostitution has been legal in the Netherlands for over a decade and prostitutes have previously been subject to taxation, many have not paid taxes on their income.

From a tax point of view, this must be one of the best retail cash businesses in history because patrons do not want their spouses to see the charge on their credit cards, though that is easily remedied. OK, I digress but Associated Press has actually sent reporters on the trail of this story and the reporting is just the anecdotal stuff that works with with print or digital media.

AP's story goes on to tell the tale that agents of the nation’s Tax Service who have recently begun visiting brothels in the red light district (business only) to warn the owners and individual sex workers of their tax obligations. "We began at the larger places, the brothels, so now we're moving on to the window landlords and the ladies," said Janneke Verheggen, spokeswoman for the country's Tax Service.

Since Amsterdam is a port city, Amsterdam has long been a magnet for prostitutional commerce for hundreds of years -- i.e. sailors looking for a good time. But it was only about ten years ago that the "practice was legalized" (Why is it referred to as a practice when it's the world's oldest profession?), and the tax authorities are just getting around to it. Hmm, what took them so long?

This new tax move signifies a shift to the more conservative -- from a Netherlands renowned for permissiveness, and at the same time, provides proceeds to government coffers.

Here's AP's delicious original reporting at its best: "It's a good thing that they're doing this," said Samantha, a statuesque blond Dutchwoman in a white leather dress who offers her services from behind one of the hundreds of red-curtained windows in the heart of the city's ancient center.

"It's a job like any other and we should pay taxes," she said.

After-expense profits (What are the legal deductible business expenses? Plastic surgery? The bed? Cheerleader outfits?) can be taxed at 33 percent for those making less than about $23,000 a year and up to 52 percent for those making over about $70,000 annually.

Prostitutes by and large have not been protesting the tax crackdown, according to AP. Which is not to say no one is complaining. At least one Dutch prostitute said to an AP reporters she has been paying taxes all along, but blamed immigrants from Eastern Europe for not paying their fair share.

Something to moan about.

BERLITZ CRUISING & CRUISE SHIPS 2011 by Douglas Ward- Thought Leader!

Melissa Lande — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 18:00:00 GMT

Now in its 26^th year, the guide by Douglas Ward is the only cruise book you will ever need. Douglas Ward, the world's foremost authority on cruising and the author of all 26 editions of the 2011 Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships —an indispensable book for cruisers that is, Ward proudly says, “totally independent, with no commercial links to any cruise operator.”

In a 45-year career in cruising, he has earned a reputation as "the most feared critic in the business," according to The Times of London. Using an elaborate rating system, he has logged more than 5,600 days at sea on more than 1,000 cruisesThat is because Mr. Ward created a ranking system that enables him to systematically check every possible aspect of hundreds of cruise ships each year.

Equipped with tape measure and flashlight, Ward prowls and inspects each ship like a maritime Sherlock Holmes, thoroughly checking (and critiquing) all aspects of the cruise experience—from the quality (or lack thereof) of the cuisine and the entertainment to the size and comfort level of the cabins and the “hidden costs” that can ensnare the unwary (like paying “extra gratuities”). No element goes unnoticed. Is the height of toilets or the water pressure of showers problematic? Are the bath towels soft enough? Are there proper facilities for the disabled? The kitchens may be clean, but what of the fingernails of the servers—and are they attentive enough? That is Douglas Ward at work...

In the past ten years, American cruise travel has increased by 6.4%. This year, it is estimated that 14.3 million people will embark on a cruise. Berlitz’s COMPLETE GUIDE TO CRUISING & CRUISE SHIPS 2011 is singularly devoted to provide consumers with every possible detail to help them choose the best possible cruise vacation this year with detailed, candid reviews of over 250 major ships, and Ward’s no-holds-barred assessments on:

Steering clear of some so-called “cruise discounts” that may actually be pricey marketing gimmicks
Avoiding some cruise-line rip-offs (watch yourself, for example, on currency conversions, paying extra gratuities and the “unacceptably high” cost of transfer buses in some ports)
At-a-glance charts comparing the major cruise lines for cabin facilities, food, service and tours
The top cruise lines’ strengths and weaknesses
Where to find the best spas and entertainment
Expert advice for singles, honeymooners, families, and the physically-challenged
Expedition cruises, sailing ships and freighter travel
Full-color maps of principal cruise destinations

BONUS FEATURE: Sign up for FREE regular updates for the first time ever!

As new ships are launched and cruise lines compete ever more fiercely, it’s hard to keep up. Forewarned is forearmed, and you can learn of the latest changes by signing up for Douglas Ward’s free quarterly newsletter, available through Berlitz’s website. Based on his intensive schedule of ship visits, he will detail the facilities that have changed aboard ships since going on press with the 2011 edition. He will also keep readers updated on industry news—cruise lines changing ownership, ships changing their names, new cruise terminals and money-saving tips.

To sign up for this free service, available during the lifetime of the 2011 edition, simply email your name and place of residence to cruiseletter@berlitzpublishing.com. To buy the book, visit www.berlitzpublishing.com.

More info- on book or App- contact mlande@landepr.com

DIGITAL VERSION OF THE ‘BIBLE OF CRUISING’ IS INTRODUCED AS APP

Melissa Lande — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 04:28:00 GMT

Pick a cruise ship from the world’s top authority, on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. Yes, there's a first time for everything!

