Marketing

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  • Get A Free Copy Of My Newest eBook … Always Eat Left Handed: 15 Surprisingly Simple Secrets Of Success

    Influential Marketing
    Rohit
    13 May 2013 | 1:42 pm
    I want to give you a free copy of my new ebook … but I don’t want you to keep it.* Let me tell you why. On June 4, my newest ebook will be released and I am writing it for an audience that may not include you. Unless of course you happen to be in high school or college, or starting your career right now. It’s graduation season and there are lots of pieces of advice floating around the Internet these days. Some are going viral – like the video inspired by a forgotten commencement address from late fiction writer David Foster Wallace back in 2005.  About a week ago a…

  • The Psychology of Sales: Six Facts Every Brand Should Know

    MarketingProfs Daily Fix Blog
    Jhon Wlaschin
    17 May 2013 | 7:02 am
    Discount retailers, such as Target, Macy’s, and J.C. Penney, have tried various pricing strategies over the years to lure customers to buy more of their products. The primary tool in the competitive arsenal is to offer the best value because they know that customers are motivated to seek out price savings and great deals on frequently purchased products. Seems simple right? Just offer low prices and people will come. That is not necessarily the case, though. Feelings Affect Our Shopping Decisions An economist would say that customers are rational beings who try to get the most value for…

  • The Most Authentic Movie Marketing Campaign Ever?

    Influential Marketing
    Rohit
    3 May 2013 | 2:45 pm
    It’s hard to imagine a movie trailer without “The Voice.” You can probably hear it in your head right now. Usually “The Voice” starts with the same three words: “in a world …” There are few marketing campaigns as well scripted as movie marketing. Though the timing and strategy may vary slightly, the trailer is the most typical marketing method used to showcase the best parts of a movie to try and convince you to come to see it. The other common tactic is to grab random quotes from reviewers and publications promising “a gripping…

  • The Ad I Couldn't Ignore

    Where's My Jetpack?
    24 Sep 2012 | 4:30 am
    I've been taking a break from this blog for a while. Anyone can find ads and praise them or hate them. And there were so many of us out here doing it that it became an echo chamber where nothing was new and eventually, after all of us had mocked or loved, along comes Ad Week at the tail end of the cycle to show everyone an ad that everyone already saw and blogged about. (Must be layers of corporate approval going on over there.) But Sunday's paper presented me this riveting image that must be shared. There are too many things to hate about this ad, but I'll start with the little girl. She's a…

  • Marketing is getting the details right

    Drew's Marketing Minute
    Drew McLellan
    15 Apr 2013 | 4:48 am
    Marketing is getting the details right.  And its always the simple things that companies mess up.  Lt me give you an example. As you may know, I travel quite a bit. I’m a big believer in maximizing my travel by being a loyal brand consumer…which gains me status, points and makes my travel life easier and more convenient. I try to only fly United and whenever I can, I stay in a Marriott hotel. That affords me sort of an insider’s view of both of these businesses but still interacting with them as one of their frequent consumers. We’ve talked before about the value of…
 
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    Neuromarketing

  • Brilliant Billboard Traps 230,000 Real Bugs

    Roger Dooley
    14 May 2013 | 5:32 am
    How do you promote a new outdoor insect spray, Orphea, on a billboard in Milan? This clever effort turned the portion of the corresponding to the “spray” from a pictured can into a giant piece of fly paper. Over a period of days, the sticky trap captured hundreds of thousands of real insects. Watch the [...]

  • Neuromarketing Meets Conversion Optimization: Free Webinar

    Roger Dooley
    9 May 2013 | 6:20 am
    Next week, conversion optimization expert Chris Goward and I will be doing a joint webinar: Neuromarketing Meets Conversion Optimization: Brainy Profit Boosters. I was excited to set this up with Chris, who’s the author of You Should Test That. Testing is critical. In nearly every speech I give, I include a quote from ad legend [...]

  • Persuade with Visual Metaphors

    Roger Dooley
    8 May 2013 | 11:37 am
    While we think of metaphors as mainly word-based, visual metaphors can be a potent selling tool. They can both engage the brain like text metaphors and stimulate the viewer’s senses in a way that words alone may not. I ran across an ad for Austin-based Elements Laser Spa that includes both a visual metaphor and [...]

  • Do Your Customers Feel Ignored?

    Jane Bromley
    30 Apr 2013 | 5:21 am
    No business intentionally ignores its customers. In fact, most managers think they do a reasonably good job of listening. But, if a customer feels ignored, big trouble lies ahead.

  • Brainfluence in Korean

    Roger Dooley
    29 Apr 2013 | 5:28 am
    I returned from my speaking swing through South America last week to find a nice surprise from Wiley, my publisher: a few sample copies of Brainfluence in Korean. The cover, amusingly enough, features a brain in a bottle! I neither speak nor read Korean, so to find out how the title might read, I turned [...]
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    Influential Marketing

  • 5 Unforgettable Things I Learned From The Office

    Rohit
    17 May 2013 | 9:08 am
    Fellow fans of The Office television show are sharing a moment of sadness this morning. Last night was the series finale of the documentary-style comedy show that exposed the silly side of the workplace for nine years. For me, the show coincided almost perfectly with my move from Australia back to America and my own journey of joining an American workplace, and then leaving to become my own boss around the time that one of the main characters in the show (Jim) first did the same. But the real star of the show left last year – a lovably lonely character named Michael Scott played by…

  • Get A Free Copy Of My Newest eBook … Always Eat Left Handed: 15 Surprisingly Simple Secrets Of Success

    Rohit
    13 May 2013 | 1:42 pm
    I want to give you a free copy of my new ebook … but I don’t want you to keep it.* Let me tell you why. On June 4, my newest ebook will be released and I am writing it for an audience that may not include you. Unless of course you happen to be in high school or college, or starting your career right now. It’s graduation season and there are lots of pieces of advice floating around the Internet these days. Some are going viral – like the video inspired by a forgotten commencement address from late fiction writer David Foster Wallace back in 2005.  About a week ago a…

  • The Norwegian Art of Strategic Waiting

    Rohit
    8 May 2013 | 2:23 pm
    Choosing not to preserve a 1000 year old Viking ship doesn’t really surprise anyone in Norway. For Americans who are used to their own country putting mere 75 year old documents behind bullet proof glass, though, nothing could be more confusing than the longstanding debate about the fate of the Oseberg ship – a remarkably well preserved 1200 year old Viking ship unearthed from a burial site in Norway in the early 20th century. I have been spending this week in Norway for a series of events and meetings, and yesterday I had the chance to visit the fascinating Viking Ship Museum on…

  • The Most Authentic Movie Marketing Campaign Ever?

    Rohit
    3 May 2013 | 2:45 pm
    It’s hard to imagine a movie trailer without “The Voice.” You can probably hear it in your head right now. Usually “The Voice” starts with the same three words: “in a world …” There are few marketing campaigns as well scripted as movie marketing. Though the timing and strategy may vary slightly, the trailer is the most typical marketing method used to showcase the best parts of a movie to try and convince you to come to see it. The other common tactic is to grab random quotes from reviewers and publications promising “a gripping…

  • Culpa Marketing: How To Win By Publicizing Screw Ups

    Rohit
    1 May 2013 | 1:13 pm
    There is nothing more powerful than a genuine heartfelt apology. At least, that’s what JCPenney is hoping based on a new ad the brand just released today featuring an apology to customers for recent changes and a promise to start listening more: The ad is a marked departure from the Apple-style “we’ll tell you what you really want” strategy employed by former CEO (and longtime Apple exec) Ron Johnson (here’s my take on why that didn’t work). Will this rapid apology and departure from the past year’s rebranding of “JCP” work? If recent…
 
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    Marketing Apocalypse

  • How To Identify A Competent Social Media Manager

    Mike
    10 May 2013 | 9:49 am
    At this point most businesses have figured out that social media needs to be a part of their marketing mix. Those who keep their heads in the sand aren’t just missing out on new business, they’re losing what they already have/had. This brings me to the topic at hand. Every company needs someone who understands social media to represent them in the digital space. Your current marketing team might understand the basics, but they don’t have the time or experience to handle it in a way that will help your business. That gives you two options: Hire someone in-house or Hire an…

  • Use Your IQ To Sharpen Your EQ

    Mike
    29 Apr 2013 | 8:29 am
    Let’s face it, as consumers, we’re all spoiled. The rise of digital media has given us new expectations and requirements for the brands we engage with. When I say “engage” I’m not just talking about social media, I’m talking about any brand we choose to come in contact with.  A brand should understand the things I care about, even if they have nothing to do with its product/service. A brand should understand what I’m dealing with, especially if it has nothing to do with its product/service. A brand should learn the things I want to learn, get excited…

  • The Building Blocks of Decoding Data | Guest Blog By Greg Gerik

    Mike
    15 Apr 2013 | 6:24 am
    Note from Mike: Greg Gerik is one of the few people I’ve talked to (including myself) who really has a grip on how data is shaping everything in the modern world. He thrives on understanding and experimenting with the newest tools and technologies and takes pride in being able to fit all of them into place in the puzzle that is the digital landscape. Get more ideas from Greg here. After you read this post of course. When I talk to marketers or teams about data and data algorithms, I often feel as if I’m speaking a foreign language.  A colleague of mine at a different company refers…

  • Practical Advice For Smarter Social

    Mike
    12 Apr 2013 | 8:48 am
    It’s funny how much information we never use. We’re too busy to try something new or to break away from the patterns and processes that have kept us going this long. There are several things I know I should be doing but I keep telling myself I don’t have the time. I’m sure you can relate. As much as we hate to admit it, we’re better at what we do than the work we produce. To help hold myself, and the rest of you, accountable I’m dedicating this posts to some of the things I’ve learned about social recently that I have been hesitant to put into action.

  • Culture, Context, and The Hunt for Relevancy

    Mike
    22 Mar 2013 | 9:56 am
    The consumers of the world have taken control of the media they consume. In doing so, they’ve filtered the mix of content that they’re willing to consume based on their unique lifestyle. The products they love, the information they share, and the services they use are all based on the context of what they care about at any give time. Despite the unlimited amount of Big Data we’re collecting,there are still some things we’ll never be able to quantify. Culture: Looking into the my own life I can see that my culture has vastly changed on a month to month basis. The music…
 
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    AdPulp

  • Land Rover Gives Thanks And Praises For Its 1 Mil. Facebook Fans

    David Burn
    17 May 2013 | 10:54 am
    Follower counts in social channels don’t mean much, but no matter how many times a social media expert repeats this fundmental bit of advice, numbers continue to dazzle CMOs and others famished for metrics. Which explains why Land Rover has made a note of a social media milestone, namely its one millionth “Like” on Facebook. Even if the occasion isn’t actually all that auspicious, the ad is a nice “Thank You” note to Land Rover fans. And why not take the opportunity to say thanks for your attention, thanks for buying Land Rover and including the brand in…

  • “Momma’s Gotta Shop” Is Not An Idea, It’s A Customer Insight

    David Burn
    16 May 2013 | 10:08 am
    Overstock.com is a price play, and we all know how enticing low prices can be. It’s nectar to the price-conscious shopper. Even so, I find the following commercial off-putting. Take a look: Momma’s gotta shop. Really? Well sure, if the family is to be housed, clothed, fed, transported to and fro and so on, then yes, Momma’s gotta shop. This customer insight — or observation as the case may be — does nothing for the brand. Momma’s gotta shop, and hey ladies check it out, Overstock.com is an online store. Wow, get your credit card out. To make matters worse…

  • Targeting Is Futile When Our Audience Is Everyone, Everywhere

    Dan Goldgeier
    15 May 2013 | 8:07 pm
    “Opinions are like assholes. Everybody’s got one.” This little truism is especially true today. We’re all critics, even when we’re consumers at the same time. So can brands narrowly target an audience anymore, or will they hear about their marketing from everyone, regardless of whether they’re the target? Case in point: The recent Mountain Dew “Goat” ads that were deemed offensive by almost — but not quite — everybody. Every creative brief I’ve ever been handed contains a section about who the target audience is. Some are very…

  • The Only Thing “TRUE” Here Is A Bad Ad From A PR Firm

    Dan Goldgeier
    14 May 2013 | 12:15 pm
    It’s no secret that PR firms are looking to branch out into other realms like advertising and content creation. Nothing wrong with that at all, if they bring in the right talent who can help them compete in those areas. But this ad from PR firm FleishmanHillard is a deceptive one. It’s on the back of this week’s Ad Age, turned upside down to make you think there are articles on the inside. Lots of magazines do that when they want to divide up the content. Only there are no articles inside. The ad is simply a device to make me go to their online content TRUE section. Come on,…

  • Are Digital Services The New Ideal?

    David Burn
    14 May 2013 | 9:24 am
    We all know what a mess digital advertising is. There are privacy concerns, ad blockers and quacks in every direction offering their innovative new solutions that are far from it. The good news is brands can play effectively in the people’s sandbox — provided they learn to play a different game, a game with new rules. Banner ads and YouTube videos are print and broadcast constructs, respectively. The need to push past these formats has never been more clear. But what else can we do in digital? What else should we do? Dan Hon, an Interactive Creative Director at Wieden + Kennedy,…
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    Marketing Darwinism

  • Why CMO’s Need To Be More Involved in Ecommerce

    Paul Dunay
    15 May 2013 | 11:00 am
    Posted in CommerceConversion OptimizationCustomer ExperienceeCommerceLeadershipOnline TestingOptimizationPersonalizationTesting If the $42.3 billion spent online this past holiday season has taught retailers anything, it’s that capturing customers—and their dollars—online is crucial. But online is a big place. And mobile, which can seem like an entirely different universe, looms ever larger. So where to even start if you haven’t yet…started? And who should lead the charge? The modern day merchant must have an intimate understanding of the importance of online and mobile commerce,…

  • 3 Ways Social Media can Boost Sales Success

    Paul Dunay
    7 May 2013 | 10:45 am
    Posted in BloggingBusiness IntelligenceCommunitiesContent MarketingConversational MarketingEnterprise 2.0FacebookLead GenerationLead NurturingPeopleSalesSocial Business IntelligenceSocial MediaSocial NetworkingStrategyThought LeadershipTwitter Recently there has been a lot of conversation against the importance of relationships in selling such as this recent Harvard Business Review article on Selling is Not about Relationships which makes it seem like social media would not make a good fit for sales people. But a new RAIN Group report proves otherwise and shows that sales people that truly…

  • 6 Things to Keep in Mind When Replatforming

    Paul Dunay
    30 Apr 2013 | 11:00 am
    Posted in Business IntelligenceTesting As the shelf life of ecommerce sites gets shorter, it becomes harder for marketers to balance the latest trends while maintaining a seamless customer experience. When constant upgrades and revamps become daily tasks, or the functionality just isn’t meeting your growth demands, it might be a sign that it’s time to replatform—or migrate your site to a more stable, streamlined infrastructure. The bad news is that if you’re considering a replatform, it’s likely because your ecommerce site is highly complex and dynamic, with rich content, targeted…

  • The Social-Shake-Up: A New Breed of Marketer is Coming

    Paul Dunay
    25 Apr 2013 | 9:47 am
    Posted in InnovationInteractive MarketingStrategy Gartner is predicting that by 2015, 25% of organizations will have a Chief Digital Officer (CDO) and further estimated that 20% of existing chief information officers (CIOs) have already taken on some of the responsibilities of the CDO. So what does a CDO do? The role of the CDO in the enterprise has gotten a great deal of attention in recent months. Perhaps because of the impact and influence that the CDO had in the Obama campaign last fall. All the tools of the trade – text analytics, social media analysis, Website personalization,…

  • Your Testing Program: Smart Ways to Get Your Team On Board

    Paul Dunay
    10 Apr 2013 | 1:01 pm
    Posted in eCommerceOptimizationTesting On the face of it, the idea of a rigorously testing and optimizing your ecommerce web site seems like a no-brainer. After all, who would object to gathering hard data on exactly how customers move through your site, what happens on specific visits, and what unseen speed bumps and sticking points are hurting sales? Who wouldn’t want definitive answers to such questions? Fact is, though, in many online marketing organizations, there is often surprisingly sharp resistance to technologies such as multivariate testing. Sometimes, it’s simply because…
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    I Believe in Advertising | ONLY SELECTED ADVERTISING | Advertising Blog & Community

  • League against Cancer: Cancer Tweets

    Filippo
    17 May 2013 | 11:08 am
    Leo Burnett Colombia created “Cancer Tweets” for the Colombia’s League against Cancer to raise awareness about the importance of addressing the signs our bodies give us. The prevention campaign created awareness on Twitter so people could feel the silent way in which cancer acts and how easy it is to ignore it. Seven accounts for the most lethal cancer types (breast, colon, prostate, cervical, lung and stomach) were opened on Twitter. The virtual cancers followed thousands of common people and sent subtle messages that were initially ignored, but as time passed, the cancer grew stronger…

  • Vicks Throat: Siblings, Couple, Family

    Filippo
    17 May 2013 | 10:03 am
    “BRing voice back.” The internet has everyone trapped in its world wide web. We’re so busy trying to connect with our online acquaintances, that we’re disconnecting with those who matter: our family. Our online voice is getting louder and louder. So much so, it beginning to replace our real voice. As a brand that has always supported bonding between families, Vicks finds a new-age insight to tackle the good ol’ product benefit of bringing voice back. Advertising Agency: Publicis, Singapore International Creative Director: Erik Vervroegen ECD: Ajay Thrivikraman…

  • World Health Day: Your heart is whatever you let inside

    Filippo
    17 May 2013 | 5:46 am
    “Your heart is whatever you let inside.” Advertising Agency: RAF Communicação, Natal, Brazil Creative Director: James Williams Art Director: James Williams Copywriter: Saulo Sousa

  • Ariel: Surprise Collection

    Filippo
    17 May 2013 | 5:22 am
    Advertising Agency: Agencia Africa, Brazil Chief Creative Officer: Sergio Gordilho Creative Directors: Sergio Gordilho, Aricio Fortes, Paulo Coelho Copywriters: Aricio Fortes, Rodrigo Da Mata Art Directors: Paulo Coelho, Rafael Gil, Iron Brito Planning: Ana Cortat Client Services: Marcio Santoro, Cecilia Duarte, Manuela Ramalho, Marina Damato Media: Luiz Fernando Vieira, Evandro Soares Digital Strategy: FHits, UQBAR

  • Polycell: No More Unsightly Cracks

    Filippo
    17 May 2013 | 5:20 am
    Advertising Agency: 18 Feet & Rising, London, United Kingdom Creative Director: Stephen de Wolf Creatives: Alex Delaney & Oli O’neil Agency Producer: Emily Hodgson Executive Agency Producer: Julia Methold Production Company: Blink Production Company Producer: Tiernan Hanby Executive Production Company Producer: James Bretton Editor: Mark Aarons Post Production Company: The Electric Theatre Company Post Production Company Producer: Helen Sutermeister VFX Supervisor: Andrew Stewart Colourist: Steffan Perry @ Framestore Sound Engineer: Tony Rapaccioli @ Wave Studios
 
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    Church of the Customer Blog

  • #MonsterLoyalty book tour and other speaking events

    Jackie Huba
    7 May 2013 | 10:37 pm
    Hi there!   Here's my speaking schedule including book tour events. If you live in one these cities, I looking forward to seeing you!! May 8: Austin - book tour event (private) May 10: Orlando - book tour event (private) May 21: Chicago - WOMMA WOMM-U Conference. Use my discount code WUSpeak50 to get $50 off registration. Jun 2: Orlando - book tour event (private) Jun 12: Milan, Italy - private event Jun 20: Salt Lake City - book tour event (public) sponsored by SoulSalt. Get tickets here.  Jun 27: Las Vegas - Confirmit Conference Jul 11: Chicago - book tour event…

  • The winners of the Monster Loyalty pre-order giveaway are....

    Jackie Huba
    2 May 2013 | 4:24 pm
    Thanks to all who participated in the Monster Loyalty pre-order giveaway by purchasing a book before launch. The winners are: 1st PRIZE:  Joey Coleman, Chief Experience Composer at Design Symphony 5 copies of Monster Loyalty: How Lady Gaga Turns Followers into Fanatics 2 Lady Gaga art prints by rock and roll pop artist Kii Arens, signed and numbered 2nd PRIZE: Shep Hyken, New York Times and WSJ best selling author of The Amazement Revolution: Seven Customer Service Strategies to Create an Amazing Customer Experience 5 copies of Monster Loyalty: How Lady Gaga Turns Followers…

  • Monster Loyalty is now available!

    Jackie Huba
    2 May 2013 | 8:52 am
    I am excited to announce that Monster Loyalty is now available! This is a book that I am extremely excited about because it argues that Lady Gaga didn’t become the success she is today based solely on her talent. She did so by engendering immense loyalty from her fans – not just through her music – but through the message she embodies and the community she has built around that message.  In four short years, Lady Gaga has built an army of passionate fans that numbers in the tens of millions around the globe. My book explores how she did it, uncovering seven loyalty…

  • Monster Loyalty Ball Benefiting Equality Texas 5/1

    Jackie Huba
    29 Apr 2013 | 8:49 am
    If you live in Austin, Texas, or will be here on May 1, I hope you will join me for the launch party for my new book, Monster Loyalty. The Gaga-themed party is also a benefit with 100% of ticket sales going to Equality Texas which educates and advocates on behalf of LGBT Texans, a non-profit doing amazing work to fight for a cause that I, and Lady Gaga, believe in. We will also have: A Gaga-themed performance from RuPaul's Drag Race Season 4 finalist Phi Phi O'Hara Showcasing your Poker Face at the Gaga Photo Booth Gaga-themed cocktails And more surprises! If you can't make it…

  • How to think like a rock star

    Jackie Huba
    18 Apr 2013 | 4:00 pm
    Mack Collier is a social media strategist, trainer, and speaker who specializes in helping companies better connect with their customers and cultivate fans for their brands. His brand new book, "Think Like a Rock Star," examines the marketing and social media strategies of actual rock stars like Taylor Swift, Johnny Cash, Jewel, Amanda Palmer and others and shares how any company can learn from them to create emotional connections with customers. Here's a Q&A I did with Mack about the book:  Q. What does it mean to '"Think Like a Rock Star?" A. If you look at any number of studies…
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    12 Most

  • 12 Most Lip-Smacking Recipes for a Memorial Day Cookout

    Mary Dell Harrington
    17 May 2013 | 6:00 am
    12 Most HE6TKNU4H59Q By Mary Dell Harrington   At the end of every month, I tear off another page of our oversize family calendar and toss the tattered sheet away. April lands in the recycling bin and I am gleeful. There, on the last line for May, is the gateway to summer: Memorial Day Weekend. At Grown and [...]

  • 12 Most Critical Prerequisites of a Brand Refresh

    Frank Gullo
    16 May 2013 | 6:00 am
    12 Most HE6TKNU4H59Q By Frank Gullo My company recently completed a major brand refresh project. The new brand was unveiled after nearly two years of research, deliberation, ideation, and creative execution. In the end, everything came together successfully, but it was a challenging process at times. For others contemplating a brand refresh or for the merely curious, here [...]

  • 12 Most Surefire Ways Your Business Can Think Like Zuck and WIN!

    Rebekah Radice
    15 May 2013 | 6:00 am
    12 Most HE6TKNU4H59Q By Rebekah Radice   Ekaterina Walter is a recognized business and marketing thought leader and the author of “Think Like Zuck: The Five Business Secrets of Facebook’s Improbably Brilliant CEO Mark Zuckerberg.” Her book can be misconstrued as being completely about Facebook Founder, Mark Zuckerburg, yet it is so much more. I had the great [...]

  • 12 Most Annoying Ways to Tick People Off on Social Media

    Rachel Thompson
    14 May 2013 | 6:00 am
    12 Most HE6TKNU4H59Q By Rachel Thompson Are you one of those people on social media who lives to “mix it up?” Then this article is for you. There are numerous ways to irritate and annoy others in real life, of course. But I’m talking about the online world — blogging started as the original place to speak your [...]

  • 12 Most Magnetic Ways to Curate Awesome Content

    Susan Silver
    13 May 2013 | 6:00 am
    12 Most HE6TKNU4H59Q By Susan Silver A community manager needs to stay organized. It is the only way to stay on top of our PR, marketing, and outreach responsibilities. One of the most difficult aspects is finding the great content to share when there isn’t a marketing message going through the pipes. That, for me, is the real [...]
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    Scott Anthony

  • Looking to Join the Lean Start-up Movement?

    Scott Anthony
    26 Apr 2013 | 9:00 am
    I love Lean. In my eyes, the work Steve Blank, Eric Ries, and others have done to provide a cogent, accessible frame around the academic concepts of emergent strategy is one of the most important contributions to the innovation movement over the past few years. I have repeatedly stated that the next wave of innovation will come from companies that harness the transformational power that too often lies latent inside their organizations. There is a growing sense that so-called lean start-up techniques — developing a minimal viable product, learning in the marketplace, and pivoting based…

  • How To Really Measure a Company's Innovation Prowess

    Scott Anthony
    21 Mar 2013 | 10:00 am
    Who is the world's most innovative company? The editors of Fast Company say Nike. Last year, number crunchers at Forbes found that Salesforce.com is the company with the highest "Innovation Premium" baked into its stock price. MIT Technology Review didn't pick a winner, but on its recent list of top 50 "disruptors," the magazine mixed stalwarts such as General Electric and IBM with up-and-comers, Square and Coursera. The difference of opinion isn't a new thing — in fact, if you look back a few years at similar lists you'll see less than 50% overlap. Why? Perhaps a company's ability to…

  • Seeing Through the Fog of Innovation

    Scott Anthony
    25 Feb 2013 | 10:00 am
    The Fog of Innovation — that moment when you realize that the data you need to make a critical decision about an innovative idea just aren't clear. Unfortunately, the data rarely are. For most large companies that find themselves lost in the fog, the default answer is to keep studying. After all, a risk that doesn't pan out tends to have more negative repercussions than risks not taken. But remember: data only become crystal clear when it is too late to take action on that data. And time spent waiting for perfect clarity creates room for disruptive upstarts and hungry competitors.

  • Your Innovation Problem Is Really a Leadership Problem

    Scott Anthony
    13 Feb 2013 | 6:00 am
    When Karl Ronn recently said, "Companies that think they have an innovation problem don't have an innovation problem. They have a leadership problem," I listened carefully. I featured Ronn, a former P&G executive (and current executive coach and entrepreneur), in several places in The Little Black Book of Innovation, most notably for his rant against the evils of focus groups. Ronn is thoughtful, widely read, a seasoned practitioner, and a great communicator. Ronn's basic idea was that four decades of academic research and two decades of conscious implementation of that work have provided…

  • Who Is Your Innovation Pig?

    Scott Anthony
    6 Feb 2013 | 10:00 am
    Take a look at your innovation pipeline. Odds are it is overflowing with rich ideas brimming with growth potential... on paper at least. Look deeper. Identify the projects that are the most different and disruptive, the ones with the greatest potential to create new growth. How are they staffed? If you are like all too many companies, at least a few will be staffed with — or even led by — people who allegedly are spending five or 10% of their time on the project. A sprinkle of this and a dash of that can make a nice soup, but it's no way to create vibrant growth businesses. If you…
 
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    Conversation Agent

  • Switching Sides

    Valeria Maltoni
    17 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    This past Monday, author, consultant, and friend Peter Shankman, the man who found himself on the receiving end of Morton's Steakhouse greatest customer experience, invited me to the experience the 3D IMAX Theater premiere of Star Trek in New York City. That's for the man behind the connection. As for the man behind the reboot of the Star Trek franchise, J.J. Abrams, he succeeded in creating a compelling story. I'm not normally too much into 3D, and IMAX can make me dizzy. However, this movie was well done. It was like being part of the action. The best scenes are those of connection between…

  • New, More Social Google Maps

    Valeria Maltoni
    16 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    Google is out on a changing spree. A new Google+ that looks a lot more like Facebook pages and Pinterest mashed together responsively (that was the commentary last night), and more dynamic and social data rich maps. In the last couple of weeks, the Interwebs were filled with news, commentary, and reviews of Google Glass. Although little was said at the Developer Conference#. Google Now app updates, too. How about those Google driverless cars#? All this on the heels of changes to Gmail UI, and the announcement that due to declining use it will be retiring GReader in July#. And I'm sure I'm…

  • How Leasing and Renting Led to Sharing

    Valeria Maltoni
    15 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    A primer to connect some recent thinking about sharing economy, digital products, and marketplaces. By far the most popular post I published recently was about calculating the lifetime value of the sharing economy. And with good reason. Following a small trend among mobile workers and their families which began to develop in the U.S. about ten years ago (and that has remained fairly consistent in Europe), the number of individuals who chose to rent and lease by choice has increased steadily. And by "mobile", I mean upward mobility, as well as the availability to commute long distances during…

  • 34 Ways to Spread your Ideas with a Blog

    Valeria Maltoni
    14 May 2013 | 8:22 am
    When you think about it, social media is like sharecropping -- you help build a network with your content and it uses it however they see fit. What happens if they delete your account or the network changes its terms and conditions? It could be an unintentional glitch -- and now your data is gone. Both Flickr and Facebook have given us examples in the last couple of years. The effects of those actions have been devastating for the people who had put time and care into building a presence in social networks with their content. Which is why I have been and continue to be strongly in favor of…

  • Calculating Life Time Value in the Sharing Economy

    Valeria Maltoni
    13 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    Many new technologies have brought products and services to market ever since I published my thoughts on the semantic Web almost five years ago. Points 1-3 evolved quite a bit, yet we have not cracked the code (completely): Dealing with data Both at personal level with one sign-on/identify we can carry across the Web and at business level, although many have made strides with integrations of personalization engines with CRM systems. In addition to grappling with disparate legacy systems that do not speak to each other resulting in operational difficulties, we have quite a bit of core data…
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    Stokefire - Branding & Advertising

  • A Quick Peek Through The Lens

    Tate
    6 May 2013 | 8:07 am
    In recent years we’ve been taking on more photography-heavy projects, including ads for the concrete industry, editorial photographs, and now… dance.   This was snapped by our own Lindsay Garrett a few weeks back. She knows a thing or two about photography. And dance… and it shows. Next blog will have something to do with brands or ads… I promise. Unless she takes more kickass photos. Which she might.

  • Happiness Is Thinking Outside The Checkbox

    Tate
    11 Apr 2013 | 10:11 am
      Posted by: Tate Linden In a brief exchange I had with @kwheaton and @Bryan_El_Parker over on Twitter, both raised concerns about the way large companies hire their employees. They were responding to our blanket rejection notice posted previously on our blog. Bryan pointed out that the traditional system strips applicants of their individuality by making them check boxes, to which we said that “unless you’re a checkbox you shouldn’t work for large employers.” Kristan reasoned that not working with big employers may be easier said than done. And so we slept on…

  • No Consensus on Thatcher

    Tate
    9 Apr 2013 | 9:27 am
      Posted by: Tate Linden Back in 2011, while railing against the tendency to settle for ‘non-objectionable’ over ‘highly effective’ brands, I cited a portion of this quote from the (then living) Prime Minister: To me consensus seems to be —the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies in search of something in which no-one believes, but to which no-one objects. —the process of avoiding the very issues that have to be solved, merely because you cannot get agreement on the way ahead. What great cause would have been fought and won…

  • Ten things I wish I knew about food photography before I started

    Tate
    25 Mar 2013 | 7:08 am
    Our new designer (Lindsay Garrett) recently finished up a food photography project on behalf of one of our newest clients – Meals On Wheels. We asked her to share a few tips with our fans and followers – and with her fellow employees. Today she kindly obliges us. Welcome Lindsay – the blog is yours! Thanks and hello to everyone! So you’ve decided to upgrade your Instagram shots of food and explore food photography more in depth? Perhaps you’ve decided your blog requires more mouth-watering photos to better represent the amazing dishes you share with readers. Or…

  • South Australia Shows The Thingnamer The Door

    Tate
    7 Mar 2013 | 8:33 am
    Yesterday I chatted with Matthew Abraham and David Bevan from ABC Adelaide’s aptly named Breakfast with Matthew Abraham and David Bevan. The topic was the previous evening’s launch of Brand South Australia, a project that I was admittedly pretty much in the dark about. After taking a quick glance at the logo and reading a few pages on the positioning I plunged in as most talking-heads do – without a clue as to what I was going to say, but with a hope that it’d at least be entertaining and perhaps a little informative for all involved. I think it lasted about four…
 
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    idaconcpts.com - Ideas and Concepts from Damian Davila

  • 4 Great Gadgets for Ocean Sports

    Damian Davila
    10 May 2013 | 2:00 am
    Since 2007 I have called Honolulu, Hawaii my home. After traveling around the world for many years, from Ecuador to the United States to Canada to Germany to Italy to Mexico and then back to the United States, I cannot imagine living anywhere else. Living in the island of Oahu, I am surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and I love it. With my wife we love to practice many ocean sports, particularly surfing, stand-up paddle boarding and spearfishing. Based on our ocean adventures here in Hawaii, I recommend these four great gadgets for ocean sports. Underwater Camera If you don’t have a…

  • Ergonomic Consultancy: A Business Opportunity

    Damian Davila
    6 May 2013 | 3:03 pm
    Does this picture seem familiar? It may even reflect how you are sitting right now. Now you may even be rearranging your sitting position as you are reading this. As a blogger and marketing consultant I spend a lot of time sitting down in front of a computer typing away and taking calls. I am guilty of improper posture myself. Since one of my coworkers, who is around of my same age, got diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome and had to go through a very invasive surgery, I have taken several steps towards improving the ergonomics from my workspace at both the office and home. In the process of…

  • Pinterest’s List of Imitators – Part 2

    Damian Davila
    5 May 2013 | 8:57 pm
    Here is the second part to the list of Pinterest imitators that have risen to ride on the wave of popularity from the social media site. Trippy The main point of Trippy is to create Pinterest-style boards for travel so that they will help and guide you on your next trip. You connect to the app through Facebook so that the app can find whether your friends are using Trippy and if in the case that they cannot, then they can suggest friends of friends who are using it. Also, the app features a couple of well known artists and travel experts (e.g. Andrew Zimmern), who have saved places in your…

  • Responsive Design is 2013′s Web Design Trend

    Damian Davila
    3 May 2013 | 9:31 pm
    In a May 2013 webinar, Peter Goodman, VP of Salesforce Marketing Cloud, discussed the current state of advertising in the social media space. He took a look at the major advertising platforms on the leading social networks. Goodman explained how social advertising is the hottest topic in advertising, forecasted to reach a $11 billion in the US by 2017, according to BIA/Kelsey in April 2013. He explained that one of the critical decisions for advertisers is what placements to select. Goodman has found that while desktop placements see an engagement of 1 to 3%, mobile placements see over 3%…

  • Younger Consumers Turn Up Digital Music Listening

    Damian Davila
    25 Apr 2013 | 2:40 pm
    As a previous user of Pandora and a current user of Spotify, I understand the increasing trend of U.S. consumers ages 13 to 35 to use digital sources for music listening. While AM/FM radio is still the primary source for music listening, Internet radio (e.g. Pandora, Spotify) is quickly catching up. From the graph above, it becomes obvious that Internet radio will eventually take over AM/FM radio. Where the Digital Music Listeners Are From those tuning in to online music services in the United States, here is an approximate breakdown as of Q4 2012: In another study from the NPD Group released…
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    MarketingProfs How-To Articles

  • Manage Your Marketing Career in 3D

    15 May 2013 | 7:00 am
    Many career-minded marketing professionals we coach tell us they are too busy working in their career to work on it. Sound familiar? If so, it's time to switch from autopilot to manual mode and deliberately manage your career. Read the full article at MarketingProfs

  • 4 in 10 CMOs Feel Unprepared for Challenges Ahead [Infographic]

    15 May 2013 | 6:00 am
    Nearly four in 10 chief marketing officerssay they do not have the right people, tools, and resources to meet their marketing objectives, according to a recent report. Read the full article at MarketingProfs

  • When Did Social Media Lose Its Way? [Infographic]

    14 May 2013 | 7:00 am
    In the early days of social media, users interacted like real people do. However, in time, social networks evolved into pits of broadcast messages. Here's how companies lost their way in social media, and how they can find a path back to its friendlier roots. Read the full article at MarketingProfs

  • How to Properly Close the Loop... and the Sale

    14 May 2013 | 7:00 am
    First impressions matter a great deal. That's why you need to structure your sales calls to establish rapport and drive toward a sense of trust and camaraderie with your prospects. Here are three tips for success on that first call. Read the full article at MarketingProfs

  • Average Value of a Facebook Brand Fan Increases 28%

    14 May 2013 | 6:00 am
    The average value of a brand fan on Facebook in key consumer categories increased to $174 in 2012, from $136 in 2010, according to a new report. Read the full article at MarketingProfs
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    HubSpot's Inbound Marketing Blog

  • The 10 Cutest Brand Mascots of All Time

    17 May 2013 | 1:00 pm
    This post is full of gratuitous cuteness. Here's why. I'm looking into some flights to Ireland (I'm a sufferer of the most debilitating form of wanderlust), and I'm using the flight comparison engine Hipmunk to find a flight. I used to use a couple other ones, but the Hipmunk chipmunk is just so cute it's paralyzing. Like, he shows up in my Facebook News Feed, and I stop scrolling and emit an audible "awww!" That kind of cute. (And by the way, I know two men who also admitted to being fans of Hipmunk on Facebook purely because "the little chipmunk's so cute!" Both of them have since…

  • 8 Data-Based Tips for Optimizing Your Content on Pinterest and Instagram

    17 May 2013 | 9:30 am
    Even though the two most popular social networks to emerge in the past few years (Instagram and Pinterest) revolve around visual content, there isn't much data about what content performs best on these platforms. Because Instagram and Pinterest revolve around visual (not textual) content and their APIs are difficult to access, it can be challenging to research these networks. But just because something is challenging doesn't mean it's impossible. After diving into the data, I found eight actionable data points to help you use Instagram and Pinterest to their maximum in your inbound…

  • Google Launches Dramatic Redesign of Google+, Emphasizing Context and Content Discovery

    17 May 2013 | 6:00 am
    You may have caught wind of some of the announcements coming out of the Google I/O conference over the past couple of days. And while we made some high-level observations here yesterday about how this year's emphasis seems to be on context, there was one announcement we thought deserved more of our attention: the complete redesign of Google+. Uhh ... yeah. Did you miss that? We kind of glossed over it, too. So in this post, we'll pick apart what's different about Google+'s new look -- which Google is rolling out over the next week -- and what these changes mean for marketers like you. What's…

  • Practical Tips for Modern SEO From the Best Minds in Europe

    17 May 2013 | 12:00 am
    The only certainty in the SEO world -- or, really, the digital marketing world -- is change. And over the past two years, we have seen a whole lot of it. Both Google Panda & Penguin have severely disrupted what works for search marketers, leaving many rather confused about what they should be doing to attract more organic traffic. And not only that; it has left many unsure which best practices may now actually actively harm their organic search strategy. As a response to this confusion, we decided to reach out to five of the top SEO minds in Europe to ask if they could…

  • INBOUND Keynoters Nate Silver and Scott Harrison Named 'Most Creative People in Business'

    16 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    He became famous by creating a blog; his work is data-driven and based on statistical analysis; and he has disrupted the world of politics by applying science and information to a field where pundits and practitioners traditionally relied on an inefficient and outdated mix of voodoo, superstition, and intuition. Is it any wonder that everyone at HubSpot loves Nate Silver, and why we’re psyched that he's doing a keynote speech at our INBOUND conference in August? Apparently we’re not alone in our Nate Silver fandom, as Fast Company just placed this 35-year-old “freelance data…
 
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    AgencySpy

  • Agency/Prodco Would Just Rather Be Skateboarding

    Kiran Aditham
    17 May 2013 | 6:34 am
    Today in agency self-promos, we bring this 90-second clip from New York-based shop Rooster, which pretty much makes it clear in the brief amount of time what its first love is (its co-founder/creative director, Gavin McInness, is the co-founder of Vice and the “godfather of hipsterdom” after all). We’re seen some pretty self-indulgent agencies patting themselves on the back clips in the past, but at least this one makes us want to revisit the ’80s flick, Gleaming the Cube, or that modern doc, Dogtown and Z-Boys. It appeases our short attention span and takes us back to…

  • Symphony Orchestra Plays to Younger Demographics

    Jordan Teicher
    17 May 2013 | 5:53 am
    It’s not a surprise that older people like classical music more than younger people. For the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra (OSB), that trend needed to be fixed. Since most of their audience is older than 65 years, the OSB started playing orchestral themes from blockbuster movies like Jaws, E.T., and Star Wars to show younger people that they had an unknown appreciation for classical music. Rio de Janeiro agency Artplan also incorporated YouTube videos of film clips to add a visual presence to the experience. As a result, the OSB saw a 40% increase of young people in the audience. The…

  • Most Popular Stories on AgencySpy from the Last 7 Days

    Kiran Aditham
    17 May 2013 | 4:01 am
    -Chris Paul Finally Sits Down with Long-Lost Brother, Cliff Paul -Digitas Makes Some Reductions in NY, Boston -Yes, BBDO NY is Making Some ‘Significant’ Cuts -Pierce Parts Ways with KBS+ -McKinney Cuts Staff in NC -The Porsche Review Might Be Coming Down to the Wire -Digitas GCD Daggett Moves On New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

  • Friday Morning Stir

    Kiran Aditham
    17 May 2013 | 2:59 am
    -Chris Chalk, who most recently worked on Team Land Rover at WPP, has assumed the president/chief strategy officer for Cheil Worldwide Europe. -CP+B has brought on BBH New York/Singapore alum Andy Grant as an ACD in its L.A. office. -M&C Saatchi L.A. celebrates the new Australian Outback exhibit at the San Diego Zoo with a new campaign dubbed “Koalafornia” (above, see more here). -Yahoo’s acquisition wishlist expands, this time with Tumblr. link -Dunkin’ Donuts hops on the Vine. link   New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

  • Here’s Jeff Goodby’s Memo Regarding Today’s Cuts

    Kiran Aditham
    16 May 2013 | 11:48 am
    Numbers have not been revealed but all day, we’ve been hearing from multiple tipsters that anywhere from 50-100 staffers have been affected by reductions today at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. But from what those familiar with the matter tell us, the numbers skew to the lower side and are not in the realm of the Sprint cuts. Anyways, read the San Francisco agency’s co-founder Jeff Goodby‘s note that was just sent to staff verbatim: “You’ve heard the financial reasons for reducing our staff.  I just want to talk a bit about the human side of it all. Please be…
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    Search Engine Journal

  • A Guide To Choosing A Competitive Title For Content Marketing

    Joseph Cruz
    17 May 2013 | 1:00 pm
      Credit Shutterstock As we all know, content is king and it plays an important role in search engine optimization (SEO). Having good content on each of your pages is also will make your website stand out among the others. It is also what searchengines like and always recommend keeping in practice to provide a reliable [...]Author informationJoseph CruzJoseph Gojo Cruz is working as a part time link builder at Philoutsource.com but he is mainly focusing on building and analyzing SEO strategies to develop new SEO techniques that will last longer in SEO industry. Joseph is currently…

  • What makes Coca-Cola the No-1 SuperBrand in Social Media?

    Nick Carter
    17 May 2013 | 9:00 am
    Who else has completed more than 80 years of Olympic Partnership with largest-ever activation? Which brand has ever covered more than 275,000 miles across 186 countries in 365 days? Who gets the credit for activating a campaign that made fan cast nearly 910,000 votes, almost 7.3 million sabotages and accounted for virtually 3 million YouTube [...]Author informationNick CarterWriter is associated with OSSMedia Ltd., a largest open source software development company in India providing professional Drupal development, Joomla development, Wordpress development and Magento development services.

  • How is Social Media Changing Search Marketing?

    Srinivas Rao
    17 May 2013 | 6:00 am
    In this month’s video segment I decided to compile several 30 second soundbytes from the recent Social Media Marketing World Conference. I asked several content creators what their thoughts were on how social media is changing search marketing. Highlights: How Social will impact the way people search: Andrea Vahl, Social Media Examiner Why Social Media is [...]Author informationSrinivas RaoSrinivas Rao is the host and cofounder of BlogcastFM where he's interviewed over 300 bloggers, authors, and entrepreneurs. Pick up his free guide on How to Repurpose Content for Profit and Fame.The…

  • Three Killer (and unfortunately most ignored) Link Building Ideas by @resultfirst

    Result First
    16 May 2013 | 1:00 pm
    Let’s face it: authorship may have been bulldozing around for quite a while, but links are the most important ranking factor for search engines, still. SEOs are still buying links for their clients. High-authority sites are still selling do-follow sponsored links – Forbes was recently penalized for that (note, it’s been penalized in the past [...]Author informationResult FirstRuchi Pardal is Director of ResultFirst, a firm that works on pay-for-performance model, helping businesses get found across search engines and give an optimal experience to their audience. She’s been into…

  • Google, A New Business Plus-pective by @lewis__austin

    Lewis Austin
    16 May 2013 | 10:13 am
    Many Google plus users were welcomed recently with the some new design changes. First impressions are, “I can see a lot more content”, which is great for both the user and also businesses. In some aspects, the new layout reminds me of Pinterest, I believe this is because of the focus of images and staggered [...]Author informationLewis AustinLewis Austin, the PPC & Social Media Manager at Absolute Digital Media. Working on a variety of campaigns within our paid search department, Lewis is currently studying to become a Google AdWords Certified Individual, extending his knowledge…
 
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    Superhype

  • Porter Gale’s “Your Network Is Your Net Worth”: A Manifesto for Succeeding by Sharing

    ddeal
    13 May 2013 | 4:17 am
    Sharing is the new like. That’s the ethos of Porter Gale’s Your Networking Is Your Net Worth, a new book that guides you through the world of networking in the digital age, where relationships can be launched in seconds on Twitter and then cultivated in a high-tech co-working space like Grind, one of the many innovative locations that provide a space for people to work and expand their network. Available June 4, Your Network Is Your Net Worth has been described as an update to Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. But Porter Gale has more in common with…

  • The Innovative Sound of AM & Shawn Lee

    ddeal
    7 May 2013 | 12:05 pm
    The rock and pop music industry is alive and well. The business of music as we once knew it might be dead, but musicians continue to thrive and innovate — if you’ll let them. Case in point: today AM & Shawn Lee released La Musique Numerique, a striking blend of rock and electronica that received a four-star (out of five) rating on Allmusic. Their new single (“Two Times”) and video were featured USA Today, which describes La Musique Numerique as “a blissful experience from start to finish.” I met AM at a concert in 2010, and we ended up creating an…

  • The Art of Co-Branding

    ddeal
    7 May 2013 | 8:51 am
    On May 7, music mogul Jermaine Dupri and I were fortunate to have a byline published in Fast Company concerning four tips for successful co-branding. Co-branding  – or sharing your own brand with an outside brand — is an increasingly popular way for celebrities like Justin Timberlake and major corporations such as Budweiser to generate awareness and to promote launches of products and services. The following post contains the unabridged version of our byline in case you’d like to have a bit more context about how my employer iCrossing has successfully built a co-brand with…

  • How Smirnoff and Madonna Inspired the World to Dance

    ddeal
    29 Apr 2013 | 7:58 am
    Co-brands between artists and celebrities are all the rage, as evidenced recently by the launch of Justin Timberlake’s relationship with Budweiser and Alicia Keys’s co-brand with Blackberry. At the Forrester Research Marketing Forum April 19, Christopher Swope of Live Nation provided a case study on how artists and brands can work together to deliver results. His discussion focused on how Madonna and Smirnoff, by tapping into shared passions such as dancing and music, generated 1.8 billion media impressions for Smirnoff and helped Madonna undertake the highest grossing tour of…

  • Why We Can’t Stop Talking about Steve Jobs

    ddeal
    26 Apr 2013 | 6:37 am
    If Steve Jobs were alive today, he would be the first to tell you he was not the only person responsible for making Apple succeed. But let’s face it: Steve Jobs defined the Apple brand, a reality that has been underscored lately by grumbling among the pundits that Apple is in danger of losing its swagger and cool (examples here and here). Maybe Jobs defined Apple too well. But the reason we can’t stop talking about him today is that he transcended the Apple brand and did more than sell products. He was a market maker. I recently introduced the term market makerto describe…
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    The Tom Peters Weblog

  • "1/47"

    Tom Peters
    13 May 2013 | 7:10 am
    I frequently say, "I've only learned one thing 'for sure' in the 47 years since I started doing 'this stuff.'" (The 1966 staring point goes back to my U.S. Navy Seabee days in Vietnam.) The term "for sure" is meaningful; as a scientist by disposition, I don't believe as a matter of course in "for sures." So this exception is a big deal—to me. And that one for-sure thing is ... WTTMSW. Or, to clarify ... Whoever Tries The Most Stuff Wins. In Search of Excellence was constructed around "eight basics." And the first was "A Bias for Action." As we said then, and it's become more true over…

  • Piggy Sue!

    Tom Peters
    8 May 2013 | 4:57 am
    The two great folks who are doing sustainable farming at our place have become parents. Well, not really. But their productive porker mom, Piggy Sue, just produced (about 72 hours ago) a litter of 15. Some of the newcomers below ...

  • Jabil, Saint Pete Beach

    Cathy Mosca
    2 May 2013 | 1:25 pm
    Earlier today Tom was in St Petersburg Beach, Florida, speaking to Jabil. Their website states they have "Global Expertise in Intelligent Supply Chain Design." Jabil, St Petersburg, FL Jabil, Long Version

  • Presentation Excellence

    Shelley Dolley
    26 Apr 2013 | 6:51 am
    Tom has given more than 2,500 speeches in the last 30 years. He knows what it's like to face a crowd, whether it be friendly or skeptical. As his own toughest critic, he's never been completely satisfied with his performance. While he has offered pointers here and there, he's never written at length about speaking until now. We are fortunate that he has overcome whatever trepidation he may have had to tackle this topic. You'll find in the document below extensive advice and practical wisdom about speaking from a man who has spent most of his life on a stage, trying to share knowledge and spur…

  • Algorithms Rule!?

    Tom Peters
    19 Apr 2013 | 6:57 am
    From the extraordinary/chastening book Automate This: How Algorithms Came to Rule Our World, by Christopher Steiner: "... The audience then voted on the identity of each composition.* [Music theory professor and contest organizer] Larson's pride took a ding when his piece was fingered as that belonging to the computer. When the crowd decided that [algorithm] Emmy's piece was the true product of the late musician [Bach], Larson winced." (*There were three, one each by Bach/Larson/Emmy-the-algorithm.) " ... Which haiku are human writing and which are from a group of bits? Sampling centuries of…
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    Technosailor.com

  • I hate social networking

    Aaron
    1 May 2013 | 5:21 pm
    I hate social networking. I despise it. All of it. For me it’s a tool (like me, some would say). “But, Aaron. You have 1500 friends on Facebook and nearly 10,000 on Twitter. You’re lying.” Oh but I’m not. I used to love social networking. I used to travel to conferences where other social media people were just to, in hindsight, make myself look more like a stud. That’s why there are so many. I’ve dated or slept with social media women just for access. I’ve been that guy at SXSW that, as a former Austinite, I now mock. That one cutting to the…

  • Two-Factor Authentication: What it is and Why You Should be Using it Now

    Aaron
    26 Apr 2013 | 8:46 am
    Photo by m thierry on Flickr.Not too long ago, WordPress sites around the world started getting attacked with automated botnet traffic trying to brute force admin passwords. The other day, the official Twitter account of the Associated Press was hacked. Last year, Wired reporter Mat Honan was hacked when his Amazon account was compromised. That compromise allowed an attacker to access his Apple ID which gave him access to Mat’s Google account which, in turn, let the attacker into Twitter. Email, in my opinion, is the gateway to identity theft. It’s bad if your Twitter or website…

  • WordPress Hacking and Cleanup

    Aaron
    12 Apr 2013 | 4:34 pm
    There’s a brute force attack underway on a global scale. Massive. The attack vector? Keep attempting user/pass combos in an automated way until a breakin happens. If your WordPress site gets hacked, I am available for cleanup and an audit. Aaron@technosailor.com It absolutely will cost you a minor fortune. That’s the way it goes. Don’t complain or whine, just get your credit card out. It would be cheaper to have a strong password and install a plugin that limits failed login attempts though. But if you don’t, rest assured I can help you despite you having to postpone a…

  • Abusing Twitter Direct Messages, Spam and Classlessness

    Aaron
    11 Apr 2013 | 8:01 am
    This morning I received a Twitter direct message from the official account for I hate JJ Reddick, one of the best Baltimore sports blogs I know of. I like these guys. I read the blog almost every day and follow many of the writers on Twitter. I live in Baltimore, or as we call it… “Smalltimore”. It’s a small town. You get to know people. You run into them all the time. (To be fair, I have yet to personally meet any of them, but it’s only a matter of time. Most of the writers are one degree of separation away.) As a Ravens fan, I am on board with them. I’m a…

  • Sublime 2 Power Tools

    Aaron
    28 Mar 2013 | 7:24 am
    This is a very advanced technical article. For years, as a developer, I used the fantastic Textmate software for writing code. I got used to it. It’s a power editor for Mac OS X and has bundle support (think of bundles as extensions or plugins) that enhance the functionality of the software) for just about every technology, from Subversion to Git to a bunch of things I don’t use in a PHP environment like C/C++ mallloc (memory allocation), Python, Ruby, etc. It’s even got a WordPress bundle! The problem with Textmate, however, is that active development is slow. Like,…
 
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    Brand New

  • Friday Likes 45

    Armin
    17 May 2013 | 4:13 am
    Backgrounds of lightly-colored hues abound in this week's Friday Likes with work from the UK, Russia, and Greece. Potwash Josh The task for this student project was to "make a seemingly un-brandable field of work appear extremely professional." Preston, UK-based Sam Sharples chose the field of washing pots for fictional industry superstar "Potwash John". Being student work there are a few details about the identity that are a little undercooked, but the main visual device of the pink and blue plastic against light blue and pink backgrounds respectively truly elevate this humble pot washer…

  • Mall of America Gets Wrapped Up

    Armin
    16 May 2013 | 5:13 am
    Opened to the public in 1992 in the suburb of Bloomington in Minneapolis near the Twin Cities, the Mall of America (MOA) is he United States' largest retail and entertainment complex as a 4.87 million square foot structure sitting in a plot of land 78 acres big — either 7 baseball stadiums or 32 Boeing 747s would fit inside. Attracting 42 million visitors annually, MOA houses 520 shops, an indoor amusement park with 27 rides, an indoor aquarium, a 14-screen movie theater, and even a chapel that weds over 300 couples every year. In other words: it's big, it's bombastic, and, um, it's…

  • Destination: Corner of Stuff and Stuff

    Armin
    15 May 2013 | 4:24 am
    In 2005, the MoMA Design Store launched the first of its Destination: Design series that brings products from different cities and countries from around the world to the museum's store. The project has a couple of benefits: a) more cool stuff to buy at MoMA and b) exposure for local artists who may not otherwise get a chance to sell their work at such large scale. So far, the series has brought products from Finland, Denmark, Buenos Aires, Berlin, Japan, Seoul, Brazil, Portugal, Istanbul, and Mexico. Its latest edition is Destination: NYC, a collection with approximately 200 lifestyle…

  • Kering Goes Owl Out with New Branding

    Armin
    14 May 2013 | 4:26 am
    Established in 1963 as Pinault — later Pinault-Printemps, later Pinault-Printemps-Redoute, most recently PPR, and completely renamed as Kering this past March — is one of the most comprehensive parent company of luxury brands, including Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Brioni, Christopher Kane, and Stella McCartney among others as well as sports brand Puma. Family-owned since its inception, Kering is present in more than 120 countries, it employs 33,000 people and generates 9.7 billion euros in revenue. The new name was created internally with…

  • The Future of Fox is Now

    Armin
    13 May 2013 | 4:12 am
    Hinted to as early as July of 2012 and officially announced this past December, Rupert Mudorch's News Corporation is splitting into two separate businesses. The first, to remain named News Corporation will handle all the publishing properties — newspapers and magazines — like The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post, with the former's managing editor, Robert Thompson, as CEO. The second, to be renamed 21st Century Fox will handle the entertainment properties — cable and television channels, filmed entertainment, and direct satellite broadcasting businesses —…
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    Drew's Marketing Minute

  • Moving your prospects to the next step

    Drew McLellan
    17 May 2013 | 4:15 am
    When you’re creating any sort of communication aimed at a potential buyer, you want them to do what? When I ask this question, I typically hear a range of answers like: • Know more about our business • Understand how we’re better than our competitors • Wonder if we’re the right fit for them And of course…. • Buy what we sell! All of that is probably true. But it’s too complicated. No matter how or where we’re communicating with a prospect, what we should want them to do is… take the next step. Your job is simply moving your prospect to the next step. That next step might…

  • How does your paper resume stack up to this?

    Drew McLellan
    1 May 2013 | 1:02 pm
    The world has changed.  Things are different.  This is the new normal.  This ain’t your grandaddy’s marketing. We can say it a million ways but some folks just aren’t going to get it.  Or at least not yet. With the tools out there, the connections that can be made and the audience’s diminishing tolerance for being shouted at — there are many things we need to do differently.  Including finding a job. Check out this slideshare (PPT) presentation that Lorenzo Galbiati sent me as he embarks on a job hunt.  ( if you want to chat about career possibilities) GO…

  • What do consumers want from brands?

    Drew McLellan
    24 Apr 2013 | 5:06 am
    That’s the age-old question, isn’t it? When you think about everything we’ve experienced in the last decade and a half – from the Y2K scare to 9/11, Iraq and then the recession – no wonder that a certain level of insecurity about the future has become a permanent part of our psyche as we ease into 2013. What today’s consumers want most today is security and contentment. No doubt these wants are being shared by people’s economic outlook and circumstance, which most categorized as uneasy. Interestingly, here are some other key needs that our consumers expect brands…

  • Marketing is getting the details right

    Drew McLellan
    15 Apr 2013 | 4:48 am
    Marketing is getting the details right.  And its always the simple things that companies mess up.  Lt me give you an example. As you may know, I travel quite a bit. I’m a big believer in maximizing my travel by being a loyal brand consumer…which gains me status, points and makes my travel life easier and more convenient. I try to only fly United and whenever I can, I stay in a Marriott hotel. That affords me sort of an insider’s view of both of these businesses but still interacting with them as one of their frequent consumers. We’ve talked before about the value of…

  • Your marketing includes way too much you

    Drew McLellan
    14 Mar 2013 | 12:14 am
    One of the most common mistakes marketers make is that they think their customers and prospects care about them, what they sell and how it works. The human truth is consumers really do think, feel and ask “what’s in it for me?” They have something they want to accomplish – from getting a cereal that their kids will eat to finding the right de-greaser for their airplane engines. They know the result they’re after and their buying decision is going to be based on satisfying that need. When it comes to buying decisions, those decisions are always: Based on emotion (positive…
 
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    Brian Solis

  • Internal social networks improve communication + collaboration when empowered to do so

    Brian Solis
    17 May 2013 | 4:49 am
    I received an email from my friend at CIO Journal just as I boarded a United flight from Mexico City to San Francisco. He was on deadline and the topic was too good to miss. I’ve spent more than a fair amount of time studying and reporting on the social landscape as it pertained to internal engagement, communication and collaboration. I frantically typed on my iPhone with my thumbs before the door closed. Time was.running.out. With the hit of the send button, the door closed, and I was relieved to know that I made the deadline.  Fast forward….the article recently ran in…

  • New Digital Influencers: The Coming Youthquake

    Brian Solis
    14 May 2013 | 7:32 am
    Elements of inspiration that went on to become my new book, What’s the Future of Business, Changing the Way Businesses Create Experiences Blame it on the youth they say. Indeed, there’s a great assumption that the future of technology falls in the hands of emergent generations. The youth of today will someday represent the majority of consumers, employees and citizens. That’s always the case, but what we don’t yet fully appreciate is just how different young adults think today. We don’t yet understand what it is they value and why. We’ve not yet assimilated how they make decisions…

  • Part 2: The Broken Link of Social Customer Service

    Brian Solis
    9 May 2013 | 8:05 am
    Part Two. An edited excerpt of What’s the Future of Business, Changing the Way Businesses Create Experiences In Part 1 of this series, The First Mile: The Broken Link of Social Media Customer Service, we reviewed the opportunities and challenges that face any business seeking to engage customers in social networks. To become customer-centric requires a culture that supports customer-centricity and an active investment in defining the first mile experience. The first mile of customer engagement is a post-commerce or post-transaction strategy that invests in an ongoing experience to keep…

  • The First Mile: The Broken Link of Social Media Customer Service

    Brian Solis
    7 May 2013 | 7:03 am
      Part One. An edited excerpt of What’s the Future of Business, Changing the Way Businesses Create Experiences For all that social media is doing to change business for the better, it’s not yet enough. Interview any executive and ask them what their priority business goals are for 2013 and I’m sure you’ll see some element of customer-centricity on the list. Yet the challenge that exists for any organization trying to get closer to customers lies in the definition of customer-centricity. If getting closer to customers is a key objective, why do many businesses neglect the…

  • The Imminent Shift from Social to Digital Engagement

    Brian Solis
    29 Apr 2013 | 6:53 am
    How do you define engagement? No matter how you define it, engagement is something that we most likely underestimate. Engagement symbolizes the touches that occur in various moments of truth and this should completely change not only how you engage someone in each moment but also how the inside of your company works with one another to make it frictionless and experiential. Whether a customer stands on the stage of awareness, consideration, purchase, or post purchase, touch points open and close. And, it is in those moments that engagement, regardless of source or shape, affects the next…
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    Branding Strategy Insider

  • A Brand That Discounts Or A Discount Brand?

