http://www.maryschmidt.com Business Development, Marketing, Common Sense & Creativity Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:09:05 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en After all, it's a marketing professionals web site. Lots of good info, different perspectives, something for everyone. EXCEPT...when I want to read a "premium" article. I can sign up for a free two-day trial - but they still want all my info (in multiple "continue" screens), including ... http://www.maryschmidt.com/2009/06/30/marketing-profs-should-know-better/ ...and meanwhile as the both the publishing and advertising industries run around screaming and acting in blind panic... Last night as a friend and I were bemoaning the loss of some good magazines and kvetching the reason we don't read others...she noted that "I don't want to pay to read ads ... http://www.maryschmidt.com/2009/06/29/whats-wrong-with-publishing/ I've always wondered what the Chinese must think as they make things like truck balls and hats that (literally) look like a pile of crap. "Man, these silly Americans will buy ANYTHING!...Hey, wait a minute, we keep loaning money to these idiots..." The other day I was browsing the aisles ... http://www.maryschmidt.com/2009/06/25/americans-will-buy-anything/ Way back in the dark ages, I took Drivers Ed. Here in NM this meant taking the class when I was 14; getting my full-fledged license when I was 15. Nobody failed the class, yet saying we could drive was a very optimistic overstatement of our ability to (somehow) ... http://www.maryschmidt.com/2009/06/24/why-getting-an-mba-is-like-drivers-ed/ You've already read about eleventy billion tips on how to survive it (including posts here). However, apparently many aren't reading them. I'm truly amazed (maybe I'm clinging to some girlish naivete), how many ginormous/small/micro companies (and their employees) still treat their customers like an irritating distraction. So, based ... http://www.maryschmidt.com/2009/06/23/12-ways-to-not-survive-the-recession/ Regular readers and FB friends know I've become a gardening addict (and have the fingernails to prove it...No, no, let me dig just more scoop of dirt before I've got to run to that meeting...of course, those meetings enable me to pay for things like the $29.95 tomato...) The title ... http://www.maryschmidt.com/2009/06/12/tooni-musing-my-2995-tomato/ ...to the product, event or service... In any type of design or planning, there is - inevitably - BIG discussions about seemingly small details. And, sometimes those details can be deal killers (Oops, forgot to put a hold button on the phone...had that discussion when I was working in NEC ... http://www.maryschmidt.com/2009/06/09/what-does-it-add/ "It'd be great if someone could..." "Why doesn't someone..." "Someone needs to..." "Someone should..." "Someone has to..." Poor ol' "someone" - he or she is THE one who should/could/is supposed to do everything. Revise the web site. Fix the database. Design and send out a brilliant mail campaign. ... http://www.maryschmidt.com/2009/06/08/someone-seems-to-be-mia/ Granted, I'm a bit of a curmudgeon, even though I write on multiple blogs, own two computers, love YouTube and Hulu, work with technology companies, dance around with my iPod...and spend a lot of time online. I don't have a cell phone. I don't tweet. I love, love, love ... http://www.maryschmidt.com/2009/06/05/tooni-musing-facebook-fatigue/ They still teach the hoary ol' "4 Ps" (Product, Pricing, Placement & Promotion)in marketing classes...(it really should be more like 7 or 8, and "promotion" is a lot more than advertising out in the real world.) TV Week Headline: Bad TV News: GM Owes Ad Firms $167.4 Mil Wired Headline: ... http://www.maryschmidt.com/2009/06/04/it-should-always-be-product-before-promotion/