Trying Is Overrated: Doing Is All That Matters!

Bazaar magazine published my article about "trying". It was inspired by GUST students my first semester at the university. You can read the article at Bazaar online.

Good For Mohammad Al Saleh: He's The First Student To Invite Me To His Blog!

My email says: You have been invited to contribute to Kuwait Cars
The invitation was sent by MCM 201 student, Mohammad N H M Al Saleh. I am impressed! He's the first student to set up his blog and send me an invitation to contribute . . . impressed because this is a guy who, between tanning and the gym, and taking care of family members, doesn't have any extra time. How he manages to fit in school work, I don't know! But I'm very pleased to see that he's working on his Final Assessment and that I've been invited to his new Blogger site.



Obviously Mohammad has completed Part I 3.5 . . . have you?

The Best Question EVER!

I am proud to tell you that Sager asked the best question ever when he asked Mark, "Do you want that iPhone?"

There were many good questions today (thank you to the students who asked the questions and who participated in Mark's presentation) . . . but Sager's question captured the essence of a journalism or mass media student. It shows you're paying attention, it shows you're thinking, and it shows you are "hungry." Employers like to see those qualities. They want to see that you know what you want and you're willing to ask for it.

I'm bringing this to your attention because stepping out, or stepping up, and asking a question like that (you can't be timid and ask that kind of question) is exactly how people can get ahead. Or how they get unexpected news. Or a surprise. Or a gift.

Imagine if Mark had said, "No, and here it is; it's yours just for asking." I've seen that happen. In fact, I've given away products from the stage in very similar scenarios. I explained that a book "unlocked" secrets to "marketing" and when an audience member said, "Can I have that book?" I couldn't resist rewarding him just for asking, and I gave it to him.

Similarly, asking questions like that -- bold questions -- is how you get people to tell you information that they weren't planning to share with you or anyone else. A bold question will catch them off guard. No one expects someone to ask, "Can I have that?" or "Will you tell me the secret?" -- which is what a bold question does.

So good for you, Sager! Stepping up, stepping out, and being bold will help you get a job (and other good things in life).

Planning: It's An Important Part Of Your Job As A Student. Especially As We Near Finals!

"Have a plan. Follow the plan, and you'll be surprised how successful you can be."
-- Paul "Bear" Bryant, American Football Coach

"You should plan and work for your life aas if you're going to live forever, and you should plan and work for the Hereafter as if you're going to die tomorrow."
-- Famous Arab Message

"Always plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark."
-- (Boston Cardinal) Richard Cushing

"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail."
-- Benjamin Franklin, a founding father of the USA

Join This Product Launch Focus Group & Work With A Pro! Hurry, Registration Is Limited!

Explore the various facets of a Product Launch with Kuwait's #1 online marketer! This opportunity is limited to the first 35 students who register. Don't delay -- register now if you are interested.

Discover what happens behind the scenes of a Product Launch and enter a competition exclusively for marketing and communications students enrolled in my courses!

Khalid Al Zanki, who most of you met last week when he visited our classrooms at GUST, invites you to join his Focus Group, which is part of his Product Launch Workshop, to be conducted at GUST. When you join (it's free), you will interact with Khalid on a product launch -- this is your opportunity to find out how to build a product launch, online and offline, at the hands of a pro!

Register now. Click on this link and get involved. You must register by the deadline of 23 March.

Only students enrolled in my Basic Marketing, Online PR & Advertising, and Intro to Mass Media courses are invited to participate in this project.

What an exciting opportunity for you!

Two Sites That Will Help You Collect Data About Commercial Blogs

You'll find information about the performance of web sites, blog sites, bloggers and more at these two sites: Alexa.com and Klout.com. Use these sites as you evaluate the commercial blogs for your Midterm Assessment.

Guest Speaker In Your GUST Classroom: Halah Al-Gharabally, 20 March

Halah Al-Gharabally

Web Editor

Al Watan Daily

Halah Al-Gharabally, Web Editor, Al Watan Daily, will speak to MCM 201 students on Sunday 20 March.


A graduate of Kuwait English School, Halah then studied at Kuwait University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in English Literature in 2006. Jobs in English LIt are generally limited (unless you plan to teach), and Halah found work in a variety of positions prior to landing at  Al Watan Daily. 


