Speaking at the Louisiana Travel Promotion Association

The thing I love about the South is that adversity doesn’t define us, it ignites us.  The conference in Louisiana last week was focused on educating the industry about the economy, it’s impact on their business, tourists and the community.  With such a sobering topic, and people (rightfully) concerned about firming tourism strategy in the near and long term, you’d have thought that “buckle down” would have been the theme.  Not at all, quite the opposite, tourism professionals were openly sharing ideas and challenges and creating some of the most innovative approaches to marketing.  My session was an overview of Web Marketing, and the specific impact of different mediums.  As has been the trend this year, the section on Social Marketing Strategy was the hottest topic.  Louisiana has a unique set of tourism product, and the culture is richly enhanced with Social Groups online.   I was delighted to find attendees “Twitter” me after the seminar.   It’s super gratifying to help others understand the web, it’s impact and how to utilize the tools. 

To my Louisiana peeps:  Keep Tweeting!

Oops...What a Careless Tweet Can Lead To

In a very public display of careless mini-blogging, Ketchum VP James Andrews did what all social marketers avoid first and foremost...insulting a client, or anyone for that matter on his Twitter account. There is a very fine line to voicing your opinion socially which is what this social phenomenon is about and causing a press circus by writing one sentence of pure careless thought. 

http://industry.bnet.com/advertising/1000525/worst-twitter-post-ever-ketchum-exec-insults-fedex-client-on-mini-blog/

Social marketing is THE form of marketing this year that has already taken the online marketing industry by storm. Organizations around the world are chomping at the bit to understand how they get themselves socially interactive. As an agency that markets socially everyday, we see common mistakes in being too candid and forgetting that in being brutally honest, you may not only be hurting yourself but hurting the business and brand you represent. Just as we say "think before you speak"..."think before you post".  Didn't his mama ever tell him if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all?? Of course, for consumers it's a completely different story. We look for the negative, what to watch out for, what hotels to avoid...this is where those negative comments belong. Where they are considered useful peices of information to other consumers. So if you happen to be a social marketer and socially active consumer, our suggestion would be to save the negative destination posts for sites that cater to consumer ratings and testimonials. Because in the end, we are all consumers too, right?? Please don't mix business with pleasure unless it's NICE, friends.

It's Time to Pull Out the BIG Ideas "Right Brain" Thinkers

We're all combing through our great ideas and how we make them shine this year. Where is that big idea that your peers said was 'too far off' and 'too creative' last year? It's time to pull it back out of the hat.

We 'Right Brain' thinkers come up with ideas all day long but many don't come to fruition...why? We know the end product in our minds, but how do we get there? Where are the high tech developers that can make this happen? Our suggestion is to find them and put them to work. Don't let 2009 be the year your great 2008 idea shows up...on someone elses campaign. :)

We right brainers need to find our equal left brain pairs and bring some magic to this industry this year. The great teams of our industry are equal in right brain/left brain numbers. The fun part of developing such a team is finding out who are the rights and lefts of your team. Take some of these fun quizzes to find out who your team is made up of.

• http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_test.htm
• http://www.web-us.com/brain/braindominance.htm
• http://www.intelliscript.net/test_area/questionnaire/questionnaire.cgi?q=right_brain_left_brain_2

If you are a Right Brain, send these links to your left brain counterparts because we all know Right Brains don't take very well to following directions and analyzing the result. :)

Have Fun and Be Creative. Until next time...

Jennifer Barbee’s Hot or Not: 2009 Digital Marketing

Whew! 2008 was a crazy year in digital marketing. Just as sites are starting to crawl to Web 2.0, the web community threw fuel on the fire and Social was on everyone’s lips. In 2008, over 5,700 books were published on the topics of communicating in the new media, social marketing and word-of-mouth brands. Every major ad journal and sales magazine supports daily articles and research to new/open branding and over 38 million websites compete for the readers of the same topic. With 2008 came a tsunami of social networks and research that said “Do This!”, “Be Here!”…yet we barely had time to read the last article before the next one exploded on Google!


As a company and a group of professionals in this amazingly large industry we are excited for what 2009 will unveil. It’s a new land of possibilities and we all need to grab as many as we can hold and run fast…real fast..fast as a speeding internet connection.


So, here it is -- a “geek chic” list of what we have found to be the hottest opportunities for 2009. Let the trending begin.

What’s Out and What’s In

OUT = Developed Proprietary Software
IN = Open Source Software

OUT = Flogging
IN = Inspired Influencers

OUT = Finding Friends
IN = Becoming a Fan

OUT = eNewsletters
IN = Blogs & Feeds

OUT = Receptionists
IN = PhoneVite

OUT = Banner Advertisements
IN = Video Advertisements

OUT = MySpace
IN = FaceBook

OUT = MapQuest
IN = Google Mapplets

OUT = Portals
IN = Partner Blogs

OUT = Outsourcing
IN = Empowering

OUT = B2B
IN = U2B (User to Business)

OUT = Brand Management
IN = Brand Evangelism

OUT = Counting Web Visits
IN = Measuring Popularity and Impact