the moving finger
writes and having written moves on
Writer. Student. Knitter. Technophile.
And a bunch of other things
TwitterFacebookLinkedInFlickrmetaweblogMoving on...
I've been at my current job for about 2 and half years now. I'm not sure if I've ever blogged in detail about what I do here - but basically, I write ASX announcements, pretty-up investor presentations and provide general communications support to a boutique investor relations firm called Radar.
It's been an interesting time, not without its moments of irritation, and its moments of delight, but recently I'd started to lose my enthusiam for the job.
(it turns out there's only so many times you can write something that says "I know we said we'd be profitable by now, but we're not, it's not our fault and please will you give us more money." Sadly it's turned out for some of our former clients there's only so many times the market will say "OK - here's some more cash.")
Anyway - I've just been offered and accepted, a new job at a company called Nuix, where I'll be their new Marketing Manager. They're a small software developer who make some seriously cool e-discovery software. It's a great product, a great team, and the business is heading into a seriously exciting growth phase.
I'm enormously excited about starting there. So fingers crossed it works out even half as well as I'm hoping.
New Media, Marketing and Public Relations
Where I work we have a bit of a tendency to chase new shiny things - it's a common failing in the world of consultancies/pr/marketing types - we just have very short attention spans.
Anyway as the resident über-geek it usually falls to me to explain why corporate blogs/email marketing campaigns/digital goat sharing* still need us to create good content and do our jobs properly. Fancy technology can't make a shit product/company or campaign any better.
The latest one is twitter - we have clients who want to use twitter to announce they've announced something.
(These are the same companies who won't get rss working on their sites because it's 'complicated')
So, since I'm now looking at how we can effectively leverage Twitter for our clients I was really glad to come across this website which really gives some great advice about using Twitter for marketing and PR.
http://www.howtousetwitterformarketingandpr.com/
You should really check it out if you're considering taking your company or brand onto Twitter.
All a -twitter
A recent study by some mob called "Pear Analytics" has determined(1) that roughly 40% of twitter traffic is "pointless babble"
Unsurprisingly, they have something to sell you based on this startling factoid(2). Gotta love these new "online social marketing experts".
I'm not going to respond because as always Stephen Fry says it best.
(1) the study is really shonky - I'd have been embarrassed to hand it in as an undergraduate. Stephen Dann has the best analysis - and if you read through the comments you can find one of the researchers trying to defend it, which is pretty funny.
(2) a made up fact - commonly believed to be true because it sounds plausible.
I couldn't have said it better myself
As, thanks to GFC, climate change and general crapness, it increasingly seems the world is going to hell in an handbasket, I refer you to the wisdom of the British Ministry of Information circa 1939
Why oh why...
As I've mentioned earlier we're going through a re-branding exercise here. In fact we're nearly done, The designers sent us the CD with the finished artwork on Monday
Now, when I briefed them I explained that things like our proposal template had to be useable in Word, and that the website design had to be easy to to install and use in our CMS.
I, however, was not responsible for signing off on quotes and those requirements weren't reflected.
So on Monday I got a CD containing templates in InDesign... This is a mjor pain in the neck, but not impossible - I can, and have, converted them the word. (Although changing elegant simple InDesign into crappy Word hurts me in my heart)
We also got the the Website design
In Photoshop.
I could rant about why this drives me insane - But the 'vark guys have already said it better - go and read their comments on Photoshop as a web design tool.
And if you are a designer. Please learn - there is a difference between screen and paper.
What I am doing today...
I'm trying to develop a marketing plan and copy for our direct mail campaign. This would be much easier if the process didn't go like this.
I write a draft
I fight with the Managing Director (MD) over what we're planning to do
I fight with the other Divisional Director (DD) over what we want to do
DD fights with MD over why can't we do more of the stuff that she wants to do
I write a draft that attempts to incorporate both their changes.
MD makes secret changes to DD's stuff
DD makes secret changes to MD's stuff
DD has a hissy fit about the changes to her stuff
MD has a hissy fit about the changes to his stuff,
DD comes to see me to explain that MD is an idiot and she doesn't care what we do it's just that she knows way more about this than anyone.
