Jane Genova: Speechwriter - Ghostwriter

RNC - Will Trouble-Makers Be Only Ones in Cleveland for Media to Cover?

"Politico reached out to more than 50 prominent Republicans. Few said they plan to attend the convention in Cleveland, let alone speak." - Alex Isenstadt, "Hardly anybody wants to speak at Trump's convention," in Politco, June 27, 2016. Here is the article.

Among the bigwigs not planning to attend are U.S. Representatives Trey Gowdy, Mark Sanford and Carlos Curbelo. 

Without brandnames for the cameras to pan in the audience and speeches by celebrity politicos, the media will be left to focus on the trouble-makers. They are certain to be milling outside in downtown Cleveland. Since everyone is media savvy these day the miscreants will know all the right moves to max attention. The theatre on the street could mirror the intensity and violence of what took place in Chicago in 1968 at the DNC. 

The law firm representing the Trump campaign - Jones Day - will be closing its downtown Cleveland office during the RNC. Their lawyers will operate remotely. Does Jones Day expect to be a target because of its association with the controversial candidate?

Headquartered in Cleveland is Jones Day's long-term client Sherwin-Williams. Is it irked that its law firm is locked into the possible mayhem? Could it, as a major U.S. corporation, be a target for protestors? 

Obviously, the action outside the RNC could doom the GOP to lose in 2016, just like the Chicago antics helped  elect conservative Richard Nixon. Democrats were perceived to be out of control. 

LinkedIn Abusers - Don't get it that networking is long-term investment

Shock.

That was my reaction the first time a professional on my LinkedIn network sent me a blatant sales pitch. There was no ambiguity. If I acted fast, the commercial messaging screamed, I would get X percent off the training programing in something I did not want to be tutored for.

Because I was stunned, I didn't respond. But now I do. I request the sender to stop the pitching.

Those LinkedIn abusers don't understand that networking is a kind of long-term business investment. No, at the get-go, we don't deliver our elevator speech, at least not in a way that contains a Call To Action. And we don't engage in any obvious forms of selling.

Had Harvard Business School professor, Ted Levitt, been alive today, he probably would have published an essay on the inherent perils of social networks like LinkedIn. In his iconic book "The Marketing Imagination," he explained Americans' peculiar attitude toward marketing. That's in the chapter "Marketing and Its Discontents."

On the one hand, America is the global capital of sophisticated marketing. On the other hand, most of us don't enjoy being the recipient of the marketing process.

Now that Microsoft is in charge of LinkedIn I hope it will leverage its resources to penalize those who attempt to exploit the relationship part of the network.

Economic Pall - Even Fast Food Sales Are Down

The uncertainty of Brexit makes it worse.

But, even before that stunning event, those with small businesses such as mine could feel the economy changing. And not on an upward tick. Now what we had been sensing has been confirmed.

The Wall Street Journal documents that sales at fast food restaurants are down. You bet, that's a red flag. If consumers don't feel enough confidence in the economy to bop into a fast food joint instead of cooking at home, that says plenty.

During the past few months some of my B2C clients seemed to be getting nervous. They would assign me X and Y, then change that assignment the next day to ABC.

However, the good news for those of us in marketing communications is that the more angst out there, the more we work. Yesterday I turned away accounts that were too small to invest my time with.

I anticipate 2016 to be my best year in revenue since The Great Recession.

Aging: The Latest Entity To Be Rebranded

The book "New Aging" pushes back on all the usual complaints about aging. Just published last March by Matthias Hollwich it doesn't let any of us get away with why aging shouldn't be the biggest adventure of our lives. Here you can order it from Amazon. 

For example, there is the usual whine: We love our house but we can't afford it.

Well, Hollwich celebrates co-living. Remember how much fun it used to be bunking in the dorm? We never had so many friends, available at all hours.

We can re-do those good old days by leasing out parts of our house. Not only are the expenses shared. So are resources. Joe may have the car. Joyce used to be a diabetes nurse so she can implement healthful eating. And Pete knows how to fix anything.

