Last week my organization’s home office celebrated (or maybe lamented) the end of summer with a little field trip to a Dodgers game. I’m no baseball fan, but what the hell … Dodger dogs, peanuts, Gordon Biersch garlic fries … what’s not to like? The weather was beautiful, we had great seats on the first-base side of the shady loge level, and the game played absolutely no role in determining anything since L.A. imploded some time ago, which meant people could enjoy one another’s company and pretty much ignore what was happening on the field. Good game. (Oh yeah, and the Dodgers lost to the Phillies. Big surprise.)

One of the little incentives the Dodgers organization offers as part of a group ticket sale like this, in addition to 15 bucks in Dodger dollars (which will buy you a dog, a drink and, if you’re lucky, one more snack of your choice), is a T-shirt. Given my determined lack of interest in baseball, it wasn’t something I’d stand in line for even when free, but a coworker offered to pick up my shirt and give me hers as well since she knows I have two young girls who love getting stuff. And who would fight like rabid wolverines if I brought home just one shirt. (Thanks again, Paula.)

I figured a nice little T-shirt with the Dodgers logo would get me in my girls’ good graces for at least 10 minutes. And here is where our little story takes a dreary, crappy marketing turn.

You are aware, of course, that Dodgers sometimestar Manny Ramirez and his hair have left L.A. for Chicago. And I’m sure you can imagine the warehouses of Mannyware the Dodgers marketing office must be sitting on: promotional shirts, bobbleheads and other geegaws that now have less than no value. At this point no one in Southern California (I hope) wants to be seen as a walking billboard for this guy.

You see where I’m going with this, right?

So Paula returns to the stands, shirts in hand. I unfurl one of them and read what’s emblazoned across the front.

“I Sat in Mannywood”

When I gave one to my oldest, she looked at me and said, “Uh … thanks, Dad” like I’d just handed her a dead fish. Which I guess I had.

If I were a member of the Dodgers’ marketing organization, I think I might have asked myself if dumping our most outdated and worthless merchandise on our customers—shirts that even baseball know-nothings like me know are outdated and worthless—was a good idea. I may have been mildly disinterested in the Dodgers before, but I probably would have taken my girls to a game or two. Now I’m thinking we’ll drive down to Anaheim and check out the Angels if the mood ever strikes.

Good job, guys. That’s really swinging for the fences. Next time you’re printing up shirts, here’s a suggestion for one you Dodger marketeers can wear around the clubhouse: “I Sat in Mannyshit.”

If you’re going to give away free stuff, don’t insult your customers. Some of them may not like it.

I had lunch yesterday at a new Embassy Suites two blocks from my office. Across the street is a restaurant that’s been there just about forever. As I headed back to the office I noticed this sign on its mansard roof, facing the hotel.

Sometimes a simple message to the right audience is all you need. Among the hundreds of hotel guests who look down on this banner from their rooms, I have no doubt that many check out “the best breakfast in town” for a nice little 15 percent discount.

Simple. Direct. Targeted to a very specific audience. I love it.

photo by robert couse-baker

Going postal over the letters to Santa program. The secret behind a truly great brand. Chicken soup in the cold remedies aisle. A look at why Twitter followers without engagement is worthless.

These are just some of my most popular tweets during the month of November. No surprise in today’s jobs-challenged “recovery” that the top tweet was a post concerning my search for a communications manager (still under way, tell all your friends).

If you missed any of these when first we tweeted, be sure to check them out now. Lots of good stuff here for what ails you.

Now Hiring: a Communications Manager

The Secret to Making Your Brand Truly Great

The Case of the 4,000 Twitter Followers Who Don’t Care

Confused Stock Boy … or Brilliant Product Placement?

Let’s Play 20 Questions to a Solid Strategic Plan

Is Social Media a Marketing Thing?

Content-ment: Curation Vs. Aggregation

Postal Service Limits Letter to Santa Program

Top 20 Tweets in October

Why Facebook Continues to Suck

25 of the Most Powerful and Influential Women in Social Media 2009

Why Nonprofits Should Be on YouTube

Five Things Brand Marketing Can’t Do

Writing Errors That Make You Look Stupid

Location is the Missing Link Between Social Media and the Real World

Email Campaigns That Work for Nonprofits

Beth Asked a Question

American Red Cross – Nonprofit Social Media Marketing Example

Top 50 Journalism Blogs

Ten Things Social Media Can’t Do

For those who still don’t get it, this preso by Marta Kagan does an excellent job of making the case for social media as “a force to be reckoned with” with the potential to be something far more transformative and impactful than just another marketing channel.

