I’m excited to announce that my article for The Daily Muse is featured on the Forbes website today. The Daily Muse is a Forbes contributor, and my article appears under their column in the ForbesWoman Leadership section of the site. You can view the article here.
The Daily Muse is a great site for professional women, and I highly recommend browsing through the articles!
For those who haven’t seen this story making the rounds on the internet, JC Penney caused a social media storm with a shirt for girls age 7-16 that reads, “I’m too pretty to do homework, so my brother has to do it for me.” Within hours, Tweets and Facebook posts condemning the shirt hit JC Penney, and they pulled the shirt from their inventory on their website. I’ve also seen some defense for the shirt on the Facebook comments to the tone of, “It’s just a shirt people, get over it! We’ve got bigger problems in society!” Obviously, this is causing some controversy and damage control, so let’s take a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly, shall we?
The Good
JC Penney’s response time was immediate, and they decisive action by pulling the inventory from the site. They recognized that they’d angered a lot of their customers, and took steps to immediately rectify the problem. This speed shows that they’re paying attention to their customers, and keeping up with the buzz about their brand. They’ve also come out with statements apologizing to their customers, and detailing how they plan to keep this from happening again. In all, I think JC Penney has done a great job responding to the public’s opinion.
The Bad
While JC Penney appears to be in touch with customers now, it seems they were way out of touch with customers when the shirt was printed and placed online for sale. They wouldn’t be doing damage control in the first place if they’d assessed their values and customer base prior to putting the shirt online. Their head of communications commented that she didn’t know how this happened, which means there’s some serious issues in their communications channels. They’ve also wasted time and money to bring this product to market, and now they must scrap all that inventory. Their time and money would’ve been better spent holding a focus group or developing other ideas to replace the message on this shirt.
The Ugly
This shirt sends a pretty controversial message to most people who read it. The sentiment that pretty girls don’t do homework, or that a boy needs to do a girl’s homework, tends to feed into the already overwhelming messages of body image, gender roles, and capabilities. Several Facebook commenters write that there are already too few women in STEM careers, and telling them from a young age that “pretty” and “homework” don’t mix will further alienate the “smart” girls. By suggesting that boys do their homework, some commenters state that it furthers the feeling that girls are not as smart as boys. In short, this message coincides with a lot of negative messaging, and JC Penney should think twice about promoting a message that could be considered offensive. Whether they meant to be cute or funny, the message was sure to hit a sour note among consumers.
Time will tell whether JC Penney will face more than just verbal consequences for this misstep, but I think they’re handling the response well. Hopefully next time they’ll spend more time on preventative measures, to produce a product that resonates with their consumers and their brand values. With the speed of communication and the widespread use of social media, companies need to be much more diligent when considering controversial messages on their products.
With all the Tweeting, blogging, academic papers, and business proposals I’ve been writing over the years, I still haven’t found an answer to, “How long should it be?” Thus, I thought I’d give some suggestions that I’ve heard over the years.
“The length of your paper should be like the length of a girl’s skirt: long enough to cover the topic, but short enough to keep things interesting.” Hilarious, a little bit off-color… but really true when you think about it! This advice was given by one of my least favorite college professors. This is probably one of two things I remember from that class, and the other is not nearly as funny.
“Executives don’t have time to read all your fancy writing. Make your papers 5 pages or less, or they don’t get graded.” This advice was given by one of my favorite college professors, amid a myriad of other great advice. I’ve found that brevity is much more effective in real-world business proposals, so while it’s not necessary to adhere to a strict page limit, it is necessary to keep proposals concise.
“This document gives step-by-step instructions for every possible question. If it can’t be answered by this document, it probably shouldn’t be asked in the first place.” I rarely agree 100% with this advice, but I’ve written several documents with numbered instructions, example scenarios, and screenshots. Thus, it really annoys me when I get phone calls that state, “I got this person’s information… what do I do now?” I generally try to respond in a helpful, non-annoyed way, but I direct them first to the insanely detailed document that I’d emailed previously.
“Don’t make your customers think too hard.” I said this phrase to one of my companies about their marketing material. They were using the same piece to target all of their unique segments, and it was cluttered and hard to parse. I suggested splitting the information for each segment into different marketing pieces, and on the rare occasion that a customer fell into more than one segment, we could give that customer all the sets of marketing materials. We talk a lot about being information overload in marketing, so help your customers out by ensuring that they don’t have too think too hard to figure out what you’re saying.
“Don’t ruin the content with the headline.” I think this applies to Tweets and press releases in particular. One classmate asked me for advice about her company’s Twitter feed, saying they had few followers, few re-tweets, and very little traffic to their website from Twitter. Upon viewing their feed, I saw that every headline gave away all the content in the articles, so readers had no motivation to click on the link for more information. Headlines should give just enough information to whet the appetite, but not so much that a person feels they’ve gained all the information.
So, to all the professional writers out there, how do you find the proper length? Is there a formula that works every time? I think it’s more about knowing your audience, so I rely on different lengths for different projects.