Then there is the grouse about having no family left. Hollwich gives us permission to make friends family. They become our new siblings. 

This resonates with me. One of my sisters Camille Klinga is dead. The other Anne Murga-Ring hasn't spoken to me on the phone since November 2003. Soon I will make it official: My new sister will be Pat Price. I think she'll accept my offer to be my sister. She has designed her sister-in-law Nancy as her official sister.

The adventure part doesn't have to cost us big bucks. We can simply visit parts of our little town or big city we haven't. On Saturdays, I am going to make a new ritual: taking the bus downtown to explore whatever. The fact that parking there costs an arm and a leg is no excuse for not making downtown part of my being.

In essence, Hollwich reinforces what research is proving: When it comes to aging, we get what we expect. Those who are optimistic about this new part of their lives have smooth sailing. When there was a health problem, they bounce back quickly. And they live a long happy life. Those who expected the worst ...

And what the book "New Aging" can pull off is rebranding the phase of our lives which could last from age 40 to 90+.

 

Barbarians at the Gates - But Establishment Clinton aka Non-Establishment May Still Win

Anti-establishment memes grip the world.

The U.K. thumbed its nose at traditional leadership, as well as all those E.U. regulations and rules. And many assumed that those barbarians at the gates would put populist player Donald Trump in the White House.

Well, not so fast.

Hillary Clinton is the ultimate establishment type. She is declaring herself anti-establishment. Whatever.

Probably no one is buying that. But in these uncertain times, made more uncertain by the breaking away of the U.K. from the E.U., opting for experience seems the way to go. Clinton has political experience. Trump does not.

The Washington Post/ABC Poll shows Clinton at 51 and Trump at 39.  Few Americans really want a full-blown revolution. We want things to be better, not necessarily a whole lot different.

Lean Startups & Patents - Briefing for Communications Players

Only 1 to 2% of patents ever get litigated.

But, the topic is a critical one for startups. And, in one way or another, more of the client base for professional services are startups. Those kinds of services range from my field of marketing/advocacy communications to public relations.

So, we should all have down cold some of the recent facts about patent litigation. The good news is that PWC has published a comprehensive study on the developments. It was issued in 2015. Here you can retrieve that analysis.

Some interesting statistics from the PWC study:

• The number of patent lawsuits plunged by 13% in 2014. That was driven by "Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank." The bar has been raised on patentability and enforcement of software patents.

 

• Median damage awards are trending down. Actually there were no whoppers in awards in 2014.  Jury awards have been much higher than bench awards.

 

• Time to trial was 2.4 years in 2014.

 

• Venue counts a lot. Best places for patent holders are Virginia Eastern, Delaware, Texas Eastern, Wisconsin Western, and Florida Middle.

From my experience with startups, one big legal/business question is: When is it possible and is it worth the cost to patent software. Here is a backgrounder on that.

For the more general issue of patents, here it is from the horse's mouth - the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Cover Letters - No, It's Not a Numbers Game

Success breeds success.

In my shift from editorial to marketing and advocacy communications, of course, I had to re-do all my own promotional content. That included my LinkedIn Profile, resumes, cover letters, and what I post about on my three syndicated blogs.

Well, with this new direction I have been more successful than I expected. So, no surprise, I want to keep improving my game.

At the top of the list for that is continually auditing the response I receive from my cover letters to prospects. That means that every month or so I re-do the pattern letters. The trend in cover letters is toward shorter and more focused on the edge I bring to the situation. Also those doing the hiring are irritated by lack of attention to their specific instructions about how to format the cover letter. Consequently, if the prospect requests 3 to 5 links for samples of my marketing communications, I only put in the cover letter 3 to 5.

But what about you? When should you reset your cover letters as well as other key marketing materials? Here are 3 opportunities.

