http://www.becontentwise.com/wordpress/?prod_abbv=cw Just another WordPress weblog Wed, 15 May 2013 13:39:50 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en PR legend Jack Felton died earlier this month 84. You know what I remember about Felton? Exactly everything he wanted me to take away from our only meeting. In a warm and enthusiastic way, he was talking about the importance of communication. He had a glass of water at the lectern ... http://www.becontentwise.com/wordpress/?p=243&prod_abbv=cw I once asked my retired adman dad if he ever felt bad about making good ads for bad products, and he trotted out the old saw that nothing kills a bad product like good advertising, because the advertising exposes the product to the harsh light of day. But I pressed him, ... http://www.becontentwise.com/wordpress/?p=241&prod_abbv=cw Strategic communicator, what would you say if I advised you that, in order to get more clicks, hits and likes on your communication media, you should seek plausible ways to encrust your articles with photographs of scantily clad female employees? Preposterous? Well, it's exactly what the communication experts recommended—and ... http://www.becontentwise.com/wordpress/?p=240&prod_abbv=cw If I was dead right now, I'd be rolling over in my grave—log-rolling, actually, next to my late adman dad. My nine-year-old daughter says, "I think that was inappropriate." But later she softens her judgment when she realizes the joke is right about at her grade-level. And my schoolteacher wife, laughing her ... http://www.becontentwise.com/wordpress/?p=236&prod_abbv=cw The results of the 2013 content marketing Industry Characteristics Survey are proprietary for members of the Custom Content Council, and the summary we're offering in ContentWise won't be out for another week or two. But I'll offer one of the more profound findings right here and now: Video is smoking hot. ... http://www.becontentwise.com/wordpress/?p=235&prod_abbv=cw I received a message on LinkedIn: "The speech is for a mobile payments industry audience; looking for something 'visionary,' however. ... We are working on an extremely tight timeline—a week." —DM http://www.becontentwise.com/wordpress/?p=234&prod_abbv=cw A true story illustrates the need for communication professionals to have some journalism training. A Fortune 100 intra-company communication retreat, somewhere in the hinterlands. The corporate communicators are trying to teach the local communicators about storytelling, persuasion and other modern communication techniques. The storytelling session includes an exercise where everyone is asked ... http://www.becontentwise.com/wordpress/?p=233&prod_abbv=cw Viewer discretion advised, as message delivered with suitable profanity. —DM http://www.becontentwise.com/wordpress/?p=231&prod_abbv=cw “Trust arrives on foot, but leaves in a Ferrari”: You heard it here first. (Well, in any case, I read it first while reading a February speech by Mark Carney, governor of Canada’s central bank.) Pretty nifty, I thought, and a modern variation on the old Twain quote, “A lie can travel ... http://www.becontentwise.com/wordpress/?p=230&prod_abbv=cw You've communicated enough when your audience begins to communicate, on your behalf, with itself. This morning my nine-year-old daughter Scout was grumbling about how hard it is to focus on the standardized tests she's taking this week. I realized I was hearing preemptive excuses. And so—still in bed—I began to intone sternly (think ... http://www.becontentwise.com/wordpress/?p=229&prod_abbv=cw