• Skip to main content

Area 224 Ltd.

Content + Communications Consulting

  • Blog
  • Meet Dave
  • Services
You are here: Home / Archives for Uncategorized

Uncategorized

May 26 2020

Why This Blog Came Back

“In These Uncertain Times…”

That, it seems, is how just about every brand ad begins during the coronavirus slowdown. “The Great Pause” is what some pundits are starting to call it; as opposed to being “The Pause That Refreshes,” it’s “The Pause That’s Uncertain.” Nobody knows what’s next, nobody knows where it’s going, nobody knows if we’ll ever be allowed in a restaurant or arena ever again. It’s uncertain.

Let Uncertainty Be Your Friend

I’ve had this blog for longer than I care to admit — a quick check shows posts that date back to September 2009; jogging my blogging memory and I realize the site was rebuilt after a pretty bad hack around Labor Day of that year — and I decided to jump back into the fray after a nearly four-year hiatus. Why?

Content + Communications Consulting

So yeah, I’m like millions of others: the end of a content and communications contract in early March has left me looking for the next thing, while trying to launch the next thing, and also maintaining productivity levels and continuing to try to do what I do well. You know, in the face of…uncertainty.

The focus? “Content” and “Communications Consulting.”

Content can mean many things to many people; your definition of content could include a really deep 2000-word treatise on what you deem to be important. Delivered without a plan and it’s likely to fall flat.

Communications Consulting means making sure that that content plan only includes the 2000-word treatise if it’s going to resonate with your intended audiences.

This Can Mean Advice You’re Not Ready to Hear

Bringing us back to “In These Uncertain Times…” No, brand managers, we don’t want to hear that phrase ever again. “Optics” are interesting things. What you thought was a good brand message during your Zoom strategy session is not resonating with folks the way that you want it to; I think it sounds kinda dumb. (I’m not alone; I blogged about this phenomenon and what an economic comeback might look like over at Metacoin, one of the other sites under the Area 224 Ltd. aegis.)

I mention that because I’ve never been afraid to actually call a company, a brand, or a leader onto the carpet if the idea is bad. Or if the time isn’t right. Or if the optics just won’t be any good.

How Can I Help?

I’ve been part of Fortune 300 Public Relations teams that managed messages during crises and leadership changes. I’ve been a staff communicator for energy industry product launches. I’ve served in roles with global financial services consultancies and with not-for-profit clients. I’ve seen a few things, but I’m always delivering more than what’s asked and working to see around blind corners with a combination of strategic consulting and tactical delivery.

I’ll keep blogging at Metacoin — where I cover emerging crypto projects and the role of Bitcoin — and promise to do more wine, beer, and spirits reviews at Metasip, too.

But expect to see more here at Area 224, where I stand ready to help you and your company achieve your business goals through content and communications that, together, drive results.

Written by Dave · Categorized: Uncategorized · Tagged: Blogging Tactics, uncertain times

Sep 09 2016

Behold: A Podcast

Dave from Area 224 hosted a podcast today. Our guest was John Puccio of Tempus Media.

We’re talking about the inflection point between traditional PR tactics and real-life events…and we hope you’ll enjoy it.

You can listen here (at this link that shows a way-too-big picture of Dave).

Written by Dave · Categorized: Uncategorized

Jun 30 2013

Social Media Institute Names Top 25 Most Powerful Marketers

Another list? Yes: this list of the Top 25 Most Powerful Marketers is hot off the presses.

This is an experiment. We’re coming up with an entirely subjective list, and we’re doing so just for the linkbait. Let’s see if anyone takes this seriously.

We’re midway through 2013, and it’s time to see who are the most powerful marketers, according to the Social Media Institute*.

This list was created using a proprietary formula, taking into account Twitter and Facebook presence, as well as a “Concentric Circle Measurement” that factors in things like positivity and reach.

Here’s the July 1 ranking, created by the Social Media Institute.

Top 25 Social Media Marketers.

25. Jason Falls

Jason Falls is currently the VP of Digital Strategy at CafePress, and he blogs at Social Media Explorer.

24. Michael Stelzner

Michael is the guy behind Social Media Examiner.

23. Scott Stratten

Have you heard UnMarketing speak? Read his books? Certainly you’ve seen him on Twitter!

22. Shelly Kramer

Shelly runs a shop called V3 in Kansas City.