    Guest Author
    14 May 2013 | 12:10 am
    This article in Time on how to get the most out of Apple is a reminder that there is a noticeable difference psychologically between a brand that discounts (even if it’s only occasionally) and a discount brand. Apple does discount – but for selected parts of its range or for specific reasons: change-over on a model, for example. The most important thing is that they don’t give that impression. Apple’s approach is to treat price as a reliable indicator of value. By not overtly or uniformly discounting, they maintain the value of the brand by making products that excite customers and…

  • Brand Advantage And The Reason For Buying

    Guest Author
    13 May 2013 | 12:10 am
    It’s tempting when your product all but parallels that of your competitors to be drawn into a meaningless war: a fight for market share that revolves around devaluing (looking to price the other guy out), trivial pursuit (nit-picking on features in a bid to show technical advantage) or overshadowing (spending up large in mainstream media in a bid to raise “awareness”). The problem with chasing competitive preference is that brands spend far too much time focusing on the competitive aspects and far too little insight on identifying where the preferences could lie. All three approaches…

  • The Brand Strategy Event For A Changing World

    Derrick Daye
    7 May 2013 | 12:10 am
    Change is hard. That’s why the future can look so much like the past. And why brands and the marketers who manage them often lose their edge. For those marketers who see comfort zones as a dangerous place, we have designed a unique experience around brand strategy for you. One that challenges the thinking about brands and brand management. And one that breaks free from yesterday’s marketing conference format. The UnConference: 360 Degrees of Brand Strategy for a Changing World, Featuring John Sculley of Apple and Pepsi Success For two days next week, May 16 & 17 in San Diego,…

  • Evolve Or Transform? 17 Brand Factors

    Guest Author
    6 May 2013 | 12:10 am
    No business these days can just sit pretty. But the extent and nature of changes confuses many. Brands evolve. Or die. But they must also retain something of what consumers know. Or they fade. So which is more important? And how should a brand act, when? I get asked about this a lot. So here are my takes on what must stay and what can go (sometimes): Keep: 1. Your good name (in every sense) – it’s the thing people know you by. Unless of course you need to re-engineer your reputation or your old name doesn’t fit what you do anymore. 2. Your purpose – the ways you intend to change the…

  • Television Advertising: Destined For Eternity?

    Walker Smith
    2 May 2013 | 12:10 am
    The category killer of advertising was invented a long time ago. It still rules. It’s called TV. One of the longest-running predictions in the history of marketing is the death of TV, a prediction that has been wrong decade after decade. TV has enormous staying power. TV’s death knell chronology is instructive. From the very outset of broadcast TV to this day, lowest-common-denominator content and consumer resistance to advertising have been proclaimed as nails in its coffin. Remote controls were going to kill it by ending attention to ads. When I was a neophyte researcher in the early…
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    PRNewser

  • Biggest Stories of the Week

    James F. Thompson
    17 May 2013 | 10:58 am
    ‘Disney’ Retracts Made-Over Merida After Public Backlash 10 Tips for Pitching Entertainment Media Outlets Take That, Abercrombie & Fitch – Man Rebrands A&F By Giving Clothes to Homeless Garment Industry Opts for Makeover After Bangladesh Disaster Delta Bets the Public Is Ready to Move On. And We Are. Big Time. New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

  • American Airlines Wants You to Leave Your Baggage at Home

    James F. Thompson
    17 May 2013 | 8:14 am
    Yes, we know time is money. The public understands that every minute we stand in line, are stuck in traffic or must navigate the trappings of bureaucracy we’re losing precious moments of our lives that we’ll never get back. But consider this little fact: every minute of boarding time on an airline flight costs $30 per flight. Sure, in an airport $30 may represent a few beers at the terminal’s TGIF or a hidden fee for some minor (and infuriating) infraction of small-print protocols, but that number adds up when multiplied throughout the day. Just imagine all of those fellow passengers…

  • Why the Snakehead Fish Needs a Good Publicist

    James F. Thompson
    17 May 2013 | 5:41 am
    Lindsay Lohan has a hard working publicist. So does Charlie Sheen. So, surely, someone in the PR industry must be willing to take on the poor snakehead fish as a client. Ever since making an inglorious splash in American headlines for being a marauding invasive species indigenous to Asia and Russia, the public has both hated and feared the snakehead fish. Scientists, reporters and TV personalities have inundated the public with scary facts detailing how the snakehead fish is a voracious predator that can decimate entire species of indigenous fish and wildlife, upsetting the precious…

  • ‘Lucky Charms’ Leprechaun Meets Auto-Tune in New Acid Trip of a Commercial

    Elizabeth S. Mitchell
    17 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    It’s only 15 seconds long, but the brevity of this Lucky Charms spot only seems to intensify the “Whoa, what the hell just happened?” effect. The commercial, which mixes footage from both current and vintage ads for the “magically delicious” cereal, is an explosion of colors, shapes and sparkles, all set to the tune of the classic jingle, which has been auto-tuned almost beyond the point of recognition. The ad aired during big TV shows this week like the season finales of American Idol and The Voice. So in the event that people were watching those programs high…

  • Restaurant That Had Major Profanity-Laced Meltdown via Facebook Now Says it Was Hacked

    Elizabeth S. Mitchell
    17 May 2013 | 3:30 am
    At some point, back-peddling is no longer a viable damage control option. We’d say that point comes somewhere between screaming obscenities in all caps at critics via Facebook, and hurling vague threats while claiming to be a superhero backed by God himself. Yeah, that happened. After Gordon Ramsay of reality show “Kitchen Nightmares” declared Arizona restaurant Amy’s Baking Company Bakery Boutique & Bistro so horrible that even he couldn’t help the owners rescue their establishment, those owners, Amy and Sammy, took to social media to bite back at critics.
 
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    Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

  • Mobile Copywriting Tips and Four Apps to Assist

    Guest Post
    16 May 2013 | 5:59 am
    Thursday is guest post day here at Duct Tape Marketing and today’s guest is Teddy Hunt – Enjoy! photo credit Via Flickr by FaceMePLS With 79 percent of Americans working remotely at least part of the time, it seems the days of copywriters chained to cubicles are far behind us. However, leaving the desk behind can take some getting used to. Read on to discover tips for copywriting in a mobile work environment, and 4 helpful apps to assist you in doing so. Stay Connected with Technology Many of us step out of the office to recharge our batteries, but you shouldn’t cut yourself…

  • How to Turn Your Best Customers Into a Growth Engine

    John Jantsch
    14 May 2013 | 3:28 am
    I’ve said repeatedly that building a vibrant community is the most important objective of any business these days. photo credit: Mourner via photopin cc While this may sound like some social media laced feel good sentiment it’s actually quite practical. Making your business customers, prospects, suppliers and partners feel like important members of a bigger community simply makes long-term business sense and is the key to long-term growth in ways that you not have even considered. Many businesses get the idea treating customers in ways that make them want to return and refer, but you…

  • Weekend Favs May Eleven

    John Jantsch
    11 May 2013 | 7:11 am
    My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week. I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from Flickr or one that I took out there on the road. One of my favorite airports – Denver International Good stuff I found this week: SpeakPipe – website addon that allow visitors to leave you a voice message. Marcombox – nice way to organize all of your marketing assets and campaigns. The Habit Factor…

  • A Ridiculously Awesome Opportunity for 8 Business Owners

    John Jantsch
    10 May 2013 | 9:28 am
    What if you could spend 3 entire days working on your business with only seven other business owners under my guidance. Oh, and what if it was free. I am conducting and filming a live 3 day workshop in San Francisco June 26-28 and eight lucky business owners get to join me for free as my in-studio business case studies. (Well, you do have to pay your travel, but the workshop is free) Seven other business owners, you and me working for 3 days on your business while the world looks on. The event will be streamed live to thousands of viewers and recorded in a professional studio. So, in addition…

  • How Great Business Writing Gets Done Quickly

    Guest Post
    9 May 2013 | 5:44 am
    Thursday is guest post day here at Duct Tape Marketing and today’s guest is Steve Aedy – Enjoy! Great writers know a thing or two about how great writing is done. After all, that’s their job. For you, the business owner or marketer who needs to do some writing, it’s helpful to know what counts for your particular needs. I Think, Therefore I Have a Headache Blogging for business is not like writing a great novel. It’s about getting to the point in as few words as possible. That means thinking, which is painful and annoying, but you have to do it. “I have only…
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    Dose of Digital

  • Friday Follow Ups

    Bill Evans
    17 May 2013 | 10:57 am
    Amtrak Upgrades Wi-Fi Service on Trains – To…working? Former Groupon Co-Founder Plans to Release An Album of Motivational Music – It’s 88% off when booked with a laser hair removal appointment! Injectable Microscopic Robots Can Detect Threat of Blindness – I think, and this is just me going out on a limb here, that if you’re injecting robots into your eyes, blindness is the least of your problems. iPhone Placebo Effect App Hopes to Change Patient Behavior – VC funding for pretend medicine? Where do I sign? The Ultimate Video of People Being Idiots in Shopping…

  • Novartis To Close The GISTearth Community

    Bill Evans
    17 May 2013 | 8:02 am
    From the email: “Since the launch of www.GISTearth.com in May 2009, the mission of the social network has been to provide members of the GIST global community with a place to give and receive support; make valuable connections and share personal experiences; as well as connect patient/caregivers members to patient advocacy groups for further support. At this time, Novartis Oncology, sponsor of GIST Earth, has decided to close the social network (on or about May 15, 2013). The platform is not optimized for current technologies (such as mobile devices and tablets) which compromises the…

  • The Android Additions to the Mobile Wiki Are Up

    Bill Evans
    16 May 2013 | 11:45 am
    I may have missed a couple though. The consistency of the data in the Android submissions is far more hit or miss than in the Apple App Store. For instance, AstraZeneca has an app with the developer listed as ‘Bob in IT.’ Pharma Mobile App Wiki

  • The iOS Mobile App Wiki is Now Live

    Bill Evans
    15 May 2013 | 12:30 pm
    Up next, everyone’s favorite green robot. One thing is clear from going through this exercise: the industry has produced a lot of junk. Pharma Mobile App Wiki

  • Why The Smartphone Physical Isn’t Ready for Prime Time

    Bill Evans
    13 May 2013 | 12:17 pm
    A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege to attend TedMed 2013 in Washington DC. One of the highlights of the conference was a technology showcase area, staffed by a number of start-ups and healthcare innovators looking to show off their wares. One booth, sponsored by Steelcase and Medgadget, offered to provide a ‘smartphone physical’ utilizing 10 of the latest generation medical diagnostic devices built to work with the iPhone. The experience left me wanting. For starters, a majority of these devices were iPhone-enabled variations of diagnostic tools that already exist, albeit with a…
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    Marketing by Chris Moody

  • This is water. An amazing video about adulthood.

    Chris Moody
    13 May 2013 | 7:47 am
    Everyone in college, who has been to college or who is working should watch this video. Thanks for reading this post. Follow me on the rest of the webs. Still not sure who wrote this post? I'm Chris Moody.

  • Amazon gave me my money back and told me to keep the item?

    Chris Moody
    11 Mar 2013 | 7:15 am
    Wow. I ordered a new pair of batting gloves for softball season since my stuff is in storage and I won’t have it back in time (Packrat). The order arrived the day that our team was removed from the league for too few players (pre-season injuries). Obviously, I planned to return the item. I went [...]

  • The power and emotion of a well done use case

    Chris Moody
    7 Mar 2013 | 10:21 am
    Use cases are tough. You have to take the product or service you love and condense all of that goodness into a few quick stories or proof points. Many companies are doing a use case per feature these days. To me, that doesn’t always work because you may have 10 “use cases” and only 2 [...]

  • Facebook Graph Search ‘gon find you

    Chris Moody
    25 Feb 2013 | 12:05 pm
    It is time to review your privacy settings. Specifically, your Facebook Likes and activities.  Facebook Graph Search is pretty awesome. Imagine nearly endless pivots for search criteria. Now imagine all of the data captured through your Facebook use since you joined. Crap. In college, tons of people liked (at least on Facebook) drinking, hooking up, [...]

  • Current job descriptions suck and you’re losing the talent war

    Chris Moody
    6 Feb 2013 | 1:46 pm
    Sorry Lebron, you don’t have 7 years experience. What if Cleveland would have said that before they drafted Lebron? Clearly, you have talent kid! But, we’re really looking for someone who has done this for a professional team for 7 years or more. Also, a certification or professional degree is preferred. You just passed up [...]
 
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    Nettie Hartsock Agency

  • Compelling Reasons Why Your Business Needs a Blog

    Nettie Hartsock
    6 May 2013 | 8:48 pm
    If your website does not already have a blog, it really should. With the availability of free and paid platforms you can start blogging in literally minutes. The benefits are significant and is why more companies are beginning to include it into their marketing budgets.   The following are reasons why.   1. It increases traffic More traffic means more conversions for your business. Search engines index content and return the results if it is deemed relevant to a query. Writing quality content is one of the best search engine optimization (SEO) strategies to increase traffic.  …

  • Your Mother Doesn’t Pitch Here Anymore

    perthwebdesign
    18 Jun 2011 | 12:22 am
    If you’re still operating on the misguided notion that social media is not here to stay, or even worse, that it is not a viable option for PR pitching, then step away from this chapter and by all means go back to playing with your mint condition Atari Pong Game. If however, you do understand that social media is vibrant, ever-increasing and valuable then keep reading! Today’s lesson is about pitching and social media. What follows are some tips for you to employ if you really want to find the best possible places to pitch yourself, your products or your brand online. 1. Don’t pitch on…

  • The Media Should Know What You Know

    perthwebdesign
    7 Jun 2011 | 2:36 am
    If you’re an author, whether you are working with a publicist or without a publicist, it’s very important to keep in mind that part of your success is being able to answer the who, what, why, when and how for the media and its listener base. We’re all curious about the latest trend, breaking news, new innovations, interesting and unique people or products, and the media is exactly the same way.   Imagine if you can help create a new trend with your book or ideas.  Imagine giving the media a brand new angle for coverage of a saturated topic. Creativity is key to providing the unique…

  • Book Lovers Abound Online – Use these Resources

    perthwebdesign
    7 Jun 2011 | 12:24 am
    The Web is an incredible tool for authors and PR people to use in finding new book lovers to pitch books too. While one can spend thousands of hours searching for new book blogs and book reviewers – there are also free tools that are available to you and that we encourage all our authors to utilize. It’s very important that authors stay empowered in working collaboratively with their PR firm so that no opportunities are missed. When it comes to Twitter, if you’re an author and you’re just starting out, one of the ways to find people to follow is to use the Wefollow tool. If you hit…

  • Kiss Your Publicist Goodbye and Blog Your Way To Media Coverage

    perthwebdesign
    4 Nov 2010 | 5:00 pm
    Stop waiting for your PR firm to make news for you. Use your blog and do it yourself. Here are three ways you can use your blog to get the media to pick up the content. (Caution: PR spoilers included in this post!!!) 1. Write news-worthy blog posts that link to major media stories and give your take on the story. Share your expertise in brief bullet-style sentences in regard to a specific media topic or story and then link that to a breaking news story. (I mean really link it, hyperlink the news story in your blog post!) 2. Put Google alerts on the blogs of the publications you most want to…
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    GoMediaZine

  • Dishing on Design with Valerie Mayen of Yellowcake

    Go Media
    17 May 2013 | 7:00 am
    Meeting the Chief of Awesome: Skidding across fresh, bright black and white tile, a very exuberant 6-month husky jumped up excitedly to greet me at the door of Yellowcake, a recently renovated and expanded Gordon Square boutique.  Owner and Cleveland designer Valerie Mayen was quick to follow.  “Mango!  Get down!” “Sorry… She gets very excited!” Wild Mango Inside Yellowcake live colorful, custom mod women’s and kid’s coats, dresses and skirts, and the beginnings of a men’s line including crisp ties and cool jackets.  All of her designs crafted right here in…

  • WMC Fest – 2 Night Stand

    Jason Schwartz
    15 May 2013 | 6:00 am
    WMC Fest 2 Night Stand We are excited to announce that 2 Night Stand is not only expanding to multiple cities in 2013, lead by amazing creatives across the country, but also that we will be having the first, non-Chicago event in the days leading up to the WMC Fest 2013. We’ve had over 1000 people apply to our past Chicago events, for Trencherman’s Brewing Company, the Zombie Research Society & NASA. We know that amazing people will be heading to WMC Fest and this event will open a unique opportunity for amazing people (who probably already follow each other on Twitter) to…

  • WMC 2013 Portfolio Winners Announced!

    Go Media
    14 May 2013 | 1:31 pm
    Drum Roll, Please! The day has come!  We are proud to announce the winners of our Weapons of Mass Creation Fest 2013 Portfolio Contest!  We must admit, we were overwhelmed by the number of submissions and votes, but after much debate we chose five stellar artists/designers.   These lucky folks will be featured at our WMC design gallery this year. The criteria for voting was heavily influenced by popular vote. Some of these submissions received nearly 1,000 votes! However, our team at Go Media and WMC Fest had final say over what we thought would make a good addition to the gallery this…

  • Drawn to Business: Writing Winning Design Proposals

    William Beachy
    13 May 2013 | 7:00 am
    Hey Go Media faithful! Over the next few months I’ll be posting five excerpts from my forthcoming book Draw to Business as a series of teaser articles here on the GoMediaZine. So, without further ado, here are seven tips on writing winning design proposals. Regurgitate back exactly what your clients tell you. Writing a good proposal starts with listening. Ask lots of questions and listen carefully; your potential client is going to tell you exactly what they want to read in your proposal. Your first job is to listen and write down everything they say. Then you’re going to write that…

  • Solomon Font Family for only $9 from Mighty Deals!

    Raul Mighty Deals
    10 May 2013 | 6:30 am
    Beautiful Solomon Font Family (12 fonts) for only $9 (regularly $279!) Fonts can be so much fun to work with. Whether you’re creating a logo, a T-shirt or a funky poster, having the right font can make all the difference. If you’re looking for something new, something clean, and something fun, you’ve come to the right place. This Mighty Deal offers up the Solomon Font Family, from Fontfabric, at a ridiculously reduced price. Solomon Font Family Highlights: 12 Total Fonts This collection of the Solomon Font Family includes 6 unique Deco Styles, as well as 6 different…
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    Digital Influence Mapping Project

  • The Principles of Social Design Unpacked #1

    John Bell
    13 May 2013 | 2:54 am
    More and more, our jobs as marketers are to drive behavior. Sometimes that’s getting folks to buy something or more of something. Sometimes its to spend more time or interact with a brand in the hopes that will lead to them thinking about the brand in a moment of need. And more and more often, the behavior we all want is to drive people to advocate. The best of marketing has always been about behavioral economics and those proven strategies that ‘nudge’ people to buy or take an action. Recently, behavioral science has been popularized and, even advanced, by some pretty smart people.

  • 3 Places to Get Smart About Content Marketing

    John Bell
    29 Apr 2013 | 3:11 am
    More brands are considering how to put content at the center of their marketing. Coca-Cola has put a stake in the ground with “liquid and linked.” Ford is doing it with their Content Factory. Intel is committed. Driven by the direct relationships brands now have through their social media platforms with customers, we are all seeing the value in not just using content more effectively but to operationalize it – get a bigger bang for a lesser buck. It’s easy to believe this is a significant shift for marketers that will affect how budgets are organized, which positions are hired, how…

  • Ocean Liners and Pirate Ships: Can Agencies Win the War for Talent?

    John Bell
    21 Apr 2013 | 10:09 pm
    Agencies are the Ocean Liners. Sleek, steady vessels following their routes. Start-ups are the Pirate Ships. Oblivious to custom, rough around the edges and ready to change course as it suits them. I work at a large, global agency. We put a premium on creativity. We sell ideas and other things (like execution and actual business results). Today, those ideas are expressed in digital technologies and behaviors. That’s the way the world will increasingly head. There is a war for talented people who know how to creatively engage people via digital and social experiences. We must embrace a new…

  • Can #CleftToSmile Gain a Million Social Actions?

    John Bell
    8 Apr 2013 | 2:59 am
    My colleagues at Ogilvy India alerted me to a social campaign that aspires to movement status (they worked on this). That means they hope to gain broad awareness for their issue and presumably see that awareness translate into fund-raising and other key actions. Helping Children in India The issue is children born with cleft palates. The organization behind this is Operation Smile India – “Operation Smile India provides free surgery to repair cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities for children throughout the country.” In case you were wondering how widespread this…

  • Getting the 1% to Do More

    John Bell
    1 Apr 2013 | 3:40 am
    Or how to really engage the true brand fans to become more productive advocates (and save you money while selling more).  So much energy and money is being spent on building what we all describe as big “fanbases” in Facebook, Twitter, or other social networks, that we lose sight of the fact that not all fans are created equal. In our soon-to-be-released international study on brand advocacy, one finding is clear – the number of highly active and vocal fans for particular brands is quite small.  So what are you doing for your best, most connected customers (here “best”…
 
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    The Hidden Persuader

  • "Social media campaigns need objectives"

    hidden persuader
    10 May 2013 | 4:07 am
    "In terms of objectives – clients are often going back to the sort of core business drivers that all marketing should be measured against – sales, reduced customer service costs and more, with the reassurance that these too can now be measured. There’s a general sense of decisiveness – less of the testing, trying out, growing Facebook fan numbers for no good reason – and more real plans to make social work the way it should. Tactical campaigns are still happening, of course – but they are increasingly framed by a larger strategy. The idea that content is king (that hackneyed…

  • "Food for thought"

    hidden persuader
    9 May 2013 | 3:34 am
    "The future will see consumers move between anywhere convenience and only-here experiences." - Doug Stephens

  • "How to look your best the morning after"

    hidden persuader
    7 May 2013 | 4:48 am

  • "Immortal Fans"

    hidden persuader
    6 May 2013 | 2:55 am

  • "How to help children"

    hidden persuader
    3 May 2013 | 3:53 am
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    Why Advertising Sucks

  • So I wrote a book

    Joker
    15 May 2013 | 6:26 am
    If you work in advertising long enough, you will meet dozens of people with dreams about making a movie, recording an album, painting a collection or writing a book. I’m the latter. For years, I’ve worked on my first book. I did the research, wrote it all by hand, transcribed it, edited it, edited again, edited some more, edited a final time, edited a final time after the last final time, looked for information on how to publish and published... In a small blur of a moment, I went from working on my book to having it out there. It’s self published so I expect skepticism because who is…

  • That time I interviewed for a job I didn’t want

    Joker
    13 May 2013 | 4:44 am
    The common conception is that you need to make a fantastic first impression when you interview because hell, you want to get out of Dodge, right? So what happens when you go to an interview out of curiosity? Well... a LOT happens. A dozen or so weeks back, I got a random call from a random agency setting up a random interview... My impression was that, heck if they called me, they know what they want because it seems they’re sharp as a tack....................... the reality was a little different to say the least. Instead of the well organized flowing meeting I knew wasn’t going to…

  • Dove: Thought Before Action

    Me
    16 Apr 2013 | 11:20 am

  • "I shared a photo".

    Me
    25 Mar 2013 | 12:43 pm

  • Must watch: Faith in Humanity, restored.

    Me
    28 Feb 2013 | 7:18 am
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    Brains On Fire Blog

  • A Beautiful Space

    Katie Scully
    16 May 2013 | 7:02 am
    I feel fortunate to have grown up in a beautiful place. When I was younger, my family and I would take the train from the suburbs and head north to the hustle and bustle of downtown Chicago. I was surrounded by beauty. Even in the dead of winter, the snow gently fell on hundred-year-old buildings, historic landmarks, and bridges over icy water. The city was, and still is, beautiful. At first it seemed trivial, just another silly way to boast why you, or your city, is better than another. In some cases that might be true. Florence, Italy came from a place of arrogant opulence. So much money…

  • Being ‘Wholehearted’

    Emily Everhart
    15 May 2013 | 2:00 am
    I regularly get lost down a proverbial rabbit hole on the Internet. I start Googling a restaurant’s hours of operation and end up watching 40 dogs-running-in-their-sleep videos YouTube (meet Bizkit here), then ordering new glasses. Sometimes these ‘trips’ are expensive and sometimes they are incredibly valuable. Today was the latter. This TED Talk dates back to 2010 and you may have already seen it, but it’s one I’ve never come across before and is now my favorite. The featured speaker Brené Brown is a researcher of human connection. What a fascinating thing to consider from a…

  • Diving into to life.

    Robbin
    14 May 2013 | 4:41 am
    Photo from my friend Libby Williams I’ve been struggling a bit lately. Having just come off a long stretch of helping craft and co-author a book called The Passion Conversation, I have that sort of post angst that comes from hitting a huge milestone and finishing a fun project. It was remarkable to be able to think so intently about something I care so deeply about. Writing for this new book actually caused me to stop and really think about my own passions, my own calling. Am I really following my passions? Oh, I have plenty that I’m passionate about. Seeking happiness and…

  • When someone responds

    Katie Scully
    10 May 2013 | 6:41 am
    I have to brag. I feel loved. On three separate occasions, I “spoke” with four different people from Crate&Barrel. Five if you include the supervisor. I’m in wedding registry mode. It’s been interesting. But this is not a rant, I promise. It’s a reminder that people are awesome. First impression: if you call the customer service number and there is a wait, they offer to call you back. They recognize your time is valuable. How considerate. Anthony, my first C&B friend, was incredibly kind. He even called me back, twice, after he spoke with his IT team.

  • Focus on what’s right in front of you

    Nathan
    9 May 2013 | 10:10 am
    For the past couple of weeks I’ve been watching the tech world go back and forth about Google’s latest creation, Google Glass. It’s been announced for a while, but the product has actually been shipped out to the lottery winners who wanted to pay 1500 bucks to test it out. If you’re not familiar with the product, it’s essentially a computer that you wear on your face like a pair of glasses. It projects a heads up display in the corner of your vision that enables you to see the weather, get directions, take video or pictures, you get the idea. Once you look past the privacy issues…
 
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    Where's My Jetpack?

  • Let's Ask Google About Google+

    13 May 2013 | 7:42 am
    Long-time fan of the Goog, my search engine of choice since the late 90s. They build some cool things and some fun toys. Take Blogger for instance. Works great, lasts a long time. Here for me after a long absence, somewhat refined since the last time I used it, but still pretty intuitive and easy to handle. I also love iGoogle, the homepage that contains my reader, weather, email and other gadgetry. They're killing that fine service in November.  Google+? It's not going to happen. It serves a small, devoted few, and apparently well, if you listen to them. For everyone else, it is a…

  • Creepy Lurker Dads Watch Their Families Drive Away

    25 Sep 2012 | 7:41 am
    Thanks to Paula for the link to this Flickr set.

  • More or Less

    24 Sep 2012 | 4:59 am
    You would expect nothing less from Trump, because who is more of an asshole than him? This high class gent just paid close to $1,000 for that bed and who knows how much for the professional escort. But that smug look tells me money doesn't matter to him. He's all about rubbing it in your face the next day on the golf course.

  • The Ad I Couldn't Ignore

    24 Sep 2012 | 4:30 am
    I've been taking a break from this blog for a while. Anyone can find ads and praise them or hate them. And there were so many of us out here doing it that it became an echo chamber where nothing was new and eventually, after all of us had mocked or loved, along comes Ad Week at the tail end of the cycle to show everyone an ad that everyone already saw and blogged about. (Must be layers of corporate approval going on over there.) But Sunday's paper presented me this riveting image that must be shared. There are too many things to hate about this ad, but I'll start with the little girl. She's a…

  • Clint, The Morning After

    31 Aug 2012 | 4:41 am
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    My Blog

  • Gout Medicine

    William Malta
    2 May 2013 | 8:12 am
    Get control of your gout with a completely natural and herbal gout medicine by goutcure.com

  • 31 Jan 2013 | 9:32 am

    William Malta
    31 Jan 2013 | 9:32 am
    Ozone Billiards provding a large selection of game room equipment including the always popular air hockey tables. www.ozonebilliards.com

  • Professional Asphalt Service, Inc. Sealcoat and Paving

    William Malta
    10 Jan 2013 | 9:08 am
    If you are looking for sealcoat in Minneapolis, you may want to consider Professional Asphalt Service, Inc.

  • 22 Aug 2012 | 8:08 am

    William Malta
    22 Aug 2012 | 8:08 am
    Pro Lighting provider of lighting fixtres for both commercial and residential applications.
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    Content Marketing Institute

  • Leaner, More Effective Content Marketing in 6 Steps

    Mark Sherbin
    17 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    In Silicon Valley, “lean” is the key to startup strategy. Could it also describe a more effective content marketing approach? “The Lean Startup,”by author and entrepreneur Eric Ries, introduced “lean” methodology, which uses science to help entrepreneurs match their products with a target audience quickly and cost-efficiently. The approach is iterative — it consists of repeating a process and shaping it with feedback until you reach an intended goal. Lean marketers push campaigns live before they’re “perfect,” learn from the data that…

  • Be Remarkable or Fail: Changes Content Creators Must Make

    Robert Rose
    16 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    Over the last few weeks, Joe Pulizzi and I have posted a few of our ideas on the importance of planning in a successful approach to content marketing. Joe touched on the importance of strategy in his 4 Truths About Content Marketing Agencies piece, and I followed this with my thoughts on content marketing’s current status in the “Valley of Disillusionment,” and how it is poised to make true progress, moving forward. As I dig in, I’ve been working on a maturity model for an optimal content marketing approach. While I plan to share those ideas in a future post, one theme…

  • B2B Marketing: 9 Ideas for Solving Your Biggest Content Challenges

    Michele Linn
    15 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    Last week, when we published findings from our study, B2B Small Business Content Marketing: 2013 Benchmarks, Budget, and Trends – North America (sponsored by Outbrain), reader Andy Detweiler posed a great question in our comments section: “Any insight on how small B2B companies plan on solving the problems listed? Would be curious to understand what they see as potential solutions versus a larger enterprise.” Andy’s question inspired us to take a closer look at some of the content marketing challenges faced by North American B2B marketers who work at small businesses…

  • 5 Ways to Publish Content on Mobile and Grow Your Brand

    Tobin Dalrymple
    14 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    Everyone knows mobile is taking over. All you have to do is stick your head out the window, snap an Instagram, and you’ll see it: Little computers that we can hold in our hands are everywhere. According to an Econsultancy and Adobe trend report, marketers see mobile optimization as the number one opportunity in 2013; yet they struggle with executing on an effective mobile content strategy. And while there are plenty of great studies out there that portend mobile’s takeover of the web, there’s not much information about the best (and worst) approaches to publishing content…

  • How to Build Online Engagement With Health Care Communities

    Andy McCartney
    13 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    Health-related research is among the top three online activities worldwide. In the United States alone, more than 100 million Americans per year will visit health-related sites such as WebMD, Familydoctor.org, Healthfinder.gov, and CNN Health, among thousands of others. Within the massive ecosystem of health-related content websites, community-based sites are critical sources of trusted information for patients and caregivers. They offer a single spot for multiple stakeholders — including marketers — to interact with and contribute content to the community. And that’s where…
 
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    Adrants

  • Mondelez Gives Middle Finger to Agencies, Moves to 120 Day Payment

    17 May 2013 | 10:36 am
    Get a load of this insanity. Mondelez, that packaged goods company all the social media whiz kids love so much because it's behind Oreo, has now decided it will take 120 days to pay agencies and other suppliers. And get a load of this buzzword-laden bullshit a Modelez stament gives as reason for the move: "We're continually looking to drive efficiency and improve our processes on a global basis. Extending our payment terms allows us to better align with industry and make sure we compete on fair grounds, while simultaneously improving transparency and predictability of payment processes." Um,…

  • Samsung Helps Guy Realize He's Got A Screw Loose

    17 May 2013 | 10:01 am
    You've probably run into people like this before. And it's always an awkward encounter. Because you know they have are just whacked in the head. But you are kind and politely listen as they spout their inanities. Like the guy in this Samsung commercial who thinks his stuffed animal dog is real. That is, until he saunters by a Samsung Premium Monitor -- with its super awesome, life-like picture -- and realizes he might want to have his head examined.

  • Tweets With Exclamation Points Get More Retweets!

    17 May 2013 | 9:42 am
    Because these things actually matter and because there's a guy who love to dig into this stuff, we now know that tweets that include exclamation points get more retweets. However, thanks to Dan Zarrella's examination of 2 million link-containing tweets sent by accounts with at least 1,000 followers, tweets with exclamation points get fewer clicks. Why is this data important when it's usually all about the click? Because sometimes it isn't. Sometimes all a brand wants to do is make it known something relevant to the brand and of interest to consumers is interesting. JCPenney hyping a sale.

  • Coke Borrows From Disney's Fantasmic For Dublin Water Projection

    16 May 2013 | 11:16 am
    Stealing an idea from Disney's Hollywood Studios Fantasmic water show projection (or whomever did it before them), Coke created its own water show projection at Dublin's Grand Canal dock last Friday to kick off their summer campaign. People from around Ireland were prompted to share a coke with someone via Twitter and then have that converted to an aquatic message using a water projection. As part of Coca-Cola's largest summer campaign to date, the 20 meter high and 40 meter wide water projection touted the launch of Share a Coke in Ireland, a campaign where the brand's 'Coca-Cola' script…

  • How to Make Corporate Sponsorship Less Boring

    16 May 2013 | 10:59 am
    This amazingly beautiful commercial makes mundane corporate sponsorship look like, well, much more than a simple exchange of sponsorship dollars. It touts the Qatar Foundation's support of the FC Barcelona soccer team. The TBWA\Qatar-created commercial was shot in several locations in Barcelona, including the Telephonica Tower, the historic Gothic Quarter and FC Barcelona's practice stadium, Camp Mini. FCB players, including four-time FIFA Ballon D'Or award winner Lionel Messi, were also photographed on location at Camp Mini in between TVC filming sessions. Sports choreographer, Andy Ansah,…
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    Firepole Marketing Blog

  • Super High-End + Totally Free? (Help Me Figure This Out…)

    Danny
    17 May 2013 | 5:15 am
    Okay, maybe this is crazy, but here goes. A few days ago, I floated the idea of a running a massive, super-premium, totally free training, as my way of truly giving something back to our community. Well, the feedback that I received on that post was absolutely OVERWHELMING, so as much as it’s freaking me out, we’re going to go ahead and do it. Before we throw our time, money, and energy into doing all this, though, I’d love to get a sense from *you* of how I might be able to sort out some of the thornier issues involved in putting it together. Specifically, we’re…

  • Heartbreak, Debilitating Fear, and the Craziest Risk We Might Never Take…

    Danny
    14 May 2013 | 6:00 pm
    There’s a scratch on the back of my brain. It’s a thought that sits there, and niggles at me. It’s not always front-and-center, but it’s always there, reminding me that I’m forgetting something important, that I really should have done by now. For the world, for my audience, and for myself. And no matter what I do, or achieve, it sits there, reminding me that something important still hasn’t been done. It all started with an email that I received more than a year ago. The email that broke my heart… The Email That Broke My Heart (And Got Me Thinking)…

  • No Profits – What Small Businesses and Non-Profits Both Need to Change

    robyn
    13 May 2013 | 5:15 am
    When you think of a successful financial role model, who comes to mind? Is it someone obvious, like Steve Jobs, or Richard Branson? An entrepreneur and titan of industry, who has lots of power, makes lots of money, and is the focus of scores of glowing articles and biographies? Or perhaps it’s someone who has worked hard their whole life to make the world a better place – who has strived and sacrificed and never made much money, but really did their duty by a noble non-profit. They’re very different pictures, aren’t they? And you never expect them to meet. I mean, can…

  • May’s Mini Best of the Web

    Danny
    11 May 2013 | 5:15 am
    We have been so busy over here at Firepole Marketing that we only have a “mini” Best of the Web this month. That doesn’t mean it is any less valuable than our usual longer posts; we just firmly believe in quality over quantity, and the quality of some of the posts this month is outstanding. This Best of the Web is perfect for writers, bloggers, freelancers and entrepreneurs owners – I think that accounts for most of you! We’ve loaded it with tips on negotiating freelance rates, writers block, branding, copywriting as well as other useful business tricks.

  • Why Creating a Mutual Understanding with Your Readers is Critical to Blogging Success… and How I Did It

    Danny
    9 May 2013 | 5:15 am
    We live in a Golden Age of Publishing. Creating a blog is easier than ever. But, once the blog is up and running, then come the problems. Many new bloggers do a ton of busy work at first, but fail to build the one thing that sustains a blog long-term: mutual understanding with readers! What’s this? It’s like a bond, where your reader feels understood and loves returning to your blog. Without a mutual understanding, readers won’t feel engaged enough to comment, subscribe, and share your work. The result is a depressing state where it’s just you writing posts for no…
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    Churbuck.com

  • In a baseball state of mind

    David Churbuck
    13 May 2013 | 7:44 am
    I painted the bottom of the boat yesterday and realized as I got more and more woozy from the fumes of the bottom paint (nothing like a lungful of a substance designed to kill barnacles and slime to make one feel good about one’s self) that it’s one of my favorite chores — not because of the satisfaction of the job well done — but because of the simple pure pleasure of listening to a baseball game on the radio. Even though the radio broadcast a terrible game as  the Red Sox went down in flames on Mother’s Day,  listening to them do so, while outside on a…

  • Sharpening the hooks

    David Churbuck
    9 May 2013 | 7:44 am
    The lilacs are about to bloom, the lily-of-the-valley is coming up behind the kitchen and my birthday is only days away which can only mean one thing: The fish are back. Or should be back. They weren’t here  last weekend. I went out twice and was skunked both times, but that’s part of the fun of spring fishing. Fisher, Cousin Pete and I kept the local waters honest on Sunday with a brave slog out of the Wianno Cut to Lone Rock in the Good Ship Wet looking for squid. Pete saw the squid fleet arrive and depart a few days before, so either the squid run isn’t happening this…

  • Old Shore Road changes

    David Churbuck
    1 May 2013 | 3:37 pm
    update: duh, thanks to andy for pointing out this post was originally entitled “Old Post Road) Last week the town surveyed Old Shore Road and the stretch of Putnam Avenue/Maple that runs along the Ropes Field. Lots of wooden stakes with pink ribbons popped up and then a gaggle of town officials toured the area on Monday — part of a larger village tour organized by Cotuit’s town council representative, Jessica Rapp-Grassetti, Precinct 7. I talked to the councilor this morning about the Old Shore Road situation. There’s a few of issues at play so I’ll just relate…

  • Karen Hill: 1940-2013

    David Churbuck
    25 Apr 2013 | 12:14 pm
    Karen Ann Hill passed away this week after suffering a fall. She was 73 years old and arguably the best known face of recreational fishing on Cape Cod. For Karen owned Sportsport, the little tackle shop in Hyannis that she inherited from her father, a beloved institution marked by the familiar sight of the Old Salt fishing in the parking lot wearing yellow foul weather gear, rain or shine. I knew the Old Salt before I ever met and became friends with Karen. It was one of those icons I first saw as a kid and have carried with me ever since, despite how much the rest of the Cape changes around…

  • 3 Ways to Write an Annoying “ListLine”™

    David Churbuck
    24 Apr 2013 | 6:41 am
    The recently departed Al Neuharth — the man who gave the world McJournalism when he created USA Today in 1982 — was famous in my mind for two things (no, make that three, because this is a post in part about the magic powers of “three”): Always publish the tits above the fold Bulleted lists are better than paragraphs Infographics that twist statistics and invoke the Royal We into cartoons are engaging People love lists. Decades ago there was a bestseller entitled “The Book of Lists,” a classic toilet-side tome in many a household. There are  management…
 
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    Ryan Stephens Marketing

  • Special Pre-Wedding Deal: 3 Questions for $10

    Ryan Stephens
    1 May 2013 | 9:38 pm
    I get married one month from today. I know. I know… It makes no sense that a woman would tolerate all my nonsense. We’ll save that discussion for another time. Said woman does her best to teach me about empathy, giving back, etc. Here’s the thing… I’ve been writing this blog since January of 2008. By my count that’s over 5 years. During that time I’ve read approximately 25-30 blog posts a day. I’ve listened to webinars, podcasts, read a book every other week, and been mentored by some of the smartest business people alive. I’ve accumulated…

  • Negotiating Right Hook Content via Gut Churn

    Ryan Stephens
    27 Apr 2013 | 11:32 am
    I don’t watch many online videos. As I work to optimize my life for efficiency, I’ve tried to decrease my information diet and relentlessly prune things that aren’t actionable and don’t add long-term value. This is especially true for videos because of the time it typically requires to watch one. Unless it is essential for visuals, I can read a number of articles and/or a transcript significantly faster. That said, I do make time for some videos that either really interest me (see: Scott Boras Profiled) or come highly recommended (see: Jad Abumrad on the secrets of…

  • Howdy. I’m a 2013 Graduate Seeking a Job In…

    Ryan Stephens
    24 Apr 2013 | 5:54 am
    I’m a member of an alumni network on LinkedIn and I cringe every single time I see one of these posts: “Howdy! I’m a Dec ’12 Grad B-school grad looking for a job in marketing/HR/customer relations/project management. Any leads would be helpful.” Which happens to be just about every day. Yes, some of these posts actually get responses. We will attribute that to the “Howdy” and the fact that the Texas A&M network is extremely strong and loyal, particularly in Texas. That, and there’s always a few companies looking for entry-level sales…

  • Seth Godin’s “The Icarus Deception” Book Review

    Ryan Stephens
    3 Apr 2013 | 6:32 am
    Play it safe was the perfect propaganda for the industrial economy, but obedience and conformity no longer lead to comfort. You probably already know that or you wouldn’t be reading this blog, but just in case you need a kick in the butt I highly recommend The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly? to anyone who wants to understand how to thrive in an economy that rewards art, not compliance. Check out the book’s trailer embedded below and then keep scrolling for some of my favorite insights and takeaways: On the Icarus Deception: It’s far more dangerous to fly too low than…

  • Warning: Those A’s You Made in College May Actually Hurt You in the Real World

    Ryan Stephens
    8 Feb 2013 | 5:42 am
    You worked hard in high school and you got into the best local college. You had a good time in college, but you also spent a fair amount of time studying while many of your peers drank themselves silly. You’re a few years out now. You have a decent job and you make an okay salary. After a long day, you complain to a friend and they remind you that the economy isn’t very strong right now and that you should be thankful you have a job. You know that on some level they’re right, but you still can’t help feeling unfulfilled. This is especially true when you check your…
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    brandflakesforbreakfast

  • experience a harley test ride

    Kirative
    14 May 2013 | 5:15 am
    Need convincing to buy that Harley? Normally a test ride would be enough... but this test ride will likely influence the decision. Customers were encouraged to take a bike out for a test ride, then shortly after 60 fellow riders unexpectedly joined them. Talk about making you feel like you’re part of the gang and providing the full experience of owning a Harley-Davidson. Pretty cool! 

  • clever billboard kills 230,000...

    Kristien Del Ferraro
    14 May 2013 | 5:10 am
    ... bugs, it killed 230,000 bugs. But don't worry, this insect massacre was not in vain, no sir, it was all in the good name of advertising. Orphea4D is a powerful insecticide, and this mosquito season they wanted to make sure people knew just how powerful they were. So they got themselves a billboard and painted on some clear glue to look like the spray from the can. You can guess the rest, but check out the video. Pretty clever buggers they are.

  • 5 things every designer should know when dealing with clients

    David Plain
    12 May 2013 | 5:40 pm
    Only 5? I could think of a few more, but these are pretty solid.

  • real life facebook update

    David Plain
    12 May 2013 | 5:35 pm
    With something like a zillion users around the world it's no surprise that any change to the familiar interface gets sizable chunk of the worlds population in an uproar. So what if changes like this were made in the real world?

  • we salute you

    David Plain
    12 May 2013 | 5:27 pm
    Epic PSA series by French agency BETC for Reporters without Borders illustrates the darkest side of state controlled news media. Can you think of any other world leaders who deserve this treatment?
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    Flooring The Consumer

  • When Customers Face Sensory Overload...

    14 May 2013 | 7:00 am
    I see sensory overload becoming more of an issue for all of us. Imagine what it's like for our customers. How might we help them? Here are some thoughts on the matter triggered by a visit to Las Vegas. Recharge, Renew. Overcoming Customer Experience Overload in Las Vegas  Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading. Best, C.B.

  • Online or In-Store? Reinventing the Customer Experience

    22 Apr 2013 | 7:00 am
    There's so much to be admired about the physical in-store retail experience! At the same time, there's so much painless efficiency in the online experience... Here are my thoughts about possibly reinventing the customer experience: Reinventing, Re-Imagining the Customer Experience What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments here or on the original article. Thank you for reading! Best, C.B.

  • How to Lose Customers: Verizon Customer Experience

    25 Mar 2013 | 7:00 am
    Here's a story a friend shared. Yes, it's preposterous and it's a true story. How to Lose IBM Customers: Preposterous Verizon Customer Experience Have you encountered a similar situation? Thanks for reading! Best, C.B.

  • John Cleese Talks Creativity and Business Innovation

    18 Mar 2013 | 6:30 am
    If you haven't heard or watched John Cleese discuss creativity, you should. It will inspire you to think differently about the possibilities you face in your business. Here are my notes and a link to a 36 minute video: Business Innovation and Creativity Via John Cleese Thanks for reading and watching! Best, C.B.

  • SAP Radio Highlights Retail Experience Game-Changers

    4 Mar 2013 | 6:30 am
    SAP Radio has a fascinating program whereby it invites 'game-changers' to participate in conversation about what's happening in the marketplace. In this article, I recap my experience when the topic was about retail experience: SAP Radio: Coffee Break with Retail Experience Game-Changers I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks for reading! Best, C.B.
 
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    Search Engine Watch - Latest

  • Bing Beams Up Star Trek Fans With Home Page Easter Egg, Klingon Translator

    Danny Goodwin
    17 May 2013 | 10:50 am
    In conjunction with the arrival of "Star Trek Into Darkness", Bing has added a couple of features that fans should appreciate: a home page Easter egg when you search for "beam me up" and a new language option to Bing Translator: Klingon.

  • 10 Essential WordPress Plugins to Improve SEO & Usability

    Alex Moss
    17 May 2013 | 6:30 am
    Looking to increase your WordPress performance? These top 10 plugins (most of them free) will help you perform all kinds of different tasks and tweaks with WordPress, while also helping your site when it comes to SEO, usability, and conversion.

  • How to Be a Badass Link Builder

    Jon Ball
    17 May 2013 | 5:30 am
    If you build links like an actual human being then you're building links like a badass. You're making friends and your links are bulletproof. It's hard work. It will take time, energy, and brainpower to increase your rankings and traffic.

  • Local Search Battle Heats Up: Can Yelp Fight Off Facebook & Foursquare?

    Michael Boland
    17 May 2013 | 4:30 am
    Is Facebook – and to a lesser extent Foursquare – becoming more Yelp-like, and thus a threat? Some might believe the answer is an obvious yes, but it's worth looking at some of the moats Yelp has built in local search that won't make it so easy.

  • Google Maps Gets a Brand New Look

    Jennifer Slegg
    16 May 2013 | 2:00 pm
    Google has announced a revamping of Google Maps and it is much more than a few changes. It is a reworking of the entire Google Maps interface from the group up, designed to make Maps more intuitive for users. Advertisements also have a new look.
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    Being Peter Kim

  • Guest post: @jackiehuba on Monster Loyalty

    Peter Kim
    24 Apr 2013 | 6:24 am
    The post below is from my friend Jackie Huba. Her third book, "Monster Loyalty: How Lady Gaga Turns Followers into Fanatics" publishes on May 2nd and is available now for pre-order.     I love the Pittsburgh Steelers. I was born near Pittsburgh and watched them win 4 four Super Bowls as I was growing up in the '70's. I run the Steelers fan club here in Austin. I own six Terrible Towels and went to the Super Bowl in 2011 to see the Steelers play. When I was considering getting a tattoo -- almost all Austin, Texas residents have one --…
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    AdWeek: AdFreak

  • Better Eyewear Means Fewer Dead Cats, Says Amusing Specsavers Ad

    17 May 2013 | 12:53 pm
    The best performance by a cat in a TV commercial this week goes to the fluffy mess in this new British spot for eyewear maker Specsavers. Not that the veterinarian here would know—he's not clear on what a cat is anymore. Specsavers, of course, has a long and proud history of offbeat commercials. The best mistaken-animal-identity spot, though, remains the brilliant raccoon commercial from Sears Optical.     

  • British Advertising Hits New Low With Commercial Starring Talking Butt Crack

    17 May 2013 | 12:21 pm
    What a week it's been. As Friday draws to a close, I see your defecating man in the exercise video and your threesome-inducing Sexual Chocolate wine, and I raise you one talking butt crack in this British advert for something called Polycell. It's some sort of spray product that promises "No more unsightly cracks" in your walls. Unfortunately, there's one major unsightly crack in the commercial. And it talks. David Ogilvy would be proud. Agency: 18 Feet & Rising. Full list of perpetrators below. CREDITS Client: Polycell Agency: 18 Feet & Rising Creative Director:…

  • Dumb Ways to Die Is Now a Video Game for the iPhone and iPad

    17 May 2013 | 11:38 am
    There are now even more "Dumb Ways to Die"—and smart ways to live—as McCann Australia has made a video game out of its beloved, superviral train-safety ad from last year. "Starring all the characters from the viral hit Dumb Ways to Die for Metro Trains Melbourne, the game allows players to flick piranhas away from a character's private parts and defend another from a snake attack among other ways to avoid being dumb," the agency says. "Players can also pledge to 'not do dumb stuff around trains' at the click of a button." The game,…

  • He Shoots, He Scores: David Beckham's 10 Most-Viral Commercials

    17 May 2013 | 9:14 am
    David Beckham is retiring from professional soccer, but he'll never stop making ads. One of the world's most prolific pitchmen, the former England captain has sold everything from underwear and soda to hamburgers and, yes, athletic gear—building, with posh wife Victoria, the Beckham brand into a global juggernaut. (David alone is believed to make more than $40 million a year in endorsement money.) At the link below, check out the 10 most-viral commercials Becks has ever done, as compiled by Unruly Media. And like Michael Jordan before him, expect to see plenty more Beckham ads…

  • YouTube Star Tobuscus Forced Into Making Insane Musical Ad for Hot Pockets

    17 May 2013 | 7:15 am
    Stand-up comedian, actor, songwriter and noted YouTube personality Toby "Tobuscus" Turner made this fourth-wall-shattering musical ad for Hot Pockets in which he is bullied by an unseen voiceover into singing about the new Cuban Style and Spicy Beef Nacho flavors. God help us all, Spicy Beef Nacho? I can already hear my toilet crying. Anyway, the concept might not thrill you, but the execution is top notch, mostly due to Turner's facial expressions. Now I want to see him in some sort of comedy duel with Jim Gaffigan, who once compared Hot Pockets to filling a Pop Tart with nasty…
 
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    Marketing Pilgrim - Internet News and Opinion

  • Google Wants You To Have Music and Games Wherever You Go

    Cynthia Boris
    17 May 2013 | 1:28 pm
    Google just wrapped up their developer conference and I’m about to wrap up my coverage . . . for now. Google introduced so many new ideas this week, it’s hard to say which will still be important a month from now or a year from now. But for the moment, there are a few more significant upgrades that I wanted to discuss. First, let’s talk about Google’s move into the world of streaming music. It’s called Google Play Music All Access – which doesn’t exactly roll trippingly over the tongue. Perhaps we should call it GPMAA? Before GPMAA, you could only use…

  • Q1: Rise of the Androids – Time for Another Mobile Mix

    Cynthia Boris
    17 May 2013 | 12:28 pm
    Houston, we have a new Mobile Mix. It’s Millennial Media’s Q1 2013 Mobile Mix Report to be exact and once again they make me smile with their clever cover. In space, no one can hear you tapping but down here on Earth, it’s a joyous sound. Ad impressions on the iPhone are up 28% over last quarter. Ad impressions from Samsung devices rose 19% And here’s a really amazing stat Amazon broke into the list of the top 10 manufacturers and saw impressions increase 125% from the previous quarter.  Q1: Rise of the Androids In keeping with our spacy theme, Androids are slowly taking…

  • Looking for a Job? Marketing Pilgrim’s Job Board is a Great Place to Start

    Frank Reed
    17 May 2013 | 7:48 am
    Searching for your next great job? Looking for that perfect person to fill your open position? Don’t forget to check into the Marketing Pilgrim Internet Marketing Job Board. If you are looking for a new job then find the full listings here. If you are looking for that perfect hire you would be hard pressed to find a better audience than ours for just $27 / per month per listing as well. Find out how to list your openings here. Have you seen the new listings this week (as of May 17, 2013)? Here is a sampling: Media, Marketing & Mobilization Director – Alliance for Climate…

  • Google Supports schema.org Markup for Organization Logos

    Frank Reed
    17 May 2013 | 5:04 am
    Earlier this week Google announced that they will be supporting schema.org markup for organization logos. In the midst of all the Google I/O hubbub this kind of announcement can seem minor but if there is a way to get an edge in a search result that is not so minor now, is it? The Official Google Webmaster Central blog reported Today, we’re launching support for the schema.org markup for organization logos, a way to connect your site with an iconic image. We want you to be able to specify which image we use as your logo in Google search results. Using schema.org Organization markup, you can…

  • Google’s AdWords Express Gets a Makeover

    Frank Reed
    17 May 2013 | 4:42 am
    Google’s AdWords Express which is designed to help small businesses take advantage of paid search by literally doing the heavy lifting for them through placement of ads on behalf of the advertiser, got a facelift of sorts. Google is on a push to make things more beautiful and efficient. I get it in theory but the whole beautiful part sounds so forced although it is a company mantra these days. The Inside AdWords blog tells us Today, when you log into AdWords Express, you’ll notice a brand new look. We’ve listened to your feedback and worked with a lot of small businesses to…
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    BrandSTOKE

  • Smartphone brand positioning gets smarter

    Kirk
    17 May 2013 | 8:00 am
    Grab a cold one and pull up a chair. You’re witnessing a case study in the making — a battle for market share, featuring classic brand positioning moves. Brand positioning is the art and science of establishing and articulating a meaningful point of differentiation between a brand and its direct competitors. In the smartphone category, Apple iPhone was the early leader. Known for its innovative technology and design, Apple commands worldwide attention with every new release. Historically, its competitors have had to play catchup. Apple has sustained an intangible competitive…

  • Repost: Brands with higher callings

    Kirk
    9 May 2013 | 6:22 am
    I’m taking a short break from BrandSTOKE. In the meantime, here’s a reprint of a popular post: The essence of some brands ties directly to a cause, a tradition or a set of values. Such brands stand for something perceived by their followers as meaningful. The result is often deep loyalty. Here are some examples of branding with a higher purpose: Affinity brands inspire a community of diehard evangelists, drawn together by a shared goal or belief system. Consumers identify with affinity brands because they represent something other than profit-making. Examples include Patagonia…

  • Repost: There goes the neighborhood brand

    Kirk
    7 May 2013 | 6:19 am
    I’m taking a short break from BrandSTOKE. In the meantime, here’s a repeat of a popular post: To paraphrase the adage, a brand is sometimes known by the company it keeps. A Bordeaux wine, for example. Or Wisconsin cheese. Brands from a region known for producing a distinctive product can often benefit through association with their shared geography. It’s a form of co-branding called place-of-origin branding. Many consumers ascribe positive attributes to products from certain regions, such as rum from Jamaica or perfume from France. A place-of-origin brand emerges when independent…

  • Repost: Differentiate or … muddle along?

    Kirk
    2 May 2013 | 6:15 am
    I’m taking a short break from BrandSTOKE. In the meantime, here’s a repeat of a popular post: “Differentiate or die” became a popular marketing buzz-phrase, following the release of the book by the same name. However, a third (and I think more prevalent) course is simply muddling along. Many, if not most, organizations seems to linger in brand limbo indefinitely, never identifying and leveraging a point of differentiation, never quite going out of business. Daily they negotiate a stay of execution, involving a combination of desperate tactics that keep them alive. In fairness…

  • Repost: Branding’s dirty little secret, not everyone cares

    Kirk
    30 Apr 2013 | 6:11 am
    I’m taking a short break from BrandSTOKE. In the meantime, here’s a repeat of a popular post: Despite the multitude of branding consultants, theories, philosophies, processes, diagrams, white papers, and, of course, books, not all consumers care about brands. For a variety of reasons, they may remain oblivious or choose to ignore a brand’s best efforts to engage them. Specifically: • They may not care about a particular brand category. For example, they may not need home insurance. Marketing directed to them is wasted. At least, for now. • Or they may not distinguish between the…
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    Marketing Interactions

  • Use Content Strategy to Break Into a New Market

    ArdathAlbee
    4 May 2013 | 12:06 pm
    I've been on a number of calls recently with companies that want to break into a new market. They think that content marketing may be the key, but are uncertain if they're right, as well as how to approach this new direction. Content Marketing is definitely a key strategy. In fact, I'm not quite sure how a company would go about breaking into a new market without it. But there are some challenges when your goal is quick uptake and your company doesn't have a lot of exposure or familiarity with the target audience. Here are the things that come to mind. It shouldn't be…

  • The B2B Website Audience Litmus Test

    ArdathAlbee
    27 Apr 2013 | 2:44 pm
    Many B2B companies think that their website must serve every type of customer they have—every flavor of persona. I'd ask you to step back a moment and think about your website audience. Just because your company serves a range of people, titles, and roles, doesn't mean that they all use your website—or ever will. The elephants in the room during this discussion are usually represented by the CXOs—the ultimate persona that all companies want to attract, engage and sell to. However, these people are not likely your website's greatest fans or visitors. Why not? CXOs are: Too…

  • Is Social Selling in Need of Sales Enablement?

