The Big Money Twitter 12

Slate’s financial page The Big Money rated the top 12 corporate Twitter accounts. They all have more than 1 million followers. They all post several times a day. They are useful to their customers by getting right to the deal, or by connecting with a very human, personal tone. Twitter is becoming essential in a cyber-fast marketing environment.

Small shops, non-profits and celebrities will find that building a following requires a facility with one’s smart phone. Ideas come at all hours of the day, and you will sometimes want to pull the car over and compose and send a good message.

There are hundreds, thousands of great ways to use Twitter. But please, edit thyself. Be interesting. No more dinner plans or bedtime announcements, unless you are inviting the rest of us to join you.

Why podcasting works

Take it from a 30-year radio veteran (me), people like to listen to interesting conversation. And if your podcasting, you're chasing the right people.


A 2006 profile of podcast users from Edison Media Research:

• 11% of the survey indicated that they had ever listened to a podcast as defined (and 21% of persons age 12-17 have done so).


• Podcast listeners are very well educated, have higher than average household incomes, and represent a very attractive advertising target for both online AND local retailers.


• While podcast listeners are much more likely to block unwelcome advertising than the general public, they are no less likely to click on relevant advertising than other Internet consumers.

Edison updated their report in 2007 here.



More and more tools are available to help you tell your story to your website visitors, in quick, easy, downloadable packets. Best of all, your conversations are original and framed the way you want. Let's go podcasting!

Church Marketing Sucks.

Ooh. Edgy. Offensive. Angry. Funny. So totally true. So what?

The sacred sub-sector of the non-profit world has its work cut out for it. Consider:

• the ripped-off red and white swirl logo that read “Things go better with Jesus,”
• the hulking Jesus doing push ups with the cross (and the weight of the world) on his back in the name of “God’s Gym,”
• the big F-150 pick-up truck grill with the caption, "Built Lord Tough."

Christian marketing is all over the map. Unfortunately, much of it can be labeled “cheesy.” Worst of all, it’s not taken seriously.

Whatever your message to the public at large, the worse response to a general, mainstream media message is apathy. Getting ignored proves that you wasted whatever time and money you invested.

Tied for third place is the hearty “Amen” from the already converted, and the indignant cry of “Wrong!” from the opponents, both with little in the way of follow-up and follow-through.

The second most desirable response to a general market communications campaign is the protest, demands for a retraction, a letter campaign, pickets. A real outcry extends the reach of your original message to exponentially more than would have received the message otherwise. I’ve seen pickets and demonstrations do wonders (make million$$) for the people they were trying to shut down.

The winner for any marketing message fired out into the atmosphere for the general public is the considered response by the unaffiliated and undecided. The second look. The “maybe I’ll try it.” Watch how the political campaigns sprint for the middle after their nominations are secure.

That’s the position most churches find themselves in. Declining in attendance, marginalized by the media, mocked by the educational and scientific establishment, churches have a lot of ground to make up with people who don’t hate church. They don’t love church either. They are kinda-sorta you know, just busy doing other stuff. Enter the blog “Church Marketing Sucks.”

Given what they think is a “timeless message,” and “good news for the whole world,” churches have the potential to build a pretty good reputation at the grassroots. Media images, sex scandals and mega churches aside, what can a small to mid-sized congregation do to communicate its positive, feel-good message to its nonchalant neighbors?

Check out the serious and fun-filled folks who post at Church Marketing Sucks. Recent posts include a gallery of marketing poster art, dispatches from a Compassion project with orphans in Uganda, and a poll on love/dating/sex sermons. It's an excellent forum for taking this sector up a few notches in quality and effectiveness. We can only pray.

http://churchmarketingsucks.com/