21. Sam Fiorella

He has a book called Influence Marketing, with the guy listed below…

20. Danny Brown

Danny is part of ArCompany, and blogs at Danny Brown.

19. Olivier Blanchard

Olivier is considered one of the sharpest marketers out there, and his site is called The Brand Builder.

18. David Armano

Works at Edelman as EVP of Digital.

17. DJ Waldow

Wrote a book with Jason Falls (#25, above) AND runs a firm called Waldow Social.

16. Amber Naslund

Amber is part of the team behind Sidera Works.

15. Christopher Penn

Christopher works at Shift, a PR firm. Don’t confuse them with the Shift platform.

14. Chris Brogan

Chris just appears to be everywhere. President of Human Business Works.

13. Gary Vaynerchuk

First he created Wine Library TV, then he launched a multimedia empire.

12. Sean McGinnis

Before starting at Sears, Sean was in charge of 312 Digital. They have a really powerful post on Link Building.

11. Marjorie Clayman

Marjorie works for the family business – Clayman Marketing Communications.

10. Jason Konopinski

Jason has a great blog and podcast.

9. Ken Mueller

Ken is part of the team at Inkling Media.

8. Mitch Joel

One of the most influential authorities on blog marketing, Mitch also has a new book out.

7. Seth Godin

Can’t say enough about Seth Godin.

6. Jay Thompson

Jay works at Zillow, and was formerly the Phoenix Real Estate Guy.

5. Dave Van de Walle

Dave Van de Walle
Dave Van de Walle, Marketing Coach

Dave is the author of a book on real estate social media, and is Managing Principal of Area 224.

4. Pete Cashmore

Created Mashable.

3. Ev Williams

Created Twitter.

2. Mark Zuckerberg

Created Facebook.

1. Jack Jones, America’s Social Media Consultant

A legend in his own mind.

So, what do you think…should you take lists like this seriously? Do you know they’re entirely written for linkbait? Are you in on the joke?

This is a subjective list – even though the list avoided first-person pronouns, it’s still one guy’s opinion. Clever, no?

By the way…

Dave from Area 224 is working on another launch – Metasip. Real wine, beer, and spirits reviews by real people.

*- Last we checked, there is no Social Media Institute.

Written by Dave · Categorized: smm, Social Media, Uncategorized · Tagged: Social Media, top 25 marketers

Oct 19 2011

Thrive In The Maybe

Indecision is awful. You want a yes or a no…not a maybe. So how do you turn the maybe into an advantage?

This might be one of the more counterintuitive posts you will ever see here. As business people, we want you to say Yes. And, if you don’t say Yes, we want you to say No. Not leave us hanging.

Maybe
Thrive In The Maybe

Binary decisions. 1 = yes, 0 = no. Code gets written that way. You click the button, good stuff happens. You don’t click the button, nothing happens.

Limbo isn’t fun. I’ll get back to you. Let me call you later. I’m waiting on someone else to weigh in.

Time to Thrive In The Maybe.

We’ve beaten the Integrated Marketing drum over and over here, and we’ll continue doing so. Because Maybe is Marketing.

Maybe Is Marketing.

We worked with a client a couple years back whose initial goal was to “get going on Twitter.” (This happens quite a bit: there’s not a real reason to be there, except for the fact that everyone else is there. See our post on Holistic Social Media.) We got them going on Twitter. It was fun, too; as a lifestyle brand it was important for them to start engaging with the influencers in their space.

Here’s Where Maybe Came In.

These were decision makers – but the Yes/No question couldn’t be asked on Twitter. And it couldn’t be answered on Twitter. That would have looked stupid – we knew it, the client knew it, and our original plan to “get going on Twitter” had to include an element of non-sales. Of un-marketing.

If we spent all of our time getting people to constantly answer the Yes/No question – “do you want this product?” – we would have missed out on some actual real life experience.

“I love your stuff! I just wish I could get it in Singapore – I have to settle for the one time each year I make it over to Hong Kong.”

This is Maybe. Maybe I’d buy it if it were near me. Maybe you should consider selling it here. Maybe I should fly over to the States and come work for you. Maybe.

Thrive In The Maybe.

We’re so busy asking for the sale that we’re not busy enough paying attention to everything that happens in-between. Yes is great, and you want that. No is sudden and can be stunning – but sometimes you want that, too.

