Monthly Archives: September 2009

Health Care Messaging: They’re Buying; Are You Watching?

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Categories: Government, Health Care

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Tired of hearing health care messages during breaks in your favorite TV shows. Maybe that’s because more than $1 million dollars a day is being spent on such commercials.

According to the Campaign Media Analysis Group, overall TV spending reached $110 million on Sunday. The breakdown is $47 million in favor of a health care overhaul, $32 million opposed to the reform efforts and the rest focused on general health care discussion.

Who’s spending the most? The U.S. Chamber of Commerce (there is no official relationship between the U.S. and Indiana chambers; in fact, we support some of the principles offered by the national organization but are opposed to others) and AARP are at the top of the list.

With the debate continuing in Congress and President Obama making this his signature issue, expect the dollar outlays, the commercials (and just maybe the TiVo usage) to continue at high levels.

New Media Requires New Plan for Businesses

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Categories: Business News, Technology

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Entrepreneur.com recently offered instruction regarding how small businesses can engage potential customers and stretch ad dollars as far as possible. The site offered three key points to keep in mind, and for further elaboration, read the entire piece:

Want to know how to spend your marketing dollars this fall? Here’s a hint–throw out last year’s plan and start fresh. The economic downturn coupled with the rise in social media and the full-bore acceptance of an internet that’s accessible virtually everywhere has forever changed the way customers shop.

Rather than rely solely on media such as television, radio, newspapers and magazines, it’s time to allocate a larger percentage of your budget to less traditional tactics. Winning and keeping customers now calls for innovative marketing that engages prospects in more direct ways. As you plan your holiday marketing tactics, be sure to factor in these three critical elements for a campaign that will work in today’s socially and economically altered marketplace.

  1. New Media Has Taken Hold
  2. One-on-One Communication Builds Bonds
  3. Consumers Expect to Be Engaged and Understood

The Things We (Want to) Do

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Travel Leaders recently released the results of a survey of over 600 folks, inquiring about their travel preferences. As we all like to fantasize about such things while at work, let us indulge you. Here are the results:

If you won a trip anywhere in the U.S., which would you choose? (614 responses) 
1.       Cruise – 33.1%
2.       Island Destination – 23.1%
3.       Beach Destination – 18.4%
4.       Resort Destination – 7.8%
5.       Major U.S. City – 6.2%         

  • Top “ideal U.S. island destination” was Maui, HI, followed by the U.S. Virgin Islands and Hawaii (The Big Island), HI, respectively.
  • Top “ideal U.S. beach destination” was Hawaii, followed by Florida and then California.
  • Top “ideal U.S. city to visit” was New York City.
  • Top “ideal national park to visit” was Yellowstone. 
  • Top “ideal U.S. mountain destination” was Colorado.
  • Top “ideal U.S. golf destination” was a tie among Arizona, Hawaii and North Carolina.      

What is your dream international destination? (609 responses)
1. Australia                    
2. Italy                                     
3. (tie) Greece                          
3. (tie) Tahiti                            
5. Germany                              
6. (tie) Ireland                          
6. (tie) New Zealand                
8. Fiji                                
9. (tie) Egypt                            
9. (tie) France  

I doubt I’m alone in thinking the fact that Branson isn’t mentioned once on this survey is a rather stark indictment of society.

Busy Hoosier Congressmen Still Manage a Few Good Comments

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Categories: Chamber News, Environment, Government, Health Care

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Washington, D.C. is filled with its share of sirens, whistles and other warning noises. Inside the U.S. Capitol, however, the sound of choice is the bell that signals a vote is about to take place.

There were several post 6 p.m. bells last Wednesday on the House side during the congressional delegation roundtable portion of the Indiana Chamber’s D.C. Fly-in. Indiana’s reps did their job by going to vote, but also hustled back to answer questions and share insights for the more than 70 Indiana business attendees.

Among their comments:

  • Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-2nd District) on the possibility of additional troops in Afghanistan: "Will 10,000 accomplish anything? Do you need 50,000? Do you need 100,000?" Those questions and others, he said, are still unanswered.
  • Rep. Andre Carson (D-7th District) deserves credit for not going the political route and offering a clearly unpopular view when he professed his strong support for the Employee Free Choice Act as well as cap and trade.
  • On cap and trade, Rep. Dan Burton (R-5th District): "I think it will cost a lot of jobs; it will drive a lot of business and industry to go offshore."
  • On the same subject, Rep. Mike Pence (R-6th District) noted the emphasis should be on the GOP’s "all of the above strategy" that includes new technologies, renewables, conservation and 100 new nuclear plants in the next 20 years.
  • And finally on that topic, Sen. Richard Lugar explained how a bill was passed in the House. "There was a tremendous desire from President Obama and the Speaker of the House (Nancy Pelosi) to get a bill, any bill. Nearly 300 pages out of the 1,200 pages in the bill came in the early morning hours on the day of the vote. Deals needed to get done (to get more House votes). When Rep. Steve Buyer (R-4th District) questioned with the phrase that "you would never do that in the Senate," Lugar quickly responded with at least it’s "usually during the daylight."
  • Buyer, a late arrival, summed up several issues: "On card check, it’s un-American. On troop levels, we’ve been the provider of security in Europe for 60 years. It’s time for Europe to stand with America. On cap and trade, it’s the wrong debate. It should be about rebalancing our energy portfolio."

