…or you’re likely to find yourself in hot water.

Mark Bernheimer does a stellar job of distilling the IRS “I’m not good at math” Media Disaster in his article today – and it’s a great read, to boot. While the PR world is still digesting the Amy and Samy Bouzalo social media meltdown, I was glad to see Mark’s larger focus on the IRS case.

The behavior in Amy’s kitchen certainly falls into the category of egregious (as well as jaw-droppingly ill-advised, half-baked, and a host of other unflattering adjectives), but in terms of real consequences and the price tag to the public, the temperature’s hotter in the IRS cafeteria. I am not looking forward to the fallout – but we’re all going to be living with this hot mess for a long time!

See Mark strut his crisis media management stuff in his article, “IRS: Media Disaster.” As always, Mulberry Street is proud to partner with Mark Bernheimer and Media Works Resource Group for our clients’ media and speaker training.

Here’s our tip, which should be worth at least 20%: When you’re a spokesperson for the IRS, don’t try to pass the buck.

Weigh in! Which do you think was the worse media misstep: the profanity-laden venom layered on thicker than buttercreme frosting from Amy’s Baking Co., or the good-humored  ”I’m very not good at my job” demonstration from the IRS legal team?

If you’re wondering why I don’t respond to your 4 a.m. text unless it’s by appointment (love my early-bird clients!), or why it’s obvious that we put in overtime to finish your project, but I was out of communication all last evening, well…my secret’s out – and it’s published at CBS MoneyWatch.

The article will also explain why there’s only a napkin next to my salad fork if we’re having dinner together, and why I’m not constantly looking under the conference table during meetings.

(What the article doesn’t explain is how often I’m out of cell range on my mountain bike, but that’s not for public knowledge. It’s just between you and me!)

Read the full article here: http://bit.ly/uUSibT

Do you think it would hurt your business if you turned on the “genius” setting on your SmartPhone and switched the thing off?

Marketing Tip Monday – as seen on the Womentorz Youtube Channel

This post is in response to members and fans of the Women Inventors Network, Womentorz, who submitted the question*: “What is the best social medium for researching and targeting my audience? How do I reach my audience once I’ve found them?”

I recently began researching how Mulberry Street can improve social media targeting for the agency, as well as how we target audiences for our diverse client base. My search led me to a book called Likeable Social Media: How to delight your customers, create an irresistible brand, and be generally amazing on Facebook by Dave Kerpen, who is also CEO of Likeable Media. The rest of this post is a mix of Mulberry Street’s research and strategies and tactics that we have learned and adopted from Likeable.

My first piece of advice in this post is, invest a few dollars in a copy of Likeable Social Media; then invest the time to work slowly through the book, test the tips and tools that you learn. Reading Likeable may not automatically make you an excellent marketer: you will need to bring knowledge of your customer base, your intuition, creativity, and possibly some guidance from a marketing or PR pro to hone your message and conversations with your customers. However, honing your skills in using social media tools can help you push the boundaries of how you’re finding your customers and how you’re engaging them.

So…kudos to all of you who asked the question; asking great questions is the first step toward achieving greatness! (more…)