Secret Ingredients

August 28, 2012

As much as I want to talk about the fundraiser to help build the Nikola Telsa Museum there are bigger topics at work here.

We live in a fast paced world.  There are atrocities that surround us.  And success remains (seemingly) out of reach.

Today I’m going to ask you to do a hard thing.  I’m going to ask you to believe in your own success.  Today I’m going to ask you to live like you’re already successful.  These are the first steps in innovation.  If you own a small business, are an entrepreneur or are looking for ways to improve your work you must use innovation.  You must find success in the thing you seek.

Continue reading “Secret Ingredients”

E-Commerce Friday

August 17, 2012

Do you comparison shop?  What about with your data?

This morning I was wrapping up one project to move on to the next and came across an article on cross-channel web retail analytics.  Do you know what this means?  I thought I did.  Let’s both take another look.

A few years ago, cross-channel analytics referred to the aggregated analysis of data pulled from all of your marketing programs.  Now that web marketing has matured, we’re really just looking at the analysis of data from your web based marketing programs.

Continue reading “E-Commerce Friday”

Tips for a small business.

August 10, 2012

We’re a small business.  Most of our clients are small businesses.  If you’re reading this, you probably own a small business.  What is unique to the last four years is the rise of entrepreneurism, small businesses, and web applications.  The last one sound like a wild card?  Think again.

With millions of free web applications, cloud technologies, and easy to use website platforms becoming a small businesses owner is less mysterious now than it has been in the last 25 years.  Is this because of a failing economy or thriving technology?  Who knows, but the one benefits the other.  That’s just one piece of the small business pie.

Before we break for the weekend, we wanted to offer some tips, questions and ideas for the small business owner.

Continue reading “Tips for a small business.”

Effective-ly Email-ed

August 9, 2012

Here’s the short list of tricks to effective emails.  They take time to write, are personal, engaging and effective.  These are the emails you want to send, because the emails that will be opened.  Otherwise you’re voice may wind us as spam.  On y va!

1.  Send an email to yourself.  Now check your inbox.  Who is your email from?  Is it your name? The name of your business?  Is it blank?  The number one reason people don’t open their email is an unrecognizable (or unwanted) sender.  Make sure your name is there and your readers know who you are.

Continue reading “Effective-ly Email-ed”

How Proctor’s Mom-Love Can Help Your Business

August 2, 2012

Oh Proctor and Gamble, how you love to tug on the heartstrings of Americans. You protect our personal hygiene, clean our houses and wash our clothes. You even support the Olympics- and moms. I’ve seen your YouTube channel; I’ve watched your videos.

It’s true, Proctor and Gamble created a campaign that combines the Olympics and Moms. Unless you add puppies into that mix, I’m not sure what could possibly be more touching. Americans love the Olympics, we get choked up during the opening ceremonies, fly our flags a little higher and remember our nationalism. Marketers at Proctor know this and have taken advantage by thanking moms for their Olympian children’s successes.

Does that not warm your heart?

Anyway, the brand posted tons of interviews of moms explaining what it’s like to raise an Olympian onto their YouTube channel as a major part of their campaign. They also posted a few ad-like features with little kids doing “adult” things like shaving and taking part in extreme Olympic sports while their mom’s stand by in support. For the time being, Proctor is practically bleeding the Olympics with its unique video content and social integration.

Proctor and Gamble is constantly thanking moms for things. When the Olympics rolled around, I imagine strategists sat down in a boardroom and thought “how can we connect the Olympics to our brand?” This was the result.

Marketing a business is hard for exactly this reason. Not only do you need to think about yourself, you should also be aware of your surroundings. Take notice of the news and ask, “how can we inject ourselves into this?” It doesn’t have to be as big as the Olympics, but maybe something is happening locally that seems like a match. Take a step back from your brand and devote yourself to something outside of your business. Take a sponsorship to the next level and create unique content surrounding it. In doing this, you may gain a whole new set of eyes.

Here’s some more of Proctor’s work for the Olympics:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NScs_qX2Okk&feature=player_embedded#!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK6Gy9vQkMU&feature=player_embedded