Most of what we know in our collective society is the direct cause of dealing with a need. Laws, policies and traditions are built around what a group of people believe is good or right for others to follow.

Other reasons behind certain habits come down to marketing. Here’s an example:

Fact: It is a good idea to have something to eat at the beginning of the day.

Tradition: We usually eat some sort of breakfast, or a simple snack before lunch, to fuel our bodies for the activities that lie ahead.

Marketing: Bacon and eggs were considered a part of a healthy breakfast because the pork and poultry farmers hired a marketing agency in the 1920s to help promote their products. Edward Bernay and his public relations firm sent letters to 5,000 doctors surveying them about eating healthy, and the 4,500 positive responses fueled a massive ad campaign. Listen to this report from National Public Radio

Welcome to 2012, where a social media platform has 161 million users in the U.S. In a move launched on Tuesday, Facebook plans to help promote organ donation by allowing users to advertise their donor status.

Through a marketing effort to its users, and a programming move, Mark Zuckerberg and other officials at Facebook hope to promote the need for organ donations, in a nation where 7,000 people die each year while awaiting a transplant.

The question remains if social media peer pressure will work to change attitudes, or simply raise awareness. Will/can the number of deaths each year decrease? What say you, can social media change the world?

We’ve all heard the expression, “any press is good press,” but are there times when it’s bad?

I would argue that Spirit, the little airline that thrives on the attention it gets creating provocative advertising messages, may be feeling like the company stepped in it this week.

A Florida man recently learned that he has only a few months to live. Jerry Meekins, 76, has terminal esophageal cancer, and because of his advanced condition, he can no longer fly on an airplane. Before he learned of his condition, Meekins bought an airline ticket on Spirit Airlines to visit his daughter, who is having surgery in May. He still plans to see his daughter, but, god willing, he will have to drive.

Spirit denied Meekins a refund, but said if he died before his flight, they would give him some money back or that he could get a credit for another flight. Neither option does Meekins any good.

According to Spirit’s website, the airline does not offer refundable fares. Period. It’s there in black and white. However, should the airline modify its policy, as other airlines do, to take into consideration a person’ plight on a case-by-case basis? I think in Meekins’ case, absolutely. The fallout from the airlines’ insensitive response is making headlines everywhere. Meekins’ goal now is not just to get his money back. He wants to make sure the airline does the right thing and puts a policy in place for the next time a situation like his arises.

Come on Spirit Airlines, where’s your compassion?

You need to modify your current policy. That would be in good spirit.

Now for those of us who spend most of our time online, whether for business or leisure, being on the cloud is nothing new.

A number of sites hold our information on a number of different servers around the globe. Your photos on Facebook or video on YouTube to your orders and preferences on eBay … this data finds a home on the world wide web.

Google announced on Tuesday its own online storage drive to compete with Apple’s iCloud. Think of it as a free version of Google Docs with much more storage capacity. Google Drive will roll out over the next couple of weeks, offering the first 5 gigabytes free. Fees kick in for those that need more space, up to 16 terabytes – more than any single person should ever need – for $800 a month.

A recent Forrester survey found 40 % of small businesses, with 2-19 employees, are very likely to use the cloud for their business needs. Writer Todd Wasserman weighed out the pros and cons of using the internet to keep your files, and found only a few drawbacks. You can read his report here

I like the cloud. I think it can be a very effective way to conduct business at a very low cost. However, one failure, if unprepared, can be crippling.

I had the opportunity to be a Business Control Plan officer for a regional division of a global publishing firm. Following the advice of many IT masterminds, we had redundant systems in place. However, with one power outage, we learned that the system wasn’t complete and we had to go through with producing a less-than-perfect product. We learned from that experience and backed up a number of files to have at an off-site location.

The cloud can offer that off-site location, but you have to plan for it. It takes time and resources to get everything in place (sometimes twice) to cover for a possible outage.

Before heading down the path of converting your business to the cloud, and when you do your ROI equations, just a little advice – take the time you think you need for the project and double it.

When three of the largest publishing companies decided to settle with the Justice Department without admitting wrongdoing in price fixing of electronic books, tablet owners won a price war.

In a consumer driven economy, we usually like the price of a good or service to be dictated by the cost of the materials, overhead and the price the market is willing to bear. However, in recent times, large mega-retailers have been offering some media goods at a loss in order to kill competition or gain a larger audience for other products.