Maybe will drag you along, sure, but possibly teach you a lot about what you’re doing wrong, or what someone else is doing right.

New Marketing Funnel = A Whole Lot of Maybe.

We have had quite a few discussions about how the New Marketing Funnel is quite a bit different than the old one. (It’s one of the lessons in 12 Minute Marketing and you can check out the 12 Minute Marketing Sample Lessons here.) Old funnel was more up and down than New Funnel – which has a much wider opening (thanks to New Media) and is gonna have so much more Maybe.

Maybe I’ll take a look at the email. Maybe I’ll visit the website. Maybe there’s a mobile component. Maybe I’ll watch a video. Maybe I’ll want to try the product for a little while first.

These aren’t just maybes – they are opportunities for dialogue, to build (there’s that word) “community.” To strive for (here’s another word) “engagement.”

Old marketers will just shrug their shoulders and move on to the old tried-and-true ways.

New Marketers?

Thrive In The Maybe.

Written by Dave · Categorized: Uncategorized

Sep 06 2011

What DOES Positioning Mean?

Heavy Hitter Sales
Thanks, http://heavyhittersales.typepad.net

Positioning. Figuring out where your product or service stands in the marketplace – and using that standing to differentiate yourself.

Sounds generally pretty simple, but how do you actually DO it? How do you POSITION what you’re selling?

Time for a contextual exercise: about water.

There’s bottled water. There’s tap water. There’s premium bottled water. There’s discount water that’s basically tap water put into a bottle.

There’s flavored water, there’s bubbly flavored water.

Unless you’re in the CPG industry, though, you’re probably not paying too too much attention to the positioning of water.

I didn’t think about it much either…then I saw this commercial:

httpv://youtu.be/kZ5CykoHn-8

SO…there’s something interesting here: Nestle is positioning its water not as an alternative to other brands of  water, but as an alternative to another beverage.

Positioning may be more about “choice” than anything

You have a choice when you take the kids off to the soccer game. You can bring a bottle of water that you picked up at the store (at an insane markup) (at a potentially high cost to the environment), or you can fill up your reusable water bottle with tap water that costs you 0.2 cents per gallon.

You have a choice between tap water and bottled water. Pragmatism, cost, the environment: those factors help you decide to choose tap.

In Nestle’s eyes, though, you have a different choice – and they have decided to position the choice of their water against a much more expensive drink. “If we’re losing water, why don’t we just drink water?” asks the soccer player.

You have a choice between bottled water and the much more expensive flavored water/electrolyte alternative. Cost, convenience, no artificial ingredients: those factors help you decide to choose bottled water.

You can take this positioning all the way up and down various choice “decision trees.” Should you choose tap over bottled? Cheap, generic bottled over more expensive brand names? Premium names over everyday brands?

How to apply this thinking to your brand

You have a brand – even if you are in the service industry and it’s just you, you have a brand.

Let’s say you’re a Life Coach. You might succeed if you use similar positioning to Nestle: why would you go with an expensive consulting firm at thousands of dollars, when an engagement with me is just hundreds of dollars.

Of course, your target customer might ask itself whether it can just get an inexpensive alternative to your coaching through something like blogs, books,or a trip to the library. But, in this case, you are positioning your service as an alternative to paying someone nothing and getting average results in return.

And, beautifully for you, you can do this without negativity.

Positioning without cutting the competitor down

Notice how Nestle didn’t say anything negative about their perceived competition – the sports drink category?

Notice how our Life Coach doesn’t have to say “I’m the best Life Coach, better than the other Life Coaches?”

In addition to being about choice, positioning can also be about value. You will value our bottled water product when compared to other products – less cost, more money in your pocket, you’ll benefit. You will value my coaching services when compared with what you’ll get from doing nothing – more growth in your life, and more money in your pocket when compared with the cost of hiring a really expensive coaching firm.

And you don’t have to say a darn thing about how much better you are than your direct competitor.

Positioning: Putting your choice on the canvas

You are painting a picture, you are telling a story, and your product or service needs to be one of the ones on the canvas. It is impossible to position your product without mentioning other categories – but it is possible to position your product as a solid choice for your target customer without mentioning your direct competitors.

 



Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Written by Dave · Categorized: Uncategorized

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • Page 2
  • Page 3
  • Page 4
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 12
  • Go to Next Page »

Copyright © 2025 · Area 224 Ltd.