I had the pleasure of meeting some bloggers this weekend in real life, so I thought I’d post a picture. Angeline, from The New Professional, is taking a cross-country adventure to make the move for her husband’s new job, and she and her husband stopped in the Dallas area for a few nights. Kileen, from Cute and Little, joined us for some coffee and conversation. This is my first blogger meet-up, and it was really cool to meet both of these ladies in person. It’s definitely a little odd, because you feel like you know them from reading their blogs, but you haven’t actually met. We had some great discussions about world travels, job opportunities, and housing options. It was great to connect with these two talented bloggers in person, and I look forward to more meet-ups in the future!
I thought about posting this one yesterday, but then I switched. So unfortunate, as it would have been the perfect coincidence after some of our topical discussions in my latest class, Organizational Behavior. Let’s take a walk down memory lane, shall we? Back to the days before the internet, when research had to be done with… gasp… actual books!
– I was in 7th grade when I was first exposed to the internet. Our teacher had just set up Netscape Navigator, and she told us that we had to use at least one internet source for our history project. We were told to come up to her computer, type any question into the blank box, and then use the most appropriate answer with a link. I typed in some ridiculously long question, without any boolean logic or key words, and got 0 search results. Yeah, how is this magic box thingie helpful?
– By high school, we were all really proficient with the internet. So proficient, that our teachers starting requiring at least two book sources for our projects! Everything had to be cited using the standard MLA format, including our internet links. We weren’t allowed to use Wikipedia as a source for any of our projects, since that information was CLEARLY unreliable.
– By the end of college, the professors just started asking us for a list of links that were used to our sources. The MLA formatting for a bunch of links was pretty silly, since they could just click directly to the source from the last slide of our PowerPoint presentation. They could also put our papers into a third party content manager to find out exactly which percentage of our paper was plagiarized. I think the third party content system is much more effective than the MLA formatting for a bunch of Marketing majors using the latest data for real-world companies.
– Now, in the professional world and graduate school, everyone recommends “Google it”, “Bing it” and “Wiki it”. Yes, Wikipedia is often recognized as a reasonable place to at least start the research process. Statistics are known to be old, since we can’t collect and process the data as fast as we need to, so everything just says, “as of [date]”, and everyone just assumes that it’s actually accelerated well beyond whatever the statistics says on the screen.
Man that was a long walk! It seems like it’s been forever since I first used the internet, and now I’m the “social media expert” at work! My biggest takeaway from my encounters with the somewhat tech un-savvy, is that tech doesn’t fundamentally change how humans think and act. Yes, we can share information faster and broader, and yes, the internet never forgets. But, humans still need connection, interaction, and feedback. Thus, as a marketer, I view technology, specifically social media, as another tool. You don’t have to throw 20 years of business experience out the window, but you do need to take a new perspective to see how this latest tool fits into your overall strategy. How do you utilize this tool to meet the fundamental human needs that still exist? I’m already excited about this Organizational Behavior class, since it will allow me to dive deep into how people think, and why they do what they do. Combine that with all the latest tools, and you’ve got a fun set of issues to contend with. So, where were you when that new-fangled internet first came into your life?
A big thanks to Cassie from Oh Say Can You Say for nominating me for a Versatile Blogger Award! In accordance with the award, I’ll share 7 random facts about myself:
1) I love the arts! I’m into singing, acting, and dancing in musicals, and I love attending live music and art exhibits. My tastes vary across all types of genres and mediums, and my husband and I have been enjoying the art scene in DFW for the past few months. Most recently, we attended D’ Drum and Rite of Spring at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Deep Ellum Arts Festival, That One Guy and several open mic nights. If you want to see a few photos of the show I most recently performed in, check out Matt Faus Photography!
2) I am an olive fiend! I’ll try any kind of olive, from kalamata to jalapeno-stuffed, I don’t discriminate. One of my go-to party dishes is an olive salad, made with a mix of black olives, green olives, fresh garlic, celery, and a little bit of olive oil. I tend to want to make one batch for myself, and one batch for the rest of the attendees to share!
3) I love scrapbooking and card-making. In fact, I’ve hand-made our Christmas cards for the last 2 years, and I generally make all my thank-you notes and congratulatory cards. I’m still working my way through my wedding scrapbook, but hopefully it will soon join the ranks with the high school, college, and Europe memories! If you promise not to judge the lack of recent posts, you can check out my short-lived creative website, The Creative Cap.
4) I’m an avid traveler. I lived in Barcelona, Spain for a summer, which enabled me to travel to Germany, France, and Italy for weekend trips. I went to the running of the bulls in Pamplona, and it was totally not worth it! I was at the 2008 Beijing Olympics when the world record for women’s pole vault was broken, and when the US swept gold at a track event. I’ve been to Mexico and Canada, and I’ve got plans to work my way through the rest of the world.
