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I found myself listening to a pretty powerful group of people talk yesterday about the economic trends in my hometown, Richmond VA.  Jim Bacon, Jeff Cooke, Michael Sesnowitz, and Greg Wingfield all sat around – well, on stage – and talked about whether or not events like the Wachovia Securities move from RVA to St. Louis would cause an economic tremor in River City.

When I heard about the WachSec/AG Edwards merger, my reaction was “Opportunity!” – for new businesses, for watching some real-time change management, and for writing a new chapter in the Story of River City.  Turns out I’m with the smart set on this one, since that was the consensus of the experts.

The presence of VCU – and the engagement between VCU and the region’s business community – is a prime example of how the practical application of knowledge can be the storied tide that lifts all boats.  A university that’s plugged into business trends provides learning – and a workforce – that’s relevant to need AND that drives innovation.  The very model of win/win.

The interplay and collaboration between education and business would really make an impact in primary education, too – wouldn’t it be great if kids were taught early to find a need and fill it, rather than to get-good-grades-and-a-job?  The primary/secondary public education system seems stuck in a 19th century model.  Some concrete input from the business community on early education might address that – who’s up for pitching that to the Board of Ed…?

Comcast has gotten itself into some  deep kimchee – $4000 worth, to be exact – with the FCC over a video news release (VNR) it aired in September 2006 as a news piece on CN8’s “All About You” segment.  CN8 is Comcast’s “news” station, and is a good example of how the intersection of a need to fill air-time with the ready availability of corporate PR video can cause fender-benders on the information highway…

First, there might be no such thing as bad publicity, but I doubt that the folks who make Nelson Rescue Sleep, the product being touted in the fine-inducing VNR, are entirely delighted with the headlines they’re getting today.  Seeing a company’s name in a story about “fake news” can make a potential customer run for the exit to avoid getting ripped of by something “fake” – whether the actual product is snake oil or not.

Second, and more serious, is the further erosion of public trust in what they see on TV or in print labeled “news” – is it really news, or is it someone’s propaganda?  Propaganda has been around since the first clique formed, right after there were more than two people on the planet.  Everyone – individuals AND enterprises – wants to put their best face forward, to tell their best story.  Problems arise, however, when any story is presented as fact without independent commentary or opinion.  If you ask Allstate, they’re the best insurance company in the world – best service, best value, best coverage.  But if you’re doing a survey of the insurance industry, you’ve gotta get input from State Farm, too – AND from independent analysts.

I’m all about a good story – but telling a story to attract customers is vastly different than presenting that story, stand-alone, as “news”.  It ain’t news – it may be a great story, but it ain’t news.

That’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it.

I haven’t weighed in on this before because…well, because I was utterly sick of hearing about it.

No, I’m not talking about Paris Hilton, or Lindsay Lohan.  I’m talking about Michael Vick and his alleged dog-fighting operation in Surry County, VA, which led to Mr. Vick being indicted on federal conspiracy charges in July.

I’m flummoxed by the number of people who seem to be willing to defend him solely because he’s a black dude.  Black, white, green with purple spots – cruelty and horror know no color, and I wonder what man’s best friend would have to say about Mr. Vick, should Fido suddenly gain the power of speech.  I think Fido might just vote with his dentition, and sink his canines into Mr. Vick’s leg.

Dog-fighting is, according to current media conventional wisdom, a “cultural issue”, and judgment is supposed to be suspended on “cultural issues”.  The subtext here is that we’re supposed to cut Mr. Vick a break ’cause he’s keepin’ it real and participating in a “sport” that’s popular with professional athletes, particularly professional athletes who happen to be black.

“Keepin’ it real” appears to be code for rejoicing in ignorance, for celebrating what amounts to a willful lack of intellectual curiosity or engagement.  I’d abandon all hope if it weren’t for people like those I found at Black College Wire – in particular this post by Kai Beasley, a recent graduate of Emory University.

