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Podcasting?

05/23/2010 by

Recently, I was lucky enough to be able to speak about my views on “The Value Equation” for businesses in digital marketing. I had never done a podcast before, but found that I really enjoyed being a part of it. In the podcast, on Portage Digital Media, we discussed the changes on Facebook, matching messages to an emotional connection, and the pitfalls of the “freemium” model. Central to the conversation was, “why do people pay me money for what I’m doing”?

I don’t know if this will become a regular thing, but I hope people will check it out because there is some great value interspersed with fun and jokes. David Lingholm and Jeremiah Staes of Portage are some smart guys that get it, when it comes to making money and communicating value properly.

Please check it out and tell us what you think. I truly hope you enjoy. And as always, be brilliant.

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Filed Under: Branding, Customer Relationship Management, Email, Facebook, Hand-Raiser Blog, Integrated Marketing Communications, Small Business, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

In the Beginning…

05/19/2010 by

…marketers were able to control their message in all facets. As a business, you had 100% say over what messages about your brand were being received. Some (many) are still clinging to the idea that they can accomplish resonance via pushing messages out to consumers. Meanwhile, there are others out there that realize this is simply not possible. You can no more push messages and expect that to be a holistic view of what your receivers see, think or feel about your brand, than you can expect the telegraph to come back. Sorry, but the private business sector and general public have discovered the cell phone of marketing.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel though, so don’t despair! There are a multitude of ways to influence brand perception and still be effective at promoting your company. Let’s look at a couple of them. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Branding, Creative, Customer Relationship Management, Email, Hand-Raiser Blog, Integrated Marketing Communications, Small Business, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , ,

Matching Technology to Need

05/06/2010 by

How To Gain Respect with Businesses

Usually I write for businesses and since this is a small business marketing blog that would be appropriate. Today, I want to speak with some of my cohorts in marketing who focus on technology. The social media, web dev, app dev folks of the world apparently need to be reminded that they are often ahead of the rest of society in technology acceptance.

Think of technology as hip-hop and businesses as your parents in the late eighties-early nineties. Remember hearing, “this stuff isn’t music,” and the ever popular, “rap will never last”?  Well, we knew what was up, but Young MC and DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince’s mainstream hits were needed to get the late adopters to finally resign in acceptance. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Branding, Business Growth, Hand-Raiser Blog, Integrated Marketing Communications, Small Business, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Measuring Cost Per Lead

04/27/2010 by

The Case for Inbound Marketing

Convention tells us that trade shows, cold calling and direct mail will elicit results. Truth is, they do and have for quite a while.  The problem is we rarely measure the cost per lead and conversion of those activities. There are no financial or accounting tricks to doing so, but the regular blocking and tackling fundamentals sometimes fall through (as one of my former coaches used to say). [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Hand-Raiser Blog, Integrated Marketing Communications, Small Business, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , ,

Future so Bright the Midwest Needs Shades

04/19/2010 by

FMW 2010This past weekend saw a conference of epic proportions. Typically I’m underwhelmed by conferences; they promise these mind-blowing, motivation inspiring experiences that rarely metastasize into realization of the guarantee. This was not to be the fate of the Future Midwest Conference (#FMW10 on Twitter), held in Royal Oak, Michigan. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Branding, Business Growth, Hand-Raiser Blog, Integrated Marketing Communications, Links, Market Research, Networking, Small Business, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Win Friends and Influence People – Online

03/20/2010 by

Regardless of the technology that people invent to improve lives, make it easier to communicate & share or simply make a buck, the old tips from Dale Carnegie still ring true. Maybe even more so, now, because we have much more contact with exponentially more people via the social web.  As a business owner and  brand ambassador, this is especially true. How often do you actively implement these strategies? More important, if they were so important to implement with a limited sphere of influence, then why not utilize them in a social media message to gain positive affect for yourself, your brand, and your business?

There were four main points to Carnegie’s book, and they can be used, today, with technology. It may be just the thing you need to encourage dialog and enhance your brand image. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Branding, Customer Relationship Management, Facebook, Hand-Raiser Blog, Integrated Marketing Communications, LinkedIn, Small Business, Social Media, Twitter Tagged With: , , , ,

All I Want for Christmas is to Love LinkedIn

12/30/2009 by

Personal-accountability LinkedIn, I don’t want to be negative, so take the following comments as constructive criticism to bring out the best in you. I believe in you, LinkedIn, and one day I’m sure you’ll show me you believe in yourself too. As the only large social media networking tool specifically built with B2B “linking” in mind, I am often disappointed at the lack of tools and cumbersome operating structure made available by your website.  While LinkedIn improvement wouldn’t be my favorite present of this holiday season, it could be a heck of a stocking stuffer because I want so much for you to realize your potential. Hopefully the following will prompt introspection leading to personal growth.

I will outline three beefs (in the interest of time), I have with LinkedIn, that keep me from sharing my love with the site under, the auspices that it will motivate the site’s developers.

[Read more…]

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Filed Under: Integrated Marketing Communications, LinkedIn, Social Media

Social Media ROI via ReTweets and Forwards

12/30/2009 by

As a marketer, you are constantly challenged with verifying the value of your efforts. Sometimes this is a simple task, by tracking communication directly to purchase behavior. Others, a deeper understanding of the social implications of your efforts must be taken into account to be able to relay the same ROI message.  The latter is often the case with regard to social media forwards and retweets; this also happens to be the subject of my Blog Off II competition posts – socially relevant marketing value from social media and traditional marketing. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Integrated Marketing Communications, Social Media
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