Julie's blog

Client Plug: Give Dreams Not Stuff

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:24:22 -0400

In the early years of Capulet, as with most businesses, we said ‘yes’ to nearly everything (we did refuse a mail order bride project). For the past couple of years, we’ve had the luxury of being selective about who we take on.

It's especially nice to take on a client who’s social goals align with our own. DreamBank happens to be one of those clients.

DreamBank is a Vancouver start-up with a mission that addresses this issue. Here’s the elevator pitch:

DreamBank.org is about helping dreams come true and doing it in a way that helps the planet and important social causes. Instead of giving gifts that, although appreciated may not really be wanted, with DreamBank you contribute to someone’s dream. As well as helping fulfill a dream, your contribution helps spare the planet some of the nasty side effects of manufacturing and packaging unused gifts. Plus your gift automatically generates funds that are given to important social causes.

It’s essentially collaborative giving with a charity angle. Or, if you prefer, a gift registry for everything. Here are a few sample dreams:

We’re trying to get Rebecca to BlogWorld.
An eight-year-old girl wants a grey chinchilla (that’s our favourite one so far).
Darren wants to raise money for the David Suzuki Foundation.
Julie wants to send a kid to camp.

It’s a charming idea, and we’re pleased to be helping them with their online marketing. We’ve been blogging up a storm on their site, and running a fun outreach campaign to local bloggers. Plus we had a fun launch party at a French bistro.

Capulet Clients Win Kudos

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:21:31 -0400

Congratulations to Jiibe and ThoughtFarmer, two Capulet clients who were named to a list of Canada's Top 20 Web 2.0 Companies earlier this month.

The PICK 20 Web 2.0 Awards, sponsored by KPMG and Backbone magazine, recognizes Canada's best minds and sharpest practitioners. From the July issue of Backbone Magazine, distributed through The Globe and Mail:

With this issue, Backbone and KPMG unveil the PICK 20, the first and only national roundup of Canada’s Web 2.0 pioneers and practitioners. In the pages that follow you will discover 20 companies that are leading the way into the second iteration of the Web.

Read the full list of PICK 20 companies.

Client Plug: Our Marketing Campaign is a Series of Tubes

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:15:40 -0400

From Darren's blog over at www.darrenbarefoot.com:

Over the past month or so, we’ve been preparing a social media marketing campaign for ThoughtFarmer. ThoughtFarmer makes a simple-to-use wikified intranet solution.

We needed a good angle to promote their solution, and came up with a wacky idea:

After some brainstorming and false starts, we devised Tubetastic, a fake company with a fake logo, a fake org chart and, you guessed it, a fake intranet…

…We invented a fake tube manufacturing company called Tubetastic Inc. We created fake employee profiles for each influencer. Each profile is a sort of entry interview, with the answers coming from excerpts from their blogs and articles. We left one question unanswered, in the hopes that some folks might offer up their opinion.

That’s from a lengthy blog post (also cross-posted to OneDegree) I wrote up on the ThoughtFarmer blog. It goes into considerable detail about the intranet site we built and the snail mail packages we sent out. It also discusses our logic behind the campaign, and the risks we foresee. We even wrote a few Onionesque articles as recent Tubetastic news.

If you’d like to check out the Tubetastic intranet site, you just need to request access (trust me, there’s no spam risk–you’ll only get one email from ThoughtFarmer) and we’ll hook you up. I encourage you to check it out.

Our eBook is Becoming a Real 'Dead Tree' Book

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:20:16 -0400

You may remember that we published a 100-page ebook called "Getting to First Base: A Social Media Marketing Playbook" at the end of 2007. Thanks to all of you who bought the book and to those who reviewed it on your blogs.

Now, our little ebook is growing up. We're working on a hard copy version for San Francisco publishing company, No Starch Press. They have American distribution through O’Reilly Media, one of the giants of tech publishing.

The title will change and we'll be adding another hundred pages over the next five months, but the premise will stay the same: an intro to social media marketing.

We'll be documenting the writing process and new ideas for the book on our ebook blog.

Newsletter Writing Tips

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 12:45:35 -0500

I know, I know there are thousands of posts out there about how to put together a good email newsletter. So, why are there so many poor ones? In my opinion, if you can keep these top five pointers in mind, your newsletter will improve and your readers will thank you.