She explains, "I began my career as office manager at an architecture firm, where I built the company's web site. . . . Following that, I worked at the Australian College of Kuwait's Engineering Department as senior administration officer," where the most relevant part of her job was overseeing the literature that was circulated to staff and students. 


In December 2010, Halah got her media break! "I started working for Al Watan Daily and am fortunate enough to pursue my passions for all things Internet. I handle the newspaper's online presence, which includes the paper's blog, Twitter, and Facebook."


Many print media have yet to hire an employee devoted to online marketing, but Al Watan Daily recognized the need for this position and chose Halah for the job. She'll help MCM 201 students better understand the work of a Web Editor, and discover more about opportunities for online marketers. Prior to her visit, be sure to see Al Watan Daily on Twitter and read the Al Watan Daily blog.  By the way, when you get to the blog I suggest you read the March 8 article about The Art of Persuasion! 

Guest Speaker In Your GUST Classroom: Khalid Al-Zanki, 17 March

Khalid Al-Zanki

Please be prepared for a guest presentation by Khalid Al-Zanki, a local online marketing pro, in our classroom on Thursday 17 March. If you arrive after the guest speaker's start time, you'll likely find the classroom door closed because we don't want to be bothered by late arrivals. Arrive on time! Learn as much as you can about Khalid . . . start at his Web site. You'll want to ask him questions that could help you prepare your Midterm Assessment, and about the local job market in Kuwait -- he knows where the jobs are and how to get them! Khalid is one of the best examples of effective, professional marketing in our country -- you'll enjoy this opportunity.

Midterm Assessment: Commercial Blogging. Due 27 March

Heather Armstrong, founder of
Dooce.com

Heather Armstrong, a young mother in Salt Lake City, has created one of the all-time best examples of combining public relations and advertising online at Dooce.com. . . and she's made a fortune in the process.

How did she do it? . . . Why do 100,000 people visit her site daily? . . . Why are advertisers willing to pay her an estimated $1-million plus annually? . . . What's so special about Dooce.com?

For answers to those and other questions, read the article, "Baring your soul, turning a profit" (International Herald Tribune, 26 February 2011), and read this article and this one. Plus, read other articles related to this topic which you can research on your own.

Inspiration for us all
Beyond its commercial appeal, Dooce.com is an inspiration for all who dream about (or might dream about) the possibility of writing and producing a commercial blog that attracts tens of thousands of readers and a million dollar paycheck!

Few people have been able to realize that dream, and yet, bloggers of the future (maybe you!) will no doubt surpass that dream with new, dynamic, commercially appealing online properties. If only we knew who and what and when and where! (If I knew one of you would become a million-dollar-a-year blogger I'd start representing you now!)

But Heather Armstrong (and others like her) didn't have a crystal ball that led her to create her commercial blog. Had she planned it, she might never have been able to succeed at it. She simply started writing and posting a blog and, over a period of time (ten years, in fact), one thing led to another and she's at the top of the "mommy blogging" industry.

Commercial blogging

Among the many things that Heather does well (whether by design or by coincidence) is combine public relations with advertising. She promotes products in her blogs (no doubt there are dozens of PR people trying to get her to write about their clients' products and services) and her site carries advertising (and a major agency, Federated Media, represents her blog and sells ads on her behalf). As a result of the writing, the PR, the advertising, Heather collects a fat paycheck every month.

Some people would argue that she's crossed the line, that she's getting paid to write about products and services, and therefore her opinions are "tainted" because she's not going to be critical, or even honest (it's called not biting the hand that feeds you). But, even if that's true (and I am not claiming that it is) many readers apparently don't mind because Dooce.com continues to attract them daily.  

Heather isn't alone in the mommy blogging business, or in the business of combining PR and advertising. According to Jennifer James, there are more than 12,000 mommy bloggers! Jennifer's story is another one that inspires (be sure you read it) . . . she, too, has built a business that combines PR and advertising. She's the founder of Mom Blog magazine and the social network: Mom Bloggers Club.

Why are you telling me this?
So what's all this have to do with you?

I don't expect you to become a mommy blogger, or a daddy blogger (see this story), or any kind of blogger (unless you want to) . . . but these are good examples of how commercial blogging comes together to create content (online PR and advertising), opportunity, interest, phenomena, and, last but not least, MONEY!

