The Rogue Marketer

Image via CrunchBase

It was reported at the OMMAGobal conference this morning that Twitter is a Top 10 referring domain for the New York Times. 

I've been tweeting all day on behalf of Mimeo.com and wondering what type of impact we were having.  Referrals all the way to revenue are the way to go.

I have my Tweetdeck open all day monitoring competitors, and participating in hashtag discussions that are taking place around trade shows and other industry events that are pertinent to our industry.

Everywhere I turn I hear about friends out of work.  This chart from The Business Insider reports on a Calculated Risk story that job losses as a percentage of peak employment since WWW2.  Not only is the unemployment rate the highest that it has been in 26 years, but the rate of the decline is historic.

Hard to be a marketer when no one can buy your goods.  Can't wait for the sharp upward bounce.

Source: The Business Insider/Henry Bodgett

The September 18 issue of Entertainment Weekly magazine features a printed insert that includes an embedded video player.  The section features video from the CBS Fall lineup and is sponsored by Pepsi Max.

The player offers sharp video resolution and clear sound.  Viewers can select via push button the video they would like to watch.

As this technology evolves it could be a significant leap forward for printed materials as it easily blends the best of video with the take it anywhere in depth editorial of print.  While the first use is not particularly creative, just the fact that they were able to do it at all is admirable. 

The applications for this new technology are easy to imagine.  Product demonstrations next to product reviews, news stories next to news commentary, and Playboy editorial next to..... you get the idea.

In B to B, the applications are also interesting.  B to B marketers can insert live video into what previously were static PowerPoint presentations.  Printed sales presentations can include video which highlights the value proposition being represented. 

Video in print is here to stay.

The government, Republicans and Democrats seem to have a tough time explaining the health care plan.  It gets caught up in conjecture, terms that are hard to understand, and distortion.

It's a great marketing lesson in keeping it simple.  As Congressman Rep. Anthony Weiner simply states, health care is easy to understand.  The goal is to take money from people and give it to Doctors.  All the insurance companies do is take money from people and take a 30% fee to give money to Doctors and pharmacists. The goal of insurance companies is to protect and hopefully grow the 30%. This 30% is $300 billion dollars.

On the other end of the spectrum is a single payer system such as Medicare.  Here people pay the government, who in turn takes 3.5% (vs. 30% for the insurance companies) for administration, and then gives money to Doctors.  47% of money spent on health care today is into a single payer government plan.  This includes Medicare, government employees, veterans administration etc.

So to me, with this probably over simplified explanation, it seems kind of simple.  As Rep. Weiner said, no one particularly likes their insurance company.  Eliminating insurance companies eliminates paper work, which represents 20% of a hospitals costs.  Insurance companies have a fair incentive to continually minimize the amount of money they pay out.  The sicker you get, the more restrictive they are going to be.

As Rep Weiner and Bill Maher point out;  President Obama needs to start standing up for those that voted for him.  He needs to stand up for the 70% of Americans that don't want the threat of bankruptcy if a medical catastrophe happens, they want him to take care of the now 46 million Americans that don't have health insurance, but really do when they rely on over priced emergency rooms, and they want him to stand up to the establishment that is driving Americans into bankruptcy.

Rep. Weiner indicated that the President is appearing to be half pregnant.  In my mind, being half pregnant is the equivalent of not being pregnant at all.

Image by VitiligoCover via Flickr

I'm in the process of looking at what Hubspot, inbound marketing software, has to offer.  They recommend the following tools for identifying media outlets and reporters that actively use twitter.

Twittering Media Outlets - for a list of media outlets

Two resources for twittering journalists:

Twittering Journalist

Media On Twitter

In addition to Twitter, don't forget my favorite tool - Help a Reporter (HARO) - which lists reporters looking for sources.  Thank you Peter Shankman for a great resource!