January 21st, 2012 by Meghan O'Sullivan
I recently came upon this cover letter that was written by Hunter Thompson (1937-2005), American Journalist and author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, among other works. He wrote the letter in 1958 to apply for a newspaper job at the Vancouver Sun. According to his online bio, he never worked for the Sun, so I presume he didn’t get the job, but what honesty and humor. For all of you who are trying to get a job or sell a product, this will surely bring a smile to your face. Heck, it may even inspire you to take more chances. Ah, if we only had the courage.
http://boingboing.net/2010/10/05/hunter-s-thompsons-1.html
Hunter Thompson
December 30th, 2011 by Meghan O'Sullivan
As we say in marketing, "Image is everything." Last weekend CBS ran a story on Photographer Theresa Berg who is changing the grim images of animal adoption photos into something that potential pet owners can't refuse. She's using marketing to save lives- and it's working. Here's the link to the story.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUORkJ08PYY
September 22nd, 2011 by Meghan O'Sullivan
Ever wonder how to stand-out in crowded market, especially one where there is little or no product differentiation? In such cases you need a story that sets you apart, and a provocative story can really get the job done. Here is a bank willing to deliver a provocative story that drives home a memorable message.
September 24th, 2010 by Meghan O'Sullivan
A new study by George Washington University researchers calculated overall costs of obesity in men and women. They factored in everything from increases in sick days and medical costs to higher grocery bills and even extra gasoline (the heavier your car load, the more gas you guzzle). And the study revealed that obesity costs women $4,879, and men $2,646.
But, here’s the kicker. The increase cost of being obese had less to do with medical spending. The study found that obese women were paid lower wages than their normal-weighted counterparts, while obese men did not suffer any salary loss.
Should we be disturbed by this? Yes. But surprised? Not really. Remember the 2007 study published in the Journal of Economic Pshychology? Researchers investigated whether there is a beauty premium in the workplace. They found that those deemed the most attractive made 12 % more money than those regarded as less good looking. However, they concluded that part of that was due to the fact that more attractive people have more self confidence and therefore socialized and networked more for those top positions.
But “beautiful people” beware. The study also found that when “beautiful people” are not pulling their weight in the work place, their good looks count against them and the less attractive come out as the winners.
September 20th, 2010 by Meghan O'Sullivan
The Corn Refiners Association petitioned the FDA this week for permission to re-label “high fructose corn syrup” as “corn sugar,” which got Mitch Butler and Josh Landis of “The Fast Draw” to thinking, what’s in a name?
The piece describes how important a name is whether you’re a movie star or naming a town, weapon, product or, even a fish. There’s some good advice here. For instance a name should be a) descriptive b) unique but not absurd c) have an emotional connection.
I’d like to take that a step further. It’s not just your name that needs these components – it’s the story about your product, service or company. Words are powerful. Use them wisely in your press releases, web copy, product sheets and sales pitches!
Have a great week everybody. I’m now stepping off my soap box and heading back to my “productivity playground.”
Here’s the link
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6881745n&tag=cbsnewsVideoArea.0#ixzz105E0yJUo
July 7th, 2010 by Meghan O'Sullivan
Is your sales force begging you for additional marketing support because sales just aren’t where they should be? Don’t worry, the problem may not lie within your marketing program. It could be that your company's prospects just don’t think they have a problem that needs solving or they are not in enough pain to be motivated to buy your solution. That’s where a diagnostic tool comes in. A good diagnostic tool can come in the form of a questionnaire or a tool that measures the monetary size and scope of a problem. Diagnostics can help expose issues and problems that were not readily apparent to the buyer. Just remember, your diagnostic needs to uncover problems that you can solve. And be sure your follow-up proposal or pitch addresses solving the problem head-on. In addition, we often encourage our clients to charge for their diagnostic as it adds more weight and credibility. Otherwise they may brush the results off as a sales tactic vs. really uncovering major issues that need to be resolved.