After 26 years of success in print form, the annual Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising and Cruise Ships by Douglas Ward is now also available in digital form as the Berlitz Cruise Ships 2011 App. With comprehensive descriptions of every possible criteria, such as size, accommodations, cleanliness, food, and entertainment, this directory of ocean-going cruise ships is now the most objective and complete source for cruising information in digital form and is available for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

For veteran and first-time cruisers alike, the App features quick and easy access to Douglas Ward's detailed reviews, ratings and statistical information through user-friendly touch-screen menus. Whether shopping for a vacation or already ticketed, solo travelers, families and couples can cruise through a couple of easy screens to browse through in-depth reviews of over 280 featured ships.

The app follows Ward’s world-respected rating system, and allows users to search by traveller type, ship size, cruise line or star rating, and highlight and save possible ships for future reference. Since Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships provides the most extensive cruise ship information anywhere, users can explore ship accommodations, cuisine, entertainment and fitness facilities, and see images of every vessel.

Completely independent and accepting no sponsorship, the Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships is internationally recognized for its cruise ship ratings system. Douglas Ward, considered the world’s top authority on cruising and cruise ships, continues to spend up to 200 days a year aboard cruise ships, inspecting and evaluating their facilities.

The Berlitz Cruise Ships 2011 App is now available in the U.S. for $16.99 (25% off the standard price of $21.99). For further information, visit www.berlitzpublishing.com.

About Berlitz Publishing

Berlitz Publishing has been committed to helping the world communicate for more than a century. Today, Berlitz remains the name you can trust for all your language-learning needs, from award-winning, all-audio courses to complete language-learning products for adults and kids. Berlitz also publish a worldwide range of travel guides, including the world’s best-selling Berlitz Pocket Guides, the Berlitz Handbook series packed with practical advice for country destinations, and, of course, Douglas Ward’s Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising and Cruise Ships 2011 as well as The Berlitz First-Time Cruise Guide.

MEDIA: Contact: Melissa Lande, mlande@landepr.com for App Code, book, more information....

Public Relations & Communications Professionals on Linked In

Melissa Lande — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 16:12:00 GMT

There is an excellent closed group on Linked In called "Public Relations & Communications Professionals". So if you are one such professional, join the great discussions!

There's been some fun posts thanks to Jim Bianchi about corporatespeak and the words we disdain the most-- There have been so many great ideas.

I posed the question later on the things PR pros do not like about meetings. The post on this blog prior to this one was extremely premmature. I think a lot of people were away when the question first appeared, so stay tuned for a final tally- I received a boatload of responses.

Just proud of my ranking and it's really kudos to Jim Bianchi who really got the ball rolling! Stay tuned. We're a rollicking bunch (going forward). (We hate that expression.)

From Linked In Public Relations & Communications Professionals:

Top Influencers This Week

My Survey on Linked In: What PR Pros Hate About Meetings

Melissa Lande — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 17:44:00 GMT

I did a little survey on the Public Relations & Communications Professionals Linked In group to see what folks do not like about meetings. Yes, they are necessary but according to my respondents -- they are good and bad, mostly bad. Here are their consolidated commentaries about meetings:

I'd estimate that 80% of meetings are a waste of time. If it involves a group of more than three people, then the meeting won't be relevant to most of the people involved; it is a waste of time for most of the attendants.
Usually, the meeting's only function is the aggrandizement of the host.
There is only one real benefit of a meeting; it is the opportunity to network. However, this statement is also misleading because you can gain the friendship of someone much easier in a private conversation than a large meeting.
I am lucky. I have the ability to control my own schedule most of the time. I cut out most of my daily meetings. Since doing so, I have nearly tripled my productivity.
It's not a time to create the illusion that you're adding value by challenging presenters without cause, contributing needlessly to agenda items in which you have no expertise or involvement, or starting discussions that have no relevance to the agenda or to the other people in attendance.
Ideally, a meeting will result in action items for most, if not all, of the participants.
If anybody was doodling or daydreaming during the meeting, then his or her attendance was probably not required.
For me it's when there is no clear structure and when two people have conversations that they should have had before the meeting - it wastes time!
I hate it when you're really tired and you find yourself yawning. I end up making strange facial movements to make it look like i'm not yawning, as I don't want people in the meeting to think I am yawning through boredom!

(Thank you to Steven Quint, Emma Gascoigne, & Gerry Matthews, who were thoughtful enough to say what works and doesn't work for them. Those in the photo are the un-named TIME WASTERS!)

The best advice I ever got about meetings, specifically conference calls, was for any intelligent participant to forfeit his ego at the door, pretend to listen when it is irrelevant, listen when it is relevant, but always end with a courteous touch with the statement, "Good ideas all around!" Stay cheerful even though we know there truly is a lot of waste of time-- and time and focus is what we need!

2011: Seize The Day, the Year & Keep the PR Resolve Going

Melissa Lande — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 12:58:00 GMT

“This is the beginning,” wrote poet Billy Collins. “Almost anything can happen. Think of dawn, the letter A … this is the very beginning.”

Before we can march on with our plans for 2011, we must first fortify ourselves. I took the liberty of quoting from a piece written by Maria Sirois, PsyD, from the Kripalu Teachers monthly newsletter.*

Called "Claiming Our Strengths Sustaining Healthy Change," it asks whether

you are Ready to throw off the shackles and get serious about making changes?

I believe every day is a new beginnning. But the crowd in NYC last night stretching from 42 Streets to 59th up Broadway marked the "moment" of change, as they have done since about 1908, with the ball falling and noise all night.

