Help A Reporter Out (HARO) is a service created by Peter Shankman (follow his Twitter account) as a resource for public relations professionals and reporters to find each other when they have common needs. The service originally began as a Facebook group, but needed to be expanded when they exceeded the 1200 person e-mail cap.

When reporters need sources for stories, they get in touch with Shankman. He filters out the spam and dishonest requests, then he compiles the source requests into 3 daily e-mails. Those e-mails get sent to you, when you sign up, and then you have the opportunity to “pitch” info for those stories.

For PR professionals, this is a great tool for getting relevant content published and promoted. No longer do you have to exploit the few Journalism contacts you have, or cold pitch a reporter. For Journalists, it’s an instant database of quality, relevant source material.

I’ve known about the service for several months now, and have heard nothing but positive reviews. If you feel so inclined, visit the site and sign up! The only thing that Peter asks is that the submitted material be helpful to the journalist, on target, and not simply a “BS way for me to get my client in front of the reporter.”

Check out the service www.helpareporter.com - if you use it, please let me know what you think!

In an earlier post, I asked if you would sell your profile to advertisers. At the time, I had used the service Twittad to sell ad space on my Twitter profile.  I listed it for $5, not thinking that it would ever sell.

Well, it did.

I’m almost through my month of advertising, and I have to say, I’m still not convinced.  Yes, you might be able to use the service to make money in the short run - after all, with their sister site what’s your tweet worth up and running - people will be asking for cash left and right.  But as Erick Schonfeld said in a recent blog post, buying a Twitter profile just doesn’t make sense for advertisters.  Most people don’t visit twitter profiles on a regular, or even semi-regular basis - and that’s a problem.  Plus, you can’t click on the ads, which creates more work for the target, and that’s never a good idea.

What’s My Prediction?

Ultimately, unless Twittad can make their product more dynamic, and show advertisers that twitter profile ads can deliver measurable results, the service will fail.

1. Port O’ Brien – I Woke Up Today
   If your public school education was anything like mine – you spent a lot of time making dioramas. Book reports, science reports, gym class – dioramas were key. Port O’Brien takes their first single, which is about as power pop as I think they’ll ever be – and brings a child’s diorama to life. How cool is that. This is probably my favorite video of the year.
2. Weezer - Pork and Beans
   OK. Calling Weezer “Indie” these days is like saying John McCain isn’t old. That said, they have indie roots, and their video for Pork and Beans is probably one of the best all around videos of the entire year. Who knew that getting a bunch of Internet “celebrities” together for one video could be so damn entertaining?
3. Justice - D.A.N.C.E.
   Ah hipster t-shirts. Everyone’s got one – these guys apparently have hundreds. Not only is the song catchy, but the video is pure eye candy – which is everything a video for a dance song should be. It’s a simple idea that’s executed to perfection.
4. Mercury Rev - Butterfly’s Wing
   Animation and music just belong together. (See Handle Bars by Flobots) Not only does it make for great aural-visual stimulation, but there are many more opportunities to make the music and visuals sync up. Mercury Rev does a good job here – even if I’m not a fan of the song.
5. TV On The Radio - Dancing Choose
   This video features a dancing headless dude in a suit – which should make it #1 just on principle. But alas, it just doesn’t cut it. This is another example of why animation is perfect for music videos. Is it just me, or does this remind you of the Modest Mouse video for “Float On”?
6. Vampire Weekend - A-Punk
   Fun video with a lot of energy – what’s not to like? Reminds me a little of OK Go’s “Here it Goes Again”.
7. Deerhoof - Chandelier Searchlight
   Are you getting tired of the animation yet? I’m not. When I was a kid, I used to make my own stop motion animation videos – I wished they’d turn out as good as this. Though, I can’t say I ever thought to use construction paper as my medium – maybe that was my problem…

From my MadeLoud Blog

The times ain’t easy. With the recent news of the AIG bailout and the largest Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in U.S. history, businesses everywhere are looking for ways to save money. Microsoft, finally realizing they made a huge mistake in their $10 million investment in Jerry Seinfeld, have done an about face. They rolled out a new ad campaign after only 2 installments into the now-notorious Seinfeld/Gates debacle. Best Buy has said they will cut back their marketing budget, and they certainly aren’t the only ones. This shouldn’t be coming as a surprise – when the economy slows, large corporations typically look to shed marketing expenses before they make any other changes. So why then, in this uncertain marketing landscape, is Internet marketing so gosh-darn important?