When you want to keep improving your game. If you are doing well, that means all your systems are on-go. Take advantage of that happy state of affairs and continue to fine-tune or even over-haul how you are putting yourself out there. You could move on to a whole new professional level.

If there is no response. The no-response is a red flag that you are doing one or many things wrong in your search for work. Among them may be a weak cover letter. Ask successful professionals you trust to review your letters. Then experiment with a variety of approaches. Track results.

When you are getting the wrong response. We all pitch for many kinds of work. If our pitches only result in receiving responses from the bottom-of-the-barrel employers and prospects, then we better overhaul how we are presenting ourselves.

The more thought I invest in how I pitch the more plum accounts come in. No, this is not a numbers game. It's about aligning each and every cover letter with what those doing the hiring need to read. Keep doing a reset to ensure that's happening.

Barbara Mackey - How I begged this psychic to stop the email blasts

Barbara Mackey hustles. Here is her website.

Nothing wrong with hustling. Only that I begged her several times to stop hammering me with email blasts touting discounts on her premium-priced psychic services.

Her reply?

She told me to "unsubscribe" from being in her database. I finally tried that.

It's no simple click to do that so that you'll never hear from Mackey again. Instead it's a complex system. Press "unsubscribe" and you arrive in another system. At that point, if you want to proceed, you have to register. That entails much more than your email address.

At that point, I gave up.

As I had warned Mackey, if the email blasts continue, I will share this annoyance with my readers. And that I have.

In legal terms, this might constitute what is known as a "public nuisance." Examples of public nuisance range from the two dogs in the next house who bark non-stop to the lead paint which remains in residential areas in parts of California.

If others are also experiencing these unwanted promotions from Mackey and can't seek relief, perhaps we can join together in a class-action public nuisance lawsuit.

And/or, I can report what I perceive as harassment to law enforcement in New Jersey. That's where her enterprise is based. 

Would You Hire This Writing Tutor for Your Child?

Odd.

The promotion of her writing tutoring services is placed in the help-wanted section of Craigslist. That's where those needing help put ads seeking vendors or even full-time employees.

The description of what this writing tutor offers is filled with "I" and kind of short of documentation of outcomes. In addition, there is a large photo of what some might consider a young attractive woman. Peculiar for positioning and packaging a writing tutoring service. The fee per hour is $95. She will come to your house.

Here is that self-promotion.

Would you hire this woman to tutor your child?

The dog next door could probably brush up on his communications skills. Maybe I will email the self-promotion to his pet parent.

UPDATE:

Since I posted this, the writing tutor has taken down her photo. In its place is a cartoon character. Was I a game-changer?

Speechwriting - Remember when we used to sprinkle in tons of quotes

As a contract speechwriter for a Fortune 100 speechwriter, I actually had this assignment: Find 12 quotes by brandnames such as Ben Franklin on how time is money. That was the early 1990s.

Quotes from famous people, preferably dead white ones, were mandatory in speeches. No one had thought about it and realized the script went a lot smoother if the speaker just explained that Franklin was among the American pragmatists who recognized time is indeed money. 

That was then. Now, if a speaker interrupts the flow to insert a quote. Which, likely, will be delivered ham-handedly. That speaker would lose our attention.

Back then, there was also the 20-minute rule. No speech was to go longer than that. Currently, if you are delivering a talk on doing search engine optimization (SEO) right, the audience would sit for days. If the subject is important, audiences demand you include every bit of information and insight. Do anything less, and it will be rotten tomatoes. 

A third development is the need for total authenticity. The delivery has to be one transparent human being addressing fellow human beings. The relationship is horizontal. After all, we are all trying to put together solutions for saving entities like mankind and the U.S. economy. 

Even as recently as the late 1990s, the positioning was vertical. The expert pontificated. Mostly now, we no longer even believe in experts. 

On June 30th, I am giving a talk. It's to college students about how to get a career going. Everything will be framed as opinion. There will be no quotes. It will run a hour. And the takeaway will be: It's you who has to be your own best authority on having a successful career.