The courts do need to weigh in, and Mr. Vick is innocent until proven guilty.  But those who are leaping to his defense strictly because he’s “keepin’ it real” should take a long hard look at themselves in the mirror and ask what W.E.B. DuBois, Mary McLeod Bethune, Booker T. Washington, Martin Luther King Jr., or Malcolm X might say about embracing ignorance…

Here’s an example of what I mean when I say “tell a story” – this is a press release I wrote last week in advance of an event that took place this morning.  Please notice that at no time during this release is anyone “pleased to announce” anything– that phrase literally makes me grind my teeth.

Richmond, VA –- July 12, 2007 – Truckers, those sailors of the concrete and asphalt seas, are at the hub of American commerce, carrying everything – groceries and clothing, plasma TVs and medical supplies – from manufacturers and distributors to consumers across the nation. The margins in the trucking industry are razor-thin, with time between loads and fuel costs often eating into already small profits. The daily challenge for trucking companies is matching freight loads with trucks nearby, cutting down-time and empty-truck runs. In 1999,  GetLoaded.com opened its web portal as a truck and load-matching board, using the internet to revolutionize business process management for the transportation and logistics industry.

Bryan Jones, President of GetLoaded.com, will tell the Greater Richmond Technology Council (GRTC) how the company has combined the internet with a cutting edge computer platform and a user–friendly interface to revolutionize the trucking and freight industry. Mr. Jones will be the featured speaker at the monthly GRTC Good Morning Technology! Breakfast at The Place at Innsbrook in Glen Allen, Virginia on Friday, July 20, 2007, 7:30am to 9:00am.

As the leading internet load board, Getloaded.com handles over 140,000 loads a day for 27,000 trucking companies with upwards of 500,000 trucks. Managing and growing that volume of business, and providing value to all their customers, tech-savvy or not, has been GetLoaded.com’s goal since the company was started.

“We designed the site to be simple, fast, and easy to use, knowing that there is a wide range of comfort with technology in our industry,” says Jones. “Overall, the trucking industry is far more technology savvy than most people realize.” Truckers who have used GetLoaded.com to accelerate their own success include Chris Doran of LTD Trucking, who credits his relationship with GetLoaded.com as the reason his company grew from five trucks to thirty in six months.

The GRTC’s July breakfast is sponsored by Peak 10 Data Center Solutions. Peak 10 Richmond specializes in managed hosting services for businesses with complex needs and mission critical operations. Its world-class Richmond data center is staffed by skilled engineers and support personnel to ensure the security, integrity and availability of its customers’ technology infrastructure 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The Greater Richmond Technology Council is an association of businesses and organizations working together to promote the success of technology companies, and the growth of the technology sector of the Central Virginia economy.

In this week’s

New York Magazine cover article – the one that has Katie Couric on the cover saying, “Some days I’m like, oh my God, what did I do?” – the core of the issue, the a-ha, that’s why they’ve got a problem revelation, was right there at the top of page four:

At Today, she looked into the camera and imagined her average
viewer as a 32-year-old lawyer with a toddler who was preparing to
prosecute a case that day, or a stay-at-home mom who would “hopefully
get some things about raising kids or the environment.” On the CBS Evening News, she couldn’t see anyone in the camera lens. “I’m not sure,” Couric says drily. “My parents. I know they’re watching.”

No matter how good your story is, if you don’t know who you’re telling that story to, it won’t have the desired effect.  In fact, your story isn’t great, or even good, unless you know exactly who the story is going to be told to – because the audience will decide if it’s any good by agreeing to keep listening.

All the hand-wringing in the world won’t stop a newscast from sinking in the ratings.  CBS News has got plenty of audience measurement data, and they should know who they’re trying to attract to the evening news.  The next step has to be to tell stories to that audience.  Unfortunately, I don’t know that they know, or will do, that.  And therin lies the issue…

Do you talk to panhandlers? How about the compulsory car-wash – you know, the guys at the corner who swarm your car at red lights and “wash” (actually, smear) your windshield?

The panhandler and the compulsory car-wash guy are both interruption marketers. They spring out at you as you pass by, simply because you’re in their orbit. I bet you enjoy those interruptions, don’t you? You’re really anxious to listen to these guys make their pitch, aren’t you?

How about someone you meet at a conference, or a cocktail party? Do you talk to them? Of course you do. There’s context there, some shared story, even if it’s just the answer to “how did you end up here?”

