This blog printed on 100% recycled electrons.
...don't put Fox News on your homepage.
Simmer down, my red-state friends. This post is no diatribe against Fox News. This post is not about substance, but image, which is what my friends in marketing are all about. I checked out the new Madison website, an apparent joint effort of the Chamber of Commerce, Lake Area Improvement Corporation, city government, and Dakota State University. My own business is listed in this website's directory, so I have a vested interest in seeing it draw as much attention to our fair city as possible.
So perhaps you can understand my dismay when, after hearing various leading lights in our busy little local marketing clique talk about needing to project a positive, progressive image to visitors and potential investors/employers/relocators, I find the national news feed on the front page labeled "Provided by Fox News" -- and linked, no less! Now I can live with the local news link going to KJAM Radio and not The Madville Times (for now). But Fox? Love it or hate it, you cannot deny that Fox News carries a very definite image that will turn off numerous visitors, especially among the key demographic (young, sophisticated professionals with education and money) over which we local economic developers salivate the most.
Putting a national news feed on the city's main page may have some merit: perhaps it demonstrates how "in touch with the world" Madison is (oh, but oops: we ditched that slogan and removed all the old signs). It at least is an easy way to generate constantly changing content that may drive repeat visits. Still, one could argue those headlines are taking up valuable visual territory with non-Madison information that (a) might carry unhappy information and overshadow the generally positive impression we want to make and (b) web surfers can get anywhere else, thus rendering our site less distinct.
But whether or not the news feed is a good idea, choosing Fox News for our web-welcome mat demonstrates either a lack of understanding of our target market or (yikes!) a conscious desire to put out a sign that says, "Welcome, Republicans!" The latter may sound paranoid, but considering that the president Darin Namken of the web design company in charge has also served as state committeeman for the Lake County GOP, one might wonder.
The point -- read Fox News all you want. But let's try to keep our politics separate from our efforts to promote the town.
(By the way, progressives note spelling, too: "Calendar" is -ar, not -er. Check the Madison sidebar!)
F’ing USD
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So a friend of mine made this rap a few years back, and I have to tell you
I have friends over the years who went there and tell the same boring
stories, LOL.
14 hours ago
Yeah, that is a poor choice.
ReplyDeleteBesides that FOX News is known for its commentary, not its news.
Isn't there an AP headline service they could subscribe to? Something other than FOX News?
In response to my friend David's question about what "progressive" actually means and why Fox News isn't progressive, let me say that we're not talking about truth here: we're talking about a website designed to market Madison, so we're talking about image. Gather a focus group, and ask them to play some word association games. Whatever "progressive" may mean, and whatever Fox News may stand for, I'll wager that 99% of the population would not put "progressive" and "Fox News" in the same semantic category. It doesn't matter what you or I or the Chamber of Commerce actually mean by the word "progressive"; in its popular usage, the word "progressive" will generate chuckles when placed next to a link to Fox News.
ReplyDeleteOf greater danger to this artist with a listing in the business directory is the possibility that a large portion of my target demographic (call them "progressive," "artsy," whatever suits you) likely has a larger proportion of individuals who see "Fox News" and think "Uh oh! Conservative political bias!" The meaning of the terms popping into their heads doesn't matter, because they aren't coming to the site to argue politics (that's what the Madville Times is for!); they are coming to the site to learn about Madison and (we hope!) come to town and buy stuff. The emotional associations created by that front page matter, and the presence of even a mildly politically charged link there creates unnecessary emotional interference with the smooth flow of our marketing message.