Matt Haughey blogged on buying his 4-year-old a new swing set, and used the opportunity to warn against wasting money on self-described social media gurus:
So maybe instead of getting your company on twitter, paying marketers
to mention you are on twitter, and paying people to blog about your
company, forget all that and just make awesome stuff that gets people
excited about your products, hire people that represent the company
well, and when your stuff is so awesome that friends share it with
other friends, you may not even need "social media marketing" after all.
I decided to comment, which I'm copying here:
As a father-to-be, I'm prowling the net looking for the right crib, the right stroller, the right advice on preventing boys from ever dating her, and the right everything else. I wouldn't know about most of these products (or of Howie Mandel's decision to prevent boys from dating her daughter by not potty training her) if the companies didn't engage in some type of marketing or PR.
For every good company that is fortunate to have news about its products or services included in a popular news story, there are plenty of other good companies that need help getting the word out.