    ArdathAlbee
    2 Apr 2013 | 12:41 pm
    In my last post I wrote about some of the ways Marketers could benefit from LinkedIn in relation to the report Jill Konrath and I released recently, Cracking the LinkedIn Sales Code. Today, I’d like to write about some opportunities that surfaced during our analysis of the data that point to the need for sales enablement that can help your company’s social selling initiatives, as many salespeople appear to be struggling to find the value. The fact that only 4.9% of the 3,094 survey respondents are identified as Top Sellers is a wake-up call. The idea that gaining access to InMail is…

  • Cracking the Code on LinkedIn is For Marketers Too

    ArdathAlbee
    27 Mar 2013 | 1:54 pm
    Jill Konrath and I recently released a report, Cracking the LinkedIn Sales Code, that details what we learned from a survey of 3,094 salespeople about their use of LinkedIn as a sales tool. As a marketing professional, I found the responses fascinating and began thinking about how the data crosses boundaries to inform the marketing side. In the report, we looked at two sides of the coin; Salespeople who could attribute lots of sales opportunities to LinkedIn (Top Performers) and the others who generated a few—or none at all. The differences were quite striking—as was the admission by 58%…

  • Change and the Content Marketing Continuum

    ArdathAlbee
    4 Mar 2013 | 8:21 am
    Now that we're a few months into the new year, it seems appropriate to take a stand about the payoffs of sticking with solid content marketing strategies. The beginning of the year is when a lot of B2B companies look at what they want to accomplish this year as a clean slate. Like they're starting from scratch. Kind of an "out with the old, in with the new" type of mindset. A few drivers for this reset come to mind, and are not uncommon: Executives come up with new "themes" they want to see tackled. Company objectives may take a turn given market fluctuations or…
 
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    Biz Growth News - branding, business development and new media tips to attract more clients in less time

  • 6 Steps To Using LinkedIn To Develop Productive And Profitable Business Relationships

    Krishna De
    15 May 2013 | 6:08 pm
    If you are a professional in financial services, you may be using LinkedIn as part of your networking and business development plan. Investors are active in social media with research in the US undertaken by LinkedIn in 2013 identifying that investors  use social media  to keep up to date with financial trends and to help them financial decisions. Research in the US undertaken by LinkedIn in 2012 identified that investors  research information about their financial decisions on LinkedIn. I recently had the opportunity to deliver a workshop for women who are in the Pensions industry about…

  • How To Use Pinterest For Business – Three Tips From A Pinterest Super User

    Krishna De
    14 May 2013 | 12:49 pm
    We hear that Pinterest is a really only used by younger females – so let me introduce you to Dan Ashbach, who is a retired airline pilot, just to provide a different perspective. You might have read my article about how many boards should we have on Pinterest where I comment that Dan has just 38 boards (I wonder if that is a coincidence that he has been married for 38 years) that versus many accounts I see with well over 100 Pinterest boards. Dan recently participated in a Google Plus Hangout with PinLeague and this is a recap of some of his ideas and perspectives about Pinterest as a super…

  • Five brands embracing Star Wars Day #MayThe4thBeWithYou

    Krishna De
    5 May 2013 | 5:20 pm
    If you were active on social media on the 4 May this year you would have noticed many updates about what is now known to be ‘Star Wars Day’. In 2011, the first organised celebration of ‘Star Wars Day’ took place in Toronto, Ontario and this year Disney’s Hollywood Studios planned to celebrate the day with events. We also saw a number of brands participate through their visual marketing and these included: - Harrods who did a clever photo editing job with the shadow of their concierge sharing it on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram - Oreo shared a picture of blue milk and a cookie on…

  • How to turn your Pinterest boards into a PDF or JPEG image so you can refer to them off line

    Krishna De
    5 May 2013 | 4:42 pm
    If you have been using Pinterest in your content marketing  you will know how powerful a platform it is for visual content curation and discovery – both for business and personal use. But perhaps you have wondered how you could turn the images you create into a PDF that you could then print and use in your meetings perhaps with your team or with clients? This is where the content curation platform Clipzine.me just might prove efficient for you. I recently tested the platform to turn a Pinterest board I had curated after an event into a PDF and JPEG presentation and below you will find a…

  • Pinterest Visual Marketing Tip – Using Diptic To Create Instructographics

    Krishna De
    22 Mar 2013 | 8:58 am
    If you are using Pinterest you will know how important great images in your blog and web pages are to encourage sharing of your content by visitors to your site. This is sometimes a challenge for those of us who are offering services rather than beautiful products. But even if you have great visual content to share, I came across a challenge at a recent Pinterest training programme I was running where  the course delegates were in the fashion and beauty business. They post great images to their blog, mostly when on location, and often have only their smart phone which they use to create and…
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    A Source Of Inspiration

  • One Look into One Show 2013 Winners

    Armando Alves
    14 May 2013 | 5:10 pm
    A brief look at One Show Interactive winners and what do they mean PRELUDE: Yes, i still blog. Though much of my writing lately is for portuguese media and corporate communication, i pulled myself together and figured out that blogs are still my voice and always will be. Notwithstanding what blogs are nowadays, with services like Tumblr and Medium.  Best Of Show Never understood how the Nike+ ecosystem and their Fuelband case  is still the creative’s favorite Quantified Self product, with Fitbit being there first and Jawbone Up delivering some Yves Béhar goodness. But then again,…

  • Fullsix Portugal – 2012 reel

    Armando Alves
    22 Feb 2013 | 5:19 am
    Below, many of the reasons why i don’t blog as often as i did. FULLSIX – Portugal from Fullsix Portugal on Vimeo. Visit Fullsix’s video portfolio at http://vimeopro.com/fullsixpt/selectedworks.

  • A visual exploration of Foursquare checkins

    Armando Alves
    20 Jan 2013 | 11:34 am
    Interesting project by Foursquare, showcasing the last three months of checkins, using their big data to create a mashup on top of a Mapbox map. Of the SoLoMo team, Location hasn’t really gone mainstream unlike Social and Mobile. Privacy concerns not withstanding, when you get aggregate data like this, i start to wonder if we could use this location data for urban planning. Of course brands are only interested on traffic and consumption patterns, but there’s still a lot to explore once we get to learn on how to live in public and share our data for good purposes.

  • PBS Off Book

    Armando Alves
    4 Jan 2013 | 7:07 am
    Blogs are still my favorite source of inspiration, but lately YouTube (and Vimeo) have pushed curation skills further. One of my latest discoveries was this web series from PBS digital, exploring cutting edge art, internet culture, and the people that create it. The latest video was about the Art Of Creative Coding. Enjoy.

  • The Internet is (still) yours

    Armando Alves
    20 Nov 2012 | 4:20 pm
    “A free and open world depends on a free and open Internet. Governments alone, working behind closed doors, should not direct its future. The billions of people around the globe who use the Internet should have a voice.” A free and open web depends on taking a stand against governments who try to filter and censor content. And maybe the people you elected are using a closed-door meeting to regulate the Internet, where regulators try to change one of the most remarkable inventions of humanity. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) only listens to governments, with no place for…
 
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    AttentionMax

  • Don’t Let Automation Dull Your Senses

    maxkalehoff
    8 May 2013 | 8:14 pm
    Air France Flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on June 1, 2009, killing all 216 passengers and 12 crew. The flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris involved an Airbus 330, one of the most advanced airplanes. The plane’s speed sensors iced over, igniting a chain reaction of signal overload and pilot confusion. If the pilots had followed standard operating procedures, they most certainly would have recovered. The plane’s black box, recovered two years later, surfaced how technology and automation — relied on for safety and productivity — may have had the unfortunate outcome of…

  • Farming In The Suburbs

    maxkalehoff
    5 May 2013 | 10:13 am
    We spent the past few weekends getting the garden patch ready. Spring arrived late in New York, but this weekend we finally planted our seedlings. There’s nothing like getting on your hands and knees to clench your fingers through soil, cow manure and earth worms. It’s therapeutic, similar to the primitive simplicity you experience when sailing far from civilization. It’s especially satisfying when my two kids throw down their plastic toys in favor of earthworms — handling them, fighting over them, pretending to eat them and occasionally throwing them at one…

  • How To Put A Dollar Value On A Facebook Fan

    maxkalehoff
    1 May 2013 | 7:13 am
    When it comes to brands on Facebook, the past few years reflect hype and a competitive race to acquire the most Fan connections. But brand marketers are sobering up and asking hard, valid questions about the ROI of social marketing. Perhaps no question is asked more often than “What is the value of a Facebook brand Fan?” To answer this question, I co-authored a new report for Syncapse titled, “The Value of a Facebook Fan 2013.” It is based on a model that calculates the value of Facebook Fan connections through a holistic understanding of core drivers of enterprise shareholder…

  • Twitter Better Than CNN?

    maxkalehoff
    24 Apr 2013 | 6:59 pm
    “Twitter is a frenemy,” said Jeff Zucker, CNN’s new president, as reported by MediaShift. Jeff Zucker was describing the cable news network’s relationship with social media and added, “the network uses, relies on — and is scared by — social media.” Twitter had a marquee moment last week, particularly late Friday afternoon and evening, that should scare most television news outlets in the business of reporting breaking news. That’s when Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was cornered by police, trapped and almost bleeding to death…

  • Warning: A Few Wildly Successful Bets Do Not Make A Trend

    maxkalehoff
    16 Apr 2013 | 6:10 pm
    Ron Johnson’s 17-month tenure as JC Penney’s CEO was disappointing. I’m sure there are numerous important details that contributed to the failure that no onlooker or journalist is privy to. Nobody will know the complete story for some time. Regardless, this case of a successful former Apple exec applying the Apple playbook to another company underscored one thing: One successful wild run does not make a trend. It reminded me of a recent academic study, “Predicting the Next Big Thing: Success as a Signal of Poor Judgment,” by Jerker Denrell of Stanford Graduate School of…
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    Strategic Public Relations

  • Could LinkedIn Contacts Become LinkedIn Social CRM?

    Kevin Dugan
    28 Apr 2013 | 7:09 pm
    LinkedIn's new Contacts app is designed to help users stay in touch with important business contacts and build contacts with others.According to Mashable: "LinkedIn Contacts integrates into your email, mobile address book and calendar to create a one stop shop of sorts for all of your contacts that is accessible from the web and an app."LinkedIn has rolled out a steady stream of design, social and content enhancements over the last six months as it aims to increase the engagement across its business platform. And this new app will certainly increase the odds that you'll be connected to your…

  • Who Should Own Content Marketing In Your Organization?

    Kevin Dugan
    6 Mar 2013 | 8:18 am
    Read enough industry opinion on content marketing, and you can start to determine each author’s professional background. If their point of view is focused on: Interactive: the author tends to be in digital marketing or may work with a digital agency; Creative: a traditional marketer might be chief storyteller, perhaps working with a creative agency; Editorial: the expert could come from public relations or might work with a PR agency; Media: someone with paid media background, who takes a media-neutral approach to building an audience or may be working with a digital agency. Read Between…

  • An Important Tip for Sustainable Content Creation

    Kevin Dugan
    6 Mar 2013 | 7:46 am
    At the recent, inaugural #solopr conference, I really enjoyed the other speakers' presentations. One of those individuals, Tom Martin, served up a simple but powerful tip regarding content creation.Whether you're blogging, part of a brand newsroom or just creating content - think in terms of cornerstones and not just cobblestones.Star Wars as Cobblestones and Cornerstone Star Wars offers the simplest way to understand the cornerstones vs. cobblestones concept. Each episode in the Star  Wars franchise is a cobblestone. All six movies together are a cornerstone. George Lucas made one movie at…

  • 5 Tips for Easier Writing - Infographic

    Kevin Dugan
    5 Feb 2013 | 1:03 pm
    While this infographic has five tips to help brands create content,** the tips apply to anyone -- including you. We encounter multiple stories on a daily basis, regardless of our job. We just need to look at things from a different, content marketing, perspective.   Full-Sized Version is Available for Download Here. **Strategic Public Relations has been even slower than usual lately. It's because I'm also Editor-in-Chief at Media Is Power. It's an independent media platform I helped Empower MediaMarketing's content marketing practice create. Our editorial mission is to track…

  • Vine's Foes, & Most Fans, Are Missing the Point

    Kevin Dugan
    2 Feb 2013 | 8:19 pm
    Less than 10 days after it's debut, news about the Vine app is a lot like Super Bowl pre-game commentary. We've got so-called experts everywhere weighing in on who will win and who will lose. Whether you like Vine, hate it or couldn't care less whether it thrives or withers, I'm willing to bet you're missing the point of this app.It's not about a shiny new social toy. It's not about the increasing popularity of snack-sized content, social video or the recent resurgence of the gif.It's all about Twitter.Twitter Tool First, Video Platform SecondVine extends Twitter's utility, giving users…
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    Rescue Marketing, Inc.

  • Talk is cheap, conversation is priceless

    Mark Riffey
    16 May 2013 | 11:08 am
    How we talk, write, stand, sit or hold our hands and arms plays a huge part in how effective we are in helping others understand what we have to say, much less keep their attention long enough to finish the message. If they don’t get it all, at best you may as well have said nothing. Worst case, the other person could misinterpret your message and think or react the opposite of what you want. Imagine that you make a trip to an Eastern European country. You arrive by boat and step onto the dock with your bags in your hands. A young Lithuanian man standing on the dock looks at your feet…

  • The biggest lie you’ve ever told

    Mark Riffey
    15 May 2013 | 4:45 am
    photo credit: The Wolf Many of us have something about our business that acts as a barrier that limits what we can do. In many cases, this barrier isn’t real – it’s simply a belief we’ve allowed to infect our mindset. The trouble with this is that if you believe there’s a limit to your business – there is, because you’ve bought in to it. These limits might be about limited cash flow, access to capital, inability to hire enough (or enough qualified) staff, raw materials supply, a lack of time, the inability to make decisions, politics, legislative…

  • If your customers were puppies…

    Mark Riffey
    13 May 2013 | 4:59 am
    photo credit: Rafael Acorsi If your customers were a litter of puppies, would they lick your face or pee on your carpet? Puppies have a pretty direct and obvious feedback system. They wiggle. They wag their tails. They make deposits on your carpet. Finally, they sleep in funny positions in order to get their photos posted on Facebook. Like that of your customers, how they feel is easy to interpret if you’ll just look. How do your customers feel? What are you doing to keep them fulfilled and interested in what you do? What are you doing to improve the relationship with the ones who…

  • When is $5000 like $100000?

    Mark Riffey
    8 May 2013 | 2:23 pm
    photo credit: ground.zero One of the first questions I ask business owners when we start working on their company is “What will it take to transform your business?” I’m asking for several reasons – each of which are critical to knowing where you are with your business. I want to find out what is top of mind – in other words, what tends to consume your thoughts about the business. I want to learn what you’re focused on beyond that one thing – assuming there’s only one. I want to know how big your thinking is. And I want to know what’s next…

  • Famous Last Words: “We can’t afford to market our business.”

    Mark Riffey
    29 Apr 2013 | 4:38 am
    photo credit: mickyc82 This past weekend, I took one of my favorite drives of the year – that first drive after removing studded snow tires. I enjoy the feel of a performance tire in a tight turn and that’s something studded tires just don’t offer. As I waited for my tires to be swapped and munched on Les Schwab’s complimentary popcorn, I looked forward to that first drive. While I waited, a friend who works there mentioned a new restaurant in town – a place he’d first heard about the day before despite the fact that they’d been open for over six…
 
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    emergencemarketing.com

  • Culture is mostly hidden, and it never forgets.

    francois
    23 Apr 2013 | 10:43 am
    Part of what makes it so hard to “operationalize culture” (that is to predictably incorporate culture as part of all business decisions) is that most parts of culture are hidden. It’s like skiing, biking, or driving a car – after you have done it for awhile you do not think about how to turn, or how to brake. In fact you are doing most actions as part of these activities unconsciously. That is until you have an exception — a child suddenly jumping in the street or a moose crossing the trail. At that moment all your senses focus on the exception and your training…

  • Consumerization of IT, brands and millennials

    francois
    26 Feb 2013 | 8:53 am
    What do those three topics have to do with one another you may wonder. Consumerization of IT, the expectation to bring your own device to work and to find enterprise user interfaces to be as simple as the Google search box, is clearly driven by millennials. While older generations will increasingly want to do the same, it is the millennials, who have never known of a world without the web, Google, and mobile devices, who will demand it. Many marketers now agree that with the increased transparency from the inside out (us being able to listen in on customer conversations), but also from the…

  • The human need to leave a cultural legacy

    francois
    27 Nov 2012 | 2:16 pm
    Humans, like all other species, have been driven to leave a genetic legacy on this earth. Then we became the only species to develop culture to deal with change. Cultural evolution developed a symbiotic relation with genetic evolution, with humans being the main agents of cultural evolution, but with culture also impacting genetic evolution by favoring certain traits, such as non-aggressiveness. In modern history, humans have also increasingly been driven by not only leaving a genetic legacy, but also a cultural legacy. While it used to be the purview of the cultural elite — the…

  • Conversation with Prof. Chris Labash from Carnegie Mellon on Innovation

    francois
    3 Nov 2012 | 9:17 am
    I had a great conversation with Carnegie Mellon Professor Chris Labash this week. We discussed a wide range of topics as they relate to innovation, including: The role of technology The importance of understanding human behavior and culture The impact of non-financial rewards The need for methodologies and processes The limits of crowd-sourcing The requisite for risk intelligence The importance of communication and face-to-face exchanges To listen to the podcast and read a more detailed post about the discussion, please visit the Collaborative Innovation community.

  • Why most corporate culture programs fail

    francois
    1 Nov 2012 | 2:00 pm
    Unless your company acts as a single tribe, which most companies don’t, you don’t have a single corporate culture. Therein lies the problem with most corporate culture initiatives — they start from the wrong premise that companies are people and that they therefore can have one culture. In reality, most companies have multiple cultures which results in having competitive behavior in the wrong place — within their corporate walls instead of outside in the marketplace. So what is going on here? As Edward O. Wilson said in his recent book, The Social Conquest of Earth,…
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    Adverblog

  • Heineken The Negotiation

    Tim
    17 May 2013 | 3:26 am
    Heineken is making the most of their UEFA CHampions League sponsorship with this ‘hidden camera’ film. Can you convince your girlfriend or wife that you absolutely, positively NEED those red plastic stadium seats in your home?

  • Fanta playing Save the Source

    Mark
    16 May 2013 | 2:39 am
    Fanta drink “Saving the Source” combines storytelling and gaming to create a long-form playable HTML5 graphic novel. Games and Easter eggs are woven into the game that can be played on any device. It’s kinda fun but heavy loading. Not sure I have the time for heavy loading sites that deliver such simple games and return. What do you think? Here is the link to the site

  • Getty Images 85 Seconds

    Tim
    15 May 2013 | 4:21 am
    You might remember the viral hit with stock shots forming an animation called ‘From Love to Bingo’? Here is the follow up, called ’85 Seconds’ which tells the love story of a couple who meet as children, separate after graduation and after some time reunite as adults. And in case you forgot the ‘Love to Bingo’ spot And in case you remembered this little video we posted earlier in the year…also a love story of sorts. Agency for first two videos: AlmapBBDO

  • Aerobics for cats

    Martina
    14 May 2013 | 5:48 am
    Jane Fonda would be proud of these cats. Planks, abs crunches, leg lifts, you name it. Work it Kitty offers a full aerobics routine to get your cat back in shape. I’m not a cat lover, and this is probably the first Web video I’ve ever watched featuring cats doing silly things, but I must say it’s hilarious. 80s music and improbable vintage outfits are the perfect mix for this original idea to promote cat’s food brand Temptations Cat Treats. Make sure to check out the downloads sections as well, you can find quite a few goodies there, including a set of animated GIFs.

  • Uniball, if fonts could speak

    Martina
    14 May 2013 | 12:02 am
    Ever wondered what message are you implicitly sending when you use Comic Sans as a font? To (inappropriately) quote McLuhan, I’d say the font is the message, and this series of videos for Uniball does an awesome job educating us on typefaces and messages tone of voice. Want to make sure your note comes out really meaningful and personal to the recipient? Write it by hand. Using a Uniball pen of course… PC8aVo84T0 w0D6ATuwm8 pSgKeMDqbA The agency is TBWA South Africa.
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    All You Need Is A Good Idea!

  • Keep Calm

    Jay H. Heyman
    16 May 2013 | 7:41 am
    Seemingly from out of nowhere, we have been invaded b y the British. I am not referring to television shows or bone marrow on toast. Rather, or rawther, I mean the unceasing parade of various versions and parodies of “Keep Calm And Carry on.” Originally, as Wikipedia tells us, “Keep Calm and Carry On was a propaganda poster produced by the British government in 1939 during the beginning of the Second World War, intended to raise the morale of the British public in the aftermath of widely predicted mass air attacks on major cities.”Why has it suddenly become as invasive as the…

  • Lip Service vs. Customer Service

    Jay H. Heyman
    13 May 2013 | 8:03 am
    Customer services (Photo credit: gordon2208) Edward H. Bastian, Delta Airline’s president, said in a recent interview, as reported in The New York Times: “People worried if the airlines were going to make it or if they were going to be bankrupt. Today, everybody has scale, customers have choices and people have seen that service matters.” It is the last two words of his quote that I find the most interesting. Ask most airline passengers about customer service, in today’s world of fewer airlines and less capacity, and they would giggle. And while the article further points out that…

  • You Can't Keep Up.

    Jay H. Heyman
    9 May 2013 | 8:09 am
    Logo of google TV (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Below are some recent, though perhaps soon to be obsolete, products; actual, imaginary or anticipated. This is, of course, in addition to the latest updates for your current technological products, each usually tweaked just enough to require an intense learning new/forgetting old curve. 3D Printers Google Glasses Smart Watches WIFI Wedding Rings Bit Coins YouTube Subscriptions Vine Snarkle TV Since you are a creative type, or visiting the wrong blog, part of you is in awe of these good ideas. When you are finished wondering why you didn’t think of…

  • 43 Million Views

    Jay H. Heyman
    6 May 2013 | 8:16 am
    Evian (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Don’t know if you have seen this video yet, though it has had over forty million views. No, it’s not featuring a gangsta, nor a cat. Actually it is a commercial, for Evian. There’s a lot you can learn from it. About creating a simple premise, spectacularly executed. And if you don’t smile as you watch it, I will be shocked. Oh, and if someone wants to sell you a guide to getting your video to go viral, you might as well ask them to throw in the Brooklyn Bridge.

  • FREE WIFI…IN A MAGAZINE

    Jay H. Heyman
    2 May 2013 | 7:17 am
    Microsoft recently promoted its Office 365 software by offering free portable Wi-Fi in random subscriber copies of Forbes magazine. When activated, it provided users with two weeks of free Internet service.I found out about this good idea at Design Taxi, which explains the details, and I knew you’d be interested.But equally as interesting to me were the comments about the promotion. They ranged from “really cool,” to “idiotic,” to “wasteful,” to “very smart.” Which brings me to the larger point. When you are creating ideas be careful not to overly censor yourself. Of course…
 
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    Seth's Blog

  • Every day is an investment

    Seth Godin
    17 May 2013 | 2:07 am
    You're not lucky to have this job, they're lucky to have you. Every day, you invest a little bit of yourself into your work, and one of the biggest choices available to you is where you'll be making that investment. That project that you're working on, or that boss you report to... worth it? Investing in the wrong place for a week or a month won't kill you. But spending ten years contributing to something that you don't care about, or working with someone who doesn't care about you... you can do better.

  • The river guide and the rapids

    Seth Godin
    16 May 2013 | 2:11 am
    It's probably not an accident that rapid (as in rapid change) shares a root with rapids (as in Lava Falls in the Grand Canyon). The river guide, piloting his wooden dory, has but one strategy. Get the boat to the end of the river, safely. And he has countless tactics, an understanding of how water and rocks work, and, if you're lucky, experience on this particular river. The thing is, the captain changes his tactics constantly. He never whines. He doesn't stop the boat and say, "wait, no fair, yesterday this rock wasn't like this!" No, the practice of being great at shooting the rapids is a…

  • Applications open for a short summer internship

    Seth Godin
    15 May 2013 | 10:53 am
    I'm offering a short-term paid internship this summer. You'll be in my office, working with me and a tightly knit group to develop a brand new idea. Here are some details, the links to apply are at the end. Please feel free to forward to those that might be interested. The first intern project happened more than eight years ago, and we built changethis.com, which, in the capable hands of 800ceoread, just published its 100th issue. This project has lauched and amplified dozens of bestsellers and even more important, truly valuable ideas to millions of people. Team members included Amit Gupta…

  • Appropriate cheating in the nine-dot problem

    Seth Godin
    15 May 2013 | 2:34 am
    All geeks, nerds and puzzle folks are aware of the nine-dot problem, along with the lesson it is frequently used to present. Here's a pencil. Here's a piece of copy paper with nine dots on it. Without lifting the pencil or folding the paper, connect the nine dots using four straight lines. The narrator smiles as you try as hard as you can, unable to do it. Then he ends your frustration and points out you've been tricked by your own limits, because, of course, there's nothing in the rules that says you can't have the lines go beyond the edges of the nine dots. The thing is, this isn't the end.

  • The reason they call it a browser

    Seth Godin
    14 May 2013 | 2:10 am
    Over the last ten years, the amount that we buy online has gone up. So have the number of ads we click on every day. We're all clicking around, browsing and sometimes buying. But, while these interactions and transactions have been growing, the amount of time we spend online and the number of pages we visit have gone up dramatically faster. Mobile multiplies this. Do the math. More time, more pages, not nearly so much more in the way of transaction. A visit from a mobile user is almost certainly less likely to convert into a click, particularly a purchase. Your tweets are seen by ten times as…
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    MarketingProfs Daily Fix Blog

  • The Psychology of Sales: Six Facts Every Brand Should Know

    Jhon Wlaschin
    17 May 2013 | 7:02 am
    Discount retailers, such as Target, Macy’s, and J.C. Penney, have tried various pricing strategies over the years to lure customers to buy more of their products. The primary tool in the competitive arsenal is to offer the best value because they know that customers are motivated to seek out price savings and great deals on frequently purchased products. Seems simple right? Just offer low prices and people will come. That is not necessarily the case, though. Feelings Affect Our Shopping Decisions An economist would say that customers are rational beings who try to get the most value for…

  • iStrategy Miami: Crucial Takeaways From the Digital Marketing Event

    Kerry O'Shea Gorgone
    16 May 2013 | 6:55 am
    iStrategy Miami in April brought together an all-star lineup, including Facebook marketing expert Mari Smith, business development and marketing media executive Dorothea Bozicolona-Volpe of Social Espionage, and Ken Segall, formerly of Apple. For those folks who couldn’t make it to iStrategy Miami, here are some key takeaways from an action-packed two-day event. Harness the power of simplicity. “Simplicity is instantly likable,” says Ken Segall. To best serve your audience, boil complex concepts down to simple turns of phrase, and use common words, familiar to your audience. This makes…

  • What Marketers Can Learn From Moneyball

    Irv Shapiro
    15 May 2013 | 7:01 am
    Any CEO will tell you that running a company is a lot like running a sports team. You put together a strong team, give them the tools to become all-stars, and motivate them every step of the way to beat the competition. But many businesses aren’t operating on an all-star budget; when a company is growing, the funds are tight and the stakes are high. As CEO, I’ve always thought of myself as my team’s GM and now–as we’ve entered baseball season–I’ve been thinking about the success of Billy Beane, who, as the general manager of the Oakland A’s, used one of the smallest budgets in…

  • Ice Cream Slingers Turn a Good Product Into a Great Customer Experience

    Jeanne Bliss
    14 May 2013 | 7:04 am
    Amy’s Ice Creams in Austin, Texas, is beloved for two things: the ice cream and the floor show.  Ice cream scoops are thrown from one worker to another and caught in cups balanced on their chins… while standing on one foot… hopping. You’ll see ice cream slingers sliding across the counters on their knees and bellies. It’s a carnival ride in there. Finding people who are fearless and creative enough to come up with stunts like flinging scooped ice cream across a room just can’t happen in the normal interview process. How exactly do you ask, “Are you a little bit nuts?”…

  • The Frugal Content Marketer’s Secret Weapon: Fiverr

    Jason Miller
    13 May 2013 | 7:07 am
    There are three things that every marketer needs to be successful: creativity, resources, and freedom. Creativity brings the ideas to the table, the resources put them into play, and the freedom gives them the ability to try new things. Trial and error is the key here, but the problem is that it can get expensive. I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be. Fiverr is a website where people offer an insanely wide variety of services for only five dollars. Advertised listings include helpful services, such as “I will fix your Wordpress issue” to the creative “I will write a sweet…
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    Ogilvy Blog Aggregator

  • 5 Unforgettable Things I Learned From The Office

    17 May 2013 | 9:08 am
    Fellow fans of The Office television show are sharing a moment of sadness this morning. Last night was the series finale of the documentary-style comedy show that exposed the silly side of the workplace for nine years. For me, the show coincided almost perfectly with my move from Australia back to America and my own journey of joining an American workplace, and then leaving to become my own boss around the time that one of the main characters in the show (Jim) first did the same. But the real star of the show left last year – a lovably lonely character named Michael Scott played by…

  • Shock value

    16 May 2013 | 8:38 am
    My three-year old daughter has discovered swearing. Three-year old style swearing. Somehow she has discovered that ‘poo’ is different from other words and so occasionally, when you ask what she’d like for tea or what she wants on her toast, she’ll tell you ‘poo’. And then she waits for a reaction. She knows there should be one. The desire to shock and the pleasure we derive from it seem to be innate in human beings. Shocking people can be fun. Everyone from Marcel Duchamp to the Sex Pistols has made use of it and advertisers are no different. At its best, the shock factor cuts…

  • Ogilvy France créé le poste de Responsable des médias sociaux groupe : « Head of social@Ogilvy »

    16 May 2013 | 2:56 am
    Andrea Colaianni, 30 ans, rejoint le groupe pour coordonner les ressources media sociaux et assurer pour ses clients une expertise transversale et multi-disciplinaire. Choisi pour son expérience et sa dimension internationale, Andrea Colaianni devient, en tant que responsable de social@Ogilvy en France, un point d’entrée vers les expertises en media sociaux déjà très développées dans l’ensemble des agences du groupe : Ogilvy & Mather Advertising, Ogilvy One, Neo@Ogilvy, Ogilvy Action et Ogilvy Public relations où la discipline a été créée dès 2006. Il travaillera de plus…

  • Under the Influence

    14 May 2013 | 9:12 am
    Usually I find Klout perks quite lame, especially for those of us not based in the US. My highlight so far had been a ‘digital lottery ticket to play and share with friends’. But I have to admit that I did get quite excited when I read that my social media influence could be exchanged for free beer (well, for access to American Airlines’ business class lounge, including free wi-fi and free beer).  The airline is now offering those people with a Klout score of 55 or above a one-day pass to their fancy Admirals Club in 40 different airports. Perks also include snacks, showers to…

  • Entering Fagin’s Den

    14 May 2013 | 4:06 am
    So we’ve moved into our first office, at 24 Greville Street in Clerkenwell.  Everything’s new – from the fridge (there goes the first month’s budget) to the ‘phone (which I can only assume is broken, as it hasn’t rung yet). But the building itself is actually pretty old.  In fact, it’s mentioned in Oliver Twist, as the site of Fagin’s Den – a fact which some friends have suggested we should play up in our creds.  Now, given the fact that Fagin was a grotesquely anti-Semitic caricature of a conniving, child-exploiting criminal, I suspect we…
 
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    the weekly ramble

  • Bald Cats, Putin, Homer and Algorithms

    David
    13 May 2013 | 12:18 pm
    “Read Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey and try and figure out why they’re still being read,... Read on...

  • The Race to be Wrong — Is it Right??

    David
    6 May 2013 | 12:43 pm
    reddit, its (r)editors and “old-fashioned” media channels all took negative hits during the recent... Read on...

  • The Future Rests on Legacy

    David
    29 Apr 2013 | 11:59 am
    How important is the past to you? Is everything that was…all that happened…just mere... Read on...

  • Reality Bites HARD

    David
    22 Apr 2013 | 8:45 am
    Reality bites…hard…very hard. This time, though, Reality is not relative; it’s not decided by... Read on...

  • Reality Bites

    David
    15 Apr 2013 | 2:12 pm
    Reality Bites Bad movie – great line…the notion that every once in a while events, circumstances,... Read on...
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    Hard Knox Life

  • A Merging of 19th Century and 21st Century Entrepreneurship

    Dave Knox
    29 Apr 2013 | 9:55 am
    When the Mercantile Library in Cincinnati opened its doors in 1835, the 19th century institution stood in the middle of the fast-growing nation’s busiest startup community.  It was a community that would give birth to some of the largest companies in the country including names like Procter & Gamble, Kroger, and E.W. Scripps.  A group of 45 young, energetic, and confident merchants came together to organize the Library and put themselves on track to become the entrepreneurial engines of the growing city’s future prosperity. Mercantile LIbrary – Courtesy of Urban Cincy This…

  • Business Is About Motion

    Dave Knox
    7 Jan 2013 | 5:30 am
    One of my favorite books of 2012 was Get Lucky: How to Put Planned Serendipity to Work for You and Your Business, which was written by the co-founders of Get Satisfaction.  Get Lucky shows businesses how to succeed by fostering the conditions for serendipity to occur early and often.  One of the principles in the book is “Motion”, the skill of putting yourself in unfamiliar situations, but within familiar environments, in order to engage with previously unfamiliar people and ideas that are connected to your job, your projects, or your interests. Motion is the reason that…

  • Kincast makes it easy to video share moments with your family

    Dave Knox
    12 Dec 2012 | 11:18 am
    Earlier this summer, the guys at Sproutbox introduced me to one of their newest investments, a company called Kincast.  In their words, “Kincast is a fun and special way to engage loved ones in a worry-free environment. Chatting, sharing video, sending video messages and creating video cards get everyone involved.” Today, Kincast launches their version 2.0 with a new app that has completely reworked the user experience.  The below video does a great job of capturing the value proposition of the company.  More importantly, the video captures a key insight that all consumer…

  • Mary Meeker releases her 2012 Internet Trends

    Dave Knox
    8 Dec 2012 | 1:28 pm
    One of the must reads on the State of the Internet is the report published by Mary Meeker of Kleiner Perkins.   The latest edition was just posted on Slideshare and I highly advise you take a few minutes this weekend to read it.  At a high level, the report talks the following: Basic Stats – Internet Growth Remains Robust, Rapid Mobile Adoption Still in Early Stages Re-Imagination – of Nearly Everything Asset-Light Generation – From Hand to Cloud & Back…Rise of the Sharing Economy (a great trend for Brandery grad FlightCar) ‘USA, Inc.’ – A Lot to be Excited About in Tech,…

  • A first on Hard Knox Life

    Dave Knox
    4 Dec 2012 | 7:53 am
    For the first time, I’m going to try my hand at a sweepstakes here on Hard Knox Life.  I’ve been pretty radio silent with the time commitment of Rockfish, The Brandery and my new little ones at home.  So consider this sweepstakes a bit of payback for sticking with me and not deleting me from your RSS feeds! Recently the folks at SOL REPUBLIC reached out to me regarding the new Anthem line of headphones that was launching in partnership with Michael Phelps.  These are the headphones you might have seen Phelps wearing at the Olympics when he was getting ready to win all those…
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    Lip-Sticking

  • What a Wet Burrito Taught Me About Life

    Laura Smith
    17 May 2013 | 5:03 am
    by Laura Smith, Chief Groovy Chick, The Breakup Lounge I'm sure you're wondering ~ what the heck is Laura thinking?  A wet burrito? Really?  Yet, you are also perhaps intrigued by the aforementioned wet burrito so let me tell you a story. As some of you may know, I like to get out in the local community and connect with others.  One of the ways that I do this is having an exhibitor's booth at community events.  I did just that on July 26.  To set the stage, this is an outdoor event called MarketFest.  It runs from 6 to 9 p.m.  The night began gloriously.  Not a cloud in the…

  • Try ShortStack App to run your Sweepstakes and Contests on Facebook

    Donna DeClemente
    15 May 2013 | 1:31 pm
    By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk Some of the most successful ways to grow your Facebook fan base and gain insights on your customers is by running sweepstakes and contests promotions. Contests are considered the heart of social promotions today since they are a great way to create buzz, awareness and engage followers and fans. In order to run a promotion on Facebook though, you must follow Facebook’s Promotional Guidelines and run it through an application and not directly on your Facebook page. We have been working with a few preferred Facebook application partners…

  • Stop The Makeover Madness!

    Scarlett De Bease
    14 May 2013 | 8:06 am
    There are so many wardrobe styling and fashion experts on TV telling you, complete strangers, what to wear that you don’t really need my advice anymore. Or, do you? Do you know that when the wardrobe styling personalities on TV make their recommendations as to what the must haves are for the season, they typically are representing the stores that carry the merchandise they are plugging? Their job is to stimulate sales and not to make sure that you are wearing clothes which show off your best features, and hide the ones you like the least. Just think back to whenever you might have seen…

  • The Pain of Remaining the Same

    Laura Smith
    10 May 2013 | 6:36 am
    by Laura Smith, Chief Groovy Chick, The Breakup Lounge One of my favorite quotes is from Anais Nin.  It's about pain and the beauty held within it.   “And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” You might be saying to yourself, "What? Beauty in pain? Have you lost your marbles, Laura?" I don't blame you for thinking this way. I would have thought like this too ~ until I lived this quote. You see, I was in an unhappy marriage. If I'm honest, I had been unhappy for years. In fact, for the majority of years. However, I…

  • Reflections on this year's Mother's and Graduation Day

    Donna DeClemente
    8 May 2013 | 1:04 pm
    By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk Mother's Day is just a few days away. I personally will have a unique way of celebrating the day this year. But before I get to that, I wanted to first share this promotion we have been administering for Lane Bryant. The Mom and Me Love LB Photo Contest kicked off back on April 22 and invited their Facebook fans to submit a photo of themselves with their mom, or with a woman who has been a mother figure to them, wearing some Lane Bryant styles. Then starting on May 4 the contest moved into its voting phase where participants now (up until…
 
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    Web Ink Now

  • Building inbound marketing assets are not marketing expenses

    David Meerman Scott
    16 May 2013 | 7:03 am
    I get pushback from many entrepreneurs and business owners as well as CMOs in larger businesses about the idea of using inbound marketing because they see the investment in people to create content as a barrier. They say things like: "I cannot find money in my budget to spend $5,000 a month (or whatever the number) on content creation." When I probe, the vast majority of these decision makers are looking at content creation in the same way as they look at other marketing expenses they currently have such as advertising, trade show booths, spending on agency retainers, and printing…

  • My TEDx talk The Need to Explore

    David Meerman Scott
    14 May 2013 | 9:45 am
    The video of my talk was just posted to the TEDx YouTube channel. Direct link to The Need to Explore on YouTube. This is a completely new speech for me with no reliance on the material I use in my keynotes. It was fun (but hard work) to create a brand new talk combining several subjects I am passionate about: space exploration and our ongoing communications revolution. Soon I will post about how I created the talk.

  • How to Pitch a Blogger

    David Meerman Scott
    8 May 2013 | 8:41 pm
    I get several hundred pitches a week from well-meaning PR people. Conversations with other bloggers suggest this is the norm, so now it is as tough to reach a blogger as it is to reach a mainstream journalist. It may be even more difficult since most of us work part-time on our blogs and we devote less time to wading though pitches as journalists. Sadly, nearly all of the pitches I get are just plain spam. But the good news is that I do pay attention to things that people send me. I occasionally write about them. So how do you increase your chances of getting a blogger like me to talk about…

  • How Gareth Fairhurst used content marketing to get elected

    David Meerman Scott
    2 May 2013 | 9:14 am
    Gareth Fairhurst, a local councillor on Wigan Council, has used online communications and social media, including his blog, Twitter @cllrgwfairhurst, and Facebook to communicate with his constituents in Standish, a village in Greater Manchester, England. In 2012 Gareth, an independent, won re-election with twice the number of votes as his nearest major party rival. He credits his content marketing efforts as instrumental in his success. "In the last local elections [May, 2012] I knew I had to try the online experience, as I was an independent candidate and that is always a disadvantage to the…

  • World's worst website

    David Meerman Scott
    29 Apr 2013 | 7:25 am
    I'd like to nominate the English-language edition of the Tokyo 2020 Candidate City website as the worst English-language site in the world. The site is built in support of bringing the 2020 Summer Olympic Games to Tokyo. Where to start. Well anywhere, really. So let's look at content. How about Vision: "Tokyo 2020 will bring together dynamic innovation and global inspiration. It will unite the power of the Games with the unique values of the Japanese people and the excitement of a city that sets global trends. It will be a unique celebration that will help reinforce and renew the Olympic…
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    EmailKarma.net

  • Organizing your email to increase productivity

    Matt V - @emailkarma
    25 Apr 2013 | 11:12 am
    Many people Struggle with organizing their inboxes and productivity loss caused by the seemingly never-ending stream of emails being sent to them. Around the office I am often ask for tips regarding organizing the inbox… See I get a ton of email, several hundred a day (including alerts, notifications, commercial email and one-to one communications), everyday and I usually only have a few messages at a time in my inbox that are waiting to be actioned, are currently being worked on or are waiting for a reply. Here are a few tips I usually give to get an inbox organized: 1 – Learn to…

  • CRTC Informal Consultation Report Released

    Matt V - @emailkarma
    19 Apr 2013 | 11:33 am
    Back in February I was invited to Ottawa, as part of my duties with CAUCE, to attend a session hosted by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) about CASL enforcement and some of the clarifications and Guidance that was previously published last October. I felt the sessions went quite well and the mood in the room was typically very positive, but mixed with a touch of apprehension because of the number of outstanding questions most of the group had and that were left on the table after the session. To addresses these questions the session was set-up to address…

  • How to add Glyphs to Email subject lines

    Sanket - @sanketjn
    15 Apr 2013 | 3:16 pm
    Email marketers constantly strive to find new ways to get their emails noticed, opened and clicked by end users. With more and more businesses embracing email channel to communicate with customers, it becomes even more important for marketers to innovate and try new things. One of these new techniques, you might have noticed, is to use glyphs or symbols in email subject lines. Marketers do this to try and stand out in the crowded inbox and earn an email open. But this brings up the obvious the next question for many people – How do you add Glyphs in an email subject line? NOTE: This is…

  • CASL: Industry Canada Published Draft Regulations

    Guest Author
    7 Jan 2013 | 3:06 pm
    Guest post by: Shaun Brown Industry Canada published draft Electronic Commerce Protection Regulations (the “Draft Regulations”) under Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) for comment in the Canada Gazette on January 5, 2013. Industry Canada and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) share responsibly for developing regulations under CASL, and since the CRTC published its Electronic Commerce Protection Regulations (CRTC) in March of 2012, the Industry Canada regulations remain the final outstanding piece of the legislative puzzle. Industry…

  • Delivery to Gmail inboxes

    Sanket - @sanketjn
    17 Dec 2012 | 4:00 am
    Data released by ComScore in October ’12 suggests that Gmail has overtaken Hotmail as the world’s top email service. Gmail has grown very fast in past few years and would likely end up being the top email provider in North America sooner than later. Delivering email to Gmail users’ inbox brings with itself some unique challenges as Gmail spam filtering focuses heavily on subscriber engagement, content filtering and user driven spam reporting. Gmail provides individually personalized inbox placement to its users. Below are some best practices that senders may follow to maximize email…
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    Online Marketing Blog

  • Online Marketing News: Video Trends Map, Content Recommendation Engine & New Google+ Layout

    Miranda Miller
    17 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    New Google+ Layout: Hangouts, Photos and Stream Reminiscent of Pinterest Google announced a major update to their social network this week that changes the way Hangouts, photos and the Google+ stream are viewed by users. The decidedly Pinterest-esque layout was just one of many announcements this week out of Google I/O, the totality of which Jeremiah Owyang and Chris Silva dubbed a “wreck.” “The end result, we hope, is an app that looks and feels great across a family of devices,” Senior VP Vic Gundotra wrote of the Google+ changes. This is in line with Google’s…

  • 11 Examples of Killer B2B Content Marketing Campaigns Including ROI

    Lee Odden
    16 May 2013 | 7:23 am
    According to a CMI and MarketingProfs study, 91% of B2B Marketers are using content marketing and that means a few things: First, it means content marketing has gained critical mass within the popular marketing mix and any company in a competitive industry would be hard pressed to attract business without it. Second, it means competition to stand out with your brand’s content is only going to get harder as more companies adopt content marketing best practices and mature in their skills. As companies evolve from simply recognizing the important role of content and experimenting with it,…

  • The Power of Visual Content Marketing and Brand Visuals in Action

    Miranda Miller
    15 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    Visual content is certainly trendy – see the meteoric rise in infographics and social engagement with images as proof. Yet the need for content that appeals on a visual level and presents information in a more engaging format than text goes far beyond what is cool or fun to create. In creating curriculum and learning materials for students (child to adult) and their teachers, I learned just how important visuals are in meeting the needs of different types of learners. This is too often a missing piece in the marketing mindset; we focus on what we want people to do, the action we want…

  • Content Marketing Tactics: Business Blogging Pros, Cons, Best Practices & Brands Doing It Right

    Miranda Miller
    14 May 2013 | 3:55 am
    As part of our continuing series on content marketing tactics, I’ll be covering a topic that is absolutely near and dear to every content marketer’s heart: business blogging. According to a recent NM Incite report, there are over 181 million blogs around the world. The way many companies treat blogs in their content marketing mix is to incorporate blogs into their website as a section or subdomain, or host them on their own domain name as we do. With that kind of popularity, you would think everyone in business would know what a blog is and would be using them to their maximum…

  • Want to Improve Your Online Marketing? Master These Search & Social Media Tactics

    Lee Odden
    13 May 2013 | 5:01 am
    Fast changing trends and serious competition has digital marketers chasing the latest and greatest tactics like hamsters on exercise wheels. Good advice is both hard and too easy to come by. Search “social media marketing” on Google and there are over 1 billion results. All the scrambling often means core skills are overlooked. In fact, one of the easiest things a company can do to improve online marketing performance is to stop sucking at the basics. When it comes to optimizing for search and social media, well implemented basics are as good for search engines and social networks…
 
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    Tom Martin:

  • How To Network Like a Pro on LinkedIn

    tommartin
    6 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    Lately I've been getting a lot more requests from to conduct LinkedIn Networking Workshops for B2B sales teams. It seems companies and organizations are finally waking up to the fact that LinkedIn is so much more than an online resume collection. At the same time I'm seeing an uptick in really bad LinkedIn networking attempts. So today I wanted to take a few minutes to share three simple tips that I usually reserve for our LinkedIn Workshops. If you'd like to hear more tips, you can always request a LinkedIn Workshop for your company. In the meantime, enjoy these simple starters. How Not To…

  • The Invisible Sale

    tommartin
    23 Apr 2013 | 7:01 am
    The Invisible Sale shows you how to leverage digital tools to attract more qualified leads, shorten your sales cycle, and increase your conversion rates.

  • Facebook As Point-of-Sale Marketing Tool

    tommartin
    23 Jan 2013 | 9:16 am
    Companies continue to create ways to monetize Facebook fans. Today I found Soldsie and thought it worthy of sharing with you. Check it out.

  • 21 Reasons You Should Join Me In Los Angeles

    tommartin
    10 Jan 2013 | 1:58 pm
    Have you seen the line-up for the BlogH.O.T Conference in Los Angeles this Spring? If not, here are 21 reasons you should register. And here are a few of my favorite highlights: CC Chapman -- Author of Content Rules, Amazing Things Will Happen and one of the most creative content marketing guys you'll ever get the chance to hear. Chuck Hemann -- this guy has forgotten more about analytics than most of us will ever know. I mean, he's scary smart and if you're looking to figure out online analytics and how to leverage them on your website, blog or beyond, you want to talk with and hear from…

  • Pinterest & Podcasts - Research

    tommartin
    20 Dec 2012 | 5:43 am
    Have you switched your RSS or eMail sign-up to my new blog yet? If not, you missed my latest posts: How To Use Pinterest For Ethnographic Research (one of the most popular posts at the new blog) Should My Company Be on Instagram or Pinterest - based on user demos, you might be surprised The Art of B to B Sales Seduction -- if you're in the B2B Marketing or Sales world, you'll dig this one How To Use Social Media For Consumer Research - great stuff on using Google Hangouts Will 2013 Be The Year of The Podcast? - You be the judge, we give you the stats here As you can see, I'm trying to pump…
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    Ads of the World™

  • Santa Therezinha Maternity Hospital: Bad storks, Bar

    ivan
    17 May 2013 | 8:38 pm
    You can't trust all storks. Advertising Agency: Binder Visão Estratégica, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Creative Director: Marcos Apóstolo Art Director: Marcus Saulnier Copywriter: Gustavo Nogueira Head of Art: Marcus Saulnier Illustrator: Estúdio Ícone Art Buyers: Bianca Repsold , Clara Queiroz Account Executives: Lucas Daibert Published: May 2013

  • Santa Therezinha Maternity Hospital: Bad storks, Lineup

    ivan
    17 May 2013 | 8:38 pm
    You can't trust all storks. Advertising Agency: Binder Visão Estratégica, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Creative Director: Marcos Apóstolo Art Director: Marcus Saulnier Copywriter: Gustavo Nogueira Head of Art: Marcus Saulnier Illustrator: Estúdio Ícone Art Buyers: Bianca Repsold , Clara Queiroz Account Executives: Lucas Daibert Published: May 2013

  • States United to Prevent Gun Violence: Guns leave bigger holes than you think

    ivan
    17 May 2013 | 8:34 pm
    Advertising Agency: Grey, NY, USA President / Chief Creative Officer: Tor Myhren Executive Creative Directors: Per Pedersen, Steve Krauss, Ari Halper Creatives: Corel Theuma, Pieter Melief Creative Reputation Manager: Rachel West Account Director: Elizabeth Gilchrist Assistant Account Executive: Cassie Novick Graphic Services: Jay Green

  • Incredible Connection: Camera

    ivan
    17 May 2013 | 8:30 pm
    Now all I capture is dust. Send your old tech to a better place. Trade in and upgrade 16Feb – 28March Advertising Agency: M&C Saatchi Abel, Johannesburg, South Africa Photographer: Mark Lanning Published: February 2013

  • Incredible Connection: Printer

    ivan
    17 May 2013 | 8:30 pm
    I used to have a corner office. Send your old tech to a better place. Trade in and upgrade 16Feb – 28March Advertising Agency: M&C Saatchi Abel, Johannesburg, South Africa Photographer: Mark Lanning Published: February 2013
 
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    The Responsible Marketing Blog

  • Role Reversal: Perceptions of Men and Women in Advertising

    Andrea
    9 May 2013 | 2:20 pm
    Check out this eye-opening video put together by a Women and Gender Studies class at the University of Saskatchewan by Sarah Zelinski, Kayla Hatzel and Dylan Lambi-Raine. They wanted to show how ridiculous media portrays gender roles and stereotypes in advertising through presenting gender roll reversals. As depicted in the video, our parents went through their own generational stereotypes with women striving for perfection at home and men expecting it. At least that’s what the ads told us. So, what if  my husband finds out I’m not buying the freshest coffee? Well, he can take…

  • Holy Shift: Creepy George will “Fix your transmission”

    Patrick
    1 May 2013 | 12:38 am
    Oh, this ad for Arlen Transmission is so bad in so many ways – but like a car accident, I can’t take my eyes off it. It’s got the tackiness and female objectification of the Beacon Plumbing’s ‘fix my pipes’ lady: . . . with a little touch of the classic Vern Fonk “Shipoopi” – Dance! video: Sure, it’s driving word of mouth, but would an ad like this make you more or less apt to hire Arlen Transmission? - – - Credit where it’s due: “Holy Shift” was a comment by Pavos Bannout in the video’s YouTube…

  • Nonprofits must differentiate or die

    Reeves
    22 Apr 2013 | 2:05 am
    It’s not a fear tactic deployed by marketing agencies to scare the bejesus out of nonprofits. It is, in fact, a hard truth about the nature of the nonprofit sector. Dissimilar, indistinctive and alike will get you killed in any fiercely competitive, over-saturated market – let alone the nonprofit sector. In today’s market, nonprofits (and businesses alike) must differentiate or die. Why fast, cheap, and fast design is killing your nonprofit’s brand tackles the subject head on, and we couldn’t agree more: “Only 20% of causes report having a formal, written marketing…

  • Dove Real Beauty Sketches: Responsible Marketing, I think.

    Andrea
    19 Apr 2013 | 5:11 pm
    If you haven’t already seen this “Dove Real Beauty Sketches” clip that everyone is posting on Facebook, take a gander: Dove once again pulls through in this touching video about how women view themselves in such poor light compared to how others see them. It is sad how women are especially critical of every mole, point, curve, bump, and supposed flaw on their bodies.Dove does a wonderful job conveying that we are our worst critics and you need to be confident in who you are because others do see you as beautiful. Dove’s message: “Imagine a world where beauty is a source of…

  • Announcing the 2013 Master Recycler Composter (MRC) volunteer training!

    Patrick
    16 Apr 2013 | 10:50 pm
    You probably know Outsource Marketing has been awarded a Best Workplace for Waste Prevention and Recycling for six years straight, right? Now you do. Did you also know that 60 percent of what goes to Cedar Hills Regional Landfill could be recycled? The King County Solid Waste Division is looking for outgoing individuals who want to inspire others to reduce waste and recycle more. Learn all about the do’s and don’ts of curbside recycling, including food scrap recycling, and then put your training to work through volunteer outreach. This FREE training is open to King County…
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    Marketing & Strategy Innovation Blog

  • Social Media Marketing Advice, According To Doctor Who

    ath
    17 May 2013 | 9:25 am
    Fans who ordered DVDs of this season’s BBC series Doctor Who have started receiving them, only there’s a catch: The disc contains the season’s final episode, which has yet to air on TV! The show’s producers have made a big deal about that finale, including promises of plot twists and revelations that will be huge for Whovians. read more

  • The Power of Brands to Change the World

    ath
    17 May 2013 | 9:18 am
    While many of us live out our sheltered lives, the rest of our country and world remains trapped in destructive cycles: poverty, climate change, poor health, declining education, habitat destruction, toxic waste… the list goes on. Companies play a huge role in both the problems and the solutions; they’ve been making progress in CSR and sustainability, but it’s been largely through behind-the-scenes efforts to mitigate risk or reduce costs. read more

  • Customer Experience Lessons from Mom

    ath
    11 May 2013 | 12:38 am
    In honor of Mother's Day this weekend, I thought this was a fitting time to share some customer experience lessons from Mom. It's been a while since I've done a "Customer Experience Lessons from..." post. I enjoy writing them, so I'll be doing more of them real soon. As I'm writing my blog, I often weave in stories about my kids - lessons I've taught them or conversations we've had that seem to apply equally to this world of customer experience. Time to put them all together in one place. So here goes... read more

  • Amazon Earns Customer Loyalty With Integrity, Not Rewards

    ath
    11 May 2013 | 12:33 am
    I got an email a few days ago from Amazon, telling me the price of the book I’d ordered had dropped, so it was passing the savings on to me. I think it was all of $.16. But that small sum is why I’m a loyal customer. read more

  • Liked Iron Man? You'll Love Super-Sensory Augmentation

    ath
    11 May 2013 | 12:27 am
    The world of Iron Man may be closer to being a reality than we originally thought. A group of design students at the Royal College of Art in London recently created two different "Iron Man masks" that give their wearers sensory superpowers. One mask is worn over the ears, mouth and nose, giving users the ability to hear things that were never before possible by using a multi-directional microphone. The other mask is worn over the eyes and enables users to see different types of movement patterns around them. read more
 
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    mobileStorm » Blog

  • Most Amazing Invitation to a Grand Opening in the World

    Jared Reitzin
    10 May 2013 | 6:00 am
    A couple of weeks ago my wife and I were invited to attend the Hakkasan Restaurant & Nightclub’s grand opening in Las Vegas. Angel Management Group (who manages Hakkasan) is a client of ours, and to this day I have never received an invitation to a nightclub even remotely close to the sophistication of Hakkasan’s grand opening invitation. I mean, I have received some pretty neat wedding party invitations where it must have been a $500 per head, but those invitations did not come with a wireless bluetooth speaker. I read reports that it cost $200,000,000 to completely open…

  • When Social Media Goes Wrong

    Jared Reitzin
    8 Mar 2013 | 9:44 am
    Recently I took my almost five year old daughter to a father/daughter dance. One of the fun activities was a whole table full of glasses, hats, jewelry, and a whole bunch of other funny props you could wear. You then lined up, and a photographer took your picture. KK and I had the best time posing for the camera while dressing up in all of these funny outfits. One of the pictures of myself I thought came out pretty funny. I had slipped on this really odd hat and tilted it backwards, put on some Porsche Carrera sun glasses and of course looking as gangster as possible, threw up…

  • Multi-message, cross-channel triggers have arrived!

    Joseph Shavit
    5 Mar 2013 | 2:00 am
    mobileStorm fans, partners (we call our clients partners because we really do view them as such) and friends we have great news to announce this morning.  mobileStorm for Healthcare just got a major upgrade.  We’re talking Hyper-drive here.  Up till now, our partners enjoyed the ease of messaging to both email and sms lists in the same campaign through our innovative and efficient drag and drop interface.  They could also use our robust Audience and Communication APIs to trigger email and sms campaigns out of their own system while also maintaining a real-time sync of their database…

  • mobileStorm Launches Trigger-based Multi-Channel Messaging and Rules Engine

    Joseph Shavit
    5 Mar 2013 | 2:00 am
    mobileStorm, a 13-year veteran of email, mobile, and social communication, announces the official release of the newest version of its healthcare messaging platform; unveils new capabilities that dramatically extend messaging for patient engagement. Los Angeles, CA, March 1, 2013 – mobileStorm, Inc. (www.mobilestorm.com), one of the companies leading the charge in America for mHealth patient engagement, announced today that it has taken a significant leap forward with the latest version of its secure healthcare messaging platform, mobileStorm for Healthcare. mobileStorm for Healthcare…

  • Our Booth is a Boat (mHealth Summit Event Recap)

    Jared Reitzin
    11 Dec 2012 | 5:41 pm
    Working closely with the Kony Solutions team, we rented a boat during the 2012 mHealth Summit in Washington D.C. The boat pulled up to the back of the hotel where we had our group load in for some dinner, drinks and dancing. There was a lot more talking then dancing going on. We held a contest and gave away prizes like the Kindle Fire HD and Apple TV. People had to answer ridiculous questions like “what decade was Madonna born in”. All-in-all it was a fun night and anytime someone asked me “where is your booth”, I just said “our booth is floating out back. Our booth is a boat”.
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    The Retail Email Blog

  • AM Inbox: First Mention of Dad's day + a Do and a Don't for Subject Line Personalization

    16 May 2013 | 11:25 pm
    The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning: Snapfish, 5/15 -- 5 must-haves for Dad | Print sale | Free shipping +30% off books and more With Mother's Day just behind us, and Memorial Day and Graduations just ahead, there is no dearth of occasions for email marketers to promote right now. This email from Snapfish is the first sighting for The Retail Email Blog for Father's Day promotions this season. LOFT, 5/15 -- Lyla, You're the first to know… This email from LOFT is a nice example of a…

  • AM Inbox: Introducing Deal of the Hour

    13 May 2013 | 10:17 pm
    The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning: Coach Factory Online, 5/10 -- Now $79: Deal #1 at the Deal of the Hour Event! Move over Deal of the Day… Coach Factory Online has started rolling out Deal of the Hour campaigns. A surefire way to keep the serious shopaholic engaged, Coach is offering twelve deals with special pricing, with a new deal every hour, on the hour. In order to avoid flooding their subscriber's inboxes with a dozen emails in one day, Coach sends the emails for a third…

  • AM Inbox: Great Cross Promotions for The Great Gatsby

    9 May 2013 | 11:08 pm
    The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning: katespade.com, 5/9 -- have you met our great gatsby clutch? This email sent by katespade.com is perfectly timed to coincide with tomorrow's release of The Great Gatsby. Other than the timeliness of the email, there doesn't appear to be any relationship to the movie. The featured product is of a classic book clutch. A click to the email takes the subscriber to a landing page where The Great Gatsby is one of 6 classic novels featured in the clutch…

  • AM Inbox: Fresh & Easy… Just Like the Name Says

    6 May 2013 | 10:03 pm
    The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Inc., 5/6 -- Extra savings on chicken breasts when you use your Made for Me coupons! Fresh & Easy has one of the better customer rewards programs I have encountered. Unlike some grocery retailers, their Made for Me coupons are genuinely tailored towards the user (not merely configured with whichever products might be on promotional special that week). Indeed, I have previously purchased every product…

  • AM Inbox: Cross-Brand Promotional Emails for Mother's Day

    2 May 2013 | 11:57 pm
    The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning: AAA, 5/2 -- Save 40% on Mother’s Day Flowers at FTD Just about everybody is sending out promotional emails for Mother'sDay… even AAA! This cross-brand email campaign partnering with FTD is a smart move on AAA's part... A much better selling point for the occasion than roadside assistance. :) Anthropologie, 5/2 -- Blooms For Mom, Courtesy of Terrain Unlike AAA, Anthropologie carries its own products that will likely be well-received as Mother's…
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    Service Untitled

  • Consumer Reports says Apple does customer service better

    Cheryl
    6 May 2013 | 8:13 am
    The ultimate success of a company is predicated on exceptional customer service experiences. For post-sales service, Consumer Reports ranked Apple Customer Service ahead of other companies for best PC tech support with the company scoring an 86 out of a possible 100 points. The survey included 6,313 owners of PCs and laptops and explored their experiences with technical service over the past year via telephone, online communication, and in-store help. According to Consumer Reports, Apple’s in-house technical support service, the Genius Bar, rated as high as telephone and online services…

  • ‘WOW’ customer service has to be reliable and consistent

    Cheryl
    22 Apr 2013 | 10:38 am
    Once again it’s Spring when our fancy changes to thoughts of love and the beautiful outdoors. We picture the lush green lawns, the colorful summer blooms, the pool, the grill, and the patio designed for that blissful oasis as casual parties for friends and family become welcome weekend events. And so the shopping begins. With the convenience of online browsing, the possibilities are endless, but how will our online retailers handle customer service? Now all of those outdoor pillows, cushions, umbrellas, and rugs are looking a bit shabby from the hot Florida sunlight of the past years,…

  • Book Review: The Customer Service Survival Kit

    Cheryl
    10 Apr 2013 | 7:10 am
    The Customer Service Survival Kit was written by Richard S. Gallagher, a practicing psychotherapist and the author of many customer service books who has trained over 20,000 people on how to handle the most daunting situations with customers while improving their confidence and an organization’s customer relations. The Customer Service Survival Kit helps us to diffuse even the worst emotional and intentional customer complaints, and step by step helps the customer service representative diffuse the anger and angst of those stressful situations in a calm, reflective manner.  Whereas…

  • Avoid costly mistakes by creating a better call center for customers

    Cheryl
    2 Apr 2013 | 8:02 am
    Call centers can range from one or two people in a small office to thousands of customer service representatives in huge office complexes, but a customer’s view is set by their first impression or that first phone call needed for help. Whereas customers don’t ever want to feel that once their purchase was made, the organization no longer cares about them and is just out there fishing for new clients, one of the prime frustrations often deals with call centers and their notorious poor service ranging from finding the right representative, hanging on hold for an extended amount of…

  • Walmart’s dismal customer service scores drive customers away

    Cheryl
    19 Mar 2013 | 9:01 am
    Since 2007, Walmart department and discount stores repeatedly have been labeled with the dubious distinction of having the “worst customer service in America.” The Bentonville, Arkansas based retailer scored a 71 out of 100 rating; the lowest grade for customer service as rated by  The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), an independent national benchmark of customer satisfaction in the United States. As a supermarket, the company didn’t do much better; scoring a 72 out of 100 rating  and similarly low scores since 2005. The problem with Walmart is multifaceted.
 