It’s highly measurable.



Traditional media campaigns, measured by truly flawed services like Neilson, only recently started collecting data on important segments like college students. On the other hand, Internet data collection is fairly comprehensive. Site traffic, banner clicks, purchases, tweets, e-mails, comments, word-of-mouth can all be tracked, measured, and analyzed. And while, in the past, Internet users tended to skew to some predictable demographics, it’s getting better. 
There are a slew of services that help marketers understand the quality and quantity of the Internet users who interact with a website or other Internet campaign. This, combined with the ability to instantaneously make changes, allows for many more on-the-go tweaks to campaign tactics. After all, collecting good data is critical to obtaining good results. Which brings me to my next point:


It’s cheap!



Sure, television and print are sexy. There’s nothing quite like watching your favorite TV show and seeing an ad you commissioned or created flicker across the screen. But it sure does cost you. As of the 2006-2007 television season, a 30-second spot on American Idol would run over $600,000 - and with DVRs, competing channels, and ad conscious viewers - there’s no guarantee your target ever saw the ad, let alone interacted with it. Add that to the fact that just one ad never cuts it, and you’d be looking at spending millions to even make a marginal impact. On the other hand, you can fund an Internet marketing campaign for half of what you’d pay for traditional media. I’ll admit that banner ads, the digital strategy that people are probably most familiar with - are typically ignored. However, the smart marketer will explore other, more interactive tactics for their campaign - think, Twitter, Facebook, Search Engine Optimization, Blogging, and a host of other options.


Is Internet Marketing for Everyone?



Well, yes and no. If your target market contains a demographic that isn’t economically privileged, educated, or in a developed country - then the Internet probably isn’t for you. But, if you’re someone like Microsoft, who hasn’t exactly had the best of luck with traditional media campaigns, you might want to start looking at the Internet - especially when the economy is a little sluggish.

From My LevelTen Blog

According to a recent post by Branding Strategy Insider, the ever innovative search provider proves that marketing research isn’t necessary, and may even be a hindrance to new companies looking to follow in Google’s rather large footsteps.

“Marketing students in the 80s learned their brand management from Coke, and Apple taught the key branding lessons in the 90s, so it’s no surprise that Google provides the best branding lessons of this decade. Here are 10 of the most important, to celebrate Google’s triumphant anniversary.

One: don’t be too keen on market research. Google’s initial success was driven by technology, innovation and the drive of two brilliant founders. Too many great brands have been ruined by a premature desire to meet consumer needs. Great brands usually begin with personal inspiration and only later worry about the satisfaction of others.”

I agree on the basic premise - initially, Google did not require much in the way of marketing research to become effective and prosperous.  In fact, they don’t need much research now either.  Their dominant position in the market affords them the opportunity to take innovation risks that other, smaller companies would not be able to do.  They have the money to roll the dice on 10 or so new products, with the understanding that only 1 or 2 might succeed.

That said, Google was able to capture lightning in a bottle, and I wouldn’t expect another company to come along and have similar success simply becaue they decided to forgo marketing research. Too often, good market research can uncover inspiring and innovative ideas, or discover unmet needs within a marketplace.  For a new company with limited resources, good research can mean the difference between success and failure. There are plenty of great companies and products that are founded on good market research.  It would be a mistake to begin abandoning it now simply because Google did it too.

