How can we stop child abuse and neglect?

Every few months there is another story in the press about a child who has been abused. Many of these children were in situations that were already being overseen by child welfare services. I'm on a mission to learn more about why these cases get missed before it is too late, and to figure out ways to improve our child welfare-related services and public awareness and support for adequate funding to ensure all kids get treated with the love and care they need to thrive. (Whew, that was a run-on sentence!)

Came across this video which aims to build awareness. Has some typos, but makes the point well anyway.

The Make Money Online Market

I've spent a lot of time (too much!) over the past several months investigating the folks who claim you can make scads of money online, either through selling affiliate products or info products.

I have a feeling that the most successful make-money-online people make money by selling others on the dream of making money online. On the other hand, when I speak to my former Web Mystery Shoppers, most of them want to make money working from home, so clearly there is a huge demand for this stuff. So my ethical dilemma becomes:


Do I simply warn people away from this concept, or do I dig more, find out which advice is worth taking and, potentially, end up joining the crowd of folks who make money online by teaching people to make money online? 


I haven't got the answer to that yet. I have concluded that if I am to talk about making money online with info or affiliate products, first I have to prove to myself that I can do so without just selling the dream of making money online. I will keep you posted from time to time as I explore this.

Mobile advertisers hit barrier in North America

If college kids are upset about mobile ads, North American marketers are in serious trouble, as this is arguably the group that would be least likely to object to ads:

1. they are more likely to have unlimited plans, so the cost of receiving an ad is non-existent to them
2. they don't have the same privacy concerns as older adults

The researchers suggest that it is because this audience sees their phones as highly personal, but I think most mobile users would perceive their phones that way; I'm not convinced that is youth-specific.

Marketing messages are not welcomed on students’ most intimate device

Fully 100% of college students in the US have a mobile phone, and they use them constantly to communicate and connect.  ... 

Their reactions to ads were highly negative. More than 40% were annoyed to get an ad, compared with just 1.2% who were pleased and 17.6% who were neutral. Even more dramatic, nearly three in 10 said they were less likely to purchase a product after seeing a mobile ad for it. Slightly fewer reported their purchase intent was unchanged, but only a small number said mobile ads encouraged them to purchase. ...

Example of good content on an e-commerce website

I decided that it is high time my teenage son took over from a paid gardening service in caring for our yard this summer. Our lawn isn't huge and I'd heard that today's push mowers are way easier to use than the rusty old thing I was forced to use in my childhood, so I went online to figure out what brand to buy.

I came across a great comparison article by Reel Mowers Canada. It starts with this comment:
"We were at the supermarket recently and saw a reel mower for $119, and realized that many people wouldn't be able to differentiate between that inexpensive mower and one of the premium mowers we sell. Read on and find out what sets our reel mowers apart, and what would be best for your lawn." 


It goes on to describe, in plain, simple English, what features to look for and how to assess quality. It worked: I scrapped my plan to buy the cheapo version, and ended up getting the NaturCut from them, even though it was remarkably difficult to figure out how to find the pricing and place an order on the site. (I've contacted the owner and recommended that he add pricing and "buy" links to his comparison chart, as well as adding a page in the top navigation that shows all prices and has buy links. Not everyone will be as determined as I was to find that information and place an order!)

The point is, though, that great content is within the reach of any vendor: just write about what you know and your customers want to know. 

Should non-profit executives be paid as much as private sector execs?

Until working for the Alberta Cancer Foundation I was like most donors -- reluctant to give to organizations with high overhead expenses. Then two things happened:

1. An inside look at events like the Weekend to End Breast Cancer (now the Weekend to End Women's Cancers) made me realize that it costs a lot of money to provide even minimal (tent-based) accommodation, food and toilets for over 1000 people participating in a two day event. But without providing such grand-scale events, they'd struggle to raise $3 million in a year, let alone net it in a weekend! So overall, the charity's recipients benefit more from some high-expense events than from continuing to struggle with small events and/or repeated letters requesting donations. The reality is that most people simply won't make substantial donations without special events. 
2. I read Dan Pallotta's book Uncharitable: How Restraints on Non-Profit Organizations Undermine Their Potential . His arguments are very compelling, though they do require a shake-up in how we think about non-profits.