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    David Airey, graphic designer

  • A billboard that turns air into drinkable water

    David Airey
    17 May 2013 | 7:11 am
    Probably the best billboard I’ve ever seen. Photo credit: Draftfcb / UTEC Situated outside the small community of Bujama, Peru, it cost around $32,000 to make, and creates approximately 100 litres of drinkable water every day. “It works by condensing vapour in the air (humidity in the region is around 98 per cent) into water, before passing it through a series of filters and running it under UV lamps for further purification. The clean water is then collected in a tank and dispensed through a tap which can be used by anyone walking past.” Quoted from Creative Review. The…

  • More on unpaid internships

    David Airey
    7 May 2013 | 6:52 am
    Photo by Nick Loyless We talked about unpaid internships back in 2011, and the topic generated a fair bit of chat in the comment thread. Here’s a question from a recent commentator. “I worked at a social enterprise as an unpaid intern last winter and my friends all questioned why I would do an unpaid job. [...] “The social enterprise, which is kind of between a normal company and an NGO, aims to hire a large amount of interns for a short-term continuous labour source. They only have several full-time workers. Do you think this plan is sustainable?” I don’t. The…

  • New work: Virtulos

    David Airey
    25 Apr 2013 | 8:10 pm
    Here’s something I worked on in February and March for São Paulo-based Virtulos. I created three design options for my client, and you can view more info about the chosen direction over on the Virtulos portfolio page. Brand identity inspiration on Identity Designed.

  • Only 4% of women consider themselves beautiful

    David Airey
    16 Apr 2013 | 8:33 am
    “Women are their own worst beauty critics. In fact, only 4% of women around the world consider themselves beautiful. Dove is committed to building positive self-esteem and inspiring all women and girls to reach their full potential. That’s why we decided to conduct a compelling social experiment that proves to women something very important: You are more beautiful than you think.” For this latest experiment in the Real Beauty campaign, Dove and Ogilvy hired Gil Zamora, an FBI-trained forensic artist, to sketch women two ways: the first in their own words, the second in the…

  • From the reader #18

    David Airey
    11 Apr 2013 | 3:54 am
    Smells like design sales. A short post on A List Apart about win/lose pitch ratios and designers selling themselves. Some decent comments in the thread, too. I don’t know what a big thinker is, and Forbes isn’t exactly a regular read, but this was interesting: The world in 2033: big thinkers and futurists share their thoughts. A bird ballet. Beautiful. “It’s not where you take things from — it’s where you take them to.” — JEAN-LUC GODARD Quoted from designmadeingermany.de. As a healthier old age is supposed to await (most of) us, a professor argues that…
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    PR-Squared - Social Media Marketing and Public Relations

  • Nibbling at the Apple

    cpenn
    7 May 2013 | 4:22 am
    It’s becoming fashionable to take a bite out of Apple. There was Jean-Louis Gassée’s scathing article in the Guardian. There was Jon Gruber (of Daring Fireball) damning Apple with faint praise: blaming the media for cherrypicking the news to weave a narrative about Apple’s slow demise. I expect the chorus to grow louder before it weakens. Blood in the water, and all that. Apple doesn’t do itself many favors. Its trenchant secrecy used to seem cool – and I daresay it would still be considered cool – if not for the fact that a) competitive technologies are legitimately “catching…

  • Did you know 70% of Facebook users are mobile?

    cpenn
    3 May 2013 | 5:56 am
    …at least some of the time. That’s the latest in our findings after reading through Facebook’s Q12013 SEC Filing. See what other surprises are on tap for marketers in our summary on the SHIFT Communications blog post.

  • SHIFT Turns 10: Reflecting Back, Looking Forward

    cpenn
    30 Apr 2013 | 5:55 am
    When we sat around a conference table and battled through the process of defining our values a few years ago, SHIFT changed as an organization – we now had criteria that helped us define what it meant to be a SHIFTer and helped guide us through decisions, whether it was about our people, clients or services. We had a roadmap in a way we never had one before – sure, the instinct had been there, but now it was tangible and the fact that those values have lived far beyond a poster on a wall, is something we all take tremendous pride in as an organization. Want to see what we did with those…

  • Put out the fires with effective crisis communications

    cpenn
    2 Apr 2013 | 5:41 am
    Over on the SHIFT blog, we’re looking at the strategy for extinguishing the fires when your brand is ablaze. Knowledge, speed, and ownership are the three keys that will help you get things under control quickly with effective crisis communications. Learn more and download the free infographic now!

  • How to measure PR, parts 4-8

    cpenn
    28 Mar 2013 | 4:51 am
    Measuring PR and earned media has always been something of a challenge in the past, but thanks to digital marketing and metrics tools, it’s easier today to find the impact of PR, even with businesses that have significant offline components. In this series on the SHIFT blog, we’re looking at 7 different ways to see how PR is improving the performance of your digital marketing and sales programs for organizations of all kinds. Take a look at the whole series, just finished today: Sales/business goals Marketing metrics Social media Search marketing Paid advertising Primary research…
 
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    Osocio Weblog

  • Victim-blaming sexual harassment “PSAs” from Iran

    Tom Megginson
    17 May 2013 | 11:01 am
    Translation: “Veil is Security” We talk a lot, in the west, about victim-blaming in sexual assault and harassment ads. In Iran, however, deliberate victim-blaming is apparently the preferred strategy. This collection, put together by Buzzfeed’s Copyranter, provides translations which I have included below the images. Author: Tom Megginson

  • Is #FitchTheHomeless really a good thing?

    Tom Megginson
    15 May 2013 | 5:24 pm
    On the surface, it seems like the perfect activist social media stunt. After seven-year-old comments by Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries, in which he claimed the brand was only suitable for “cool, good-looking” (and thin) people, resurfaced online to great protest, filmmaker Greg Karber decided to mess with the brand. His big idea? Attack A&F’s elitism by clothing homeless Los Angelenos in the brand: The upside of this is that people got free clothes. There are, however, some big problems with the approach. Author: Tom Megginson

  • Kristin signs up for the lactivist cause

    Tom Megginson
    15 May 2013 | 3:43 pm
    It’s difficult not to develop an internet crush on Kristin Henson. The pixie-ish 26-year-old from Philadelphia has made a name for herself on social media with her YouTube series, “Dirty Signs With Kristin”. In each episode, Ms. Henson teaches viewers a new obscene phrase or term — from “hey, you’re an asshole” to “twat waffle”. The approach has proven popular online, even though the amateur quality of her signs and the crude content have made Ms. Henson some enemies in the deaf community. This week’s “dirty” sign, however,…

  • Super simple texting PSAs drive the point home

    Tom Megginson
    15 May 2013 | 11:31 am
    The premise of this 25-second PSA is so visually simple, it could have been a print ad. But the storytelling capability of video is put to good use building anticipation: Author: Tom Megginson

  • “Buycott” app reads the corporate DNA of things you buy

    Tom Megginson
    15 May 2013 | 10:31 am
    Are you comfortable doing business with the Koch Brothers, and giving them more money for their right wing political lobbying? Do you want to buy in to Monsanto’s efforts to modify and aggressively patent the genetics of staple food crops? Those are personal decisions in a free market economy. But to be a rational consumer, you need more information than can be found on product packaging. Since large corporations often grow by absorbing smaller brands, often you have no idea where your dollars are ending up. Los Angeles-based programmer Ivan Pardo would like to change that with a new…
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    CK's Blog

  • Mobile Innovation Series (Part 6): Innovating Value Propositions

    CK (Christina Kerley)
    7 May 2013 | 7:30 am
    As introduced five weeks ago, I'm currently running a 6-Part Article Series on Mobile Innovation that illuminates 5 mobile innovation strategies across brand engagement, sales channels, product offerings, customer experiences, and value propositions.  Throughout the series I've explored the wide-ranging strategies across innovating brand engagement through mobile, innovating sales channels through mobile, innovating product offerings through mobile and innovating customer experiences through mobile. Which brings me full…

  • Mobile Innovation Series (Part 5): Innovating Customer Experiences

    CK (Christina Kerley)
    30 Apr 2013 | 7:10 am
    As introduced four weeks ago, I'm currently running a 6-Part Article Series on Mobile Innovation that illuminates 5 mobile innovation strategies across brand engagement, sales channels, product offerings, customer experiences, and value propositions.  So far I've explored three strategies: innovating brand engagement through mobile, innovating sales channels through mobile and innovating product offerings through mobile. And that brings me to strategy #4: Innovating Customer Experiences through Mobile. Marketers go to…

  • Mobile Innovation Series (Part 4): Innovating Product Offerings

    CK (Christina Kerley)
    23 Apr 2013 | 7:33 am
    As introduced three weeks ago, I'm currently running a 6-Part Article Series on Mobile Innovation that illuminates 5 mobile innovation strategies across brand engagement, sales channels, product offerings, customer experiences, and value propositions.  So far I've explored two strategies: innovating brand engagement through mobile and innovating sales channels through mobile. And that brings me to strategy #3: Innovating Product Offerings Through Mobile. Inarguably, the lifeblood of any company is its revenue. And the sale of product offerings—be it products,…

  • Mobile Innovation Series (Part 3): Innovating Sales Channels

    CK (Christina Kerley)
    16 Apr 2013 | 7:25 am
    As introduced two weeks ago, I'm currently running a 6-Part Article Series on Mobile Innovation that illuminates 5 mobile innovation strategies across brand engagement, sales channels, product offerings, customer experiences, and value propositions.  Last week—view the article here—I explored the first strategy of "innovating brand engagement" through mobile and this week I dive into Innovation Strategy #2 where I explore: Innovating Sales Channels through Mobile.  As any marketer knows, sales are mission-critical to the success and survival of…

  • Video Clip: Mobile Marketing & M2M Communications (aka "The Internet of Things")

    CK (Christina Kerley)
    14 Apr 2013 | 1:48 pm
    Last week I had the pleasure of speaking on mobile marketing and m2m communications (aka, "The Internet of Things") at the BMA NJ Conference. Below is a video featuring some portions of my speech focusing on Marketing in the Age of Constant Connectivity through Mobile Marketing and M2M Communications (run-time of 4:05 minutes). For more of my videos, ebooks and articles, please go here.  
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    Servant of Chaos

  • Did the Job You’re In Exist When You Were Studying?

    Gavin Heaton
    15 May 2013 | 1:50 pm
    Stéfan via CompfightPredicting the future is incredibly difficult. Ask any psychic. Or marketer. We don’t need research to tell us that the world is changing, or that the future will be different from the past. The challenge is magnified not only by the amount of change that we are seeing in almost every industry, but by the rate at which those changes are taking place. Futurist, Tim Longhurst says to predict five years into the future you need to look back ten. Is it any wonder that younger generations entering the workforce are finding it hard to plot their future careers? As it turns…

  • Putting Experience Back into Customer Experience

    Gavin Heaton
    15 May 2013 | 3:13 am
    Yesterday I wrote about the importance of reading mean tweets. It’s a post about the rough and tumble nature of online conversation and what can happen when you step out into the gaze (and full throttle voice) of the social web. And then today, almost on cue, comes what BuzzFeed calls the most epic brand meltdown on Facebook ever. It began with an appearance on Gordon Ramsey’s reality TV show, Kitchen Nightmares. As you can see from the footage from the show, the episode did not play well for the owners of Amy’s Baking Company Bakery Boutique & Bistro in Scottsdale, Arizona. No…

  • Reading Mean Tweets – Social Media Beyond the Magic Mirror

    Gavin Heaton
    13 May 2013 | 10:51 pm
    Are you an executive stepping into the world of social media? Are you a leader learning to tweet? Or are you in charge of a social media account or community site for a brand? If so, you may have experienced a flurry of mean tweets. And by “mean” I nasty. Mirror, mirror on the wall, whose brand is fairest of them all? You see, for decades, we have all been living the life of the Evil Queen, viewing the world through the wonderful frame of our very own magic mirror. We frame the question. Ask it. And wait for the adulation to return. And in a world where every question, all “market…

  • Five Must-Read Posts

    Gavin Heaton
    12 May 2013 | 4:46 pm
    From innovation to execution and from twitter to real world impact, this week’s five must-read posts run the gamut. Theo Priestley reminds us that you are what you tweet. And that employers are scouring social media sites to learn more about your history, behaviour and suitability. The more things change, the more things stay the same. In fact, things may change, but our behaviour only shifts in small increments. Check out John Dodds’ seven year marketing itch. Are you marketing to millennials? Then Blair Reeves says, you’d best take them seriously. Great article! Do you live inside the…

  • A Minute is a Long Time–On the Internet

    Gavin Heaton
    8 May 2013 | 4:02 pm
    They say that a week is a long time in politics. That was certainly the case when there was a “daily” news cycle. Any announcements or revelations needed to be revealed in time for stories to be written, edited, photographs to be prepared, processed and newspapers to be printed. Breaking news was the domain of the more instantaneous broadcasters like radio and TV. And even then, only the most explosive news items would break programming. But the web changed all that. It has taken two decades at least, but the internet has now thoroughly transformed the way that we source, gather, verify…
 
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    Other Side Group » Thoughts

  • When did social media lose its way? [Infographic]

    Kate Brodock
    7 May 2013 | 4:25 pm
    In conjunction with the launch of its new Social Inbox tool, Hubspot released an infographic on how companies have lost their way in terms of using social media for marketing and promotion, and also suggest what it might mean to get back on course.

  • Steve Nicholls on Social Media as a Crucial Component for Success

    Kate Brodock
    7 May 2013 | 10:35 am
    This is a guest post by Steve Nicholls, author of the best-selling Social Media in Business Thinking of a business strategy without social media has become antiquated, unless you travel at least 20 years back in time. Today, a business is no longer sustainable without an effective social media agenda. Even giant organizations like Starbucks, Groupon, Reuters or British Airways have all started to incorporate social media; this is because businesses simply cannot do without it any longer. Social media can be defined as the experience of sharing content online, whether music, videos,…

  • Brands as Content Agents: Creators, Providers and Publishers [#IUNY13 Panel]

    Kate Brodock
    24 Apr 2013 | 7:47 am
    A discussion with Bonin Bough, VP of Global Media and Consumer Engagement for Mondelez International, Deborah Conrad, Corporate VP and CMO of Intel, Fernando Machado, of Unilever, and Steve Phelps, SVP and CMO of NASCAR, on how brands have learned to collaborate in new ways to produce stories that get attention and move an audience toward action. Part of Fast Company’s Innovation Uncensored 2013 event, 23-24 April in NYC. Fast Company: How has your concept of content changed? Phelps: The content itself is our racing. Racing itself has changed in terms of product relevance, and…

  • Mario Batali as a Media Maven [#IUNY13]

    Kate Brodock
    23 Apr 2013 | 1:29 pm
    Mario Batali spends all his time on Twitter – so where has he found the time to star in a TV show, write nine cookbooks, establish a charitable foundation, open dozens of restaurants, and…cook? An intimate chat with the unique New York culinary impresario as part of Fast Company’s Innovation Uncensored 2013 event, 23-24 April in NYC. Fast Company: Management’s probably a big deal. You’re not cooking in the kitchen anymore. Does social media help? Batali: I do all the social media myself. I find it enjoyable. I choose the ones I want to answer, I involve myself in it.

  • Wharton School’s Jonah Berger talks about a smarter kind of viral [#IUNY13]

    Kate Brodock
    23 Apr 2013 | 1:00 pm
    A 7 minute Master Class on “A Smarter Kind of Viral,” with James B Campbell Assistant Professor of Marketing at Wharton Business School and Authorof Contagious. Part of Fast Company’s Innovation Uncensored 2013 event, 23-24 April in NYC.   Key takeaways: Why do things go viral? What can organizations learn from it? Word of mouth has a big impact on human behavior. Trust and targeting. You trust where it comes from, and you’re not going to hear about it unless it’s relevant. Only 7% of WOM is online. Things don’t go viral because of cats. Social…
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    m-cause

  • 7 steps to consider when taking a start-up or small business global

    Ryan Jones
    29 Apr 2013 | 11:01 am
    We live in truly amazing times.  Back in the internet stone age (the year 2000) there were only 350 Million online globally, and the content was largely English language focused.  Today, 2.6 Billion people are online and the dominant country is China. As access to the internet has exploded over the past few years, some digital powerhouses have done a great job of taking their businesses global.  Facebook, for example, had such a rabid following that they were able to crowdsource the initial translation of their site – largely for free.  This allowed them to rapidly expand and…

  • Is something in your background bothering you?

    Ryan Jones
    6 Mar 2013 | 2:31 am
    When I bought my first iPhone a few years ago, I was drawn in by the allure of Apple and the world of Apps. At the time, I didn’t realize how many sensors were inside my phone. The coolest thing for me as a consumer was the accelerometer–the sensor that enabled the iPhone to figure out if it should be in landscape or portrait mode and adjust itself accordingly. Later, of course, GPS functionality was added along with a compass and a gyroscopic sensor, giving birth to an incredible range of Apps and devices (e.g. Nike Fuel Band/FitBit) that quantify your fitness progress. Recently,…

  • Want fries with that hack?

    Ryan Jones
    22 Feb 2013 | 6:02 am
    Those of you who subscribe to this blog via email might have (oddly) received an older post from “me” in your inbox today.   Some of you might have noticed a strange little ad at the bottom of the e-mail. Additionally, if by chance you recently Googled m-cause, you may have received a notice that my site may be “compromised.” All is well now.  I’ve had the site cleaned, changed all my passwords and installed a new plug-in that should protect me going forward–so please don’t worry   Hopefully, Google will decide to remove the…

  • What if you had no alternative?

    Ryan Jones
    17 Jan 2013 | 7:56 am
    Hello Everyone, Some of you know that my wife & I were in Madagascar last year. There we met Andry. Andry was abandoned on the streets of Madagascar when he was 12. His life was in danger because of a local superstitious curse. Luckily, he was rescued and brought to the Betikara orphanage where he struggled heavily at first after spending 12 years on the streets. Now, he speaks 4 languages and helps the orphanage. Sadly, his kidneys failed a few years ago and he’s been on expensive dialysis ($30,000/yr). The orphanage can no longer fund the dialysis and maintain their operation. If…

  • Content marketing gone terribly wrong

    Ryan Jones
    15 Jan 2013 | 3:08 am
    Hey everybody, hope 2013 has gotten off to a great start. I started the year feeling quite positive about some of the developments in the content marketing space.  Venerable news sites like the Atlantic started using interesting sponsored content feeds (like this one from Porsche) on their site–which sure beats banner advertising in my opinion. Just yesterday however, the Atlantic started an online firestorm when they published (very) favorable sponsored content from Scientology–touting the accomplishments of David Miscavige. Here is the advertorial content (or native…
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    Experience: The Blog

  • Two Reasons Why Content Is Not King

    Augie Ray
    1 May 2013 | 8:53 am
    "Content is king." This is something I hear every week in conversations, at conferences and on blogs, but does the fact it is so often repeated make it true? Content is vital, no question about it, so perhaps it does not matter whether we coronate it as king, queen, prince or duke, but I question if giving the throne to content might not cause marketers to lose focus of more important needs and strategies in the social era. There are two reasons why I believe content is not king but something less. Customer Experience Trumps Content At a conference last week, I heard someone declare that…

  • Four Recent Studies on the Rapid Adoption of Social Media by Financial Advisors and Investors

    Augie Ray
    24 Apr 2013 | 4:15 am
    In the Financial Services vertical, you can still find some who think that social media is not that important--that wealthy investors and licensed financial professionals are too busy and too serious to pay attention to (much less create) tweets and posts. The time has come to look at the data and discard groundless and dangerous beliefs about social media. Here are four recent studies that demonstrate social media has a key place in FinServ strategies: Forrester Finds a Strong Correlation Between Social Communications and Financial Advisor Payments In his July 2012 report, "Collaborative…

  • Three Steps to Improve Ethics in Social Media Marketing

    Augie Ray
    23 Apr 2013 | 5:40 am
    In my last blog post, "The Rapidly Diminishing Authenticity of Social Media Marketing," I explored how social media professionals have turned to tactics that undermine some of the core tenets promised by social media. We set larger fan counts as a goal above authentic advocacy, and when meaningful engagement became difficult to achieve, we settled for anything that would earn a like, reply or retweet rather than striving for content that fostered relationships and created value. I will not rehash how I think these poor priorities and tactics undermined brand success in social media. (You can…

  • The Rapidly Diminishing Authenticity of Social Media Marketing

    Augie Ray
    15 Apr 2013 | 8:56 am
    Join me in a journey back to a simpler time; a time of innocence, hope and more than a little naivety. I'm talking, of course, about 2008. Facebook has 100 million users, a mere 200,000 people access Twitter each week, no brands are doing anything more than experimenting with the nascent social medium and virtually no one is employed full time in the field of social media marketing. Those of us who are predicting the future are writing about the power of this medium to create greater authenticity, to build trust and to surface genuine advocacy. Success will not be won, we…

  • Buy This Book: "Can't Buy Me Like," Marketing and Purpose in the Social Era

    Augie Ray
    18 Mar 2013 | 5:45 am
    "Can't Buy Me Like" is a new, very worthwhile book from Bob Garfield, well known ad critic and co-host of NPR's On The Media, and Doug Levy, founder and CEO of  creative and strategic agency MEplusYOU. This is the book every CEO should read, every marketer should ponder and every social media professional will want to distribute. It is not another exploration of social media but of the way the consumer and brand world is changing, what this means to brands and how "marketers can and must define their brands not by the ads, press releases, slogans, coupons, sponsorships and…
 
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    The Future Buzz

  • If Your Study Is This Obvious, It’s A Waste Of Time

    Adam Singer
    16 May 2013 | 9:53 am
    The problem with a lot of digital research is it’s, in a word: obvious. And obvious research is a waste of time and resources. Even if it does get you a hit in media or is referenced in social, it doesn’t actually help anyone (or your reputation).Conducting research for the sake of research is pointless: the data gathered should be enlightening in some regard.With that, I submit, for your approval: the single most obvious study ever. I’m not mentioning the brands because they don’t really warrant a mention (you can click the link and read through if you care to see).

  • Most Restaurant Sites Are Awful: Make Yours Better

    Guest Author
    8 May 2013 | 10:25 am
    The following is a guest post from Future Buzz community member Audrey Welch.Restaurant owners are faced with the challenge of having a greater web presence than ever before. It isn’t enough to have a great looking store front; consumers are looking for you online and even more so, on their mobile devices.Your restaurant business depends on many basic factors such as location, good food and a good staff. However, none of those things matter anymore if you don’t have a good site and mobile experience enticing these consumers to come to you. If your content isn’t accessible and as easy…

  • [Useful] Flowchart For Which CC License You Should Use

    Adam Singer
    29 Apr 2013 | 9:53 am
    I always thought it was pretty clear which Creative Commons license you should use for releasing your work or when using the works of others. However, I’ve also seen plenty of incorrect use of it over the years.So it was cool to see a handy flowchart released on Scribd by Creative Commons Australia for how to know which one you should use. I’ve embedded below for your convenience, it’s worth a printout if you create digital content but are new to using Creative Commons produced works or licenses.Using Creative Commons licenses properly is an essential skill for pretty much…

  • Visualizing And Valuing The Digital Customer Journey

    Adam Singer
    25 Apr 2013 | 1:33 pm
    As we’ve shared in previous posts on measurement, you have to think beyond the last click to understand digital conversions. So I’m especially excited to share a tool created by our team at Google which visually shows the digital customer journey to purchase.The tool draws on Ecommerce and Multi-Channel Funnels data from more than 36,000 Google Analytics clients that authorized sharing, including millions of purchases across 11 industries in 7 countries. Purchase paths in this tool are based on interactions with a single ecommerce advertiser.Here, you’ll find…

  • 3 Useful (And Creative) Analytics Resources To Check Out

    Adam Singer
    24 Apr 2013 | 2:00 pm
    I love when people produce useful, creative resources to help digital marketing practitioners. Bonus points when they do so on a product I market by day (Google Analytics). So I wanted to share a few of the more creative ones I’ve seen recently. 1. Periodic Table of Google AnalyticsGoogle Analytics Certified Partner Jeff Sauer over at Three Deep Marketing has created an awesome play on the periodic table of elements with his analytics interpretation. Check out the full post on his blog. I especially like that he offered this in multiple formats (PDF, infographic and interactive…
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    SEO, SEM and Social Media Chronicles

  • AdWords Optimization with MCC

    Anne Haynes
    9 May 2013 | 7:44 pm
    It’s not easy understanding AdWords, let alone managing AdWords. I find it continually impressive when small business owners contact me for help with their AdWords campaigns and some how these individuals have taken on the challenge of learning how to make the engine work. It does work, but reducing cost per click and increasing profits [...]

  • Report Gmail Spam

    Anne Haynes
    22 Apr 2013 | 5:21 pm
    I want to remind Gmail users how to report spam and ask that we continue to report email spam to Google. I can’t believe this stuff if still getting through my Gmail account, but today I remembered that I don’t report gmail spam enough! When you see spam like this in your Gmail, make sure [...]

  • Automotive Dealership Marketing – Part 2

    Anne Haynes
    10 Apr 2013 | 7:53 pm
    by: Anne Haynes Automotive Marketing – Generating Leads This is Part 2 of my Automotive Dealership Marketing series detailing the complexities of tools. Not all tools are complicated, but volume of tools makes it complicated. To get caught up on the series, read the Automotive Dealership Marketing Part 1, it’s more of an overview, but [...]

  • Can You Benefit from Free Web Hosting?

    Anne Haynes
    25 Mar 2013 | 9:13 am
    Guest Blogger: John Rampton Not everything in life that is free has to be low quality. When it comes to creating a web site or blog you actually have a lot of paid and free web hosting services. Free hosting doesn’t mean you should stay away from them. Actually, it means you may want to [...]

  • Converging Media: Paid, Organic, Owned and Earned Media

    Anne Haynes
    22 Mar 2013 | 1:42 pm
    By: Anne Haynes Converging media is a common concept to building strong social media campaigns. As a community manager and marketing team of 1, I rely heavily on webinars and reading to continually improve my skill-set. I enjoy testing out what marketing journalists and consultants’ document as working to improve conversions and ROI. I started [...]
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    Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That!

  • Showing that you care about your customers

    Andy Sernovitz
    17 May 2013 | 7:00 am
    Salesforce.com is going to be down for 5 minutes tonight. Really, not a big deal to most customers. Most companies would have hoped nobody would notice. Salesforce gave us all a warning when we logged in. It’s how you handle the little things that show the quality of your customer service.

  • Newsletter #937: The “Dream Teams” Issue

    Andy Sernovitz
    16 May 2013 | 8:00 am
    [Welcome back to the Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That! newsletter. This is text of the great issue all of our email subscribers just received. Sign yourself up using the handy form on the right.] Teaming up with another brand is a great way to share fans, word of mouth, and opportunities to reward your customers. But there are more exciting and noteworthy ways to do it than just recommending them or putting their logo next to yours. Here are three examples of great partnerships between: 1. Resorts and Runners 2. Hotels and Bikers 3. Cars and Puppies 4. Check it out: Sponsored Heroes 1.

  • Do something grand, nice, and selfless every week

    Andy Sernovitz
    15 May 2013 | 7:00 am
    During the Boston Marathon crisis, the Chicago Tribune sent pizzas to the Boston Globe. A note said: “We can only imagine what an exhausting and heartbreaking week it’s been for you and your city. But do know your newsroom colleagues here in Chicago and across the country stand in awe of your tenacious coverage. You make us all proud as journalists.” I challenge you to do something simple and awesome every week. Something that helps pick up someone who needs it. (I guess this is what they mean by Random Acts of Kindness.)  

  • 4 key groups to train on word of mouth ethics

    Andy Sernovitz
    14 May 2013 | 8:00 am
    This is a post from our WordofMouth.org project. Check it out for more great word of mouth marketing tips like this every day. Nobody is going to put their reputation on the line to recommend you if they have any questions about your trustworthiness. It takes a long, long time to build this level of trust — and only one dumb move to ruin it forever. As a word of mouth marketer, it’s your job to protect your brand by training these key groups on word of mouth ethics: 1. Your college recruits 2. Your agencies 3. Your independent bloggers 4. Your senior leadership 1. Your college…

  • I can’t code, and you can’t sell crap.

    Andy Sernovitz
    13 May 2013 | 7:00 am
    That line is great advice in a post from Gary Vaynerchuk. What he’s saying: Know who you are and what you’re good at. So many folks look at people succeeding in other professions and longingly wish they were doing that. Professors want to be business people, executives want to be coders, coders want to be entrepreneurs, and managers want to teach. Guess what — each of those is its own thing, and people who have a natural talent for those skills will do fantastic. And folks who aren’t as self-aware and try to jam themselves into the wrong field will never be superstars.
 
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    Bronto Blog

  • What Does Google Glass Mean For Email Marketers?

    Anna Pfeiffer
    15 May 2013 | 9:00 pm
    If you haven’t heard of Google Glass, check out the “What It Does” page on the Google website. To summarize, Glass is a pair of, well... glasses. But without lenses. And with a small screen in the upper corner. The screen projects in front of you, layered with transparency over what you’re seeing around you. Although the screen itself is tiny, the projected image is scaled so that it looks like a 25 inch screen from 8 feet away. It’s pretty hard to describe what it looks like when you’re wearing them but the great folks over at Mashable have put together a gallery of Glass POV…

  • Auto Opt-In Subscribers: An Email Deliverability Debate

    Chris Kolbenschlag
    13 May 2013 | 9:00 pm
    Last week I purchased some cycling clothing from an online retailer and all was well until I started to receive marketing emails from them. While I did make a purchase, I did not sign up for marketing newsletters. It was also not clear that by making a purchase I would receive messages.  Is it okay to send messages to individuals who didn't explicitly opt-in?  Let's take a look at this scenario and how it can affect deliverability. Some might say that since I entered into a business relationship by making a purchase, adding my information to their list is a logical next step. …

  • Optimize Your Email Sign-Up to Grow Your List Organically

    Caroline Smith Riddle
    8 May 2013 | 9:00 pm
    Bronto's Director of Marketing Services, Kristen Gregory, recently sat down to address "Ways to Optimize Your Email Sign-Up to Organically Grow Your List" in this short video. Listen as Kristen talks about four powerful tips that have been proven to help grow list size. read more

  • Acquire Subscribers, Expand Marketing Reach & Drive Revenue through Refer-a-Friend

    Emily Keye
    6 May 2013 | 9:00 pm
    Why should you implement a refer-a-friend campaign? An established refer-a-friend program will enable your business to expand its marketing reach, grow your contact list and, ideally, generate more revenue.  Done correctly, a refer-a-friend program can do all of this while maintaining a permission-based email marketing approach. Keep in mind that the quality of your list plays the BIGGEST part in the success of your email marketing program!  Let's be very clear: just because someone gives you the email address of their friend does not mean you have permission to email them whenever…

  • Remailing: How Often Should I Send?

    Kestrel Lemen
    29 Apr 2013 | 9:00 pm
    At Bronto we've seen clients have great success with remailing, so much so that this regargeting tactic has been compared to "printing money." Recently Bronto Marketing Strategist Kellie Boggs wrote a blog post on remailing that outlines some great tips. read more
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    Internet Marketing for Business - Jim Kukral - Small Business Web Consultant

  • You Suck At Sales

    jim@jimkukral.com (Jim Kukral)
    1 May 2013 | 8:21 am
    I recently filled out an online form in search of fishing camps in Ontario. What happens is I fill out the form, then they take my lead and mail it to all of their advertising partners (fishing camps). So within 48 hours of filling out the form, I have gotten about 50 fishing camps contact me to tell me about their camps. But 99% of the sales pitches they have given me completely suck. 99% of them just email back a one-line “We’re awesome, check our website here www.fishingcamp.com”. And just one of them actually called me. One! So this got me ranting in my head about bad…

  • The Moment I Knew I Never Wanted To Work For Anyone Ever Again

    jim@jimkukral.com (Jim Kukral)
    5 Apr 2013 | 1:56 pm
    I’ve never told this story before. Not in a blog, or in one of my books, or to anyone really. I suppose I suppressed it. But I recently pulled it out of my memory bank because I was listening to a Chris Brogan podcast about why you should quit your job and it spurred this memory up and I wanted to share it with you. I believe this moment has made me into the entrepreneur I am today. Read on if you’re curious. This happened in 1996 or so. I was the fourth employee at a “new media company” here in Cleveland, Ohio. “New Media” was code for Internet company…

  • Book Discovery with PinYourBook.com

    jim@jimkukral.com (Jim Kukral)
    15 Mar 2013 | 9:49 am
    If you’re an author trying to find ways to reach new readers in this new world of self-publishing, then you know that it’s hard. This is why book discovery is the single most important issue facing new authors today. It’s something we all need to be aware of and something we should all be concerning ourselves with. eBook discovery was the reason I created the Author Marketing Club over a year ago. Since that time over 7,500 authors have signed up for free tools and promotional help. Our mantra has always been “We LOVE Free Book Promotion!”. With that being said,…

  • 13 Reasons You’re Not As Successful As Successful As You Should Be

    jim@jimkukral.com (Jim Kukral)
    28 Dec 2012 | 12:38 pm
    One of my most popular things I’ve ever written. Now in infographic form. Please share if you like. Click image to enlarge. Like this? You can get more in my book Business Around a Lifestyle. Read the entire post at NFIB with comments.

  • The Most Difficult Thing To Do Is Talk About Yourself

    jim@jimkukral.com (Jim Kukral)
    13 Nov 2012 | 8:51 am
    Anyone who is in the business of marketing will tell you… The most difficult thing to do is talking about yourself. That could mean you, your brand, or your business. For years I’ve struggled with answering the question of “What do you do Jim?” And, “tell me more about yourself”. So much so I’ve hired professionals who have a much easier time of explaining what I do and what I have done. I think we all just get too close to ourselves; plus the fact that most of us are humble (I know I am) and tend to speak lightly of ourselves. I don’t think…
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    Be Relevant! Email Marketing Blog

  • Email as the cornerstone of a solid eCRM strategy: what works and what doesn't?

    Tamara Gielen
    17 May 2013 | 3:28 am
    On May 14th, Kath Pay and myself hosted the 1st edition of the International Lifecycle Summit. You can view the recorded webinars on-demand here. You can view my session on "Email as the cornerstone of a solid eCRM strategy: what works and what doesn't?" below:   A BrightTALK Channel

  • Infographic: The Evolution of Email Marketing

    Tamara Gielen
    16 May 2013 | 8:12 am
    The below infographic (courtesy of Red Eye International) outlines some of the biggest influences on email marketing, showing how it has evolved from a mass marketing approach to a highly targeted form of marketing automation.

  • Two Online Marketing Events You Don't Want To Miss!

    Tamara Gielen
    10 Apr 2013 | 4:54 am
    Kath Pay and myself are planning two online events in the coming months - which are completely free to attend! Make sure to sign up to the mailinglist to find out when we open registrations! May 14, 2013: International Lifecycle Summit @ your desk (the recorded sessions are now available to watch on-demand) June 20, 2013: International Email Marketing Summit @ your desk What to expect? A full day of educational webinars on various topics related to either lifecycle marketing or email marketing. Check out the presentations of our last Email Marketing Summit here. Interested in sponsoring…

  • Recommended Reading 04/05/2013

    Tamara Gielen
    5 Apr 2013 | 2:30 am
    Does CTA length affect CTRs? tags: tw tg design cta testing Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

  • Mind Your Email Reputation, Watch Out For Spam Traps

    Tamara Gielen
    4 Apr 2013 | 1:52 am
    Having spam traps in your emailing list is a big problem. They damage your email reputation, resulting in your emails getting stuck in spam filters. That’s why, as an email marketer, you should do everything in your power to prevent spam traps from ending up in your databases. What are spam traps? Spam traps are seemingly valid email addresses that are created with the sole purpose of identifying spam emails. These addresses are scattered over various locations on the internet, without ever using them to actually send emails. Should any emails arrive on these addresses, then there is no…
 
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    The FastSpring E-Commerce Blog

  • TechCrunch Covers FastSpring Outside Investment from Pylon Capital

    FastSpring
    24 Apr 2013 | 1:45 pm
    In an article on TechCrunch, “All-In-One E-Commerce Solution FastSpring Takes Its First Outside Investment From Pylon Capital”, published this morning, Sarah Perez writes about the investment and ongoing success of FastSpring’s e-commerce platform and growth. Because sometimes it’s the companies you don’t hear about constantly. FastSpring, founded in 2005 as an all-in-one e-commerce solution for companies selling desktop software and downloadable games before heading into the Software-as-a-Service space in 2011, has received a significant but undisclosed new equity…

  • FastSpring Donates to UN World Food Programme

    FastSpring
    24 Mar 2013 | 6:32 pm
    The motto of the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) is “Fighting Hunger Worldwide.” FastSpring’s 2012 donation to the WFP of 1% of our annual profits has been completed. Why the WFP? We select this particular charity because we believe we have a responsibility to take care of those who are less fortunate than ourselves in this world, and one place to start is with those who experience extreme poverty and inhumane treatment throughout the world. The WFP is there for some of these people, often when no one else is, and we like the idea that those with so few reasons for…

  • Roundup of New SpringBoard Support Articles

    FastSpring
    6 Mar 2013 | 9:35 pm
    To document the SpringBoard platform’s ever-growing capabilities, FastSpring has systematically worked to broaden and deepen its knowledge base — adding and updating support articles on detailed feature workflows, documenting new features coming out of steady release cycles, explaining steps for partner integrations, and answering frequently asked questions. We present below links to and summaries for support articles completed over the past several weeks, to give you a sense of the many store customizations at your disposal and our ongoing commitment to superior customer service. How…

  • SpringBoard Update Released: Upgraded Translation Services, Google Analytics, Reporting, and more

    FastSpring
    22 Dec 2012 | 5:32 pm
    New & Updated Translation Services for Improved International Business Our newest release offers numerous additions for translating into languages other than English. Invoices for customers are now translated for German, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, and Dutch. The same language translations now occur for product descriptions when a customer orders a backup CD or extended download service. When collecting payment information in the order process, a customer’s credit card expiration month and year are now translated for the following languages: Arabic, Czech, Danish, German,…

  • Boost Your Web Site Engagement and Conversion Rate with Video

    FastSpring
    4 Dec 2012 | 1:50 pm
    Everyone knows how popular YouTube is and how ubiquitous video has become on the web. As attention spans contract and tweets become the new measure of text length, the moving image still compels our gaze. The plain fact is: beyond its entertainment value, video is a strong and well-received tool for conveying information to consumers. An appropriate video embedded in the right web page can have all kinds of positive impact on your web site performance metrics. Statistics Reveal – Video is Compelling Just take a look at some of the survey research reported by some of the bigger names in…
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    Marketing Technology Blog

  • Infographic: Adapt Mobile Friendly Emails

    Douglas Karr
    17 May 2013 | 8:40 am
    We’ve been hounding you about mobile-friendly emails and you’re still not listening! Mobile email readership stats are exploding – actually overtaking desktop email readership. So why haven’t you updated your email marketing templates to be mobile-friendly? No excuses folks, Email Monks now supplies a service where you can have your designer send over a Photoshop file and they’ll do a great job at building out a responsive email design that looks great on a mobile device. Still not convinced you need one? Here’s their infographic (click-through for an…

  • Enterprise Social Media Marketing Platform Features

    Douglas Karr
    17 May 2013 | 5:37 am
    Shoutlet is a company that I’ve been wanting to write about for quite a while. Good friend Chuck Tobar stopped by our office last week and we had a lengthy discussion on enterprise social media marketing platforms and the skyrocketing growth and attention that Shoutlet is getting in the industry. Recently, friend Scott Bleczinski joined the Shoutlet board – Scott is one of the best sales executives I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with so I’m sure we’ll all continue to see Shoutlet leading the industry. Social Media Marketing platforms have focus in three…

  • Infographic: Beginner’s Guide to Content Marketing

    Douglas Karr
    16 May 2013 | 5:00 pm
    Trust and authority… they’re the only two words that are central to a content marketing strategy, in my opinion. As businesses and consumers look online to research your products and services, they have probably already made a decision to purchase. The question is whether or not they’re going to purchase from you. Content marketing is the opportunity for you to establish that trust and authority online. Wrapping both resources and a process around your content marketing strategy will help you build a successful program that measures and drives results. This infographic from…

  • Migrate from CMS to CMS

    Douglas Karr
    16 May 2013 | 5:03 am
    WordPress, Joomla, K2, Drupal, TYPO3, Blogger, Tumblr… have you ever needed to migrate from one site to the other? We have and it’s often torturous and requires a ton of manual effort. Not only that, but even once you have the content transferred, it often doesn’t deal with users, category and tag taxonomies, URL slugs, comments or images. In short, it’s always been a lot of work… until now. Alex Griffis, the CTO of MaxTradeIn (fantastic site for trading in your car), told me about CMS2CMS tonight. CMS2CMS has actually designed a bridge integration that easily…

  • The Half-Life of a Social Media Meltdown

    Douglas Karr
    15 May 2013 | 10:29 am
    When I spoke in San Diego on Social Media Trolls, Crisis and Blunders, the most important aspect of the entire speech was the unnecessary fear that’s perpetuated through social media whenever a company slips up. The half-life of a social media meltdown is directly related to how quickly the next company slips up. And that’s happening every few minutes now. All the buzz this week is the post on Amy’s Baking Company in Scottsdale, Az. Now… before you go and read that post, just read through this post before moving on. I was lucky enough (or unlucky enough) to work on the…
 
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    DetectiveMarketing.com

  • Is Coca-Cola tapping into the Detective Marketing flavor?

    Stefan Engeseth
    13 May 2013 | 11:37 am
    I have to admit that Coca-Cola is a stronger brand than Detective Marketing, but now are they tapping into our graphic flavor (source: Resume). PS We love humble flavors.

  • Cannibalism in the the shark and business world

    Stefan Engeseth
    7 May 2013 | 3:48 am
    Even before sharks are born they have to compete to survive. Some shark species can have as many as 25 babies. To survive, these sharks have to cannibalize their babies and as a consequence only one of the 25 survive.9 Modern science has revealed that predators often practice cannibalism for practical reasons. Their own species is easy to find and have the nutrition they require. Cannibalism is also common in the business world. In a market that has reached saturation point, one company will be bought up by another competing one and will be called a merger. Oracle swallowing up MYSQL is a…

  • Vikings on fire?

    Stefan Engeseth
    2 May 2013 | 11:44 pm
    Referring to the mass media are Silicon Vikings asking an interesting question: Are the Nordics so hot the region is basically on fire? The Nordics and its awesomeness in the innovation and startup space have recently led to several articles in US media.Silicon Vikings Personally I think not only are the Nordics on fire, but also Silicon Vikings.

  • Change is what’s constant

    Stefan Engeseth
    29 Apr 2013 | 12:38 am
    Change is what’s constant.Author Rebecca Walker. Quote from speech at world book day in Stockholm.

  • Top 10 most popular posts – Updated: 23 April 2013

    Stefan Engeseth
    22 Apr 2013 | 11:42 pm
    1. Why trendspotters should play table tennis 2. Love Boat commercial video feeds anti Shitvertising 3. Theatre vs. Organic food: Flowers from my Mother’s Garden 4. Can Google write the design code and compete with Apple? 5. 2 of the 33 best tech entrepreneurs in Sweden 6. Apple growth slows 7. Why Microsoft was forced to improve its defense skills 8. Chew on an superb book review of Sharkonomics in Bizsugar 9. The Sharkonomics tour whetted American appetites 10. Tablet War Week: Will look small if Facebook jumps in the water
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    PsyBlog

  • The Incredible Dating Power of a Guitar Case

    Jeremy Dean
    15 May 2013 | 7:00 am
    Would you give this man your telephone number? (Don't let the guitar case influence you.) In France there's a psychologist, Professor Nicolas Gueguen, who roams the North-West, asking young women for their telephone numbers—or at least his research assistants and experimental confederates do. This isn't just to boost the national stereotype, but all in the name of science. The results they've reported over the years confirm some things we think we already know and a few new insights. His experiments often involve approaching random strangers (usually women) in the street and asking them for…

  • How to Help Other People Change Their Habits

    Jeremy Dean
    13 May 2013 | 4:46 am
    Three pointers on helping someone else change their habits. Having written a book on how to change your own habits, in interviews I was often asked: how can I change another person's habits? Say I want my partner to stop cracking his knuckles or get my daughter to put down her mobile phone at meal times or start someone else exercising: how do I do that? It's not something I cover in the book, which focuses mainly on how habits work, how much of our everyday lives they influence and how to change your own personal habits. Ultimately the same techniques apply; but when you are working on…

  • Illusory Correlations: When The Mind Makes Connections That Don’t Exist

    Jeremy Dean
    9 May 2013 | 5:38 am
    Why do CEOs who excel at golf get paid more, despite poorer stock market performance? To see how easily the mind jumps to the wrong conclusions, try virtually taking part in a little experiment... ...imagine that you are presented with information about two groups of people about which you know nothing. Let's call them the Azaleans and the Begonians. For each group you are given a list of positive and negative behaviours. A good one might be: an Azalean was seen helping an old lady across the road. A bad one might be: a Begonian urinated in the street. So, you read this list of good and bad…

  • Perform Better Under Stress Using Self-Affirmation

    Jeremy Dean
    7 May 2013 | 5:37 am
    Can thinking about what's important to you improve your problem-solving powers? Have a look at the following list of values and personal characteristics. If you had to pick just one, which most defines who you are and what matters to you? Your family Being good at sports Belief in a higher power Your friends Your creativity Aesthetics Your job Perhaps what matters most to you isn't there (this isn't a comprehensive list!), in that case think about what does matter to you most. In the burgeoning series of experiments which use this type of self-affirmation exercise, participants are then asked…

  • Power Up: The Performance Benefits of a Simple Mental Exercise

    Jeremy Dean
    1 May 2013 | 6:26 am
    Can this mental exercise make you more employable? "Have successful professionals always been successful? Take Francesca Gino. An Associate Professor at Harvard, she is considered by many to be a superstar. But things did not always look so bright for her: two years in a row she gave job talks at a number of top 10 schools and universities, but got no offers from those schools. Yet, in 2009, everything suddenly turned up roses; she got offers from Harvard, Wharton, Berkeley, and New York University. What had changed? Well, clearly she was older and wiser. But she also changed her pre-talk…
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    eversaveblog

  • Summer Travel on a Budget

    Eversave Blog
    15 May 2013 | 6:45 am
    As Memorial Day approaches, we all get the itch to get outside. Check out our top travel deals and let us help you plan your budget-friendly summer travel. Daily Deals $59 for a two-night stay at the Worldgate Resort or Ramada Maingate West in Orlando + $100 in VISA Dine Around! $299 for an 8-day, […]

  • How to Extend the Life of Your Clothes

    Eversave Blog
    9 May 2013 | 6:00 am
    Taking care of your clothes guarantees they’ll last longer and save you money over time. Treat stains as soon as possible to avoid them setting into your clothes and becoming permanent. Ordinary dish detergent is great for stains, especially ones with grease in them. Fabrics fade and sometimes you just get tired of that pale […]

  • Tips for Freezing Food

    Eversave Blog
    7 May 2013 | 6:00 am
    You scour the weekly circulars for deals. Buy items only when they’re on sale and you have a coupon. Become a freezer expert and stretch those bills even further; freezing items bought on sale and in large quantities makes you less dependent on what’s on sale this week. Here are our top 10 tips for […]

  • Mother’s Day Gift Idea: At Home Spa Day

    Eversave Blog
    30 Apr 2013 | 8:23 am
    Pamper Mom at home this Mother’s Day for an extra special day that won’t break the bank. Hair Color Does mom love a salon-dyed ‘do? Save her some cash and bank some quality time by offering to dye her hair at home. There are tons of at-home colors to choose from so she’s sure to […]

  • Mother’s Day Gift Ideas for the Savvy Shopper

    Eversave Blog
    26 Apr 2013 | 6:00 am
    Mother’s Day is just a few weeks away. Shop now for special savings perfect for all of the special ladies in your life. Daily Deals $39 for 1,200-thread count sheets + free shipping! $30 for one or $40 for two 16” x 20” gallery-wrapped canvases + free shipping! $20 for a freshwater pearl necklace, bracelet […]
 
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    Affordable Internet Marketing

  • Increase Your Success Rate in the Search Engine Optimization

    Case Stevens
    17 May 2013 | 5:10 am
    Businesses across the world are becoming more aware of the needs of understanding the basics of search engine optimization (SEO). In order to ensure success in the competitive world of Search Engine Optimization, you need to follow a certain set of basic rules. Below are listed some of the basics. Follow them and ensure success [...]Increase Your Success Rate in the Search Engine Optimization is a post from Affordable Internet Marketing, http://www.affordable-internet-marketing.com by Case Stevens.

  • Reseller Hosting – 6 Great Tips for Getting Started

    Case Stevens
    16 May 2013 | 12:48 am
    Nowadays, many people are realizing the enormous potential that lies in the business of reseller hosting. This is a kind of business where a small hosting company buys a large quantity of bandwidth and disk space from a larger company, and then divides these into smaller packages which are resold to customers. Many people who [...]Reseller Hosting – 6 Great Tips for Getting Started is a post from Affordable Internet Marketing, http://www.affordable-internet-marketing.com by Case Stevens.

  • The 5 Best Free Email Marketing Providers

    Case Stevens
    9 May 2013 | 7:50 am
    In the world of Internet marketing, the real money is in email marketing. Everybody knows that. Email marketing brings in more buyers and does more to build a loyal audience than anything you will put on a blog or website. When you’re first building your list, it’s difficult to know which company will best meet [...]The 5 Best Free Email Marketing Providers is a post from Affordable Internet Marketing, http://www.affordable-internet-marketing.com by Case Stevens.

  • How Much Does Your Social Media Activity Affect Your Professional Life

    Case Stevens
    8 May 2013 | 1:29 am
    There is no such thing as privacy on the internet. If you put it up on the web, no matter how strong the privacy settings and firewalls, if someone is determined enough, she can find it. So, yes—those photos from high school of yourself and your friends messing around with the school’s HVAC system? Your [...]How Much Does Your Social Media Activity Affect Your Professional Life is a post from Affordable Internet Marketing, http://www.affordable-internet-marketing.com by Case Stevens.

  • Shield Privacy from Bots & Put the ‘Wall Up’ with Robots.txt

    Case Stevens
    5 May 2013 | 10:57 pm
    What would you do when you want to just shoo away the search engine spiders from entering your website? Put a board that reads – ‘Please do not sneak in.’ You might be having a few pages you wish to hide from spying eyes of search engines and block them from indexing the images, style [...]Shield Privacy from Bots & Put the ‘Wall Up’ with Robots.txt is a post from Affordable Internet Marketing, http://www.affordable-internet-marketing.com by Case Stevens.
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    Chris Houchens

  • there will always be a scar

    Chris Houchens
    1 May 2013 | 12:17 pm
    With this new commercial, it seems that JC Penney (NOT JCP) has now fully come back to their senses… I’ve been updating my original post on the JC Penney brand debacle as they’ve come to this point. And I’m glad…Read more ›

  • just a tweet

    Chris Houchens
    23 Apr 2013 | 11:06 am
    It should be obvious to anyone by now, but real time publishing is powerful. It can also be dangerously chaotic and unreliable. There’s a wonderful example of it today with the @AP twitter hack. A single tweet made the Dow…Read more ›

  • oreo was not a slam dunk

    Chris Houchens
    5 Feb 2013 | 8:22 am
    From the moment the power went out in the Superdome and Oreo pulled off the social media coup of the Super Bowl Big Game, I knew there would be ad nauseum analysis of it. (pun intended) And sure enough, over…Read more ›

  • one thing I hate about the Internet

    Chris Houchens
    28 Jan 2013 | 7:23 pm
    Actually, there are many things I hate about Internet culture. Nearly all of them involve the way the web highlights and hastens the ignorance and decline of modern culture. However, one in particular gets me everytime and a great case study…Read more ›

  • the popcorn button

    Chris Houchens
    14 Jan 2013 | 2:54 am
    Nearly every microwave you see has a “popcorn button”. Nearly every package of microwave popcorn has a warning, “DO NOT USE THE POPCORN BUTTON”. It’s an impasse. The microwave has a sensor that monitors the moisture and other factors inside…Read more ›
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    The Accidental Product Manager

  • How Can Product Managers Get Sales To Use Social Media Correctly?

    Dr. Jim Anderson
    13 May 2013 | 2:00 am
    How can Twitter help boost sales of your product?Image Credit By now just about every product manager knows that not only has social media arrived, it has just about taken over the world. The use of social media has made its way into everyone’s product development definition. The problem that a lot of us are having is that we’re not 100% sure about how best to use this new marketing tool. Where things get even trickier is when we try to figure out how to get our sales teams to do a better job of selling our products using social media. What’s the best way to do this?

  • Three Letters That Can Help Product Managers Be More Successful: ATM

    Dr. Jim Anderson
    6 May 2013 | 2:00 am
    Creating a product is a first step, where to put it is the most important step Wouldn’t it be great if the product that you were managing was used by millions of people every day? Even better, wouldn’t it be cool if it performed some function that generally made them happy after they used it – like gave them money or something like that? Well guess what, product managers who work for banks and who are in charge of the bank’s ATM machines have this kind of job. What can we learn from them? Location, Location, Location ATM machines have been with us for just over 20 years…

  • Which Forms Of Social Media Should Product Managers Be Involved In?