Be short and sweet. Unless your newsletter consists of one, extensive research article, articles should be a maximum of four paragraphs. No one wants to read more than that about your new CEO, upcoming events, spring sales, or the like. Also, readers have a short attention span, so five articles should be your max. When it comes to newsletter articles, short is sweet.
Sound human. Your readers are real people who will be more engaged if they think you're a real person too. Leave the jargon and acronyms behind and write in your true voice. Sometimes reading your stories out loud is the best way to judge the human factor.
Add value. We get so many marketing emails in our inboxes that we're getting less inclined to read company material. An excellent way to keep subscribers engaged is to add value with a relevant, compelling industry article, links to other articles on the web, or a thoughtful opinion piece.
Include a call to action. When you send a company communique, you want the readers to respond, right? So, give them something to do. Give them a link to click, a contest to enter, a special discount to take advantage of. You've got there attention, don't waste it.
Use an opt-in list. Don't buy lists, that crazy phase is over. Purchased lists are terrible, not targeted and, ultimately, unsuccessful. Take the time and make the effort to build a quality list. It will pay off in the long run.

If you want to read some examples of well-written newsletters, subscribe to:

Underwire: Full Support for Non-Techies
MarketingProfs Newsletter
JentleHands Monthly Newsletter (it's also beautifully designed)

Oh yes, one last thing. Make sure you've got a prominent newsletter sign-up box on your website.

Mistaken Identity No More

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 12:25:13 -0500

Since graduating with a writing degree more than 10 years ago, I've had the occasional inquiry as to whether I am the Julie Szabo who writes for the New York Times magazine, New York Post and Country Living magazine. Sadly, no. That's Julia Szabo, and although we almost share the same name, she most certainly has the more glamorous writing portfolio.

I did get the chance to work with Julia briefly when she was writing a pet column for the New York Post. Capulet client, Echo Memoirs, was making personalized pet books at the time and Julia wrote about the books in her column.

I think this case of mistaken identity is coming to an end though. Julia's real passion is dogs and she's writing more and more about them... so it's unlikely this pet-paranoid Julie Szabo will continue to be confused with doggie-loving Julia Szabo.

Julia and her colleagues (including Glen Close, yes another differentiator) have launched an online doggie community called Fetch Dog. The site is a resource for well-designed doggie gifts. It's got a Breeder selector application and an Adoption center. There's even a Cinematic Dog blog for movie hounds (sorry, I couldn't help myself).

Just for fun, I did try the slick Breeder selector. My ideal dog: the good mannered Labrador Retriever. Still, I think I'm more of a cat person.

Capulet's eBook Launches Today!

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 08:42:39 -0500

We've just published our first book here at Capulet Communications! Getting to First Base: A Social Media Marketing Playbook is a 100-page ebook filled with tricks, tips and case studies that show you how to:

Bring more visitors to your website
Increase your company’s visibility online
Approach bloggers and other online influencers
Create compelling viral campaigns
Get your website social media ready
Craft a potent social media pitch
Market effectively inside Facebook
Avoid campaign killers and online faux pas

Buy the ebook today for $29.

If you're a blogger and would like to review the book, let us know and we'll send you a copy.

Want to try before you buy? Read some sample chapters or view our 70 second introductory video. You might also consider becoming a fan of the book on Facebook.

Another thing... we’re giving $1 from the sale of every book to our favourite charity, the David Suzuki Foundation.

Another Great Common Craft Video

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 11:20:50 -0400

Our pals over at Common Craft have delivered another excellent video, this time for PRWeb. The strength of Common Craft's videos is in the simple, creative way they deliver information. If you haven't seen them already, check out the RSS and Social Bookmarking videos. Brilliant work!

While I fully buy-in to Common Craft's 'River of News' metaphor, I'm not convinced PRWeb can deliver on the promises it makes in the video. I've used PRWeb many times before. Sadly, it's made little impact. In truth, there's no simple way to get the attention of media and online influencers. The best way for small players to make some noise is to research media and bloggers carefully and send thoughtful story pitches directly to the right folks. I'm afraid no newswire service out there can beat the personal touch.

Google Analytics Explained

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 13:08:29 -0400

A while back, Darren posted a helpful article by James over at Work Industries about how to analyze and understand web statistics. On a similar topic, I recently came across this webcast on Beth's Blog that answers pretty much any question you've ever had about Google Analytics.

We encourage our clients--and anyone else with a website--to get intimate with their web stats. After all, if you don't know where visitors are coming from, what pages they're hitting and how long they're sticking around, how can you know what actions to take to improve your visitors' experience?