These stories, better than any I've found to date, clearly illustrate the significance of our course: Online PR & Advertising!

Even so, these stories may be important to you for only one reason: Your Midterm Assessment!

Any one of these (or other) stories may be your ticket to an A!

Your Midterm Assessment
Here's what you're going to do: Profile: Commercial Blogging

For your Midterm Assessment, you (and one partner) will develop a profile about a commercial blog. To get an A, fulfill these requirements:

• Find a commercial blog -- one that combines both public relations and advertising and generates money. The topic does not matter. Select something that interests you. The blog must be currently produced, and it must be at least 1 year old -- that way it has had some exposure and experience online. In addition to editorial content (which must at least occasionally promote products/services), the blog site must also include paid advertisements. When you produce your report, be sure to include the name of the blog, the URL for the blog, and a good description of the blog. Include some examples to show what the blog is about, the blogger's style of writing and tone of voice, and some sample subject matter.

• Study the blog. Read current and past articles. Read articles about the blog and the blogger. Read the Comments readers post about the blog (these will help you learn about the readers and what they think, and you should search for their Comments on both the blog itself and on other sites). If the blog is represented by an ad agency, do some research to learn about the agency and see what the agency has said, if anything, about the blog. If the agency publishes demographic information about the blog, get it and read it! Does the agency publish a rate book or any kind of evaluation for the blog? . . . Find out how PR people can submit news releases to the blog author to get publicity for their clients' products/services. Show some examples of how products/services are promoted on the blog. 

• Get answers to these questions:

1. Who writes the blog and why? Include more than just a name, include at least a brief profile of the blogger.
2. Who reads the blog? How many people? How often? And why? Again, don't simply rely on numbers. Describe the readers and their interests. (An ad agency will often produce a media kit that includes this information).
3. What does the blog look like? Show some examples. 
4. What does the blog cover editorially? In other words, what's it about? Include some samples of the writing or content. 
5. Which products/services are promoted editorially in the blog?
6. How large is the market for the products/services promoted?  
7. Does the blog author make it clear when he or she is promoting a product/service for which he's getting paid? (Read this article for an example of how one blogger discloses this information). Or is this unknown? Do readers assume that she gets paid by every product/service she writes about?
8. Do readers object to the blogger making money by writing about products and services? (Check Comments).
9. Why would advertisers care about this blog, and why would they be willing to pay money for their products/services to get exposure on this blog?
10. What blogs compete with this blog for both readers and ad dollars?
11. How does this blog compare to competitive blogs -- is it more popular, or less? More commercially successful, or less?

• How much gross revenue does the blog site generate annually? You will not be able to definitively answer this question unless the blogger (or a related party) has revealed the answer -- do your research and find out. Or contact the blogger and ask! Short of discovering the definitive answer, you can make an educated guess. Find out how much it costs to advertise on the site. Then, by watching and tracking the site over a period of time, determine how much advertising appears on the site. Do the simple math and you can guesstimate the amount of ad dollars the site generates. It may not be accurate, but it doesn't matter . . . I'm interested in you doing the research, and if that doesn't yield a definitive answer, then you can creatively guesstimate the revenue.
• Finally, answer this question:  Is commercial blogging honest work? Do some research to learn about the pros and cons of commercial blogging. What do the experts say about this question? When you write your answer, include 2-3 points of view (comments, explanations) in favor of commercial blogging and 2-3 points of view that oppose commercial blogging. Be sure to properly attribute the comments to the appropriate sources. Then, tell me what you think: Is commercial blogging honest work?

Some do's and don'ts
When you create your report, do not simply restate my questions and answer them! Be creative. This is not a Q&A exercise. I want you to create a factual report about the blog, the blogger, and the content. And I want you to create it for an online presentation using PowerPoint.

There are any number of ways for you to organize your report in PowerPoint. How you do it is up to you -- show your creativity. But mostly, deliver a good report that answers the questions I've posed to the best of your ability. In other words, content counts more than pizzazz!

Tell a story with your PopwerPoint. This is the story of a commercial blog. You will be answering the questions I posed, as well as other questions that you will discover and develop while researching and preparing your report.

