Visit http://www.thespectrumawards.com for information and to enter. Entries are due April 16, 2010.

Finalists will be notified in April and winners honored at the annual Spectrum Awards event to be held on May 19, 2010 at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown.

A business acquaintance recently loaned me the book Futuretainment. The author, Mike Walsh, is a leading authority on the digital future and CEO of the innovation research agency Tomorrow. The book is a beautiful hardcover with short bursts of words surrounded by extraordinary visuals (sort of like the digital age, huh?). It’s an easy read — I finished it in a few hours — but it leaves a lasting impression.

In a nutshell, the book is about the end of traditional media but not in a woe is us newspapers are dead sort of way. Rather, it is chock full of wonderful explanations and tidbits of information that makes the reader excited about what’s next. The thesis, if you will, is that the future is about how we connect with information and that the “how” is consumer driven not pushed by corporate media entities.

Walsh writes that his book is about what’s next. True to form, he takes the reader on a journey from where we are now to where we’ll be in the not too distant future — and in some cases where countries outside the U.S. have already gotten to before us.

I can’t do justice to this book in a simple blog post. Suffice it to say not a chapter went by without leaving me with a nugget worthy of quoting. Here are some gems:

• Audience Networks are human based; rather than relying on satellites or transmitter towers, consumers access content via links with other consumers.
• All of our devices — our mobile phones, cameras, toys and media players — will become increasingly aware of where we are. Soon geographical location, rather than broadcast schedules, will trigger entertainment experiences.
• The pulse of the digital revolution is change.
• In the future, entertainment platforms will have a memory. Whether we are watching a movie or reading an eBook — our devices will record and learn from our actions, allowing us to easily shift our media consumption to whatever screens are available to us at the time.
• The future of entertainment is not advertising — the future of advertising is entertainment.

Great book full of insight. I’m wondering though…when will it be available in eBook format?

With constant advances in technology, marketing professionals now have some of the most powerful tools imaginable to influence key targets. While some of these tools certainly provide new ways to communicate directly with the public, how do marketing professionals best integrate them with traditional marketing vehicles? How do we really know if our campaigns are moving the needle in the right direction? What methodologies can we apply to measure overall campaign effectiveness? And most importantly… what strategies are needed in order to produce a sound ROI?

Panelists for this program include:

• Jos Anshell; Co-Founder – Moses Anshell

• Julie Coleman; Director of Community Relations – US Airways

• Cindy Kim, Director of Corporate Communications and Social Media – Lumension

• Andy Parnell, COO – Defero USA

The event will be moderated by Patrick Howley, Founder – The Howley Group. The event is March 24 from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. at the Phoenix Airport Marriott. More information and registration is available on the AMA web site

As we look to redefine our place the marketing communications universe, here are a few suggestions on how we can truly measure our successes and show clients and C-suite executives that PR and marketing is a lot more than fluffy press releases and wasted hours on Facebook and Twitter.

1. Re-evaluate your purpose as a PR & marketing professional. 9.5 times out of 10, we are hired to help drive sales, awareness and brand equity of a client or company’s products and/or service offerings. However, as a profession, we often lose sight of the big picture. Constantly evaluate your strategies and tactics to determine if they are working to meet the larger goals of your client or company.
2. Find out what matters most to your client. The days of defining success by getting the most media hits are long gone. Organizations now want to work with savvy MarComm professionals who can help meet ALL of their marketing goals. Before you finalize your overall marketing strategy, find out what your clients expect from you and create a plan that reflects those goals and objectives. Most importantly, make sure you have a way of measuring against the goals you’ve been given.
3. Stop focusing on impressions and ad equivalency – An entire blog post could be written about this topic alone, but I’ll try to keep it short and simple. The practice of measuring impressions is archaic for one major reason, it is not accurate! Impressions are based on total circulation rates and don’t account for the small percentage of your target market that actually DID read or see your post. Ad equivalency rates are not much better due to their limitations. Few metrics are available for blog postings, online articles or social media content and with ad rates constantly changing, it is virtually impossible to calculate a true ROI.
4. Learn how to calculate ROI!  No matter what PR or marketing position you may hold, you need to be familiar with determining ROI, in the traditional sense, for your client or company. The standard formula that I like to work with is net profit / total investment × 100 = return on investment percentage. Showing ROI is not the end-all, but will definitely come in handy the next time you need to put some hard numbers next to your strategies.
5. Develop a new and relevant model of measurement. A sound measurement strategy should always include an integrated approach using tactics that will track the behavior of your target markets from the beginning of the campaign to the end. I like to use the AIA approach, which is described below:
   a. Awareness – some examples could include increased Search Engine ranking, increased visits to your website, positive comments on message boards, online reviews, the number of times your online article has been viewed, etc.
   b. Interaction – Social media and blogs are a great way to interact with your target markets; like tweeting and the re-tweeting of an article or post. Comments on a blog post, number of new email club members and repeat visitors to a website are other interaction elements that can be measured.
   c. Action – As the saying goes “Show me the money!” Everything from increased sales to determining the number of people attending an event can be measured when it comes to reporting on just how many people took action. They key to success with this is… always have a call to action and a good way to measure it.