He notes that non-profits are competing for dollars not only against other charities, but against the likes of Apple, Nike, and Coke. With their multi-million dollar advertising budgets, it is far easier for them to get known and to convince the public to spend their money there instead of on causes that will make the world a better place. Not even on causes that will make their own communities safer and healthier. 

He also argues that by expecting people working for non-profits to make significant salary sacrifices we deprive charities of the best talent; of the very people who may be most able to help make major breakthroughs. 

"We allow people to make huge profits doing any number of things that harm the poor, but prohibit anyone from making a profit doing anything that will help them. Want to make a million selling violent video games to kids? Go for it. Want to make a million funding the cure for childhood leukemia? You are a parasite."

He cites a report for the Morino Institute on Community Wealth Ventures:
"Non-profit organizations exist in a culture of dysfunction - limited capacity and modest outcomes pervade critical organizational elements such as strategic planning, staffing, training, management, financing and performance measurement. This dysfunction makes success highly improbable and calls into question the sustainability of organizations unable to adequately capitalize future growth"

Although we do hear about the occassional non-profit CEO who makes over a million dollars, the reality is that they are extremely rare; the vast majority earn far less than they would in a similar sized for-profit organization.

The low salaries and obsession  with overhead costs also hobble the organizations by leading to burnout and high turnover in non-profits.

Fundamentally, we need to start focusing on the return on investment rather than simply the percentage of donations that go to overhead. Would our charities not be better to get 50% of a million dollars than 90% of a thousand? 

How to become a linchpin - review of Seth Godin's book

Just finished reading Seth Godin's Linchpin . It gets a bit boring/repetitive at the end, but the main points that stuck to me from the book are:

• Creativity counts. Don't be afraid to be different
• Be helpful and be nice. Linchpins become indispensable partly because people like them. They like them because the linchpin helps make their day more pleasant.
• No stalling -- get things done and out the door. A key differentiator is the ability to actually "ship" products (or ideas) in a timely way. Getting them out the door is more important than getting them perfect. This is a biggie for me, as I have to constantly fight my urge to study more, read more, think more, plan more ... with the result that I do less. Get over it, Tema! 
• Get input early; refuse it later. The closer you get to the due date for a project, the fewer people should be allowed to have input. 

On page 148 (of the hardcover edition) he proposes this approach to overcoming "resistance" to getting things done:

1. Choose a due date and post it on your wall. "You will ship on this date, done or not."
2. Write every idea, thought, sketch, plan to do with the project on a separate post-it note, index card, or whatever note format works best for you. This is the time to collect input from others. 
3. Periodically review the cards (with your team, if you've got one) and add more as needed.
4. Enter each idea as a separate item in a database. Play with it. Last chance for team input.
5. Use the database to put together a blueprint of what you are going to do/build/create. Get input ONLY from those who have sign-off control on the project, and get a commitment from them that if you deliver what they've agreed to here, on time and on budget, they will ship it. 
6. Once you have the approval, DO IT! "Ship on time, because that's what a linchpin does."

Why pay extra for .ca domain names?

It has always cost a bit more to register a .ca name than a .com, but in recent years the price difference has narrowed quite a lot. So I was astounded today when I went to register a domain with Canada's first domain registrar (Internic, where I'd originally registered my .ca names) and saw that they are charging $50!!!!

Recently I've been using NetFirms for my .ca domains. They only charge a very reasonable $9.95. And I've never had a problem with them.

I guess Internic doesn't want to be in the domain name registration business any more.

Don't let a prospect keep you dangling!

