To wit, while skimming through the classifieds of our local paper this weekend, I came across an ad for a used car. A 2001 Chevrolet Malibu, advertised, in the paper’s words, as a "replica of winner 08 car of the year."

Looking past the obviously stellar grammar, I surmise they’re referring to the 2008 version of the Malibu, which has been well-reviewed and has indeed won Motor Trend’s coveted Car of the Year award.

My take: I think we’re all used to a little hyperbole and creative use of language in the world of sales and marketing. In real estate, for example, "close to transportation" means "located on a four-lane highway" and "motivated vendors" means "we’re one step ahead of the federal authorities." But at some point, you cross a line where stretching it becomes an outright lie. A car designed in the late 90s and built through the early half of this decade isn’t a replica of anything released in 2008. Even the most ignorant consumer would eventually figure that out.

I speak from very recent experience: I clicked on a link to read an article. When the page loaded, it was half-covered by an ad for a magazine I would never read, let alone buy. As is often the case with these online annoyances, I had to look hard for the "Close" box. I clicked it to get rid of the offending ad. Nothing. I clicked the "X" next to it. Still nothing. This was one ad that didn’t want to be closed. The page that it half-covered was locked and unreadable, so I had no choice but to click on the ad and see what happened.

What happened was an online nightmare. I was forced to take a survey. Oh sure, I could have bailed, but I wanted to read the article. So I figured randomly filling in a few boxes would end this silliness and get me back to where I had intended to go in the first place. No such luck. It took almost 10 minutes for me to navigate through the survey - leaving nasty comments about the experience wherever I could. When I was done, I was dumped to a forlorn landing page, my beloved article nowhere to be found. I still haven’t read it. And I’m still upset.

If you think I’ll ever say a nice thing about the magazine, think again. Sure, they got my attention and got me to take their survey. But they kept me from doing what I originally wanted to do. They wasted my time. They got me angry. Not exactly the best way to get a message across.

So, as you look at your own online messaging efforts, ask yourself this question, and answer it honestly: Are  you ticking off your audience?

It’s true that we increasingly get our information via an electronic device instead of from a dead tree, it’s likely even more true that newspapers are doing themselves in. So let’s amend our opening statement: Ineffectively managed newspapers are dying.

Exhibit A is my hometown paper. Yesterday was Victoria Day here in Canada, a statutory holiday during which most businesses close up shop. In many cities, daily newspapers don’t publish. Here, however, our local rag had always had an edition on stat holidays. Until yesterday.

The paper had decided to stop publishing on stat holidays. Unfortunately, they neglected to tell their readers. A quick check of the Saturday and Sunday papers found no mention of the upcoming circulation policy change. Nothing on their web site either. Their call centre was inundated with calls from angry subscribers, wondering where their papers had gone. They presumably weren’t happy when they were informed after the fact.

Lesson learned: Whatever business you’re in, be up-front with your stakeholders whenever you change your policies in ways that can affect them. Don’t let them figure it out for themselves. Overcommunicate if you have to. A little proactive messaging can go a long way to keeping the people who matter engaged.

Otherwise, you’ll end up being just as relevant as that dead tree over there.

Of course, that means we need to find a sales person. And not just any sales person. We’re not just any company, after all.

If you think we’re the kind of company for you - or if you know someone who might fit the bill, click here or paste the following URL into your browser for more info:
http://www.linkedin.com/jobs?viewJob=&jobId=528636

Thanks!

The big consumer-tech news this week is that Rogers has finally reached an agreement with Apple to sell the iPhone in Canada. The technologist in me thinks this is neat, and I’ve been chatting with journalists - including Canadian Press, CTV NewsNet and AM640 - about what this means.

Although we can chat for days about the iPhone’s impending arrival, what sticks out is what Rogers didn’t say:

• When it would be available
• How much it would cost to buy
• How much subscriptions would cost
• Which device it would be (old, slow iPhone or snazzy new 3G iPhone)

So, essentially, Rogers had nothing to say yesterday. But they released their "news" anyway. And got tons of free media coverage in the process.

