Love it. First compilation from Earth Hour 2009.
Earth Hour 2009 is happening tomorrow, 28 March, an event aiming to bring worldwide awareness to the issue of global warming. While some have had a rocky introduction to Earth Hour, this year the aim is for over 1 billion people around the world to switch their lights off.
Major participants, including Coca-Cola, are signing up to support this worthy cause. And it is easy to do - all you have to do is SWITCH YOUR LIGHTS OFF for 1 hour, between 8:30pm and 9:30pm local standard time. Make your vote for the earth.
Watch Earth Hour on global web cams.
Looking for someone new to blame the recession on? How about social networking tool Twitter?
A new study by Harvard economist Martin Schmeldon suggests that Twitter, a social utility tool for real time connections with others, has had a significant impact on the downturn in American productivity.
I believe a tool is only as good as the person using it, and in the case of many employees it comes down to personal time management and a good leader. Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and other social media tools can be highly effective, cost-cutting forms of marketing (note: they are rarely a stand-alone marketing solution) and can reach a broad demographic - it is up to managers to ensure these tools are used effectively and appropriately in order to yield results.
It is further compacted by managers switching marketing efforts entirely to one avenue, anticipating rapid and high results. This is a super high risk strategy at the best of times, and again it is a case of decisions by the marketing manager, rather than the impact of a tool created to expedite communications.
Before canning it completely, examine Twitters strengths and weaknesses.
Or perhaps just use it to follow Sockington.
Image courtesy of kaspersorensen.com
Marketing during tough financial times requires flexible marketing managers and a new approach to combating fluctuating household spending. Managers are being asked to strive for the same results with a fraction of the budget of rosier economic times.
Previously sound markets have shifted, with fluctuating unemployment and commodity prices varying greatly from region to region. Marketers need to be constantly vigil, reprioritizing quickly to reflect evolving micromarkets.
Focusing on micromarkets within larger areas can identify audiences within a 'hard hit' area who are less price-sensitive, while still being able to offer preferential pricing to the rest. Read in detail about reprioritisation and marketing in a downturn.
Traditional marketing vehicles, while having a longer track record, are often costly and shortlived. New vehicles in the social and digital media space are often much more cost effective, increasingly accessible and more engaging, particularly with Gen X and Y audiences.
Most importantly, existing customers should be a top priority. The old adage goes that it is cheaper to keep a customer than to create new one, and at times like these it could prove the difference between make or break.
Focus on maximising the value for existing customers, read up on low budget marketing tactics, examine new marketing vehicles... there are always winners no matter what the economic climate.
One thing that is supposed to work favourably for your new blog is to do brand reviews. So far it seems like the popular reviews are for tech gadgets, which would be fun but right now the only way I am getting tech products would be through some kind of sponsor a child or computers in homes program, so I will write about something else. At the end of the day, people must have to use other products right?
Since moving to Australia, we have established that this country is crawling with insects. Bright colours, weird shapes, reptiles, amphibians, arachnid (shudder) - they are all here and multiplying. And that would be fine on its own, but they also love to come into the house at night.
Even though I'm pretty jumpy, I can manage most of them. But I absolutely draw the line at cockroaches. Those things are disgusting, indestructible and fast, and they spread disease. They also make my skin crawl. So in order to stay sane, I sought out some firepower.
On any given evening we will have a variety of insect repellent solutions in play - incense, roll-on repellent, sprays, netting and so on. But cockroaches really take a bit of extra ammunition.
Five words: Mortein Easy Reach Surface Spray.
This stuff is absolutely lethal. When the shop assistant said you could spray it on the ground and it would work for months, I was sceptical. But it really works. Well. While I do not recommend breathing it in at all, but it does have a pleasant citrus aroma.
Mortein Easy Reach Surface Spray gets 4 out of 5 hi-fives (one less than 5 because it is a bit toxic). Let the cockroach eradication continue!
More cockroach tips here.