Your report must include an element of design, but I want to emphasize that I am not looking for creativity in place of content. You may include charts and diagrams, illustrations, photographs -- even video (I encourage all of it) -- but creativity without content will not be acceptable. So long as the content meets my expectations, your design element may be nothing more than a common design template for your PowerPoint slides, or the background of the slides, and that won't be counted as a negative. Bottom line: Content is supreme; creative design is a bonus, but not essential. (This is not a Visual Communications course).

How many slides should you include? Enough to tell the story! I don't know how many slides that will take -- it's your decision.

Presentation deadline
You will ultimately present your report to the class and you will be expected to speak about your report for a minimum of 15 minutes and not more than 20 minutes. Make certain that you have sufficient content to fill your time slot in an interesting way. Your presentation will occur the week of March 27. (Don't even think about being absent that week!) Prior to your class presentation, provide me with both an electronic and hard copy of your Powerpoint presentation. The day of your presentation, arrive early! Bring your Powerpoint presentation (use a memory stick) to the classroom and load it on the desktop computer and be ready to go when it's your turn!

Make your points clearly . . . convince us that you know your subject matter . . . and most importantly, have fun in the process! You can begin by selecting your partner for this project. 

I Got The Message: You Still Want An A!

Congratulations! Each Team made considerable progress in the previous 24 hours with the number of surveys completed. One Team, thanks in part to Twitter, surpassed the goal of 100 completions. Excellent work, ladies! Another Team has more than 60 completions, and all others (including those of the hard working guys), are each above the 50 completions mark! 

Creative thinking drove these results and most of the Teams at least doubled the completions rate. 

What I like about this is that you did not quit! You hit a roadblock and rather than throw up your hands and say, "It doesn't work," or "It can't be done," you got to work and resolved the problem. That learning process alone is worth the price of the course . . . each one of us runs into roadblocks almost everyday. And the roadblocks never end! The sooner you learn the skills of commitment, hard work and creative problem solving, the better for you (and the people you work with). We all have to solve problems -- and now you've demonstrated your ability to be a problem solver. 

What I also like is that you didn't depend on me to resolve the problem. That shows maturity and accountability on your parts . . . and that's a beautiful thing! It's not uncommon for GUST faculty to grumble about the lack of initiative displayed by their students . . . I understand that grumbling because I've experienced the same issue, and for a while this past weekend you all had me worried. "Are they not going to engage in this project and get it done?" But you did! (Or you're almost there). And now every GUST professor wants a class like MCM 201! 

The work isn't finished yet . . . all but one Team needs to add significantly to their completion numbers . . . you are now SO CLOSE you just need to work together, work your plans, and you'll get the results. 

TEAM LEADERS: Please allow time so that you meet with your Team members (hopefully in person) by Tuesday morning . . . at that point you must look at your results and create a Word document and tell me what you would tell GUST Times about the three (3) most critical points of information uncovered by your survey. Just 3. No more, no less. What 3 points can you share with GUST Times to improve their product? The Word document must be emailed to me prior to the start of class on Tuesday 8 March. Do NOT bring the file to class -- email it in advance, preferably before 1:30 so I have time to look at it before I start teaching at 2. 

On Tuesday we'll discuss the analyses of these surveys.

Still Working For An A? Or Have You Given Up On It?

Frustrated with the poor results they're getting from their online surveys, a couple of students have said to me: This isn't going to work. The students aren't interested. They won't complete the survey. What do we do? We want to get an A!

Because I spent more than 30 years in the field as a hands-on communications and marketing practitioner, I tend to think like a manager, and not a teacher, when I face challenges in the classroom. What would I do as a manager if an employee came to me with the issues that I'm hearing now from students?

How will you make it work?
Of course, that's not entirely fair because students are not employees. Employees are supposed to know better! Students are supposed to run into roadblocks, and then rely on their teachers to help them figure out the answers. I'm all in favor of that (which is why I'm writing this blog on a Saturday afternoon), but at the same time, the sooner that students understand that managers want results (not questions, or problems, or a defeatist attitude), the better. Managers want employees who will resolve the issues and get the job done. "Don't tell me why it won't work," managers often say to their employees. "Tell me how you will make it work!"

I'm not hearing much of that from MCM 201 students these days!