Which left me to wake up early and write this!

Says Sirois, "I believe that any day of our lives can become the beginning of a life that is reinvigorated, fresh, and healthier than ever. As a psychologist and workshop leader working in wellness, business, and spiritual centers, I have witnessed many people create a meaningful life by taking one moment and finding what’s important in it. Claiming our strengths is how we then remember that moment and act on it. "

She notes that we make resolutions, sign up for classes,pay fees, break additions in the beginning of the year and then... and then frequently dissolve the resolve. "How can we do it differently in 2011? What are the keys that enable us to sustain healthy change? " (or healthy business-as Lande Communications says)

We must claim our strengths in three ways:
1. Accessing a clear mind.
2. Celebrating our unique gifts and qualities.
3. Remembering what is at stake.

Accessing a Clear Mind
Says Sirois,"The first step toward our new life is to act with consciousness and choose the wisest course of action through a clear mind. We each have wisdom about the arena we ought to—and want to—address in order to create a more positive life. But to access that wisdom, we need to create for ourselves a practice that enables us to be mindful of both who we are, right now, and who we most long to be. "

Translation to this entry, "Be mindful of who you are and what your business is becoming. Take a moment and reflect each day --Who are your bulleyes clients? And are you pursuing a curse of actualon automatic pilot?"

Because anything automatic will not allow creativity that is needed.

Says Sirois, "Many give up in that third week of their new regimen because they simply haven’t chosen the arena that addresses their unique vision of who they long to be. They are doing what they think they should do, or what others are doing, and not what they are authentically excited and prepared to do. "

Celebrate Your Strengths & Unique Selling Proposition

It's hard to be unique when PR/marketing changes by the micro second. But says Sirois of the individual, "Once we have listened within, we are then free to take ownership of our life further by leaning on our signature strengths . Those strengths refer to the characteristics and values that define us uniquely. As we bring these strengths to bear, we find we have not only a greater sense of self-regard, which is sustaining in and of itself, but we also have more energy with which to make the change we desire."

Mashable, Foursquare, Cloud Computing -- these were a couple of the major buzzwords and concepts in 2010. What's coming in 2011? You have to keep learning. And doing.

Remembering What Is at Stake
The path toward healthy transformation requires that we must first claim our goals, our power, ourselves.

Says Sirois,"What is truly at stake here? Everything. As we grow into a life that thrives, we become more energized, more peaceful human beings. As this occurs, we naturally give more: we are kinder, more aware, more awake to the possibilities of how we impact others. Focusing on our own health actually benefits the larger world. As we remember this, we find the energy and the courage to follow through with our chosen transformations."

Now this may sound like too much inward thinking for the business world of communications; however, engaging clients is what the business has become. Engaging them and having them engage with each other is the standard bearer of social media.

Says Sorois," It is a new year, a new dawn. This very moment is the moment for an invigorated life.

Says Melissa Lande, "Every day is new, and every moment is a time to stop, listen, watch, and make note of where you are and where you want to go." The transition to 2011, in that sense is a marker along the way. We go by lots of monthly, weekly and daily markers. So the marker of "the year" is the biggie. I say the marker of each day is bigger.

Welcome 2011. Take a breath. Begin again.

*Kripalu is the largest yoga school in the U.S. and its teachers are sent its newsletter as food for thought ot inspire their students and keep themselves grounded. If it applies to teachers, it applies to leaders, i.e. that's why this article is here. Self-examination and strengthening your own core as you strngthen the core of your business is key.

20 Business Buzzwords You Want to Kill - and You Hear in PR so Often

Melissa Lande — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 00:44:00 GMT

Credit for this wonderful piece that we have been needing for awhile (and that everyone should bring to their first meeting in 2011) goes to Bianchi Public Relations Inc., whose President made a great Linked In game out of this and elicited so many responses. I am so happy to say virtually none of these are keywords for me.

by Bianchi Public Relations, Inc.

The results are in. Based on our unscientific poll of members of about a dozen PR, marketing, communications and business LinkedIn groups, there are multitudes of words and phrases that grace the business lexicon that you would like to banish forever.

Some are perfectly good words and phrases that suffer from overuse, some have been hijacked by consultants and have lost all meaning, and some, it appears, we just abhor because an annoying boss or colleague uses them.

Anyway, from approximately 500 nominations made over the past several weeks, here are the top 20 business buzzwords that your colleagues would like to see gone, followed by a nominator’s comment:

1. At the end of the day – “At the end of the day, it’s night. So what?”

2. Solutions / solution provider – “Everything is a solution, not a product or service. They’ve even turned solutions into a verb – solutioning? C’mon people, just stop!”

3. Low hanging fruit – “Can’t we just saying ‘quick wins’? And why don’t we ever talk about the ‘high hanging fruit?’”

4. Moving/going forward – “Shorthand for: whatever I say after this, don’t ever let it happen again!”

5. Leverage – “Bizspeak for ‘we’re really going to put the screws to someone now.’ And the someone may be you.”

6. Out of / outside the box – “Out of the box and into the garbage!”

7. Value add / value added / added value – “If you add up all the value adds, you’ll get 110 percent”

8. Thought leader / leadership – “Or is it that you just thought you were a leader?”

9. Synergy / synergize – “Derives from the words synthetic – imitation – and energy, so we’re talking about fake energy?”

10. Cutting / leading edge – “Unless you’re talking about saws or airplanes, forget the edge.”

11. Circle back – “Consultant speak for what a group does after they put things in buckets, did deep dives in the fishbowl, performed a wash up and got on the same bus.”

