Are you ready for this?

One of my favorite comic strips is "Zits" which follows the travails of a teenager named Jeremy. In today's strip he and a friend, while watching a television show on a laptop lamented the fact that Jeremy's parents still watched shows on a regular TV. How quaint!

Yesterday while attending a South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce event with a political candidate, I was using my iPad to "fact check" what was being said to us. It provided me the basis for at least one question. Another attendee was busy blogging it all on his laptop.

Watching TV, just not on a regular TV. Using an iPad at a political forum. Getting your local/national news weather and sports on your PDA. As I've blogged before, the information pipelines continue to grow, and the technology continues to empower you and me.

Remember the rock song lyrics "Are you ready for this?" (Believe it was done by a band named Jock Jams but don't hold me to it)

The question is a good one. Are you indeed ready for this? Are you ready to fully use this technology and all the pipelines to your advantage?

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters LLC
"We get the conversation started" (About you!)

The Art of the Sale(sman)

Just read (twice) this great article in the June 14-20 edition of Bloomberg Businessweek. It's a profile of Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Writer Devin Leonard portrays Jobs as the ultimate marketer. (Disclaimer time: I'm an Apple Shareholder)

I have no idea as to the value of the free publicity Apple receives compared to what they pay for traditional PR and Marketing. But the ratio has to be top heavy with the former.

When Apple roles out a product, it's a news event, a happening, with bloggers and analysts building up pre-launch "Mo" for days and weeks in advance. BUZZ louder than those horns you hear at the World Cup.

The most recent examples of course, are the new iPhone and the iPad. The new iPhone buzz started when an Apple Engineer "lost" a prototype at a restaurant. Tech Blog Gizmodo got its hands on the device and the free PR machine rolled into action.

At the "official" unveiling, Jobs quipped, "Stop me if you've seen this before." Wow. We should all be so skillful.

As Businessweek writer Leonard points out, "With the media landscape so fragmented, stopping the world in its tracks isn't easy anymore." But he adds that Jobs is the least great pitchman. Until the next great pitchman comes along.

All this gets back to my belief that what's key in communicating your message, is content. Regardless of the pipeline, you have to have a message and product that captures the hearts and minds of your target audience.

My daughter, who like me is an iPad owner, told me that while using it at the airport recently, several people came up to her and asked her about the device. When was the last time anyone came up to you and asked you about the laptop you were working with?

So even though you post on Facebook and Twitter, have videos on YouTube or just pitch to the local morning show keep one thing in mind: You, your message and product/service have to connect with Main Street.

It's a "Buzz" thing. Buzz is good.

Brian Olson
CEO and Founder
Conversation Starters LLC
"We get the conversation started." About You!

We now return to our regular programming.

I just took a week off for family. When I started this business, family and work were going to balance out with the tilt of the scales towards family. Although I'll be the first to admit that having our darling grandkids; aged two and five with us for five days is exhausting!

But it's time to get back to work building a business. We'll be announcing a new strategic partner shortly, it's a partnership that's literally been over 20 years in the making and I'm excited about it.

We've tweaked our website here at Conversation Starters to include our new logo. I like the changes.

This morning I shot video at Centennial Airport for Wings over the Rockies Air and Space Museum as they wrap up the visit of the Experimental Aircraft Association's restored WWII B-17 Bomber, Aluminum Overcast. This is my second opportunity to work with this magnificent aircraft. The focus of the video will include the aircraft of course, but also the many volunteers that make such an experience possible.

Tomorrow afternoon is my first meeting with the Business Leaders for Responsible Government Committee of the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce. I'm looking forward to this opportunity to meet with government leaders, and potential leaders and to ask the tough (but fair) questions to make sure our government is accountable to "We the People."

So it's back to work, back to Twitter and hopefully securing new clients.

Brian Olson
Conversation Starters LLC

Words to live (and die) by

"If you don't want to be quoted, don't say it."
"The mike is always on"

I don't know who originally made these quotes, but they're oft-repeated in journalism and public relations. As the header says, words to live and die by.

Case in point: BP Chairman Tony Hayward, while visiting the Lousiana Gulf Coast to brief people on the company's efforts to stop the blown-out well and clean-up the mess. He said a lot of good things, but one statement blew him out of the PR water. "I would like my life back."

Oops. My sense of the man is he meant nothing other than to say he wants to fix this. But perception was otherwise and as I learned a long time ago in journalism, "Perception is reality."

Everyone has said more than one thing they wish they could take back during their lives. I'm near the head of the list. Most of us however, aren't thrown into the public spotlight.

Some spotlight. As Mr. Hayward is finding out, it's incredibly bright. When it comes to words vs sticks and stones, take the latter.

In this 24/7 news cycle environment, with social media fueling it even more, one vocal faux-pas, all the King's PR men and their horses can't put Humpty Dumpty together again.

Just in case you're saying to yourself, "Self, I'd never let this happen to me," think again.