There is so much media focus on the recession right now, that job hunting is an incredibly daunting task. It can be very disheartening, overly stressful and cause you to second guess every decision you make.
This is compounded by the fact that the job hunt is fraught with enemies - overloaded recruitment agency employees who can't keep up with their workload; hundreds of candidates vying for the same job; managers and bosses who realise they have an abundance of choices and so take their sweet time.
Each day on the hunt is like an emotional rollercoaster. You scan the advertisements and see a job that you like, and you feel hopeful and optimistic. You apply, taking care to match your cover letter to the requirements of the advertiser, and you feel a small sense of achievement. You check your email, receiving a letter to say that your application has been unsuccessful, and you feel a sense of failure. Your interview times get moved around. You get nervous before interviews, anxious waiting to hear from potential employers, and excited about the prospect of having an inflow of dollars. All the while, you are still unemployed and whittling away valuable cash in the process.
The cycle goes around and around, each day making incremental improvements - research leads to advertisements, advertisements lead to applications, applications turn to interviews, interviews turn to offers. But after 4 weeks and still no job, one can certainly begin to feel that there is no hope of ever being employed.
Today, after yet another day on the 'recession rollercoaster', I began to feel that sense of trying to achieve the unachievable. It only takes the tiniest catalyst, like a bad purchase decision, and all of a sudden that positive outlook you’ve maintained throughout comes crashing down and you want to find the nearest large rock and hide under it until Cyclone Recession blows over.
I started to panic. How will I pay the bills? How will I eat? Oh no, I'm going to have to work in a strip club. Maybe it's not so bad. Maybe they are really friendly and I can earn mega-bucks for serving overpriced cocktails to middle aged men.
I google get rich quick schemes. I peruse 'wealth creation' sites, and consider referring them to a professional web designer. I actually contemplate selling out to some 'home-based' business with a domain name like www.alltheriches4uwithoutworkingitsamazing.com. And all of this only leaves me with an increased sense of overcoming the impossible. How do I fix it?!
Many people are found in this situation, now more than ever, asking themselves the question – is there a better way? Well, apparently there is. The recession is creating a phenomenon coined as ‘forced entrepreneurship’ – where job candidates frustrated with the hunt are producing new ways to support themselves, usually through new business. It is essentially a ‘no time like the present’ approach, which could bring some great new business concepts out of the woodwork as shelved inventions make their way back to the fore.
So this begs the question... Could I become a forced entrepreneur? I have begun the hunt for inspiration – I have had articles from Steve Pavlina earmarked for a long time to return to; I’m reading a great book on developing your own ‘Impact Factor’; I’m following a series of successful and interesting people for ideas. My first step is learning to create content which adds value, something I find enjoyable and hopefully others will too.
Whether it is easier than job hunting remains to be seen, but it is a welcome distraction.
So with that in mind, and a lot of time on my hands as the job hunt continues, I now embark on a mission to find my true calling and ultimately create value for others. Stay tuned!
Twitter has totally become the talk of the town at the moment, so I thought I would clear the dust off my old account and start tweeting!
You can follow me at http://twitter.com/emmarclarke
Send me your link, I am looking for more people to follow ^_^
Cyclone Hamish is tracking south east, parallel with the Queensland coast, and authorities are now predicting there is only a 5% chance it will make landfall. It currently lies 225kms off the coast from Yapoon.
In other news, a local radio station in the Ipswich area, River 94.9, managed to get their hands on two tickets to Coldplay in Brisbane tonight. The competition closed today - prior entrants were required to text their name and suburb to the radio station whenever a Coldplay song was played. This morning when the hosts phoned the winner, it was Mum's phone that rang.
Radio host: We're drawing the Coldplay tickets now
Mum (to trainee at work): Oh I entered this yesterday
Radio host: Now we're calling them
Phone rings in Mums pocket
Mum: O thats my phone!
Radio host: (post formalities and hysterical acceptance speech from Mum) So do you have a date for the show?!
Cheeky.
Luckily, that date is me! Coldplay - tonight at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre. Viva la Vida!
