commbasics

Lot's of people like to say they can get all the information they need from press releases on the internet. So here's an interesting vignette that happened today (and has happened many times in the past couple of years: I get an email from a design team manager asking for information about a particular product that no longer is available for a company that no longer exists. It was a former client, by the way. The guy offered how he found the information. He used a search engine using terms describing his issue and the type of tool he was using. The news release popped up in the first seven results, so he figured it was a good choice. The release was well-written enough (thank you) to beat out tools from currently existing companies that did not know how to use search engine optimization. Oh, yeah. And the release was 3 years old.

Paul Miller posted some stunning data this week in his blog .  I've reported for many years that companies in the semi industry (and yes, that include EDA) underspend in marketing, but I had no idea how low it had gotten.   An Outsell report stated that most B2C companies are spending 4 percent of revenues on marketing while B2B companies spend 2.6 percent.  Semi's on the other hand spend less than one percent.  Since most surveys on the subject show that successful companies always spend between 5 and 10 percent, that explains our economy in a big way.  The report also said that companies are not doing enough to differentiate themselves (What? You mean calling yourself an industry leader isn't enough?) Now, combine that with an EE Times survey Paul references that "technology leadership and great products" don't drive sales.  What does is service, support, cost and availability and that is something no one in the semi...

As I said in part one a few weeks ago ,  Social media attacks the tradition mass communication paradigm with a natural flow of communication, which is why marketers and journalists often chafe at embracing the practice.  What I've seen happening through this paradigm shift (geez, I never thought I'd hear that phrase again) is the rise of the value of talented, trained and experienced communicators within corporations and organizations that are making an effort to figure this stuff out.  That probably doesn't include your company, though. I was describing what is happening in social media to a friend who has no connection with high tech (they do exist, you know).  He thought a bit and then said, "Sounds like their going at it like they're killin' chickens."  It was a great analogy.  When you slaughter chickens (and yes, I have done this) it involves a lot of running about, noise, flyiing feathers and blood.  Total ch...

I was sitting at my desk this weekend sifting through a bunch of material on social media and it came to me like a flash. Media isn't dying, disappearing or shrinking. It's fracturing. I was sitting at my desk this weekend sifting through a bunch of material on social media and it came to me like a flash.  Media isn't dying, disappearing or shrinking. It's fracturing. Marketers are being besieged by new media concepts and offers that go against pretty much everything they are used to doing.  And they are coming so fast that no one know what to do with them all.  In the past week I reviewed presentations from the well known media houses (Techinsights, Reed, Hearst) media hybrids (Extension Media, Tech Focus Media, RTC Group), new media (Techbites, IBSystems) and a host of social media consultants offering to set up Facebook pages, Twitter accounts and blog sites.  I've seen a lot of interesting concepts, most of them badly presented....

I spent sometime chatting with Jim Price and Dan Holden who are managing the social media program at Cadence Design.  Cadence has  been involved in social media and networking longer than any other EDA company, starting with the online version of CDNLive, and one of the more experimental, including their relationship with Xuropa .  I have to give them kudos for their willingness to explore as well as make a place for traditional journalists in their efforts.  I'll let you listen to this edited version of the conversation (it was 30 minutes long) and will be making some comments in a few days. Cadence social media

A long time ago...and I wrote about this a few months ago...media wasn't about profit.  It had a higher purpose in mind.  With my son watching Citizen Kane this week for his film class I ran across a clip I had forgotten about.  Sums it up nicely.

I just got off my fourth phone call in the past week from someone asking my to help them get some media attention on another partner release.  I've told them the same thing I've been telling everyone for three years: Unless it is a painfully slow news month the chances are virtually zero.  Here's why:  First, there are 5,000 private technology companies in early to mid stage funding in the US at any given time, according to Dow Jones, Second, All 5,000 of those companies are negotiating with at least on Fortune 500 company on some sort of partnership/joint agreement.  All of those companies will issue at least one news release about the agreement and will be seeking media coverage.  That means the technology press are dealing with, on average 13 partnership announcements every week. Third, none of these agreements will mention what specific customers are being served by these agreements, nor what products will be made available to customers as a...

I've always been surprised at the negative reaction most marketers have had toward social media until I finished up leading my third seminar session on the subject and it suddenly became clear to me.  For most marketers, and even several journalists, the underlying mechanism of social media is foreign.   The oldest form of human communication is simple conversation.  Human language was developed to exchanges ideas and desires between individuals and within small groups.  That is how we have connected with each other for millennia.  It looks something like this: The flow of information is multidirectional and no one is in control of the outcome. The upside of this kind of communication is issues can be resolved in realtime.  You get true concensus. The downside of oral communication is that when you express an idea, you can get a negative response ranging from a simple disagreement with your premise to a punch in the nose. Those looking to avoid ...