Carnival of the Capitalists for February 12, 2008
Welcome to this week’s CotC. I will update the intro when my power comes back, but thought I’d publish Barbara’s draft via my Blackberry. Here it is… That was fun.
This edition is hosted by Barbara Payne, who tells you more about herself at the end of the post.
Unless I get a volunteer, it appears the next edition will be hosted by me. All subsequent editions are open as well. Jay @ this domain or host @ this domain if you’d like to see your name in lights. Well, see your name here, anyway.
Here’s Barbara’s Carnival of the Capitalists:
Meandering over the business/marketing landscape is particularly rewarding when you have so many savvy, insightful observers to guide you. It’s a pleasure to serve as the CofC editor for this session-thanks, Jay, for the opportunity to share in the fun.
PR and the big guys
Nowadays they spend $20 million per campaign. But back then, Nike was struggling with ads and branding that just didn’t hang together. They were addressing everyone in sports, from runners to superathletes, and wanted a one-phrase-does-it-all tagline.
Turns out, “Just Do It” was a throwaway line. But audiences fell in love with that and the swoosh. Nike started getting letters from people who weren’t even in sports saying it had saved their emotional health. Read Mark-the-attorney’s blog about their latest PR campaign-and the video they introduced on CNBC Tuesday night.
Internet dominance - will Microsoft-cum-Yahoo bring Google down off the online throne?
Deb presents a well-reasoned look-she sounds like a savvy insider-at what the battle of the giants has to do with you and me. What Does The Yahoo/Microsoft Debate Mean For The Rest Of Us? posted at Marketvise.
Getting found online - by people in your neighborhood
More on Google versus Yahoo-One Man Band writes this article that describes steps to take to improve your business’s visibility in local search by comparing Google’s Local Business with Yahoo’s Local Basic. Get found by reading Supercharging Local Search.
How NOT to sell to women
It’s always gratifying to see the ad people called on the carpet for work they produce that’s in poor taste or even downright insulting. Yes, many women are extraordinarily body-conscious, but they’re usually not focused on their chest (unless it’s to want it bigger). So who is a blouse-button-popping commercial entertaining?
As Yvonne DiVita suggests, makes you wonder where these people have been for the last two decades. Yvonne says vote with your money-don’t buy Special K. Yvonne’s LipSticking blog presents a highly reasonable rant against using misrepresentations and sexual innuendo to sell cereal as diet food.
Winning online by being first
You’ve heard of Digg. Ever wonder how it got started and what it’s doing now? Chris Harris writes about how the two founders put Digg far ahead of its competitors by outsourcing their service work-which supposedly helped them “get there first.” I don’t know whether that’s always a sound strategy. There are a lot of winner companies out there that let someone else invent it, and then “borrowed” the idea and found a way to do it better-faster-cheaper. Anyway, check out this outsourcing-improves-time-to-market post
Speaking of outsourcing…how’s free trade doing?
Jordan Ballor presents a lengthy (for a blog) look at how globalization is affecting both the US and the world-and concludes that the US is getting the short end of the stick, but that we could still do more to help the poor in developing countries. Economists are People Too posted at Acton Institute PowerBlog.
While you’re at it (if you’re into this sort of thing), check out The Library of Economics and Liberty’s definition of income redistribution. Interesting. And here is Manuel Lora, a Cornell University TV and multimedia producer, writing on the topic “Income Redistribution Is Not Charity.”
Small business finance-What do VCs really want?
C. Worrall talks about what it takes to “do your due”-Venture Capital Due Diligence posted at CFO Yourself.
HR - Before you VC, make sure you’re not bleeding money internally
If you tend to be a trusting soul-and many entrepreneurs who’ve finally learned to delegate a task find they want to really wash their hands of it-beware of taking your eyes completely off the process.
Erica presents Protect Your Small Business from Embezzling Bookkeepers Part 1: Checking Account Savvy posted at American Consumer News.
Last but not least, technology
Anita Campbell has a true story and a solution for the latest rather nasty hacking attacks on WordPress and other blogs. She says this threat affects bloggers and small business owners. Read her story on “Hacking-that could never happen to my site-famous last words.”
Your editor, Barbara Payne, publishes several blogs-though some get more of her attention than others. They reflect my widely varying interests and commitments. In BioMedNews.org I look at developments in bioscience and the scientific/medical industries and give my two cents on what they might imply or lead to. In Blog for Business and Get More Customers (my newsletter), I share information from business/marketing experts and insights from my own experiences as a marketing consultant/copywriter.
And in the SWWAN blog, I express my views on life for women, particularly single working women, in our society and our world. You can also listen to or download interviews and commentary on fascinating topics on the SWWAN Dive Internet radio show. Here we archive our podcasts on a broad range of subjects-everything from what it really takes to get a business loan to how to use pictures to get yourself unstuck and moving forward in your life.
Good visiting with you. Please feel free to comment on any or all.
Barbara Payne
That’s it for this week. Note that I have started posting regularly here, if only in the form of reposts so far. Partners, Friends, and Uncommon Goals and Business Lessons From Gilmore Girls were the first two. This is an effort to take the site away from being merely the administrative or even weekly hosting home of CotC, and toward being a destination itself. If the blog gets more traffic, CotC entries should get more pass through traffic, even without linkage from many or high volume blogs.
On the capitalistic front, in addition to my business and Deb’s Neatly Tangled Shop I’ve mentioned ad nauseum, we’re selling of books via a Half.com shop.
Thank you for linking and visiting Bizosphere and Carnival of the Capitalists.
February 14th, 2008 at 10:58 am
Outstanding job, Barbara. Can’t wait to share this on Lipsticking. So much good info, from experts we should all be paying attention to. Am eager to click into your radio show. Thanks for taking the time to create this CotC…it’s no easy feat.
February 14th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
[...] has just published their 2/12/08 edition of the Carnival of the Capitalist. The CFO Yourself post, Venture Capital Due Diligence, is included. This blog has some great [...]
February 14th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Your blog is a suggested reading by James Brausch for his interns and I see now that it is multi-faceted and covers more topics than others I have read in my pursuit of blog-reading. He purports that a good blog is an integral part of any succeseful site.
February 16th, 2008 at 1:54 am
Dear Barbara, Thank you for mentioning my article here: “Protect Your Small Business from Embezzling Bookkeepers Part 1: Checking Account.” Part 2 has now been published on saving SBO’s from credit card and identity theft. However, Debbie did not write these articles, so could you please change your reference author. I would greatly appreciate it.
February 16th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Thank you for the quick response. I do like this article.
February 16th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
I found this site through Lipsticking. Thanks for all the great information. I am still learning a lot about marketing to moms like me. This will be helpful!