July 2nd, 2010 by Meghan O'Sullivan
In a recent post on BNET, Donna Fenn, an international author and journalist, calls-out PR professionals on spamming, poor writing, poor research, pitches that go too long and more. The Seven Deadly Sins of PR is a great reminder for all of us about the dos and don'ts of pitching to reporters. However, there's a bigger, underlying problem contributing to these “sins.”
I would bet that most of the long, poorly written pitches are due to the fact that the account executive has been assigned a very complicated story. This is almost always the case when pitching innovative technology companies that have developed new products, fitting into new categories. The blame however, should not be placed on the junior level account executive. Oftentimes, the blame lies with the technology companies for dismissing the importance of investing in a solid messaging strategy. Instead they hire junior level copywriters to regurgitate what the company thinks is important without doing any testing of the message. Unfortunately what the company thinks is important isn't always what their target markets want to hear or what reporters want to hear for that matter. So, copy gets developed for websites, marketing materials and PR pitches that miss the mark entirely.
The best investment any start-up can make is in producing a solid story. After all, before people buy your products, they have to buy into the story about it. Essentially your story is your product and requires just as much time, research and strategy as a product development. Good messaging strategists work backwards from the market to develop messages that address buyer’s needs. They distill complicated technological innovation into value benefits, position you against market alternatives and provide a delighter - a ”hook" for the buyer, or in this case the reporter.
If companies don't spend the time and money involved in developing a good story- losing a reporter's interest is the least of their problems.
June 22nd, 2010 by Meghan O'Sullivan
Each day, medical devices are developed to help prevent, diagnose, treat, and monitor serious and life-threatening diseases. After taking years to develop, these devices then undergo a regulatory review process before entering the marketplace. It then takes even more time for them to be adopted into clinical practice and for patients to realize the benefits.
Can the government do more to encourage the development of the next generation of medical devices? That is the question that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and participants from other federal agencies will examine this week at a workshop titled “Identifying Unmet Public Health Needs and Facilitating Innovation in Medical Device Development.” The workshop is scheduled for June 24, 2010, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Hilton Washington DC North/Gaithersburg in Gaithersburg, Md. This initiative also is designed to identify potential barriers in the development of devices that the federal government can directly or indirectly remove or minimize to meet a public health goal.
The meeting will be an opportunity for the FDA and its federal partners to listen to academics, industry, and users.
Source:
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
January 29th, 2010 by Meghan O'Sullivan
The I-pad
Well, the iPad presentation came and went and from a story telling perspective, Steve Jobs did a great job with his delivery and with generating excitement up to the presentation. But the story didn’t achieve all it could or even elevate the product to the level of wonderment everyone expected. Why? It missed some presumed attributes.
Presumed attributes, are those product features that everyone assumes will be in the product. If they are not there, the reaction of prospective buyers is negative.
And although there were plenty of “delighters,” those features that people weren’t expecting such as the price, the virtual keyboard and quality of the e-book reader; they became overshadowed by the fact that the presumed attributes were missing.
The presumed attributes that were missing from the iPad story included:
• A Camera
• The ability to run multiple applications simultaneously
• And Flash for watching videos.
The lesson to be learned is that while new innovation is exciting, if product marketers don’t address what people presume, the disappointment will slow the adoption of the product. Hopefully the Apple developers and marketing team are reading blogs like this and put back in what we presumed would be there.
January 26th, 2010 by Meghan O'Sullivan
I came across a wonderful organization on-line the other day called MassMouth – The Power of Story- The Living Art of Story Telling in Massachusetts. How can you not be intrigued?
On January 31st the organization is hosting its next “Story Slam” at
The Enormous Room & Central Kitchen 567 Massachusetts Avenue Central Square, Cambridge Hosted by Will Luera from Improv Boston.
I highly recommend this for marketing executives who want to learn the ingredients of good story!
What is a story slam ?
Based on a poetry slam format, a story slam is a contest of words by known and undiscovered talent. Each of the featured 5 minute stories is judged on how well it is told, how well it is constructed and how well it honors the time limit and relates to the theme. Prizes will be awarded at each slam. There is a $7.00 cover – $5 for students/seniors. You can get more information at www.massmouth.ning.com
0 Comment » 
