Monday, April 13, 2009

Clash!

What's a marketer to think when the Economist is saying
The downturn will also accelerate the use of social media, such as blogs and social-networking sites, by consumers looking for intelligence on firms and their products
(From Buy, Buy to Bye-Bye)
.at the same time that the AP is saying

Call it online sociability fatigue.....As social networking grows, from stream-of-consciousness Twitter to buttoned-up LinkedIn, even some of the very young people who've helped drive these sites could use a break.
(Are You a Twit If You Don't Want to Twitter?)
?

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Marketing Intellectual Property

I never really thought much before about how marketing an idea is a lot like marketing any other intellectual property, a manuscript, for example.

Then I read License Your Invention: Sell Your Idea & Protect Your Rights with a Solid Contract by Attorney Richard Stim. Chapter 5 has a long section warning against marketing scams.

Promoting an idea is an extreme test of marketing ability. All you can sell is the sizzle; you don't have any steak. Stim says that some marketers are not up to the challenge. He describes the "Invention Developers" law of 1999 and how it protects inventors from bad marketers. Definitely read the book for more information.

I learned more by talking for a long time to Charles Wieland, III, at Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney, about the patent process. He was both knowledgeable and helpful. If I had a patentable idea he could help me with, I would have signed up with him on the spot.