Ok, so this is one I've learned the hard way (and with a little help from Colleen Madsen at Sandler Sales). If you have a prospect who keeps meeting and talking with you but never seems to be ready to ready to seal the deal, sometimes you just have to force the issue. Here's one approach:

1. Say, "Can be frank with each other?" Then briefly review how long you've been discussing this and what you've done in those meetings (e.g. the pain points you've uncovered, the ways your work could solve them).
2. Then say something along the lines of: "But this doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Sometimes people just don't want to hurt my feelings by saying no. But if this isn't going anywhere, I'd really rather that you just told me that now. I'd be OK with that. What do you think? Is there any point in us continuing?
3. (a) If they say that they DO want to continue, ask what would need to happen to make it a buy decision. What can we do to make that happen in the next two weeks (or some other specific time frame)? So if [what they said] happens, you'll be ready to sign a contract?     OR     (b) If they squirm or say no, thank them for their honesty. Ask if they would like to stay on your newsletter list. They'll probably say yes. Then that gives you a way to keep your business in front of them over the months to come and if their situation changes, they'll remember you and know how to reach you. (If they say no to the newsletter request, you know it was totally dead!)

And if you don't have a newsletter, you should start one. That's a whole other topic.

Should consultants guarantee their work?

There's an interesting conversation going on at the LinkedIn Consultant's Network about free consulting and guarantees. I noted that the main reason people end up doing "free consulting" is to lower the fears the prospective client may have about hiring you; to reassure them that you will provide value. 

I suggested that another way to lower that barrier to purchase is to offer a guarantee. If you implement all our recommendations within six months (or whatever is a reasonable time frame) and do not see a sales increase, we will refund your money. One advantage to that is that it forces them to (a) implement, and (b) track results.

One of the consultants asked what sort of contract you would use to offer such a guarantee. Here is my reply:

Keep the guarantee simple. Use plain English and avoid legalese. When I was a marketing manager for a national bank in the 1980s we offered a very simple guarantee: "Open an account with us. If you are unsatisfied for any reason within the first 90 days just tell us why, and we'll close your account and give you double your fees back."

The great thing about that was that it forced them to tell us why they were dissatisfied. Invariably, we were able to resolve the problem, and when we offered the refund they were so thrilled with the resolution that they actually refused the money! They didn't want to close the account any more, and they felt a personal relationship with the staff member who had solved the problem.

Business Card Reader app

Over the past few months I've been spending way too much time searching out new apps, software and other useful technologies. I'll post of a few of them here and on my Resources page.

I am great at collecting business cards, but lousy at inputting the data from them. So I hunted and found the Business Card Reader app for the iPhone. It isn't perfect, but it does seem to be the best option at the moment.

You do have to double-check and sometimes make a few tiny corrections once it has scanned the card. For instance, one company I scanned a card from had a logo that was black with yellow accents. So they'd used some of the yellow in the card. Turns out Business Card Reader struggles with yellow on a white background. (Something to think about when you are designing your own logo and/or cards: go for colours that scanners can read easily.)

Is Reading Becoming Irrelevant?

I grew up in a family of readers. One room in our house was entirely devoted to books. My children (now in their teens) have also grown up with a "library" in their home and parents who read to them a lot from the time the were babies. We also role-model a lot of reading. And yet they show little interest in reading.

They do, however, love good stories and are interested in political, moral and ethical issues -- the sorts of topics that are covered in much of the reading my husband and I do. They will happily listen to me read to them and discuss what "we" are reading. They seek out challenging movies and interesting clips on YouTube (as well as the silly ones, but, hey, everyone needs to laugh now and then!).

I went to the library yesterday and saw at least as many people checking out DVDs as books. Audiobook purchases and checkouts have also skyrocketed.

My conclusion: don't bet on e-readers, regardless of brand. The iPad has a hope for longevity, since it displays multimedia. (Though I still think it is too limited in its functionality to last in its present form.)

The question is, does it matter if our children don't read? Is the ability to read going to be irrelevant in a couple of decades? What do you think?

The Original Frank Communications

Back in 1991, when I first established Frank Communications, I was young and naive and it didn't occur to me that I should trademark the name. It might not have been permitted anyway. I did register the business in Ontario, where I was then operating, and there was no other registered Frank Communications.

So you may be here because you read about some guy in BC getting arrested for drug smuggling. According to the National Post, his company is also named Frank Communications. I'd like to reassure you that he has NOTHING to do with my Frank Communications. And clearly, from the news reports, he wasn't exactly being frank!

