Dennis Brown
Vice President
As a strategist and writer, Dennis works closely with Fahlgren Mortine clients on communications programs ranging from company positioning and message development to ongoing marketing consulting and writing. Before joining Fahlgren Mortine, Dennis managed his own marketing communications company and developed a specialty in technology communications. He has also worked as a copywriter for a business-to-business advertising agency and as a communications specialist for AccuRay Corporation.

By Dennis Brown, Vice President

How technology marketing has evolved in the past 10 years 

Ten years ago this month we were all living in fear of disaster. Not disaster in the form of a meteor hitting the earth or raging wildfires. No, this was a disaster created by a lack of foresight.   

Programmers at some point in the past had failed to account for the changing of the thousands digit in the clocks inside computers. Nobody was quite sure what would happen when these clocks tried to tick from 11:59:59 on December 31, 1999 to 12:00:00 on January 1, 2000. 

(My wife and I were in the process of adopting two children from Russia and had to frantically expedite all our paperwork to get over there in December because the U.S. Embassy in Moscow was planning to shut down for the month of January due to concerns that “Y2K” problems would paralyze the country.) 

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By Dennis Brown, Vice President

Top 10 personal technologies of this decade

PC Magazine just came out with their best of the decade list. Here are my own favorite personal technology products introduced this decade, in no particular order.

1. Apple iPod. If a fire started in my house and I had to choose between saving my iPod or the dog, I would grab the iPod.
2. Apple iTunes. It made the iPod possible and legitimized digital music.
3. Amazon Kindle. I haven’t sprung for one yet, but every once in a while I go out to Amazon just to ogle it. One more price cut and it’s mine. I expect it will do for my relationship with books what the iPod has done for my relationship with music. 
4. GPS. Having a GPS means never having to ask for directions. For a guy who gets lost easily, that’s big.
5. DVR. Now I watch TV on my schedule, not the networks’. And I can fast forward through those annoying Toyotathon commercials.
6. Guitar Hero/Rock Band. A video game that makes you feel like a rock star and exposes the kids to the music I grew up with. Clearly the best video game ever.
7. YouTube. It seems like everything shot on video over the last 30 years is out there. Unbelievable what you can find.
8. Apple iPhone. Another gadget I don’t yet own because of a contract with Sprint, but whether I get one or not, it will ultimately make my mobile phone experience better because of how high Apple raised the bar.
9. The thumb drive. No doubt this will soon be replaced by some smaller device with ten times the storage, but being able to put four gigs in your pocket and plug it into any computer’s USB is really handy.
10. Electronic bill paying. Fewer trips to the post office, fewer late fees and less time writing checks. All good things.  

Those are the 10 I came up with. What’s on your list?

photo credit: raneko

By Dennis Brown, Vice President

How to create a trade media measurement system 

It’s never been more important - or more difficult - to measure the success of trade media relations programs. 

B2B marketers are adjusting on-the-fly to a media landscape where content (and presumably readers) is migrating from print to online and where the lines between professional and amateur journalism are no longer clear - or particularly relevant. 

As much as possible, they want to use metrics to drive decisions about how these changes affect their marketing spend. The more effectively we can help them do that in regard to trade media relations, the easier it is for them to justify continued investments in those programs. 

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By Dennis Brown, Vice President

New cell phone ads show social media has gone mainstream 

When you start seeing ads focused on a cultural trend, you know the trend has either gone mainstream or “jumped the shark.”  

If the quality of those ads is any indication, I would say two new ads focusing on social media, from cellular service providers Verizon and AT&T, offer further proof, if anyone needs it, that social media has gone mainstream. 

The Verizon spot, in which a “tween” girl and teenage boy confront their parents about social media, is hilarious.  

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By Dennis Brown, Vice President

This post is part two in a series about white papers.

In a previous post I relayed some information from the InformationWeek Business Technology Network on white paper best practices.

In this post, I want to explore the process of white paper development. Specifically how do you get started and what are the questions you should ask at the front end of the development process.

Getting Started

Whether you are looking to add white papers to your marketing toolkit or refresh your current library with new content, you’re likely facing one of these situations:

1. You need to identify a topic suitable for a white paper, or
2. You have more topics than you can pursue and need to prioritize.

In either case, it’s best to start with the audience.

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By Dennis Brown, Vice President

I’ve been blogging for about six months now and I have to say it has changed my life.

Well, maybe not changed my life, but at least propelled me deeper into the blogoshere, which I find a fascinating place. I’m not talking about the parts of the blogosphere where political battles are fought or celebrity gossip is rehashed. I’m talking about the places where the smartest people in public relations, marketing and related fields share their thoughts, insight and experience on a regular basis.  