Media training and crisis management are something we and our strategic partners at Conversation Starters specialize in. We've been on both sides of the mike and have learned from our own mistakes.

Let us help you keep from making the same ones. Or if you do, how to clean up afterwards.

Brian Olson
CEO and Founder
Conversation Starters, LLC

The Business of Journalism should be just that.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." -1st Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America.

There's a little (but dangerous) initiative flying just below the radar screen in Washington which should trouble us all. Government is trying to "Re-invent" Journalism. It's a line they should not, and must not cross.

Here's just one article about it all, but in a nutshell here's what government wants to do to "fix" what ain't broken.

-Establishing news vouchers for citizens to support non-profit journalism. i.e. Public Broadcasting.
-A 5% sales tax on consumer electronics to pay for even more government owned broadcasting.
-A "News" Division of Americorps

Commercial broadcasters and print outlets are going through tough times. But they don't need "help" from the government. They'll figure it out. The founding fathers of this nation realized that a free, unfettered and INDEPENDENT press was critical to the success of the nation and our freedoms guaranteed by the 1st Amendment.

Please don't confuse this with an anti-government rant. (Although if you want to, that's fine too.) We need government to fix potholes etc, but not to fix journalism. I spent 20 years in the craft, including serving on the Board of Directors of the Radio-Television-Digital News Association which represents the interests of journalists. Our patron saint is Ed Murrow. Walter Cronkite sitteth at his right hand.

Anything, and I mean anything that somehow casts doubt, or restricts the ability of a free and open media to ask the tough questions, and then to report to us the answers, is a dangerous step towards erosion of our freedom of independent thought and exchange of ideas and opinions.

This also isn't against Public Broadcasting. Donate during their telethons, please. But I want a choice besides Public Radio and Television. You have your favorite news outlets, and so do I. They often may differ but the common theme we must embrace and protect is choice.

I have far too many good friends in journalism who work their rear-ends off to inform us. The last thing I want is for their stories to be approved by the government prior to air. Or to be charged a sales tax on a new television to pay for it.

Freedom starts with a free media. This "initiative" could be the beginning of the end of a free and open media.

Brian Olson
CEO and Founder
Conversation Starters LLC

The difference between a Pipeline and a Pipeline

Pipelines carry stuff from here to there and vice-versa, depending on your location. Most associate the term with oil and gas. But pipelines also carry water, in fact any liquid asset.

Pipelines also carry information. A website is a pipeline of information. So is Twitter and YouTube. Your favorite local radio or television news station is a pipeline. Ditto for a newspaper, if you still have one where you live.

A generation ago we had a limited number of pipelines. If you're old enough to remember it, think of the Iran Hostage Crisis. Far fewer sources for news compared to today. You actually had to wait for news. The crisis in fact, created a pipeline, an ABC broadcast called "America Held Hostage." Today you know it as Nightline. You can watch the show off-air, via satellite or cable and of course the show has its own website. Which connects to numerous other pipelines.

Much is made of the ever growing number of communication pipelines. Each day it seems, comes a new one. Better, bolder, hotter than the others.

"My pipeline is cooler than your pipeline!"

Sadly, lost in the conversation is the conversation itself, i.e. CONTENT.

To be blunt, crap is crap, regardless of how it's delivered. Crap in, crap out.

Holy crap.

Creating impactful content for your pipeline(s) is what we do at Conversation Starters. Your message has to be meaningful on Main Street. Let us help you do just that.

Brian Olson
CEO and Founder
Conversation Starters LLC

Brand Ambassadorship

I've been listening to podcasts since the series of finale of LOST. Plus I've read more than a few articles. While the series wrapped up things generally, it didn't wrap up everything so it makes for interesting listening and reading. Two podcasts I listen to plan to continue on for months, maybe years.

Mentioned more than a few times is the upcoming release of the DVD package of the series. ABC and the producers of the hit show aren't paying a dime for any of this. Wow, imagine reaching huge audiences to market your product for free.

It reminds me of what I heard earlier this year in Atlanta at a Social Media Summit. The folks at Coca Cola (which hosted the event) talked about a Facebook fan page for Coke. It has almost 500 thousand members. But Coke didn't create it. Two fans did.

Customers and fans of your brand, can be your best "Brand Ambassadors." They post on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. They create fan pages.

IF...they like your product and customer service. It can just as easily work the opposite. Mistreat or mislead your customer base and they'll let you have it digitally, big-time.

Then there are cases where good companies get a bad rap on the Internet for no other reason that while the great thing about the Internet is everyone has access to it, the bad thing about the Internet is everyone has access to it.

As one psychologist said, "The Internet has provided a platform for the hateful." Usually, most of these types post anonymously, but believe it or not, some people believe them.

We specialize in helping you make the most out of your brand ambassadors, and how to deal with those who have nothing better to do than pick on you unfairly. There's a time and a place for everything on the Internet, especially when it comes to your brand's reputation.

Let us help you manage your brand in the ever-evolving world of Social Media.

Brian Olson
CEO and Founder
Conversation Starters LLC