    Dr. Jim Anderson
    29 Apr 2013 | 2:00 am
    So many choices – which part of the social media should a product manager be involved in?Image Credit How many social media ecosystems are out there these days? By my count (if you still include MySpace), there are 9 big ones. As an already overworked product manager working on your product development definition this means that you’ve got an important question that you’re going to have to answer: which ones are you going to use to promote your product and which ones are you going to let fall by the wayside? Picking The Right Metrics For Your Product Before you can have any hope…

  • What Every Product Manager Needs To Know About The Hadoop Database Solution

    Dr. Jim Anderson
    22 Apr 2013 | 2:00 am
    Hadoop is a database that solves the problem of how to handle big dataImage Credit Just in case you’ve been living with your head underneath a rock, the world appears to have gone “big data” crazy lately. Your customers, your company, and probably your competition have all started to talk about the problem of big data and just exactly what can be done about it. Somehow you are going to have to find a way to work “big data” into your product development definition. No matter what type of product you manage, it sure seems like you need to understand what this…

  • Product Managers Need To Learn How To Offer Customers A Next Best Offer

    Dr. Jim Anderson
    15 Apr 2013 | 2:00 am
    The better you know your customer, the better you’ll know what to offer them… Image Credit If there was a perfect world for us product managers to live in, what would it look like? Sure there would be white unicorns everywhere but what would our jobs be like? I’d guess that we’d know our customers much better than we know them today. In a perfect world, starting with the product development definition, product managers would be able to target their customers with the perfectly customized offer at exactly the right time across the right set of channels. Does this perfect…
 
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    Customer Experience Optimization

  • B2B Customer Experience Managment: 6 Success Factors for World-Class Performance

    Administrator
    17 May 2013 | 6:56 am
    This is an edited transcript from my presentation for CustomerThink’s Customer Experience Thought Leader Forum webinar on B2B Customer Experience Management, conducted February 21, 2013. The ClearAction Business-to-Business Customer Experience Management Best Practices Study has been conducted for three years now. It was established in 2010 with an emphasis on understanding which functional areas were driving customer experience management and the scope of deployment within each company. In 2011, we continued the core set of questions along with an in-depth exploration of B2B voice of…

  • Customer Centric Leadership

    Administrator
    23 Feb 2013 | 5:10 pm
    Customer-centricity is about priorities. The key is to clearly state your priorities to executives, employees and affiliates. Then reinforce these priorities in daily decision-making criteria and rituals such as annual operating plans, operations reviews, staff meeting agendas, recognition and incentives, performance reviews, etc. Johnson & Johnson has an excellent way of communicating their customer-centric priorities, as follows: 1) doctors, nurses, patients, parents; 2) employees; 3) communities; 4) stockholders. Our Credo — Johnson & Johnson: "We believe our first…

  • Don’t Confuse CX Technology with Customer Experience Management

    Administrator
    12 Feb 2013 | 2:33 pm
    You're a customer, so you're a perfect judge of logic when it comes to the ways companies are trying to get ahead with customers. First of all, let's face it: when you buy something you want it to be easy to get, function flawlessly, and allow you to move forward in your life or business. That encapsulates what customer experience management is all about: companies that can make it easier and nicer to get what you need in life/business are the companies you'll say good things about and come back to. If you agree that this is your outlook on being a customer, then we've got…

  • Chief Customer Officer as Change Agent

    Administrator
    7 Feb 2013 | 8:59 am
    In any journey, it pays to have an expert guide — and that's particularly true in any company's ongoing journey toward superior customer experience. Some companies have appointed a Chief Customer Officer as their expert guide, to ensure that they take the high road, stay on-course, and accelerate results along the way. "Showing the path and where we are on that path — kind of like the map at the mall: 'you are here' — gives everyone an idea of how far we've come and how far we yet need to go," explained Milista Anderson, Chief Customer Officer…

  • Increasing Customer-Focus in Voice of the Customer for Business Results

    Administrator
    21 Jan 2013 | 9:56 am
    Customer-focus in satisfaction/loyalty surveys may be the lynchpin to higher response rates and to linking customer experience management (CEM) to business results as well. "Aren’t surveys already customer-focused?" you may be thinking. Well, whenever you're the recipient of a survey, how often do you feel like the questions are focused on what you care about, versus what the surveying company cares about? And, accordingly, do you feel like the surveying company is really getting the best information from you that they can through their current surveys? For me, the answers…
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    OrangeSoda » Blog

  • JCPenney’s Failure: Understanding What Motivates Their Customers

    Dan Garfield
    1 May 2013 | 9:49 am
    When JCPenney came out with their February 2012 catalog, our marketing department spent a few hours combing through their new brand and approach. We were so impressed that we kept the catalog for a long time (though I couldn’t find it this morning). At the time, I thought their new approach was brilliant. The Psychology of Sales The premise seemed simple enough: how can you make the shopping experience easier? Get rid of coupons and sales and just have good prices all the time. People love deals, but it’s really a mental hack. Every sale and discount has to be subsidized by higher…

  • The Skinny on Google Now for iOS

    Kyler Dalton
    29 Apr 2013 | 1:18 pm
    This morning (April 29th), Google rolled out ‘Google Now’ for iOS! Google Now is a notification card system integrated into the Google Search app for iOS, available for the iPad and iPhone. The Google Search app is a Google, Inc. app that allows you to easily search from mobile devices. As its integrated cohort, Google Now can notify you of pertinent information at just the right time. I consider it a precursor to the Google Glass technology, which is very soon coming. Google Now will notify you conveniently of things that matter in the moment: local weather, traffic and public transit…

  • Guest Post: Blog Promotion Strategies

    Ashley R. Cummings
    26 Apr 2013 | 8:00 am
    It’s no secret that one of the best ways to boost your ranking in the search results is to attract quality links. There are a number of different ways to do this, including generating super interesting content, creating a fun infographic, and hiring OrangeSoda, to name a few. Another great way to generate a quality link is to provide a popular blog with an awesome guest post. Of course, you can’t just write anything and expect them to publish it. You want to provide unique, interesting content they are dying to post. Here are some ways to do just that. Thoroughly Read Potential Blogs…

  • Must-Know Online Marketing Terms

    Ashley R. Cummings
    24 Apr 2013 | 9:38 am
    Have you ever been the one in the meeting wondering what the heck the acronym everyone keeps saying actually means? Don’t worry; you’re probably not alone. In the world of online marketing, it’s easy to get lost in a sea of abbreviations and acronyms. Here is a short glossary of important online marketing terms, so you’ll be ready to explain the acronym to your clueless neighbor in the next meeting. SEM (Search Engine Marketing) A type of internet marketing that revolves around optimizing websites for search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo!. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Using…

  • The Basics of Local Optimization

    Ashley R. Cummings
    22 Apr 2013 | 7:28 am
    Local optimization is one of the best ways to bring customers into your business. Optimizing for local search, like Google MAPS, is the perfect way to find customers in your area. Like any internet optimization technique, there are a series of important strategies to follow in order to see the best results possible. If you consult with an SEO professional, here are the most common suggestions they make: 1. Use your business address If you are trying to find customers near your business location, then make sure your address matches the city used in your keyword. Your corporate location may be…
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    Social Media Marketing

  • This Week in Social Media – 5/15/2013

    Scott Monty
    15 May 2013 | 1:31 pm
    A roundup of relevant links affecting our industry. Each week, I compose a newsletter that includes a series of links about current events and trends in the worlds of technology, social media, mobile, communications and marketing in order to keep our wider team up to date on changes, newsworthy items and content that might be useful in their jobs. These are those links. If you have additional links, sources or ideas that might be helpful, I'd encourage you to add some via a comment below or tag me in Google+. And if you’re on Flipboard, you can get these links in the This Week in Social…

  • This Week in Social Media – 5/8/2013

    Scott Monty
    8 May 2013 | 10:08 pm
    A roundup of relevant links affecting our industry.Each week, I compose a newsletter that includes a series of links about current events and trends in the worlds of technology, social media, mobile, communications and marketing in order to keep our wider team up to date on changes, newsworthy items and content that might be useful in their jobs. These are those links.If you have additional links, sources or ideas that might be helpful, I'd encourage you to add some via a comment below or tag me in Google+. And if you’re on Flipboard, you can get these links in the This Week in Social…

  • Must-Not-See TV

    Scott Monty
    7 May 2013 | 8:33 pm
    It wasn't all that long ago that we viewed TV by appointment. NBC's "Must-See TV" lineup of Thursday nights included legendary shows like The Cosby Show, Seinfeld and Cheers, among others, and audiences turned out in droves to see them.Things are drastically different now, as you know. Beyond DVRs and on-demand viewing, we now have online options that include Netflix, Hulu and others, and cable providers like Xfinity, DirecTV and Dish Networks, not to mention specialty apps like HBO Go. We not only have a wide variety in when we view our shows, but where we watch them as well.At the same…

  • This Week in Social Media – 5/1/2013

    Scott Monty
    1 May 2013 | 7:27 pm
    A roundup of relevant links affecting our industry.Each week, I compose a newsletter that includes a series of links about current events and trends in the worlds of technology, social media, mobile, communications and marketing in order to keep the wider team up to date on changes, newsworthy items and content that might be useful in their jobs. These are those links.If you have additional links, sources or ideas that might be helpful, I'd encourage you to add some via a comment below or tag me in Google+. And if you’re on Flipboard, you can get these links in my new This Week in…

  • This Week in Social Media – 4/24/2013

    Scott Monty
    23 Apr 2013 | 10:29 pm
    A roundup of relevant links affecting our industry.Each week, I compose a newsletter that includes a series of links about current events and trends in the worlds of technology, social media, mobile, communications and marketing in order to keep the wider team up to date on changes, newsworthy items and content that might be useful in their jobs. These are those links. If you have additional links, sources or ideas that might be helpful, I'd encourage you to add some via a comment below or tag me in Google+. And if you’re on Flipboard, you can get these links in my new This Week…
 
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    Connect - Digital Marketing Expertise from iCrossing

  • iCrossing as Aragorn: The future of search and media

    jo-ann.fortune
    17 May 2013 | 6:01 am
    If iCrossing were a character from The Lord of the Rings, it would be Aragorn. This was the claim of Chief Strategy Officer Mark Iremonger at the Client Summit 2013. Iremonger drew comparisons between our agency and “the wise peacemaker who marshals resources” to illustrate the point that search marketing must integrate with a brand’s traditional reach channels to utilise the SEO potential that exists in all online engagement moments. “Historically an SEO agency may have existed outside of a brand’s circle of trust, acting as either a Saruman – powerful but unethical, Frodo –…

  • “Think human plus machine” urges Dave Coplin

    jo-ann.fortune
    17 May 2013 | 4:22 am
    Dave Coplin, the UK’s self-titled Chief Envisioning Officer for Bing, believes we should strive to make people’s professional experiences of technology as fulfilling as they can be in their personal lives. Speaking at the iCrossing Client Summit 2013, Coplin held that we’ve reached a “plateau of mediocrity” in the enterprise world – a state which can block creativity. “There are some wonderful things happening in the consumer world that can inform how we work in our professional lives. Many people have a better computer at home than the one that they’re provided with at work…

  • Mark Howe: The always-on approach

    jo-ann.fortune
    16 May 2013 | 1:12 pm
    Google’s Mark Howe added a new word to the vocabulary of online marketers at the iCrossing 2013 client summit. ‘Frazzing’, explained Howe – Managing Director of Agency Operations in North & Central Europe – is a term coined by psychologists to describe the way consumers “frantically and ineffectively multitask” when coping with numerous screens and a proliferation of information. And how we plan media and advertising to match this behaviour is key to our effectiveness as online marketers. With 75% UK smartphone penetration predicted for the end of 2013 and one in…

  • Putting new marketing models on the RaDaR

    jo-ann.fortune
    16 May 2013 | 7:25 am
    Forrester’s Luca Paderni urged digital marketers to dissolve traditional channel-based silos and instead build strategy around reach, depth and relationships at the iCrossing Client Summit 2013. Drawing on over 10 years of international marketing and strategy experience, Research Director Paderni’s current work centres on upcoming trends in media and advertising that lead to increasing fragmentation. The traditional marketing model of attention, interest, desire and action, he argued, presents major limitations when faced with today’s perpetually connected customers. Little surprise…

  • How SEO content can evolve beyond the guest post

    Oliver Robertson
    15 May 2013 | 2:24 am
    The SEO industry is most definitely undergoing a heightened level of change at the moment. iCrossing has been taking steps towards expanding its strategies beyond merely traditional SEO tactics for quite some time now. These tactics, if done properly, have the potential to be extremely valuable for increasing a client’s search visibility, but in order to stay ahead of the game, we need to be constantly evolving. Our focus now is shifting from a link-building approach to a relationship-building one, away from simply sending out emails and instead inviting influential bloggers to networking…
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    The Database Diva

  • How To Let Your Database Contacts Clean Up Their own Data

    Lori Feldman
    15 May 2013 | 6:59 am
    After 20+ years in business, you accumulate some dead weight in your database. Even though we are in the business of knowing the best ways to update and refresh a database, there’s just more of “them” than there are of “us.” We need automation help. So I decided to let my database update itself. Here are the steps I took: 1. I segmented my list into 6 parts, based on how well I thought that recipient knew me (ie., customer, prospect, networking contact, friend, family and “no clue.”) 2. I wrote 6 versions of the form letter shown here, with the first…

  • Evaluating the Opt-Out Rate of your Email Marketing

    Kellie VIau
    29 Apr 2013 | 5:00 am
    Are you emailing your list too much? Not enough? Either extreme can result in a higher than average opt-out rate, eliminating your ability  to use that channel to communicate with your list. What’s an *average* opt out rate? Email marketing company Constant Contact reserves the right to “fire you” if you have too many opt outs, although they’re not clear about how many that is. But 0.1% or lower is typically a reasonable average. So if your list is approximately 5,000, no more than 5 should unsubscribe after each email blast. Surprisingly, that percentage creeps up if you over mail…

  • Let Customers Update Your Database for You

    Lori Feldman
    22 Apr 2013 | 5:00 am
    The old ball and chain of having a customer database is… Who’s responsible for getting complete and accurate info up front? And who’s responsible for updating the info when it (inevitably) gets moldy? No one ever wants to take their time to maintain their data, but when you need database accuracy for a sales or marketing initiative, your response rate will suffer if you start with bad information. The best, most actionable data is data your customer updates for you…while opting in to receive future communication from you. One of our clients spent 10 years as a successful mortgage…

  • Is Everybody Following Up with Your Customer But You?

    Lori Feldman
    6 Feb 2012 | 11:31 pm
    Are you of the school that says once you close a sale with a new customer, it’s time to go find another one? Guess what? You’re “Old School,” and you’re leaving easy money on the table. You’re also making your job a lot harder than it needs to be. Let’s say it really is 5 times easier to sell an existing customer than it is to find a new one. Then you should spend 80% of your selling time staying in touch with current customers and only 20% of your time prospecting for new business. (Oh, look…we created another 80/20 Rule!) Unfortunately, most…

  • Winning Bids in the Hyper-Competitive Sales Quoting Business

    Lori Feldman
    19 Dec 2011 | 11:24 pm
    Sales quotes come in all shapes and sizes. Here's one I call the "Celebrity" sales estimate. It puts your product pics on the runway (and you can add a rep's image and autograph, too.) In the past few months I’ve looked in every nook and cranny of my business for ways to cut costs, especially the “hidden” costs that you don’t realize are adding up. Like inefficient use of time. Turns out one of our big time sucks is sales quoting. Some of our services are straightforward and easy to quote…maybe take a minute or 2. But our really lucrative…
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    Jim's Marketing Blog

  • 3 words that instantly build trust

    Jim Connolly
    17 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    There are 3 words, which business owners and consultants can use if they want to instantly create trust. The 3 words are: I don’t know. I don’t know When a client or prospective client asks us a question, to which we don’t know the answer, we have two options. One builds trust and the other erodes trust. We can say ‘I don’t know’, then assure them we will find the answer and get back to them. We can give a false answer and try to fool them. The magic behind those 3 words When we tell someone that we don’t know the answer, something almost magical…

  • The simple secret to having no more regrets

    Jim Connolly
    17 May 2013 | 1:00 am
    By learning how to take appropriate action, we can swap regret and frustration for progress. That’s what this brief post is all about. From abstract to reality The product we never launched, the service we never developed, the partnership we never formed, the meeting we never requested – these are all common examples of things we look back on with regret. In business, there are countless opportunities around us. In order to benefit from them, we need to do something with them. We need to move. We need to take action. We need to take the abstract idea and make it real. Movement…

  • Be irresistible to prospective clients in just 3 steps

    Jim Connolly
    15 May 2013 | 1:39 am
    If you want clients and prospective clients to think of you as the go-to person, for whatever service you provide, I believe you’ll find this post really useful. It’s based around 3 steps you can take, which will change the way people think and feel about you, so you become their irresistible choice. What is a go-to person? Firstly, I’d like to confirm what I am referring to when I use the term, go-to person. I’m talking specifically about those valued people in business, who we immediately think of when we have a need, related to their area of expertise. When someone…

  • Creating your masterpiece?

    Jim Connolly
    14 May 2013 | 12:22 am
    Armed with a computer and an idea, it’s possible to create something amazing and reach millions of people with your creation (or message). So, with all that potential, what does the average small business owner do? In most cases, they act in a totally predictable way. Rather than create, they curate. Rather than innovate, they copy. Rather than lead, they follow. What am I going to do with it all? A great question to ask yourself at the start of each day is, ‘what am I going to do with all this potential?’ You start every business day with a blank canvas. The decisions you…

  • This is why you need to step outside your business

    Jim Connolly
    10 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    Sometimes we work so hard within our business, that we find ourselves missing the bigger picture. We get so wrapped up in what we are doing, that we lose track of where we are going. Looking at YOUR bigger picture Take some time out today, to look at your bigger picture. Here are just a few things to consider: Are you on course to achieve the goals or targets you set for your business in January? Is your cash flow looking OK? How about 3 months down the road from now? Are the fees or prices you charge keeping up with inflation or are your profits slipping? Are you getting more referrals from…
 
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    60 Second Marketer

  • News About Facebook’s New Home App: Is it a Failure?

    JamieTurner
    15 May 2013 | 2:58 pm
    The news is that Facebook’s “Home” app isn’t catching on the way Facebook would have liked. That said, it’s important to note that  for every well-known app like Foursquare, Yelp, Instagram and Vine, there are 50,000 apps that didn’t make it. So if Home falls flat, it’s in good company. Here’s what happened with Facebook Home. It appears that after an initial surge of interest, the number of downloads has fallen dramatically. Users have given low ratings to the app, have complained that it drains battery life and say it makes it difficult to…

  • The 13 Best Mobile Applications to Help Manage Your Small Business

    JamieTurner
    13 May 2013 | 6:53 pm
    One of the challenges of running a small business is that you have to wear a lot of different hats. In addition to being CEO, you also have to be CMO, CFO and CTO. And those are just the glamor jobs, because in addition to your C-Level work, you’re also the receptionist, human resources director and customer relationship manager. It’s enough to drive you crazy. Fortunately, there’s a way to use mobile apps to help run your business. While there may never be a mobile app that takes out the trash, there are mobile apps that can help you manage your books, track your time,…

  • Want to Get Started in Mobile? Learn How From These Top 5 Campaigns.

    JamieTurner
    12 May 2013 | 7:15 pm
    Are you trying to figure out how to use mobile marketing to grow your sales and revenues? Here are five mobile ad campaigns you can use for inspiration. 1. Heineken Hits the Back of the Net with Dual Screen Game In 2011, UEFA Champion’s League sponsor Heineken introduced an innovative ‘dual screen’ app that let fans interact via their smartphones as games were taking place. Using the StarPlayer app, viewers were able to react to what was happening in the game by pressing buttons to predict the outcome of set pieces such as corner kicks, penalties and free kicks. Options included a…

  • Mobile Marketing 101: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners

    JamieTurner
    9 May 2013 | 12:50 am
    Not long ago, we uploaded a video to the 60 Second Marketer channel on YouTube called Your Survival Guide for Getting Started in Mobile Marketing. It’s a short, 6-minute video that provides some good tips and information on how to get started in mobile marketing. Included in the video are some facts and figures about the size and scope of the smartphone user base. More importantly, we have information about how to set-up a mobile website, how to use QR codes, how to run a text message campaign and other tips and techniques. If you haven’t had a chance to see the video, you can…

  • How Social Media is Changing Because of Smartphones

    JamieTurner
    7 May 2013 | 4:00 pm
    Did you know that there are more than 100 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices? Or that people who use Facebook on their mobile devices are more than twice as active on Facebook than non-mobile users? How about this — there are more than 200 mobile operators in 60 countries working to deploy and promote Facebook mobile products. Those are just some of the facts I learned from an infographic published by Flowtown. We’ve included the infographic below so that you can read and digest all the fascinating data. Enjoy! Flowtown – Social…
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    columbus imPRessions

  • Busy Capturing Home of Hope Columbus #HOHCbus10

    28 Apr 2013 | 6:19 am
    Since Thursday I've been visiting the Home of Hope Columbus Blitz Build site. I was hired by 10TV to assist with social media for this record-breaking Habitat for Humanity Mid-Ohio build. Volunteers and crews are working around the clock to complete this home in 5 days!  Today is Day four and most of the outdoor work is complete (other than some landscaping) so the focus is on the work that

  • columbus imPRessions Celebrating 5 years today!

    1 Apr 2013 | 1:23 pm
    Happy Birthday columbus imPRessions, happy birthday to me!   I can't believe that what started out as an idea, turned blog, turned business is five years old today! In dreams some of the interpretations of the number five is spontaneity, daring/bold nature, and action. Five years ago, I was forced to be all that - and I wasn't even dreaming. Looking back over these years I am so glad it

  • Planning WLN Casino Night 2013

    19 Mar 2013 | 9:40 am
    The United Way of Delaware County Women's Leadership Network Casino Night event was such a fun success in 2012 we decided to do it again in 2013. Save the Date for November 15, 2013. Preparation has started! I'm once again making all the branding for the event and putting together the sponsorship package. If you are a Delaware County business who would like to have a fun time while helping

  • Dispatch Home & Garden Show Highlights #dhgs13

    9 Mar 2013 | 8:03 am
    Last week I was busy at the Dispatch Home & Garden Show creating a bunch of social media opportunities - live tweeting, Facebook posts and video. Here is a video I created this week for the Dispatch Events Group YouTube channel. Just a little highlight reel from the 2013 Dispatch Home & Garden Show.

  • Dispatch Home & Garden Show Just Around the Corner

    19 Feb 2013 | 4:34 am
    You know it's almost spring when the Dispatch Home & Garden Show opens up in Columbus. This year I'll be working with the Dispatch Events Group to bring all the social media marketing aspects to the show. Last fall I worked on the Home & Garden and Holiday Show which was a three day show. The spring show is longer and larger running from February 23rd - March 3rd (closed on Monday, February
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    Drew Stevens

  • Mediocrity and Excuses

    Drew
    17 May 2013 | 6:30 am
    Those that seek shortcuts for anything and conduct little work always intrigue me. To express my point, those that never signal when changing lanes, those that fail to conduct research but opine subjectivity and those that look for those “10 minute workouts” because they abhor exercise.   Life is about choices – not excuses. Those that make excuses create a “victim mentality”. It is society, the environment, and competition – anything but them. Let’s face it, excuses create mediocrity and inertia; action gets results.  The question is do you enjoy being inert sitting in…

  • Running a Practice Just Got Easier

    Drew
    16 May 2013 | 5:36 am
    View web version Running Your Chiropractic Practice Just Became Easier Renowned Practice Management Expert Explains How Chiropractors Can Be Successful From Day One by Managing Their Practice and Their Brand Effectively Phoenix, MD (May 15, 2013)– Today, chiropractors face a brutal business environment in which to operate their practice, with challenges like marketing, patient retention, staff management and insurance industry pressures dragging down profits daily. But if they take advantage of the tips and strategies available in Patient Acceleration: Helping Chiropractors Maximize…

  • Dr. Drew’s Monday Motivation on Creating Results

    Drew
    13 May 2013 | 10:29 am
    Monday Momentum This weeks thought to consider. I have several clients that are in collections. They have decided not to pay due to results. Coaches help to drive results, they provide pathways and decrease obstacles but physical labor is required from the client. There are many out there that claim to be victims because others have not taught, directed and encouraged appropriately. The most discouraging ideal about coaching is “wasted talent.” Wasted talent is those that have the physical attributes to compete but create inertia because they fail to take action, risk movement. They…

  • Happy Mothers Day

    Drew
    12 May 2013 | 8:46 am
      A happy shout out to all those moms who give so much to their families. A pause for those mom’s who have passed and have provided wisdom, encouragement and uncompromising love and congrats to those new mom’s to be! ©2013. Drew Stevens. All rights reserved. Tweet

  • Development Opportunities for Doctors

    Drew
    10 May 2013 | 4:49 am
    To help improve your practice I would love to tell you about the advanced professional development opportunities we have for this year. There are a number of ways to improve your practice, increase your self-mastery and gain new government.   Webinars – May 9 – I will be holding a webinar to inform you of website secrets. This incredible once-in-a-lifetime webinar will provide you with the five secrets to attract new patients and ensure that you get the traffic for what you’re paying for in your website design. To discover more information and register click here.   Seminars…
 
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    Six Pixels of Separation - Marketing and Communications Insights - By Mitch Joel at Twist Image

  • The Most Important Thing You Will Watch All Week

    Mitch Joel
    17 May 2013 | 6:24 pm
    Have you thought about education lately? When you say the word "education," most people run in the opposite direction. I dropped out of university (and, if I am to be candid, I was dragged - kicking and screaming - through both elementary and high school). But, I still never allowed my school to get in the way of a good education. I always had sparks of curiosity and the desire to be creative in whatever work I was trying to accomplish. I always had a deep passion to learn, read, write and create (regardless of how bored I was in classrooms). Now, many places in the world have an…

  • The Truth About Advertising In 2013

    Mitch Joel
    16 May 2013 | 7:22 pm
    Here's a quote worthy of your attention: "The real fact of the matter is that nobody reads ads. People read what interests them. Sometimes it's an ad." - Howard Gossage. Let's face it: we often make out marketing and advertising to be more important than it really needs to be. This doesn't mean that it's not important, creative and a part of our lives, but this quote from the famed Mad Man speaks to the reality of a media saturated world... and this quote comes at us long before the Internet and social media made it stupid simple for anyone to be a media channel unto themselves. Ads…

  • Supporting Those You Like - CTRL ALT Delete Comes Out Next Week

    Mitch Joel
    16 May 2013 | 5:51 pm
    My new book, CTRL ALT Delete, comes out next week. It took well-over six months of concentrated effort to write my second book, CTRL ALT Delete, which comes out on May 21st, 2013. The thing is this: you would have never known it or felt it. In that time, I didn't miss a client meeting for Twist Image or alter my responsibilities at the agency. On top of that, I continued to blog daily, write my weekly contributions to both the Huffington Post and Harvard Business Review and a weekly audio podcast. It was (not so simply) added on to my already rigorous work load. But, here's the thing: it was…

  • The Niche Of Things And Other Stuff

    Mitch Joel
    16 May 2013 | 11:58 am
    When was the last time you went to a conference and took twelve pages of detailed notes? Here's a truism: I am spoiled. As part of my role at Twist Image, I go out and speak to about sixty groups every year. In short, I get to see it all (and I feel very fortunate because of it). Personally, I also attend two events a year that allow me to sit in the audience, soak it in and be the student (those events are TED and Google Zeitgeist). This past week, I spent two days locked in the financial district of New York City at the Mirren New Business Conference. This was my second time attending the…

  • Designing A Better Website

    Mitch Joel
    14 May 2013 | 7:08 am
    It seems like online publishers are starting to think about the digital-first experience. In the past short while, we have started to see what could only be described as "true online publishing" taking on a new (and pretty) look and feel. It started not too long ago when Fast Company did a full overhaul of their website. If you choose an article on their site, you will mostly see a big and beautiful image, a bold headline and that's when the scrolling begins. You intuitively move down the page for the content or left to right at the top of the page for supplemental images associated…
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    Chris Abraham

  • The Online Community Is Inexorably Global: Are You?

    Chris Abraham
    14 May 2013 | 11:42 pm
    I think “realness” is what’s required in online communications, just realness according to protocol. One cannot be rude. One cannot be uncouth. One should be tonally perfect when it comes to communicating online but don’t let that stop you — making mistakes (and copping to them, acknowledging them, and accepting them) is normal. But “normalspeak” is essential. Online chat and conversation is not, no matter what anyone tries to sell you, is not formal written communication. It shouldn’t be. It cannot be. Being stiff and inaccessible is almost…

  • The Online Community Is Inexorably Global: Are You?

    Chris Abraham
    14 May 2013 | 11:25 pm
    Well, desirability breeds solution: JPOP have single-handedly driven many a Gaijin to learn Kanji, Kana, Hiragana, and Katakana in order to bridge the divide. And people want to — and not only because Japanese is awesome and has a right tradition and cool pop music. I grew up in Hawaii and know the Japanese culture very well, though only once-removed. Most of my relationships with the Japanese culture and with Japanese people were 1st and 2nd generation. That’s another issue: how close are you, really? I am pretty darn close to understanding the Japanese culture but I know nothing…

  • The Online Community Is Inexorably Global: Are You?

    Chris Abraham
    14 May 2013 | 5:28 am
    You can spread your work and/or content over multiple platforms, languages, cultures, etc, but you’re going to need to customize it in the way your target market expects. Case-in-point: I saw WALL-E in a Berlin Cinema in Germany. The movie was made in “Hollywood,” right? Well, remember in WALL-E how many brands and billboards and all of that — all the signage — that was in the scenery of the movie? Well, Disney created a German-only or German-speaking-country-only version resplendent with German-language branding as well as all supporting aspects custom-tailored…

  • The Online Community Is Inexorably Global: Are You?

    Chris Abraham
    14 May 2013 | 3:17 am
    Mind you, at the end of the day, America has gotten used to Indian outsources tech support — because Indians tend to be even more charming, thoughtful, patient and kind than the teams they run into here… do we adapted after 10-years. But, if you can’t wait around long enough to change an entire cultural norm, don’t. More on YouTube Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

  • The Online Community Is Inexorably Global: Are You?

    Chris Abraham
    14 May 2013 | 3:14 am
    I love that second story. Yes, my buddy from central PA calls it a “slice” or a “cheese slice” — the basic slice is a cheese slice to him. It took me forever to adopt it, though people understood also when I said, “I would like one slide of the cheese pizza please, for here.” I didn’t know the short code, but like when you listen to your dad try to use current slang (and how bad that sounds) sometimes it’s not good to use slang if you’re not from the slang. If it’s not your slang by birthright. Or, worse yet, if your slang is…
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    Chris Abraham

  • The Online Community Is Inexorably Global: Are You?

    Chris Abraham
    14 May 2013 | 11:42 pm
    I think “realness” is what’s required in online communications, just realness according to protocol. One cannot be rude. One cannot be uncouth. One should be tonally perfect when it comes to communicating online but don’t let that stop you — making mistakes (and copping to them, acknowledging them, and accepting them) is normal. But “normalspeak” is essential. Online chat and conversation is not, no matter what anyone tries to sell you, is not formal written communication. It shouldn’t be. It cannot be. Being stiff and inaccessible is almost…

  • The Online Community Is Inexorably Global: Are You?

    Chris Abraham
    14 May 2013 | 11:25 pm
    Well, desirability breeds solution: JPOP have single-handedly driven many a Gaijin to learn Kanji, Kana, Hiragana, and Katakana in order to bridge the divide. And people want to — and not only because Japanese is awesome and has a right tradition and cool pop music. I grew up in Hawaii and know the Japanese culture very well, though only once-removed. Most of my relationships with the Japanese culture and with Japanese people were 1st and 2nd generation. That’s another issue: how close are you, really? I am pretty darn close to understanding the Japanese culture but I know nothing…

  • The Online Community Is Inexorably Global: Are You?

    Chris Abraham
    14 May 2013 | 5:28 am
    You can spread your work and/or content over multiple platforms, languages, cultures, etc, but you’re going to need to customize it in the way your target market expects. Case-in-point: I saw WALL-E in a Berlin Cinema in Germany. The movie was made in “Hollywood,” right? Well, remember in WALL-E how many brands and billboards and all of that — all the signage — that was in the scenery of the movie? Well, Disney created a German-only or German-speaking-country-only version resplendent with German-language branding as well as all supporting aspects custom-tailored…

  • The Online Community Is Inexorably Global: Are You?

    Chris Abraham
    14 May 2013 | 3:17 am
    Mind you, at the end of the day, America has gotten used to Indian outsources tech support — because Indians tend to be even more charming, thoughtful, patient and kind than the teams they run into here… do we adapted after 10-years. But, if you can’t wait around long enough to change an entire cultural norm, don’t. More on YouTube Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

  • The Online Community Is Inexorably Global: Are You?

    Chris Abraham
    14 May 2013 | 3:14 am
    I love that second story. Yes, my buddy from central PA calls it a “slice” or a “cheese slice” — the basic slice is a cheese slice to him. It took me forever to adopt it, though people understood also when I said, “I would like one slide of the cheese pizza please, for here.” I didn’t know the short code, but like when you listen to your dad try to use current slang (and how bad that sounds) sometimes it’s not good to use slang if you’re not from the slang. If it’s not your slang by birthright. Or, worse yet, if your slang is…
 
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    Marketing Ideas You Can Copy

  • Find Experts and Influencers Online with Little Bird

    admin
    26 Apr 2013 | 5:15 am
    In the past, I’ve researched the Internet to identify experts’ social media accounts, blogs and publications for the topic in which they’re experts. This sounds easy to do with all the search engine and social media search tools available, but it takes a lot of time to create a high quality list. Little Bird is a web-based app that aims to be the little bird that tells you who the experts and influencers are in any topic of interest. The app identifies these insiders based on number of top insiders that follow them for a selected topic. This is where Little Bird shines. It’s an ideal…

  • How to Monitor Your Brand Online

    admin
    25 Mar 2013 | 5:15 am
    A hotel in Vegas failed to listen when a customer complained on Twitter about the hour-long wait to check in. (Ridiculous!) A competitor caught the complaint and responded. Rather than tweeting something like “Come to our hotel,” the competitor was empathetic and said, “Sorry about your bad experience, Dave. Hope the rest of your stay in Vegas goes well.” The customer switched to the competitor’s hotel on his next visit. And upon hearing about his experience, a friend booked 20 guests for an event. Clearly, companies can benefit from monitoring not only their brand online, but also…

  • 4 Tips for Using Endorsements on LinkedIn

    admin
    27 Feb 2013 | 4:15 am
    LinkedIn gives you two ways to provide references to others. One is recommendations where you write a paragraph explaining why that person would be a good hire, partner or connection. The other is endorsements. Here you endorse people’s skills with a quick click. Although these take little time and effort than writing recommendations, they matter. When you collect enough endorsements, people can easily identify your strongest skills and expertise. Here are the top tips for taking advantage of endorsements. Fig. 1 1. Endorse others with care. The most effective way to receive endorsements is…

  • Nurture Marketing 2.0

    admin
    25 Feb 2013 | 4:15 am
    Here is an approach to nurture marketing that is very similar to ours, courtesy of guest blogger Laura Like… One of the great results from connections is finding that someone else has arrived at the same destination from a different direction.  Nurture Marketing is the brainchild of Judy Schramm, CEO at ProResource.  I work with a group of entrepreneurs that have developed a similar philosophy which we call Nurture Marketing 2.0.  The main focus of both our concepts is how to personally connect in a digital world. The goal is to develop mutually satisfying relationships based on…

  • Grow Your Network and Business with New LinkedIn Updates

    admin
    20 Feb 2013 | 4:15 am
    Yes, LinkedIn has changed things again. Before shaking your head, learn about these valuable updates that will do a better job telling your business and professional stories. With a cleaner look and enhanced image features, LinkedIn profiles adopt a more visual design with bold headers and icons highlighting sections for an instant snapshot of the person or company. Refer  to Fig. 1 for an example.   Fig. 1 You can add larger photos on your company’s pages and attach images to your updates, a long overdue feature. New sections such as Projects, Volunteer Experience & Causes,…
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    mobileYouth®

  • Is it time to rethink customer segmentation?

    Graham Brown
    12 May 2013 | 11:14 pm
    Overview Last week we established 3 reasons why youth are important to your business. Now you have the business case, how do you start to manage the youth market? Before we jump into segmentation, let’s first look at youth market. A good a places as any is to start with music because if you want to understand young people today, look at the changes in the music industry: Musical genres like “rock”, “pop” and “world music” have become irrelevant Successful artists like Jay-Z, Madonna and Bowie transcend genres Success has moved from servicing a genre to joining the dots…

  • 3 Reasons Why Youth are Important to Your Business

    Graham Brown
    7 May 2013 | 2:57 am
    Overview In this article I’ll look at the myths involving the youth market and offer 3 reasons why you need to be on board to keep your brand relevant – not just in the future but right here today. Before we get started, here’s 3 reports you’ll be interested in to give you the necessary background info, data and case studies: 3 Recommended Research Reports: If you want an introduction and the key numbers behind the youth market opportunity, check out these 3 recommended mobileYouth research reports available on the Youth Research Store: The Business Case for Youth…

  • 5 ways to build a better smartphone experience (without changing the handset)

    Graham Brown
    23 Apr 2013 | 12:50 am
    Smartphone Experience: Why perception is more important than the phone Customer smartphone experience varies by market, even with the same handsets. How is this possible? Through the lens of traditional research you may conclude “our customers are different here” but I want to share with you why that conclusion is a big mistake. Teens in France and India aren’t so different their experiences of smartphones change. People don’t change, but the Soft Factors that shape the smartphone experience do. If you understand Soft Experience, you understand the smartphone…

  • The Top 3 Reasons Why Youth Buy Samsung (and why these are not enough to beat Apple)

    Ghani Kunto
    15 Apr 2013 | 3:29 am
    From #1 in market share to #1 in mind share It’s a question I think about a lot because handset brands keep asking me. My answer to Samsung lies in measuring the emotional attachment between youth and the Samsung brand. Do youth like or love Samsung? (answer in Mobile Youth Report). Take a look at these insights from young people talking about Samsung and Apple: “Why did you buy Samsung not Apple?” “It’s lighter, slimmer and has a better camera” “Why did you buy Apple not Samsung?” “I don’t know, I just like it” image (c) Flickr If it was traditional focus group or…

  • Are you ready for the Peak SMS world?

    Graham Brown
    12 Apr 2013 | 8:16 am
    1) Peak SMS – what is it? According to data from the 2013 Mobile Youth Report, SMS has reached a plateau and non-SMS messenger app usage will surpass SMS by 2014. (see “Youth and Mobile Messaging”) You only have to look at the numbers to see that when the media talks about messaging, we are dealing with a market primed for growth. There are messaging apps that most people have never heard of with user bases in the hundreds of millions. WeChat, for example, has 220 million users, Nimbuzz 120 million and Line 100 million. Heard of Kakao Talk? If you live outside of Latin America,…
 
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    Curiously Persistent

  • New data and trends from the iTunes store

    Simon Kendrick
    3 May 2013 | 4:40 am
    The release of iOS 2.0 in July 2008 is arguably the defining moment of the smartphone era, contributing (along with 3G connectivity) to the iPhone moving from a good if limited device to the archetype that, even 5 years later, all other mobiles are striving to first replicate and then improve upon. The App store has been a major success for Apple, with Horace Dediu estimating that they produce $1.6bn in revenue per quarter. We are approaching the occasion of the 50 billionth worldwide app download, and to coincide Apple have updated their all-time charts for a number of territories. They…

  • Google Firestarters 8: The Agency Innovation Conundrum

    Simon Kendrick
    18 Apr 2013 | 7:04 am
    The latest in the series of Firestarters events hosted by Google and curated by Neil Perkin was all about Agency innovation. With 8 speakers each having a 10 minute slot, a great deal of ground was covered. I’ve synthesised my main thoughts and recollections below, but I’d recommend clicking through the links at the bottom of this post in order to get the full goodness of the speakers – particularly since I haven’t attributed specific points to individuals. The speakers all had a slightly different perspectives, but there were several common threads running across the…

  • Will Netflix break into the mainstream?

    Simon Kendrick
    1 Apr 2013 | 12:34 pm
    Certain people are paid a lot of money to prognosticate on the next big thing. I’m not one of those (in either payment, or size of payment). Many factors influence, but one I’m particularly interested in is media buzz. In my opinion, traditional media is important in moving new technology products and services from early adopters towards the mainstream. Important, but not necessary – and certainly not sufficient. Not all of the media hype cycles have come to pass – Second Life being an oft-cited example. However, the likes of Myspace, Facebook and Twitter have seen mass media exposure…

  • My five fives of 2012

    Simon Kendrick
    29 Dec 2012 | 10:50 am
    Previous lists for 2011, 2010 and 2009. Top 5 Films (Released in UK cinemas in 2012, which I have seen) The Artist Amour The Imposter The Cabin In The Woods Beasts of the Southern Wild Top 5 Albums (Released in the UK in 2012, which I have heard. Links point to Spotify) channel ORANGE by Frank Ocean Celebration Rock by Japandroids The Idler Wheel… by Fiona Apple Bloom by Beach House Put Your Back N 2 It by Perfume Genius Top 5 Gigs (That I attended in 2012) M83 @ Somerset House At The Drive-In @ Brixton Academy Robyn @ Pitchfork Festival, Parc de Villette Explosions In The Sky @…

  • Personal Twitter accounts: The good, the bad and the ugly

    Simon Kendrick
    2 Dec 2012 | 9:00 am
    Generally speaking, Twitter users prefer to follow personal accounts to branded accounts. 18 of the top 20 twenty Twitter accounts (as of end of November 2012) are personal accounts, with only YouTube and Twitter representing brands. This isn’t surprising. Branded accounts retain the official corporate line. Personal accounts go beyond (or give the illusion of going beyond) the controlled publicity to see what an individual is really life; fans can follow their idols, and vicariously get a feel of what their lives are like. With TV and radio programmes, there is also the issue of…
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    Marklives!com

  • Angelina Jolie has something to say

    MediaSlutZA
    16 May 2013 | 9:00 pm
    MarkLives.com runs a regular slot featuring the best local and international magazine covers every week. We recognise well thought out, powerful and interesting (and hopefully all three in one) magazine covers and celebrate the mix of pragmatism, creativity and personal taste that created each of them.

  • Powertech System Integrators pops onto the scene

    PocketMedia® Solutions
    16 May 2013 | 6:24 am
    Powertech selected PocketMedia® Solutions’ Pop Up marketing application to utilise as an attention-grabbing invitation to the birth of Powertech System Integrators, a solutions business with its core competence in system technology integration to improve its customers’ operating efficiencies. Booked by advertising agency, JWT, on behalf its client, Powertech System Integrators, PocketMedia® Solutions’ Pop Up application [...]

  • Bletchley Park appointed by wonga.com for SA market

    Bletchley Park
    16 May 2013 | 6:23 am
     Wonga.com, a ground-breaking online lender, has appointed Bletchley Park as their creative marketing agency in SA after a successful pitch process. “We are really excited to have wonga.com on board; its international pedigree speaks for itself and we can’t wait to get started in helping the team to solve their ‘Beautiful Problems’,” says Jonty Fisher, Managing Director [...]

  • Full of Fire – Blue Moon’s Dikeledi Mogorosi

    Blue Moon
    16 May 2013 | 2:42 am
    Dikeledi Mogorosi is a red-hot firecracker of a Producer in the Employee Engagement Division at Blue Moon.  She took some time out to share her work ethic, and more, with us. I’ve worked at Blue Moon for five years – time flies when you having fun! I am Fresh, True and Brave, because…  from what I’ve [...]

  • Shelf Life: ‘Designed to Move’

    Herman Manson
    16 May 2013 | 12:42 am
    Louise Marsland’s (@Louise_Marsland) pick of new product, packaging and design launches. P&G hopes to clean up in the detergent market; Gucci gets Guilty; Brand Your Car hits the sweet spot; and Nike does it again…
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    About.com Marketing

  • How to Use Google+ Search for Market Research

    13 May 2013 | 10:00 pm
    In my opinion one of the most important features in a social network is the search feature. These social and search go hand-in-hand when it comes to using social media for business....Read Full Post

  • Marketing Strategy vs. Marketing Plan - What's the Difference?

    11 May 2013 | 10:00 pm
    What's the difference in a marketing strategy and a marketing plan? This is a common question and unfortunately many view them as the same thing. They are not. A strategy identifies the goals and objectives, your marketing plan tells you how you are going to get there. Without both of these tools businesses will often find themselves trying to sail upstream without paddles....Read Full Post

  • Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile and Increase Find-Ability

    8 May 2013 | 10:00 pm
    Did you know that there are 7610 searches on LinkedIn per minute?  There are over 50 million unique visitors that use LinkedIn each week and in 2012 there were over over 5.7 billion professionally-oriented searches on the LinkedIn platform....Read Full Post

  • Five Ecommerce Trends You Need to Pay Attention to in 2013

    5 May 2013 | 9:20 am
    As business owners or even marketers we are always on the lookout to learn how to remain profitable and competitive in the market place. The landscape in doing that often changes, especially in the digital world. If we take our eye off of the ball we can lose marketshare overnight....Read Full Post

  • B2B Marketing- Reasons to Adopt Social Media Marketing

    28 Apr 2013 | 10:00 pm
    Adopting social media marketing has been difficult for the B2B business. A recent study has revealed that 69% of B2B buyers use social media to assist them in business development and decision making....Read Full Post
 
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    Internet Direct Marketing Tip of the Day

  • B2B Sales Prospects are People Too

    Larry Chase
    2 May 2013 | 10:18 am
    Many marketers believe that B2B products and services require no emotional appeal. After all, they’re not buying a BMW or life insurance for themselves or their families. But, there is emotion involved in the B2B sale. Gord Hotchkiss, founder of Enquiro and now SVP of Mediative, points out that the B2B buyer seeks to avoid risk. Remember the saying, “No one ever got fired for buying IBM?” That speaks directly to the B2B buyer’s risk-avoidance instinct. Furthermore, there is the all-important chemistry between prospective vendor and client. What runs through the…

  • What’s Your Twitter List Worth?

    Larry Chase
    16 Apr 2013 | 3:17 pm
    That’s a question that isn’t easily answered. Some will say it depends on the number of followers you have. Some point out it depends on how many influencers you have on your list (an argument for quality over quantity). Still others will ask how often you are retweeted. A classic direct marketer would look for conversions of some sort. How many people ultimately subscribe to your newsletter from your list of followers? Of course, the quicker you can connect followers to sales, the better. But this is where things get dicey. It’s often hard to tell if a Twitter follower…

  • The Creative is in the Media Buy

    Larry Chase
    28 Mar 2013 | 9:16 am
    In my interview with Conversion Guru Jay Baer, he said today’s creative is in the media buy. It’s no longer good enough to have clever copy and graphics. You want to be able to get your message in front of a finely and artfully tuned audience. For example, on FB, you can select not only geography, you can also designate interests, age, sex, birthday, profession, etc. FB can zone in on keywords that are on your wall or in your messages. So, an FB user can express interest in something and get an ad shortly or immediately thereafter. Timing is everything, as they say. Talk about…

  • Uncovering Risk in the B2B Sales Lead Process

    Larry Chase
    12 Mar 2013 | 1:15 pm
    As Gord Hotchkiss (author of The BuyerSphere Project) says, you are not in the best position to get a sale if you’re not the “wired vendor.” So, if you’re No. 2 or No. 3 on the short list, you’ll need to introduce an element of doubt about how the buyer is framing the purchase. A cheaper price isn’t necessarily going to seal the deal. In fact, if the price is really low ball, it can raise doubts about quality. You have to raise concerns or make buyers aware of risks that they might not be considering. Gord Hotchkiss points out a B2B sale is more about risk…

  • SocMed: Is it Good for Advertising, Lead Gen or CRM?

    Larry Chase
    21 Feb 2013 | 3:13 pm
    Why is it every time a new media channel comes into its own, all marketing types want to stick an ad in there somewhere? In these early days of SocMed, many of the success stories are about loyalty programs or CRM. Dell, Comcast, and Zappos are popular examples. While Twitter itself hasn’t figured out its own ad model at the time of this writing, there are some firms that are good at lead gen, conversions, and sales now. For example, F-Commerce is taking off big time. Groupon and LivingSocial are all about the offer and making the cash register ring. Ads that employ tighter Facebook…
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    the i.d.e.a. brand

  • How to Manage a PR/Advertising/Integrated Agency

    Indra
    16 May 2013 | 7:00 am
    It doesn’t matter what area of specialty your shop offers, whether you only do PR or you offer an integrated suite of services, like we do at i.d.e.a., you got into the business because you love what you do. Isn’t that great? To do work that you love is a gift. But somewhere along the way, you realized that it isn’t all about being creative, interacting with clients and working with a talented team. You actually have a business to ...The post How to Manage a PR/Advertising/Integrated Agency appeared first on the i.d.e.a. brand.

  • Subway Uses QR Codes the Right Way

    Gary Ware
    15 May 2013 | 7:00 am
    A few weeks ago, Joe wrote a great article on QR codes and how they’ve become more of a disruption in  advertising than they are helpful. Being a curious tech nerd who scans just about every QR code I come across, I have to agree with him. The majority of experiences with QR codes are so-so at best. I don’t have high-expectations, I just want to be taken to an experience that takes advantage of the fact that I am on ...The post Subway Uses QR Codes the Right Way appeared first on the i.d.e.a. brand.

  • Beyond the Hashtag: How Memecube Increases Engagement at Conferences

    Stephanie Garcia
    10 May 2013 | 7:00 am
    I don’t blame my coworkers for looking at me strangely when I came back from Gamification Summit and started talking about how cool Memecube was. If you’ve never heard of Memecube, you’d think it was some type of Rubik’s cube made up of Internet memes—although, that does sound like a really fun accessory to have on your desk. No, Memecube is even cooler than that. Let me explain… Live Tweeting At Conferences If you’ve attended a marketing conference within the last three ...The post Beyond the Hashtag: How Memecube Increases Engagement at Conferences appeared first on…

  • Fee, fie, foe, fum…

    James White
    8 May 2013 | 7:00 am
    I want to explore the realm of fairytales again and see if any of their sub-contexts ring true in the world of advertising. Let me ask you, what fairytale does this make you think of? Fee, fie, foe, fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman… The thirteen Colonies winning the American War of Independence against the Kingdom of Great Britain, or Jack and the Beanstalk? Let’s go with the story of Jack, as I’m not sure if I believe the fairytale ...The post Fee, fie, foe, fum… appeared first on the i.d.e.a. brand.

  • Why Professional Photography Still Matters

    Indra
    6 May 2013 | 8:22 am
    Have you seen the latest Apple TV commercial? After a beautifully shot and edited series of images of people using their iPhones to shoot or edit, it ends with just one voice over line – “Every day, more photos are taken with the iPhone than any other camera.” Brands like Apple remind us that “everyone” is a photographer. Just add an Instagram filter and you too will feel like an artist. But just as all burgers are not created equally, ...The post Why Professional Photography Still Matters appeared first on the i.d.e.a. brand.
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    Keysplash Creative

  • Susan Gunelius Tops List of Women and Leadership Influencers

    Susan Gunelius
    16 May 2013 | 4:49 pm
    Social media influence moderation company Traackr created a ranking of the top women and leadership influencers, and KeySplash Creative, Inc. President and CEO Susan Gunelius ranks in first place. Using its Influencer Network Analysis feature, Traackr identified the people who are leading the online conversation about women and leadership. The Traackr report includes the top 49 most influential people online who are publishing content, talking about, and engaging with others on topics related to women and leadership. You can see Susan (and the blog she founded, Women on Business) in the…

  • Epic Brand Twitter Fails: A Lesson in Brand Reputation Management [Infographic]

    Susan Gunelius
    27 Mar 2013 | 6:26 pm
    Kudos to Paul Mardsen and the team at Social Commerce Today who put together an infographic filled with examples of Twitter fails by brands for a course on social media reputation management for brands that they were conducting. The infographic not only collects some of the best examples for marketers to learn from, but Paul’s team is encouraging marketers to share it, repurpose it, and use it as they wish. They even created a clean version (devoid of expletives), an editable version, and a high-resolution version. All versions are available for download. Just follow the preceding links…

  • The Danger of Putting All Your Eggs in the Facebook Marketing Basket

    Susan Gunelius
    22 Feb 2013 | 3:08 pm
    Don’t put all of your efforts and budget into marketing on sites like Facebook which you don’t and can’t control. That’s a piece of advice that I’ve been communicating in my books, lectures, and content for years, and it’s a topic that’s gotten a lot of buzz since Facebook updated its EdgeRank Algorithm. It turns out that marketer’s page posts are only getting a 10-15% view rate. The EdgeRank update also led to a 40% decrease in organic post reach according to research from We Are Social and Socialbakers. Facebook’s EdgeRank algorithm is…

  • 10 Easy Steps to Create a Company Page on LinkedIn and Facebook

    Susan Gunelius
    22 Jan 2013 | 11:17 am
    If your business doesn’t have a Facebook Page or LinkedIn Company Page yet, then you’re missing opportunities to broaden the reach of your marketing messages, build your audience of brand advocates, and grow your business. Recently, I wrote two articles for Forbes that break down the process of creating a Facebook Page and a LinkedIn Company Page in 10 steps each (links are below). Once your page is up and running, you can connect with people, add great content, launch some short-term promotions, and more. But you can’t do any of those things without a company page. If…

  • The Illusion of Influence and Buying Fake Twitter Followers [Infographic]

    Susan Gunelius
    3 Sep 2012 | 8:19 am
    While tools like Klout and Kred struggle to find ways to accurately measure online influence in a manner that companies can effectively use to build their brands and boost sales, a new infographic from Social Selling University (shown below) reveals just how widespread the problem of buying fake Twitter followers is. Couple that infographic with the Fake Follower Check tool from Status People that identifies the percentage of fake Twitter followers for any Twitter profile, and you’ve got some data that quantifies the ongoing illusion of influence that mars social media marketing. The…
 
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    The Quisenblog

  • YOUR ACTIONS CREATE YOUR “BRAND NARRATIVE.”

    Mickey
    14 May 2013 | 3:27 pm
    Think for a moment about all the different types of “experiences” a typical consumer might have with your brand. She might see a commercial on TV. She might read a press article that mentions you. She might see your product on the shelf at retail. She might read a post in her Facebook news feed from a friend. She might run across your brand while conducting an unrelated web search, or on a third-party website (such as Amazon). She might receive an electronic coupon at the point-of-sale. She might even hear your name mentioned in a news story (let’s hope it’s not for the wrong…

  • Fast, Simple and Consistent.

    Mickey
    30 Apr 2013 | 3:38 pm
    Might not sound sexy. But it just might be the formula to your future success. In a world that’s getting more complex, more complicated and more unpredictable, Fast, Simple and Consistent offers an oasis to the harried consumer. It removes anxiety, adds reassurance and becomes something he can “count on.” Let’s face facts. Consumers today don’t have the time or temperment to learn one more set of instructions. Or spend any more minutes navigating a phone tree. Or learn the intracacies of a new version of software. Or figure out why, if something is “new and improved,” it…

  • Can transparency halt the “slow leak” of soda sales?

    Mickey
    19 Apr 2013 | 11:44 am
    These have hardly been salad days for the sugary drink category. According to a report released this month by Beverage Digest, consumers are swilling less soda, leading the category to decline for the eighth straight year. The amount of soda consumed worldwide in 2012 is down to 1996 levels. Here in the U.S., it has fallen to 1987 levels. In fact, the only brands that haven’t experienced a significant sales drop are Coke, Sprite and Diet Dr. Pepper (sales of these brands were flat–at least they didn’t lose ground). The reasons for this category-wide dip are mainly over health…

  • More brands feel confident showing their “human side.”

    Mickey
    28 Mar 2013 | 3:49 pm
    This week, two big cases were heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, both having to do with gay rights: California’s Proposition 8, and the Federal Defense Of Marriage Act. In anticipation of these cases going before the highest court, an LGBT lobbying group called Human Rights Campaign (HRC) turned to the Internet to drum up support in favor of overturning of both cases. They asked well known celebrities (such as Ellen DeGeneres, Lance Bass and George Takei) to change their social media “avatars” to the group’s pink-and-red-equal-sign logo for the two days of arguments. Almost immediately…

  • The brouhaha over buzz.

    Mickey
    21 Mar 2013 | 4:43 pm
    This week, Coca Cola released results of a study that concluded that online “buzz” has no measurable impact on sales. That’s right. The company that’s arguably the most “social” organization in the world (with a record 61.5 million Facebook Fans) says there’s no relationship between online generated buzz and sales. (Well, almost. The study did give buzz credit for 0.01% of increased sales.) So what exactly does this mean? That social media, while entertaining, does not contribute to sales? Not quite. For starters, I think it’s important to draw a distinction between social…
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    Digital Strategy

  • Can Marketers Really Change?