The Justice Department, through an investigation, brought charges against a number of publishing outlets, suggesting that they worked together to establish cost minimums that were passed through distributors to the consumer. While a couple of the publishers are fighting the charges, some offered a settlement. Once the proposal is accepted, consumers should see the prices fall for many popular book titles.

With the lower price being charged for the digital titles, it will be interesting to see if the publishers and retailers cut the marketing budgets for their offerings. Tablet computers and electronic readers have had the greatest growth in the tech industry in the past year. To pull back on letting the public know what content is available for their new toys seems counter to increasing sales. If the prices are now low enough, the publishers may make more money from sheer volume sales.

In our technologically advanced society, there are a number of outlets competing for our attention.

The ones that tend to get most of our allocated free time are sites, stations and newsstands that can connect with us because they have content that can draw us in.

News outlets learned long ago that the way to attract and keep an audience is to deliver information people find entertaining or useful, and then do it again, and again, and again. Increasingly, businesses and organizations, even individuals, are finding themselves in the information production business – even if it is just spreading the word on what they have to offer – they can learn some valuable lessons from other information providers.

Yahoo is restructuring after learning some lessons the hard way.

“Our online media presence has long been our company’s clearest competitive advantage,” CEO Scott Thompson wrote in his memo to Yahoo’s staff.

The once giant internet search and email provider has found itself trying to redefine exactly what is necessary to survive. To rebuild its foundation, Yahoo is turning to content. The company will boost its news, sports, finance and entertainment reporting, in an effort to generate enough of the right content to gain and keep its audience.

“Yahoo’s main focus will be its consumer business group, an umbrella for its vast network of news, e-commerce and social sites,” CNN reported after obtaining Thompson’s memo.

Small businesses and organizations can transform their own customers into an audience, and take advantage of the digital space to grow its customer base. But it will take content to keep the people coming back.

A story can be told to your customer on multiple platforms, preferably places where your potential audience already is.
Here’s a quick list of questions that can help guide you in content production and a communications strategy:

• Is my website filled with correct and current information?

• How often is the site updated with new information?

• Are my customers on social media?

• What do my customers do on social media?

• Do I have face-to-face time with my customers?

• Is the story of who I am and what we do delivered in that face-to-face time?

• Do we mail or email our customers on a routine basis?

• What messages are included in the mail and email?

Whenever you switch to someone new to provide goods or a service, it can be nerve-wracking. Cell phone, cable and internet providers, insurance companies, stores, fast-food restaurants … they all are competing for your business.

The NFL owners, players – and more importantly the fan base – all were nervously awaiting the new uniform designs with Nike taking over for Reebok as the official supplier of the football league. Will the traditions of long-time league members be trashed for fad colors and 3D effect-covered helmets? Will some struggling franchises get an updated look that can only help their bottom line?

Slideshow of new uniforms

When it comes to the look and feel of a product, even the Green Bay Packers have to take pause to not upset its fan base. People are more apt to put up with changes if other parts of the business are doing well … like a winning record.

In marketing, the same nervousness is there for individuals and business managers alike. Things are always a bit shaky at the beginning of any relationship, including new platforms to engage the audience, a different media venue to advertise on, or a new publisher of signage and print materials. It’s best to go in with an open mind and carefully spell out expectations … then step ahead.

Correct messaging can reinforce a brand. Think about the many successes in our society. As soon as I mention “Oreo” you can visualize what it is, and if you have eaten as many as I have, you can remember the taste and offer a breakdown in the order in which you eat it.

Sometimes label names and the messaging can damage a brand. There is a reason that no one (well if they do, I feel bad for them) still drives around in a Yugo. The subcompact vehicle made by Zastava had a short-lived existence in the U.S., although a good number of them can be seen on the streets of Serbia. The breakdowns became notorious, and after the automaker’s demise, the Yugo has faded away.

Lean finely textured beef, which was approved by the USDA as being “generally regarded as safe,” has appeared inside a number of the meats we consumed for some time. However, because beef byproducts are not listed on food labels it was difficult to know where these trimmings were added as filler.

Now, these bits that are washed in ammonium hydroxide have been given a label – pink slime.