Making it work -- the major challenge we're facing with our online survey project -- requires several things from students:

Believing in the project
Believe that the project can work. For many of you, I don't think you do. So I want to ask you:

1. How much do you believe in your survey? 
2. How much time have you committed to the development of the survey? 
3. Are you proud of what you produced?

Implementing a campaign
It will take more than one email to friends to get the results you need. Your email campaign needs to be repetitive, as we discussed in class. (Each student was expected to create three email pitches and send them over a period of time to their personal lists). But email is only one technique -- there are many others. So I want to ask you:

1. What are the steps of your campaign?
2. How much time have you and your teammates spent figuring out the campaign? 
3. What else can you do to create interest in your survey? 
4. How many emails will you send? 
5. How many phone calls will you make? 
6. How many text messages will you send? 
7. Did you consider using Facebook and Twitter?
8. What else will you do?

Now is the time to be creative. Now is the time to motivate yourself. How valuable is an A to you? Is it worth writing the SurveyMonkey URL on your forehead and walking around and asking students to go to the site and complete the survey? . . . Is it worth calling 50 students in person and asking them to go to the survey and complete it? . . . Is it worth bringing a laptop to the campus and pulling people over to it and asking them to complete the survey?

You must have a plan. To say "it won't work" or "they're not interested" without showing evidence that you have a plan, and you implemented the plan, is not demonstrating that you've learned anything. Just putting in time and coming up with reasons why things didn't work . . . that's not worth an A.

Revising the campaign
After you implement the campaign, you evaluate the results and determine what to do next. So I want to ask you:

1. How much time have you spent evaluating the results?  
2. How often have you logged in to your survey to look at the results? 
3. How many people have you asked if they've completed the survey for you? 
4. Team Leaders: How often have you talked to your team members in the last three days to keep the momentum moving? 

Continuing the implementation
After you evaluate the results, then you decide the next steps. You can either continue to do more of the same because it's working, or you can re-think the campaign, re-design it, and implement new ideas. So I want to ask you:

1. What has worked?
2. What can you do to get more results?
3. What ARE you going to do? 

As future implementers in public relations and advertising businesses, you will be expected by your employers to "figure it out" and not simply throw up your hands and say it can't be done. Even in the classroom, it's not acceptable to give up. Nor is it acceptable to try a methodology that doesn't support the goal of the course. For example, yes it would be easy to print the surveys and walk around the campus and ask people to complete them off-line, as one student suggested. But that's not online PR, is it? But you could bring a laptop to campus and walk it around and ask students to complete the survey.

Much more you can do, if you want to
From what I've seen and heard (and sadly, it's not been much) there are so many more things that can be done. In the real world, we would offer incentives, i.e. a coupon for a free appetizer in exchange for completing the survey. At the university we have some limitations, but we're not totally without incentives. What favors are you willing to do for someone who does a favor for you? Businesses ask and answer that question all the time. So I want to ask you:

1. Would you buy someone a cup of coffee if they completed your survey? 
2. Would you help them study? 
3. Would you proofread a paper for them? 
4. Would you give away cookies or cupcakes or chocolate? 

Now we'll find out how much an A is worth to you!

There's so much more you can do, if only you'll make the commitment. I can't do that for you. This project, as I explained from the outset, requires a commitment from each team member. It depends on people working together and it depends on teams working outside of class time to complete the project. With few exceptions, I've not seen Teams working together or with a purpose. I still hope to see it!

Chances are, while I'm posting this on Saturday afternoon, most students won't even read it until Sunday in class, or maybe even Tuesday, by which time it will be too late to make a difference. Nonetheless, for those who do read it, here it is. Accept the challenge. 

Don't give up on your project. It's too soon! Giving up now means an A wasn't all that important to you anyway.

Survey Results: Need A Huge Boost!

Randomly checking survey results today and . . . are you as worried as I am? (Of course you should be more worried since it's your grade at stake!)

Ideally each site should net 100 completed surveys . . . the most any one site has as of today is 10. And by early next week (Monday, which is three days away) we need to complete this project and move on to the next . . . so there's a lot of work to be done between now and then to boost the results.

What are you doing to get more students to respond to your survey?

Part of the lesson here is to demonstrate that it's not as easy as it seems it should be to motivate people to do something as simple as complete a survey. And yet, without gathering information, we're at a loss to make good decisions about products and services.