    Rich Nadworny
    9 May 2013 | 2:41 am
    Recently I’ve been struck by two simultaneous trends that at first glance seem diametrically opposed to each other, but may have more in common than you may think. On the one hand, marketing departments are still having difficulty changing and transitioning from old practices of broadcast marketing to social businesses. Yes, many marketers have embraced social media tools and channels yet they continue to treat these as broadcast channels. In that sense, they find it hard to transition out of their old marketing habits and become more nimble and customer focused. It’s odd, in some sense,…

  • Real Time Marketing is Not Just An Extension of Paid Media

    Rich Nadworny
    4 Mar 2013 | 8:45 am
     In the last month, the marketing world was abuzz about two huge media events: The Super Bowl and the Oscars. These two evenings represent an aberration in our constantly splintered media world. They command huge TV viewing audiences and thus extremely expensive ad costs. Yet the marketing news coming out of these events reflected primarily what was happening on social media. It left us with a new buzz phrase “Real Time Marketing.” The prime example everyone pointed to was Oreo’s quick social media response to the Super Bowl blackout. After the Oscars, the pundits expressed…

  • A View From the Tweet Seats

    Rich Nadworny
    28 Jan 2013 | 12:03 pm
    This weekend I was part of an experiment conducted at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts. Marketing Director Leigh Chandler invited a group of local “Tweeters” to attend a concert in order to share live reactions through social media. Using the hashtag #FlynnTweets, we sat in the first row of the otherwise closed off balcony and watched a show with guitarists David Hidalgo and Marc Ribot. As I walked into the theater, I met a colleague of mine. Her husband was one of the sponsors. The first thing he said to me was that he hoped we weren’t going to disturb the performance. I can…

  • The Cost of Engagement

    Rich Nadworny
    20 Dec 2012 | 6:29 am
    I stumbled across some data about Facebook engagement rates the other day. Apparently Michael Leander has been analyzing how Facebook fans react to brand posts based on how big a following that brand has on Facebook. It’s made me wonder – If we know engagement rates, and we know how much it costs to acquire a Facebook like, we should be able to calculate the cost of fan engagement. How much does it cost? And is it really worth it? Leander found that the rate of people who like or comment on a post starts at less than 1% for a brand of 10,000 Facebook followers and then plummets the larger…

  • The Five Stages of Digital Strategy

    Rich Nadworny
    3 Dec 2012 | 8:24 am
    The business of strategy is a funny one. Lots of people talk about strategy and ask for it. I seriously doubt that there’s a lot of commonality in what people believe strategy to be. In its essence, a strategy is a plan for what to do. Bud Caddell has modern spin on a digital strategy that I think is a good one.  Is that what businesses want when they ask for a digital strategy? I don’t think so. So here is what I’m calling the Five Stages of Strategy: What businesses ask for when they ask for “strategy.” Tactics – This is by far the most common intent. We see this in a lot of…
 
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    She-conomy

  • Could Toys That Ignore Gender Stereotypes At An Early Age Change Society as a Whole?

    sheconomy
    3 May 2013 | 11:12 am
    That’s a question that Nanda Sibol, Director of Brand Strategy in the San Francisco office of Anthem Worldwide poses in the article below titled, Pink or Blue Branding: Changing Gender Norms. The three-to-six years toy guide from ToyInfo.org, supports this thought process, noting: “After the age of three, children begin to play actively with each other. Preschoolers and kindergartners are masters of make-believe. They like to act out grown-up roles and enjoy costumes and props to help them bring their imaginations to life.” When I asked Ms. Sibol why this topic was of such…

  • Do Women Talk Themselves Out of a Job?

    sheconomy
    27 Apr 2012 | 9:03 am
    I talk a great deal about how few women there are in certain professional roles and how this affects marketing. For instance only 3% of creative directors at US ad agencies are women, resulting in advertising that does not communicate effectively with the female audience. And with only 25% of IT jobs being held by women we can only assume that the digital world is heading down the same path. But Tara Mohr, author of “10 Rules for Brilliant Women,” suggests that women could be partly responsible for the low numbers, simply due to the way we talk. Mohr recently appeared on two…

  • Fewer Women in Tech Impacts Marketing to Women

    sheconomy
    5 Apr 2012 | 11:20 pm
    As the world rapidly becomes more and more digital, the technology will continue to define products and services as well has how they are marketed. The low number of females being involved as leaders or during the conceptual and developmental processes will surely result in delivering less marketable products and services for women. And similar to the disproportionate number of female creative directors within the advertising industry, this will impair connecting effectively with the very powerful and viable female audience. Although 3 of the 10 best-paying jobs for women are in the tech…

  • When Marketing to Women, Citibank® Climbs to the Top

    sheconomy
    23 Mar 2012 | 6:58 am
    I love this rock climbing Citibank commercial! But every time I watched it, I kept wondering: Is it REAL?, and WHO in the world is singing that song? So, I finally looked it up. Yes, it is real. It’s filmed on a rock called “Ancient Art.” Located just outside of Moab, Utah, the single rock formation is shaped from hundreds of years of wind blowing sand across and around the spire in the desert. The commercial features two real-life professional climbers: Katie Brown and Alex Honnold. They are not “actors” nor “stunt” people. They’re both accomplished in the sport of…

  • Guys, When Marketing to the Female, Don’t Dumb it Down for Women, Man Up For Men

    sheconomy
    20 Mar 2012 | 9:13 am
    Kathy Oneto, Vice President of Brand Strategy at Anthem Worldwide will be speaking at the M2W (Marketing to Women) Conference in Chicago in late April. You do not want to miss it. She will be presenting findings from a study recently conducted by Anthem about: Marketing to the True Motivations of 3 Genrations of Women Below is one of the thought provoking papers she has drafted from the findings, titled “Who’s ‘Manning’ the House: Bridging the Gender Divide,” that she was willing to share exclusivly with us. In it Kathy explores the possibility that to solve…
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    Vitamin IMC

  • Meet Shark Tank’s Most Unique Contestent: Steve Gadlin

    Betsy King
    9 May 2013 | 11:13 am
    The cat Steve drew for me: busy grad student Meet Steve Gadlin: the creator behind the one of a kind, ‘I Want to Draw a Cat For You’ company that took off a couple of years ago with a hugely successful Groupon deal followed by an appearance on the hit television show, ‘Shark Tank’ – where billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban decided to invest $25,000 in this company. I was lucky enough to talk with Steve about how he got the idea for the company, the ‘Shark Tank effect’, and what he has planned for the future. Let’s talk a little bit about your background: what were you doing…

  • Mr. Barrett #BaresItAll

    Marissa Fellows
    3 May 2013 | 7:41 am
    Jeff Barrett is a social media rockstar. In his mid-twenties, he has already co-founded a rising PR firm, Status Creative, writes for the Washington Times, has created numerous viral campaigns (my favorite of which spotlights a favorite destination of mine—my hometown—in an epic lipdub), and was recently named to Forbes’ Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers of 2013. He’s done all of this while maintaining a witty sense of humor and an unassuming humility. I had the opportunity to pick his brain about the PR industry and social media tactics—here are some of the highlights. So…

  • Dove: A Real Approach to Beauty Advertising

    Leigh Lovett
    18 Apr 2013 | 12:41 pm
    Mascara, concealer, more volume, more padding, these are not the items women are buying after seeing beauty product advertisements, but rather an improved self-image. How can women and young girls truly feel confident about their appearance when they are constantly being sold beauty products that will help them lift something, cover something else, and give them that ‘thing they’re missing’? The truth is, many beauty advertisements have been successful at not only selling women their products, but also at setting an unrealistic and unattainable definition of beauty. Dove has shelved the…

  • Musings on Marketing from The Masters

    Martine de Gannes
    14 Apr 2013 | 8:19 pm
    This week my childhood dream came true and I got to walk the sacred grounds of Augusta National. Don’t get me wrong, the place was magnificent, but what really struck me was the way marketers leveraged an event that has some of the most restricted access to fans to get their message out in a truly organic and genuine way. From the second you walk onto the grounds there is not a corporate logo in sight. Everything is “Masters green” and white. You drink “lemon lime” relying on your expert taste buds to decipher if it is Sprite or 7UP. Only three companies are granted exclusive rights…

  • 2013 IMC Visit Day

    Vitamin IMC
    10 Apr 2013 | 1:08 pm
    Friday, April 12 will be a very exciting day for the IMC program. Newly admitted students will be spending the day on Northwestern’s campus for a Visit Day to learn more about the program they will potentially be attending in the fall. Beginning around 9 a.m. the activities throughout the day aim to provide as much information as possible to the prospective students so they can make a truly informed decision about whether Medill and IMC is the best fit for them. Not only will they be able to meet and mingle with other admits, but they will have the chance to hear from current faculty and…
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    Online Marketing Blog

  • Online Marketing News: Video Trends Map, Content Recommendation Engine & New Google+ Layout

    Miranda Miller
    17 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    New Google+ Layout: Hangouts, Photos and Stream Reminiscent of Pinterest Google announced a major update to their social network this week that changes the way Hangouts, photos and the Google+ stream are viewed by users. The decidedly Pinterest-esque layout was just one of many announcements this week out of Google I/O, the totality of which Jeremiah Owyang and Chris Silva dubbed a “wreck.” “The end result, we hope, is an app that looks and feels great across a family of devices,” Senior VP Vic Gundotra wrote of the Google+ changes. This is in line with Google’s…

  • 11 Examples of Killer B2B Content Marketing Campaigns Including ROI

    Lee Odden
    16 May 2013 | 7:23 am
    According to a CMI and MarketingProfs study, 91% of B2B Marketers are using content marketing and that means a few things: First, it means content marketing has gained critical mass within the popular marketing mix and any company in a competitive industry would be hard pressed to attract business without it. Second, it means competition to stand out with your brand’s content is only going to get harder as more companies adopt content marketing best practices and mature in their skills. As companies evolve from simply recognizing the important role of content and experimenting with it,…

  • The Power of Visual Content Marketing and Brand Visuals in Action

    Miranda Miller
    15 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    Visual content is certainly trendy – see the meteoric rise in infographics and social engagement with images as proof. Yet the need for content that appeals on a visual level and presents information in a more engaging format than text goes far beyond what is cool or fun to create. In creating curriculum and learning materials for students (child to adult) and their teachers, I learned just how important visuals are in meeting the needs of different types of learners. This is too often a missing piece in the marketing mindset; we focus on what we want people to do, the action we want…

  • Content Marketing Tactics: Business Blogging Pros, Cons, Best Practices & Brands Doing It Right

    Miranda Miller
    14 May 2013 | 3:55 am
    As part of our continuing series on content marketing tactics, I’ll be covering a topic that is absolutely near and dear to every content marketer’s heart: business blogging. According to a recent NM Incite report, there are over 181 million blogs around the world. The way many companies treat blogs in their content marketing mix is to incorporate blogs into their website as a section or subdomain, or host them on their own domain name as we do. With that kind of popularity, you would think everyone in business would know what a blog is and would be using them to their maximum…

  • Want to Improve Your Online Marketing? Master These Search & Social Media Tactics

    Lee Odden
    13 May 2013 | 5:01 am
    Fast changing trends and serious competition has digital marketers chasing the latest and greatest tactics like hamsters on exercise wheels. Good advice is both hard and too easy to come by. Search “social media marketing” on Google and there are over 1 billion results. All the scrambling often means core skills are overlooked. In fact, one of the easiest things a company can do to improve online marketing performance is to stop sucking at the basics. When it comes to optimizing for search and social media, well implemented basics are as good for search engines and social networks…
 
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  • Kanye West Isn't Having a Good Week

    17 May 2013 | 10:38 pm
    Kanye West Isn't Having a Good Week Getty ImagesThe rapper and future father has had a lot happen in a week -- including a car crash and some absurd tabloid rumors following him. Tirade that was caught on tape Also in the Stars 'SNL' Star Cuddles With Girlfriend George Michael Airlifted to Hospital Bad News for 'American Idol'

  • Huge First for Rare Bacteria Victim

    17 May 2013 | 10:38 pm
    Huge First for Rare Bacteria VictimNBCDespite losing her hands and feet, Aimee Copeland never lost her bubbly spirit -- and now she has two reasons to smile even wider. Wonders that no other woman in world hasMore to SeeProof It's Time for Star to Ditch HeelsActress Isn't Wearing Pants in Mag'Robo Doc' Whizzes Around Hospital's Halls

  • Stunning Revelation Amid IRS Scandal

    17 May 2013 | 10:38 pm
    Stunning Revelation Amid IRS ScandalGetty ImagesTwo US officials testified before irate lawmakers Friday on what they knew about the tax agency's targeting of conservatives.Disclosure made during 2012 electionMore NewsHarry Reid Mulling 'Nuclear Option'Treasury Sec on IRS: I Just Found OutBoston Donations May Not Be Enough

  • Arias Confronted by Her Victim's Siblings

    17 May 2013 | 10:38 pm
    Arias Confronted by Her Victim's SiblingsAPIn open court on Thursday, Samantha and Steven Alexander faced the woman convicted for the savage 2008 murder of their brother.Emotional words that brought Arias to tearsMore NewsSenators: Obama War Powers 'Disturbing'More Trouble for Abercrombie & FitchFast Food Workers Face Widespread Theft

  • Teen's First Drive Ends in Heartbreak

    17 May 2013 | 10:38 pm
    Teen's First Drive Ends in HeartbreakFacebookSavannah Nash, 16, couldn't wait to get behind the wheel when she got her license -- but her first solo drive turned out to be her last.Tragedy on the way to the marketMore NewsFailing Student Fakes KidnappingNew York Times Website HackedMom Tried to Give Away Her Baby
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    Post-Advertising

  • Why It’s a Mistake For Brands to Ignore Tumblr

    Jon Thomas
    15 May 2013 | 11:24 am
    Pretend I’m someone who understands the basics of the Internet but has never used a social platform. Now let me ask you: What’s Facebook? What’s Twitter? What’s Instagram? Most answers, at least from the readers of this blog, would be similar. But I’ve got another question. What’s Tumblr? I would bet that at this point the definitions start to differ.  “It’s a blogging platform, like WordPress or Typepad.” “It’s a social network where people share all sorts of content.” “It’s a website for theme-based GIF repositories.” For the record, Tumblr defines itself as a…

  • 4 Lessons in Creating Dynamic Social Content

    Karen Nagy
    13 May 2013 | 3:22 pm
    Why would I care? Why would I share? These are two key questions that Droga5’s chief creative officer, Ted Royer, says his agency considers when creating social content for brands on Facebook. Royer and Carlos Figueiredo, associate creative director at Publicis Kaplan Thaler, hashed out what makes engaging Facebook content during a Creative Week panel titled “Newsfeeder: The Most Creative Posts From Facebook Brands,” moderated by BuzzFeed’s CCO, Jeff Greenspan. We’ve gathered a few of the key takeaways from the conversation for you as well as specific brand takeaways.  1.

  • The Difference Between Fun and Useful Content in Social Sharing

    Jon Thomas
    8 May 2013 | 1:52 am
    To say I’m not much of a handyman would be an understatement. I’m my father’s son—a Boston sports fan through and through, hardworking and always trying to please. But he and I know absolutely nothing about maintenance or repair work. So when I recently bought my first house with my wife, the renovations we opted to complete ourselves weren’t going to be easy, no matter how simple they were. But in the connected world we live in, help was no further away than a YouTube search. Hanging towel racks, painting stripes and installing the Nest thermostat (a must-have, IMO), lighting…

  • 6 TV Ads That Will Grip You With Their Story

    Jon Thomas
    1 May 2013 | 7:09 am
    Television advertising has traditionally been seen as an interruptive yet creative means of exposing audiences to a brand. There’s no denying the massive audience that television commands, not only in the United States and the UK but around the world, but it’s been said that audiences hate advertisements so much that they created technologies for avoiding them. Many households have “pulled the plug” on television altogether, opting for on-demand television viewing with Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, iTunes, Roku, HBOGo and many more alternative services. Add to that the Nielsen Global…

  • When Promoted Hashtags Are Campaign Killers

    Jon Thomas
    29 Apr 2013 | 2:31 am
    This post originally appeared in our April ’13 issue of “Live Report from the Future of Marketing,” our monthly Post-Advertising newsletter. Subscribe for free here. No matter how lofty a brand’s goals are when it uses hashtags, there are always individuals ready to use them to drag it into the gutter. McDonald’s is on its second go-round with promoted hashtags gone awry, this time with #UnwrapWhatsFresh. The hashtag was created to support McDonald’s new Premium McWrap, which features chicken (grilled or crispy) and fresh vegetables served in a warm tortilla.  The hashtag was…
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    Chief Marketing Technologist

  • Everyone in marketing should be a marketer scientist

    Scott Brinker
    15 May 2013 | 2:34 am
    (This also appears as a guest post on SAS’s Left of the Date Line blog for the Asia Pacific region.) Later this month, I’ll have the privilege of meeting with groups of CMOs and other marketing leaders across southeast Asia as part of an event tour with SAS Institute. We’ll be visiting Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and India, as well as doing a live webcast for Australia and New Zealand on Tuesday, May 21. The title of my presentation will be The Emergent CMO: Combining Art & Science in Modern Marketing, and I thought I’d share a sneak preview of…

  • How EMC successfully adopted agile marketing

    Scott Brinker
    13 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    Agile marketing has been gaining a lot of steam over the past year, but we’re still in the “early adopter” stage of this movement. (If you have no idea what agile marketing is, I recently posted a video introduction to agile marketing as well as an essay version.) Most teams that have adopted agile marketing have had to figure it out on their own, improvising from ideas of agile development and adapting the process as they go along. There are precious few published stories of how real teams have struggled through that process that others could use as a reference and…

  • The very cool marketing technology LUMAscape

    Scott Brinker
    10 May 2013 | 6:46 am
    Terry Kawaja and the brilliant folks at LUMA Partners — a modern investment bank specializing in the intersection of media and technology — have just released their Marketing Technology LUMAscape, shown above. A few years ago, Terry put together a similar landscape for the more specialized ad tech space, which became the reference document for that industry. It was also what inspired me to create a marketing technology landscape in a similar vein. However, while my landscape was intended just to help people visualize the sheer breadth and diversity of the marketing technology space, Terry…

  • Introduction to agile marketing (video presentation)

    Scott Brinker
    9 May 2013 | 3:55 am
    Last month, I presented a talk on Agile Marketing: Managing Marketing in a World of Constant Change at the Marketo User Summit in San Francisco. They professionally recorded the session, and with their permission, I’m pleased to be able to share the video and synchronized slide deck with you: The post Introduction to agile marketing (video presentation) appeared first on Chief Marketing Technologist.

  • The New Kingmakers are a rising force in marketing too

    Scott Brinker
    8 May 2013 | 3:22 am
    In a world powered by software, the developers who create that software — especially the really good ones — are increasingly the center of influence and power in business. That’s the core thesis of Stephen O’Grady’s brief-but-brilliant, 48-page book, The New Kingmakers: How Developers Conquered the World. This is highly relevant to marketers and marketing technologists. The genesis for Stephen’s book was the striking realization that as part of the democratization of technology in organizations — sometimes called the consumerization of IT — the CIO could be the…
 
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    FUEL LINES

  • Ad Agencies that don’t have content practices will be scrambling for new business

    Michael Gass
    5 May 2013 | 11:47 pm
    The Moroch Agency’s Niche BlogAgencies talk about the value of content marketing but few are doing it and even fewer do it well.Roper Public Affairs, 80% of business decision-makers said they prefer to get information via articles, not ads. 70% said content makes them feel closer to a company and 60% said content provided by companies helps them make smarter buying decisions.Agencies are historically bad at new business. They seem to lose their marketing minds when it comes to marketing themselves.  A clear example of this is with content marketing.  Digital, social and mobile have…

  • Podcasting for Ad Agency New Business

    Michael Gass
    1 May 2013 | 11:39 am
    Podcasting is an effective tool for business development, networking, and a positioning of expertise.Trent Dyrsmid, is an online marketing expert, author, speaker, and the founder of BrightIdeas.co. His podcasting audience is made up entirely of ad agency professionals, small business owners, and independent marketing consultants. Trent has produced over 100 episodes. Trent writes,“Podcasting, if done correctly, can be an incredibly powerful tool for business development, networking, and positioning yourself as a thought leader (which is what content marketing is all about). Consider…

  • My Steps for Fueling New Business Through Social Media

    Michael Gass
    23 Apr 2013 | 7:50 am
     Outlining a social media strategy for creating new business opportunities from inbound and content marketing quickly.strat·e·gy : A plan of action or policy designed to achieve a major or overall aim.Since I launched my consultancy using social media in 2007, social media has become main-lined into traditional marketing. But, a lot of agencies  were caught “flat-footed” when it caught fire, being fueled by the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression. Most agencies didn’t jump into the social media arena until 2010. When they did relent, their engagement…

  • Ad Agencies: Will 2013 Be the Year 3D Printing Goes Mainstream?

    Michael Gass
    15 Apr 2013 | 1:17 pm
    3D Printing is an innovative technology that is sure to impact advertising, marketing and even agency new business. “A faster and cheaper alternative to traditional methods of manufacturing is making its way into the mainstream market, and it looks to be changing the way people do business—including advertising.” 3D Printing Buzz3D printing is a process of making three-dimensional solid objects from a digital model. Objects are created by laying down successive layers of material. This is performed by a materials printer using digital technology.  A design file is sent to the…

  • My 70-20-10 Twitter Formula for Ad Agency New Business

    Michael Gass
    2 Apr 2013 | 10:50 am
    A simple formula for using Twitter more effectively for new business.I’ve been using Twitter for new business since 2007. It is the leading traffic generator for my website traffic.  One of the best helps I found when I first started using Twitter came from Angela Maiers, educator, author, blogger who leads Maier Educational Services.Angela developed a simple Twitter Engagement Formula that provided focus and purpose for her participation. She called it the 70-20-10 Formula:70% Sharing others voices, opinions and tools. 20% Collaborations, directly responding, connecting and…
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    Kneale Mann | Leadership

  • Our Ongoing Education

    Kneale Mann
    17 May 2013 | 3:51 am
    We live in a fascinating time. Technology, communication, collaboration, and knowledge bring us more changes every day to connect and grow. As far as leadership and business culture, it’s also an ever more complex time. We have four and sometimes five generations in the workforce side by side trying to homogenize the experience through systems and processes, strategies and priorities, options and competing priorities. This is challenging for all of us. I do subscribe to the mantra that education is a lifelong journey and that may be more important now than every before in our existence. Sir…

  • Be a Human Leader

    Kneale Mann
    14 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    There are over seven billion of us on this planet, over two billion online, and the noise is unbearable most days. Look at this, click on that, check my offer, attend this event, go to that store, read this article, buy that cool gadget, the list is endless. Then we're expected to share it, text it, tweet it, connect it, friend it, email it, or blog it. The cries for attention seem unrelenting and perhaps as we have trained ourselves to sift through endless data, content, and advertising, we have forgotten ourselves? But it would be good to think we take more care with our relationships and…

  • Awaken the Child

    Kneale Mann
    10 May 2013 | 2:30 am
    When you were a kid, you were probably discovering new stuff all the time. There wasn't corporate governance tied to strategic objectives to increase third quarter earnings, you just tried stuff. Some stuff went well, some not so well, some evolved into other stuff, but you probably didn't over think much because you were too busy discovering and creating. My mom still remarks about how I would get lost in my own world when I was a kid. That kid is alive and well. Is yours? Snakes and Ladders But as we grow, we begin to form teams and norms and start to worry more about the opinions of others…

  • Customer Service in Two Steps

    Kneale Mann
    6 May 2013 | 7:46 pm
    If you were to ask everyone you know if they enjoyed receiving great customer service, the suspicion is most (all) would say yes. If you asked them if they received great customer service 100% of the time, the suspicion is most (all) would say no. If you asked them if they would enjoy working in a company which supports value-based collaborative culture, most (all) would say yes. Then ask how many have experienced or experience it in their career, and far too many would say no. Add it up... So if all of those facts were true, do the math, some of us are giving less than great…

  • Think Time

    Kneale Mann
    3 May 2013 | 4:30 am
    I was recently in a meeting with a client and asked how often she has time to think. She laughed and looked at me curiously and claimed she was thinking all the time. I clarified my question by asking when she booked time to just think – no emails, no meetings, and no interruptions. She laughed even louder. What followed was a list of tasks and deadlines and deliverables like we all have on our plate. There was no time to just think – time is money and there are things to get done. Cut the Waste I like to challenge leaders to find 25% of their week they spend on tasks they don’t need to…
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    The Fresh Peel // Ripe Brand Strategy. Juicy Insights and Trends.

  • Teens and Social Media [Infographic]

    Chris Wilson
    22 Apr 2013 | 9:10 pm
    Teens are shying away from Facebook 61% of teens are using Tumblr, whereas only 55% of teens are on Facebook

  • Google Search Hacks Infographic

    Chris Wilson
    14 Apr 2013 | 5:47 am
    Knowing how to find the right information online is not just an important skill set for students. It is a crucial skill for new age marketers and planners as well.    

  • Email Design Best Practices Infographic

    Chris Wilson
    4 Apr 2013 | 6:29 am
    Great email design tips from Email Monk. There are a lot of low hanging fruit here. If you implementing these best practices into your current email campaigns, then you’d be an idiot not to start implementing them right away. The only one I question is the animated GIF tip. Email Monk claims they have seen deliverability issues with animated GIFs, yet I continue to see them widely used. I personally don’t have much experience with them so I can’t provide any insight there. The last section on mobile design is something that most brand marketers are falling short on right…

  • Customizing Accessories for Your Business

    Chris Wilson
    31 Mar 2013 | 7:52 pm
    Customized accessories for your business can truly come in handy. These accessories are often used for promotional purposes. You can spread the word about your business by having accessories personalized with the name of your business or a special logo that you have created. The name of your business or the picture of your logo can be placed on all types of accessories, including shirts, hats, and even mugs. Personalized Office Supplies With such a wide selection of accessories that can be personalized, you may not exactly be sure as to which of these promotional products you truly want to…

  • Who Won the Social Media Super Bowl XLVII [Infographic]

    Chris Wilson
    9 Feb 2013 | 7:28 am
    The Baltimore Ravens should be grateful that social media doesn’t have any impact on the outcome of the game. The San Francisco 49ers dominated social media during the Super Bowl with 62% of conversation.
 
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    iMediaConnection Blog

  • How fast does your internet really need to be?

    Drew Hendricks
    17 May 2013 | 9:35 am
    It’s a given these days that having a quick, reliable home broadband connection is essential for functioning in a variety of areas – allowing you to work, relax, shop and instantly empower yourself with information ranging from which day to put the bins out to saving money on household bills. But this is not something that everyone currently enjoys. While most in urban areas have access to a good standard of broadband provision, the government acknowledged in 2009 that there are two areas which struggle: rural regions which are far from a telephone exchange, and suburban areas on the cusp…

  • Mobile Path to Purchase Study Shows Higher and Earlier Engagement, Local Focus

    Bill Dinan
    17 May 2013 | 8:00 am
    As mobile device adoption continues to skyrocket, mobile consumers are searching earlier during their purchase cycle and more consumers are reaching for their mobile devices for locally-relevant information. Promotions also play a big role in driving mobile consumers’ purchase decisions and conversions. These are some of the key takeaways from our 2013 U.S. Mobile Path-to-Purchase Study that we recently released with long-standing partner xAd. Conducted for the second year in a row with Nielsen, the 2013 Mobile Path-to-Purchase Study covers what more than 2,000 U.S. smartphone and tablet…

  • Hundreds of millions of online ads are ‘worthless’

    Andrew Goode
    17 May 2013 | 3:04 am
    Global advertising is worth $438bn. That is a massive sum of money and as media becomes more digital, it is only going to increase. With such a huge amount of money at stake, you would think every penny would be accounted for in great detail. But that is not the case at the moment. As we know, once the initial rounds of advertising takes place, the content then goes out into the ether. Up until recently, these adverts were lost in the great expanse of the internet. Yet as long as the number of views and impressions were in line with what was expected, not too many people have been worried…

  • Current and Relevant: How to Find the Coolest New Tools on the Block

    Yuna Park
    16 May 2013 | 3:59 pm
    This post is the second in a three-part series with practical tips for marketers to pursue social and digital innovation. Read the first post on maximizing your personal social media usage here Want to be the go-to guy or gal on your team with the flashiest new apps? The one dressing Instagram photos with never-before-seen filters and stamps, using emoticons our Japanese counterparts only released yesterday? It can be time-consuming to stay current in social and digital media, so here are some effective ways to quickly surface and assess the hottest toys. 1. Assign yourself playtime. My…

  • Does location data matter? Not how you think it does.

    David Petersen
    16 May 2013 | 9:35 am
    By David Petersen, CEO, Sense Networks Location-based mobile advertising, and its typical application of geo-fencing, is one of today’s hottest mobile marketing’s topics. However, the true power of location is often misunderstood. When it comes to driving ROI through mobile advertising, location often doesn’t matter – at least not in the way you think it does. Instead of simply geo-fencing a static location, the more effective use of mobile location technology considers historical location data and the consumer behavior it reveals. Smart marketers are implementing “location for…
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    Blog - Ganador

  • Are you a Type Q or Type R Shopper?

    Dennis Price
    15 May 2013 | 4:00 pm
    When I completed my own doctorate (waaaay back), one of the tangential observations made was the following shopping typology: Type Q: The functional, utilitarian patron who shops of necessity, as quickly (hence: type Q) as possible because it is a chore. This type of behaviour is characterised by small but frequent purchases which are purely aimed at acquiring merchandise for consumption. Duration of the visit is usually short, and only a limited part of the centre (if it is a large centre) or a small (convenience) centre is patronised. Target stores are usually supermarkets for grocery…

  • The Third Dog

    Dennis Price
    14 May 2013 | 4:42 pm
    The retail supply chain is broken and I am sadly observing systemic failure in the retail supply chain,. The symptoms are as follows:Landlords may tell retailers that their stock is not what the market wants and the customers are simply responding to the fact that they can get what they really want somewhere else. They argue that the customer service levels are not good enough and that the presentation is not up to standard.Franchisors will berate Franchisees for not adhering to the Operations Manual and for failure to engage the customer in the right way; not serve the hot dog the way…

  • Three persuasion techniques we can learn from babies

    Dennis Price
    13 May 2013 | 5:00 pm
    On our very first day on the planet, the influence task that faced us was immense. We had to persuade those around us, without language, without consciousness, without anything like the oratorical prowess that we possess as adults, to take care of us—to subjugate their own interests at the expense of ours. Babies are equipped with three features, fitted as standard, calibrated to cut straight through our deliberation, which are: 1. An unignorable soundtrack that figures at the top of nearly everyone’s list of aversive acoustic stimuli;2. Appallingly cute good looks, that prove pretty…

  • Retailers: help is on it's way

    Dennis Price
    12 May 2013 | 4:18 pm
     A friend of mine has put his hand up to help you.Michael Ratner (owner of Compendium) is collecting some basic data that will assist retailers to understand where they are at - exactly - and how they compare.He is braver than me, but it is a worthwhile exercise.DOWNLOAD this simple spreadsheet and provide him with some basic percentages and you will get a huge benefit in return. It won't take long to do - JUST DO IT...

  • At the end of a tough week you deserve this

    Dennis Price
    9 May 2013 | 3:06 pm
    And just when you thought life couldn't get any tougher... it does.SOURCE: http://www.seashell.com.au
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    FOLDEN eMarketing Blog

  • Bing and Klout Cooperation becomes relevant to Search Engine Results

    FOLDEN.INFO
    16 May 2013 | 6:13 am
    The Microsoft search engine Bing and Klout, the social influence measuring service, have announced a cooperation in September. The first result has been the appearance and evaluation of the scoring within the Bing search results. In the future this cooperation will lead to a further enrichment of the Bing search results and a new way [...]

  • Online Events become a growing Trend

    FOLDEN.INFO
    25 Apr 2013 | 2:53 pm
    The trend towards the event society is well known for some time already. One may think this is caused by socialization and having fun, which may be accurate to concerts. But this trend is not contrary to online events according to a study by the Virtual Edge Institute. The Virtual Edge Institute has conducted a [...]

  • Native Ads will have a growing Market Share

    FOLDEN.INFO
    17 Apr 2013 | 6:12 am
    Native ad formats, such like sponsored stories or promoted media and defined by advertising media being placed within the stream of standard user behavior, will have a growing market share according to a study by BIA/Kelsey. The already serious market share of 35% of last year will grow to 42% in 2017. Beside native ads [...]

  • Latest Edition of Mobile Phone Creative Guidelines announced

    FOLDEN.INFO
    17 Apr 2013 | 5:54 am
    The IAB and MMA announced the latest edition of “Mobile Phone Creative Guidelines”. The guidelines supplement the “Universal Mobile Ad Package” dedicated to trade advertising media and the “Display Advertising Guidelines”. Regarding the current development of the mobile ecosystem the mobile guidelines especially take into contemplation the app marketplace by including particular parameters like initial [...]

  • Mobile Voice Ads come to the Market

    FOLDEN.INFO
    9 Apr 2013 | 6:06 am
    A new mobile ad format is coming to the market, mobile voice ads. The format and technology has been developed by speech technology company Nuance Communications and is already broadly announced within the homepage as Nuance Voice Ads. At first by thinking about phones one may have the idea of a new push technology to [...]
 
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    Big Marketing for Small Business

  • How to Share Your Competitive Advantage Through Social Media

    Kevin Gaertner
    17 May 2013 | 12:59 pm
    Being in charge of a small business means constantly competing against the big guys. Providing something unique and valuable to consumers is the reason most of us started a business in the first place, and positively differentiating yourself from larger, more established competitors can really help you gain a competitive advantage. As a smart business owner, you need to keep your competitive advantage in mind constantly; it should be ingrained in your strategy, and evident on all fronts. This holds especially true when it comes to marketing online, since that’s where much of our focus…

  • How a Small Business Can Find Love on Yelp

    Tina Hamilton
    22 Apr 2013 | 11:26 am
    Yelp’s influence is undeniable. By the end of 2012, Yelpers had written more than 36 million business reviews, making the social network platform the the leading local guide for online word-of-mouth. Michael Zammuto, president of ReputationChanger.com, says the power and influence of online review sites are directly linked to a business’ revenues. “Studies have revealed that an enterprise’s score on Yelp or on TripAdvisor is directly related to its profits,” he affirms. “For example, a Harvard study found that a single star on Yelp.com translates to somewhere between 5 and 10…

  • How to Perform Easy A/B Tests of Your Landing Pages

    Rajan Sodhi
    20 Apr 2013 | 6:00 pm
    Anyone actively spending their advertising budget on digital marketing can tell you how important it is to continuously optimize your landing pages to deliver more qualified leads and sales. Testing creative ad copy in your Google search engine advertising (PPC) helps to improve your visitor clickthru rate, but if your page doesn’t convert that visitor into a lead once they reach there, you’ve just spent valuable ad dollars for nothing. Google search engine advertising is a direct response form of advertising–you’re reaching a potential customer at the moment they are very…

  • Your Brand Power Starts With One

    Rajan Sodhi
    12 Apr 2013 | 11:36 am
    Ask yourself this one question: “What does your brand stand for?” If you’re unsure, don’t expect your audience to spend the time figuring it out for you. Your brand must stand for something or it stands for nothing—or risks just being mediocre and who wants to stand for that? BMW is known for high performance, Mercedes is known for luxury, and Volvo is known for safety. Not to say that any of these car brands don’t offer comparable performance, luxury or safety but each can only be known for one thing to make their brand truly meaningful to consumers.

  • 3 Types of Customer Surveys That Can Improve Sales Growth

    Gabriel Nelson
    11 Apr 2013 | 8:00 am
    Marketing is all about customers and how well you can understand them in order to sell them a product or service–and keep selling to them. Empathizing with your customers and putting yourself in their shoes is the most useful thing you can do when it comes to selling, online or off. Knowing what an individual customer likes or doesn’t like can be the deciding factor when the customer has a choice between your company and a competitor. Customer surveys can help you understand your customers better. These surveys can help you understand customer perceptions, boost sales, gain a competitive…
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    Logo Design Blog

  • Mother Day Special

    Ben Johnson
    13 May 2013 | 5:29 am
    12th of May, is a day that we celebrate in honour of our great mothers. It is really a blessing that we have such great mothers because they are a only source of unique comfort and love. They play a major role in our upbringing when we don’t have the sense of anything and make  [ Read More ]

  • Incorporation of logo designs into business strategy

    Ben Johnson
    6 May 2013 | 6:20 am
    If we go back into history and study the human life in Stone Age, we would get a clear indication that it was the signs that worked as a vital source of communication medium. Signs were made and used to interact with those cultures or languages that were unfamiliar or uneven in nature. Signs have  [ Read More ]

  • Importance of a Video Animation

    Ben Johnson
    30 Apr 2013 | 1:33 am
    You cannot express or educate everything in plain words even if you want to. The year was 1928 when Mickey Mouse, a one of a kind animation that was created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks was to fascinate children, but now animations are all in a new phase of development process. An animation is  [ Read More ]

  • Strategy of a Symbol

    Ben Johnson
    22 Apr 2013 | 3:36 am
    You can win a bet without any doubt on the fact that marketing campaigns won’t work without identity (logo/symbol). So, it is important for you to get a logo designed for yourself before you start promoting your business in the traditional market or on online market interfaces. Now, you might wonder, what does this design  [ Read More ]

  • How to select the right banner design firm?

    Ben Johnson
    15 Apr 2013 | 4:46 am
    Banners were and still are used in the traditional market place, but with advancements made in the media industry even the banners have become a virtual marketing tool. Apart from the traditional marketing strategies, banners have been bought to life in the virtual market place. For example they are now animated, they might have short  [ Read More ]
 
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    yinkaolaito.com - the branding gavel, brand communication expert, nigeria brand consultant, social media expert

  • COCA-Cola’s ‘Share a coke campaign’: Brand becomes personal

    yinkaolaito
    16 May 2013 | 8:33 am
    Many age-long held truths are now shattered. One of them is the view held by The God’s Father. It may be right at the time they made that assertion but the dynamics of the environment has proven them wrong. Peradventure you do not know the position of the ‘God’s Father’, they claimed ‘‘business is not [...]

  • Online Social behaviours that can cost you so much damage

    yinkaolaito
    13 May 2013 | 7:12 am
    It is no news everyone has the capacity to be a creator and publisher. The internet age has empowered everyone to showcase their skills. Interestingly it is better if some just stay away from social media use. The reason is that staying away can make them reduce impact of damage they are causing their brands. [...]

  • Content marketing in Digital media: why a human face is essential

    yinkaolaito
    10 May 2013 | 4:06 am
    Many constantly affirm ‘Content marketing is the new face of advertising’. While many may not accept this as absolute truth, there is an element of truth in this. Those who still adhere strictly to traditional advertising without a blend of content marketing will soon realize their mistakes. The above debate is not really the focus [...]

  • How to win Social media marketing war

    yinkaolaito
    6 May 2013 | 3:34 am
    Everyone (brand) seems to have seen the impact of technology on business. We live in the age of social communication and enterprise must be social to excel. No true brand with a desire to make outstanding progress today will ignore this tool. The war among Fortune 500 and other medium and small scale industries is [...]

  • Five merits of Social media addiction

    yinkaolaito
    3 May 2013 | 4:48 am
    Addiction to some is an evil word. It connotes over dependence, obsession to something. Addiction in its negative mode can be bad. It has destroyed homes, organizations and outstanding careers. Sometimes addiction is a result of peer pressure
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    We First Blog

  • LIVESTRONG is #StillStrong and Sharing Its Story

    Dana Byerlee
    17 May 2013 | 8:29 am
    Today is LIVESTRONG Day and the anniversary of the launch of their now iconic LIVESTRONG wristband. Since 2004, the Foundation has recognized one day each year as LIVESTRONG Day to honor the 28 million people living with cancer. Yet this year marks a special opportunity: to drive the conversation past the Lance Armstrong controversy and shine a refocused light on the incredible ways the organization impacts thousands of lives every day. Many people will probably find the actual breadth of contribution by LIVESTRONG both surprising and inspiring. While most people are aware of the foundation,…

  • Why We Need a Global Brand Initiative

    Dana Byerlee
    14 May 2013 | 9:33 am
    Last month, the United Nations marked 1000 days until the 2015 deadline of the “Millennium Development Goals,” a program started in 2000 with the goal of eliminating the worst impacts of human poverty within 15 years. This countdown was, in part, a response to data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development that countries are giving less and less to international development. In the steepest reduction in 15 years, aid was down 4% last year and 2% percent in 2011. Unfortunately, many of the programs designed to help developing nations reach the Millennium goals…

  • SuperBrands and the Unreasonable Screen: How to lead in mobile

    Simon
    13 May 2013 | 8:58 am
    Guest post from Gary Schwartz I was speaking with David Epstein, the founder of The Unreasonable Institute, the brainchild of Unreasonable at Sea, the Google sponsored innovation ship that is presently sailing from port to port globally. Mr. Epstein’s mission statement is borrowed from George Bernard Shaw who in 1903 wrote in Man and Superman: “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” The Unreasonable Institute is based in Boulder, Colorado and is…

  • Why Business Must Become a Third Pillar of Social Change

    Dana Byerlee
    9 May 2013 | 6:40 am
    In 2008 Bill Gates told the World Economic Forum that governments and philanthropies could no longer meet the needs of the world’s problems. He called on companies to accept greater responsibility to develop solutions to the massive problems that endlessly plague our planet, and to take on projects of “creative capitalism.” Many people didn’t know what to make of it, or found it a little ironic coming from the world’s richest man. The issue was hotly debated but by 2013, this vision can no longer be called idealistic, unrealistic, or naïve. It’s fast becoming a reality and…

  • Live G+ Hangout: From Profit To Purpose – How Business Can Build a Better World

    Dana Byerlee
    2 May 2013 | 10:44 am
    The unprecedented collision of global needs and personal hopes, of human emotion and social technology, of powerful brands and newly empowered consumers, has the potential to transform our world- and we are witnessing a historical transformation in which the private sector is slowly emerging as a 3rd pillar of social change. If you are interested in learning more from those actively working towards this goal, please join us and thought leaders from Nike and B Corp for a free Google+ Hangout discussing From Profit to Purpose: How Business Can Build a Better World. We’ll be live on-air with…
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    Free Sales & Marketing Magazines and Downloads from alltop.tradepub.com

  • Building Your Sender Reputation In Four Steps

    17 May 2013 | 12:00 am
    In other words, do you appear to be a spammer or do your sends get the green light? The better your reputation, the more likely your chances are of landing in the inbox rather than the spam folder. In this white paper, you'll learn the steps and information that will give you the best opportunity of achieving an amazing sender reputation.  It’s easier than you think, but requires discipline and adherence to doing things the right way.Request Free!

  • Create Global Content: How to Write for Localization

    16 May 2013 | 12:00 am
    Because learning a few technical writing techniques now could save 10-15% on translation costs downstream. Here are a few key strategies for writing source content that make localization easier, less time-consuming and less costly.Request Free!

  • Target Marketing

    13 May 2013 | 1:50 pm
    Find the latest strategies and tips on … email … social … mobile … direct mail … e-commerce … search … creative … database marketing … B2B and more!Sign up today … just one good idea from every issue could make a BIG difference in your bottom line!Request Free!

  • Hear Why CareFirst BCBS is Switching to a SIP-based Contact Center

    13 May 2013 | 12:00 am
    Traditional ACD vendors continue to struggle with their product roadmaps - stuck between the legacy hardware of the past and the open software of the present and the future. If your ACD-based contact center has become a road block for adding capacity or adding channels such as social media and mobile, you might want to think about making the switch to a SIP-based Contact Center solution.Hear Why and How CareFirst BCBS is Switching to SIPCareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, a US based healthcare insurer, made the decision to migrate from its legacy ACD/PBX based contact center to a SIP-based…

  • Has Anyone Ever Returned an Unused Software License?

    13 May 2013 | 12:00 am
    In this Webcast an analyst from Frost and Sullivan will go over the results of a recently published white paper on this topic and Deloitte & Touche will discuss the benefits their customers have gained in automating their license management processes.View this Webcast to learn how you can reclaim licenses, avoid unnecessary license costs, achieve continuous compliance, and improve risk management.Request Free!
 
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    Hip Shots

  • Buying From a Car Dealership

    Vance
    17 May 2013 | 10:10 pm
    Buying a new car can be both exciting and scary. For many people, buying a car from a car dealership in Louisville, KY, can be complicated and unpleasant. And for good reason, too. It’s intimidating to go up against an experienced car salesman who talks fast and knows his stuff. However, buying a car doesn’t have to be difficult or unpleasant. Buying a car should be fun and rewarding. Read this article for some helpful tips and pointers to get you a car that you’ll love for the years to come. Know Your Car The first step to buying a car is to find exactly what car you want. Take your…

  • Finding MLS Numbers and What to Do Next

    Vance
    9 May 2013 | 4:24 pm
    On the Salt Lake City MLS websites, you will find a plethora of information about individual properties for sale.  Some of them will tease you with a little bit of information and then when you want more you will be required to divulge your contact information so that a real estate agent can contact you. You won’t get any more information until you provide the contact information.  That can be frustrating when you don’t want to involve a real estate agent at this stage of the house hunting process.  But, when you do get a real estate agent involved, you will have access to more…

  • Find a Great Barber Shop

    Vance
    7 May 2013 | 2:30 am
    Visit your Garden City barber shop for the best haircut and shave results. Barbers are often overlooked, as salons and quick hair cutting places are becoming popular. Those who do visit a barber regularly can attest to their great benefits and excellent results. Men who are struggling with their hair and beard should consider finding a good barbershop. Benefits of a Barber Like any stylist or cosmetologist, a barber has to go through various training and testing before he or she can be certified. A great barber has years of experience with all different hair types and hairstyles. Not only do…

  • Getting Things Clean With Janitorial Services

    Vance
    17 Apr 2013 | 8:54 am
    No one likes cleaning, especially when there is a standard of clean that is expected. The answer to this dilemma is getting a Las Vegas janitorial company to get the job done. The services that are provided can be specific or general, depending on your needs, and can be used for a home or for a multi-floor building or business. When you need to get the best cleaning possible, these services are your best bet at obtaining it. Most of these services are family-owned and operated and provide flexible and affordable services. Types of Jobs When it comes to cleaning, janitorial companies can…

  • When To Call A Locksmith: Cars, Homes, And More

    Vance
    17 Apr 2013 | 8:17 am
    Feeling secure and safe is important. So much of our safety is tied to knowing that our things are well-protected, whether it’s your home, your documents, or your car. Following are a few tips on how to prevent and deal with car lockouts as well as how to deal with home break-ins. If such events can’t be prevented, it may be time to call a locksmith in Long Beach to help you. Car Lockouts We’ve all done it at some point: locked the keys in the car. It’s not a fun situation to be in and can happen in a number of ways. One way to deal with the situation is to make sure you have a spare…
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    On Social Marketing and Social Change

  • Digital Social Networks and Health: Reviewing the Research and Evidence

    Craig
    5 May 2013 | 11:58 am
    A review of the research and evidence for the use of social network sites (SNS) to improve cardiovascular health, “Digital social networks and health," was published in the 30 April 2013 issue of Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Association. In this article, Alex Bornkessel (aka Social Butterfly) and I document the emergence of social media, and specifically SNS, and their impact on health information-seeking and health-related behaviors. We survey user behavior on SNS to document how health information is being transformed from an individual or clinical endeavor into a social…

  • New Books on Social Marketing

    Craig
    26 Mar 2013 | 1:34 pm
    “This is it -- the comprehensive, brainy road map for tackling wicked social problems. It’s all right here: how to create and innovate, build and implement, manage and measure, scale up and sustain programs that go well beyond influencing individual behaviors, all the way to broad social change in a world that needs the help.” - Bill Novelli, Professor, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University, former CEO, AARP and founder, Porter Novelli and Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids “I’m unaware of a more substantive treatise on social marketing and social change. Theoretically…

  • Designing Community Campaigns For Weight Loss

    Craig
    25 Mar 2013 | 1:04 pm
    Developing community and statewide initiatives to combat obesity has been described “as American as second helpings of apple pie” (Levitz & McKay, 2013).  Checking in on this trend, the writers noted that while there have been a few successes, more often local and state leaders are trying to figure out how their projects did so poorly. They note 10% participation rates, weight loss of 3 pounds per person over 8 weeks, achieving only 6% of a collective weight loss goal, and the “fizzling out” of a 1-year citywide challenge. Thre are the usual suspects behind these disappointing…

  • Demographics of Social Network Site Users - 2013

    Craig
    14 Feb 2013 | 12:00 pm
    The rise in the use of social network sites (SNS) among internet users over the past 7 years has been dramatic. In 2005 less than 10% of any age group on the internet reported using a SNS, and by 2012 two-thirds of all internet users said that they use at least one SNS. Note that I use SNS here as suggested by boyd and Ellison (2007) who make the important distinction between social networking sites in which initiating relationships between strangers is a major activity (such as on dating sites) and social network sites that allow people to make their networks visible to others. It may seem a…

  • Making Plans for the World Social Marketing Conference

    Craig
    3 Jan 2013 | 9:54 am
    Join the largest gathering of social marketing experts from across the world. The third World Social Marketing Conference will take place 21-23 April 2013 in Toronto, Canada. At a time of fundamental reappraisal of many public service programs and restricted budgets the world over, the conference takes on major significance as we search for better ways to address the many different types of wicked problems that challenge us. In 2013 the Conference has an impressive line up of speakers from across the world, covering issues as diverse as obesity, substance abuse, transportation, the role of…
 
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    Digital Examples

  • A Google Image search for Atari Breakout

    14 May 2013 | 2:01 am
    Another brilliant Easter Egg from Google.How long has this existed..?

  • Get a discount by tagging on Instagram

    12 May 2013 | 5:38 am
    I love this simple discount mechanism used by the Sweden Calling pop-up shop in Spitalfields.Just use their hashtag in a pic of you in their shop, and you get 5% off.Here's an example of a photo using the tag:It also shows, I think, the growing ubiquity of Instagram, especially among young women.

  • VW plays with YouTube features

    9 May 2013 | 8:28 am
    This is a follow up post to this one, a couple of weeks ago.VW Brazil previously played with the form of YouTube by posting a short 5 second at that looked like a pre-roll, and faked 'skipping' on behalf of the user.Now they've done a new one, using the YouTube hover feature to show off another feature. What next..?

  • University campaign projects Facebook timeline into the future

    9 May 2013 | 8:16 am
    A case study from a very good campaign for Ozu University in Istambul, both to recruit students, and to award scholarships.I've never heard of anyone projecting the timeline into the future before, but I'm assuming that it really did happen.Has anyone got any examples of the 'future' videos that were made?

  • Lowe's Top Tips on Vine

    8 May 2013 | 4:07 am
    An exemplary use of Vine by DIY chain Lowes, who made a series of short 'top tips' films:Stripped screw? No problem, just use a rubber band. #lowesfixinsix #howto vine.co/v/bU61aqq2YOp— Lowe's (@Lowes) April 21, 2013&Shoe organizers are also great for storing cleaning products. #lowesfixinsix #lowes #favthings vine.co/v/bxIgIKPzAiL— Lowe's (@Lowes) April 29, 2013 &Keep squirrels away from your plants with a dash of cayenne pepper. #lowesfixinsix #howto vine.co/v/bU6WWdXtEYn— Lowe's (@Lowes) April 20, 2013 See them all hereThey also used the hashtag #loewsfixinsix which was very…
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    Idaho Ad Agencies

  • Job Opening: Project/Traffic Manager

    Brian
    13 May 2013 | 9:41 pm
    Mitchell+Palmer in Boise has an opening for a Project/Traffic Manager. From the job listing that they were kind enough to send over: The Job Job Title: Project/Traffic Manager Department: Creative Services Reports to: TBD The purpose of this job is to control the quality, logistics and cost of the agency’s output. Key Tasks What the agency requires of this role: Develop and manage creative and production processes within the agency. Oversee file structure and organization (fonts, documents, etc) on server. Produce timing plans/schedules for the production of creative work, from first…

  • Familiar names in this year’s 40 under 40

    Brian
    9 May 2013 | 7:00 am
    While looking through this year’s 40 under 40 – also known as the 14th annual Idaho Business Review Accomplished under 40 list – several familiar names were among this year’s honorees, including: Karianne Fallow, Red Sky Public Relations John Hardesty, Bodybuilding.com Carolyn Lodge, DaviesMoore Jennie Myers, Drake Cooper Amanda Watson, Red Sky Public Relations These, and the other 35 of this year’s Accomplished under 40 will be recognized at an awards ceremony on June 13th, and the 2013 Accomplished under 40 magazine will be published in the June 14th edition of…

  • Job Opening: Account Coordinator

    Brian
    8 May 2013 | 9:30 pm
    DaviesMoore in Boise has an opening for an Account Coordinator. From the job description on their website: The primary area of responsibility for this position is to provide support and coordination on the agency’s largest account. This includes maintaining a high level of awareness and organization with client activities, detail-oriented management, and professional communication with key client contacts as needed. The individual who fills this position must be driven and exemplify strong leadership qualities, as well as fit into the agency’s established culture. Position…

  • Fill in the blank

    Brian
    1 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    For those who attended this year’s Rockie Awards Show, we’d like to know what you thought of it. Fill in the blank: This year’s Rockie Awards Show was ____________________________.

  • Rockie Awards – List of Winners

    Brian
    30 Apr 2013 | 3:15 pm
    For those who may not have seen it yet, the full list of winners from the 2013 Rockie Awards is available on the Rockie Awards website.
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    retailwire.com

  • Can Drive-Thrus Work for Department Stores?

    17 May 2013 | 6:15 am
    Starting in January 2014, Selfridges will apparently become the first department store to offer drive-thru pickup. Is drive-thru pickup becoming a more critical complement to online buying? What do you think of drive-thrus for department stores?

  • Is Walmart Right to Shrug Off Its Tougher Than Expected Quarter?

    17 May 2013 | 6:15 am
    Walmart did not the post the numbers company execs were hoping for in the first fiscal quarter of the year. As to what went wrong in Q1, Walmart U.S. president Bill Simon chalked it up primarily to a delay in tax refunds and the weather. What do you make of Walmart's weaker than expected quarter?

  • Does Walgreens Have An Out-of-Stock Problem?

    17 May 2013 | 6:15 am
    A new report from Change to Win, a union-backed adversary of Walgreens, claims out-of-stocks are out of control at the chain's stores. Do you think Walgreens has out-of-stock issues? What do you think are the most likely reasons behind its inventory issues (if they exist) and what will it take to correct the problem?

  • Does the eBay/Kate Spade Pop-Up Represent Something New in Retailing?

    16 May 2013 | 6:20 am
    EBay and Kate Spade Saturday are launching a pop-up shop featuring a digital touch-screen storefront window in New York this summer. Does the pop-up shop with lifesize touch-screen represent a "new retail environment" as claimed by eBay?

  • BrainTrust Query: Will Same-Day Delivery Become a Retail Necessity?

    16 May 2013 | 6:20 am
    According to the founder and CEO of the U.K. delivery service, Shutl, American retailers are "freaked out" over the prospect of Amazon achieving nationwide same-day delivery because it removes one of the largest competitive advantages brick 'n mortars still have. Will offering same-day delivery become a competitive necessity for retailers in the future?
 
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    Stefano Maggi's Blog

  • Meet me here

    4 May 2013 | 7:00 am
    There are a lot of places you can meet me at. Try, for instance: Twitter Tumblr LinkedIn Facebook and the We Are Social blog. Now you know. Talk to you soon!

  • Changing fast: new social media behaviours emerge

    25 Nov 2012 | 12:46 am
    Social media change at the speed of light: they evolve to adapt technology to conversation and to the way people behave. In very short time frames, everyone can see remarkable evolutions: behaviours that were not even tracked and identify two years ago emerge and become significant. It's very important to stay at the edge of this change for brands that want to remain relevant to people. But where's the huge change? You might know Forrester's Social Technographics Ladder: a classification of social media behaviours. Spectators (Enjoy social media content); Joiners (Use social networks);…

  • Wolfram Alpha shows your Facebook data

    31 Aug 2012 | 12:41 am
    How is your network structured? Who are your friends? What do you post and how does it perform? Now Wolfram Alpha, the "Computational Knowledge Engine" lets you see all of this and understand your network complexity and organization. Here's how: Go to wolframalpha.com Click sign in (sign in with Facebook) Give WolframAlpha permissions you choose (and that can allow it to gather data) Get back to wolframalpha.com search "my facebook" In a few moments, you'll be able to see your data and to understand your network better: Aggregated data will include Activity Post and comment stats Geographic…

  • Outside In - Customer experience is changing through social media

    30 Aug 2012 | 1:26 am
    You shouldn't adapt your business to face people's needs: you should put people at the center of your business. This is the main topic that Harley Manning and Kerry Bodine from Forrester Research deal with in their new book: "Outside In - The Power of Putting Customers at the Center of your Business". I had the opportunity to chat with Kerry about this topic, with a particular focus on conversation, participation and the concept of "putting customers at the center". How is customer experience changing, thanks to conversation? Social media have created a permanent change in the way companies…

  • Brands: take this advice from Hugh MacLeod

    8 Aug 2012 | 6:05 am
    I just finished reading Hugh's latest books "Freedom is blogging in your underwear", which I strongly recommend to anyone who wants to become aware of how the world has changes thanks to conversation. What I found most interesting is that, in a book who's predominantly meant for people and not for organization, you can find plenty of advice useful for brands. Perhaps because brands are (today more than ever) made of (and by) people. I want to share three of them with you, hoping these will be able to inspire everyone who's thinking about a conversation strategy or an engagement tactic or an…
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    Caliber Pulse

  • Best iPad Apps: Business Edition

    Joy Wise
    16 May 2013 | 3:00 pm
    In the fourth quarter of last year, 52.5 million tablets were sold worldwide, compared to a total of 66 million sold in 2011.  According to a recent report issued by Flurry Analytics, Americans spend 2:38 hours a day using tablets and smartphones. Just 20% of this time is spent surfing the Internet. The remaining 80% […]

  • Disney Bends to Social Media Grassroots Opposition

    The Caliber Group
    9 May 2013 | 2:33 pm
    Here in Arizona, we can’t help but find Disney’s efforts to trademark the holiday Dia de los Muertos surprising and, well, just weird. But what we find even more fascinating is how a grassroots effort via social media to stop Disney’s plan spread like a gasoline-fueled wildfire on a 100-plus-degree windy day.  The heat Disney […]

  • Should Businesses Use Instagram?

    Joy Wise
    2 May 2013 | 2:55 pm
    Like all social media platforms, Instagram allows brands to interact with the public in a social manner. Sharing the culture behind the brand can create a relationship and deepen brand loyalty when the lifestyle of the brand matches that of its customer.  If you think Instagram is like all the rest—just another social media tool—think […]

  • New Facebook Features

    Joy Wise
    25 Apr 2013 | 4:00 pm
    The most intriguing element of  social media management is the ever changing nature which keeps social media marketers on their toes.  We are constantly learning and adapting our social media strategies to best serve our clients.  So far 2013 has been full of changes for social media giant Facebook, including a logo redesign.  Here are […]

  • Get the Most From Your Next Twitter Chat

    Linda Welter Cohen
    11 Apr 2013 | 3:00 pm
    The “push-pull” strategy of messaging is well known by most content marketers and PR professionals, but social media platforms such as Twitter now provide opportunities to not only broadcast targeted messaging, but to encourage and engage in direct conversations with their audiences as well. Our social media team recently participated in a highly successful Twitter […]
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    Ad Mavericks

  • From Wooden Shoes to High Heels – Meet Shawna

    AdMavericks
    9 May 2013 | 3:32 am
    Lessing-Flynn has added another sushi lover to the team!  Shawna Weis joined LF as a Marketing Coordinator at the end of April and is quickly fitting in with our highly caffeinated group. Shawna was born and raised near Pella, Iowa, but she has enjoyed living across the country.  The “Dutch girl” craved more excitement after graduating from Graceland University in 2002, so she headed out west.  She pursued marketing opportunities in San Francisco while completing her master’s degree in marketing from Keller Graduate School.  In 2007, Shawna returned to her Midwestern…

  • Word to you, Josh Fleming!

    Claire Celsi
    8 May 2013 | 3:40 am
    In a world full of fake people, it is a rare and wonderful thing to find a genuine soul. When you find one, immediately befriend him. If you treat a genuine soul with friendliness and fairness, water with YouTube videos and silly pictures, and feed him occasional sushi rolls and gyros, he will become your lifelong friend. That has been our great fortune here at Lessing-Flynn. Josh Fleming is one of those genuine souls that make work less burdensome, a little more fun, and a lot less serious. Today is Josh’s last day at Lessing-Flynn. Josh’s impact here goes a lot further than the…

  • Lessing-Flynn Wins Big at the NOVAs

    KyleeWillard
    3 May 2013 | 1:18 am
    This time of year some folks might think Churchill Downs is the place to be for fancy hats and finish lines.  Think again!  On May 2nd Prairie Meadows was filled with creative minds ready to claim their own trophies- the AMA Nova Awards.  Lessing-Flynn won big, but we couldn’t do what we do without our innovative clients. Here’s what we won: Second Place, Marketing Communications - Kinze Manufacturing Planter and Grain Cart Literature Second Place, Interactive Marketing - Kinze.com Best of Category, Copywriting - Ag Leader Technology Insights Magazine Best of Category,…

  • LessingVille Vs. MichiFlynn

    Josh Fleming
    8 Apr 2013 | 6:16 am
    Here are our picks for tonight’s game, complete with starting line-ups! Let us know who you like to cut down the nets! Digg this! Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon Tweet This! Share this on Facebook Email this via Gmail Email this to a friend? Get Shareaholic

  • Case Study: Blank Park Zoo Goes Meme

    Josh Fleming
    27 Mar 2013 | 4:40 am
    Overview The Blank Park Zoo asked us to come up with concepts that created awareness of the value of a zoo membership through social media. Being a member of the Blank Park Zoo means more than just free admission to the zoo itself. And rightly so, as the Blank Park Zoo offers more than just “looking at animals.” There are discounts available to members on everything from concessions and the gift shop, to day camps and other special events. Here’s a list of all the member benefits. Insights Blank Park Zoo offers a ton of member benefits but people have too short of an…
 
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    Creativity_Unbound

  • Five career tips for recent graduates

    edward boches
    14 May 2013 | 3:53 pm
    I know this is just four, but they fit better. The fifth is “Control your own career.” As in don’t leave it up to someone else, least of all your boss. I get it. You’re anxious. A bit stressed. One life stage comes crashing to an end and a new, unfamiliar one is about to begin. Your parents are tired of footing the bill. College loan payments loom just over the horizon. The job market remains iffy. And yes, your portfolio, resume and cover letter all need work. You want a job, a paycheck and something that validates the last four years of life and the $200,000 you just…

  • A short film reminding us to create for ourselves

    edward boches
    13 May 2013 | 11:42 am
    BEHIND THE EYE: The Making of EYE On The 60′s from Chris Szwedo on Vimeo. “You make a film to learn a little bit about life and to have an adventure of your own. But little do you ever realize what’s actually in store for you.” That’s but one of many sentiments and insights shared by my good friend and cycling partner Chris Szwedo in the above film, The Making of Eye on the Sixties, about the documentary he recently wrote and directed examining the work and career of photographer Roland Scherman. This short captures Chris talking about the experience of crafting the full-length…

  • The blur between creative and strategy, and why I’ll be at Planningness

    edward boches
    24 Apr 2013 | 5:34 am
    Yesterday, in a class at BU, I gave a lecture and led a discussion about “advertising” creative ideas. We explored “big” ideas: Let’s build a smarter planet; Giving wings to people and ideas; Day One. We dissected “campaign” ideas: A long day of childhood calls for America’s favorite pasta sauce. We thought about “advertising” ideas. While some are clearly the creation of a traditional advertising creative team, the higher up the idea food chain you get, the more you can see the contribution of the strategist, or at the very least the strategic side of the creative team.

  • Finally, Springpad has embeddable notebooks

    edward boches
    27 Mar 2013 | 7:36 am
    View the “Books You Should Read” notebook on Springpad I’ve been a fan of Springpad since they first launched. Enough so to join its board and also to fill in as interim CMO for six months in 2012. I can’t say I was a very good CMO – not a master of growth hacking, which is what startups really need in their marketing mix – but I did push for one feature. Embeddable notebooks. Everything that Springpad is about – filtering the web, acting on your “springs,”  saving, preserving and presenting content in a form that keeps it persistent rather than lost in the…

  • Five important soundbites from SxSW

    edward boches
    13 Mar 2013 | 6:14 am
    Eventually there will be some very impressive data visualizations of SxSW. How many people, how many sessions, how many beers consumed, how many hangovers. Until then you can check out Mashable’s SxSW by the numbers. Or poke around SxSWs’s press room. But to be honest, I’m less interested in how much there is to pore through and more in the few things that might actually be useful, transferable, and worth remembering. Which is why I go every year. To find insights and perspectives that might serve a purpose the other 360 days. Out of consideration for the fact that you are either: A.
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    marketingjava.com

  • Is Your Website an Ancient Artifact?

    Deb Kolaras
    30 Apr 2013 | 2:36 pm
    Today Mashable published a post about a relic that is considered the world’s first website. Now at first blush, it’s no beauty, but for it’s time (this version is 1992), it was a staggering, awe-inspiring piece of work.  For the first time, people from around the world could view something from the comfort of their home (if they were so fortunate to have a computer and dial-up modem) or office, click around, even learn. It was remarkable. No, not beautiful, ...

  • Alternative to Feedburner

    Site Admin
    30 Mar 2013 | 5:42 pm
    Awhile back, we learned Google would be pulling the plug on Google Reader, and you could hear the collective grown. I personally like Feedly much better. (Slicker, prettier, but yes, a bit slow.) There are a lot of alternatives, though.  Any way, there was a rumor floating around before that announcement, and that was that Feedburner (another Google product) would be discontinued. What’s a blogger to do? Well, we’re trying out URI.LV.  So far, we’re liking it.

  • Not Everyone Is Cut Out To Lead

    Deb Kolaras
    28 Feb 2013 | 3:18 pm
    This post will be short and sweet: I’m sick to death of people in leadership roles that have no business being in them. I will not point fingers and single out people who are in this roles (You don’t have all day for a list that long, and neither do I!) but after reading this, you’ll know be able to spot these sacred cows without any trouble. Who are they?  The people that squash ideas or say, “it’s been ...