The key for me was finding the good stuff amidst all the junk. Fortunately, there are sites that make that relatively easy. I’ve found AllTop to be really helpful, especially with the recent introduction of MyAllTop, which allows me to create a custom page with subscriptions to the blogs I want to read regularly.

(After a couple of hours building and playing with my MyAllTop page, I was reminded of a scene from The Office in which Michael Scott threw off this line as he was trying to get one of his people to admit to some time-wasting activity: “It’s okay. I remember when I first discovered YouTube. I didn’t work for three days!”)

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By Dennis Brown, Vice President

A couple of weeks ago I had a chance to view the final dress rehearsals of an experiential program for NAPA AUTO PARTS created by Fahlgren Live. (One of the benefits of being part of a full-service agency is seeing the great work other groups do before it hits the market.)

Then, last weekend I got the participants’ perspective when I was recruited by the MLB Network for an experience of my own.

Together the two experiences left quite an impression.

The Goodguys Get the Good Stuff

The NAPA program was created for the Goodguys Rod and Custom Association events. The Goodguys put on more than 20 events a year to allow hot rod and custom car owners to show off their vehicles while the rest of us get to check out some of the coolest cars on the planet. Their event here in Columbus, the GoodGuys PPG Nationals in July, is hugely popular and the place to be for local car enthusiasts.

In other words, a great audience for NAPA.

The NAPA program for Goodguys uses a game show format which integrates NAPA brand messages into a fun, fast-paced Jeopardy-like show, called Get the Good Stuff, in which contestants win prizes by showing off their knowledge of auto parts. It is conducted in a way that not only makes it fun for those participating, but typically attracts a large crowd around the branded trailer that serves as the game show stage.

According to Craig Lerner, Fahlgren’s Director of Experiential Marketing, “Our objective is to create an experience that motivates a person to choose to be a part of the brand story. We know that positive experiences lead to action at an aggressive rate. Purchase, trial, store traffic, online visits and spreading the word are examples of desired actions (and measurable objectives) effectively delivered by experiential marketing.”

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By Dennis Brown, Vice President

This post is part one in a series about white papers in business to business public relations.

The InformationWeek Business Technology Network released an interesting report on Maximizing the use of white papers in B2B marketing.

The publisher surveyed 542 IT decision makers regarding their use of white papers. The results confirm that white papers continue to be an important tool in the effort to persuade and engage IT decision makers:

• 76.3 percent of respondents use white papers for general education on a specific technology topic or issue, while 73.8 percent use white papers to investigate possible technology solutions
• 83 percent are using white papers as much or more than they have in the past
• 93 percent pass along some of the white papers they download to colleagues

What Readers Want
The report also provides good feedback on what readers want from a white paper.

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By Dennis Brown, Vice President

In search of the perfect acronym.

I just finished listening to Buzz Marketing for Technology’s podcast interview with Bob Buday, co-founder of the Bloom Group and co-author of the book, Thoughts on Thought Leadership-Insights on Creating Demand for Professional Services.

In the podcast, Buday does a nice job speaking about the different levels of writing required to develop the various marketing content an organization requires, putting the “developmental” skills required for thought leadership at the top of the hierarchy.

He also outlines seven hallmarks of great thought leadership, which I found particularly interesting because I had just spent some time last week trying to summarize the attributes of effective thought leadership for a new business presentation. Stumbling on Buday’s seven hallmarks gave me a chance to test my own thinking against one of the leading experts in the field.

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By Dennis Brown, Vice President

Perhaps Gates & Co. should take a cue from the Yankees.

Every once in a while I hear a member of the national sports media argue that Major League Baseball needs a
dominant franchise in New York to maintain the health of the game.

What they’re saying essentially is that the team I’ve spent my life rooting for - the Cleveland Indians — exists to provide a mirror in which the glory of the Yankees can be reflected. Of course, those statements just make me hate the Yankees even more, which only proves those guys right.

The more passion I bring to the sport, the healthier it is.

Maybe that’s why I was so unsettled by Microsoft’s recent news of disappointing results and its first-ever company-wide layoff. I couldn’t help thinking we need a strong Microsoft right now, that a healthy Microsoft is good for industry.

That’s surprising because I spent a good part of my career rooting against Microsoft. They were too big; too ruthless. Like the Yankees, if they set their sights on something they usually got it. They were successful not because they were smarter than everybody else, but because they had the deepest pockets. And yet, like the Yankees, their success sometimes created the perception that they were smarter than everybody else.

Of course, neither Microsoft nor the Yankees have been exactly dominant in recent years. Two years ago, my own Cleveland Indians knocked the Yankees out of the American League playoffs in the first round and last year the Yankees failed to qualify for the postseason for the first time in 13 years.

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