12. Reach out – “Can’t we just say contact or call?”

13. Talk / meet offline – “Means I want you to stop talking now and will rip you a new one later, when there are no witnesses around!”

14. Granular / granularity – “Unless we’re talking about sand or sugar, let’s just say examine closely. Next we’ll be looking at the atomic level.”

15. Bandwidth – “Hijacked from the IT world, let’s send bandwith back where it belongs, cyberspace!”

16. Utilize – “Like many verbs ending in -ize (especially those fabricated from adding -ize to a noun to try to make it a verb), could be said in a clearer, simpler way … in this case, use.”

17. Incentivize – see Utilize above.

18. Best of breed / best in class / world class – “Best of breed – yuck! Let’s leave the animal husbandry terms out of this!”

19. It is what it is – “Of course it is, otherwise it would be what it isn’t, which it clearly is not … is it?”

20. Engagement / engage – “Unless we’re talking about an impending wedding, engagement causes my enragement!”

Finally, moving forward, at the end of the day, we wish you a best-in-breed holiday and a value-added New Year full of synergy and granularity!

Did WikiLeaks chief Assault the Farmer's Daughters?+ book deal

Melissa Lande — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 00:05:00 GMT

OK, so the reports are in that Julian Assange, the uberstar chief of WikiLeaks, is writing an autobiography. The finest of the fine NY publishers Alfred A Knoph is said to be coughing up $800Gs, plus more deals in London, etc.

What does this have to do with Sweden and social media?

There have been allegations that Assange sexually assaulted two women in Sweden. That was in Britain's Sunday Times, where Assange said he'd use the money to defend himself against these women.

The Assange story is weird by the nature of WikiLeaks. I always like a PR spin on every story, and this time I'm stuck on the Swedish link. Sweden, home of "the farmer's daughter"-- ranks in the top five countries with respect to low infant mortality. It also ranks high in life expectancy and in safe drinking water. Some other things that come to the American mind about Sweden: the Nobel Prize, IKEA, Volvo, Ingrid Bergman, Greta Garbo, ABBA, bright colors, liberal attitude toward sexuality in general, and happy people. (That surely is not the total case; Sweden has a dark side including high taxes.)

London courts let Assange out on 16 December on bail -- he nows wears an electric tag, which, I doubt, lights up every time he makes a WikiLeak. And a London court will hold a full hearing in February regarding Sweden's request for extradition.

He has been quoted as saying he doesn't want to write the book (don't make me do it!) but he has to to defend himself against the Swedish women's allegations and to keep WikiLeaks going. (And remember, the U.S. hasn't sent out the big guns yet but our Secretary of State is smoking mad about the leaks, which have compromised security.)

I'm aware that folks are taking sides all over the place, but that is not what this story is about.

How did Sweden get into the middle of the WikiLeaks story? Crime. Sweden has also taken on an elevated profile in America already this year thanks to a new twist on Stieg Larsson's Milennium series, which includes The Girl With the Green Tatoo. Even though Larsson passed away in 2004 at age fifty (a shame- great author) it was revealed he was in the process of writing a fourth book to the series when he died.

And starting with the U.S. craze for more Stieg Larrson books, we were not surprised to learn that an author who wrote such crafty books had an analogous mystery post mortem. We want the fourth book, and now there is an estate battle between his family and his longtime partner Eva Gabrielsson, who has refused to talk about it and won't reveal the whereabouts of the last installment in the series. Sweden doesn't recognize unwed couples when it comes to estate planning and that is a problem to unwind for the Larrson estate since Eva's got the goods (and, in fact, worked closely with her late partner.)

Back to Assange. His troubles in Sweden are mounting. The story is fascinating. I'm just waiting for the Swedish profile to loom larger than life in 2011 in the U.S. somehow, between Assange, possible rapes of women and information, Larrson crime novels and an estate fight. Let's mix it all up and watch the fur fly. Meanwhile he's got the money. What does that say?

How will 2nd Generation of Apps Affect YOUR Business?

Melissa Lande — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 19:30:00 GMT

Be Melissa Lande, Lande Communications

Dawn Reiss has summarized 2010 according to how Apps are trending,and it's a good piece in OpenForum.

So what's up with Apps and what's coming?

1. The Honeymoon is Over. Reiss is talking about the initial OMG "Apps Are Here and they can do anything" trend. Now, according to her, the new nuptials are between Apps and mobile phones. She points out that in the initial flush of excitement, users would download anything free. But free is not free because it takes up space - on the limited mobile bandwidth-world.

2. Your Apps are "Mini-Me". According to Reiss, newer Apps will recognize their user's voice, verbal patterns, location.  Quotes from her article: This means the App will be able recognize  when someone is  discussing having lunch with someone and will bring up a list of  restaurants based on the user’s past. Apps will be able to  tell if someone is driving based on the GPS and  high speed of movement  or if someone is walking with their cell phone.  Based on that  information, an App can decide when it is appropriate to  give certain  information like directions, theater ticket suggestions or  coupons.  Think of it as  Pandora  for your life.

3. Apps are kind of (a good marketing) Big Brother Tapping on Your Shoulder. Marketers will have a real good time "drilling down" to the oil of the micro-niche. So when you walk anywhere, they will suggest - do this! Buy that! Go there! You will be pinged with offers.