5) I love Mexican food and Italian food, and not the super fancy stuff either! I could alternate between cheese enchiladas or a mixed plate of fajitas, and pizza or spaghetti for most of my life. I’d have to pepper in some steak and salmon, but those are a little rich to eat all the time.
6) I workout a lot. Well, not a lot right now, since I’ve got class and homework most evenings. But, when I DON’T have class, I really enjoy the gym… I was really excited over spring break to hit the gym 5 days that week! Again, I don’t discriminate on my workout, from weights to boot camp to Zumba, I’m willing to try anything once.
7) If you give me a book and no distractions, I will literally read for the entire day. I love murder mystery novels and spy novels… kind of makes me wish I could be an undercover agent! Unfortunately, the time and desire to read are often thwarted by academic reading or busyness.
I’m also supposed to pass this award on to some other bloggers, so I’ll be working on my picks over the next few days!
Thanks again, Cassie, it’s great to promote fellow bloggers!
I’m always amazed by humans’ response to natural disasters. You hear amazing stories of survival, see extreme acts of compassion, and a general goodwill from the rest of the world to help rebuild the affected area. And then, you have the scammers. Forbes published an article this morning about people who rushed to register pertinent domain names, some claiming they do intend to actually help victims. However, many of these sites also popped up after Katrina and the Haiti disaster. Forbes also links to articles with tips to spot a fake relief organization. There are hundreds of legitimate and reputable organizations that deal with these kinds of disasters all the time, and I would recommend going through one of them vs. choosing an independent source. It’s unfortunate that in the aftermath of this disaster, people still find a way to take advantage of the situation. This is one effect of the digital age… while the news spread faster, with more raw footage, and more accurate pictures of what’s happening, it also allows scammers to make a buck faster.
It’s been a productive week for me! Here’s a few articles I came across that I thought would make nice weekend reading material:
On building relationships vs. cold calling: A Cautionary Tale
Hate getting sniped on eBay? Become the sniper! via ERE blog: Gixen
Are women their own worst enemy? via The Huffington Post, The Trouble With Bright Girls
On new social media uses, via Forbes: Will Aviation Go Social?
Like the links? Follow me on Twitter for links and posts everyday!
Have you guys seen this Chipotle BOGO deal? Apparently, it’s been going on for about a week, but I’ve been in class, so I missed it! However, it’s an interesting marketing situation. They’ve partnered with a TV show to be able to generate buzz for the show, and increase customers for Chipotle. Is it working? Well, when I arrived at Chipotle for lunch today, then line was LITERALLY out the door and wrapped half-way around the side of the building. I haven’t seen the viewership numbers for “America’s Next Great Restaurant” yet, but my guess is that this promotion will help them out at least a little. Brilliant partnership marketing, and makes me happy with a win-win-win situation! Chipotle wins by increasing their sales in the short-term, and hopefully increasing long-term sales by getting people hooked on their food. The TV show wins by getting more eyeballs on their trailer and more buzz for the show, which will hopefully increase viewership. The customers win because they get reduced pricing on their food.
Also, I like how they’ve used social media to get this going. They’ve created a whole Facebook campaign, and you can watch the video directly in Facebook. Twitter is showing several people sharing the deal, which I also shared via @ashleyfaus. It just goes to show that we’re more connected than ever, and word travels fast. This is especially effective for quick or short-term deals that hit the younger generation. A reality show and burrito combo? Sounds like a perfect combination for social media marketing!
My gut-check says this was a smart partnership for both companies, and I know I’m going to play into the marketer’s hands by checking out the trailer to get my BOGO!
Now that I’ve broadened my scope, I’m excited about some of the changes I hope to implement over the next year. Let’s take a look at some improvements, shall we?
1) More pictures: While I enjoy writing semi-long editorial content, I realize that can be pretty boring for a lot of readers. At the end of the day, we’re all fascinated by the bright, shiny objects… and in today’s blogosphere, that means pictures!
2) Posting more regularly: Since I’ve enlarged my box, I’ll have more room to run around, which should result in more brain exercise for me… resulting in more content for you! I’ve been on a 10 day posting cycle, which is incredibly too long for a blog, so I’m hoping to get it down to more like 3 days. Don’t hold me to this one just yet… these things take a little time!
3) Intersecting personal and professional: For most of us, our personal and professional life, schedule, brand, and activities are intertwined. And, like most corporate dwellers, this intersection presents challenges and accomplishments that I think deserve some discussion. How do you juggle the husband, the job, and “me time”? When should you write that thank-you note? What is that sales person REALLY thinking? Is the “rat race” worth it?
4) Spanning different communities: “Corporate” includes a lot of different types of people and subjects, and I think I can learn a lot from the whole community. My goal is to be able to bring in content and analysis from different corporate communities, in hopes that we can all learn from each other!
I’m hoping to pick up my involvement with the blog, as I’ve found it to be a great source of inspiration and documentation for the past year. It’s amazing the connections you can make when you take the time to look for them!
Consciously Corporate 