Have Media Will Travel

A blog about outdoor adventure, family travel, national parks, media, technology, marketing, fitness and me.

Marketing

Take a Deep Breath.

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I LOVE Skype.

I love it for the same reasons everyone else does.

For free, I can call friends and family and colleagues, regardless of their location. Even if I’m talking to someone in Germany, the quality is so good it’s as if we’re at the same table having our chat. If you have iSight or some other web cam connected it’s even more optimal and real.

But most of the all, the reason I love Skype is because I love their slogan:
Take a Deep Breath.

Don't mind if I do.
Don't mind if I do.

In fact, sometimes I shut down the application and restart it only so I can see that message again.

Go ahead. Laugh. I’m lol at the thought of it myself. But seeing this little reminder from Skype when the application loads – to Take a Deep Breath – helps me every time.

So, although the slogan doesn’t seem very relevant to an online calling/communication platform, it gets an A from me because it helps me and it makes me feel better.

And that is quite an amazing marketing feat.

Susan Boyle on YouTube

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I got goosebumps and ‘happy tears’ when I watched the YouTube clip that’s gone viral of Susan Boyle’s performance on Britain’s Got Talent.

But I take issue with the moral of the story that has been attached to the great viral video of her performance – that is to say, “Don’t judge a book by the cover.”

What’s wrong with the cover? Susan Boyle looks like a happy, jovial, wonderfully warm and loving Grandma-type. (BTW, what is a great singer supposed to look like?) I just makes me a little sad when people say to/about her: “Wow, you’re a phenomenal singer even if you’re not much to look at.”

That said, what a fascinating voice and performance. It gives me inspiration and goosebumps every time I watch it and listen to Susan Boyle sing with such passion.

An Unsolicited Phone Call *Can* Be Perfect

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Seth Godin posted “Poisoning the Well” on his blog Friday morning, April 3.

And as usual, with his wisdom, Godin pretty much nailed it. Godin’s Permission Marketing remains one of my favorite business books, and was a pivotal one in our destination travel business.

Or I thought he had nailed it until later that day.

”This

You see, my mother-in-law has a birthday coming up on April 9. Since we are leaving town for a spring break trip and would be in some remote place on April 9 where there are no phones or cell reception, getting a gift ordered for her birthday had been on my “to do” list for over a week. By Friday afternoon there it was, still nagging at me and yet to be checked off the list. I still needed to order Theresa a lily bouquet to be delivered on April 9.

Right after a quick bite for lunch at home, my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number, so I ignored the call and let the answering machine do its job.

A friendly lady’s voice came over the machine.
Hi there. This is Janet from Gift Tree. I’m really sorry to call you. I know this is an unsolicited call. But I was looking at our records from this time last year and saw that you ordered Theresa Johnson a gift basket for her birthday. Is there anything we can do to help with her birthday this year?

As I heard this, I swiftly picked up the phone.

Why, yes, you certainly can help, I exclaimed. And before I knew it (in fewer than a couple of minutes), I had ordered a beautiful lily bouquet with gift card to be delivered on the morning of my mother-in-law’s birthday.

Whew. Now I don’t know how all the stars aligned just perfectly to make the above happen and be a good thing, but it was exactly perfect. Something important had the effect of checking itself off my list, almost with no effort, and all thanks to the great customer service and tact provided by a company eager for business and eager to please. A rare thing in today’s world.

Sure, timing had a lot to do with it. Talk about Gift Tree getting lucky and hitting me right at the time I had a need for them. But also, I think much of it had to do with the fact that Janet’s message started out with a sincere “I’m really sorry to call you.” It is nice when others show respect for your time.

For the record, we are among those who get the unwelcome unsolicited calls that come on a Friday or Saturday evening when our family is snuggled down for a great movie night or board game. Nothing is more inappropriate or annoying, or goes further to make us not want to do business with the company from which these callers are calling.

But for now: Gift Tree, I thank you. You reached out, and with tact, you helped make my life easier.

I’m a Media Multitasker

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I love to travel and I travel with lots of gadgets to capture it all in one form of media or another. And hence, the name of this blog… (Those closest to me probably realize that one of my shortfalls is that I tend to focus so much on capturing the moment that I likely miss out on fully enjoying the experience at hand. I’m working on this. But I digress…)

I love technology in general, and in particular, gadgets. Especially if they can somehow improve my life, make me more efficient, and help me capture my most unique and memorable moments.

I just returned from a hiking trip with a girlfriend to Zion National Park.
With me I took the following gadgets, each serving a very important and distinct purpose:

• Blackberry Storm
• iPod + noise-canceling headphones
• Nikon Coolpix600
• FlipVideo
• Macbook Pro Laptop
• Amazon Kindle
• Portable GPS
• Nike-Plus wristband

Once I boarded my flight in Riverton, WY, I used my blackberry to send a quick text to my husband, Jerry, letting him know I was boarded and on schedule. I then settled in for the 1-hour flight by watching a Jon Stewart Daily Show episode on my iTouch with my noise-cancelling headphones.

Kathy, from Omaha, and I linked up for the trip by flying into Las Vegas. From there we used my portable Tom-Tom to get us headed in the right direction and to our hotel near Zion National Park.

I had ordered and preloaded my Kindle with several hiking and guidebooks for the region so I only had to carry with us my (10 ounce) Kindle, vs. towing a trailer along to haul a bunch of heavy guidebooks.

I could quickly upload geotagged photos to my Facebook page, and also to Flickr from my phone while at the top of Zion National Park’s famous Angel’s Landing. I could also text my husband and sons a short video clip of the scary, exposed hike. I used my FlipVideo to capture short clips along the way to post on YouTube.

Awesome.
Awesome.

During the adventure Nikon Coolpix 6000 camera was logging GPS coordinates and seamlessly attaching them to all my images.

When I returned to the hotel room, I was able to upload my photos and video to my laptop. Thanks to iLife 09, the photo app I use (iPhoto) immediately assigned my photos in “Places” placing them on a map according to their gps coordinates. Next, it sorted my photos according to “Faces.” Since it was just Kathy and myself on this particular adventure, I chose one photo with both of us in and quickly assigned our names to our faces. From there iPhoto could sort all Kathy photos for me as well as all Shelli photos.

I was also able to log our miles for the day via my NikePlus.

Things were all going so slick and efficiently that I was downright giddy.

But then it came time to re-charge all of the gadgets for the next day’s adventures.

Which meant I had to untangle (at least) 7 separate power/charging cords and then figure out which one went with which device. Suffice it to say that this normally-cheerful (but unfortunately impatient) person had become a very frustrated and grumpy person. I bet it took me a (wasted) 30 minutes to get it all figured out, and when I did there weren’t enough available power outlets to plug them all in simultaneously so I had to charge them in sets. (Note to self: next time pack a power strip)

Not Awesome.
Not Awesome.

What I think would be the most valuable accessory for me, and other media folks, and technology junkies would be one charger cord that works for all of the above devices.

Please, I would pay lots of money for a simple, streamlined solution. BTW, thank you very much FlipVideo for simply using AA batteries, and offering a no-cord solution. Other gadgets would be wise to follow!