The Formula (No, Really) for a Successful Pitch

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 12:34:34 -0400

Today, I came across this creative note to PR professionals. If only we'd done better in Math:

Dear PR - The probability of a successful pitch can be calculated by the following handy formula applied to the details of your client's latest wheeze.

3NT x 4UP x 2BI x 5EAI
----------------------------- = P(copy)
3M^3 x 2ACE x 10L
Where NT = New Technology, UP = Unique Product, BI = Beer Involved, EAI = Engineers Available for Interview, M = Marketing Managers, EMEA or Mornings, ACE = Already Covered Elsewhere (ie, your American brethren have already spilled the beans) and L = the word Leading or Leader in the first para of the press release.

3 Web Writing Rules

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 10:04:40 -0400

Writing web content is a big part of what we do at Capulet. When we review web text we often encounter the same problems. Follow these rules for a clearer, more compelling website.

Focus on what potential customers want, not on yourself. No one likes getting stuck beside the guy who only talks about himself. The same rule applies on the web. Instead of telling visitors about YOU, explain how you can help THEM. If you must talk about yourself, get a customer to do it in a testimonial.
Leave out tech jargon and acronyms. Need an SSL VPN or NAC for your SMB? Don't spatter your homepage with technical buzzwords. Instead, use real english to outline the problem your visitor may be experiencing and then clearly explain how you can help them solve it.
Include at least one call to action. Even if you've written a compelling, well-crafted website, you need to instruct visitors what to do next: download a white paper, sign-up for a beta program, try a 30-day free trial. Our client PutPlace's website is a good example of what it looks like make bold calls to action.

Happy web writing!

"Underwire" for Technology Support

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 22:43:43 -0400

Congratulations to Monique over at Work Industries on the launch of her newsletter, "Underwire: Full Support for Non-Techies". Each issue will cover a technical topic in plain language for those new to the wonderful world of Web 2.0. The inaugural issue offers a guide to understanding web stats, defines ning.com and invites you to send in your tech quandaries. More top tips to come on:

Keeping up-to-date with what's happening online
Writing better copy for your company website or blog
Efficiently managing email newsletters
Learning best practices for online marketing and publicity
And getting non-tech answers to your tech questions

What better way to keep abreast of technology?

Tags: technology, women, support, newsletter, Vancouver

Kudos to PR Web

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 21:41:26 -0500

I've used a number of wire services over the years. As the whole world of online PR changes I find wire services less and less useful. That said, I'm not ready to give them up entirely. Last week a client wanted to send out a press release over the wire, but did not have a budget for Marketwire, one of the services I usually suggest. So, I recommended PR Web, a free service with some 'top up' options.

It'd been a little while since I used the service so I didn't realize that many of the features, including next day release, had moved from the $80 package into a $200 package. Kudos to PR Web for responding to my inquiry immediately, explaining the new service options and giving me a one-time 'freebie' with next day delivery, because I'd been a member for a couple of years. All in all it was a good customer experience. Something one appreciated while putting a press release on the wire at 9 pm for next day delivery.

The effectiveness of newswires is still in question. I'll save that diatribe for another blog post.

Tags: wire+services, prweb, press+release

Why Are Women Less Likely to Use Blogs as a PR Tool?

Fri, 10 Nov 2006 20:22:42 -0500

I'm currently participating in a university study on PR blogging. Last week the students working on the project sent me some questions, including this one: "Why do you think men blog more than women with regards to using blogs as a PR tool?"

At first I wasn't so sure that was true. But after some research it was evident that there are certainly more male PR bloggers out there. That's despite a number of studies claiming bloggers on the whole are evenly divided between men and women.

So, why are women in PR less likely to use blogs as a PR tool? Are men more willing to see the value in corporate blogging? Are they less intimidated by the medium? If you have any ideas why this is the case I’d like to hear them.

Fun Mail Swag

Fri, 10 Nov 2006 18:22:26 -0500

A few weeks ago a stationary vendor sent us a pen in the mail with "Capulet Communication" and our address printed on it. Amidst all the 'junk' mail we receive, this caught my eye. We won't order any Capulet pens because we try to give out more unique, memorable swag to customers and partners. That said, it's a good reminder to tailor each mailout to individual customers because it helps get you noticed.

Incidentally, it's a very good pen.