Another part of the lesson: Get creative! Your client, GUST Times, is depending on you to deliver results. What can you do, what will you do, to make sure you get the results the client requires?

I suggest you send more emails to lists of students . . . you should try different approaches to see if you can motivate them to go to the site and complete the survey. You can also ask students personally to go to the site by giving them the URL. Call students, text students, do whatever you must to boost your results.

Time is of essence . . . please do not wait until Sunday to see how things are going because that may be too late!

As you continue to market your survey, keep me informed by sending me email updates of your activities and progress.

Need Help Writing Survey Questions?

You'll find a variety of good resources on the Worldwide Web.

Here are several articles and reference sites that I recommend:

How to write a good survey

Designing Surveys That Count

Constructing The Survey

How to Write a Survey or Questionnaire

How To Write A Pitch That Will Get Your Emails Read And Not Deleted

Thanks to MCM 201 student Haya Alhomaizi for this excellent article about how you can write effective email pitches. While the article provides 13 suggestions for writing a pitch that will get a journalist's attention, you can use these techniques for your survey pitches, too!

The article makes a good point about not mass distributing an email . . . it's better to personalize each email. However, in your case you will send your pitch to your personal email database of GUST students, so you don't have to personalize the pitch. You should, however, write a pitch that sounds like you so that when your friends read it they know it came from you. In other words, if you're normally informal with your friends when you send an email then your pitch should be informal. However, I do want it to include correct spelling, grammar and punctuation!

Read the article and thank Haya for bringing it to our attention!

Finalizing Online Surveys And Proceeding To The Next Steps

Surprise, it's a holiday!

Fortunately, at least two of five groups (3 female and 2 male) are continuing to work through the holiday and have sent me the links to their updated surveys. I have already responded to them with feedback.

Subtle note to other groups: If you have updated your survey in the last 48 hours and want me to take a look, let me know. If you have not updated your survey in the last 48 hours, when will you? Let me know so I can provide my usual thorough (though sometimes overly critical) feedback.

At this point, you should have created an online survey that includes:

1. A good title (that means it begins with an active verb)
2. A brief introduction that explains the what and why of your survey
3. At least 6 good questions.

Originally I had said to keep your questions to 6 but I have modified the number. I'm happy to allow you to decide how many questions you should ask. Be sure it's a reasonable number!

Next steps
When we meet again, Tuesday 1 March, I want to see completed surveys. In other words, you've worked out the rough edges of your survey and it's ready to go live.

But not so fast. We won't go live on Tuesday, but possibly by Thursday.

Before we finalize the surveys, I want you to think about the questions, and especially the answers you are likely to collect. If you were the client -- in this case, GUST PR, charged with publishing GUST Times -- would you be satisfied with your Team's end product?

Is the survey probing for the right information? Will the answers provide useful data to the client? Or will the client wonder: "Why didn't they ask this question, or that question?" Are you asking the right questions? Remember: The client is looking for useful data that will help her make good decisions about improving her product, the GUST Times.

What could you have asked that you're not yet planning to ask? Think about it. Discuss it. Make sure you will be proud of your data collection. Ultimately, you want the client to use your services again, and to promote you to other potential clients!

Getting results
Once your survey has been finalized, your Team must now think about how you are going to get at least 50, and ideally close to 100, students to respond to your online survey.

Each of you will write an email "pitch" . . . in other words, a brief message that you will send to your own database of students at GUST. The purpose of the "pitch" is to motivate the students to respond to the survey. Each Team member will email his/her "pitch" to respective Team members, with a copy to me. We'll then critique the "pitches" and select three to send to the databases over a period of time.

If you don't have an email database of GUST students -- develop one! Ask at least ten students for their email address and explain why -- you will be contacting them to ask them to complete a survey to help you get an A in MCM 206!

More to come!

Good Critiques from Assignment #1 . . . Average Grade: A-!

Good job critiquing the email marketing video presentation . . . the average grade for this assignment: A-.

Many students thoughtfully analyzed the online presentation and developed good suggestions for making improvements. Most students said they would recommend this video for others to watch, but some said it was too boring!

Most all students grabbed the main messages from the online presentation and learned some basics about email marketing.

I particularly enjoyed the overall good use of Basic English! Please be cautious -- don't let your writing get sloppy, and don't forget to check for "agreement," i.e. singular nouns require singular verbs, plural nouns require plural verbs, etc.

