15 seconds of fame

When it comes to internet groups, I am pretty much your average lurker. Taking lots of notes but maintaining radio silence all the same. So, it was kind of surprising to be mentioned by somebody in the AdWords Help group about my dynamic keywords posting. Beyond being flattered, it was really a bit surprising to know that people actually read my blog.

People! Surely you have better things to do?

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The truth is that I am not terribly motivated this week. So, instead of coming up with new brilliant ideas, if I've ever achieved one, I focused on house keeping tasks. For example, finalizing case studies and press releases. The trouble of working with a PR firm on writing works is that the writer would never know as much as you do. So, it is a futile effort to demand the writer to somehow translate your thoughts into words in a manner that you had imagined. This minor insight took me years to realize as I used to fight with the writers. In my current wiser age, I just take whatever has been written as the base and go at it with a critical eye to have the piece say exactly what I want to say. Oh, and, I also control the input, so I give the writer the script, usually interview notes, on what the piece is about. Not sure if this means I am a control freak, but it does significantly minimize surprises and re-writes.

But, no system is 100% fool-proof. For whatever reason, the writer refuses to change the boilerplate information on these pieces. (In case you are wondering, boilerplate refers to the standardized text that describes the company/product that you just copy and past at the end of a press release.) I have told him several times and also furnished him with the latest boilerplate file. So, earlier today, I was going over a new piece and updating the boilerplate info.

But, it is not all work and no play with the PR people. Recently, I received a care package from my PR account manager. She recently went on a business trip to Europe and I jokingly suggested that she should bring back some bonbons. So, when I open up an overnight package this afternoon, I was pleasantly surprised with some chocolate goodies. Like the saying about happiness to a man's heart is through his stomach, the happiness to a client's heart may very well go by the same route...

I have been busy in the case study land lately. My graphic designer asked me why I keep including a picture of the client in these case studies. "Elementary," said I. What more cost effective way is there to give the client that extra incentive to flaunt his/her recent appearance in a nicely formatted document that says nothing but how smart they are? Viral marketing in its best, I would submit.

KS program has been running for about one week now. No significant pickup just yet. I see a lot of Google alerts as the content propagates throughout the KS network. The latest being Germany. But, I only see a trickle of inquiries. But, it is still early in the program and I shall continue to monitor the program with bated breath.

The program with InfoSearch, on the other hand, is giving me some unease. As noted last week, the keyword selection has been over and I was notified that I would be contacted by a copy writer to start the content development process. Nothing. I sent an email to ask what is the next step and was told that the copy writer will not contact me until next week. The reason for my unease is the fact that all these time, my meter is running. So, if InfoSearch drags out the process, I would have to pay for the time when I do not have the content. I am not thinking of the worst, but this is a concern. I will bug my account manager about this. I need to make my marketing budget count!

I am working on my November newsletter. There is a format that I follow and I have more than enough content to put something together. The special challenge for this newsletter actually has to do with a challenge to use a specific word in a clear and meaningful sentence. Still working on it. (Yeah, this is how you create "fun" in marketing land. At least the challenge is not to use the seven forbidden words. Not yet, anyway.)

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A random thought. I just watched the 10 year edition of "Leon, the professional". Great film. Anyway, as I was enjoying the film, I came to the realization that Natalie Portman was a better actress in the Professional than she ever was in the new Star Wars. Granted that I am partial to the original trilogy, but she was in a much more fluid form as an 11 year old girl who wanted to become a hit-man.

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