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Sometimes you just can't say it better than Mark Twain.
I love marketing quotes – the wit, the punditry, the directness – and how an entire concept can be summed up in one sentence (or two or three). Here are some of my favs:
“Tell a story that is memorable and remarkable and worth listening to. Seduce your customers, because that’s exactly what they want you to do.” – Seth Godin
“Strategy should be developed from the bottom up, not from the top down. In other words, strategy should be developed from a deep knowledge of and involvement in the actual tactics of the business itself.” – Jack Trout …Read more »
The web has changed the way we communicate, presenting brands the ability to reach a worldwide range of people in ways never before possible. Businesses, both large and small, can harness the power of the web to not only reach more people than ever before, but they can also extend the user experience by encouraging people to interact with their brand – making the brand more available to their audience.
Sounds good, but why does this matter? Why is this important? …Read more »
*It is far easier to ensure good customer service than to repair the damages of bad service – like trying to repair a broken window. (Photo credit: Shoes on Wires)
Why are any of us in business? I think that’s a question more people should ask themselves. Sometimes, I don’t know why some businesses bother to go on.
Lately service, or rather a lack of it, has really got to me. I recently ordered some replacement glass for my new house from a local (nameless) company. One of the windows was cracked when I moved in. It was delivered after two weeks which is when the trouble started. Not only was the glass too big, but I also had to pay a Glazier for a window that wasn’t fitted.
The glass company happily took the window back, admitting that it had measured it wrong (good so far). They said that they’d let me know when the new glass was ready. Fast forward six weeks; one more incorrectly measured pane of glass, and I am now fuming. For some time they weren’t even answering my calls; even the shop was closed when I went to visit. Eventually after several phone calls – and a call to the owner’s personal residence – I have a new piece of glass that is supposed to be going in this weekend (I’ll keep you posted). What really annoyed me was the lack of contact and severe delays with no explanation or apology. Rest assured I won’t be going back!
If I contrast this with another story of poor service, it illustrates how things can start out bad, but turn out for the best… …Read more »
The Vickie Powers Memorial Park Playground Project gets underway today. It’s an exciting event – 5 days of building by hundreds of volunteers, and in the end the community will have a brand new playground in the park.
What’s cool about this playground is that it was designed with the help of children, so you know they’re going to love it. As part of a “community design, community build” concept, Rapid City’s Parks & Recreation Department teamed up with Leather’s & Associates, out of New York, to make this project happen.
The concept of this park’s “community design, community build” is classic and essential. Whether it be by getting involved in social media, encouraging higher levels of customer and community service, relationship building, or by hosting/contributing to community events, the community theme has been a common thread for many of our clients lately. Sort of as a way to get back to the basics. Back to the human connection. Working together toward a common goal.
It’s encouraging to see so many people give so much to such a cause as this park, even in the midst of a recession. This generosity, this sense of community, is now more important than ever. I hope this playground and park will benefit the community by/for which it was built, and perhaps serve as a way to grow our sense of community in the days ahead.
Definition: Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to post updates (called Tweets) as often as they want (and limited to 140 characters). When you follow other people on Twitter, you see their tweets. When they follow you, they see your tweets.
According to the Twitter website, ‘Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?’
Relatively new to the ‘twittersphere’, my first reaction to this question ( just as the video ‘Trouble with Twitters’ comically conveys) was a simple answer: ‘Does anyone care?’…
Social media campaigns should have a start and finish. BUT campaigns are only a piece of the social media marketing puzzle.
For several months, I’ve had an issue with people using the term “campaign” when talking about social media marketing. This bothers me because, overall, social media marketing needs to be looked at as ongoing process/strategy and it should not be thought of with a beginning and an end.
Last week, Tracey, Kyle and I attended a presentation by social media strategist Jason Baer.
His talk was lively, entertaining, to the point and right on – breaking down 7 ways to use social media:…Read more »
Have you seen it? Youtube has opened up a fun little feature to its members. It’s called Annotations.
Remember watching VH1 back around 1996-2000 when they had ‘Pop-up’ video? It was the biggest thing going for a little while. Basically, VH1 would take music videos from all genres and play them with fun little pop-up cartoon bubbles that showed funny little comments like trivia, wardrobe style comments (or lack thereof), and mocking the plot of the video. It was always very entertaining, sort of like a music video ‘roast’.
In June of 2008, Youtube started playing with the idea of Annotation, based on the same concept as pop-up bubbles except these are INTERACTIVE (if you want). Users who uploaded videos have the ability add pop-up bubbles or invisible ‘hot spots’ to their youtube videos on their youtube channel. Why is this a big deal? It’s INTERACTIVE! Users can create hotlinks from their video to other videos in their archive or elsewhere on Youtube. …Read more »
No. It is not so. *sighs of relief* The advertising world is changing, though – and rightly so.
Advertising is not dead; it just needs to be less of a one-sided conversation and become a more social dialogue with the consumer. (Sorry Kyle, I’ve got to say consumer to go along with her shirt.) As long as there is such a thing as competitive business, advertising and marketing will continue to live, ever flourishing in the perpetual evolutionary dance that is society…or something like that.
And the digital TV conversion saga continues. On Wednesday (Jan. 28), the House defeated the bill to delay the big switch. But the Associated Press states that the “battle over a delay may not be over, with some predicting the House will take up the measure again next week.” If you’re hungry for a complete update on the situation, check out the above referenced article.
(Original Post)
The Big Buzz in the TV world is that, come February 17th, all full-power broadcast stations in the United States are to stop transmitting on analog airwaves and begin broadcasting in digital only.
www.dtv2009.gov
However, Senate voted yesterday, January 26th, to delay the big switch for nearly four months. The new deadline: June 12th.
So why the big delay? The answer, Digital Converter Boxes, or the lack there of. For awhile you couldn’t find them anywhere (not even in a back alley of New York). To multiply the problem, many of the government issued coupons expired while the consumer waited on more converter boxes to arrive. So now the consumers are yet again requesting coupons. Currently there are about 2.5 million Americans waiting on government issued coupons ($40) to offset the cost of converter boxes. The government …Read more »
The term ‘video’ once meant that my techy uncle Bernard was coming with his VHS recorder to ‘document’ my birthday…the world of video has exploded since those early days of watching “America’s Funniest Home Videos” on television, to millions of people uploading their videos to video sharing websites like Youtube.com.
This is where the true beauty of modern technology comes in…people begin talking, sharing what they see with other users and the video spreads…like a virus, hence the term ‘viral marketing’.
*It is far easier to ensure good customer service than to repair the damages of bad service – like trying to repair a broken window. (Photo credit: 
Have you seen it? Youtube has opened up a fun little feature to its members. It’s called Annotations.
The term ‘video’ once meant that my techy uncle Bernard was coming with his VHS recorder to ‘document’ my birthday…the world of video has exploded since those early days of watching “America’s Funniest Home Videos” on television, to millions of people uploading their videos to 
