We all make mistakes, or at least need to offer some qualifications on comments made in earlier blog posts, so let me get a few out of the way. Ironically, these were all brought to my attention in the past 36 hours:

I incorrectly identified Scott Baradell who compiles the Media Orchard blog as “Steve.” My bad. Sorry.

My buddy, Peter Shankman, pointed out that my story on public ridicule as a valid PR tactic involved a PR firm in Birmingham, England – not Birmingham, Alabama as previously stated.

All that carping about Steve Rubel and a few of his “big agency” buddies getting together to try and set the rules for blogging has either paid off big or managed to get me in waaay over my head. I have a password and invitation to the dance now, so I guess it’s time to share my insights with everyone who wants to listen. Actually, it’s an honor and a responsibilty I don’t take lightly. If you have some thoughts you think need to be heard, let me know. In the meantime, check out the progress on this project currently hosted on the New PR Wiki.

And finally, I want to tip my hat to Skip Lineberg, one of the marketing geniuses at Maple Creative (sponsors of the Marketing Genius blog, of course) for doing a little more digging on our national, economic forecasts for the remainder of 2005 and 2006. As background, on the 23rd, I mentioned that there was some economic good news and some economic news that wasn’t so good. The two posts were right next to each other to provide an interesting contrast.

Skip investigated and sent the following reply to me yesterday:

    Thanks for your comment on our blog regarding the seeming disparity between the McKinsey survey and the one from Constant Contact. Things do seem puzzling at first. Your question sparked my curiousity, which prompted me to dive deeply into the data.

    Here are a few considerations and explanations, which serve to resolve the apparent conflict in the findings:

    1- The McKinsey survey is global, while the CC survey is U.S. only. In the McKinsey survey, the U.S. executives were more confident and optimistic than their global peers.

    2- The Constant Contact survey is an estimator of the upcoming retail holiday season; it does nothing to measure confidence beyond December 2005 … nothing to look into 2006. Short term sales outlook, versus longer-term confidence measurement.

    3- Examining the Constant Contact survey … beyond the first question about the retail holiday sales season, roughly two thirds of the participants expressed concern about the effects of rising energy prices on their business. To me, that does connote a wavering confidence. The majority (55%) also reported “no end of year bonus” this year for employees, which is not a sign of confidence.

    4 – And finally — raw, human optimism. It is entirely possible, though illogical, that we think, feel and believe our own company will do well (i.e., succeed) while the rest of the world’s economy is in decline. That’s the determination upon which success in small business is built!

Great stuff, good insights and comments worth re-printing here to share with all of you.

Keep the cards and letters comin’ folks!

Technorati Tags: , , , ,

All comments (c) 2005, Brand Central Station – all rights reserved. For more information about BCS, please visit our website.

Bookmark and Share