  • Marketing Like It’s 1999?

    Deb Kolaras
    31 Jan 2013 | 1:41 pm
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IuRzJRrRpQ We’re really an interesting business society. While billions are spent every day on marketing by large corporations (yeah, like the Super Bowl!!), the small business community is constantly trying to find ways to save their marketing dollar. That scrappy mentality is what eventually makes some small businesses wildly successful, but deployed poorly, it can be the undoing of many others. It’s hard to believe that in 2013, the “that’s the way it’s always been done” attitude still exists. Haven’t ...

  • The Business of it All

    Deb Kolaras
    28 Dec 2012 | 12:11 pm
    We have the same 24 hours that everyone else has. We blame the lack of time, but I really blame the lack of initiative, the lack of focus, and the overabundance of excuses for the reasons that we don't get what we really want and deserve. Commit yourself to changing that.
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    Marketo Marketing Blog

  • One Small Step for Marketo, One Giant Leap for the Marketing Nation

    Phil Fernandez
    17 May 2013 | 9:05 am
    Author: Phil FernandezToday Marketo began trading as a public company on The NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “MKTO”. You can read about it and see some pictures here. This milestone certainly marks an exciting moment in time for the company, but it also highlights exciting times for marketers everywhere. Large-scale trends, such as increasingly self-directed consumers and broad and instant availability of information online, are changing the role and responsibilities of the marketing department in most organizations around the world. In today’s data-centric, multi-channel…

  • The Benefits of Embracing Real-Time Marketing on Social Channels and Beyond

    Julio Viskovich
    16 May 2013 | 6:30 am
    Author: Julio ViskovichReal-time marketing is a process that enables marketers to capitalize on real-time events and deliver a relevant message to the right person at the right time. Ideas must be developed in minutes rather than days or weeks.  And messaging centers around real-time feedback from customers or around current events that happen. The benefit of this type of marketing, is that you can capitalize on trending topics that your followers can relate to. Real-Time Marketing in the Dark Take Oreo’s “you can still dunk in the dark” real-time campaign for example. Within mere…

  • The Mathematics of Revenue Cycle Strategy

    Rajiv Kapoor
    15 May 2013 | 6:30 am
    Author: Rajiv KapoorChange of focus Once clients of mine get their marketing automation platform in place their entire focus changes. Up to this point, their lives were dominated by focusing on what the new technology is and how can they get it up and running. Now, let’s say you are the client. You are capable (obviously) and have setup key processes including lifecycle, scoring, marketing activities, and analytics. It is all working, the leads are coming in and moving through the lifecycle and you have visibility. At the same time you are getting pressure from above to produce more…

  • Journalism and English Degrees Are Not Dead: The Rise of the Content Marketer

    Stephen Frapart
    14 May 2013 | 6:30 am
    Author: Stephen FrapartFinals are over.  Graduation is right around the corner.  Families and friends celebrate your awesome achievements.  Woot woot!  Life is good! Then reality sets in.  You’re a Journalism or English major.  You need a job. A Mixed Job Market Traditional broadcast and print journalism aren’t hiring with the same velocity as they once did.  For instance, some newspapers are shutting down, some are reducing headcount and some are going from daily releases to a couple of issues per week. Take a look at this LinkedIn study, Winners and Losers During the Great…

  • Anatomy of a Blog Redesign – 10 Best Practices from Marketo

    Jon Miller (@jonmiller)
    13 May 2013 | 6:11 am
    Author: Jon Miller (@jonmiller)The Marketo Marketing Blog has long been one of Marketo’s most important and valuable marketing strategies. We started writing it in 2006 (here’s the first post) and have since published more than 950 articles.  Our efforts have generated more than 27,000 inbound links plus 400,000 unique visitors and almost $2 million in directly attributed revenue each year (plus influence on much more). The years since 2006 have brought changes in style and web technology, and I’m thrilled to announce that we just released an all new blog design that incorporates many…
 
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    Fletcher Prince

  • One man’s austerity is another man’s opportunity

    Jay Morris
    10 May 2013 | 5:06 am
    I’ve asked some of my favorite bloggers to guest blog and provide us with some of their favorite creative and affordable marketing tips. In this post, Jay Morris takes a slightly different twist with advice on finding opportunities in adversity. For most of my career as a public relations and marketing professional, I’ve worked for organizations with […]

  • Spring Cleaning: 5 Fresh, Budget-Friendly PR and Marketing Tips

    Mary Fletcher Jones
    26 Apr 2013 | 4:42 am
    I’ve asked some of my favorite bloggers to guest blog and provide us with some of their favorite creative and affordable marketing tips.  Check out what Karen Hendricks has to say about making the most of your social media platforms. Spring cleaning isn’t limited to dust bunnies under the bed. Did you know… you may […]

  • Demographics of Social Media Users

    Mary Fletcher Jones
    22 Apr 2013 | 9:28 am
    Reblogged from Communication in a Web Saturated World: A comprehensive social media survey by the Pew Research Center conducted over several years to evaluate who uses social media and which platforms has been released. Among adults, Facebook gets the most use. Percentage of adults preferring social networks are: Facebook, 67% LinkedIn, 20% Twitter, 16% Pinterest, […]

  • A great business card is a powerful budget marketing tactic

    Mary Fletcher Jones
    19 Apr 2013 | 7:49 am
    I’ve asked some of my favorite bloggers to guest blog and provide us with some of their favorite creative and affordable marketing tips.  Check out what Deborah Brody has to say about making the most of your business cards. In this age of smart phone bumps and cloud-based contact lists, it may seem a bit […]

  • Social Media Tips from Debbie Friez of BurrellesLuce

    Mary Fletcher Jones
    8 Apr 2013 | 11:28 am
    Discovered this terrific Slideshare presentation from local social media expert, Debbie Friez, Vice President of Major Accounts at BurrellesLuce.  She offers terrific tips for getting the most out of Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.  Check it out! Filed under: Facebook Tips, LinkedIn, Social Media Tips, Twitter Tips Tagged: BurrellesLuce, Debbie Friez, Facebook, LinkedIn, social media, Twitter
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    Sparks

  • The first healthcare marketer to grow an avid and active fan base

    Eric Brody
    16 May 2013 | 9:56 am
    Our community-building is a virtuous circle of inspiration between our healthcare system and our communities. These are not the typical words of a healthcare marketer. We don’t expect them to be talking about avid fan bases and active participants in co-creating new value. We don’t expect them to be comparing their brands to Kiehl’s, Lego, [...]

  • Beauty Marketing: Creating A Win-Win Brand Portfolio

    Eric Brody
    9 May 2013 | 6:21 am
    Are all those lines and sku’s really necessary? We wake up in the morning viewing the world through the lens of a consumer. But then we get to work and our focus changes to that of business manager. The blinders come on and our sights are set on our defined sectors and the scope of [...]

  • The Social Influence on Brand Engagement

    Carrie Kane
    6 May 2013 | 10:24 am
    I was hooked! While recently working on a beauty branding research assignment, I found myself so deeply connected to these brands that I instantly “fanned” them on Facebook, began “following” them on Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram, became an enewsletter “subscriber”, and “viewed” more YouTube videos than I can remember.  Christian Dior, Tom Ford, Chanel and [...]

  • Brand experience mastery and “The Masters”

    Eric Brody
    18 Apr 2013 | 8:26 am
    I can now cross Augusta National and The Masters off of the proverbial list, as I was lucky enough to attend the final weekend. While we went for the thrill of it, and not for anything work-related, it’s hard (at least for me) not to equate it back to the branding and marketing work we [...]

  • Gluten-Free – A Healthy Choice for Marketers and Consumers

    Megan Montenfusco
    12 Apr 2013 | 12:22 pm
    The benefits of a healthy diet are a no brainer for most, but a gluten-free diet –what’s the appeal? Why has gluten-free suddenly become so popular to consumers, health care providers, and product marketers? Is it a fad or is it here to stay? As consumer interest in overall health and wellness has increased, the [...]
 
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    Marketing Donut feed

  • Digital divide leaves SMEs lagging behind

    17 May 2013 | 1:52 am
    The small business sector is missing out on billions of pounds of revenue because firms are not investing adequately in their websites – falling behind larger competitors in the digital sphere. The extent of the divide is revealed in a raft of new research from mobile provider O2, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and hibu (formally Yell Group). A new poll of 2,000 O2 customers has found that a quarter of respondents would not use a small business if they discovered it didn't have a website. And yet the Federation of Small Businesses reveals this month that one in four small firms…

  • Employees check email round the clock

    17 May 2013 | 1:50 am
    Accessing work-related emails is no longer just confined to the working day. According to a new report, small business employees are checking their work emails at all hours of day and night – even at social occasions that include weddings, school events and family get-togethers. The survey, conducted by Opinion Matters on behalf of GFI Software, polled 500 employees in small business workplaces across the UK. It found that technology has blurred the boundaries between home and work. Three quarters of respondents said they check their work email at the weekend, 44% check work email after…

  • More funding for UK technology firms

    17 May 2013 | 1:48 am
    The Technology Strategy Board, the UK's innovation agency, has a record £440 million budget this year to support innovative businesses – and over 60% of it will go to small and medium-sized businesses. David Willetts, the universities and science minister, said: "The £440 million budget means that there will be more funding available than ever before for businesses across the country to bid for and help turn their ideas into reality – bridging the so-called 'valley of death'." The valley of death refers to the notoriously difficult stage in the life of any technology business, between…

  • Growth boost for UK's micro-businesses

    17 May 2013 | 1:46 am
    Micro-businesses – with less than ten employees – are the key to boosting the UK economy, according to Lord Young in his second report for the prime minister, Growing your Business: A report on Growing Micro Businesses. Lord Young has made a number of proposals to promote growth among micro-businesses – a group that represents 95% of all businesses. This includes an expansion of the government's Start-Up Loan scheme making it open to all ages. The Start-Up Loan scheme currently helps entrepreneurs aged 18-30 to get their businesses off the ground with a loan of around £4,500 and…

  • Also in the news this week – 17 May 2013

    17 May 2013 | 1:43 am
    Love Your Local Market 2013  This year's Love Your Local Market campaign involves more than 650 markets across England, with over 3,000 special events designed to showcase the best of local produce, design and innovation. Running until 29 May, the event will give budding traders a chance to tout their wares and there will be 3,000 free or subsidised stalls available to those who want to try trading for the first time in a low-cost, low-risk retail environment. In response to the Mary Portas' High Street review, the government has provide £25,000 to support the event as part of its…
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    Direct-Response Marketing Copywriter Tom Trush | Advertisements, Website Content, E-mail Autoresponders, Sales Letters

  • Why Today’s Consumers Create Fewer Leads

    Tom
    14 May 2013 | 7:20 am
    As the person responsible for marketing and generating leads for your company, you face serious challenges right now. After all, have you ever stopped to consider how easy it is for prospects to find your competitors? Today, more than ever, new and shifting technologies have made it effortless for prospects to find alternatives to your product or service. What’s more, this competitive marketplace spans all industries and grows bigger every day. Making your situation more challenging are consumers’ increasingly stubborn expectations and demands. If you’ve experienced a slowdown in leads,…

  • Simple Copywriting Strategies for Creating Compelling Marketing Materials

    Tom
    26 Mar 2013 | 9:14 am
    I’m about to blatantly ignore your needs … That way I can tell you about my “industry-leading solutions” … ramble on about myself … write in a sophisticated manner you can only decipher with a dictionary … and make inflated claims without any supporting facts … Then, when I’m done, I expect you to open your wallet and give me money. You ready? Okay, okay … I’m exaggerating. Unfortunately, though, this approach isn’t far from what many business owners and entrepreneurs use when creating marketing materials. They focus attention on a company,…

  • An Overlooked Marketing Strategy for Raising Your Prices

    Tom
    13 Mar 2013 | 10:12 am
    What makes someone eagerly buy a product or service that’s priced at least two times more than comparable options? You might be surprised to know that, in certain cases, the decision comes down to something as simple as a piece of paper. Let me explain … My wife, Michelle, and I recently stopped at Bed, Bath & Beyond for new bed pillows. She replaced the last set without me. So I went into the store not really knowing what to expect. I groaned the instant we set foot in the pillow section. The price range was ridiculous — and all the items looked the same! Prices for the…

  • Relationship Marketing: How to Make Your Mark by Creating a Loyal Following

    Tom
    5 Mar 2013 | 9:27 am
    Controversy shook the whiskey world last month. But unless you’re a devoted whiskey drinker or live close to Loretto, Kentucky, you probably didn’t notice the news. Maker’s Mark, a company with a fiercely loyal following, announced it was lowering the alcohol content of its whiskey due to overwhelming demand. You see, making a batch of Maker’s Mark takes at least six years. So diluting existing reserves is the fastest way to increase supply. The decision triggered an instant uproar, especially on social media. After all, Maker’s Mark execs essentially admitted they would soon offer…

  • 5 Ways to Make Your Marketing Reach More Buyers With Less Effort

    Tom
    25 Feb 2013 | 10:47 am
    Mary, my 7-year-old daughter, recently got her first taste of pitching products. She’s a first-time Brownie and sold Girl Scout cookies during our neighborhood’s annual home tour a couple weeks ago. Of course, as a marketing junkie, I couldn’t help but give her a little guidance. You see, Mary’s troop leader encouraged her to approach as many people as possible and ask if they wanted cookies. She said the girls who talked the most and were the loudest made the most sales. Now, as you know, this “strategy” violates one my 11 Rules of “You” Effect Marketing … You can’t…
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    9 INCH MARKETING

  • 12 Ways to Win Customers and Influence Word of Mouth

    Stan Phelps
    14 May 2013 | 6:37 am
    Are you giving your customers something to talk, tweet or post to Facebook about? The late Ted Levitt once said, The search for meaningful distinction is central to the marketing effort. If marketing is about anything, it is about achieving customer-getting distinction by differentiating what you do [...]

  • Tips For Engaging Your Employees in Company Marketing Efforts

    Stan Phelps
    21 Apr 2013 | 8:41 pm
    …and How It Can Improve Your Overall Marketing Strategy Special guest post by Ray Nelson Have you ever walked into a store and asked a question about a product or service, then heard a pin drop as the store employee scrambled for an answer? Perhaps they provided [...]

  • 5 Easy Ways to Increase Employee Engagement

    Stan Phelps
    18 Apr 2013 | 4:58 am
    The post was originally featured on James Lawther’s Squawk Point: After studying 1,001 examples of companies that give little unexpected extras to employees, here are 5 easy ways to increase engagement from the new book, “What’s Your Green Goldfish – Beyond Dollars: 15 Ways to Drive Employee [...]

  • 9 Keys to Winning the Hearts of Your Employees and Building a Strong Culture

    Stan Phelps
    16 Apr 2013 | 2:47 pm
    Originally featured on MENG Blend: Making the Journey Motivation for employees is sagging.  Recent reports show that motivation has fallen off at more that half of all companies.  In difficult economic times, how can companies boost employee morale and drive high performance? The simple answer is doing [...]

  • At QSR’s, convenience is key to the customer experience

    Stan Phelps
    11 Apr 2013 | 2:09 pm
    Lessons from McDonald’s, Starbucks, Five Guys and Chick-fil-A There are two types of glue (giving little unexpected extras) in customer experience. Those that address value and those that address maintenance. The goal is to be seen as high value and low maintenance. Value is the “what” of [...]
 
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    DigitalMarketingLab

  • Not so odd bedfellows – Marketing & IT

    Teresa Sperti
    30 Apr 2013 | 5:56 am
    According to Gartner by 2017 the average CMO will influence / control more IT spend than the average CIO. And there is little wonder why, in a hyper connected world customer communication and... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • A look at the world of retail apps

    Teresa Sperti
    31 Mar 2013 | 6:32 pm
    The mobile analytic leader Flurry recently conducted a study to explore the usage of shopping apps by consumers. The study, which was conducted with more than 1,800 consumers on both iOS and Android... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • Succeeding in a multi-channel world: A Q&A with Martin Newman

    Teresa Sperti
    25 Mar 2013 | 1:28 am
    H&Ms announcement of their impending arrival to Australian shores is a timely reminder for Australian retailers that they are no longer playing with their bat and ball Read Full Article > [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • The power of who you know and what they know: Facebook’s Graph Search

    Teresa Sperti
    23 Feb 2013 | 4:56 pm
    Google’s known it for years, despite consumers turning to search engines to answer their burning questions – it hasn’t replaced one’s circle of friends as a trusted source of information –... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • Mobile: Retailer Loyalty Friend or Foe?

    Teresa Sperti
    27 Jan 2013 | 11:41 pm
    Some hail mobile as the saviour of the high street – whilst others are concerned about the impact mobile is having on bricks and mortar businesses as retail stores become showrooms for online... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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    Web Design and Photography Highlights

  • Looking for a business Logo or “Mark”? Cutcaster offers new extended license to use vectors and images for your logotype

    admin
    24 Apr 2013 | 11:03 am
    Introducing the Logo or “Mark” Usage Extended License. Over the last few years, we have received numerous calls from people asking to use your images as Logos which we haven’t been offer until now. Today, we are happy to announce that you can now license Cutcaster royalty free vectors and images for your personal or business logos.  Just remember buyers that these images have been sold royalty free in the past and could be used by others. If you were interested in buying out an image and keeping it just for yourself, please email our webmaster (the email is below). Any…

  • You found us how?

    admin
    8 Apr 2013 | 8:48 am
    Sometimes strange, sometimes wonderful, always interesting keywords that people use to find Cutcaster.com! Search Term of the Moment:  Mohawk We’ve got that and more Alternative Lifestyle photos! We also get some more naughty keywords?!?!?  Today’s best:  Asian sexy girl pose Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and on G+ with Creative Director Cora Reed Don’t forget to refer your friends.  We have an excellent referral program!

  • You Found Us How?

    admin
    2 Apr 2013 | 11:53 am
    Sometimes strange, sometimes wonderful, always interesting keywords that people use to find Cutcaster.com! Search Term of the Moment:  Young Lovers We’ve got that! Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and on G+ with Creative Director Cora Reed Don’t forget to refer your friends.  We have an excellent referral program!

  • You found us how?

    admin
    1 Apr 2013 | 1:59 pm
    Sometimes strange, sometimes wonderful, always interesting keywords that people use to find Cutcaster.com!  Search Term of the Moment:  Crayon Kid Drawings   I think that might mean coloring book pages! We’ve got that! Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and on G+ with Creative Director Cora Reed Don’t forget to refer your friends.  We have an excellent referral program!

  • You Found Us How?

    admin
    28 Mar 2013 | 11:06 am
    Sometimes strange, sometimes wonderful, always interesting keywords that people use to find Cutcaster.com!  Search Term of the Moment:   Baseball.   We’ve got that!   Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and on G+ with Creative Director Cora Reed Don’t forget to refer your friends.  We have an excellent referral program!
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    Millennial Marketing

  • “Marketing to Millennials” book website now available

    Jeff Fromm
    17 May 2013 | 8:44 am
    You can now visit the website for my book, “Marketing to Millennials: Reach the Largest and Most Influential Generation of Consumers Ever,” which was I co-authored with Christie Garton. Christie formerly wrote for USA Today and The Huffington Post. The book, which will be available July 17, 2013, expands on research about Millennials conducted by Barkley in conjunction with The Boston Consulting Group and Service Management Group. Based on groundbreaking proprietary research and one-on-one interviews with top brand executives, Marketing to Millennials identifies specific behaviors…

  • Boomers overwhelmed by the new media options for connecting with Millennials

    Kelly Stroda
    16 May 2013 | 8:55 am
    Earlier this week, Bonnie Fuller, the editor-in-chief for HollywoodLife.com, wrote a guest post for Ad Age about marketing to Millennials. Her point was simple. Baby Boomers have a hard time understanding how to connect with Millennials. She wrote:  I’ve been in numerous meetings with baby boomers who admit they feel overwhelmed by all their new media options. Many don’t understand the difference between small, personal blogs; aggregator sites that have little engagement with visitors; and original-content sites like BuzzFeed, Thrillist, YourTango, JustJared, Jezebel and…

  • Millennials already saving, investing for the future

    Jeff Fromm
    15 May 2013 | 7:10 am
    The Millennial generation may be perceived as being entitled, but they still know how to save for the future. According to a recent report by Merrill Edge shows that “mass affluent” Millennials are already saving for their retirement. I spoke with Sarah Mahoney at MediaPost about this phenomenon: “Given that many Millennials are delaying their decision to have children and the associated financial responsibility, affluent Millennials have the opportunity to save more and have seen the market improve nicely. Millennials have a strong desire to travel and see the world, and…

  • MillennialMarketing.com: Marketing to Millennial Moms

    Kelly Stroda
    11 May 2013 | 9:26 am
    If you ask a Millennial mom what she wants for Mother’s Day, a spa day might top her list. New research from The DDB Life Style Study shows more than 70 percent of Millennial moms say their free time is taken up by activities their kids are in. This compares to 47 percent of Boomer moms. So, a day away from the kids might be exactly what she wants — but not to say she doesn’t love her kids. The DDB Life Style Study is an annual survey of 600+ questions that began in 1975. The study has been able to show lifestyle changes over the past few decades. A recent segmentation of the research…

  • MillennialMarketing.com: Millennials’ dream jobs reflect what they want in brands

    Jeff Fromm
    9 May 2013 | 6:39 am
    According to a survey by the National Society of High School Scholars, Millennials are looking for jobs that allow them to feel engaged and help people. A story on CNBC.com says that Millennials — or people ages 18 to 34 — want to innovate at places like Starbucks or Abercrombie & Fitch. If they don’t work there, maybe they’d want to work at a local hospital or even St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Millennials’ attraction to jobs that help them grow or make a difference shouldn’t be a surprise. Within marketing, Millennials are more attracted to…
 
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    HEILBrice

  • Clippers Playoff Run

    alay
    26 Apr 2013 | 12:35 pm
    It’s the most wonderful time of the year! The NBA Playoffs are upon us and the Clippers are holding it down for LA. What kind of agency would we be if we didn’t send our team into basketball war with a Playoff pack filled with goodies? Take a look at all of our in-arena work as our master plan of turning Staples Center red finally kicked into action. In addition to a complete arena refresh, we also created a splash page to drive Playoff ticket sales. Every big moment deserves an equally big TV spot. We crafted a brand new Playoff specific spot that truly showcases the heart of LA,…

  • Social Media & The Brand

    alay
    17 Apr 2013 | 5:20 pm
    There are many ways that branding and advertising have changed over the last few years. The biggest change to impact the industry is none other than social media! Between the Facebook’ing, Tweeting, Pinning and Linkedin’ing there is no place a brand can go without hearing an opinion about their work (the good & the bad.) Dove, a Unilever brand, learned this when they recently released a new ad campaign targeted to make women feel better about their personal image by having a sketch artist draw them as they describe themselves. Many saw this as a beautiful campaign that…

  • All-Star Studded Lineup

    alay
    26 Mar 2013 | 1:43 pm
    Other than being the number one team in LA, the Clippers are keeping pretty busy. Chris Paul is MVP, Blake Griffin is an All-Star and Lob City is on its way to recording the best season in franchise history. How do you improve on that? Fill the arena down to the very last seat. HEILBrice teamed up with the LA Clippers to make sure as many people as possible will be able to see Deandre Jordan and Blake Griffin dunk and destroy other peoples NBA careers live in person (Video Below). So we crafted a comprehensive and targeted campaign with an All-Star flair to drive sales and raise awareness of…

  • Cirque du Soleil | There’s An App For That

    alay
    28 Feb 2013 | 12:22 pm
    As the category leader in the live entertainment, Cirque du Soleil® sets the bar of expectations for the rest of the industry.  Offering an experience that is far more than just entertainment, Cirque du Soleil shows are known for unexpected and unforgettable “Wow” moments that leave the audience mesmerized. The company’s uncompromising standards extends to its marketing and sales team which was armed with an award winning training manual to effectively and concisely communicate the Cirque du Soleil show experience in distinct markets. But they also needed something that…

  • The Challenge To Live Better

    alay
    30 Jan 2013 | 1:35 pm
    Our client, The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, wanted to start the year off with a brand new campaign to target their health conscious consumers and inform them of all the new & much needed resources available at their local grocery stores after the carb filled holiday season! Thus, the “Live Better Challenge” was born! Our comprehensive campaign included a TV spot as well as various digital components to spread awareness of all the tools and resources available to consumers motivated to start 2013 with a fresh way of thinking! In order to activate the large…
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    MattersMind

  • Where have I been ?

    admin
    5 May 2013 | 10:59 am
    Lost. An easy word to use but one that can mean a lot or almost nothing. Well..its been the same with me. Its been a roller coaster accentuated by my absence from blogging. That has changed now, so you should see more of me here. Other than the blog post on the two movies I posted today I only had two posts related to work posted on my company website. Sharing them here if you are interested; Hunger for talent: A technology opportunity The petroleum industry, once a strong magnet to top echelon graduating students, is no longer a major attraction. In recent years, economic conditions, eroding…

  • CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF INDIAN CINEMA…THIS WEEKEND

    admin
    5 May 2013 | 10:46 am
    From the silent movie ‘Raja Harishchandra’ Indian cinema has indeed come a long and large way. The Indian film industry is largely represented by ‘Bollywood’ or the Hindi film industry though storytelling excellence and technical excellence is far more advanced in the southern film industries specifically Tamil Cinema. I am getting over my writers block with this post reviewing two movies I watched this weekend at the movies. Overall my movie watching has dipped a little due to various reasons but meeting new people with a passion for watching movies has sparked my…

  • On Sabbatical

    admin
    12 Apr 2012 | 7:46 pm
    Will be back soon. On a break from blogging. In a new land, trying to lead a new life. Rest is the same old me.

  • What’s your line ?

    admin
    3 Sep 2011 | 9:55 am
    Twitter has done more than just micro-blogging or social networking or bringing celebs closer to their fans or all the other things it is credited with. It has brought back into importance the importance of one line. If you look around you will be bombarded with messages, be it in the media, in your work. Messages ranging from 2 words to multiple pages! If it is an advertisement you have everything from the headline to its body copy to its sign off. Recently my former colleague Srini who has become an entrepreneur (Apt Consulting) had sent me a mail giving his company’s introduction and…

  • I took a bite of the Apple

    admin
    2 Sep 2011 | 9:17 pm
    I bring this post back due to recent happenings in the world (or should I say the world of Apple). I had to recreate the blog due to a technical issue, so instead of reposting all old posts I thought I would only pick ones of current relevance. As the world stills debates on the future of Apple after Steve Jobs (although he still is Chairman and am susre the product plan for iPhone 6 and beyond is already in place), I look back at my own tryst with Apple. The day I took a bite of the apple. I had seen her around. I had heard of her. I had never held her in my hands. I am talking about the…
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    Fresh Ground

  • Paid content: Are you selling sponsorships or your soul?

    Chuck Tanowitz
    10 May 2013 | 2:08 pm
    What Buzzfeed does is fascinating. I’m not just talking about the lists that seem to capture viral attention, but they way the site blends editorial content (PR people often call it “earned media”) with content paid for directly by marketing dollars. I touched on this in a previous post, but I should note that the idea is not limited to Buzzfeed. This morning Globe Columnist Scott Kirsner called out BostInno for being part of the trend:   @scottkirsner It’s by far the worst trend in media. And many are doing it. — Curt Woodward (@curtwoodward) May 10, 2013…

  • Thankfulness

    Todd Van Hoosear
    22 Apr 2013 | 9:45 am
    #BostonStrong I cannot even begin to describe how last week affected our team and everyone here in Boston. While we at Fresh Ground were fortunate not to have been physically hurt by the act of terrorism, nobody escaped the emotional impact, and it will be with us forever. I am, however, incredibly proud of how our city — and especially our first responders and law enforcement personnel — responded. And I am eternally grateful for the response we received from around the world. I don’t think I have ever looked forward to a new week as I have to today. It could rain all day…

  • People, Technology and Tragedy

    Alex Parks
    18 Apr 2013 | 6:44 am
    “Finish line Boston Marathon” by scriptingnews (Dave Winer) I walked by where the first bomb went off a minute before it did. When we saw and heard the explosion my friend and I were on the same block and the same side of the street, about a hundred yards away. We immediately started running. As soon as we ducked off Boylston St. on to Dartmouth and up Newbury, I opened Twitter and searched “marathon bomb” to see what was happening.  My friend texted people we knew were close by. Everyone around us was in a state of shock, most of them frantically checking their…

  • The Rise of the Integrated Agency?

    Todd Van Hoosear
    15 Apr 2013 | 3:48 am
    “The Walls of Jericho Fall Down,” Gustave Doré [Public domain], via Wikimedia CommonsChange is all around us. If you thought the rise of social media was tumultuous for communicators and management teams, just wait a little bit. The walls are falling all around us. “Fire and brimstone coming down from the sky! Rivers and seas boiling! Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes! The dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice! Dogs and cats, living together! Mass hysteria!” Okay, maybe not “Ghostbusters” bad. But the nice clean dividing line between…

  • PR Pitches Are Valuable Real Estate

    Ruth Bazinet
    10 Apr 2013 | 4:55 pm
    In the spirit of effective pitching, I’m going to keep this post short and sweet. Communication is expressed in different forms. I get that. So why try the same communication approach across channels? Specifically, why do some pitches reaching journalists’ inboxes start something like, “Hi, XYZ. I hope your day is going well. I wanted to talk with you about …” “I hope your day is going well.” – Let me tell you why that’s wrong. The potential ROI of leaving that line in does not surpass the risk you take leaving it out. Every word in a pitch is real estate, from the subject…
 
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    InfoProduct Marketing Insiders Tips And News

  • 10 Reasons To Organize Your Own Product Launch

    Jeff
    12 May 2013 | 1:18 pm
    Product Launch Profit I get asked frequently if pre-planned product launches are the best way to organize your entry or next product release into your industry or if it is better to quietly enter your market and build over time. Based on our extensive experience across many niches and products we highly recommend generating momentum and larger profits with a well-run product launch versus a gradual entrance in to the market. Here are 10 reasons that you will want to consider a full-out product launch event around your first (or next) information product: 1. You set a deadline for yourself and…

  • Interview Experts To Create InfoProducts

    Jeff
    10 May 2013 | 6:48 am
    A question came up from my post of two-days ago around 2-Day information products via interviewing experts or authority figures in your marketplace. The question was…"What if I am a complete newbie who does not have relationships, does not have a list to offer to the expert in terms of garnering publicity. Why would they cooperate with me?" This is a very good question, one that we have direct experience with as we have entered 4 brand new markets (as a newbie) and been able to secure expert interviews in each market. Here are some tips I used when I enter new markets as a…

  • Mentoring For Entrepreneurs

    Jeff
    9 May 2013 | 7:05 am
    I'm fascinated that each time I talk with a successful entrepreneur discovering that a key part of their success is due to one or more mentors. I remember  starting online back in 1999 and having both paid and "friendly" mentors that helped me with everything from mindset through understanding the business models, warning about common pitfalls and helping with various tools and resources. Not only was this advice time-saving and resulted in clear profits, I'm certain I would not be where we are today if it had not been for this early mentor. Mentoring is critical in the…

  • 2-Day Information Products

    Jeff
    8 May 2013 | 6:02 am
    People who know me will not be surprised when I once again share the power of having your own information products for sale online. Not only do they sell like crazy, hold incredibly high profit potential and brand you an expert in your field, the fact that you can build large partner networks to help send you free traffic and make you profits while you sleep makes this business a no-brainer. The challenge for most people is how they get their first (or next) information product written, developed and launched. The reality is (as taught inside the Information Marketer's Zone) there are…

  • Entrepreneur Quiz – Guess The Missing Link?

    Jeff
    7 May 2013 | 3:38 am
    For many years I used to look at successful entrepreneurs as the ultimate champions in life…those who decided not to be controlled by someone else, not to follow but to take charge and build something new. Admittedly, a part of this was the romantic "outsiders" view of the wealth and prosperity that comes along with operating a successful business not to mention the glory that setting your own schedule evokes in your mind. But there always was an underlying admiration for the spirit of the entrepreneur who does not "settle" for helping someone else achieve dreams but…
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    Marketing Trenches

  • Don’t Buy Content Marketing from a Content Marketing Shop

    Mike Sweeney
    16 May 2013 | 6:32 am
    I cringe when I hear terms like “content marketing shop.” Shops are where you go to buy things—commodities. You can put the “things” in your cart, check out, and use them when you get home. Content marketing isn’t a “thing” you can put in your cart and start using right when you get back to the office. But many companies— at least 44% are outsourcing their content creation, according to the 2013 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends annual report—are out there looking for businesses that they may call “content marketing shops” or “content marketing…

  • Editorial Calendar Stress? Content Brainstorm Could Spell Relief

    Yvonne Lyons
    9 May 2013 | 7:00 am
    Is the lack of new ideas for your company’s blog stressing you into insomnia and nail biting? It’s daunting to be the one who has to keep the editorial calendar filled with blog post concepts on an ongoing basis. I get it. I’m charged with not only ‘inspiring’ the folks at Right Source to produce content marketing brilliance on a regular basis, but I oversee the editorial calendars of five or six of our clients, too. To produce a quality post twice a week throughout the year, you need more than 100 ideas. And that doesn’t include ideas for any other types of content you might want…

  • Why Bluebirds are for Lazy Marketers

    Will Davis
    1 May 2013 | 8:47 pm
    There’s a phrase in sales that refers to opportunities that fortuitously seem to land in your lap as “a bluebird.” Bluebirds got their name as they appear to “come out of the sky,” a stroke of luck that leads to a sale from out of nowhere. On the surface, bluebirds would seem to be a great thing for businesses, but there’s a problem with this thinking Thinking of Opportunities as Coming Out of the Sky is Lazy and Dangerous   How likely is it that a prospect happened to truly come from out of nowhere and become an inbound opportunity? Remember that time when a prospect…

  • The 7 Key Skills for the Modern Marketer

    Mike Sweeney
    25 Apr 2013 | 6:03 am
    Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world’s first modern marketer. Better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster … able to write, edit, analyze, create, code, distribute, and ideate better than ever before. Over the last two decades, old marketing has become new marketing. Push marketing has given way to pull marketing. Buyer beware turned into seller beware. Advertising approaches are being replaced by content approaches. It should come as no surprise, then, that marketers have changed – dramatically. Organizations still…

  • Two Birds, One Stone: Using Social Media to Build Professional and Company Brands

    Mike Sweeney
    10 Apr 2013 | 1:11 pm
    A few weeks ago, we visited our friends at Ringio, a virtual PBX provider, to deliver a social media workshop. As a startup inhabited by almost exclusively engineering types, social media marketing rarely rises to the top of the priority list, and when it does, it is met with a healthy dose of skepticism. Talking to companies about using social media for prospecting, branding or recruiting is nothing new for us, but the Ringio folks wanted to put an interesting twist on the topic. They didn’t want to talk about social media marketing for the company, but rather how the individuals inside…
 
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    High-Tech Communicator

  • What I’ve Learned About Social Media from Teenagers

    Cheryl Goldberg
    14 May 2013 | 11:59 am
    While most B2B businesses today feel they must have a social media presence, many are still working to figure out the best ways to use this new communication channel. Given the trial-and-error nature of this process, it pays to have an open mind and get inspiration where you can find it.  One place to start is by turning to the one group that is “to the media born”—teenagers. Living with two teenage daughters, 15 and 17, has shown me that this group has an instinctive grasp of how to use social media and how to keep up-to-the-minute on the constant changes in that world.  …

  • Creating Great Videos: 9 Lessons from a Working Actor

    Cheryl Goldberg
    7 May 2013 | 10:12 am
    Video has become an increasingly popular media for presenting B2B content. Usage of video has jumped from 52% of B2B companies to 70% between 2011 and 2012, according to the 2013 B2B Content Marketing Benchmark. The goal for video is to present content in a format that’s more engaging, gives viewers valuable non-verbal information, and meets the needs of people with different learning styles. Yet, not all videos are created equal. While some create powerful emotions, many more put the viewer to sleep. I’ve sat through many a training video that’s simply audio over PowerPoint slides —…

  • How to Produce More Content in Less Time

    Cheryl Goldberg
    29 Apr 2013 | 4:22 pm
    With the majority of the buying cycle taking place online, rather than face to face with a sales rep, B2B companies need to put enough content online. A critical mass of content ensures that potential customers can find it. And it takes numerous impressions before a company’s branding and messages sink in. But having the time and resources to produce the necessary quantity of content can be a real challenge. There are three aspects to generating the quantities of content required. You need to have enough ideas. You must repurpose the content you have. And you need to have the right…

  • 5 Ways to Make Your Content Useable

    Cheryl Goldberg
    21 Apr 2013 | 10:32 am
    Customers who turn to vendor content for solutions want practical information they can use instantly. The way content marketers present information helps determine how usable the content will be. The following tips can help you make your content easier to use to better serve your marketing goals.  Think bite, snack, meal. Present content the way readers consume it — bite, snack, meal. Start by attracting the reader’s attention through a quick, tasty bite of information. That bite is the headline, which should telegraph who the piece is for and how they will benefit by reading it.

  • 8 Tips for Writing Great Content

    Cheryl Goldberg
    14 Apr 2013 | 8:05 am
    You need two things to create successful content: a thorough plan based on an understanding of your audience, your message, and your desired result — and excellent execution. When it comes to content, good execution means good writing. Following these 8 tips will help you keep your writing on track. Focus on one message. If you have too many messages, people will get confused and won’t understand any of them. Give readers one message. Think of it as your thesis. All points must prove or disprove this thesis.   Write a clear headline. The headline is the first thing that draws people…
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    [mcgraw | marketing] Sales and Marketing Services

  • Keep It Simple

    patmcgraw
    16 May 2013 | 8:36 am
    We work too hard – we need to keep it simple. I ran into a first time parent last week and it got me thinking back to when my daughter was a wee one. And then my mind reached that wonderful stage … “Why is the sky blue?” “Why do trees have leaves?” “Why…why….why?” It was cute at first, a little annoying at times. And then I asked myself “When did we get to the point where we stopped asking ‘Why’ and just went ahead and did whatever?” Like “Why is that we search for topics for content without asking our…

  • Why personas can be a bad idea for content marketing

    patmcgraw
    16 May 2013 | 5:53 am
    “As new disciplines emerge – like content marketing in the digital age – new jargon blossoms like wildflowers in a new meadow. Or sometimes like clods of cow shit. Whichever category you put the term ‘Persona’ into (for me, it’s bovine-centric), you can’t deny that it’s won a permanent place in the B2B content marketing canon. “Don’t even think about doing content marketing without personas.” is Commandment Six last time I checked.” Read more. mcgrawmarketing‘s insight: As you know, I think there is value in personas – but the author, Doug Kessler,…

  • Customer Needs First

    patmcgraw
    14 May 2013 | 7:05 am
    What are your customer’s needs? This past week (and many times prior), I had several conversations where the business owner and marketing executive asked… “How do I know what content my audience wants?” I suggested “Ask them before you start to create.” “I don’t have the time to do that.  I have to write five emails, two white papers, a product information sheet, and then update some pages on the website.” Customer first. If you’re supposed to be writing an email that will resonate, motivate, engage…you really, really need to…
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    Multichannel Magic » Blog

  • Friday Favorites – Email Triggers, Eating Crow, and Dressing Like Pirates

    Debra Ellis
    3 May 2013 | 12:00 am
    The information that free flows to my computer and smartphone is filled with so many nuggets that it is often hard to choose favorites. A long time ago, the Friday Favorites series was one of my…you guessed it…FAVORITE…topics. I kept a running list of content that I liked and wanted to share. Somewhere along the line sorting through the information became a chore. There were so many good things that deciding what to feature took too much time and energy. Today, the reinvented Friday Favorites are back with a slight twist. There are no rules. The tidbits shared may be…

  • 5 Marketing Metrics Where Close Enough Counts

    Debra Ellis
    5 Mar 2013 | 7:37 am
    It has been said that “close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.” Things have changed. The time has come to update the old adage to “close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and marketing analytics.” The numbers we use to grow companies are rarely 100% accurate because we don’t have access to all of the information. Marketing analytics are not engineering specifications. When designing a building, an error of one inch at the foundation can cause a three foot variance at the top. When calculating lifetime value (LTV), failing to factor in the future value of money has…

  • Customer Satisfaction Wars: Winners and Losers

    Debra Ellis
    25 Feb 2013 | 10:06 pm
    Customer satisfaction showed some solid gains in the new index released by the American Customer Satisfaction Index. The overall increase of 0.5% was led by ecommerce with a gain of 1.2%. Using the data from the report, this infographic shows the winners and losers. (Click the image for a larger view.) The level of customer satisfaction continues to show opportunities for companies willing to put customers first. The research conducted by ACSI consistently shows a relationship between improved customer satisfaction and increased consumer spending.  
 
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    Social Media B2B

  • 10 Ideas to Make Boring B2B Social Media Posts Captivating

    Jeffrey L. Cohen
    1 May 2013 | 4:20 am
    Many B2B marketers are still trying to figure out social media for their companies. Years of product marketing driven writing, or content as we now call it, has honed their skills on features-based marketing. No matter how exciting your products and services are, this kind of marketing is boring. And it is not going to work in a social media context. Prospects and customer want solutions to their problems. They don’t want to hear about your products in a blog post. Once you identify your target audience and their pain points, you can begin creating top-of-the-funnel content to connect…

  • B2B Social Media Success Starts with Measurable Objectives

    Jeffrey L. Cohen
    10 Apr 2013 | 4:36 am
    B2B Marketers are always comparing their company social media efforts to other B2B companies. What are other companies trying to achieve? What is working? What are their biggest challenges? In a recent survey Ascend2 asked 687 business leaders, marketing executives and practitioners from around the world just those questions. And good for us they separated out the answers for B2B companies. Some of these results were featured on eMarketer, but you can download the full Social Media Marketing Strategy Report for free from Ascend2 (registration required). Below are a selection of the results.

  • Integration, Content and Analytics Drive B2B Digital Marketing Success

    Jeffrey L. Cohen
    19 Mar 2013 | 4:00 am
    In a recent study, CEB’s Marketing Leadership Council and Google found that 57% of the buying process is complete before a B2B buyer ever contacts a salesperson. And their results showed an even higher number, 70%, in some instances. The researchers used their interviews with more than 1500 decision makers and influencers in a recent major business purchase at 22 large B2B organizations (spanning all major NAICS categories and 10 industries) as the basis for their Digital Evolution in B2B Marketing whitepaper. The authors contend that mastering the following three topics are required…

  • How To Find the Best B2B Social Media Linkedin Groups

    Eric Schwartzman
    28 Feb 2013 | 5:56 am
    Most people learn how to use Linkedin by building a network of professional connections. Some even take the time to post updates to their activity feed. But if you haven’t noticed yet, not a lot of people hang out in the activity stream on Linkedin. The lion’s share of real engagement happens in Linkedin Groups, especially for B2B companies. But not all Linkedin Groups. Most are veritable spam fests where unscrupulous marketers spam links to promotions or try to drive clicks to their blog posts. So how do you find the really good Linkedin Groups? How can you tell which ones are…

  • 4 Reasons Why Google+ is a Killer B2B Social Media Platform

    Glenn Gow
    25 Feb 2013 | 4:15 am
    Most of our B2B clients have staked a claim on Google+, but they don’t invest in it. Why? Because they consider it a ghost town. They say Google+ is irrelevant. They invest in Facebook and Twitter and (more and more) in LinkedIn. But you know what? Recent studies indicate that, while many companies were asleep at the switch, Google+ has emerged as the killer platform for B2B social media marketing. B2B marketers need to understand these four reasons that Google+ is the next killer platform for marketing, and why it should be an important part of your B2B marketing mix. 1. Number of Active…
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    The Internet Marketing Lounge

  • Expert Advice On How To Get The Facebook Marketing Results You Need

    SLV
    15 May 2013 | 6:21 am
    It’s true that marketing on Facebook can be easy, but there are some caveats. The most important is that only a solid knowledge of what it takes to succeed will truly bring you success. This article provides that knowledge and all the tips and tricks you need to create a great campaign. Talk with your fans often to get their feedback on your products. Take note of things posted on your page. Many businessmen that are successful have received great marketing ideas that work from the general public. Your fans are the reason you are successful. If you have a follower complaining on your…

  • Navigate Your 2013 SEO Campaigns By Using These Top Tips

    SLV
    7 May 2013 | 5:54 am
    Since Google’s 2012 Panda and Penguin updates, there’s been non-stop discussion concerning the future of SEO. The question on everybody’s lips being – ‘Is this the end for SEO?’ Unquestionably the answer to this is ‘no’. Whilst SEO has undergone and continues to undergo changes, it is still just as important to the success of businesses. The majority of consumers rely on the internet to lead them to the products and services they want most. If your business website is no place to be found, that’s a great deal of sales that you’re…

  • Find Out What Facebook Marketing Could Do For Your Business

    SLV
    3 May 2013 | 6:18 am
    It’s now not uncommon for a business to try their hand at Facebook marketing (see – Facebook and marketing). Because after all, social media sites are popular with nearly all online users, making them the perfect place to promote your business. If you are a relatively small business seeking to grow your brand awareness online, but are still uncertain if Facebook marketing is for you, then take a look at the 8 top ways Facebook could benefit your business. 1.It’s Free:Facebook let’s you reach out to customers and advertise your goods and services – totally free of…

  • How To Use Search Engine Optimisation For Your Reward

    SLV
    24 Apr 2013 | 5:40 am
    Ever thought about the thing that makes a number of web pages surface before others when you do an internet based search? The solution concerns seo. There are numerous companies that will perform seo services provider professional services for you, but with a little luck this article gives you sufficient suggestions to get started all by yourself. Seo is all about spiders and finding their focus. In the event you just recently received a whole new internet site and also you want it spidered you can go the Yahoo option and publish it but this generally could take several weeks before you…

  • How To Save on Blog Expenses

    SLV
    14 Apr 2013 | 8:31 am
    After having your own blog site, you may want to consider the ways on how to save regarding your blog fees. Running a “real” blog, so to speak, can be costly. Well, you have to pay for domain name, the hosting service, email responder and the added features you need to apply for your blog site. Blog expenses can be paid annually or you can pay it on a one-time charge fee. If these aspects may add more to your billings then better listen up my friend. Here now are some ideas on how to be cost effecient in your blog expenses. 1. Avail of a new domain name - The first thing…
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    Blogging Tips on How to Make Money Blogging - Donny Gamble

  • Tools to Help Generate Blog Content Ideas

    Donny
    14 May 2013 | 5:22 am
    For generating the blog content ideas, you have to search the different sources on the internet and the non-internet sources as well. The reason is that you have to look out for the new ideas from the different sources. Actually, the new ideas generate from the current trend and the present situation of the society. So, in this direction, you have to keep your eyes open to it always and also you have to watch the people’s conversations which are chirping around your surroundings. Moreover, you can get the ideas through your keen observation around your surroundings as well. Google…

  • Why you’re Marketing Suuucks!

    Donny
    4 Apr 2013 | 6:02 am
    Marketing is done by everyone. There are many things that suck marketing efforts. Marketing sucks money like a vacuum cleaner. There are many problems related to marketing. One must invest money in marketing in a fruitful manner so that marketing sucks less money. Marketing should not be done in a boring manner. Marketing must be done in such a manner that it saves money and give a chance to purchase better things at a low price. One should be very conscious and should have a proper knowledge about the marketing plans to perform well in the marketing. Improper planning in marketing It is…

  • Online Tools for Checking Plagiarism in Blog Writing

    Donny
    26 Mar 2013 | 7:39 am
    The growth of the blogging has brought about the problem of plagiarism that can damage not only your reputation as a writer, but also the rankings of your site. Plagiarism is a serious offense in the world of writing and warrants disciplinary actions against persons proved guilty. In many cases it is also possible that a blog writer may inadvertently use words or phrases in his blog writing that have already been used numerous times on other websites. So the best way to avoid any such mishaps would be to subject all blog writings to some best online plagiarism checking tools. While there are…

  • Hot Social Media Tools for 2013

    Donny
    19 Mar 2013 | 7:59 am
    Social media has been growing fast in the recent past. Although Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are the current heavy hitters, Pininterest has fast caught up and is the fourth most popular after them. Concerning use of social media in business processes, creating strategy, guided by deep insights into the users can achieve greater, larger and profitable audiences. The following hot social media tools are the best you need in 2013. #1. Plagiarism checker It’s becoming very important to ensure that the content you publish on social media is unique and original. Plagtracker is a tool that…

  • Multivariate Testing 101: Purpose and Instructions

    Donny
    12 Mar 2013 | 7:59 am
    In the fast-paced world of the web, change is constant. It’s not enough to have a web presence, you must constantly be refining to bring it up to the standards and expectations of your audience. Regardless of how much time and money was put towards your website, it may become obsolete in a few years without implementing some changes here and there. Before you get your hands dirty changing the content and design of your site, you’ll be better equipped going forward by running some tests to identify key elements of your site that may be lacking. It’s through these multivariate tests that…
 
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    Totally Uncorked on Marketing

  • Is Writing an Annual Failure Report a Good Idea?

    Elaine Fogel
    16 May 2013 | 6:15 am
    An annual failure report, you ask? What the heck is that? A very interesting article in Inc. suggests that writing an annual failure report will provide organizations with good lessons and help them “establish a culture that emboldens employees to take risks.” The article cites an example from a Canadian nonprofit, Engineers Without Borders Canada (EWB), that has published a “failure report” alongside its regular annual report for the past five years. What’s fascinating is that the EWB Web site posts its 2010 Operations Report and annual reports from 2002…

  • Guess Which Cities Have Highest Number of Tweets and Retweets

    Elaine Fogel
    15 May 2013 | 6:17 am
    You may or may not be surprised. University of Illinois researchers hit their super computers to uncover lots of Twitter data including the top 20 cities (worldwide) by their number of tweets and retweets originating from users in that city. Are you ready? Drum roll, please. Did YOUR city make the cut?

  • Have You Checked Your Twitter Followers Lately?

    Elaine Fogel
    14 May 2013 | 6:48 am
    Every time I use Manage Flitter to see which of my Twitter followers do not follow me back, I am always amazed. Some are clients, friends, colleagues, and even nonprofit organizations I have supported. It made me wonder how frequently these people are checking to see who follows them. They may be missing out on some valuable connections. Or, they be ticking off the people who are already in their circles – and I don’t mean Google+ circles! Here are just a few examples of my non-followers: 1. A recent best-selling author I connected with on LinkedIn. He sent me a personal e-mail…

  • Do the Images You Use Align with Your Brand?

    Elaine Fogel
    14 May 2013 | 6:21 am
    Most small businesses and nonprofits use images to capture their target markets’ attention. Nothing tells a story better than a good quality image, right? But, what if those images don’t align with your organization’s brand? What then? Here’s a good example of what I mean: I received a fundraising solicitation from the American Heart Association recently, and with the direct mail piece came a set of address labels. (Just an aside: If I Get Another Set of Address Labels I’m Going to Scream!) There’s nothing unusual about this except the images don’t…

  • 6 Tips for Conducting Your Own Small Business Marketing Audit

    Guest Blogger
    13 May 2013 | 6:02 am
    Guest post by Daniela Baker  A marketing audit can be a daunting, time-consuming task, but it’s an insightful way to see if your marketing programs are on track. Here are some tips to help make your audit as effective as possible. 1.       Know where you are: Gather your sales reports, current marketing plan, and any other marketing-related documents. You can use this information to evaluate where your previous marketing efforts have gone right – and where they’ve gone wrong. It will be easier to come up with a new marketing plan if you have a solid understanding of any…
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    The Rise To The Top: The #1 Badass Show, Resource & Community For Mediapreneurs

  • How Did Dan Andrews Take The Lifestyle Business Podcast from 0 to Over 1,000,000 Downloads?

    David Siteman Garland
    16 May 2013 | 6:15 am
    OK, so, how cool is this? A few years ago, Dan Andrews and a buddy decided to start a podcast – The Lifestyle Business Podcast. They had no previous built-in fan base and no traditional media audience. They started it from scratch. Now, the podcast has over 1,000,000 downloads, has received 200+ 5-star reviews on iTunes, and is often ranked as a top 25 business podcast in Apple’s directory. How about the business side (it’s one thing to build an audience, and another thing to build a PROFITABLE audience)? Dan experimented with many different monetization models and in…

  • Ask David: Is There a “Right Time” to Come Out with a Product and Sell It to My Audience?

    David Siteman Garland
    13 May 2013 | 6:20 am
    OK, so as you know, there is a chicken or egg debate when it comes to mediapreneurship. Behind door #1: Build a fan base and an audience and then come up with a product/service/something awesome to sell to them. Behind door #2: Create an awesome product/service/something to sell and then go build the audience. Spoiler alert…both work. However, let’s say you decide to open door #1. You are hustling to build your audience. Creating awesome content. You’re rocking and rolling. Bee-bopping-and-scootin’. And then you start to get stuck. When should I release a product (aka.

  • How Did John Romaniello Become a Top Fitness Mediapreneur, Snag a 7-Figure Book Deal, and Build a Passionate Audience So Darn Quickly?

    David Siteman Garland
    9 May 2013 | 6:17 am
    Ever just meet one of those people where you are like, “Dammmmnnnnnnnnnn. Why does he/she always seem to be doing something awesome?” John Romaniello is one of those peeps. In just a few years, he went from a random trainer to one of the top online fitness personalities with a multiple six figure (now 7-figure) mediapreneur empire, a passionate audience, a ridiculously awesome book deal (7 figures, once again). Now that book is a New York Times bestseller. How the heck did he do it? I grill him in today’s episode of The Rise To The Top. Listen below. Roman has a super unique…

  • Ask David: What Is the “Quickest” Way to Get Traffic to My Blog/Web Show or Podcast?

    David Siteman Garland
    6 May 2013 | 5:41 am
    Scott, a buddy of mine, reached out to me this past week about a new platform he is building. He has the essentials down. Great ideas on content. Great looking website (sexy!) that was also setup nicely to turn folks into subscribers (encouraging them to sign up via email, of course). A very clear message. A very clear target audience. The foundation is set and he is ready now for domination. The question then became, what is the “quickest” way he can bring in some delicious traffic to his platform? Here is the advice I gave him, in today’s DSG TV. Watch below. And let me…

  • From Corporate Accountant to Kick Butt Mediapreneur: How Heather Pierce Giannone is Building Her Online Healthy Food Empire

    David Siteman Garland
    2 May 2013 | 6:20 am
    I met today’s guest, Heather Pierce Giannone (cool people have 3 names, right?), this past fall at Ryan Lee’s DotComXpo (kick butt event, BTW). Immediately, when we starting talking business, I knew she has something rocking going on. See, here is the crazy thing. Heather used to be a corporate accountant (not that it is a crazy thing to be an accountant, but once you get to know Heather in this conversation today you will giggle when you think about her nerding it up). But, she decided she wanted to do something far more awesome and share her huge knowledge of healthy foods. And…
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    360i Blog

  • Debunking 5 Myths of Programmatic Buying

    Kolin Kleveno
    16 May 2013 | 10:53 am
    At last week’s iMedia Agency Summit, I spoke on a panel called ‘Demystifying Programmatic Inventory.’ The entire session was geared toward helping marketers better understand the somewhat murky world of programmatic buying. As someone who lives and breathes in this space everyday, I’m often surprised by the number of misconceptions that exist about this subset of marketing. It is my belief that the lack of clarity on programmatic buying is a big part of our industry’s general ambivalence toward it: Whereas some advertisers are reticent to accept programmatic buying as a viable…

  • IWNY13: Join 360i & Four Top Content Startups for #CurationNation

    360i
    16 May 2013 | 7:17 am
    Internet Week, a week-long festival celebrating the business and culture of the web, returns May 20-27. This year, we’re hosting our own I-Week event at 360i HQ in New York called “Curation Nation.” The event and panel discussion is a special installment of our Startup Outlook series and will feature four top startups in the content curation game. Tickets to the May 22 event are still available at curationnation.eventbrite.com, but limited spots remain so be sure to RSVP as soon as possible. The event will share how four leading curation startups are using technology to help brands and…

  • Hanes Launches New Digital Campaign: ‘Soften the Blow’

    Soraya Eltomey
    14 May 2013 | 7:42 am
    Destruction videos are all the rage in the digital space, so when Hanes sought to promote its new super soft ComfortBlendTM line of T-shirts, socks and boxer briefs, it wanted to leverage the phenomenon to show how its ultra-soft apparel can “soften the blow” for most any type of physical destruction. That’s when we created and developed the campaign “Soften the Blow” to wrap the web in ComfortBend – sharing demolition-style content that leverages the power of digital in a creative way. To put this into action, Hanes launched four separate web videos as part of a series that…

  • Instagram’s ‘Photos of You’ Brings New Opportunities for Brands

    Tatiana Urriaga
    10 May 2013 | 7:59 am
    A new update from Instagram continues to blur the line between the mobile photo-sharing platform and Facebook, which acquired it last year. Since being purchased by Facebook in April 2012, Instagram has consistently inched toward full integration with the Facebook platform. Instagram has expanded its mobile application to web profiles, dropped Twitter support (users can no longer view Instagram images within the feed) and even updated its privacy policy. Last week, Instagram launched a new feature called “Photos of You” – marking its very own take on Facebook’s popular tagging…

  • A Marketer’s Guide to the 2013 Digital Content NewFronts

    Jessica Sanfilippo
    7 May 2013 | 2:30 pm
    Last week, members of the 360i team attended several events as part of the second annual Digital Content NewFronts. The NewFronts represent the digital version of the Upfronts that have long dominated the TV buying world, and were created to drum up interest in the digital video content available for complementing (and, in some cases, replacing) traditional broadcast content. This post summarizes our collective learnings from the 2013 NewFronts. Similar to last year’s roundup, we’ll dive into the key themes that emerged, and share what they mean for marketers. We’ll also highlight a few…
 
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    Never get out of the boat

  • out of reach and beyond dispute

    15 May 2013 | 9:46 pm
    While we are on the subject of the spectacular this keynote by Robert Scoble from the recent TNW Europe conference felt like sychronicity. If ever there was an instance of the spectacle manifesting itself as an enormous positivity, out of reach and beyond dispute this is it. Scoble, with his umpteen Android devices, ipad, lapel camera taking photos every ten seconds, Google Glass (natch) and....wait for it....techno waistcoat!, has morphed into some kind of singularity-caricature techno-celebrity cartoon, a spectacular representations of a living human being projected into life in 3D. An…

  • the spectacular moments of commodity society

    13 May 2013 | 4:40 pm
    To be fair I don't know that much about modern Hungarian Marxist philosophy. But I know what I like. (bourgeois humour).So, I like what I know. My route in has been through bits of György Lukács.Lukács is credited as the author of the idea of reification. For Lukács reification literally translates as the 'objectification'- or 'thing-ification' if you prefer - of social life or social relationships and their subsequently re-expression as relationships between objects rather than people, as characterised by many aspects of what we would describe as 'consumer' culture. In simple terms,…

  • you are are a unique individual. just like everybody else

    7 May 2013 | 4:31 pm
    Look into my eyes for 5 seconds then review the analysis below the picture. You have a need for other people to like and admire you, and yet you tend to be critical of yourself. While you have some personality weaknesses, you are generally able to compensate for them. You have considerable unused capacity that you have not turned to your advantage. Disciplined and self-controlled on the outside, you tend to be worried and insecure on the inside. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing. You prefer a certain amount of change and…

  • the power of people

    1 May 2013 | 11:40 pm
    David Hepworth talking about the power of Twitter.What he's really talking about is the power of people.Remember kids, it's not just about the tools but about the behaviours.People adopt the tools when the tools solve a problem.Twitter is still around while others have failed because it still solves a problem.Thx Brand DNA

  • here's the thing about Richard Dawkins

    1 May 2013 | 9:10 pm
    Believing you know your own motivations, preferences, your likes and dislikes, is known as the introspection illusion. This illusion makes you believe you know your 'self'.Why you are the way you are and based on that how you will act in the future.But it's an illusion nonetheless. There's a ton of scientific data and research that proves that introspection is not the act of accessing your reasoning 'self' but in fact much closer to telling oneself a plausible story. In a sense retrospection is introspection - one looks back at what one did, said, or felt, and you simply make up some sort of…
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    Vitamin IMC

  • Meet Shark Tank’s Most Unique Contestent: Steve Gadlin

    Betsy King
    9 May 2013 | 11:13 am
    The cat Steve drew for me: busy grad student Meet Steve Gadlin: the creator behind the one of a kind, ‘I Want to Draw a Cat For You’ company that took off a couple of years ago with a hugely successful Groupon deal followed by an appearance on the hit television show, ‘Shark Tank’ – where billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban decided to invest $25,000 in this company. I was lucky enough to talk with Steve about how he got the idea for the company, the ‘Shark Tank effect’, and what he has planned for the future. Let’s talk a little bit about your background: what were you doing…

  • Mr. Barrett #BaresItAll

    Marissa Fellows
    3 May 2013 | 7:41 am
    Jeff Barrett is a social media rockstar. In his mid-twenties, he has already co-founded a rising PR firm, Status Creative, writes for the Washington Times, has created numerous viral campaigns (my favorite of which spotlights a favorite destination of mine—my hometown—in an epic lipdub), and was recently named to Forbes’ Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers of 2013. He’s done all of this while maintaining a witty sense of humor and an unassuming humility. I had the opportunity to pick his brain about the PR industry and social media tactics—here are some of the highlights. So…

  • Dove: A Real Approach to Beauty Advertising

    Leigh Lovett
    18 Apr 2013 | 12:41 pm
    Mascara, concealer, more volume, more padding, these are not the items women are buying after seeing beauty product advertisements, but rather an improved self-image. How can women and young girls truly feel confident about their appearance when they are constantly being sold beauty products that will help them lift something, cover something else, and give them that ‘thing they’re missing’? The truth is, many beauty advertisements have been successful at not only selling women their products, but also at setting an unrealistic and unattainable definition of beauty. Dove has shelved the…

  • Musings on Marketing from The Masters

    Martine de Gannes
    14 Apr 2013 | 8:19 pm
    This week my childhood dream came true and I got to walk the sacred grounds of Augusta National. Don’t get me wrong, the place was magnificent, but what really struck me was the way marketers leveraged an event that has some of the most restricted access to fans to get their message out in a truly organic and genuine way. From the second you walk onto the grounds there is not a corporate logo in sight. Everything is “Masters green” and white. You drink “lemon lime” relying on your expert taste buds to decipher if it is Sprite or 7UP. Only three companies are granted exclusive rights…

  • 2013 IMC Visit Day

    Vitamin IMC
    10 Apr 2013 | 1:08 pm
    Friday, April 12 will be a very exciting day for the IMC program. Newly admitted students will be spending the day on Northwestern’s campus for a Visit Day to learn more about the program they will potentially be attending in the fall. Beginning around 9 a.m. the activities throughout the day aim to provide as much information as possible to the prospective students so they can make a truly informed decision about whether Medill and IMC is the best fit for them. Not only will they be able to meet and mingle with other admits, but they will have the chance to hear from current faculty and…
 
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    Occam's Razor by Avinash Kaushik

  • Eight Silly Data Myths Marketing People Believe That Get Them Fired.

