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.