To help you improve going forward, I've attached two sample critiques for your review. Both were well done . . . pay attention to the style of these writers.

Assignment # 2: Email Campaign with Survey

Work with your team!

Develop a survey (using surveymonkey.com) to poll students about some aspect/s of the GUST Times. Survey to consist of no more than 6 questions.

After the survey is completed, the team will create a series of email messages to be sent to each member's personal email list (consisting of GUST students). The purpose is to motivate the students to complete the survey. Each team will write 2-3 email messages and send them to their lists over a period of time.

The best email campaign will be used by GUST Times . . . distributed to all students.

Meet with your team before Sunday 20 February and come to class that day with your survey theme in mind. Rough out some of the questions in advance. During class on Sunday you will use surveymonkey.com to create your survey. If time allows we'll also discuss the content of your email campaign.

DO NOT come to class on Sunday without a good idea of how you plan to proceed with building your survey . . . get together in advance and discuss topics for the survey questions.

If you have questions for me, please use the Comments section below.

Assignment #1 Due Tuesday 15 Feb 2011

Please watch this video:
http://espanol.video.yahoo.com/watch/4573127/12244007

After you watch the presentation, answer these questions:

1.  What three things did you learn from watching this video?

2.  If you were Matt Dunlop, what would you do differently to present this information online? How would you improve it?

3.  What is this video "selling"?

4.  Would you be inclined to send this video to other people who want to learn about email marketing? Why or Why not?

Rules of the Assignment:

1.  Must be typewritten (no handwritten work accepted)
2.  Due at the start of class on 15 February (not during the class, or after). So come to class with your assignment in hand!
3.  Type your name/student ID number in the top left of the assignment. On the second line type: MCM 201/Dr. Hayes.
4.  Number your answers.
5.  Answer each question briefly. Doesn't matter if you write in paragraphs or bullet style.
6.  Check your spelling, grammar, etc. It all counts! (See the rubric).

Thank you!

Dr. Hayes

Online Public Relations/Advertising Syllabus

 

Department of Mass Communications

   Course Syllabus
MCM 201 Online PR/Advertising (3 Credit Hours)

                                      

Professor John P. Hayes

Office: N1-262

Phone: 2530- 7089

E-Mail: hayes.j@gust.edu.kw

Office Hours

S-T-T from 1-2 pm

M-W from 4-5 pm

      By Appointment       

Class Meetings:

Section (1) Su-Tu-Th 2-2:50 pm Room N4-104

Section (52) Su-Tu-Th 3-3:50 pm Room W4-203

                                                                              

I.  Course Description

Prerequisite: MCM 141. This course introduces students to the use of Internet by different organizations to achieve goals for advertising and public relations purposes. Students are presented to different concepts such as online advertising/PR strategies, online advertising/PR reach, the association between online research and online advertising/PR, online targeting audience for advertising/PR and online message design.

II. Course Learning Outcomes

Upon the completion of this course, students are expected to:
1.       Define terminology typically used in online PR/Advertising activities. 

2.      Apply writing and creative techniques and skills as required by online media.

3.      Think creatively about online media and how to use these media to develop PR and advertising campaigns.

4.      Create, critique, analyze and evaluate online PR/Advertising campaigns.

5.      Meet deadlines!

6.      Utilize online platforms and tools including blogging, Facebook campaigns, Twitter communications, etc.

7.      Exhibit professional behavior and accomplishment by presenting a portfolio of work at semester’s end. 

III. Methods of Course Delivery

Lectures and demonstrations by the professor, and student team and individual projects and reports. Team projects will require students to work together outside of class time.

IV. Course Educational Resources

1.     Reading lists and materials, as well as online documents, will be provided throughout the semester.

2.     www.MCM201.Blogspot.com provides a platform for teacher/student communication and interaction; students are advised to log in to the site several times weekly.  

