books, art, music

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Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing, 57 Word of Mouth Marketing Challenges for the Entire Workforce, by Ron McDaniel

I had the pleasure of reading Buzzoodle on a long, bumpy flight from Houston to Tallahassee. I’m not a great one for reading on flights (preferring instead to catch up on my marketing podcasts) but I looked forward to digging into Buzzoodle because of Ron’s innovative approach to the topic.

The premise of Buzzoodle is that every member of an organization can do something everyday to create buzz, without spending big bucks on a pricey marketing campaign. Many of the 57 ideas take less than 5 minutes to complete, and pack a powerful punch.

My favorite feature of Buzzoodle is the way each Buzz Challenge is displayed, making it easy for the reader to tell at a glance if a challenge is difficult, time consuming, has any associated cost, or technology requirement. In addition, the facing page has space for notes, comments, and suggestions for implementing the Buzz.

For example, Buzz Challenge #24: Trivia is rated Simple, Quick, Minimal Cost, Simple Technology. For this Challenge members are asked to create interesting trivia points about their company, then use the trivia to create more interest about the organization.

McDaniel’s own example was the trivia that Buzzoodle was created because of his own frustration that members of the team weren’t willing to create buzz because it wasn’t their job! Continue reading »

Cyber Lies: When Finding the Truth Matters
by John Paul Lucich

The synopsis on the back of the book describes “Cyber Lies” to its fullest: …written for the spouse who has a very limited knowledge of computers.  Finally!  Someone recognized that the spouses may not be knowledgeable about computers and may not know how to “spy” on a suspected cheating partner.

This same book would be most helpful for any parent that feels they aren’t as knowledgeable as their teenage children, not only with computers but also cell phones, and suspect unfavorable use.

John Lucich, the author, is an internationally recognized computer forensic expert.  He also understands that most people don’t know computer forensics and has created the most simple, concise book that is in lay language.  Move over “PCs for Dummies” because this book is giving you a run! 

And, move over cheating spouses, because your suspecting spouse is going to know exactly what you are doing after reading this book. He or she may think that their computer is password secure, however, this is not the case. Lucich educates the reader how security can be bypassed as well as learning how to retrieve data that was thought to be deleted. Continue reading »

This article was submitted by  Francine Silverman, author of
Talk Radio for Authors: Getting Interviews Across the U.S. and Canada

As an on-line publicist for some 80 authors, I try to get them spots on talk radio shows. I have been successful in matching guests with hosts in many instances, but in the process have discovered an interesting phenomenon – something I call “rookie radio.” This does not refer to the caliber of the show or station, but rather the lack of information on the website.

Go to any talk radio station, especially terrestrial (those on the air with call letters), and you’ll find them sorely lacking. You may find the bios of the hosts but not the theme of their shows, or the theme of their shows but no contact information, or whether or not they invite guests, and, if so, what kind?

In contrast, authors with websites seek to promote their books on their sites with a bio of the author, excerpts, guest book, articles, and myriad other ways to showcase themselves and their books.

This shortage of information not only shortchanges guests but listeners as well.

Most shows stream on the Internet, but how does someone on the East Coast know that a show on the West Coast would interest them if there is no description of the show?

Seems to me that radio hosts want as many listeners as possible so why keep their shows a secret from the public?

I studied five talk radio sites at random and wrote to each station, including the above paragraphs of my article and pointing out to them what was missing from their websites.  I only received one reply – from Tom Collins, acting general manager at WBCK/WBFN/WRCC and operations director at WBCK/WBXX/WRCC/WBFN in Battle Creek Michigan. Continue reading »

Buy Cyber Lies: When Finding the Truth Matters at Amazon

If you think your spouse is cheating on you then this might be the self help book you need. Mr. Lucich is a data forensics expert with over 20 years of hard earned experience. I had an opportunity to talk to Mr. Lucich about this intriguing line of work

Computer, or maybe we should call it digital forensics is a new science, in fact I would be willing to bet that most people have never heard of it. If you had to describe it in a couple of sentences, what would you tell us?

Computer forensics is not new and I have been involved with it since the late 1980’s.  However, it is new to the public eye.  The discipline of computer forensics is the ability to preserve the contents of a hard drive in its original form that will hold up in a court of law. 

Once we have preserved the contents of the hard drive, we now have the ability to search, analyze and recover data without changing the original contents. 

What drew you into this line of work? As I understand it, you worked in law enforcement for a period of time. Was it a natural progression to move into this line? Did you already have a data processing background?

I was a law enforcement officer for 17 years.  As a state law enforcement officer assigned to the State Organized Crime & Racketeering Bureau for over 8 years, I was seizing and analyzing computers since the 1980’s.  I had a very technical background and was an adjunct computer science professor for over 5 years.  I left law enforcement in 1996 to enter the private sector.  Continue reading »