MD comes to see me to explain that they are both idiots and we should do whatever I think is best since I'm the expert, but since he has a wealth of experience (and is the boss) he's sure I'll decide to do the "right" aka "his" things.
I write a third draft
MD calls a meeting between all of us so we can 'come to a consensus'
They argue to a standstill.
I doodle in my notebook and think about how badly I want a beer.
Meeting concludes with
"So Lindsay, you'll get us a fresh draft in the morning?"
No prizes for guessing what I'll be doing tomorrow.
I can do that - just let me get my magic wand
Last year the company I work for decided it was time to update our image - to get away from our eighties inspired pink and grey corporate colours (I'm not joking, it's like working in Miami Vice!) and move into the now - or at least the nineties.
So, over *many, many, many* months (I love design by committee - NOT) we tried to do the re-branding ourselves with, unsurprisingly, very little success. *Finally* we hired professionals who took a lot less time to give us a new look. Although I think their job was made easier by the fact that everyone was sick and tired of the whole process and just wanted it OVER.
Of course because we'd taken so long the project then got de-railed by economic downturns and the actual re-branding process got put on hold.
Yesterday I get a phone call from the MD...
MD: "The calendars we mail-out are they in the new design?" Me: "yup" MD: "Oh. We'd better go ahead and do all that re-branding stuff then." Me <thinks> Ya think? "Guess so" MD: "OK then - can you get that done by the end of next week?" Me: "Uuuuh..." MD: "Great!" he hangs up.So in one week's time I need to have new letterhead, new business cards, new templates for documents, PowerPoint, reports, new website, new email addresses, credentials documents, invoices, pay slips, forms, and god only knows what else ready to go. Thank goodness I have this magic wand I can pull out of my arse when I need it.
Fantastic review of two new blackberries and a G1
Stephen Fry, as well as being a noted actor, writer and raconteur is a bona fide gadget freak (Seriously - he made a film celebrating 25 years of GNU Happy Birthday to GNU)
He has recently reviewed the Blackberry Bold and Storm, and the GI It's a fantastic review describing the Storm's keyboard thusly
Watching someone writing an email on a Storm is like watching an antelope trying to open a packet of cigarettes.aand anyone who has every travelled with more than one electronic device with empathise with the photo of his hotel room desk. Do yourself a favour - Read it
Blogging for work
One of the MDs came to me yesterday and said
"What do you think about adding a blog to our website? I mean are blogs a good idea - or are they just a passing fad."
Given I've been blogging off and on for about 5 years I did suggest I was the wrong person to ask about whether it was a fad. However, I could see some real benefits to having a corporate blog, it would give us an opportunity to create new content for the site regularly - without it necessarily having to conform with a "news item' style. It's one of the ways to really emphasise that in a traditionally very staid market we take a modern approach.
So we had a chat about it and the decision was that we'd try a bit of skunk-works project where we'd start the blog, and then see how we went with regular updates and the like before we made a big song and dance about it.
I guess the next thing will be getting them on twitter.
You know you're a communicator when....
- You have this silly little grin on your face when you hear people say on the elevator: “that was an AWESOME speech (or e-mail) from the CEO”—because more than likely, you or one of your colleagues wrote it.
- You’re willing to put your marriage on the line by continually correcting your spouse’s grammar.
- After 10 years in the profession, your family and friends still don’t understand what you do.
- Although they don't understand what you do - they come to you to get complaint letters written, grant proposals checked, and theses proof-read.
- There’s nothing better in the morning than your coffee and getting your news fix for the day.
- You ponder for hours the irony of the phrase “elevator speech,” given that most of the time in and around elevators, no one says a word or make a sound.
- You still get nervous anytime you have to launch a company-wide e-mail.
- You know no-one ever reads the whole annual report but you.
- The press releases your boss likes best are the ones you wrote as a joke to show him how awful all those cliches are...
- You ponder for hours the fact that although you are a communicator - you don't appear to be able to communicate what you do.
