The Wax Blog

What will my life be like in 20 years? I’m laughing at the topic of this week’s #letsblogoff because I’ve been reading all kinds of “surviving 50″ and “hiring aging workers” reporter queries. I assume they’re all in their thirties or early forties at most so they’re hearing horror stories about the big 5-0. (Which I will turn in about two months yippee!)

But aging aside, I will put on my “Madame Bon” turban, gaze into my PR crystal ball and give you my prediction:

• We’re in a digital transformation that, just like the industrial revolution, will slow down soon. Although I think most technology will be virtual I don’t know if we’ll have THAT much more communications capability.
• Physically we’ll be in much better health and I believe we will have averted the obesity crisis thanks to my sister’s work at Yale’s Rudd Center.
• Stem cell therapy will give us all much better joint health so you’ll see many more 70-year old runners and yoga enthusiasts. (I plan to be one of them.)
• Spiritually I think we’ll all be working in  much more collective, collaborative ways…all supported by technology.

As for me I hope to be here in 20 years but frankly I’m surprised I made it this far so hitting 70 seems like a lot to ask. If I have “graduated” to heaven by then, I promise to haunt @dogwalkblog‘s editor and scare the pants off him when he’s shaving in the morning.

Ever wondered why a DVD rental stocks lesser known titles when it can just stock the hottest ones of the season and get away with a fairly high profit margin, since hardly anybody walking into the store would want to walk out with the former? However, what about the customer who comes in and asks “Dude! Where’s my Car?”. He is either demented – looking for his car in a DVD rental store, or he knows what he wants and is specifically looking for a forgettable movie. Imagine not being able to serve, say, 50 such customers a month, and you’ve just lost out on not just some valuable rental but also 50 customers who would knock the doors of other rental shops in the vicinity. This “long tail” of hundreds of lesser known DVD titles thus becomes essential. This is exactly what applies to SEO/SEM keywords. The term, coined by the editor of Wired magazine, Chris Anderson in his article in 2004, refers to those keywords that do not result in much traffic for the website, but have a much higher rate of conversion. (more…)

I could be a masochist but I truly love engagements where I have to work on turning around the image of a company in the eyes of the media. Yet at times it is so hard to get reporters to change their tone, despite the news. Once I  had a journalist tell me they wanted to find a “veterinarian who will say that the number of heat-related illnesses in pets is increasing this summer.” Another asked me to find the “boat manufacturers who thought they might go out of business”. And I just got off the phone where during an interview the writer said “hey negativity is what sells papers.”

Interestingly enough, I found a really old (1942) article about a Harvard study that proclaimed the opposite -  “Rosy headlines sell papers” or at least this is what they proved in wartime America. (here’s the PDF if you want to see it…it’s a fun read) On the flip side, Searchenginejournal.com gave a great overview of how to use negative headlines to generate more interest.

I’m wondering…are we all that agog to get the bad news? Do we all love reading stories of businesses failing and people getting murdered and all the other bad stuff people lead with?  I think that traditional media, or at least some of it, is so desperate for readers that they’re attempting to sensationalize the news as a last ditch effort to get back readers and attract more viewers.  They’re literally cutting off their nose to spite their face. And I also think the majority of the public is fairly tired of this approach.

What about you? Are you tired of media sensationalism? Or am I blowing this out of proportion?

I love this post….the Wax blog is quite popular in the UK for some reason . Does our humor seem British? BH

Last year I wrote about a few things that you should consider when you’re using language to reach your target audience. Since this blog has a large international following, it’s a topic worth revisiting to learn how you can ensure that your blog appeals to your readers from the UK and other international destinations!

Here are a few things to consider whether you’re a US business trying to have more worldwide appeal, or you’re an international business trying to appeal to that core target audience: (more…)

1. Stay positive.
2. Don’t stray from your message.
3. Only endorse brands that fit yours.
4. Use your dog in your TV show.
5. Do pushups the RIGHT way.

RIP Jack LaLanne – we’ll miss you!