Never under-estimate the power of humour in marketing

Never under-estimate the power of humour in marketing. Last week, I started receiving Eskom jokes and cartoons by email. It happens like clockwork, doesn’t it.

After consulting with one of our spokespersons, I decided to include a “Lighter side of load shedding” on our new blog. I created a Humour category, and posted a couple of humorous pics on Friday.

New DA blog on Eskom load shedding

Last week, we set up a new blog for the DA to write about Eskom’s load-shedding and other energy-related matters. We’ve called it “Shedding Light“.

We want to shed light on the energy crisis using all avenues at our disposal – parliamentary questions, portfolio committees and other sources – and make that information available to the public. But we also want to hear from anyone who’s got a good idea, who wants to comment on our ideas, or who just wants to vent, and have someone take note.

We do post our press releases to the main DA website; but, besides sending an email using one of the maillinks on the “Contact the DA” page, it’s rather limited to one-way communication. We’ve picked up from emails we’ve received over the last couple of weeks that there’s a lot of interest in engaging us on this issue, and we’d like to hear from the public and experts alike – especially on our proposed solutions.

So have a look at the new blog, and let us know what you think.

DoshDosh my new favourite blog to follow

DoshDosh has definitely become my favourite blog to follow. It’s full of useful tips and interesting information – especially for the rookie blogger or online marketer.

Its author, Maki, tends to favour longer, more detailed posts, which means it takes a bit more effort to follow, but I think it’s worth it.

A particularly worthwhile recent article was “16 effective strategies to expand your blog’s reach in 2008.“

Another interesting post was “47 Social News Websites You Can Use.” I had no idea there were so many social news sites out there, and the list is apparently by no means comprehensive.

The latest post also has a bit of a political angle: it’s on the Art of Propaganda. See if you can identify a South African political example of each of the seven common tactics mentioned.