There were several comments on health care reform, with Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-8th District) getting the final word. He just returned from one of the House votes with a message that touched on health care and other unrelated frustrations.

"This place is schizophrenic," Ellsworth stated. "The adjournment votes tonight just disrupt business. There are really good, intelligent people here, but people send folks who talk one way back home and do the opposite here. We all wouldn’t last five minutes in a board room if we acted like we do here."

He goes on to tell of a ranking member on a committee considering health care legislation who told him before the August recess, ‘We don’t want to pass anything and make you guys look good.’ "Both parties do it. It’s sad. I came here to try and change it."

Finally, on health care, Ellsworth added, "You can’t do it by printing off more money. Tort reform ought to be part of it. But personal responsibility is the hardest thing to legislate — the person who goes to Golden Corral three times a week or lights up (cigarettes)."

Patent Problem: Numbers Take a Big Drop

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We’ve pondered in the past, both in this space and in BizVoice magazine, about what economic indicators people pay the most attention to. The same argument can apply to the innovation economy — which numbers and statistics are most important?

Tough call. One measure taking a rather significant drop through the middle portion of this decade is the number of patents produced per employee in each state. Two alphabetical groups provide the data: USPTO (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) compiles the numbers and SSTI (State Science & Technology Institute) puts them in comparative form.

The results:

  • A total patent drop of over 10% between 2003 and 2007, with 43 states experiencing declines
  • Indiana’s performance over that period was even lower, a 19.9% decline, ranking it 35th over the five years. Overall, Indiana remained 25th in 2007, its same relative ranking as 2003
  • At the low end of patents per employees are Alaska, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Arkansas and Louisiana
  • Idaho led the nation with 210 patents per 100,000 employees. Other in the top five (with a strong Western flavor) were Vermont, California, Washington and Oregon

An SSTI chart details the numbers.

State Superintendent Begins Overhaul of Teacher Licensing

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On a convincing 14-4 vote, the Indiana Professional Standards Advisory Committee has voted to proceed with the rulemaking process to overhaul Indiana’s antiquated teacher licensing system. Under the proposal prepared by State Superintendent Tony Bennett, new teachers in Indiana would be required to demonstrate much more knowledge in their content areas than is currently required. The proposed rules would also tie professional development requirements to school priorities, allow greater input by principals in teacher licensing decisions and provide school districts with more flexibility in the hiring of principals and superintendents.

To be certain, this effort is just beginning – and lots of vested interests are lining up to defeat the proposals. Most impacted are the schools of education that, according to several national education leaders, have created an ineffective training system that is in need of significant overall. But since "overhaul" means, in many ways, that their monopoly on education training would be loosened, the state’s schools of education are working overtime to defeat this proposal.

So far, the schools of education have dominated these discussions; but as the rule-making process goes forward, there will be much better opportunity to hear from the consumers of this system, including employers, parents, school administrators, school board members and even teachers themselves. The Indiana Chamber will stay on top of all developments and will keep our members informed through this and other outlets. In the meantime, you can learn more about the proposed changes in this brief summary document.

What are your thoughts on the proposal? Feel free to share in the comments section or let me know at dredelman@indianachamber.com.

CEO: What Poker Taught Me About Non-Profits

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Nancy Lublin, CEO of Do Something, wrote an interesting piece recently for Fast Company magazine about what she learned years ago in poker rooms, and how it’s helped her run a not-for-profit:

You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em … Every poker hand is like a fund-raising pitch. Your first bet needs to be high enough to garner respect from the other players, but not so high that you scare them all away. It also can’t be so low that you make them think you’re desperate. And that first bet has less to do with your cards than with who’s at the table, where you’re seated (are you the first to bet? the last?), your reputation, and chutzpah. I’ve heard foundations say they ignore requests for under $100,000, but a first-time ask for $5 million won’t get a second look either. Every entrepreneur knows that chasing early funding is similar: What can you request with a straight face and still get a "yes"?

Know when to fold ‘em … You should fold about 80% of the hands you’re dealt. That’s hard to do — you get itchy to play or you’re tempted to see if you can string something together. Dress for Success was once asked to provide suits for women seeking restraining orders in court. We wanted to help. We had the inventory. But our purpose was to support women looking for work. Our board debated it passionately and decided that we shouldn’t muddy our mission by getting involved in something complex that we didn’t fully understand. That slope would have been too slippery — we wanted to say yes, but we had to say no.

Know when to walk away. And know when to run. Sometimes you suffer a bad beat and you have to move on. In the office context, this is especially relevant to personnel. Firing an employee is never fun, especially if you hired the person. It’s like starting out with a nice pair in the hole. You’re starting strong, but it never gets better. The best thing is to just cut your losses quickly. If that new employee turns out to be a loser, better to fail fast.