    Avinash Kaushik
    29 Apr 2013 | 2:40 am
    It turns out that Marketers, especially Digital Marketers, make really silly mistakes when it comes to data. Big data. Small data. Any data. In the last couple months I've spent a lot of time with senior level marketers on three different continents. Some of them are quite successful, but sadly many of them were not. In the latter group I discovered two common themes: 1 Some absolutely did not use data to do their digital jobs. This group should be fired immediately, so I'm not going to talk about them. [A benchmark for you: If you are not spending 30% of your time in 2013 with…

  • The Lean Analytics Cycle: Metrics > Hypothesis > Experiment > Act

    Avinash Kaushik
    8 Apr 2013 | 2:17 am
    This should not be news to you. To win in business you need to follow this process: Metrics > Hypothesis > Experiment > Act. Online, offline or nonline. Yet this structure rarely exists in companies. We are far too enamored with data collection and reporting the standard metrics we love because others love them because someone else said they were nice so many years ago. Sometimes, we escape the clutches of this sub optimal existence and do pick good metrics or engage in simple A/B testing. But it is not routine. So, how do we fix this problem? This thought was in my mind as I was…

  • Excellent Analytics Tip #23: Align Hits, Sessions, Metrics, Dimensions!

    Avinash Kaushik
    18 Mar 2013 | 2:24 am
    Web Analytics tools have become pretty feature rich, and the future promises to bring even more goodies (Universal Analytics anyone?). But these features bring with them new problems that we hadn't imagined before. Mostly because the limitations in the tools meant we were unable to make these mistakes. Today's post is about a new problem I'm starting to notice, which only exists because our tools have become so much cooler and handed us so much power: constant mismatching of hit- and session-level metrics and dimensions. This particular problem exists primarily because…

  • Excellent Analytics Tip #22: Calculate Return On Analytics Investment!

    Avinash Kaushik
    25 Feb 2013 | 2:02 am
    Analysts: Put up or shut up time! This blog is centered around creating incredible digital experiences powered by qualitative and quantitative data insights. Every post is about unleashing the power of digital analytics (the potent combination of data, systems, software and people). But we've never stopped to consider this question: What is the return on investment (ROI) of digital analytics? What is the incremental revenue impact on the company's bottom-line for the investment in data, systems and people? Isn't it amazing? We've not pointed the sexy arrow of…

  • 7 Incredible Web Design, Branding, Digital Marketing Experiences

    Avinash Kaushik
    28 Jan 2013 | 2:22 am
    We are surrounded by incredible digital experiences. Masterful design, branding and marketing. Yet, it would be fair to say we are also drowning in awful digital experiences – or, at the very minimum, experiences that seem to be stuck in 1991. As a Digital Marketing Evangelist you can imagine how much that pains me. When I work with companies, I do my very best to bring my deep and undying passion for creativity and digital awesomeness to them. One manifestation of that is the stories I tell by comparing and contrasting the client's digital existence with others I consider best of…
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    Conversation Agent

  • Switching Sides

    Valeria Maltoni
    17 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    This past Monday, author, consultant, and friend Peter Shankman, the man who found himself on the receiving end of Morton's Steakhouse greatest customer experience, invited me to the experience the 3D IMAX Theater premiere of Star Trek in New York City. That's for the man behind the connection. As for the man behind the reboot of the Star Trek franchise, J.J. Abrams, he succeeded in creating a compelling story. I'm not normally too much into 3D, and IMAX can make me dizzy. However, this movie was well done. It was like being part of the action. The best scenes are those of connection between…

  • New, More Social Google Maps

    Valeria Maltoni
    16 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    Google is out on a changing spree. A new Google+ that looks a lot more like Facebook pages and Pinterest mashed together responsively (that was the commentary last night), and more dynamic and social data rich maps. In the last couple of weeks, the Interwebs were filled with news, commentary, and reviews of Google Glass. Although little was said at the Developer Conference#. Google Now app updates, too. How about those Google driverless cars#? All this on the heels of changes to Gmail UI, and the announcement that due to declining use it will be retiring GReader in July#. And I'm sure I'm…

  • How Leasing and Renting Led to Sharing

    Valeria Maltoni
    15 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    A primer to connect some recent thinking about sharing economy, digital products, and marketplaces. By far the most popular post I published recently was about calculating the lifetime value of the sharing economy. And with good reason. Following a small trend among mobile workers and their families which began to develop in the U.S. about ten years ago (and that has remained fairly consistent in Europe), the number of individuals who chose to rent and lease by choice has increased steadily. And by "mobile", I mean upward mobility, as well as the availability to commute long distances during…

  • 34 Ways to Spread your Ideas with a Blog

    Valeria Maltoni
    14 May 2013 | 8:22 am
    When you think about it, social media is like sharecropping -- you help build a network with your content and it uses it however they see fit. What happens if they delete your account or the network changes its terms and conditions? It could be an unintentional glitch -- and now your data is gone. Both Flickr and Facebook have given us examples in the last couple of years. The effects of those actions have been devastating for the people who had put time and care into building a presence in social networks with their content. Which is why I have been and continue to be strongly in favor of…

  • Calculating Life Time Value in the Sharing Economy

    Valeria Maltoni
    13 May 2013 | 3:00 am
    Many new technologies have brought products and services to market ever since I published my thoughts on the semantic Web almost five years ago. Points 1-3 evolved quite a bit, yet we have not cracked the code (completely): Dealing with data Both at personal level with one sign-on/identify we can carry across the Web and at business level, although many have made strides with integrations of personalization engines with CRM systems. In addition to grappling with disparate legacy systems that do not speak to each other resulting in operational difficulties, we have quite a bit of core data…
 
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    The Fast Growth Blog

  • The Fastest Test to Determine If You’re A Peddler

    Doug Davidoff
    9 May 2013 | 6:57 am
    Ever since I wrote my post about Pests, Peddlers and Demand Creators, the most common question I’m asked is, “How can you tell if you’re being a Peddler or Commoditizer?” Here’s the simplest and fastest way to determine if you’re peddling: Look at how you approach your prospects and customers early in the sales cycle.  Consider the questions you ask, the material you share and the possible presentations you make.  Now answer this question:  Who learns about the prospect/customer’s company? If the answer is you (or your sales rep) you’re a peddler.  If the answer is the…

  • The 3 Questions to Break Free From Your Competition

    Doug Davidoff
    21 Mar 2013 | 12:30 pm
    I’ve written about the curse of knowledge before.  An important sales implication of the curse is that selling organizations become increasingly committed to the belief that it’s the expertise and knowledge about the solution that separate competitors in buyers’ eyes. There are two important points that contradict that belief: Your customers are nowhere near as educated as we’d like to believe they are about their problems, so it’s virtually impossible that they’ll be able to: Truly understand your expertise and solutions, and Effectively compare the difference – and the value…

  • Imperfect Content

    Doug Davidoff
    13 Mar 2013 | 8:14 am
    Over the last eight years, I bet I have published more than 1000 pieces of content.  Between my blog, columns I write for magazines, guest blog posts I write for other blog sites and magazines, I put out a lot of content. Frankly, it’s one of the major advantages I’ve had in growing my business. A few years ago I quantified the impact of my blog alone and valued it to create more than $2 million of documented value for my company. On top of that I’ve won many awards and gotten quite a bit of press for the blogging and publishing that I’ve done. I’ve done this while leading…

  • Creating Your Unfair Competitive Advantage

    Doug Davidoff
    7 Mar 2013 | 5:16 am
    Next month I’ll be presenting a webinar that I more excited about that anything I’ve done before.  It focuses on how to turn the tables and create a structural advantage for you and your business. For years your business had the wind at its back, and you didn’t need an unfair advantage to grow successfully. In 2013, as we continue to recover from the “Great Recession,” ask yourself: Is our sales approach creating an unfair advantage for us, allowing us to: Close more business, Close it faster with less effort, Increase our margins, and Drive our profitability and business…

  • Gaining The Focus You Need to Expand Your Customer Base

    Doug Davidoff
    27 Feb 2013 | 10:42 am
    Over the last 18 months I’ve been focusing on simplifying the approach that small and mid-market companies take to growth.  There is probably nowhere where this is needed more than in strategic planning process. Working with thousands of companies, I’ve come to understand that the focus of your go-to-market strategy can be broken into three categories. They are: Those who will do business with you. Those who won’t do business with you. Those who should and aren’t doing business with you. Those Who Will The reality is that you do not need to spend significant time creating strategy…
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    B2B Marketing Asia

  • 5 steps to sharpen your media planning for B2B Lead Generation

    Anol
    25 Apr 2013 | 6:25 pm
    At B2Bento we generally don’t talk much about paid media. It may well be the time for us to pay more attention to it now. Paid digital advertisements are now cheaper, better and way more effective than they have ever been. They have better analytics and targeting mechanisms making it essential for us B2B marketers to look at our digital media planning from a different perspective. Leveraging the targeting mechanisms we can be more effective in reaching our consumers and generating more digital leads and conversions. To help you formulate your digital media strategy we’ve come up with some…

  • Flip the Funnel: Marketing for Retaining Customers: Part II

    Anol
    3 Apr 2013 | 7:20 pm
    In the first post on flipping the funnel we talked about identifying persona gaps and running campaigns to fill those. In part 2 we will delve into content strategy, social engagement, client testimonials and product or solutions case-studies. Content Strategy Before we get down to the nitty-gritty tactical details it is important to take a step back and draw up or strategise your content framework. A key point to keep in mind while drafting the framework is to treat your customer as your audience. In a recent post Asuthosh wrote about the lessons B2B marketers can learn from chefs. Taking…

  • Content Marketing and the Art of Ethical Persuasion

    Asuthosh
    21 Mar 2013 | 6:50 pm
    Campaigns continue to rule in B2B marketing. Content, on the other hand, remains an afterthought for most of us. Something that we think about after the campaign mechanics, metrics and tactics have been set. But our customers are now connected like never before. Their buying behaviour shifts often and is influenced, however subtly, through forces that never existed even 5 years ago. If content is made the meat and connective tissue of marketing, the outcomes can be significantly influenced for the better. Emeritus Professor Robert Cialdini of Psychology & Marketing at Arizona State…

  • Join us: upcoming B2B Marketing Conferences in Asia

    Jaspreet
    21 Mar 2013 | 5:35 pm
    B2B marketers are in for a treat in the coming months with 2 conferences tailored to our niche. Our B2Bento columnist, Anol Bhattacharya, will be on hand speaking at both conferences and sharing his insights along with other leading industry experts. Integrated B2B marketing (15-16 April in Singapore & 18-19 April in Hong Kong) promises to cover issues relating to the challenges and developments for B2B marketers in dealing with integrated marketing. Conference attendees will get to learn from a host of case studies with “Flip the Funnel: Content, Community and Social Strategies for…

  • Flip the Funnel: Marketing for Retaining Customers: Part I

    Anol
    15 Mar 2013 | 12:13 am
    We are familiar with the funnel illustration in business graphics as used to articulate parts of the sales or lead generation process. Most of these infographics end with the conversion of the lead into a customer but is that the only happily-ever-after that businesses should aim for? In this series of posts on flipping the funnel we take a look at what happens once you have the customer — how you retain and even potentially grow that customer into a marketing channel for your business by transforming your sales funnel into a marketing megaphone. You may be skeptical but in this era of…
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    The Ratliff Report

  • Nintendo Of America With A BIG, Fat Fail

    Joseph Ratliff
    17 May 2013 | 7:52 pm
    If you’re on Twitter, and you check out hashtag #nintendofail you’ll begin to see a series of posts developing over a recent move (some people would call it a “dick” move) by Nintendo of America. I can’t believe I’m typing this, but Nintendo can’t stand the fact that kids and adults alike are creating their own “play through” videos of Nintendo games, posting them to YouTube… and because some (perhaps most) of these accounts are “monetized”… these folks are making a SMALL amount of money off of the ad clicks…

  • For Copywriters: 5 Important Lessons I’ve Learned

    Joseph Ratliff
    14 May 2013 | 4:32 pm
    This will be a quick post… 5 important lessons I’ve learned from over a decade of copywriting experience, that hopefully will help you if you’re a copywriter yourself (these are in NO particular order)… 1.  Get paid upfront, at least 50% of the project fee.  Make it a “kill fee” if for some reason the client decides to cancel the project and move on. 2.  Take care of your health.  Without it, none of this really matters. 3.  Take good care of your clients (especially the ones who take care of you), and always look for ways to provide extra value (at…

  • The Myth Of “What’s Next”

    Joseph Ratliff
    12 May 2013 | 10:57 am
    Many business owners, in our initial discussions, ask me… “Hey Joe, what’s next in the world of business?” Or this… “Hey Joe, what big innovation can take my business to the next level?” My answer usually sets them back a few notches… “There isn’t one.” I’m famous for telling my clients EVERYTHING they don’t want to hear.  But let me explain why… This notion that there is a “What’s next?” for any business, small or large… is a complete myth.  It’s a waste of your time to pursue…

  • CTRL ALT DEL by Mitch Joel: A Review

    Joseph Ratliff
    9 May 2013 | 10:57 am
    Mitch Joel (@mitchjoel on Twitter) shared a review copy of his newest book, CTRL ALT DEL with me.  I’ve now read it cover to cover twice. It’s even better the second time around… and I’ve only said that about 3 other business books: The New Rules Of Marketing And PR by David Meerman Scott. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. Thinking Fast, And Slow by Daniel Kahneman. This book joins the ones listed above. Why? The main reason is it makes a bold promise on the cover (Your Future Depends On It)… and then backs that promise up with carefully selected evidence…

  • My Privacy Is Mine, Your Privacy Is Yours… Own It

    Joseph Ratliff
    5 May 2013 | 11:02 am
    #Privacy ISN’T binary. It’s not on/off, good/bad, hiding/open, etc… it’s about establishing boundaries. More here: danah.org/papers/talks/2… — Joseph Ratliff (@JosephRatliff) May 5, 2013   The above Tweet links to a talk Danah Boyd gave in 2010 about privacy. As much as some techies and geeks want to dismiss it (calling it “dead”), privacy is an important topic… one that needs to be debated out to the n’th degree. Folks, we need to own our privacy… and quit dealing it out to Facebook, Google, Twitter, and other companies without…
 
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    Neu Concepts

  • Web Design, Trade Show & Marketing Roundup: May 13, 2013

    Brittany Miller
    13 May 2013 | 10:22 am
    Ever feel like you might have missed a great piece of advice or news article? We understand that you have very busy schedule and that is why each week we scour the web looking for noteworthy articles about web design, trade show exhibits and marketing from last week’s news and share them here in our roundup. Here are five great articles that are worthy of your attention. #1. Exhibiting 101: Contractor Confusion A confusing aspect of the exhibiting industry is understanding the various contractors on the trade show floor. To help you understand who is who, here is an explanation of the…

  • Web Design, Trade Show & Marketing Roundup: May 6, 2013

    Brittany Miller
    6 May 2013 | 6:57 am
    Staying up-to-date on the latest web design, marketing and trade show exhibit news can be a challenge when you are trying to get through your busy workday. To help you out we created our roundup, which highlights noteworthy articles from last week about web design, trade show exhibits and marketing. Here are a few articles worthy of your attention. #1. Dusting The Website For Spring: Optimization and SEO Cleaning Spring is here! What better way to spend these rainy days here in North Carolina than with a little spring cleaning on your website. Improve your presence on the web by adjusting,…

  • Web Design, Trade Show & Marketing Roundup: April 2, 2013

    Brittany Miller
    2 Apr 2013 | 7:04 am
    Spring is here! It is far to easy to get distracted this time of year day dreaming about the warmer days ahead, vacations and finally being able to relax and enjoy the weather. That is why we help keep you up-to-date and on track with all things related to web design, trade show exhibits and marketing with our Weekly Roundup. Never miss a great article again! Here are six must-read articles from last week: #1. Our New Look: More Ways to Discover What You Love Pinterest has a new look! Last week, Pinterest rolled out their new design to all users, which helps make discovering things on the…

  • Web Design, Trade Show & Marketing Roundup: March 25, 2013

    Brittany Miller
    25 Mar 2013 | 6:37 am
    Each week, we scour the web looking for the very best articles on web design, social media, marketing and trade show exhibits to share with you in our Weekly Roundup. Never miss a great article again! Here are seven noteworthy articles that you might have missed. #1. How to Survive Google’s Pending Panda Update Google is planning another update for their Panda and Penguin algorithms. HubSpot did a great job recapping all things Panda so that you can be ready for the pending update. Are you ready? #2. 7 Simple Steps to Writing Great ‘How To’ Content on Your Blog Do you know how to write…

  • Web Design, Trade Show & Marketing Roundup: March 18, 2013

    Brittany Miller
    18 Mar 2013 | 7:17 am
    With March Madness in full swing, I am sure there a few great articles that you might have overlooked. Good thing we’ve got you covered with our Weekly Roundup! Here are some great articles from last week on web design, trade show exhibits, marketing and social media that you might have missed. #1. Pinterest Introduces Analytics Platform Pinterest Web Analytics is here! Now brands can see how many people have pinned content from their site, which content is the most popular to pinners and so much more. Tracking user engagement on Pinterest just got a whole lot easier. Find out what pinners…
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    Imagine Your Reality

  • Why you can’t charge for the first date

    taylor
    16 May 2013 | 1:00 pm
      The other day I overheard a conversation where a business professional was mentioning that he’d recently decided to charge for his initial consultation with a prospect. He went onto explain that a power partner who’d passed him a warm lead had gotten upset and told him that if he ever did that again he’d never pass him another lead. The power partner was understandably upset, but the business professional also had a valid point: He wanted his time respected and he didn’t want to give away the entire store in his initial meeting with a prospect. I took the…

  • Are you Undervaluing your services?

    taylor
    14 May 2013 | 1:00 pm
      One of the problems that business owners face with pricing is a tendency to undervalue their services. Indeed, I have to admit that I have undervalued my services at different times and I’ve always come away feeling unhappy because even if I got the business I know I’m not getting paid what I feel my services and time are worth. So why do business owners undervalue their services? I can’t speak for everyone else, but I can say that I’ve undervalued my services because I wanted to get the business and I didn’t see any other way to do it. So I offer a…

  • Get Big-Business Tools from Web-Based Software for your Small Business

    taylor
    7 May 2013 | 1:00 pm
    Running a small business isn’t easy, but there are new options that give small businesses more might. With web-based software solutions coming online every day, small businesses have more and more ways to manage its finances, grow its businesses, and reach its customers. SaaS Web-based software offers a compelling business case to small businesses, according to iPlanner.net. Most companies don’t have the resources or justification for a full-time IT department or manager, but need IT support services on an intermittent basis. In a traditional IT and software model, it purchases the…

  • How to handle firing someone

    taylor
    2 May 2013 | 1:00 pm
    The other day a client of mine told me that s/he was feeling some misgivings about firing a vendor. The vendor wasn’t doing the work up to expectations, but the client had a personal relationship with the vendor and felt bad about having to fire her. Firing someone, whether its a client, employee, or vendor is never easy because you are also making a change in the relationship that is a negative change. On the other hand, the negativity has likely been there all along and the firing is just bringing it to the surface. I offer the following tips for how to make this process easier. 1.

  • Property Damage Restoration Proves Flooded Documents are not Dead Documents

    taylor
    1 May 2013 | 1:19 pm
    This blog post is courtesy of Polygon, a property damage restoration firm serving businesses worldwide. With highly trained technicians & project managers, Polygon provides a variety of disaster clean up services. Property Damage Restoration Proves Flooded Documents are not Dead Documents Property damage restoration experts hear it all the time from business owners: “Why should I worry about flood damage? It’s not like I live in a flood zone.” The reality is that water damage is up to eight times more likely to impact the interior of a building than any other type of disaster –…
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    B2B Marketing Blog | Webbiquity

  • 30 Awesome Blogging Guides, Tips and Resources

    Tom
    14 May 2013 | 3:11 am
    Despite the occasional “death of blogging” pronouncements (often made, ironically, in blog posts), blogs remain the core of a robust social media strategy. The proliferation of themes, tools and plugins have transformed blogs from mere online text collections to powerful interactive, rich-media sites that can attract, engage and educate your potential buyers. Particularly with Google’s emphasis in its recent Panda and Penguin algorithm updates on content that is fresh, compelling, unique, social, and naturally linked to, blogs have become even more essential to SEO…

  • 11 Expert PPC Guides, Tips and Techniques (and One Rant)

    Tom
    6 May 2013 | 3:01 am
    With all of the hype surrounding inbound and content marketing, it’s easy to underrate the continued importance of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, a.k.a. search engine marketing. But as Rebecca Lieb recently noted, “Search, email, blogging, digital PR, and  even (brace yourself) advertising have, and will continue to have a place at the table as content marketing grows in importance.” As vital as natural optimization is, paid search offers three key advantages that make it complementary to organic search: • It’s instant. Organic search experiments can take weeks to…

  • Lessons from HubSpot’s State of Inbound Marketing Report

    Tom
    29 Apr 2013 | 3:19 am
    HubSpot last week released its 2013 State of Inbound Marketing report,  this year weighing in at a massive 175 pages. But as always, the report is crammed with useful facts, interesting stats, and vital tips, tools and techniques for inbound marketing success. Given the report’s heft, no blog post (of any reasonable length) could it justice as a summary, but here are a sampling of the highlights. To get the full story, download the HubSpot report here. Inbound marketing (a subset of though not to be confused with web presence optimization) is big, and growing. • 60% of companies…

  • 33 Phenomenal Content Marketing and Copywriting Guides and Tips

    Tom
    23 Apr 2013 | 3:35 am
    Content marketing represents the most fundamental and widespread rethinking of marketing practices in decades. Unlike other modifiers attached to the discipline (consumer marketing, b2b marketing, trade show marketing, digital marketing), the term “content marketing” doesn’t describe an audience, tactic, or channel, but rather a completely different approach to marketing. Content marketing turns the dominant paradigm of the last half-century—interruption-based mass marketing—on its head. Rather than interrupting prospective customers with content they generally…

  • How to Tame Panda and Penguin with WPO

    Tom
    17 Apr 2013 | 9:07 am
    Google’s Panda and Penguin updates have irreversibly changed the practice of SEO. Contrary to the most dire conclusions of some, these nasty-though-harmless-sounding pair of algorithmic updates named for monochromatic fauna have not “killed” SEO—but they have, rather, forced an evolution in thinking about web visibility. At a high level, both updates are designed to clamp down on “artificially optimized” web pages (e.g., those with over-optimized content [written for search engines rather than humans], paid links, too many links from low-quality sources, too…
 
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    Emma Blog

  • Emma Social recap: The Digital Summit edition

    mary.foster@myemma.com
    17 May 2013 | 9:07 am
    Digital Summit (a.k.a. #dsum13) was so much fun this year. We met a ton of awesome folks in Atlanta, saw lots of Instagrams and tweets from people loving their Emma swag (thank you!) and generally had an awesome time. That wasn't the only fun to be had this week, though. Just take a look back at some of the best social posts... Best practices You've got 20-30 characters to get the mobile open Follow these words of wisdom to make sure your blog shows up in search Grow your Twitter audience with these 6 tips Emma news Every Emma template is now responsive and mobile-optimized! …

  • Optimizing for mobile? Don’t forget your subject line.

    mary.foster@myemma.com
    16 May 2013 | 11:11 am
    If limiting your soul-baring tweets to 140 characters is a challenge, think smaller when it comes to your emails. Much smaller: Smart phones only display five or six words of your email’s subject line, so the gist of your message needs to be conveyed in about 20-30 characters when in portrait orientation. Being concise is already a great parameter to have in place if you’re a known rambler (like moi), but you could be missing out on business if your subject line runs on or doesn’t grab attention. Smart phones don’t have preview panes, so it’s important to use…

  • All free readymade email templates are now mobile-optimized!

    mary.foster@myemma.com
    14 May 2013 | 8:14 am
    Just a sampling of free mobile-ready template designs waiting for you in the drag & drop editor Did you know? Emails that aren't optimized for mobile may actually drive 30 percent of your readers to opt out. How do you make sure your emails look great on screens of all sizes, automatically, and engage your readers instead of driving them away? With Emma's responsive templates, of course! We've optimized every template in our gallery of free readymade designs (which work alongside our new drag & drop editor), so all you have to do is add your content and send. What is…

  • Emma Social recap: The Swag edition

    mary.foster@myemma.com
    10 May 2013 | 11:17 am
    Digital Summit is this upcoming Tuesday, and we're getting ready by packing up tons of Emma goodies to bring to the masses. If you want your own little piece of Emma swag, but won't be able to meet us in Atlanta, just leave a comment here. We'd be happy to oblige! Now that you've just added to your wardrobe, go ahead and add to your knowledge base with a look at what went down in social this past week: Best practices You, yes you, can use these 5 tips to boost your business on Pinterest Social sharing can improve your email response. Go ahead and try it. Learning about why…

  • How iOS may single-handedly be boosting your email response

    mary.foster@myemma.com
    9 May 2013 | 11:40 am
    If you've ever wondered how email opens are tracked, I'm going to let you in on a little email marketing trade secret: Email opens can be tracked two ways. The most common is by downloading images in the inbox. Emma embeds an invisible image in every email that, when downloaded, pings our server and counts the email as being "opened." If you aren't using images or they aren't displaying, but a link is clicked, Emma also counts that as an open, because the email has to be open in order for someone to click on it. This means the process of counting opens is far from perfect.
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    The Lunch Pail: A Digital Marketing Blog

  • How Emails Render on a Phablet

    Lesley Matt
    17 May 2013 | 8:50 am
    I love almost everything about my phablet. It is my new addiction and I love it almost as much as I love shopping. My love of shopping is heightened when it is combined with my love of email. Hearing the special ding on my phone when I receive a retailer email with special savings is something that really makes my day. When I had my trusty old iPhone I loved getting promotional emails. They all displayed beautifully in the IOS email previewer and were a joy to look at and helped me plan out my shopping attacks. As a consumer, I liked the fact that the majority of these emails were visually…

  • Email Essentials over Breakfast

    Knotice
    15 May 2013 | 9:00 am
    Ah, email. With all the articles being written about the mobility of consumers, the death of third party cookies and other tech news, it seems like the good old standby email has been overlooked recently. Even though consumer behavior and technology are evolving at a rapid pace, email remains a preferred way to communicate with your audience. It’s the anchor of customer connections. Even social media channels use it to maintain activity and to invite people back. (“Look who’s following you on Twitter.” “See what your friends are up to…” and so on.) As elementary as email may…

  • Do Your Customers Want to Get Personal?

    Patti Renner
    13 May 2013 | 9:01 am
    Research shows that consumers prefer to engage with brands on a more personal basis. In the last five years things have gone from retailers casting a wide net when it comes to personalization to being very precise about not only addressing people on a very personal level but also serving them the products, accessories, and upsells that would be most attractive to them. Now, instead of having a conversation with someone over a sales counter in a retail shop, retailers are actually having the same intimate conversation, but doing it across digital channels. Consumers really do want brand…

  • Mother’s Day Tech 2013

    Casey Newman
    10 May 2013 | 9:04 am
    Mother’s Day is Sunday. If you’re a late shopper and need a few gift ideas (or just want to add to your own personal wish list), we’ve got you covered. In case you’re looking for tech ideas for your mom, we asked some folks around the office to share their stories along with their recommendations. Here’s what the Knotice team recommends for Mom this Mother’s Day: “My mother is a 4’10”, 67-year-old, silver haired woman. When the geek squad tech showed up with her new computer for installation and free hour of training he started off with his basic “I know you’ve never…

  • Webinar Recap: Customer Centric Tips

    Casey Newman
    8 May 2013 | 10:48 am
    If you missed yesterday’s webinar “Reaching Today’s Customer Requires a Revamp of Current Data Practices” featuring special guest Joanna O’Connell from Forrester Research, no worries.You can access the full playback from the here. Here are some highlights from concepts tweeted during the live webinar event (#DataRevamp): Consumers are savvier than ever before. They use more channels, formats and devices to interact with brands. It doesn’t matter where they are or what device they’re using, they expect a relevant, consistent brand experience across all channels. These always…
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    Yodle Company Blog

  • Yodle Reviews – Our Customers Speak

    Melissa Lachman
    17 May 2013 | 9:01 am
    We have received numerous positive customer testimonials over the years and more continue to pour in every day. Each success story is unique, but they all have one thing in common- these small businesses have experienced extraordinary results as a result of using Yodle for online marketing. Watch the compilation video below where a number of our customers share their experiences with Yodle. Enjoy, and keep an eye out for more Yodle reviews from our customers that will be coming soon.

  • Yodle’s New York Office is Honored with “Best Places to Work in NY” Award

    Aviv Wecler
    6 May 2013 | 3:17 am
    I’ve been working at Yodle’s headquarters in New York as a Lead Recruiter over the past three and a half years, and I have seen our company grow from 280 people to over 1,000 employees. As focused as we are on producing results for our over 30,000 customers, we keep the work environment fun and relaxed (i.e. giant stuffed gorillas and bananas hanging from the ceiling!). As we grow, I’m proud that we are still able to maintain our unique culture and I am honored that we have been ranked tenth on the list of the Best Places to work for in New York this year. We were at the awardees…

  • Introducing Yodle’s New CIO

    Radley Moss
    30 Apr 2013 | 6:44 am
    Earlier today Yodle announced that Eric Raab has joined the company as its first Chief Information Officer. We are thrilled to welcome Eric to Yodle, and were equally delighted to have recently had the opportunity to meet with the 25 year tech veteran. In this revealing Q&A, Eric shares why he joined Yodle, his passion for small businesses, and where he’d most like to visit when he’s not figuring out the next big IT solution at Yodle. Yodle: Why did you decide to join Yodle? Eric: There are many things that excited me about Yodle. Local online marketing is a great industry and Yodle…

  • Yodle Review of the Month: Client Testimonial by Groff Landscape Design

    Radley Moss
    29 Apr 2013 | 8:24 am
    Our April customer of the month is Robert Groff, owner of Groff Landscape Design. Robert’s Virginia-based company specializes in high end landscape design for outdoor entertainment spaces. What Robert loves most about his job is having full creative direction on projects from beginning to end. However, he soon found that marketing his business was becoming an increasingly big focus. When he first got Groff Landscape Design off the ground, Robert tried some marketing strategies that simply weren’t getting him any leads or were taking up too much of his time. Realizing he needed a partner…
 
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    Crenshaw Communications

  • TGIF: Better Brand-Building Through TV?

    Marijane
    17 May 2013 | 3:01 pm
    On this past week’s episode of Mad Men, Ted Chaough, while trying to dream up campaign ideas for a margarine, riffs on the notion that various category brands can be viewed through the lens of the very popular, very silly 60s-era sitcom , Gilligan’s Island. The notion is that the seven ship passengers stranded on a desert island after what was to have been (sing along if you know the lyrics) “a three-hour tour,” embody archetypes that endure across time, cultures and disciplines like PR, marketing, and advertising. Ad/marketing wisdom holds that twelve archetypes are useful in…

  • Tuesday Tips: PR Tips for Interview Prep

    jackie
    14 May 2013 | 1:52 pm
    A former colleague once told me that she “interviews recreationally” – that is, she actually enjoys going on employment interviews even if she isn’t actually looking to make a jump.  She interviews for sport – to see what else is out there, remain savvy about the PR marketplace, and stay competitive within the field. Assuming you’re in the majority that does not rank interviewing among your top hobbies, you probably get apprehensive the night before an interview.  The what-ifs can be killer, especially if you’re new to the interviewing scene.  Below are key tips borrowed from…

  • How To Find A Job in Public Relations

    Dorothy Crenshaw
    13 May 2013 | 8:41 am
    Graduation season should be joyful, but in the past few years, the media coverage has been dominated by slim employment prospects, hefty college loans, and depressed salaries. Yet things are looking up; for one, the public relations industry is booming, and new grads know it. As the resumes pour in, here’s my (updated) post with tips for finding a job in an agency or corporate PR department. Work your contacts. Ask everyone you know for either one name or one piece of advice on landing a meeting. Don’t ask for a job, ask for insight about the industry. It’s much harder to…

  • TGIF: Lost in Translation? What a Client Says/What it Really Means

    Marijane
    10 May 2013 | 1:39 pm
    We have all had conversations with PR clients and wish that some kind of client translation software was available to confirm that what you heard is what someone actually meant. For example, we’re working on a proposal for a prospective client who told us “don’t work too hard on it, we just want to see some sample ideas.” Now, what does that really mean? If we offer a single page of “thought-starters,” will that suffice, or is it like when a hostess says “no gifts” and everyone but you ignores her request and actually brings something? With that in mind, have a look at…

  • Tuesday Tips: How Deadlines Motivate Us

    iman
    7 May 2013 | 3:00 pm
    Every day we make (and occasionally miss) our deadlines. Catch the train by 8:30am. Get to the bank before 5pm. Submit this blog post by…well, you get the point. Today’s definition of a deadline is “the time by which something must be finished or submitted”, but it gets its name from an older and more sinister meaning. It used to be a boundary around a military prison beyond which a prisoner could not venture without risk of being shot by the guards. Scary. Think about that next time you face a proposal due by week’s end. The advantage of deadlines is that…
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    Business 2 Community

  • Top 5 Pins: Roaring 20s Theme Inspired

    Mindy Hu
    17 May 2013 | 8:48 pm
    We suppose it was only a matter of time until Gatsby dominated our thoughts for our weekend plans. What isn’t enticing about the roaring 20s? The fashion, the art deco style, the music and the parties… Here are our top 5 Gatsby and 20s themed inspired pins: 1. Emerald Living Room Add some of Long Island’s North Shore glamour to your living space with emerald hues, sleek furniture and crystal lighting. 2. 20s Inspired Women’s Fashion Women’s fashion experienced dramatic changes in the 1920s that still heavily influence the fashion industry today. Add some of Daisy Buchanan’s glitz…

  • The Liberalization of Television Programming [Infographic]

    Brian Wallace
    17 May 2013 | 7:56 pm
    Imagine yourself watching TV in 1947—things would have been far different. It would have been a shocker just to see a couple—even a married couple—sharing a bed. “Mary Kay and Johnny” was TV’s first series to show a married couple sharing a bed. You may be familiar with a certain “wardrobe malfunction” during the halftime show of Super Bowl XXXVIII, but the original wardrobe malfunction happened on a live broadcast when Faye Emerson accidentally “exposed her ample self coast to coast.” In 1952, it was just not common to hear the word “pregnancy” on television—the…

  • Buzzwords that Need to Die

    Amanda McNeill
    17 May 2013 | 7:27 pm
    I’ll be the first to admit I’m guilty. I’ve used buzzwords since it was cool to be called a webmaster. Well, no more sugarcoating. No more pretension out of insecurity. I’m going to begin honetizing my client communications by telling it like it is. Serial Entrepreneur “I have adult ADHD and I just came off of a string of start-up failures.” Thought Leader “I don’t have to make sense. I just have to say everything is outdated and have cool, spiky hair.” Guru “I’m a know-it-all so sometimes I have trouble working with teams. I’m a consultant.” Maven “I’m a…

  • Learn To Be A Social Media Jedi In 5 Steps

    Gerry Moran
    17 May 2013 | 7:22 pm
    How can you use social media to help support your company? I just returned from SAP’s SAPPHIRE NOW and discussed this question with many marketers from around the world. In fact, one marketer requested help to become a “social media Jedi”. So, I wanted to put together some first steps to help anyone to become a social media Jedi for their company. Most marketers with whom I spoke at SAPPHIRENOW are comfortable with activating social media messaging on official company Twitter and Facebook channels. However, when it comes to activating their personal social brand on Twitter, LinkedIn and…

  • 5 Hospitality Tips for Achieving Top Rated Customer Satisfaction

    Flavio Martins
    17 May 2013 | 7:18 pm
    Even during a global recession, the hotel industry can thrive and often continue to grow by improving their customer satisfaction and customer service. People are still traveling for business or pleasure and looking for the best values for their money. Competition for new customers in the hotel industry worldwide is high and repeat business is always desired. Gone are the days where folks hop in their automobiles and drive along exploring and then stop at a roadside hotel that looks decent and clean. 5 Hospitality Tips for Achieving Top Rated Customer Satisfaction Customer satisfaction has to…
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    B2B Marketing Insider

  • Slideshare Is The Biggest Opportunity In B2B Content Marketing

    Michael Brenner
    16 May 2013 | 5:45 am
    In a recent conference, I was asked my opinion on what is the biggest opportunity in B2B Content Marketing? Without hesitation, I answered “Slideshare.” With more than 50 Million visitors per month and more than 100 million pageviews, slideshare is one of the top websites in the world and should be a key focus of any B2B content marketing program. According to Comscore, Slideshare is used by business owners and business executives at a rate 5 times any other social network! The top categories in Slideshare are Business and Technology, followed by Education, Travel and Health. In…

  • Big Data For Marketing? It’s All About The Questions

    Michael Brenner
    14 May 2013 | 6:16 am
    Looking into a heavy topic today: Big Data for Marketing. “Heavy” because it’s sorta philosophical. I think Big Data for Marketing is more about the questions than the answers. More about the insights than the technology. The opportunity lies in defining how Big Data can help you better reach your customers with your messages in a way that gets them to act. And this starts with simple questions like: how did your last campaign perform? Which keywords drive conversions? What websites did my prospects visit before they came to my sites? Which social conversations are spurring…

  • What Is A Social Business?

    Michael Brenner
    9 May 2013 | 5:45 am
    In response to my post defining social selling, I realized that I needed to take a step back and define “What is a social business?” There is a lot of talk about the social business and too often it involves a discussion of social tools and channels. In this article I’ll offer my own definition as well as plenty of links to other resources you can check out for more ideas on how to help your organization transform into a social business. A social business is not a business that sends a lot of Tweets or has a ton of Facebook likes. A social business is one that realizes that it operates…

  • Social Selling: A Day In The Life of A Social Sales Person

    Michael Brenner
    7 May 2013 | 5:45 am
    Social selling is a hot buzzword being thrown around today. What is social selling and how do tomorrow’s top sales people use social selling to become top performers? Social selling is not just about starting the sales process with social tools like Linkedin, Facebook or Twitter. Social selling is about sales people building a strong personal brand. It is about understanding the role of content and how content can be used to tell a powerful and emotional story. And it is about growing your social connections. I even predicted that social, content and personal branding would drive the…

  • The Art of Storytelling [Video]

    Michael Brenner
    2 May 2013 | 5:45 am
    “Through the ages, technology and media…has dramatically influenced the way we communicate and tell stories.” This was one of the main points on “the art of storytelling” presented by Julie Roehm, Chief Storyteller at SAP at the Inbound Marketing Summit on April 3, 2013. Julie showed many visual and multimedia examples of how storytelling has been around for as long as humans have walked the earth. The first TV ad was run by Bulova in 1941. The first political TV spot was run by Lyndon Johnson in 1964. Apple’s “1984” helped propel Superbowl…
 
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    Insivia Marketing + Web Design

  • How Important is Good Quality Audio?

    insivia
    17 May 2013 | 11:50 am
    Today Rick explains why audio is the most important part of a good video. Video Transcription Today I want to talk to you about the importance of good audio when producing video either from home or for your business. Nothing to me or our team is more important than having good quality audio when producing videos for the web. One great example I always like to use is when you’re watching tv, if you’re watching the television, you know put it on mute and watch the television with no audio to see how engaged you are with what you’re watching, and the emotions that it’s kinda…

  • How Does Video Help Build Trust?

    insivia
    15 May 2013 | 6:33 am
    Today Patrick shares how video can help you build trust with your customers. Video Transcription Using video as part of your web site or as part of your online marketing efforts is a really great way to build trust and to establish a connection with the prospect or with even your existing clients. The way that it does that is by putting a face and personality behind the brand or behind the sell sheet. You know it enables you to kind of see the person or the company that you’re going to be working with or that you already are working with. In doing videos you can establish trust or build…

  • Why are Videos good for SEO?

    insivia
    13 May 2013 | 6:33 am
    Today Andy explains why video is a great tactic to use for improving your SEO. Video Transcription So people often ask why are videos good for search optimization. Well there’s a couple reasons. the first one is that search engines are putting videos into the results a lot more than they used to and ranking them higher. You often see when you do a search that you’ll see a little thumbnail of a video that’s on YouTube or some other site that’s showing up high in the search rankings. Another reason is that videos cause inbound links. Inbound links which are links that…

  • 3 Ways to Use Video to Market Your Business

    insivia
    10 May 2013 | 5:57 am
    Today Matt shares three ways a business can use video in their marketing strategy. Video Transcription Hey everyone! We are continuing with video and animation and today I want to talk about three ways you could use video to market your business the first one being testimonials. Testimonials are a great way for you to the show viewers why current and past customers chose you and why they had such a great experience with their product or service. It also gives you the chance to post those videos to your blog or website and show them next to your products offerings. The second way to use video…

  • How can a business use video?

    insivia
    8 May 2013 | 6:20 am
    There are multiple ways you can use video to your advantage and increase your user engagement. With billions of people using the Internet to find information and entertainment, video gives you the opportunity to reach a large amount of potential customers. Below are three different ways a company can use video to help market themselves. Testimonials Getting a testimonial from your client or customer is a great way to use video. This gives you the chance to show your target audience why your current and past customers had a positive experience. People usually enjoy video testimonials because…
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    Value Acceleration

  • If you lower the bar it’s easier to clear it

    valueacceleration
    17 May 2013 | 6:40 am
    In several posts I have questioned what J.C. Penny is up to since firing their CEO and bringing back the prior CEO. Clearly they hired a new and transformational CEO as they felt the earlier strategy was not working. And yet, they brought back the previous CEO when the “transformation” did not produce quick results. I have tried to figure out how that makes sense. Silly me. Today’s announcement by the old/new CEO explains it all: ” J.C. Penney Co Inc Chief Executive Myron Ullman told Wall Street on Thursday that the department store chain is emerging from what he…

  • CMO’s sticking longer

    valueacceleration
    14 May 2013 | 6:20 am
    Spencer Stuart notes that CMO tenure has increased consistently since 2004 from an average of 23.6 to 45 months. Debate as to cause abounds. Since it’s been a steady rise each year, I postulate that it’s due to CMOs and their CEOs becoming more comfortable in their relationship and expectations. The CMO position was a relatively new C-level job a decade ago. As the role has evolved and outcomes clarified, longevity has increased. Throwing the CMO “under the bus” when a sacrificial lamb is needed seems to have passed its peak as well. Does this bode well for the CMO…

  • Are you the lever or the leveraged?

    valueacceleration
    13 May 2013 | 2:47 pm
    I thought of Gordon Bell the other day.  Gordon was the architect of many Digital Equipment Corporation computers.  In the late 80s he moved out to California to hook up with the venture capital community there.  In a magazine article not long thereafter, the writer asked him “Are you just an old hardware guy?”  To which Bell replied (I’m paraphrasing from a distant memory), “I guess I am…but you know that hardware advances are what make all software advances possible.” That’s true, of course.  But would you rather, today, be in the hardware business of the software…

  • Get to the point … now

    valueacceleration
    13 May 2013 | 6:15 am
    In today’s ADD/distracted world you have to get to the point … quickly. Twitter gives you 144 characters and now Vine gives you six seconds of video. Unfortunately, most of these quick and easy broadcast platforms result in a lot of short, but useless content. However, it’s interesting what you can do, usefully, in six seconds. Advertising Age shared what Lowe’s has done. It’s solid. Mitch

  • And the tragedy continues..

    valueacceleration
    6 May 2013 | 3:39 pm
    I have posted several times about J.C. Penny. (Just search the archives for J.C. Penny). In my last post, I suggested the Board of Directors was to blame for this debacle. And now they are compounding the problem. They have posted a video asking their customers to come back to the J.C. Penny they knew and loved. They are bringing back their old house lines/brands. In effect, they are going back to the old J.C. Penny. For what purpose? If the old J.C. Penny was working, what caused them to hire a transformational CEO? If the old J.C. Penny was not working, what is the purpose of bringing it…
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    ViperChill

  • My Warrior Forum Trojan Horse & The World’s Worst Email List

    Glen
    28 Apr 2013 | 10:17 pm
    Have you ever had that feeling when you’re making something and you’re really excited to keep going. Where you know the process is going to be as awesome as the end result? That’s how I feel about writing this post. I just want my fingers to keep moving, as there’s a lot of insights to come. Before I do that, I want to do something I never do and that’s push a project or idea, but here we go: Sign-up to my email list at the bottom of this post or in the right sidebar here. Click through to ViperChill if you’re reading this elsewhere. The emails I have been…

  • The Ultimate Guide to Making an Affiliate Income from Your Blog

    Glen
    25 Apr 2013 | 4:41 am
    A few years ago I wouldn’t have written a blog post about affiliate marketing. It all seemed too dirty. But that’s changing now thanks to a few animal updates from Google. These days it’s all about trust and authority – you need your readers to see your blog as an authority and you need Google to trust your SEO strategy. That means it’s harder than ever to succeed but it also means that the people willing to work away at it for months and years are doing very well. In this post I’m going to show you: My personal theory for this slow-to-grow strategy. Why…

  • Turning off the ViperChill RSS Feed: What You HAVE to Tell Your Blog Readers

    Glen
    21 Mar 2013 | 5:32 am
    Some of the biggest news in the blogging world over the last week was without a doubt Google’s announcement that on June 1st, they’re closing Google Reader. Paraphrasing their own words, the usage of Reader is smaller than ever, and Google want to focus on fewer products. I don’t believe the latter for a second, since new products like Google Keep are being spotted in the wild, and instead think it’s all about, well…money. Reader simply isn’t paying for itself. Countless news articles have been written by the BBC, New York Times, the Verge and many other huge…

  • Introducing PostSkin: My New Premium WordPress Plugin (48 Hours Only)

    Glen
    16 Mar 2013 | 2:48 am
    Way back in the day when I used to run PluginID, I took an afternoon out to make a few graphics for my blog sidebar which would feature my most popular blog posts. Though they did look attractive – and I quickly found other bloggers imitating the idea – I found myself constantly having to make new images any time I made a hit post. With ViperChill, I was fortunate to have a plugin come with my theme called ‘Popular Posts’. It’s basically just a widget that you currently see in my sidebar (for now). When I designed Butterflyist for Andrea for the blogging case…

  • Seth Godin on Steroids: Here’s My Evernote Password

    Glen
    2 Dec 2012 | 9:56 pm
    New York Times best-selling authors Chris Brogan and Julien Smith recently launched their latest book, The Impact Equation, and kindly mentioned me as someone who has built up a large following of passionate (and attractive) readers. They also compared me to Seth Godin, showing how people who write totally different types of content can still grow a respectable audience in the same niche. It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Seth. Though his posts are usually very short, more often than not they contain ideas you can apply to your business immediately. In this post I’m…
 
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    IttyBiz

  • Last day for 50% off, and today’s Big Tip

    Naomi Dunford
    16 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    So apparently the samples were a big hit yesterday. If you haven’t seen them yet, they’re pretty substantial and will teach you a lot. Click here to see the 85 pages of samples we have for you. On that page you’ll get to read the written version for the first session of each of the List, Content and Website classes. Today’s Big Tip … Kara wrote in yesterday asking this: “How do samples work for you (as opposed to no samples?) Do you see a good bump when putting them up? I was thinking about doing what you’re doing, but I’m a little freaked that…

  • 85 pages of samples. (Who does that?)

    Naomi Dunford
    15 May 2013 | 4:00 am
    We have 85 pages of free samples for you today. (For those who missed yesterday’s email, we’re about to put the three BEST classes we’ve ever made into the IttyBiz store. Before we do that, you get first dibs to save 50% on them.) You can see all of the samples here: http://www.ittybiz.com/ourbestclasses On that page you’ll get to read the written version for the first session of each of the List, Content and Website classes. The free sample lineup titles, you ask? For the Let’s Fix Your Content class: “The Rules of Content No One Seems To Be Teaching…

  • 3 Days Only – 50% off our 3 BEST classes

    Naomi Dunford
    14 May 2013 | 12:27 am
    We’re about to put the three best classes we’ve ever made into the IttyBiz store. Before we do that, we wanted to give you first dibs to save 50% on them. http://www.ittybiz.com/ourbestclasses Hundreds of people just finished up the live versions of these three classes: We’ve never seen so many people getting so many real results out of what they’ve learned. Lists are growing. Page views are up. Traffic is increasing. And, maybe most importantly … … lots of people are happy that they finally know what to DO. If you’d like to know what to do to make…

  • The Cereal Box (Or, How To Be The Smartest Person You Know)

    Naomi Dunford
    7 May 2013 | 5:14 pm
    A very long time ago – yes, even before the internet, if you were to allow yourself to believe that such a time existed – a certain author was asked what one book he would take with him if he were stranded on a desert island. Normally a question like that is designed to see how sophisticated the askee’s tastes are. Will he say the Bible? The Complete Works of Shakespeare? Great Expectations? What profundity awaits us today? In this case, the answer was a little more prosaic than that: “Thomas’ Guide to Practical Shipbuiding.” Indeed. Let’s start with a story. A little while back…

  • How (Not?) To Choose Your Marketing Strategy

    Naomi Dunford
    5 May 2013 | 8:36 pm
    We get a lot of questions from clients asking whether or not they should hop on the bandwagon for some new marketing initiative that, by all rights, seems to be a Legitimately Big Thing. The question is essentially “Should I put all (or most of) my eggs in this basket? It seems to be extremely popular, and a lot of people say I’m missing out if I don’t get on this now.” The answer is – well, it’s what we always say. It depends. Why this choice is difficult in the first place. When something seems to be extremely popular right now, it’s really difficult to figure out whether it…
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    The Online Community Guide

  • Investing Social Capital

    Richard Millington
    16 May 2013 | 11:30 pm
    Social capital is the value of the connections between members. This encompasses both the quantity and quality of those connections. Over time, communities build up social capital. What do you do with this social capital? You invest it in community projects. You invest (not spend) the social capital in projects which will benefit the community in the future. This means establishing a goal. This means asking members to work on a task that is too complex for a single person but benefits the community in the long-term. This might be creating a resource for newcomers, organizing a series of live…

  • What Has a Really Big Impact Upon Levels of Participation?

    Richard Millington
    15 May 2013 | 11:30 pm
    Big wins are rarely in community development. Gamification has a minimal, short-term, impact (about 5%). Moving and changing platforms has a tiny impact (unless you’re using a terrible platform, then it has a big impact). Adding a new feature has almost 0 impact. If you want to significantly increase levels of participation, there are several big wins.  1)   Attract the most interested members/narrow the focus of the topic. The biggest determinant upon levels of participation is interest in the topic. Our interest are usually narrow. We might have an interest in cars, but…

  • Unsettling Top Members

    Richard Millington
    14 May 2013 | 11:30 pm
    You probably have several highly active members. They participate most frequently. They contribute the best content. How do you reward them? You don’t. These aren’t the members you need to worry about. They’re already doing what you want them to do. Members don’t leave a community because they didn’t receive appreciation/rewards/gratitude. They leave because they don’t feel part of the group, become bored of the group, or lose interest in the topic altogether. When you reward the people that are already doing what you want, you risk unsettling them. It creates jealousy. Some…

  • Building Powerful Peer Groups

    Richard Millington
    13 May 2013 | 11:30 pm
    You don’t compare your life against George Clooney. He’s not in your peer group. A-List celebrities might, but not you. You measure yourself against those you consider your peers. You measure yourself against a relatively small group of people whom, at some point, have had the same level, interest, or held the same position, as yourself (at the same time – people don’t compare themselves to the deceased). Early on, this was your school friends. Later, it was your work colleagues. Now it’s probably an online group. Once we find our peer group, we use them as references for our own…

  • “But we haven’t changed anything!”

    Richard Millington
    12 May 2013 | 11:30 pm
    One community manager is receiving criticism for privacy issues in his community (no, not Facebook). Nothing in his community has changed – it’s simply a bigger community now. He’s treating his data the same way as he always has.  However, once your community becomes big enough to matter, you become a target.  All the minor issues become very important. One day your platform might be fully reliable and you might have no security, privacy, legal (or even personal safety) concerns. The next day your platform is crumbling under the weight of popularity. Dozens of hackers are…
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    About Leads

  • BuyerZone on Social Media

    Sylvia Rosen
    17 May 2013 | 6:02 am
    BuyerZone just got a bit more social. Today, we launched our brand new social media page: BuyerZone on Social Media. As you look around, you'll probably note that it's a pretty simple page. Well, look again! There are, in fact, two key aspects that I made sure went into this page as I designed it. Here's what they are and more importantly, why you should have a social media page for your business' networks: 1) Social Media Team Introduction As I'm reading tweets from a few of my favorite business brands, I can't help but ask, "Who is the person behind the tweets?" Is it the social media…

  • Is your B2B website still cutting it?

    Jon Faitel
    14 May 2013 | 2:15 pm
    You go to your website every day and it looks pretty good to you, but it may be hurting your image more than you think. If your site was designed a few years ago, chances are it's lagging behind the competition in terms of fit, finish, and web design techniques that are all the rage in 2013.From responsive mobile design, the flexibility of HTML5, and advanced JavaScript animations that bring the web to life, your stagnant website probably isn't as cool it once was. Just take a look around at some B2B companies like Marketo and ExactTarget, and you'll notice their sites are doing a whole lot…

  • BuyerZone at SearchLove Boston

    Sylvia Rosen
    14 May 2013 | 7:30 am
    A guest post by Dylan Mazeika from BuyerZone's Content Team Next week I'll be attending Distilled's SearchLove conference in Boston. I'm looking forward to bringing a lot of actionable marketing and B2B tips back to BuyerZone. While I'm looking forward to all of the speakers, I think the following presentation topics will offer the most takeaways for B2B marketers: Improving content Dr. Pete's talk is about DIY data-driven content. Lead generation companies gather a lot of data; so I'm looking forward to moving past typical infographics, and learning how to present this data in a more…

  • What we're reading this week

    Jeff Gordon
    10 May 2013 | 7:19 am
    As we close in on the end of another work week, here are some good reads that caught our eye:Email open rates averaged nearly 20% last year. Are you seeing that in your email activities? If not, here are some tips that could help. Are you considering buying leads from a lead generation company? Even if you don't work with BuyerZone, here's a comprehensive whitepaper on everything you need to consider when buying leads from our friends at LeadsCouncil.A flower delivery company analyzed their sales funnel and decided to invest in a dedicated lead generation team to supercharge their results.

  • The ABCs of the Complete Marketing System

    Sylvia Rosen
    30 Apr 2013 | 7:00 am
    A guest post by Joy Gendusa As new marketing technologies are created, businesses are given opportunities to make their marketing systems better. These technologies can help you build a complete marketing system that comprehensively covers all your marketing bases, such as lead generation and follow-up. The following is just one of the ways you won't lose any of the leads you generate from your marketing campaigns. You'll generate more leads and convert more of those leads into customers, and the best part is forming this complete system takes only four easy steps. Let's take a look at…
 
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    Personal Branding TV

  • CC Chapman Interview – Reach Personal Branding Interview Series

    reachproducer
    8 May 2013 | 9:15 pm
    Name Email   Living An Amazing Life   Date: Thursday, May 16, 2013 9:00 AM Los Angeles | 12:00 PM New York 5:00 PM London | 6:00 PM Paris   Where are you going? Sounds like a simple question but can you answer it in the context of your life? Where are you taking your career? Your family? Your community? What do you want to accomplish in every facet of your life? To the peril of many, these thought-provoking questions are often avoided or ignored altogether. But if you don’t know where you are going how will you ever know when you get there? Realizing that you are unhappy…

  • 9 the Video – Build Your Brand in Nine Minutes a Day

    Regina
    30 Apr 2013 | 10:50 pm
    In their book, Ditch. Dare. Do!, William Arruda and Deb Dib say all you need is 9 minutes a day to build your brand so you can advance your career. This video tells with you how they came up with nine and shares some fun facts about the number 9. This video comes to you from William Arruda and Reach Personal Branding.

  • Personal Branding: Professionalism in the Workplace, Clothing Part 2

    Regina
    29 Apr 2013 | 10:39 pm
    Executive Coach and Master Personal Branding Strategist, Valerie Sokolosky, speaks about acceptable clothing in the workplace. Bio: Valerie Sokolosky founded Valerie & Company in 1981, an international leadership development consulting firm focusing on people skills. Her executive coaching and training in Fortune 500 companies has motivated their employees which has resulted in significant profits for these organizations.

  • Exclusive Reach Personal Branding Interview: Ditch. Dare. Do! Book Launch

    reachproducer
    18 Apr 2013 | 8:01 pm
    Get ready to Ditch, Dare and Do! Click the microphone to download the interview audio file >>> Ditch. Dare. Do! is the quick-start guide and deep-dive instruction manual every executive and employer needs to leverage the power of personal branding—increasingly recognized as a must-have skill in every executive and employer tool kit. Launch Day Special Offer – What you need to know! Step 1: Read about the $3777 worth of g