4. App Developers Will be the Ones with Crystal Balls, digging into your psyche. Reiss quotes Mutual Mobile CEO John  Arrow, whose  App development, strategy and design  company in Austin, TX,  has worked  with Audi, Google, Cisco, and others. His comments: “Predicting what  the user is  going to want to do and minimizing the steps a person has to  use an  application to do it is huge. It’s a cool concept that will continually monitor what you  are  saying.”

5. Apps will be easier to use- clearer.Everything gets better after it's new.

6. More Apps will need more aggressive marketing -- (Is there an App for that?)  No! And when there is, I challenge it to a duel.

This is where PR strategy comes in. Do you use Twitter? Facebook? All? Traditional PR. Having a pro help you set the stage for something new at the very beginning makes the most sense.

As the smogosphere (my word!) becomes more crowded with Apps, tweets, links, everything, I wonder about how how productive it all makes us. I saw, like everything else, pick the Apps you need, stay up on the trends, but limit the time you read about all of it.


How can you be productive? An App should save, you time, money, trouble and hopefully, you can turn off the pings when you need to.

Which will lead me to my next piece on OVERWHELM.

If you want to know more about Apps, the Go-to is Appolicious whose site rates and recommends Apps. Its editor said:  At the beginning of 2010 that there were 100,000 iPhone Apps and  maybe less than 25,00 Android Apps. Now there are over 350,000 iPhone Apps and over 100,000 Android Apps, compared to 15,000 BlackBerry Apps.

SUMMARY ON APPS END OF 2010 according to Appolicious editor/expert:

"Think of it like the early days of the Internet circa 1997 when there was enormous enthusiasm, and a lot of people, but not everyone, had access to the web . Back then businesses were able to get away without being online, but not five years later. Appolicious editor/expert Spirrison sees Apps in the same vein "Apps are quickly becoming a mandatory component running a viable business if a business wants to expand and market a declining or plateau. The iPad, iPhone, Android and even BlackBerry, all offer avenues to expand a potential business pool. Nielsen predicts that by the end of 2011, the majority of mobile subscribers in the U.S. will have smartphones. Which means, according to a Neilsen White Paper, it’s a “fertile ground for the growth of mobile Apps.” As of June 2010, 59 percent of smartphone owners and nearly 9 percent of feature phone owners report having downloaded a mobile App in the last 30 days.

For more on Apps: The State of Mobile Apps by The Nielsen Company

WikiLeaks has a Branding Problem; Don't Talk about WikiLeaks

Melissa Lande — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 17:41:00 GMT

In a piece posted this week in Corporate Counsel by Sue Reisinger after Wiki founder Assange was arrested, she reveals that corporations are distancing themselves from the leaking faucet of numerous political documents, putting WikiLeaks not only in the doghouse, but on Skid Row. Will it last forever? My guess- there may be First Amendment advocates that could provide the services that Visa and MasterCard and other companies that have now withdrawn WikiLeaks accounts.

Says the article,"A WikiLeaks spokesman told The Associated Press that the classified information would keep flowing online regardless of the hardships. Earlier the Swiss finance site the organization was using to accept donations was closed down, just days after its U.S. finance site closed its account."

And by now, Americans who read newspapers online or in print should know that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder authorized several significant actions against WikiLeaks. And we know that First Amendment rights are important to this administration, so these are serious charges.

We believe in Freedom of Information, but revealing revealing classified government documents is a bad idea for a lot of reasons, the most glaring of them being that the average person has NO IDEA how surveillance and other methods of security work.

On the other hand, when a govt securityadviser like Richard A. Clarke, author and counter-terrorism czar in the Clinton and Bush Administrations, talks about security in books and in the media, he was not releasing documents but tales of experience IN CONTEXT. Following his strong criticisms of the Bush Administration, Bush administration officials and other Republicans attempted to discredit Clarke or rebut his criticisms, making Clarke a controversial figure-- however, he was not leaking classified information in Real Time.

If you have faith or no faith in the U.S. govt, (the waterboarding set a bad precedent), the world of Homeland Security has areas too sensitive for the general population to understand. The world of security goes far deeper than that; the public doesn't need to know about day-by-day operations for the sheer reason that they have no context, experience or training to this information. How operatives work has nothing to do with the news. Why else would exposing Valerie Plame cause the ruination of her career and be a terrible scandal? Because people are not supposed to know what she did for a living for a reason. (The people responsible for exposing her, on the other hand, were never punished-- though what they did was, in fact, analogous to what WikiLeaks did on a different scale.) Mr. Assange is in jail; they're not.

Back to his troubles: "The interference occurred when the now disabled wikileaks.org site became the target of multiple distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks. Later EveryDNS posted another, almost apologetic statement, saying, 'Let's be clear, this is a difficult issue to deal with and there are opinions on all sides. Second, EveryDNS.net, the world's largest free managed DNS provider, is not taking a position on the content hosted on the wikileaks.org or wikileaks.ch website, it is following established policies so as not to put any one' user's interests ahead of any others.' "

More: "The Washington Post reported that the White House Office of Management and Budget has told all federal agency general counsel to remind workers and contractors to avoid WikiLeaks."

When Corporate Counsel reports on the federal government implementing such a policy, you can be darned sure that every publicly trade corporation will do the same -- and for good reason.

From a publishing point of view, I believe that WikiLeaks can be a good thing, but not this way. If they had infiltrated Enron, that could have saved people from great financial loss. If they reveal other ways that organizations are "getting around" the many new areas of compliance that constitute "the new transparency," citizens could be spared many difficulties.

