Understanding: appreciation of "why"
Wisdom: evaluated understanding.
http://www.systems-
thinking.org/dikw/dikw.htm
DICK DAVIES
Number 1-4 are about the past. HTTP://THROUGHTHEBROWSER.BLOGSPOT.COM
Past vs. Future is also Truth vs. Vision WWW.DICKDAVIES.COM
“4/5 of your audience won’t go
beyond your headline, so spend 80%
of your time on your headline”
David Ogilvy
Use powerful words like “Free,” and
“You.” Go back to our direct mail and
advertising roots, following John
Caples, Bob Stone, David Ogilvy…
Make an offer...say, “How to...” What Is The Value Of
If someone wanted to read your post, Technical Communication
what term would they use to search for In A Time Of Blogging?
what you wrote? Use that term.
“All marketing is a conversation”
The Cluetrain Manifesto
Don’t be too transactional. You can
always sell something after you have
established the relationship. Sales
transactions are often relationship DICK.DAVIES
starved. You can use communication
PRESENT@DICKDAVIES.COM
tools to improve that.
We Are Almost Done!
What was the best thing you learned in
this meeting?
Thank You!
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A Time of Blogging? The Same Old Tools? “There is marketing speak
Today I would like to investigate the To begin writing, start listing your and words that help. I recognize
phenomenon of blogs, to try to define purpose(s). Purpose is allowed to marketingspeak and have no use
how blogs are being used, to try to change, but working from a stated for it. Bubba, you don’t use
define how professional communicators purpose can cut the time required for marketingspeak.”
can and should use this phenomenon to completion, and knowing your purpose How did we get marketingspeak?
your best advantage. can be a valuable editing tool.
Just as the internet maximizes the size
Who here reads blogs? Does Size Matter? of your potential audience, infinite
How many blog subscriptions? One page or less! competition increases the speed of
tuning out what doesn’t satisfy.
What is your blog reader? 250 words or less!
Readers want “useful.”
What is your favorite blog? Maybe one thought per blog? Some ideas for useful content:
Do you remember how you found It really comes down to what you have Don’t explain what something means.
your first blog? to say around an idea. How long can That has to be determined by the
How often do you subscribe to a you maintain crisp focus and your reader. Tell a story. Create a timeline.
new blog? reader’s interest? (What happened first, second, third?)
How did you find your most recent Blog.pmarca.com and Strange Attractor Show steps you took to create a result.
blog subscription? produced some extraordinary eight and
ten page posts. I know because I Peter Drucker said, “In the
How often do you cancel a blog formatted them to squeeze size, printed manufacturing age, power came from
subscription? them and walked around giving them to hoarding information. In the
friends as gifts. information age power comes from
What was a memorable reason for
giving information away.”
dropping a subscription? Eric S. Raymond wrote The Cathedral
and the Bazaar, which O’Reilly printed Data, Info, Knowledge, Wisdom
I started as a journalist in the 60’s and
as a book ten years after it was posted According to Russell Ackoff, a systems
was a direct mail technician in the 80s. I
on the web. theorist and professor of organizational
wrote my first website in 1995-6, over
change, the content of the human mind
fifty essays that would now be blog Perhaps the controlling factor is how can be classified into five categories:
posts. complex is your one thought and what
do you have to do to explain it fully? Data: symbols
What is the value of a blog post?
Organize your content for ease of Information: data that are processed to
What is the best result from a blog
understanding, use bullets, use videos, be useful; provides answers to "who",
you have observed?
use lists. “Top Ten Lists” get printed "what", "where", and "when" questions
Best uses of a blog? and taped to walls, so include your logo Knowledge: application of data and
and contact information. information; answers "how" questions