After reading about him I did a search and discovered that there's another Frank Communications that has even stolen the logo my company used to use; they just stretched it out a little. This, dear reader, is one of the downsides of the Internet.

I am in the process of setting up a new Frank Communications website, and resurrecting my e-newsletter. If you'd like to learn more about Frank Communications from someone who really is Frank, please sign up for the RSS of this blog, and/or send me an email and I'll add you to the list. In fact, I'd love it if you'd tell me what aspects of Frank Communications you'd like me to cover in my blog and newsletter.

Cheers!

Tema Frank

My first podcast: Joyce Byrne talks about the future of magazines

My interview with Joyce Byrne, Associate Editor, Venture Publishing. First she briefly discusses her role at the publication, and then we get into a discussion of the impact of social media and new technology on the magazine trade.



(Ignore my goofy-sounding intro! It was my first-ever recording and I felt a bit silly at first but once we started talking, "Tema the Interviewer" came out.)

Should podcasts be short or long?

A heavy, but interesting, day Tuesday at the CWC/Corus Digital Media & Techoology Career Accelerator.

I was surprised by our instructor’s assertion that a podcast should only be about 3 minutes long. Personally, I hate itty bitty podcasts like that. I download podcasts to listen to when I go for walks, or am in a waiting room, or lying in bed. It is awfully irritating if I have to keep choosing new ones every few minutes.

Now a video, that’s a different story. As a general rule I don’t think videos for web should run much longer than 3 minutes. In fact shorter is even better.

What do you think should be the ideal length for an audio podcast?

Learning about broadcast/podcast tools

At the CWC Digital Media Career Accelerator program at Ryerson this week. This morning we got a tutorial on how to use ProTools software, which is apparently the standard for recording professional-sounding podcasts -- the sort that radio stations would put on their websites.

I interviewed Joyce Byrne, Associate Publisher of Venture Publishing Inc., about how the magazine industry is being affected by digital media. I'll post the podcast here once I've had a chance to convert it to mp3 format. 

Schedule for the unscheduled

Sean D'Souza,of Psychotactics.com, reccommends setting aside two hours every day for the unexpected, and setting aside one week a month to catch up on and complete all the things that got interrupted or delayed during the month.

Sounds to me like a good idea as a way to handle the reality of our over-scheduled days, and make it more feasible to schedule time to work on other projects without interruptions.

AWEsome event

Kudos to Alberta Women Entrepreneurs, who organized a really good conference held last Thursday & Friday. So often conferences aimed at female entrepreneurs are aimed at people who are really just beginning, and need to know the very basics. But this one was aimed a notch above that.

Guerrilla Publicity

Manjit Minhas, founder of Minhas Brewery, is amazing! She started this very successful business when she was just 19, and ran it all through her university degree in petroleum engineering. (Her mother insisted she have the degree to fall back on "just in case".) Now, aged 29, and the mother of an adorable baby, her company is the 11th largest brewery the world.

In her opinion "public relations is job one". She highly recommends the book Guerrilla Publicity

She talked about the importance of making a brand roadmap. your brand should be reflected in the designs you use, the music, your values, your brand personality.

I was interested to note that they have two full-time employees on staff dealing with social media. It is time-consuming.

Brand Personality

Dr. Fang Wan, a marketing professor from the University of Manitoba, brings the word "firecracker" to mind. She is a tiny bundle of explosive energy, bursting with good ideas.

She stressed that brand is about core values not about your target market. She also spoke of the importance of human resources: your staff are the key to your brand. You must hire people who share your core values.

The Friendly Dragon

The organisers cleverly saved their big-name speaker for last: Brett Wilson, from Dragon's Den. A charming man, he entertained us with stories about the show but also talked about the importance of charity and social welfare to him. He likes to reword the saying "With great wealth comes great responsibility" to "With great wealth comes great opportunity."

His companies have used charitable donations effectively for publicity, choosing breadth over depth, and being sure to publicize their donations.