The Tendo View

Insights and analysis for your strategic communications

In the News archive

  • 2011’s top 5 marketing and PR disasters

    12/07/11 • (1)

    From unfortunate missteps to PR disasters, a number of companies—and well-known politicians—stepped in it in 2011. Even without sex scandals (Weinergate) and shocking illegal activity (rampant hacking at News of the World), which belong on other lists entirely, we have plenty of fodder for this year’s list. Read on for the top 5 PR and… Continue reading

  • How to turn a gimmick into a strategy

    11/07/11 • (0)

    The term gimmick has a negative connotation. It smacks of beefy infomercial guys promising ripped abs in 30 days—or your money back. Originally, a gimmick was a memorable feature that stood out in customers’ minds, helping differentiate one product or company from its competitors. Today’s definitions, however, lean more toward manipulation and trickery

    Continue reading

  • Content marketing goes mainstream

    10/25/11 • (1)

    Last December, Tendo CEO Karla Spormann insisted that the case for content had been building for years, and she speculated that content marketing would achieve mainstream status in 2011. If recent reports are any indication, content marketing has indeed come of age.

    According to a report published on eMarketer.com, B2B companies are “looking to… Continue reading

  • The Tendo View’s (almost) end-of-the-year quiz

    10/14/11 • (0)

    Test your knowledge, or speedy Googling ability, with our first-ever Tendo View quiz. We’ve taken 10 of the top social media and marketing stories from 2011 and compiled a quiz that’s sure to get you thinking.

    Find out how closely you’ve followed the headlines.

    Good luck!… Continue reading

  • Graphic images make an impact

    7/08/11 • (0)

    In 1997, the State of California issued a PSA featuring Debi Austin, a long-time smoker turned anti-tobacco evangelist, who demonstrated the damage of cigarette use by smoking one through a hole in her throat. Fourteen years later, I still recall the repulsion her mutilated body evoked. By lending herself to the PSA, Austin knew the… Continue reading

  • Will Google+ impact social marketing?

    7/05/11 • (1)

    Update: Since we published this post on July 5, Google+ has exploded. Current reports, including this one from Mashable.com, suggest that the new social network is close to reaching 18 million users. Of course, expect that stat to be out-of-date soon, too.

    Unless you’ve been under a rock for the last week, you’ve heard… Continue reading

  • How URL shortening can harm your brand

    6/20/11 • (0)

    Third-party URL shortening services like Bitly and Zi.ma that offer tracking and analysis are beloved by marketers who want to know who clicked on their links. A far cry from the simple TinyURL service that launched waaaay back in 2002, new URL shortening services have popped up to provide marketers with customizable URLs and more… Continue reading

  • Stats for the Facebook cynics

    6/15/11 • (0)

    For the June Tendo View, I had planned to write a story about a relevant B2B technology, but I came up short. The most relevant topic I found was mobile payment technology, such as Google Wallet and Square. Both are interesting technologies, but they didn’t seem relevant to an audience of B2B marketers, or likely… Continue reading

  • The growing acceptance of location tracking

    6/10/11 • (1)

    I don’t feel I need to tell my Facebook friends where I’m eating my lunch, or if I’m checking in at the airport. And frankly, I’m not that interested in knowing how they spend their day. This is why I’ve been curiously watching the growing trend of location-based services such as Foursquare, Gowalla and Facebook Place… Continue reading

  • The power of brand voice

    6/08/11 • (0)

    The buzz around Groupon’s pending IPO is everywhere, as the business press stirs up speculation about whether the 2-year-old daily deal emailer becomes the next Wall Street darling —or the symbol of yet another Internet bubble.

    More interesting to me is how the company is using its unique brand voice to differentiate itself from… Continue reading

  • The Web is dead. Or is it?

    5/12/11 • (1)

    When Wired magazine published the article, “The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet,” a debate ensued over the future of the open Web and whether it would survive an apps-dominated Internet. As the story explains, more and more consumers are opting for closed, proprietary apps—rather than a Web browser—as the preferred means to use… Continue reading

  • Top 3 marketing blunders of 2010

    11/30/10 • (0)

    Even if you’re the coolest company in the world, you’re not immune to marketing failures or PR blunders. Take these examples from 2010’s three most-watched companies: Google, Apple, and Facebook.

    Google Wave fails to take flight
    This search engine leader is probably the biggest goldfish bowl when it comes to allowing public viewing of its… Continue reading

  • Email still reaches customers

    9/28/10 • (1)

    In light of newer, sexier digital marketing media and channels, email may seem passé as a marketing tool these days. However, email remains a key fundamental marketing method because of its ubiquity. You can breathe new life into your email marketing campaigns and increase their effectiveness by integrating other online marketing channels, such… Continue reading