That, in a nutshell, is the difference between interruption marketing (the old-school ad game: “New and Improved!”, “Prices Slashed!”, “Psst! Look! Over Here!”) and permission marketing (agreeing to listen to a story – a product message – because you have something in common with the story-teller).

Marketing used to be all about the interruption. Just getting the prospect’s attention was enough to start the sales process. In today’s ad-clogged marketplace, the customer is exhausted by all the interruptions, and has gone deaf and blind to blandishments like “New and Improved!” In fact, a marketing message containing that phrase will likely end up in the spam folder or the trash can. With the new-and-improved penis & breast enlargement product pitches.

OK, I can hear you saying “and just how in blue blazes am I supposed to do THAT, Casey?”

You tell a really great story, that’s how.

In Seth Godin’s terrific book “Permission Marketing”, he uses dating as a metaphor for permission marketing. You can dude yourself up and hit a singles bar, proposing marriage to every person in the place, and you’ll certainly accomplish something – perhaps getting thrown out on your ass, or being arrested for harassment.

Or, you can ask one person out on a date, and if it goes well, you can ask them out again –
they’ve given you permission to continue the relationship.

I’ve never been out on a date yet (and I’ve been on LOTS of dates, trust me!) where story-telling wasn’t a key factor in whether or not there was another date. Same holds true for marketing a product or service – you have a great story that draws the person you’re telling it to in, making them wish they were there? The story is selling them on you and what you have to offer.

What’s YOUR story? Your signature story, that says why you do what you do and why you’re so good at it? You need one that’s authentic, that’s truly yours, and that…well, tells your story.

In today’s you-gotta-get-permission marketplace, no story will mean no business. So – complete this sentence: “Once upon a time….”

I read a lot of press releases. I also write a fair number of them. Most of the ones I read – the ones I didn’t write, at least – lead me to wonder what the purpose of the exercise was.

Dateline: Anywhere, USA, Today
XYZ, Inc. is pleased to announce the appointment of Fred Smith as (insert C or VP level title here). Mr. Smith joins the XYZ team after (insert career track here), and is looking forward to…blah, blah, blah.

This is, of course, great news for Fred, and for XYZ, Inc. If it isn’t, XYZ, Inc. is in deep kimchee. But why would anyone outside of XYZ, Inc. care, based on the information in the press release?

Journalism 101 centers around the “Five Ws” – Who, What, When, Where, Why. Answer all those questions, and you’re a news item, right?

Wrong.

You do need to cover the five Ws. You also need to answer the question, “Who cares?” That will answer another important question, “What’s my lead?” You want to get the reader’s attention with your first sentence, to spark interest in the story you have to tell.  That’s your lead, your hook. Just trumpeting the fact that Fred Smith has joined the team isn’t a hook. But if Fred just joined XYZ after driving revenues up 150% in two years at ABC, Ltd., that’s a hook – and should be the lead on the press release.

Another important thing about press releases is: don’t just send them to the press. Post them online at PR.com, PRWeb.com, DBusinessNews.com, Yahoo and Google News, industry association websites, and any other web portal that your customers visit.

When you write a press release, write it as if you’re telling the story to that big customer you want to attract. If you do, you’ll get press coverage and market impact. When you distribute it, send it to the marketplace – the web – as well as your media list. This approach will get you press coverage, and it will also make your company’s news visible to search engines – and your customers.

One of the most anticipated events in recent television history, the final episode of The Sopranos on HBO, apparently left legions of fans (including this one) staring at their television sets in dumb wonder at 10:05pm on June 10.

An anguished outcry ensued (including Nikki Finke’s whining screed, with side commentary on how much HBO basically sucks and that subscribers are jumping ship in droves), which I admit I joined for about 15 seconds…and then I realized that this is actually the only way this series COULD end.

Life doesn’t end, even if one life does.  Just ask Phil Leotardo’s daughter, or Janice, or even Ginny Sack.

This series is quintessentially New York, including the bridge & tunnel crowd, of which the Soprano crew were proud members.  Things in the tri-state area don’t get wrapped up neatly, unless it’s a hero from Satriale’s.