I’m all for making an easy buck, but I’m not sure $100 per month is enough for me to not only plaster signs on my car but to also allow AllTran Media to track my every move via GPS. Frankly, that’s the part that makes this unappealing to me. Of course, the other variable is that you have no control over what brand you advertise. How’d you like to be known as the Hooter’s car or the 1-800-GOT-JUNK car?

This is nothing new by the way. Anyone who lives in the Valley has undoubtedly seen the Jobing.com cars rolling around town. Jobing.com actually pays its employees to wrap their cars — enough to make the payments and probably cover some gas as well. That’s a deal.

In terms of advertising, I think these tactics actually work. Outdoor advertising is a proven method and businesses are finding new ways to stand out. This is certainly one of those ways.

By the way, I wonder if AllTran pays more if you drive more? I’d make a pretty penny if that were the case!

First – the iPad is the culmination of 27 years of ebook development.   The first electronic novel, Blind Pharaoh, was published in 1983.  

Second – artificial intelligence technologies, such as those of Retrevo in Sunnyvale, track and measure product launches as they happen.  Their Buzzmeter measures twitter keyword activity for terms such as “apple tablet” and “ipad.” 

In the 80s, these technologies seemed too far ahead of their time.   They’re all coming together now, however, and for tech buffs like me, it’s an amazing experience.   Throw in some CAD/CAM, Y2K, and process manufacturing applications, and I’ll explode with happiness.

Fulton Homes

Arizona’s largest privately owned homebuilder will air one 30-second spot during the big game, as well as a second spot later in the evening during the CBS-5 News broadcast. The spots represent a very new look and feel in regard to the brand image that the company has worked so hard to build since 1975.

“Fulton Homes considers the Super Bowl an important part of our marketing strategy and we have always come from the approach that marketing is muscle not fat,” said Fulton Homes CEO Douglas Fulton. “Fulton Homes is going into 2010 with a strong offense and we will win.”

knoodle, a Phoenix-based advertising and public relations agency, created the spots for Fulton Homes using nine actors and one professional voice talent representing a diverse cross-section of some of the Valley’s most talented individuals. Pre-production and concepting began in September of 2009 in conjunction with a local film company, along with an Emmy-nominated Hollywood effects house. The spots were filmed locally on location at McClintock High School in Tempe and at Glendale High School.

“The spots employ a lot of humor – a little tongue-in-cheek – while still retaining the brand essence of Fulton Homes that we’ve helped to build for so many years,” relates Matthew Wilson, Vice President of Creative for knoodle. “Doug Fulton is always open to exploring new ideas and innovative ways of marketing and he allows us in the creative field to present original thoughts and viewpoints – no matter how far out-of-the-box they may be.”

1).   How did you first get the idea for your book, The Arizona Gun Owner’s Guide?

Moved here from NYC, where guns in the hands of the public are virtually unknown, and found Arizonans sold guns and ammo in supermarkets. When I asked,  ”What are the rules?”, the guy at the counter asked me what I meant by rules. I figured there was room in the market for a book on it. I certainly wanted to know. People started making me offers for copies before I had it written.

2).   You self-published your book.   How did you promote it in the beginning?

I secured a book contract with what I thought would be the best publisher in the state, but I could see they had no idea how to handle this project, and even if they did, I wasn’t going to make any money on the deal. So I took my wife out for a walk and told her I was going to do this. Now we’re both in it up to our necks.

How did I do it in the beginning? Just like now. Insane amounts of effort, energy, venturing where I had no idea what I was doing, and learned quickly. Met people, made friends, helped others, zeroed in on the movers and shakers, networked nonstop. Traveled the entire state and went into every gun store I could find. Not bad for a kid from the Bronx who had never been in a gun store. I figured that’s where the customers were. Used copy machines like a demon. This was before the web, 1989. Now I just push buttons, like I’m doing for you Linda. How many people will this reach?

3).  What edition is the book in now?

24th. We put out three editions in one year once, to meet demand (the Brady Law changed the whole landscape, and then the concealed-carry permit did the same again).

4).  Can you summarize all the developments since that first edition two decades ago?

My little firm Bloomfield Press, from that inauspicious beginning of one skinny book (it’s grown 100 pages thicker), is now the largest publisher and distributor of gun-law books in the nation, eight of which I’ve written (and more than 220 products so far — DVDs, buttons, stickers, related topics). I was an invited guest at the U.S. Supreme Court for the benchmark Heller case last year, and joined an amicus brief (my first) in the Chicago gun-ban case coming up in March 2010. Get one of my full-color catalogs, it’s free, request it online.