While the for-profit world may have the resources and the motivation (read: potential sales revenues), I believe nonprofits have greater incentive to be the innovation leaders in the social media arena.

Unlike traditional marketing channels, social media offer us the tools to identify potential allies and supporters, learn what others think (or don’t think) of us, build relationships, organized and collaborate around common causes, and measure the success or failure of our efforts, all at a cost signficantly lower than in the past. Who has more to gain than nonprofits?

And as you fret over your next newsletter or year-end appeal, try naming one other communication or marketing tool that comes close to offering what social media can offer you. It’s not the print advertising you continue to run despite the evidence that no one’s reading your daily paper any more. Or the direct mail. TV and radio have certainly gotten more affordable, mainly because they’re losing their traditional buyers in droves. Even your old-school website doesn’t do half the work of a social media-focused site.

This isn’t about social media augmenting or replacing your current marketing efforts. Sooner than you might think, social media are going to be at the center of your program efforts. Operational efforts. External and internal communication efforts. Fund-raising efforts. Recruiting efforts. And yes, your marketing and promotional efforts.

So why are so many of us so slow to get on board? That’s the $64,000 question we all must ask ourselves. Better ask it quick.

photo by fotodawg

I don’t remember who I first borrowed the idea from, but I really love reviewing my top 20 tweets each month. My approach to twitter is as editor/curator: I look for posts I think will appeal to those who follow me in the areas of marketing, communications, social media, journalism and related subjects, especially as they relate to nonprofits and small business. I of course liberally tweet my own posts since those happen to be the subjects I tend to write about.

What is particularly interesting is what my highest-performing tweets tell me about my followers on Twitter: they’re a fairly discerning bunch interested in real substance, not fluff. I can always tell when I’ve missed the mark, and it helps me quite a bit when considering what to blog about.

Here’s what was most popular in October. I encourage you to check out any you may have missed when first we tweeted. It’s all good stuff. Even my stuff (I think).

No More Excuses for Crap Communications

If Marketers Today Created the Stop Sign

Social Media and the Paradox of Choice

Why Every Communicator Should Blog

The Dangers of No Content Strategy

Your Communications Plan: What It’s Really For

Small Business: Get in the Social Media Pool

Why Nonprofits Are So Good at Social Media

All You Need is the Story

Results of the Fourth Annoying PowerPoint Survey

Build a Social Network for Your Business

Why Uncensored Blogging is the Future of Corporate Communications

Blogging is Dead, Long LIve Journalism

A Tagline is a Terrible Thing to Waste

Is Philanthropy Ready for the New Consumer?

Five Reasons Corporations are Failing at Social Media

My Five-Year-Old’s Future in Marketing

Hyatt: Managing the Boston Aftermath

Debating Seth Godin’s “Non” Slam

Small Business, Social Media Not Mixing

Like the video I posted previously mocking the vendor-client relationship, this one’s funny because it’s true. If you’ve ever wondered why 90 percent of “creative” is ill-conceived, poorly designed, ineffective or just plain garbage, process is frequently one of the culprits.

If you’re curious, here’s the real history of the stop sign.

OK, maybe not. Here’s the real real history of the stop sign.

I think my daughter Lizzie has a future in marketing. Check out the video she did as part of a promotional contest at our local indie toy store. Unlike the winner, who came on like a hired marketing consultant trying to convince viewers why the store had earned their support, my five-year-old focused on what she thought would interest prospective buyers. (“I like this because when you squeeze it, its eyes, its ears and its nose pop out.” “If you move all the tentacles, you can see its eating thing.” )

You tell me: Who’s the better spokesperson? Who’s more believable?

You can either sell what you think customers should care about or you can get inside their heads and sell from their perspective. My daughter gets it.

And that’s not just the biased opinion of a proud father.

photo by jurvetson

A recent survey of small businesses conducted by Citibank Small Business found that three-quarters of respondents didn’t find Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter to be useful in generating business leads or expanding business.

