June 2012
1 post
4 tags
What the hell is a Bacon Specialist? Twitter is...
Do you ever take time to look through your Twitter followers? I do from time to time and love to see the spammers following me. Besides the lame Twitter handles (e.g. Yang43276), the descriptions are always a dead give away. Example:
Extreme social media scholar. Bacon specialist. Travel practitioner. Subtly charming beer guru.
This is another favorite:
Food fanatic. Friendly analyst....
May 2012
2 posts
3 tags
What does it take to fail?
To be honest, I’m not built to fail.
I don’t like it.
I don’t like how I feel when I walk away from something without accomplishing my objective.
I recently failed.
I tried to do something that I thought I could do. I knew it would be hard, but it proved to be much harder than I thought.
I watched while my colleagues succeeded.
I literally was sick to my stomach. I...
3 tags
Good customer service comes from the process not...
I’m baffled by companies that don’t understand that it’s the process and not the end result that leaves either a good or bad impression with a customer.
I’ll use Delta Airlines as an example. I have a friend, we’ll call him John, that is a Diamond Medallion member of Delta’s loyalty program. Diamond is the very top rank within the Medallion program. In fact,...
March 2012
2 posts
4 Must have traits of effective leaders →
In one of his must read books, author and researcher Jim Collins was determined to find the key factors that made companies transition fromGood to Great. At the onset of the research, Jim refused to believe that leadership played a role in becoming great.
After months of research and analysis, Collins’ team called him into a room, locked hands and confronted him. The research team found that...
February 2012
10 posts
5 tags
Marketing Math: Moving the demand curve
If you are like me, then you have to justify what you do from time to time. Management falls into the trap of seeing marketing and branding as just an outflow of money rather than an investment resulting in increased profitability.
With a bit of math, bear with me, we can show just what marketing is achieving (there’s a plain English version at the end).
Equation for a Demand Curve
This...
6 tags
Brand Disintermediation: How they are stealing... →
In economic terms, disintermediation means to cut the middleman out. For example, consumers buying stocks directly through E-trade or Scottrade is a disintermediation of stock brokers. As a result, the intermediary loses business.
I’m going to extend/tweak the scope of disintermediation to cover branding.
Brand disintermediation is the art of cutting your brand out of the middle even...
6 tags
How a child views big brand logos →
Graphic Designer Adam Ladd recorded his five-year old daughter looking at various national brands’ logos. I’m surprised by how well branded some companies are, even with young children. Though, Ladd’s daughter may just be reflecting his buying habits.
It’s easy when creating a logo to get lost in making something creative and memorable, but for art’s sake. A good...
“Let’s call The Google and tell them we are sorry we bought those links.”
– (via clientsfromhell)
6 tags
Learn how to get published from author and success...
After having read a lot of blogs and news online, I find myself skimming simply because most writers sound the same or are saying the same thing that everyone else is saying.
Jeff is an exception. I find myself reading each word because his perspective and voice are unique in a sea of ubiquity (check his street cred and interview at ThinkTraffic.net).
Not only is he engaging, but he gives a...
P&G To Lay Off 1,600 After Discovering It's Free... →
Apparently, traditional media just costs too much.
Facebook: Here Are the 35 Things That Could Kill... →
Here’s one of the more painful parts of taking a company public: You have to make an honest assessment, in front of the whole world, of all the things that could kill your business. Facebook is no exception. In its SEC filing, as required by law, the company outlined a whopping 35 “risk facto…
January 2012
9 posts
Realize that sacrificing is often choosing a... →
One of the greatest challenges that we face as adults, and especially as parents, is learning to sacrifice our wants and desires for the sake of our family. I believe that the very act of having a child is one of the most selfless things that anyone can do.
4 tags
Download Tweetdeck 0.38.2 (the way Tweetdeck... →
If you are like me, then you downloaded and installed the new Tweetdeck after Twitter took over. If you are also like me, then you have found that you hate it. For some reason, Twitter felt the need to take a great product and trash it.
And now that you’ve upgraded, you can’t go back. But have no fear, I have the install file for you. Download Tweetdeck 0.38.2. If for some reason you...
Culture Eats Strategy For Lunch →
An awesome read on why company culture matters and some building blocks for creating a culture of innovation and passion.
Praise others, a social media marketing best... →
I read a lot about social media best practices.
A lot. Probably more than I should.
One of the key messages is that you should be self-effacing or humble. Spend time promoting others just because they are worth the praise and not because you expect anything in return.
Getting into a good MBA program takes at least 4... →
“Be sure to put every letter of the alphabet in the URL. I want my site to come...”
– (via clientsfromhell)
clientsfromhell:
I asked a client to send me either a PDF or a picture of her website idea. She sent me a PDF, containing a picture of another PDF.
