Mental Popcorn – ROI on Your Meeting Presence
I can’t remember where I found this, but I stumbled upon the Payscale Meeting Miser and find myself calculating the value of my time in meetings vs. the time that I should spend on actual work.
I’m a believer that most meetings can be trimmed to 20 minutes maximum. If every day could be run like a war room or press brief, we’d have so much more time to spend on outcomes.
Critiquing Your Website
Yes, it’s uncomfortable but necessary. Like your annual performance reviews. It doesn’t have to be painful though. Sometimes it’s best to point to other examples of what really works. I like Seth Godin’s ten point-plan on what makes a great website. Is your web designer doing this? If not, why?
Advertising vs PR
“I believe advertising is the tax you pay for being unremarkable.” – Russell Simmons
Ouch.
I usually always advise my small business clients to try the earned media (PR) route before succumbing to an advertising budget. It’s more effort, but it can also yield greater results. The best use of time and money would be integrating both the PR and advertising campaigns so they’re in sync with each other. That would be a better investment, in my opinion. Save the advertising for when PR can’t or won’t be an option.
More Bad Videos for Public Consumption
Last year, I listed Appalachian State University’s video as one of the worst recruiting videos that I’ve seen. Sadly, I’ve now found two more than can top that easily.
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s recruitment video
Ernst & Young’s 4 minute recruiting video
Shame on Ernst and Young (!) – this video was not only baffling, but I can just imagine what the swaying staff in the background were thinking. It fails on both fronts – recruiting and retaining (would you want to stay at a company that quite possibly made it participation in this video mandatory? What do their annual retreats look like?).
As for the Pennsylvania video, words truly fail me on this one.
Disclaimer: If your communication vehicle is featured in one of my Cringe-worthy Moments, I apologize in advance and hope that boomerang karma leads you to unearth some of my old communication samples to return the favour.