V. Basis for Evaluating Student Work Performance

Grading Rubrics are posted at www.MCM201.Blogspot.com

Each student’s class performance will be assessed on the basis of the following grading scheme:

	Course Activity	Percent of Final Mark
1.	Midterm Assessment (week of March 27) . . . Do not make any plans to travel and do not miss classes this week!	25%
2.	In-class Announced Quizzes	20%
3.	Individual & Team Projects, Reports & Homework Assignments	25%
4.	Final Assessment (May 28-June 7)	30%
	In-class participation and contributions, including attendance	See Rubric www.mcm201.blogspot.com
	Total	100%

Final Letter Grades will be based on the following Percentage & Grade Value Scales:

A           =      95 % - 100 (4)       C      =      73 % - 76 (2.0)

A-          =      90 % - 94 (3.7)      C-     =      70 % - 72 (1.7)

B+         =      87 % - 89 (3.3)      D      =      60 % - 69 (1.33)

B           =      83 % - 86 (3.0)      F       =      Less than 60 (0)

B-          =      80 % - 82 (2.7)      DL    =      Delayed

C+         =      77 % - 79 (2.3)      FA    =      Failure due to absence

NOTE: in-class activities cannot be “made-up”. If you missed a class that included a quiz, an exam, a team project, or when extra credit may have been allotted, you cannot make up the work and you will not receive credit unless you attended the class and completed the assigned work.

VI. University Policies

Academic Dishonesty

“Academic dishonesty is a serious offense which may lead to probation, suspension, or expulsion. There are several forms of academic dishonesty. One form is plagiarism--the use of an author’s ideas, statements, or approaches without crediting the source. Another form is the recycling of one’s own work without informing the reader of the prior presentation of the same material. Academic dishonesty also includes cheating or assisting another person in cheating (GUST Bulletin, 2009-2010, p. 41).”

A student who commits academic dishonesty will receive a grade of F (for the respective assignment, quiz or exam) and will be referred to Student Counseling.

Class Attendance Policy

See “My GUST Attendance Record Is My Responsibility,” for all details related to attendance requirements for this course, and to understand how missing class will affect your grade. Your Professor will distribute copies of the document during the first week of the semester; each student is to review the document and sign it, indicating that he/she understands the requirements and will abide by the document. The document is also available for review at http://mcm201.blogspot.com.

From the GUST Bulletin:

“The University requires regular and timely attendance at all classes. Attendance is registered in the student information system (PeopleSoft) by the students as they enter the classroom by swiping their identification card over a card-reader. Repeated tardiness or absences will result in warnings, and, if absence continues, the instructor can decide to fail the student due to absence. Students should inform their instructor of any foreseen absence. Students excused from class for valid reasons by their Deans shall be permitted, if possible, to make up work missed; but the Dean must have notified the instructor in writing (GUST Bulletin, 2009-2010, p. 39).”

The University’s rules on class attendance are clear.

1-    A student will receive a first warning if missing 3 hours.

2-    A student will receive a second warning if missing 6 hours.

3-    A student will receive a third warning if missing 9 hours.

4-    A student may receive a dismissal if missing 10 hours.

Please note: Each student is personally and solely responsible for managing class attendance. The best policy is to attend each class session. If you receive a warning from the university and you believe it’s inaccurate, do something about it immediately and do not wait until the end of the semester. Contact the appropriate personnel and make certain that your attendance record is correct. Once an FA is issued it’s difficult to change it and you will have to prove that you attended any class that the university indicates you missed. Please come to class on time (arrive early). The classroom door will be closed 5 minutes after the start of the class; please do not enter when the door is closed.  . . . As noted above and emphasized here: See “My GUST Attendance Record Is My Responsibility,” for all details related to attendance requirements for this course, and to understand how missing class will affect your grade.

Course Expectations

-           Always come to class early

-       Read assigned materials in advance of class

-       Provide accurate, neat and complete assignments

-       Adhere to the professor’s rules for assignments

-       Participate in class discussions

-       Meet every deadline!

-       Speak only English in the classroom and in meetings with the professor

-       Write in English when completing assignments

-       Respect conventional class manners such as turning off cell phones (or similar electronic device) and disengaging from chatting with classmates about topics unrelated to the class. (For more on this and related issues, please read Student Code of Conduct in GUST Bulletin, 2009-2010, p. 41). 

-       Follow the professor’s guidelines and rules outlined in “My Gust Attendance Record Is My Responsibility” and other documents handed out by the Professor and/or available at http://mcm201.blogspot.com.

Please note: The Professor reserves the right to change the syllabus, content, and grading scale during the semester.

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