This has been the hardest lesson for me: I fall in love with cards, and I fall in love with potential in employees. Do Something, my current not-for-profit, once hired a successful tech entrepreneur to be our CTO. He took a huge pay cut, which made us feel lucky to have him. He wanted to redesign our site. This was a bad use of our time and resources, but he kept arguing for it. I’d be crazy to ditch the genius, right? Wrong. He didn’t understand our priorities or our agenda. Delaying a decision to cut bait is expensive and affects your head. We finally let the guy go.

You never count your money when you’re sitting at the table. There’ll be time enough for counting when the deal is done. Don’t gloat. Even when you win a gigantic pot, you don’t want your benefactor to feel cheated — or stupid — because you want to play with her again. And counting your chips is distracting. Every second spent examining your own stack is a second you’re not using to suss out others’ cards and nerves. In the not-for-profit context, droning on about how much money you’ve brought in doesn’t help bring in more. Plus, it’s off-topic. Your goal is to build a more effective organization and reach your group’s goals, right? So communicate your strategy for change, not how much change you’ve got.

Jersey Devil is in Details Over Property Tax/School Formula

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Categories: Education, Government

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New Jersey has an interesting predicament. It needs to dissolve some school districts because they, you know, don’t actually have any students. However, some residents are up in arms because doing away with the districts would boost their property taxes. Alan Greenblatt of Governing writes:

New Jersey has just 21 counties, but it has more than 600 school districts. Although merging small districts is a problem everywhere, New Jersey’s system is so out of whack that it borders on comedy. This year, the state took what it thought was an easy first step: closing districts that don’t actually operate any schools. But even that has proven to be controversial.

Several other states allow what are known as “non-operating districts.” These have school boards and part-time staffers who take care of paperwork—largely writing checks to a neighboring district for educating the kids they send over. But they have no students and no schools. “This was a prime target to go after,” says Lucille Davy, the state education commissioner. “Clearly, it’s not efficient to have a whole system in place, with employees who are not educating any children.”

But when the state moved in July to shut down half of its 26 non-operating districts, it ran into surprising resistance. Residents of those districts groused that their property taxes would shoot up because the funding formula would switch from a per-pupil calculation to one based on home values. “When you look at the individual situations,” says Frank Belluscio, spokesman for the state school board association, “you realize that most of these arrangements are in place because it was cheaper to send their students to another district.”

The state is allowing the non-operating districts to phase in tax increases over a multi-year period. State Representative John Burzichelli, a sponsor of the legislation that led to the closures, says that the increased bite these communities are now facing reflects the fact that they have been enjoying a tax haven. Writing a check to cover an individual pupil’s education didn’t reflect the neighboring district’s full costs, including its administrative burdens. As taxes rise within the shuttered districts, they should go down by a concomitant amount within the districts that actually hold classes. And the costs of staff and paperwork in the closed districts go away.

Get ReTweeted Like a Champion

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Fast Company magazine recently publicized some very interesting findings from viral marketing scientist Dan Zarrella, who examined what types of Tweets are most likely to be retweeted. This is incredibly useful for businesses who are looking to get out the word about what they offer — and for bored college students who think everyone should know they are eating Zingers while watching the World Series of Poker: 

If I wanted (to) make sure this post did not go viral–according to the standards put forth by Hubspot viral marketing scientist Dan Zarrella in "The Science of Retweeting"– I could promote it on Twitter by posting something like this:

"was bored watchin the game on tv and saw this thing about RTs…made me lol after i had really bad stomach cramps"

Note the lack of punctuation, the use of of slang and abbreviations, the limited vocabulary, and the awkward overshare–all traits that Zarrella can now definititively say would turn Twitter users off. How? Because the avid Twitter-er and author of the upcoming The Social Media Marketing Book spent nine months analyzing roughly 5 million tweets and 40 million retweets (which are usually symbolized with an "RT" on Twitter). He noted when they were posted, which words they used, whether or not they included links, and more. Then, he says, he compared the two groups to get the first "real window" into how ideas spread from person to person: "Retweets may seem like a small idea…but many of the lessons [they teach us] will be applicable to viral ideas in other mediums."

The full report is 22 pages, and won’t be available until tomorrow. But Zarrella offered me a sneak peak–via Twitter, no less. Below, his nine most effective ways to get retweeted on Twitter:

1. Link Up (But Don’t Use TinyURLs)
In Zarrella’s sample, links were three times more prevalent in RTs than normal tweets (19% to 57%), suggesting that their mere prescence could help buoy your bon mots. (Not sure whether that holds true for sporadic use of French terms.) But choose your URL shortener carefully: Newer, shorter services, such as bit.ly, ow.ly, and is.gd, were much likelier to get retweeted than older, longer services, such as TinyURL. Ouch…

Zarrella also discovered that asking people to "Please Retweet" actually works, and he came upon something that I’ve noticed based on our Hootsuite tracking, which is that Tweeters are much less active in the morning. The most RTs tend to come between 3 pm and 6 pm.

For the full report, read it here.