If your time is limited and you want to track important legal trends, check out Corporate Counsel.

Before the PR -- the Web Hits are coming : The Stones, Hendrix, Wonder, Bruce

Melissa Lande — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 01:18:00 GMT

BEST PRACTICES IN SELLING & PROMOTING ROCK PHOTOS ON THE WEB: and the web hits keep coming

My friend and great rock photographer Art Reilly has been going to concerts a long long time. After he worked as a combat photographer in Vietnam (and after the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart, he went straight to his favorite venue, as he deserved to-- rock concerts-- camera in hand.

Of course this was "back in the day" so you can see Hendrix and Wonder and Mick and Bruce, all when they were young (and in some cases, alive).

The word is there will be a possible Stones' 50th Anniversary Tour in 2012-- celebrating their first record...... Art's photos from the 1972 tour ten years later, the STP tour, basically define a real rock tour. And what Art has on greatrockphotos.com is a basic magical compendium of their concerts -- 40 years ago. So young. See what they were drinking. See what they were doing. Only onstage. It's the story of an era.

With no PR whatsoever-- just word-of-mouth- he's getting hundreds of hits a day and we all hope that at these prices, lots of rock music lovers will want never-before-seen prints to give for holidays. It's the best happy high value for a low cost you'll be seeing this year, no doubt.

This shows that niche audiences always want to know about what's new, and when they really like it, they buy it. The quality of the photos, the fact that they've never been seen before, and Art's homespun commentary make it worth a trip on your computer into rock world. "I just found out that Stevie Wonder is rarely photographed standing at a mic ; 99% of time he is shown behind a piano," Art says.

So here's the marketing strategy. Everybody buy them for the holiday and we'll hit the inbound marketing and PR button after that. We'll be doing some inbound marketing on these sizzling photos real soon. Meanwhile if you have any questions for Art on the website, let me know, or go right to him. He's Uncle Rock Remus- he spins a tale like no one -- and makes you wish you had been there even if you were. You would have wanted to be right by his side because where he goes is magic. Just take a look.

(And by the way, Art has an Emmy (more recently-acquired)-- and a treasure trove of vintage rock photos). I have the portfolio in New York for the galleries -- and we'll be selling them on the high end too.

www.greatrockphotos.com I'll keep you posted on the marketing.

What Daniel Kalder said on Publishing Perspectives & PR

Melissa Lande — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 03:00:00 GMT

In a piece called Authors, Social Media and The Lure of Magical Thinking, Daniel Kalder wrote the best paragraph for tools of change for those in publishing on Linked In that have have seen in quite a long time. His direct quote:

"What do I mean? Well, consider the following essential truths about publishing: crap sells, except when it doesn’t. Quality never sells, except when it does. Good men die screaming in the gutter; the wicked flourish. To quote William Goldman: nobody knows anything. Given that we live in a state of total chaos, it is only natural that individuals study the chicken’s entrails for guidance. What’s that spelled out in the guts? Blogging! Facebook! Awesome! What could go wrong? Blogging is free, plus you can subvert the hierarchical media model and go direct to your readers. Wait for it, but here comes the magical thinking: Hey ma, lookit me! Any minute now I’m going to go viral and everybody’s going to buy my book!"

OK now, read Daniel Kalder's blog. He's one that I am going to watch. This is what I call the shakeout is coming. Too much crappy content and along comes Kalder.

Daniel Kalder is the author of Lost Cosmonaut and Strange Telescopes. Visit him online at www.danielkalder.com.Authors, Social Media and a Year of Magical Thinking

Keywords Out; Dawn of New Era of Social Media Optimization

Melissa Lande — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 16:29:00 GMT

In an article posted today on paidcontent.org, Ben Elowitz (@elowitz), the co-founder and CEO of Wetpaint, a web publisher, and author of the Digital Quarters blog, which analyzes the future of Publishing 2.0, talks about the beginning of a new era where SEO's value has new transparency and less value-- the era of SMO.

His article title says it all: SEO is Dead (sic)- The New King is SM0.

The article, a must-read if you haven't heard about the ongoing rift about engine optimization (SEO) being the driver of searches, that is, until now....

Says Elowitz: “Over the past five years, Web publishing has been so heavily dominated by search that, to many publishing executives, the right keywords have become far more important than their sites’ actual content or audience. But this movement toward SEO has been dangerous, as it’s moved publishers’ eye off their most important job of creating great content, and onto the false goals of keywords, hacks, paid links, and technical engineering that their audience doesn’t know or care about.”

Pretty heady stuff.

This, of course, is not the end of SEO, and the article -- it is argued in many places-- doesn't cover all of the ground. Nobody puts Google in a corner.

But it is a soft launch of the beginning of a well-needed shakeout. The message in digital publishing has been: CREATE EXTRAORDINARY CONTENT. That’s a bit of an oxymoron if you’re talking length of blog post—but, in this case, Elowitz’ post rates it. Which is why he’s saying that while so many publishers (information providers) with good brands are mega-producing posts for Google to crawl and rate, the SEO tactic will be usurped. Why? Because there's so much "stuff" you don't need or want. When and totally? Not relevant; it's all a process.

How it will occur –says Elowitz- is already in the works by way of the Facebook/Bing partnership “to integrate social and search results.”

Then the clear message – do you hear it? According to Elowitz, “this clearly marks the beginning of the end of SEO, and the smartest digital publishers will drop everything to rethink their distribution strategy entirely.”