Advertisers sure are a crafty bunch.  With Twitter finally hitting the mainstream, it was only a matter of time before someone figured out a way to monetize it.  Twittad is a new service that promises to make you money by selling adspace on your Twitter profile.  When you sign up, you provide your Twitter account info and your paypal info.  Then, you name your price.  According to Mashable, Twittad hasn’t been around for long enough to provide any guide as to how much your twitter profile would be worth.  Currently, my Twitter account (@calshei1) has 115 followers and I listed it for $5 for a one month period.  It hasn’t sold yet, but I’ll let you know when - and if, it does.  Even if some high-octane Twitter users are able to make a little money off this endeavor, I remain skeptical at its use as a viable advertising platform.  For one, the ads are not clickable, which means users are presented with a large barrier between seeing the message and acting upon it.  With click-through rates of regular internet ads so low, you can be sure that anyone seeing a Twittad won’t be taking the time to enter a web address into the URL bar.

How can advertisers use a service like Twittad?

It’s a tough question, but my guess is that it could be a marginally usesful (and cheap) way to generate campaign and brand awareness.  If a company is launching a new product and simply wants to build name recognition, then they could design some clever ads for that purpose.  In fact, I would treat the service more like a print ad or a billboard.  Include a call to action, but don’t make visting a website the primary goal.  For example, you could design a digital coupon into the ad.  All the viewer has to do is print out the Twitter profile to redeem the coupon.  With a new untested service, there’s room to be creative and innovative - so have fun with it.

In the meantime, I won’t exactly be waiting anxiously for my profile to sell.  But if it does - social media will have (finally) bought me a beer.

I used to believe in Guerrilla Marketing.  I used to believe in its ability to make a message stand out in a media saturated climate.  I used to believe in its cost effective ways and its ROI capabilities.  I used to believe Guerrilla Marketing was the shining beacon in a dark, dark world.  But that was before my experiences with a large agency that specializes in so-called “Guerrilla Marketing”.

Guerrilla Marketing originated as a way for smaller companies to compete with the big guys.  Lately, it has been used more by large corporations looking for a way to carve out a place within a crowded market.  As with most marketing strategies, there are effective and (many more) ineffective tactics.  A good tactic, for example, would be a campaign that encourages consumer interaction and involvement, or one that surprises and entertains.

As I’ve witnessed lately, however, ineffective Guerrilla tactics can include, but are in no way limited to:

• Intruding upon personal space
• Hassling target consumers
• Poor campaign management & execution
• Poor target market selection

Example #1

Alcohol Brand Misunderstands Its Target

Critical to any marketing or advertising campaign is the selection of a target market that makes sense for the brand.  For example, you wouldn’t even dream of marketing beef to vegans.  So why would a premium brand of distilled spirits that clearly appeals to a young and trendy demographic, run events in dive bars where the target is more likely to drink a Bud then a cosmo?

Maybe it’s for the word of mouth - after all, securing a place in the consideration set of a prospective customer is almost just as important, right?  Well, after a cursory search of blogpulse.com and summize.com - two fairly good indicators of word of mouth, this particular brand of adult beverage turned up very few results.  This brand turned up in about .001% of all blog postings in the past 6 months.  In comparison, Barack Obama, a major political brand, peaked at 1.5% after the DNC.  On Summize (now Twitter’s official search engine), the beverage brand barely moves the needle, turning up a tweet maybe every few days.  Barack, by comparison, turns up a tweet every few minutes.

Results for Beverage Brand

Results for Barack Obama

So what does this mean?

It means this campaign has not been effective, at least by my research.

Example #2

The Failures of a Major Banking Chain

If you’ve ever been to Times Square (or any other busy urban center), you’ve no doubt experienced what marketers like to refer to as, “street teams”.  Usually handing out flyers or coupons to passers by, these poor souls are typically ignored, actively avoided, or worse - verbally attacked.  So why would a major banking chain with millions of dollars at their disposal, choose this tactic to support the launch of a new branch?