5)  What’s your theory about book publicity?

 If it works, it counts.  If you’re smart, you follow your industry.  If you’re really smart, your industry follows you. You know you’ve written a good news release when they run it verbatim.  If you want to know what I think of reporters, see my newsmedia watchblog, Page Nine http://www.gunlaws.com/PageNineIndex.htm.  Or even better, their record on accuracy and objectivity http://www.gunlaws.com/NewsAccuracy.htm. That’s press relations.

 6)  What are some of the PR mistakes you see first-time book authors doing?

• Getting an interview and saying “my book” five times, instead of saying “The Arizona Gun Owner’s Guide” five times.
• Being on camera without your book in your hand, or worse, holding it at waist level or not holding it dead still. It’s got to be right next to your face to get in the shot.  Feels awkward at first. Then it’s second nature.
• Failure to put copies of your books on a table in camera range prevents the camera guy from zooming in for closeups they crave.
• If your cover is bright and colorful (an asset newbies often overlook) camera people love what it does to a TV set when it airs.
• Letting the interviewer control the dialogue, instead of knowing what you want to get across ahead of time and always working toward that. For example, ”So Mr. Korwin, what do you think about gun control?” “Well, that term has become a euphemism for disarming the public, and so it faces stiff resistance. But the public has guns and they’ll be have them tomorrow, so don’t you think it would be good if they knew the rules? That’s why I wrote The Arizona Gun Owner’s Guide. So people could get a copy of the rules — in plain English! It doesn’t make sense to own a gun and not know the rules, wouldn’t you agree?”

 7)  What advice do you have for someone who wants to promote their book?

First, recognize that this is show business.  Second, read read John Kremer’s “1,001 Ways To Market your Book.”

A few weeks ago I was offered an iPod Shuffle for 30 minutes learning how Vocus PR software can make my job easier. An iPod Shuffle runs about $60 so the Vocus offer is actually worth more! Vocus actually has a different offer where if you take a demo of Vocus PR Software you receive “a $50 gift card of your choice!” Oh joy!

Vocus also likes to provide us with “free” white papers on hot topics that say just enough to whet your appetite and then they follow up with a sales call for Vocus software.

I think gift card offers are annoying. If I’m interested in buying new software I do research on my own, then buy the product I want based on the information I’ve gathered. Frankly I’d rather take the demo without the gift because that way I don’t feel guilty taking the demo and not buying.

Does anyone think these kinds of offers work? I think paying $50 for a lead is crazy in these economic times and it makes me think the company’s margins are too high if they can afford that kind of promotion with no guarantee of a return. Then again, I’m no expert on sales conversions so maybe their cost-to-convert works out in the end even with the $50 throwaways.

Still, ultimately I feel like the “gift” is an insult to my intelligence. That being said, I love Amazon.com so don’t be surprised if I sit through 30 minutes of B.S. and deflect a half dozen sales calls in exchange for getting a few new CDs this Christmas!

As an “Indie”, I have found the best new clients through referrals of current clients. New prospects looking for PR who have already seen and heard about my work seem to get what I can offer. When approached by someone random who I don’t know, I find that I spend the first part of our meetings discussing what exactly I do and how PR works. Many times the business person has different ideas of what they thought PR was. They also seem to have no clue on costs. Our work is not easy and it is not cheap. My rates are quite competitive, so I don’t waste much time trying to convince someone why I am worth the price. If they don’t see my value and the value of PR, I don’t want the headache. As I approach the end of the year and look to build my business up again after having the baby, I will be pushing the quantitative results my clients have had through PR. Each client is different in their goals for PR. Some  see success from the amount of hits and attention they get after a media story. Others appreciate the buzz that compliments their advertising and marketing efforts. Some look at the $. When they are happy, they share that enthusiasm with others, some who become new clients themselves.  I know some PR pros and agencies will advertise for new business or market/sponsor. Does that work well? Does it bring in the people you really want to have as a client?

When I worked with a PR agency, we were encouraged to find new business and would be rewarded with a commission or bonus if that client signed on for retainer. I had no idea how to find the new business at the time.  Do those of you at agencies get training and assistance to bring on a new client? Are you encouraged to network for the agency?

Some folks tell me they will cold call for new business. Bleh. I hate that. Can’t do it. Others campaign or meet with a business who is currently doing PR with someone or an agency and discuss what they could do that the other isn’t. That is a touchy situation for me. This is a small town for PR, but business is business and we all gotta make a living…yes or no?

As we enter into a new year soon, I bet your phones will be ringing with possible new business clients. Theres  nothing like resolutions, new marketing plans and excitement in January to bring on the new biz. How will you get yours?