Conclusion: Elowitz’ own sites like Wetpaint are seeing “more audience coming from Facebook than from search.” Why? So many keywords, their meaning becomes, well, less meaningful. People want the best experience, the direct hit, the added value. Says Elowitz, Facebook has the advantage that value content, not keywords."

More arguments in social media are yet to come (we have to populate the blogs, after all) but at least know this is a piece of what's "trending."

He officially is calling this new dawn the era of “social media optimization” --(SMO) as opposed to (SEO). Or as Eliza Doolittle said (forgive the poetic license, R&H), “Words, words, words, I’m so sick of keywords.”

What should savvy marketers be thinking about if NOT keywords? Unlike art for the sake of art, the hell with content for the sake of content. Aren’t you just sick of the barrage?

Says Elowitz, “The opportunity is now once again creating and refining the most appealing content possible.”

REFINE. Now that’s a whole new challenge. And a metaphor: for business, government, and the pursuit of happiness.

ANd ultimately on top of refinement is the real king: ENGAGEMENT.

Read Ben’s article. http://paidcontent.org/article/419-seo-is-dead-and-the-new-king-is-smo

Attitudes of Small Business Thought Leaders Reflect Their Industry's Performance

Melissa Lande — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 16:20:00 GMT

In an effort not to just promote fear for small businesses and instead, generate real world “how-to’s,” this blog started with the recent U.S. Chamber of Comerce's Poll that sets forth the notion that there is a lot of fear among business owners. In Lande Communications’ sampling of businesss owners and Thought Leaders, we talked to Stephen King, CEO of one of the nation's largest outsourced bookkeeping and Controller services in the U.S.: GrowthForce, located in Houston.

According to Stephen, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's poll results do not completely reflect the views he’s seeing in his client base, service businesses between $2 and $20M in revenue.

“My sense is the beliefs and attitudes of the small business community mirror the overall population perspective - it splits down the middle. Certain industries are doing well - Web 2.0 technology firms, government contractors, to name a few. Those businesses have owners who are “heads-down”, without time to worry excessively about what Washington is doing. Those in more traditional and stagnant industries have tremendous fear and are have more reason to question everything done by politicians. “

“I believe your view on the economy is a direct reflection of where you sit: either by vertical market or your personal political views. Entrepreneurs are generally an optimistic and fiscally conservative group of Americans. I concur there is a lack of optimism and a lot of fear about the economy. What’s missing in the Chamber survey results is why – it’s the extreme frustration that our overall government system is broken.”

He continues, “Their view of the fearful is tainted by their personal beliefs. I hear ultra-liberal CEOs give Obama too much lee-way and ultra conservatives spend too much energy on trying to get his administration run out of town. Certainly, nobody I speak to believes getting an extra $250 tax refund or $1000 tax credit for hiring a previously unemployed individual will make any difference in decision-making process. But something like the fear of changing the capital gains tax is heavily impacting year end planning behavior right now. “

Stephen King and GrowthForce believe there is a great need to dig past the Chamber survey questions (and so many polls). “The results don’t answer why there is so much frustration. It’s with our government system in general. The consensus among accountants and controllers is that it doesn’t matter who is in power – government is broken on a local and national level on both sides. This fuels the pessimism and careful activities of our industry. That’s where our fear and pessimism come from. The gridlock, cronyism, and continual cycle of campaigning adds to the noise and confusion.”

He suggest a more interesting conversation is whether a third party would make a difference that would stop the gridlock.

But for right now, he’s a “heads-down” entrepreneur who keeps growing his business. “As member of three local Chambers of Commerce in Northeast Houston, I wanted to raise my head long enough for the Chamber to hear what’s behind that fear and uncertainty…. I’d like the U.S. Chamber to put energy into finding solutions for a broken system, not just tell us we’re afraid.”

Stephen King, CEO,www.growthforce.com.GrowthForce provides outsourced, online bookkeeping and controller services to companies using QuickBooks.

Media & Polls Help 'Keep Fear Alive' for Midterm Elections

Melissa Lande — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 21:26:00 GMT

Several weeks ago, WebCPA commented that “Small business owners are much more pessimistic than the average voter about the national economy and Washington’s attempts to solve problems, according to a new poll, which also showed that small business owners are among the most motivated about this fall’s elections." Said U.S. Chamber exec VP Lisa Rickert in the WebCPA piece, "This poll reveals there is a lot of fear among business owners in this current economic climate."

As a small business owner and PR professional, I was astonished at the quote. If you're a media spokesperson from the Chamber, at least say you're dismayed by this? Show a little thought behind the thought since the Chamber is, after all, all about small business.

My eyebrow raised when I saw that the poll was conducted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform, which "the progressive media" have recently, let's say, had a few negative things to say about alleged foreign donations to the U.S. Chamber that are being allegedly donated to an anti-Democratic media initiative.

The Chamber's Poll involved 1,000 respondents. 78% of them said that the U.S. economy will either remain stagnant or get worse over the next year. Their gloom and doom findings were more negative, says WebCPA, than 64 percent of adult voters who answered the same way in an August 10 NBC/Wall Street Journal poll. Of course The U.S. Chamber poll would have to be more negative; it was also more negative than findings in a more recent September Wall Street Journal/NBC Poll, which, by the way, gave the president's job-approval rating at 46 percent, up one point from August.

