Putting the new rules to work

About Carl Carter, APR

For more than three decades, Carl Carter has been a close observer of the evolution of print and electronic media. After spending 10 years in newsrooms as a reporter and editor, he moved into the public relations field and now works with reporters throughout the United States. This provides a unique perspective on today’s media upheavals.

Through his blog on the media industry, www.overcoffeemedia.com, Carl tracks and analyzes the forces that are reshaping the ways we communicate today, including the decline of print, the challenges of developing new media business models, the rise of social media and other trends.

Carl is also president of NewMediaRules Communications, a new type of public relations agency that serves clients throughout the United States, specializing in strategic communications planning, media relations, media resource allocation, social media and customer communications.

CardSwapp

I just read your article on QR. What if the business card had a news feed for clients to follow a business?
What if the business card helps you read from your favorite Twitter accounts or bloggers more easily?Card Swapp Apphttp://cardswapp.com/

I am curious what you think of my approach towards business cards and QR code use.
Anonymous

I’ve experimented with them on business cards and compared the time to scan a QR code, correct it and enter into my contacts vs. just adding it in. They’re about the same for me.

But as to the link RSS link, my question would be what program was going to open it. If their tablet or phone, for example, opens Google Reader, it would be easy to add the link. But all most seem to open it in the browser, which just gives you a page of gobbledygook you have to copy and paste into your reader. And most people haven’t mastered cut/paste on tablets and phones.

I think it’d be better to link to your website and have the RSS icon prominently displayed there. They would get to your feed more easily. But then is it worth uglying up your card with a big splotch that really doesn’t say anything more than “mycompany.com?”

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Louise

I just stumbled upon your blog. It’s great and I plan to come back and scroll through all of the articles when I have time. After a stint as an SVP in the Toronto office of a global PR firm, I co-owned my own successful mid-sized agency for 8 years, took a two-year sabbatical to be with my kids and just re-emerged as a freelancer to find that everything has changed. When I started my agency 10 years ago, a friend who worked in the communications department of a major company hired us right away and we were able to build the agency from there. Now, with corporate governance and everyone issuing detailed RFPs (even for tiny jobs), I seem to be jumping through hoops just to prove I can compete with the big guys, only to find out that the big guys are getting the jobs anyway. I’m not disgruntled yet but I’m realizing that I need to get up to speed on what’s happening really quickly and find a way to reinvent myself. Great blogs like this will help me.