In the Land of LA, appearance is all.  Gotta hide anything that ain’t perfect behind the hedge, or out past the Valley.  This is not to say that appearance doesn’t matter in NY – just TRY to get away without a predominantly-black outfit at certain social events – but in NY, we like our art a little messy.  Things don’t get completely resolved.  Life has ragged edges.

So, I think last night’s episode – in spite of some of its more obvious moments, like “Don’t Stop Believing” as the denouement’s auditory backdrop – but that cut-to-black?

Brilliant.

Jim Cramer, Mister “Booyah” himself, is bloody brilliant.

In an effort to clear up the tottering piles of print magazines that are always accumulating in this writer’s garret, I was going through said piles and tossing any that didn’t grab me with their cover.  (Magazine 101 – gotta grab ’em with your cover.)  And there it was – the June 4, 2007 NY Mag, with Mr. Mad Money himself on the cover, figuratively punching the viewer in the face and posing the question “Who the @#$%! does Jim Cramer think he is?” , bylined by his own self.

I couldn’t resist.  I abandoned the clean-up, and settled in to see just who the @#$%! Jim Cramer thinks he is.

Turns out, he thinks he’s a loser and a bit of a jerk – but he also is a glutton for attention, and has a deeply held belief that his audience is pretty damn smart.

That’s a refreshing change from most of the talking heads on the financial networks, who either read headlines between breathless reports from the floor of one exchange or another while spouting “Market’s up!” or “Market’s Down!” or “Market’s Flat!”…or pontificate on some piece of news that purportedly explains why the market is up, down, or lying there like a turnip.  All with an air of “we’re waaaay smarter than you.”

This goes a long way toward explaining Cramer’s Q factor – he’s one of the most recognized faces in financial news – and his popularity with the under-30 audience, particularly the college crowd, where “booyah” is a war cry heard on campuses across the land.  Cramer regularly does remotes from colleges and universities, and he’s greeted like a rock star at each and every one.

Love him or hate him, he’s a powerful force – and he’s bringing a whole new generation head-long into the real American pastime, making money.  The American Dream is built on the idea that you can make a killing as a savvy investor.  You can, if you educate yourself – that’s the “savvy” piece.

Authenticity and passion.  Stand up, tell the truth, back it up, and if you’re proved wrong, admit it.  Cramer gets so passionate about his topic that he ends up “sweatin’ to the market wrap” – given a choice between that, and the usually predictable pronouncements of the rest of the financial networks’ talking heads…I’ll take the sweaty guy, please.

I asked in my last post if you were the genuine article – Cramer is a great example of the point I was going for there.

I’m a communication consultant.  My customers want to become better at sharing their message.  Initially, they think that what I’ll help them do is become letter-perfect, to rehearse and prepare so they’re 100% “ready”.  I then show them that rehearsal isn’t what they need – they need a focused message, and an authentic, passionate delivery of that message.

It’s not necessary to demonstrate passion at the Cramer level to be seen as authentic, but you do have to walk your talk.  You have to believe what you’re saying is truth, and have your message resonate with  your market, and your team.

If they need to see you sweat, then sweat.

No, I’m not asking if you pass the Windows Genuine Advantage test.

What I’m asking is…do you fake it?

No, I’m not referring to the famous “I’ll have what she’s having” corned-beef-gasm that Meg Ryan made famous in When Harry Met Sally.

What I’m asking is…are you authentic?

It’s easy to fake it – to act as if you know what you’re talking about, even if you’re talking out of…well, your ass.  It’s easy to appear as if you give a damn, even if you’re thinking “who gives a sh*t about this (project/idiot co-worker/social issue)?”

Naked emperors dance willy-nilly through the streets these days.  Are you courageous enough to be the little kid down front who says…”But, the emperor has no clothes!”

It does take courage, because there’s a better-than-even chance you could face a firing squad before sundown with this approach.

But wouldn’t it be great if more of us did exactly what that kid in the fable did, and called ’em like we see ’em?

As a communication consultant, I find that people hunger for authenticity and truth.  Our culture seems to be captivated by the bread and circuses offered by the entertainment industry – of which I firmly believe the self-help movement is a part.

Here’s a suggestion – try telling the truth, every day, at least once.  Lead by example.  Who knows, you may even influence a politician…