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I’ve always felt uncomfortable with the concept of negative advertising. I’ve never done it and have discouraged it when discussing business building with workshop participants.

For those who don’t know what it is, negative advertising is the criticising of your competition’s products/services in your own advertising. Ryan Air learned a tough lesson yesterday – they had to pay damages to the founder of rival airline EasyJet for lying in an advert that criticised their rival.

But is negative advertising a good idea in the first place? It always seems to me that you should advertise your products/services based on their strengths. Conversely, just because a competitor’s offering is deficient is some areas, that doesn’t say anything about yours.

On the other hand, some negative advertising has been highly entertaining – Apple’s adverts lampooning Microsoft were very funny. Contrast the Apple adverts with the Windows 7 “I’m a PC” adverts. It just goes to show that even large corporations make big mistakes when it comes to advertising campaigns. Apple’s were successful and funny; in my opinion, Microsoft’s were naff and cringe-worthy and smacked of “Me Too!”.

And if you are going to use negative advertising, then heed the lesson Ryan Air has been taught: make sure your facts are indisputable!

What do you think? Is negative advertising ever justified and if so, when?

The Media is Different, the Message Stays the Same.

Facebook, LinkedIn, ecademy, Social Media Tribes are all new. Even if you look at their ancestors, the Compuserve Groups, it’s all a phenomenon that has emerged only in the last 20 years.

As ever when something new arrives and survives long enough to be more than a 5 minute wonder, some of the early adopters become perceived as, or actively seek the role of, experts. But experts of what? Read more…

When was the last time that you told your partner, children, parents and other loved ones that you love them?

It’s so easy to get wrapped up in our work and neglect our personal relationships. For the self-employed, this is a real danger; we spend as much time as we can chasing and delivering work and forget the reasons why we are doing it. It’s so easy to neglect the personal; growth in the business is little satisfaction if there’s no one to share it with, if our “significant others” leave us because they feel neglected. Read more…

When you sit down to write an article, what are the key things you keep in mind?  Carrying on from the article on Social Media – Building Successful Relationships, I want to show those who are afraid of writing on-line, that the skills of effective writing  are the same whatever the media. Another demonstration that on-line and off-line are not two different worlds – the first is just an extension of the second. Read more…

I often find myself talking with those who went to school before PCs and calculators were invented and they tell me they are hesitant to get involved in the world of Social Media. They fear that time has passed them by and that they don’t have the necessary skills. But as you’ll see, there’s nothing required of on-line relationships that isn’t required off-line. Sooner or later, as Nick Tadd keeps reminding us, people will realise that there is no clear distinction between life on-line and off-line. The skills required if you are to succeed are the same for both. Read more…

Social Media and Collaboration.

Social Media offers a huge opportunity for collaboration, for synergy, for output that is far greater than might be suggested by an examination of the individual components. Let’s look at an example from an era before Social Media and examine the lessons we can learn from it. Read more…

Smile at someone - do it now!

How often have you said “I wish I had done that, but I didn’t have the time?” I’ve certainly done it and wrote at length about some of the lessons I’d learned about this in the article 10 Things I Wish I Had Known And Stuck To From Early On. Here are 14 tips to help you to put an end to procrastination. Read more…

Are you living life or surviving it? Are you growing, becoming the person you want to be or are you following the herd? The title of this article comes from a Garth Brooks song in which he sings “Life is not tried it is merely survived if you’re standing outside the fire.”

As well as being inspired by the lyrics of that song, this article was also partly inspired by reading this article at ecademy. In it the author writes a lot of statements beginning with “You must…”, all of which are social media “imperatives.”

Yet one of the great opportunities offered by Web 2.0 and 3.0 when it arrives is that is that it’s all about choice. You choose how you want to carve out a presence, if any!

Or to put it another way, to ” embrace it in my own way and own good time and in a way in which I feel comfortable.” Ruth Edwards Read more…

Think of someone who you consider to be an expert at communication. What makes them so good? Do they speak without hesitation? Do they have a good grasp of their subject? Is their delivery polished? Whilst all of those are important, I would suggest that there are two things an effective communicators will demonstrate: clarity and simplicity.

On  Wednesday I looked at material simplicity.  Today I want to use the same principles to look at the importance of focusing on simplicity of communication. Read more…

Wow, a lot of good articles this week in my Google Reader feed! It’s been very tough reducing the list to a reasonable length, but I managed it in the end – happy reading!

Is it Time to be Ditching Traditional Marketing? by Karen Skidmore
Karen argues something dear to my heart – that traditional marketing is still a very important part of the mix.

Leverage What You Have and Take Your Blog to the Next Level by Darren Rowse
Mr R. looks at what makes blogs grow.

Building a successful business blog by Jim Connolly
Discusses the often forgotten point that if you try and do everything yourself, the success of your blog will be limited to your expertise in a wide range of specialist areas.

No More Websites. Only Publishers by Mitch Joel
Mitch Joel looks at the need for businesses to rethink the role of their website

Social Media Misconceptions 2 : “I have profiles on all the main sites/networks, so I’m using social media” by Nick Tadd
Does exactly what it says on the tin in the title.

Should a Blog be Your Social Media Hub? by Jay Baer
Jay Baer looks at possible alternatives and ends up answering his question with a “yes”.

What Every Blogger Should Know About Design When Buying a Theme by Seth Godin
Getting a new design for your blog is both time consuming and expensive. Seth Godin looks at the key issues involved.

How to Be a More Relational Blogger [Tips for New and Established Bloggers] by Darren Rowse
More from ProBlogger, this time discussing the idea that a relational approach and community feel are still one central aspect of many successful blogs.

Wake Up! You’re a Blogger Not a Crackhead by Seth Godin
If the article was poor, I’d still have included it for the title. But it’s not. It exposes the danger of being adicted to blogging, and explores 3 areas of potential addiction.

Points of Contact by Chris Brogan
Make a very important point – we can have so many points of contact that we end up neglecting people.

Massive Traffic 101 by Court
There’s so much sense in what Court writes here and it is in the same spirit as Seth Godin’s post on “Crackheads”.

Other posts you might like:
Social Media Superstars’ Greatest Hits – Week 3
Social Media Superstars’ Greatest Hits – Week 2
That was the week in Social Media Blogging