Here is the story of one of these street teams: for 4 hours on a Saturday morning, brand representatives walked around parking lots of major shopping centers.  When they weren’t avoiding being seen by store management (no one bothered to get permission - another issue in itself) they were handing out cards to very busy people after a more than likely stressful shopping experience.  At the end of the day, they had the opportunity to ask the branch manager how many people visited as a direct result of their efforts.

The answer?

3 or 4.

A phenomenal waste of time and money.  Both of which could have been better spent exercising a little creativity and not using a tactic that I for one, have never seen work.

I Still Can’t Give Up

Guerrilla Marketing still has too much potential for me to give up on it - even though my desire to do so is strong.  Despite its shortcomings and misuse, Guerrilla Marketing is still one of the best ways for a company with a small marketing budget to compete with the big boys.  It’s also still one of the better ways to create opportunities for target consumers to engage on multiple levels with a brand and to cut through media clutter.  For a strategy that is almost a quarter century old, you’d think marketers would have figured it out by now.  I guess Guerrilla Marketing still has a long way to go.

I’m a wine-o. I’ll admit it. Not quite the snob that most people would expect when encountering one, but you won’t see me drinking Franzia or Sutter Home anytime soon, either. Since moving to Dallas in early June, my girlfriend and I have had a hard time finding a wine store we liked as much as our favorite stores back in Ithaca, NY (if you’re ever in the area, head down to Northside Wine, or Red Feet Wine Market - you won’t be disappointed).

Mostly, we’ve relied on Central Market to supply us with our fermented grape beverage of choice.  90% of the time, Central is great - we’re almost always able to find a delicious bottle in our price range.  But they don’t quit have the selection, or personal touch of a smaller wine shop - nor do they carry a diverse selection of every-day, affordable wines.

We’ve taken a few trips to Sigels (Northside without the service) as well.  While you can almost always find an affordable wine there, they definitely don’t have the selection of even a Central Market.  Sigels subscribes to the mass market appeal theory - stock as many commercial wines as possible, with a few smaller operations thrown in for flavor.  Essentially, it’s an expanded version of a generic grocery store’s wine section.

We were beginning to lose hope of finding that perfect wine store that could meet all our needs.

Enter Cork.  (3636 Mckinney Ave, Dallas, TX)  Cork is one of those rare breeds of wine store that has something for everyone and combines that with an innovative retail model.  For those who have not been, the concept is pretty simple.

• Pick up a Cork Card (essentially a gift card).
• Add money to the card - I added a modest amount, $20 for my first visit.
• Peruse the interactive computers at each of the 6 tasting stations, each organized by a different theme (Top Sellers, Varietal Red, Varietal White, Regional, Winery/Winemaker, Collectables)
• Select a wine to taste (ranging in cost from $1 to $10 for some of the collectable wines)
• Swipe your card
• Taste!

You can also purchase wine by the glass and snacks to go along with your shopping/tasting experience.  After tasting/snacking, you can move on to the retail section to browse Cork’s thoughtful lineup of wines.  Most were too expensive for our budget (still haven’t found a store with a great lineup of affordable wines), but if you can afford a $15-$30 bottle of wine on a regular basis, then this store is for you.  In the meantime, though, I’ll continue to enjoy tasting wines I wouldn’t normally have access to.

Was directed to this post on Very Good Taste, by one of my favorite food blogs, Serious Eats. Basically, you copy the following list, post it to your blog, bold the items you’ve tried, and cross out the items you’ll never try. An optional extra is to comment @ www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

Be sure to include the above instructions when posting the list to your blog!

Total tried: 34/100

Total will never try: 2.5/100 (roadkill, insects, and a fat cigar - sorry, but don’t need the cigar to enjoy some cognac)

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Because you’ll get cut.  Like I did.  Major ouch.  I’ve been banned from knives for a little while as the wound heals, so looks like the girlfriend will be taking over the brunt of the cooking duties here at the apartment.  (Which is never a bad thing - she’s a terrific cook!)