Having owned two small businesses of my own, I can understand why this might be true. Small business people wear enough hats as it is without diving into the high-maintenance waters of social media. In the current economic climate, many are simply doing everything they can just to stay open. As Maria Veltre, executive vice president of Citi’s Small Business segment, put it, “… small businesses are very, very focused on running their business and on generating sales and managing their cash flow and doing the things that are really important, especially in these economic times.”

But the number that really floored me was that 86 percent hadn’t used social networking sites for seeking information or business advice.

Seriously? Imagine that there’s a vast pool of marketing, sales, finance, human resources, operations and other professionals who have been taught to offer their advice and support freely and without expectation of immediate reward. That’s the world of social media, folks.

Think of the Best Buy commercial where a customer asks a stadium full of customer service reps what kind of HDTV he should buy. Small business, you’re that customer. Now replace all the Best Buy blue-shirts with every business advisor imaginable. They might not write your marketing plan or review your books or  interview prospective employees for you, but many will offer you solid actionable advice that, in the old days, still cost you a pretty penny.

If you take no other step into social media right now, at least avail yourself of the business relationships you could be building with minimal effort. Personally, I’d suggest starting with LinkedIn, which is essentially your Rolodex on steroids. I’m willing to bet that many of your customers and business partners are already there, so the time investment could be fairly minimal.

The survey also found that 42 percent of small businesses are making greater use of their websites to generate business leads and sales. If that’s true for you, then take the extra step of setting up a blog on that site. Enable those most interested in your business to keep easy tabs on what’s going on through your blogging. Setting up a blog can be as supremely simple as setting up a Posterous account and linking to it from your website.

Again, the time you spend could be no more than a few minutes a week to post a few short items of interest. Just make sure whatever you’re posting is truly of interest to your audience and not some lame attempt to sell something. Share your knowledge and expertise, for example, and build your reputation as someone who knows what you’re talking about.

Whether these survey results reflect the overworked nature of small business folk or the fact that we’re still in the early-adopter phase of social media, I don’t know. I suspect a little of both. And as someone else pointed out, Citibank is hardly expert when it comes to social media.

But the day is coming when social media use will be as ubiquitous as email and taking credit cards for payment (whether you want to or not). I suggest you get on board now and start learning to master this stuff.

photo by edu_phon

I’ve decided to expand my normal 10 tweets to 20 from now on because there’s just too much good stuff to share each month. Running through the list of the most popular links I posted on Twitter last month is almost like a Rorschach test that helps me take a dip into the minds of those following me there. My main takeaway is that people are hungry for good, actionable information on communications in general and social media specifically.

So in case you missed any of these the first time around, here in order are the tweets that drew the most attention:

PR Gaffe Delivers Unintended National Press

How to Astonish Your Audience With Statistics

10 Best Practices in Social Media for Nonprofits

Aspire to This: an Example of a Great Website

8 Twitter Habits That May Get You Unfollowed or Semi-Followed

Emotional Messaging Works; Rational Messaging Hurts

5 Fresh Ideas for Social Media Marketers

Why Don’t Tweens Tweet? We Asked Over 10,000 of Them

Are You Antisocial in Your Social Media Efforts?

How to Tell Your Story in 100 Words or Less

ROI of Listening: 17 Things to Do With What You Hear

Your Web Site: Less is More. Really.

Being Helpful is the New Black

10 Common Writing Mistakes Your Spell Checker Won’t Find

73 Ways to Become a Better Writer

Time for a Twitter Reality Check

Your Company is a Media Company

45% of Employers Use Social Networking Sites to Research Job Candidates

A Child’s First Hitchcock: Psycho

What’s So Scary About Marketing Strategy?

Check out any you may have missed last month on Twitter. There’s lots of good food for thought in this list (although my favorite, A Child’s First Hitchock, is just for fun … great storytelling example, though).

Enjoy!

Valeria Maltoni has posted a fantastic slide deck over on Conversation Agent. It’s simply a series of thoughtful quotes on the state of marketing and the promise of social media from some of the profession’s top thinkers. But any one of these slides could serve as the starting point for a lengthy conversation that could lead to your changing the way you do business (or pursue your mission, for nonprofits).

I suggest you check it out.