The lesson? Sometimes, you don’t need to wait until all your ducks are in a row before you go public. Sometimes, saying nothing is enough to get people to start talking about your product or service. Of course, it helps if your product or service is buzzworthy to begin with - and you need to eventually deliver on what you’ve promised, otherwise all that great buzz will go sour pretty quickly. But there’s a nugget of truth in the Rogers experience that’s applicable in a lot of business marketing scenarios.

Nice job, Ted.

In this teleseminar, we cover the convergence point of technology, communications and marketing. But there’s only so much you can discuss in one teleseminar, of course! So we’ll be picking up our microphone again soon - and regularly thereafter - to talk about the topics that matter to you and your business.

Your turn: So what topics do you want to hear us discuss in future teleseminars and podcasts? You ask…we’ll deliver.

The Globe and Mail is running an article we wrote that shares additional insight into the top technology trends for small and mid-sized businesses in 2008:

Business technology trends to watch in 2008

Oh, while you’re learning all there is to know about the technologies to watch, click on over here to reserve your spot for even more insight and wisdom. We’re excited about our new Technology Market Advisory offering and we hope you will be, too. We’re kicking things off with a complimentary teleseminar on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern. Drop by, virtually, and you might win a decidedly real iPod. Click here for more.

Apple has found a way to leverage the power of crowds, to focus today’s tools of social media to raise the volume on its message to a degree greater than anything it could ever buy from an advertising agency. Apple doesn’t actually write its own blogs - we’ll talk about the benefits of that in another bog entry - but you can bet your next mortgage payment that its employees are actively patrolling Facebook, MySpace and blogs large and small.

They do this to better understand what’s driving their market and assess what their competitors are up to. Reading what the average consumer has to say about current products helps inform and guide the stuff that’s in the pipeline. Companies that fail to incorporate social media into their market research efforts lose a valuable source of information, and are at greater risk of losing touch with the customers that keep them alive.

So Steve Jobs doesn’t write a blog. But he’s reading them along with most of his employees, using what he learns along the way to build products that people will line up for days to buy. Blogging is as much about the reading as it is about the writing. What will your readers learn about you the next time they load up your blog?

Recognize, however, that we can talk about the big Ws forever. At some point, it makes more sense to simply dive into the blogging pool. End tangent.

Knowing why you’re writing is critically important. It explains why people will visit you regularly and what they hope to get out of the process. It articulates, in concrete terms, the value proposition of your message. If you don’t know why you want to write a blog, chances are your readers won’t, either.

We’ve asked you to ask yourself a lot of questions in previous entries. These still apply, so feel free to review them anytime. Now it’s time to put it all on the line and ask yourself why anyone would invest time to read - and respond to - anything you’d write or share. What will they get out of doing so? Why is your message any better than anyone else’s?

If you can’t answer these questions, think it over a bit before proceeding. If you’re ready to start brainstorming responses, your blogging future awaits.

If your informal research has shown you that your stakeholders - customers, prospects, suppliers, etc. - are generally happy with their relationship with you and your business, you may consider stopping right here. Why fix something that isn’t broken, right?

But happiness doesn’t mean all is right with the world. You could be leaving opportunity on the table if you accept the status quo as good enough. Business moves fast, and sort-of-satisfied stakeholders today could be vulnerable to competitors who use different tools to market themselves more aggressively. Online tools are evolving rapidly, which means yesterday’s approach, even if it’s kinda-sorta-OK in the eyes of the folks you do business with, may be in serious need of a rethink.

In other words, your bicycle may still be a viable form of transportation - but not when everyone else is switching to high-powered sports sedans and hitting the highway. The same kind of thinking applies when you’re mulling over whether, when and how to add online media to your business toolkit.

Go back to the four questions in the previous entry. Instead of asking them internally, now direct them toward your stakeholders. How did they respond?