Politics aside, because we don't want to go THERE in business, we were told. Instead can't we just look at what experts in small businesses say? I decided to do my own random polling of small business leaders in a few market segments for Lande Communications' Leader Blog. All polls are is a snapshot in real time anyway -- so I interviewed Thought leaders whose professional lives help small business owners in various ways. Without a political agenda.

My first respondent, John Hartnett, a professional with a wide array of expertise including excutive recruitment, publishing and digital content, says, "The biggest issue that concerns me with regard to federal government intervention related to economic stimulus initiatives or regulatory oversight is that the level of complexity surrounding these issues makes it difficult for elected officials to 'get it right' in spite of having the best intentions. The second biggest issue is that the best intentions our elected officials have for us comes second to the best intentions they have for themselves -- which is getting re-elected."

He continues, "I would suggest that a simple question is all that's required to gather consensus on the public's faith in the federal government's ability to successfully address our economic tailspin: 'How many of our elected officials in Congress do you believe actually read the 1000+ pages contained in the stimulus bill before they voted on it, and how many do you believe actually understood what they were voting for or against?' "

To be Continued....

Social Media Film Goes Viral with its Business Lessons

Melissa Lande — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 19:47:00 GMT

Besides being a well-scripted film, "The Social Network" has gone viral as thought leadership grist for business lessons for the business blogs. In SmartBriefs' social media smartblogs, Emily Molitor directs comments to enterpreneurs. Her takeaway list said:

A brilliant idea is just that … until you put it into action. The movie features an intellectual property lawsuit in which fellow Harvard students claim Zuckerberg stole their idea. Lesson learned? The world waits for no man. If you are smart enough to come up with a winning concept or idea, keep it to yourself or enlist partners you trust with confidentiality agreements in writing — or better yet, get a patent.
Go for the 3,000-lb. marlin. Your picture won’t be in the paper if you net 14 trout in one fishing trip — but it will be if you catch a 3,000-lb. marlin. Push your entrepreneurial vision to its limit and go after it. Don’t settle for what is easily accomplished and miss out on realizing the idea of a lifetime.
Be forthright with your business partners. A second lawsuit that shaped the movie’s plot featured Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin suing Zuckerberg for essentially pushing him out of the company. Zuckerberg’s character never plainly tells Saverin that his business-development ideas don’t fit with his grand vision for Facebook (fed by Naptster’s Sean Parker), and he then proceeds to dilute Saverin’s shares in the company. The lesson — communicate with your partners, listen to their advice, work to gain their buy-in and know when to cut business ties.
Your business is only as good as its latest review. At one point in the film, Zuckerberg’s character goes into meltdown mode when he fears that Facebook’s site may crash. His point? It only takes the site crashing on one person to create frustration and negative word of mouth. Consistency builds customer trust, and once lost, it is difficult to regain.
Businesses should be like fashion, ever changing with the times. Zuckerberg’s character makes the key point early in the film that “Facebook” is never “done.” The site is constantly evolving to be a better and more comprehensive product.

As a public relations professional and "media socialite", I wanted to add to the points in her column. Thanks, Emily!

Certain types of people have winning thoughts. Zuckerberg had a sort of OCD while envisioning Facebook, piling idea onto idea as they came. One of the problems with entrepreneurs today is that they (we: I'm guilty of this) often think we have the Big Fish or the Next Big Thing and spend too much time on it. In MZ's case, time wasn't money (although it turned out to be). He actually did have the next Big Idea, and the script is great in its (real or unreal) documentation of this process. As Robert Kapa, the famous war photographer said, "The pictures are there, and you just take them." MZ saw fish after fish, and hooked each one until they all merged into the one big fish. Because he was a kid with much to learn about business, this process was his self-run business school. And there are so many lessons to be learned; most entrepreneurs are much further along in this learning process when they begin. But then again, most of them are not as rich as MZ.
Let me speak to the movie, not real life. Again, we're talking about a kid with an idea who made deals with his peers and others as he went, but not really. Really is when you have disclosure statements and lawyers. However, life imitates art. While professionals are not usually college students or even children, they often make deals based on emotional impulses to get even with or "be better than" the guy who screwed them or made them suffer a loss of some kind. If a decision comes from that much emotionality, you will weave one of those troublesome webs.
Is your business only as good as its latest review? Having been in PR forever, that's how was when things moved by snail mail. But if you look at politics as business, for example, with the help of electronic media, many politicians garnering heinous reviews are doing quite well, while providing no customer service at all, just the "idea" of customer service. We're living in an "Idea of" culture. Branding creates an identity which is an "Idea of" what your business does or why you are a good politician. Real customer engagement requires the power and energy of true engagement and even if FB had crashed, ze spin-meisters could have easily chalked it up to Beta test mode; correction in progress. Aren't iPhones still the phone of choice? I know my Apple stock is pretty good. So when it comes to reviews, it's sometimes moot unless that reviewer is someone iconic in the field and even then, you won't wrest an iPhone from the grip of an engaged user.

Here's my Zen Question for the Day pertaining to this issue of bad reviews: In the case of a serious Big Bang, will a driver who is out of gas stop at a BP service station if no other choices are available without looking over his shoulder?

Business should be like fashion, ever changing with the times, says Molitor, and righto. If we have ever learned that lesson, it's been in the past two years when the entire business community had to continually reinvent itself, even more so than in past years, when reinvention and imagination have been the drivers of all business. You find a hole for a service or product and fill it. Now you do that with a whole new technology toolkit, a revised business playbook (more on that later), and the need for much more scrutiny about money -- coming in and going out.