It’s understandable that fast-food joints, stores and delis don’t want to put “Pink Slime” among the list of ingredients or in the nutrition information for the products it serves to customers. Customers, then again, probably don’t know that they are consuming the beef byproduct.

Even as it sounds that the processed, frozen, washed and added product was safe for consumption, I doubt people will want to eat it.

In different industries that I’ve worked in, we used to say that the public didn’t want to know how the sausage was made. That holds a literal meaning here.

In marketing messaging, we will see a growing number of retailers and food providers start to shout from the rooftops that their offerings no longer contain pink slime. They don’t want the “Pink Slime” label to damage their brand.

It may not be about physical pounds as in the kind you lift, but information, even if it is no longer bound in book form, still carries weight.

This week, the publishers of the Encyclopedia Britannica announced that as soon as inventory runs out, they will no longer publish the 32-volume printed edition. They also said there was no need to fear the change. Find the blog here: http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2012/03/change/

For the company publishing facts from A to Z for 244 years, it’s been an incredible run in print. From research for college papers and grade school projects to referencing information in professional settings, the bound editions have been a cozy friend. The product’s physical placement on bookshelves around the globe universally connect us in a library-like setting that we all can picture in our minds.

When I worked at the Oshkosh Northwestern, I often found myself going to the former Opinion Editor’s office to do some fact checking on articles appearing in the pages I was producing for the newspaper. This was during the early days of the internet, when dial-up modems were slow, and unreliable at best. But in those days, the Encyclopedia Britannica was a valued reference, and spewed out facts and figures that often added context to the news.

I’m a huge proponent of the digital world, especially when it comes to the flow of information. Encyclopedia Britannica has embraced that world and will evolve and continue on. The information the company publishes, no matter the platform, still carries weight. They have earned credibility through almost a quarter of a century, and that will carry on through to digital platforms. However, there is something to be said about tradition and part of me feels a sense of loss.

Things need to change and develop over time. It’s called progress. However, like anything else that undergoes change, not everyone will enjoy it.

In the early 90s, I remember there was one thing that was prevalent in every dorm room and student apartment. This object didn’t exist the decade before it, and they are nothing more than cherished antiques today (or drink coasters).

I’m talking about the old CD holder. Towers, sleeves and jackets were prolific, holding classic tunes from Amadeus to ZZ Top. Now, most people have MP3s stored on a player or their computer. There isn’t much of a need for the old CD holder. Thousands of plastic cases are probably filling up landfills across the U.S.

So what will happen when as Social Media plays a greater role in digital marketing? Some in advertising circles are predicting death to the classic email newsletter. I prefer to look at history. I’ve heard all of the predictions … that email will kill traditional fliers, that TV will kill radio, that the internet will kill TV and so on. Eventually, over the course of many years, I do think the adoption of new technology will spell the end of some older ways of doing things. However, in the here and now, there is no greater tool to push a message out to people who have opted in to hear from you than in an email.

Email didn’t kill the telephone for businesses. And I wouldn’t expect social media to kill email at any time in the immediate future. Social media is an interactive media, while email is a direct message with the opportunity to gather feedback. As they both share messages with an audience, the approach and the results tend to be different. Unless that relationship changes, email needs to continue to be a crucial part of any company’s marketing mix.

We heard from Ryan Braun on what it is like to be in the nightmare of a guilty until proven innocent situation.

In the four months since the leaked information about his failing a drug test conducted by Major League Baseball, he’s had to endure rumors of a personal medical issue and a possible STD. This stress has been over and beyond the connotation of him allegedly using a banned substance to enhance his performance on the baseball field. The Brewers slugger, coming off of an MVP season, faced the real possibility of dealing with a 50-game suspension to start the season in Milwaukee.

In a recent press conference, Braun explained that the burden of proof was placed on him. Not only did he have to take a defensive role against the allegations, he also had to prove there was a problem with the collection of urine samples in regards to his failed test.

From a public relations standpoint, it is difficult enough to have to play defense against leaked reports and allegations. It is even harder when you have to come up with the strategy for laying out the case and proving one’s innocence. We may never know all of the details with what happened here, but we have seen what it takes to stand by a point and lay out a case.

On opening day, Braun will be in a Brewer’s uniform, ready to take the field. Despite the scorn from MLB officials, leaks of reports to ESPN and everything else he’s been subject to this offseason — I’m guessing here at home, he will get a huge standing ovation.