Trafcom News

Remember typewriters?

This lovely story in the BBC News brings back memories of my old typewriter. I wish I could say that I once possessed a vintage Underwood, but my first machine was actually a Smith Corona electric, which my parents delighted me with at Christmas. I guess I was already a nerd in eighth grade, looking forward to handing in neatly composed reports in high school. (Wait a minute, I asked for go-go boots, too, so I wasn’t too much of a geek.)

An expert typist herself, Mom gave me little stickers to cover the letters on the keys, and I dutifully taught myself to touch type. In grad school I owned a Brother electric, but it didn’t have the beautiful feel of the Smith Corona.

Years later, when my kids were little I remember hauling the Brother machine up from the basement before selling it. They looked at it curiously: “But what do you DO with it?” After I explained, they asked: “But where is the SCREEN?”

Some writers still swear by the typewriter as a way to boost creativity, but the Mac has spoiled me, ever since I replaced my electric typewriter with my first Apple in 1984. Do YOU own a typewriter?

NOTE: I am attempting to post this using TypePad’s mobile blogging service, so if it looks funny, that’s why.
UPDATE:  It did post, but the formatting was off and I couldn't add a category, so I've gone into the app to fix it.

Why clear communication is like hand washing

You can’t help notice all the stories in the Canadian media about drug-resistant germs in hospitals, rampant infections, and a low rate of handwashing by healthcare workers. As reported in the Globe and Mail:

With only 40 per cent of health-care providers in Canada properly washing their hands, experts say, infection prevention has become a hot-button issue.

As a consumer of healthcare, I wonder: Geez, I wash my hands before I prepare a ham-and-cheese sandwich, so why aren’t these hospital people scrubbing up before poking and prodding people with sharp instruments?
 
Here’s the answer, again from the Globe:

The problem of poor hand hygiene has confounded some of the best scientific minds in search of a solution. There have been poster campaigns and buttons... Some of the problem has been attributed to a perception deficit: Many health-care workers think they are already doing a good job of washing their hands.

So that’s it: They think they’re already doing it. Just like clear communication. If you were to ask the typical corporate employee if he communicates clearly, I’d bet he’d say: “Of course I do.” Then take a look at his latest email, report or PowerPoint presentation. What do you see? Meaningless subject lines, noun phrases of five words or more, the passive voice, a main point buried in the fourth paragraph of turgid text, run-on sentences, and stunning vagueness.

What’s the answer here? I wish I knew. Just as hospitals are running campaigns to boost handwashing (some with dubious incentives – doughnuts, anyone?), perhaps organizations need to focus on educating employees to communicate clearly, and reward them for doing so. What do you think? What do you see in YOUR company?

Pick your podcast style and format

What should your podcast be? Commentary, one-on-one interview, or script and clip? If you need help choosing, listen to this interview with Victoria Fenner, a talented radio and podcast producer.

Victoria and I  sometimes collaborate on podcast production, particularly for my conference podcasting business, PodcastYourConference.com. Check out Victoria’s Web site and blog.

You’ll find the 27-minute podcast and the show notes at the Trafcom News Podcast page. Please listen and let me know what you think.

Here’s what can happen when you skimp on copy editing

I admit it. I cringe when reading novels or non-fiction riddled with errors. (I find it hard to ignore spelling and grammatical bloopers on menus, too, but that’s another story.)

Well, here’s an example of one publisher who actually recalled a poorly proofed book and reprinted it.

Lesson: allow time and money in your project for editing and proofing!

Brand Tags

Now here’s something fascinating: Brand Tags. As the site says:

The basic idea of this site is that a brand exists entirely in people's heads. Therefore, whatever it is they say a brand is, is what it is.

What comes to mind when you see the logo for Harley Davidson or Texas Instruments or Saturn? Check out Brand Tags for yourself and you’ll grasp the idea immediately.

When I spot a creative and yet so very simple tool like this, I wonder about using it internally as an adjunct to an employee survey. Some corporate communicators actually do want to know what employees think of the company and its products, as well as its internal programs. Can you imagine a corporation employing something like Brand Tags to gauge employees’ gut feel?

Hat tip to Michael Seaton of the Client Side Blog, who pointed to a post by Seth Godin. Funny enough, I do subscribe to Seth’s blog, but hadn’t read it in a while (did I say that out loud?). Fortunately, I can count on my network – which includes Michael – to point me to the good stuff.

Should you advertise on your podcast?

New and would-be podcasters often ask me if running an ad on their show is a good idea. As Shel Holtz would say: “It depends.”

Before you can answer the question for yourself, you have to step back a minute: What is the purpose of your podcast? Do you want to educate your clients? Garner new prospects? Build your professional reputation? Entertain the masses? Or what? If you become a podcaster simply to make a buck, you may be disappointed.

A recent blog post by Eric Eggertson raises the issue of advertising on podcasts.

I am a fan of For Immediate Release and a friend of Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson. As I said in a comment to FIR a while back, I often enjoy the Custom Scoop Media Monitoring Minutes that appear on FIR,  and I  like some of the creative Ragan spots. Those that aren’t creative are at least informative (especially if you’re in the communications field). So do I mind Shel and Neville running these spots? Not at all. Do I think it’s a good idea for them to earn a few dollars from their podcast, to at least cover some costs? Yes, of course. As a podcaster, I know how much time and energy it takes to produce an information-rich show, which FIR is. I derive lots of value from their twice-weekly podcast, so it’s a fair trade-off to ask me to consume a few short sponsored spots.

I also think that the content of the spots on FIR is aligned with the core message of the show; it’s all about communications. If they were running ads for cars or shampoo, I’d feel differently, I’m sure.

What about ads that aren't short? I agree with Eric on this one. Longer, highly produced spots are a distraction, and devoting even more talk time to discussing the ads on the show (under the guise of being conversational) is even worse. I’d probably fast-forward through them. If they annoyed me enough, I’d stop listening to the podcast in question. I’ve dropped a few shows from my iTunes directory for this very reason.

So let’s get back to the podcaster who’s trying to decide whether to run an ad. Ask yourself this: Is the money you’d earn worth the risk of alienating your listeners? Are the ads relevant to your audience? Is the time devoted to ads just a small slice of the running time of your show? Overall, what do you gain and what do you lose?

When people ask me why I don’t accept ads on the Trafcom News Podcast, my answer is always the same: I am the sponsor of my show. I don’t earn cash from my podcast, but it has opened up many opportunities,  helped me to meet some very interesting people, and has indeed generated consulting business for me over the last almost-three years. So, yes, a podcast can be profitable, but not necessarily because of ads.

Third Tuesday does social media measurement

As Joe Thornley says in his blog post, measurable results in the realm of social media are hard to come by. But guidance is at hand. At the Third Tuesday Toronto meetup on May 20, you can learn from a panel of measurement experts, who’ll tackle this tricky concept: Measurement queen Katie Paine, President of KD Paine and Partners and author of Measuring Public Relationships; Marshall Sponder, the Chair of the Web Analytics Association’s Community and Social Media Committee; and Marcel Lebrun, President of Radian6.

The panelists will be coming to Third Tuesday straight from the Roundtable on Social Media Measurement and Metrics, which Joe has spearheaded.

Visit the meetup page for details. See you there!

Podcasting in Plain English

Nobody does simple explanations as well as Lee LeFever at Common Craft. If you’re perplexed by podcasting, watch this video for a clear overview of what it’s all about. Then check out the other videos at Common Craft. Pure brilliance.