November 2011
8 posts
Graduate from college debt free, I did and so can... →
My wife and I were fortunate to graduate with four year degrees without a penny in debt. Since I firmly believe that you can also graduate debt free, I want to share some suggestions based on what…
Old Spice dropped the ball with “Danger Zone” ads →
Dear Retailers: I want Thanksgiving back! →
This is me saying, “I want Thanksgiving back!” Do not open your doors before 5AM on Friday. Do not steal the attention from things that actually matter.
Dear Retailers: I want Thanksgiving back!…
Brand Early, Not Often →
Fill social media profiles with content before... →
Spend $300 on a Christmas tree and its trimmings?... →
Typically, I write about how to save money or avoid the temptation to indulge. I, at times, have chastened friends for their unnecessary expenditures. Today, I want to express quite the opposite.
Spend $300 on a Christmas tree and its trimmings? Hell yeah!
Reaching Social Media Maturity - (by @baekdal) →
“Social maturity is when you as a brand engage the same way with your audience as the audience engages with you. It’s when you start talking about the interest that you share with your followers.”
Self truth (and the best violinist in the world) →
Awesome post about being the best and how it doesn’t mean being the best technically at a skill.
October 2011
6 posts
Brand Association: How Starbucks and Barnes &... →
CASE STUDY: How Cake Hair Salon exceeds customer... →
Is there anyone who doesn’t diversify their... →
I thought I would never have to write another post on diversification. I was horribly wrong. If you still don’t understand why individual stocks are stupid and almost juvenile, then read this.
Is…
...In other words, the equivalent to yelling at...
clientsfromhell:
I need you to make a web ad. The title of this year’s bash is “GET WICKED AT WORK!” (this should be big and bold and really pop) SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29th (please have the date really stand out as well) COSTUME CONTEST! (this should really pop) I also attached logos to go on the ad (please make the logos stand out a bunch) Also, a plus-one is optional (really make this stand out. I...
Why Borders failed, a digital strategy and what it... →
Borders did not create a experience for which consumers were willing to consistently pay a premium and lacked a digital strategy.
How to Drive Tons of Traffic to Your Site from One... →
September 2011
1 post
Twitter Revenue to Hit $400 Million By 2013... →
The success of Twitter’s Promoted Products will propel the company into $400 million in revenue in 2013 compared to $45 million last year, says a new report. Twitter will earn $139.5 million this year, a 210% jump over last year, according to
August 2011
2 posts
5 Ways to use your talents to earn some extra... →
I recently wrote about how to start a home based business. The very first step is to come up with an idea for your business. I want to delve a little more into this phase and give some suggestions.
HOW TO: 6 Steps to starting a home business [Part... →
In the first part of 6 Steps to starting a home business, I wrote about generating ideas, selecting your legal and taxable business structure, and creating a legal, taxable business entity. In this…
June 2011
3 posts
HOW TO: 6 Steps to starting a home business [Part... →
The purpose of this post is to give you a basic overview of how to go about starting a business. I’ve broken the six points into two posts so that I have enough space to do each point justice.
HOW…
Sprint Fail
Me: “Who’s your boss?”
Sprint Guy: (blank stare)
Me: “Who is your boss?”
Sprint Guy: “There is nobody in the store above me.”
Me: “Who do you report to?”
Spring Guy: (blank stare)
Debt free, eh? You should celebrate by borrowing... →
Twitter adds Follow button →
About darn time. I honestly don’t know why it took Twitter this long to release a follow button. I’m amazed at how well Twitter has done despite it’s latency in joining important trends and creating a real revenue model.
May 2011
3 posts
5 Reasons why Dave Ramsey is wrong about MBA... →
Reasons to get an MBA include career change, job requirement, better pay, lower unemployment rate and more sex. Check it out.
5 Reasons why Dave Ramsey is wrong about MBA school is an article from…
Things you can't undo →
Lessons about security and marketing.
April 2011
1 post
Are Social Media IPOs and the American Dollar the... →
Before jumping on the next hot trend stop and ask yourself, “What economic or financial value does this asset create? And will it continue to create that value while I have it or invest in it?”
…
March 2011
3 posts
Have you ever bought the Ziffer-Zoof Seeds that... →
If you have kids and are much of a Dr. Seuss fan, then you’ve probably read Dr. Seuss’s Sleep Book. We were reading it to our two little girls a few nights ago when a part of it caught my attention….
2 tags
List of free or cheap marketing resources for...
- www.themeforest.net for site themes - www.hostmonster.com for hosting - www.godaddy.com for domain registration - www.seomoz.org/tools a wealth of tools to analyze your SEO - www.google.com/analytics goes without saying - www.grader.com for analysis and suggestions for your web properties - adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal for identifying keywords -...