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What if we ran kindergarten classes with the same rules as social media marketing?

Children are encouraged to make at least one drawing or painting every day. Refrigerator art goes stale quickly and you want to stay top-of-mind with your parents. Rachel Davis, the most popular girl in class, writes an eBook explaining how other kids can get popular too. It’s well received from pre-K through third grade, but although it contains clear examples and actionable advice, somehow the unpopular kids still never get invited to the cool kids’ slumber parties. Little enterprising Genevieve Morrow puts Google ads on her fingerpaintings, but they don’t generate enough cash even to cover her candy ..read more

The complaints keep coming about telecom providers, so I’m starting a new section. The earlier version appeared a few months ago.

The main issues are as follows, although I’m sure I’ll miss a few:

– Unexpected charges, higher than what was advertised or promised by a salesperson.

– Recurring billing errors, which seem impossible to correct.

– Being forced to give 30 days’ notice of cancellation, while being able to sign up for service the same day.

– Lousy service by call centre staff, who follow scripts, can’t find information on your previous calls and cut you off.

– Lousy service by technicians, who miss appointments, fail to diagnose problems when they do show up or damage property.

– Quick assignment of overdue accounts to a collection agency, without checking to see ..read more

You buy a computer and hope it works. If it doesn’t, you may lose all the programs, photos, podcasts and other personal stuff you’ve put onto it.

Computers aren’t always reliable and sometimes break down just after the warranty expires. Manufacturers and retailers tell you to get lost unless you buy their costly extended warranties, which often fail to cover the parts you need.

Needless to say, I get lots of complaints from computer buyers. And while I have some success in getting them resolved, I wish I could do more.

In my experience, the brand-name makers don’t seem to care if a machine breaks down after the first few years of ownership. It’s not their responsibility, they tell owners. Time to shell out big bucks for ..read more

Since I wrote about reaching 100 , I want to celebrate getting to 200 blog posts today, before September arrives.

I wish I had time to write more often. But after doing three Star columns a week, teaching continuing education classes at U of T and George Brown College, making speeches and responding to readers’ emails, I’m “knackered.” (Great word, eh? Here’s a definition. Don’t you love Wikipedia?)

I just saw the movie Julie and Julia and felt a kinship with blogger Julie Powell. Not that I expect to pull off a book deal and film starring Meryl Streep as she did, but I recognized the scene where her husband fumed at losing her attention while she was on her computer communicating with strangers. That’s a ..read more

I talk to a lot of companies that are still hunting for customer #1, or a few sales have been made but the ball isn’t rolling yet.

Most of them are making the same mistake: Their public persona is exactly wrong.

I know, because I made the same mistake! But I learned my lesson, and I’d like to share it with you.

Even before I had a single customer, I “knew” it was important to look professional. My website would need to look and feel like a “real company.” I need culture-neutral language complimenting culturally-diverse clip-art photos of frighteningly chipper co-workers huddled around a laptop, awash with the thrill and delight of configuring a JDBC connection to SQL Server 2008.

It also means adopting typical “marketing-speak,” ..read more