marketing articles

Who are our marketing partners?

2010-03-22T09:51:00.000+02:00

[Via http://letsinthesun.wordpress.com]

How effectice a CRM solution for a startup

2010-03-22T03:53:00.000+02:00

Starting a Small Business has BIG challenges. With so many people starting out as entrepreneurs the number of small businesses has increased drastically over the last decade or so. The personalized service that such small startup companies offer is what endears them to their potential and existing customers. Not everyone prefers to do business with a relatively unknown company, no matter what word of mouth reputation it may have. Many variables can influence their success. One factor crucial to the success of a small business customer relationship management is keeping in touch with your customers and potential customers. In a small business you do not depend on the sales volume as much as you do on repeat business. This means that you need to be constantly on your toes following up with any existing customers. At the same time you cannot ignore a potential lead which may turn into a loyal customer. For a big corporation with tens of people in marketing & sales department this is not a problem. They can assign a number of people to the different tasks involved in CRM. The Disadvantage of being a Small Business, being a small business means that you have limited resource (man power and funds). You may have the same people doubling up as sales and after sales support. So who gets to organize the customer relationship management? Most people are too busy handling the regular day to day crises to pay attention to special CRM needs. It is here that managing the database of your existing customers and potential customers becomes a major contributing factor to the success or failure of your business. To make it easy to handle, a lot of small companies are now going in for web based CRM systems. The ideal solution for a Small Business set up: A web based contact management software allows you and your core business development team to keep track of your existing customers with ease. You can feed in contact information, purchase history, special notes and even add follow up alerts for each individual customer. That way when you need to get in touch with a particular customer you will not be hunting for that small diary in which you made special notes to remember while speaking to this particular client. With a click on a button you can get access to all the information you need. The added advantage: In the given economic situation where we are experiencing a global growth decline the customer truly is king and needs to be pampered. CRM systems give small businesses many strategic advantages such as the ability to personalize relationships with customers regardless of which employee is service them. So Customer Relationship Management assumes a great deal of importance. If you can keep your present customer base happy, they will stay loyal. With a central CRM data management system you are giving your sales team the added advantage of knowing just how to handle each individual. If the customer is an old lady who lives with a cat and when you call up you ask after her cat by name, believe me you are going to close a sale that day. Using CRM data, marketing campaigns can be co-ordinated more effectively by ensuring that promotions do not target customers who have already purchased that particular products. It also ensures higher customer retention by introducing loyalty programs. A business would never like to see a product to a customer who has just bought it recently. In a short over view using CRM, a small business can:

1) Provide Better Customer Service

2) Increase Customer Revenues

3) Discover New Customers

4) “Cross Sell” and “Up Sell” Products More Effectively

5) Help Sales Staff Close Deals Faster

6) Simplify Marketing and Sales Processes

In a one line definition about the CRM, it allows the business to give its customers the option of choosing how they want to communication with the business.

[Via http://soumenchakraborty.wordpress.com]

Senator asks drugmakers to explain prices

2010-03-19T09:58:00.000+02:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Senate Democrat asked top drugmakers on Wednesday to explain why Americans pay higher prices for prescription drugs than patients do in other developed nations.

Senator Herb Kohl, who chairs the Special Committee on Aging, sent letters to AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly, Novartis, Pfizer, and Sanofi-Aventis .

Kohl said Americans on average pay twice as much as people in other industrialized countries.

"While I firmly believe that drug quality should not be sacrificed for cost, the large discrepancies in the cost of identical drugs cannot be explained by differences in production or manufacturing," Kohl wrote to the companies.

Some Democrats have attacked drugmakers as the U.S. Congress works on an overhaul of U.S. healthcare system.

The pharmaceutical industry has pledged to pay $80 billion over 10 years in price cuts and other concessions to help fund wider insurance coverage as part of a healthcare overhaul under consideration in Congress.

Some lawmakers have criticized that amount as a small price to pay for a $315 billion-a-year industry that stands to gain tens of millions of new customers if insurance coverage expands. Democrats are trying to pass a final bill for President Barack Obama to sign into law in the coming weeks.

Eli Lilly, responding to Kohl's letter, said drug prices were lower in other countries for various reasons including currency value, market dynamics or government price controls.

The United States "relies on competition rather than government-imposed price controls that contain costs" and U.S. patients "have the greatest access to the newest medicines," Lilly spokesman Ed Sagebiel said.

Pfizer spokeswoman Kristen Neese said the company "stands behind the value our innovative medicines bring to patients." The company provides free or discounted medicines to uninsured other needy patients, she said.

Novartis is reviewing the senator's request and will respond to the committee, a company spoke Hot News: Solved Biology CBSE XII Board Paper 2010 absolutely FREE on meritnation.com!

[Via http://dorrato.wordpress.com]

The Purpose Driven Corporation - How Charities Can Make a Profit and an Impact

2010-03-19T03:51:00.000+02:00

Chris Ryan proposes an interest tact in addressing the ongoing funding pressures inherent in non-profit organizations. At the heart of what’s being proposed is the historical dependancy of non-profit groups on commercial enterprises. With increased pressure to shore up expenses on both sides of the relationship, one solution is providing non-profits the tools and legislation to create and employ for profit entities that in turn support the non-profit mandate.

Simply, we couldn’t agree more. Charities impact every facet of our lives and the current state of affairs dictates that business is unable to sustain itself and the levels of charitble contribution we’ve seen in the past. For the non-profit to survive…the solution can be quite simple. That said, “simple” rarely means “easy”.

The following is an article written by Chris Ryan Senior Editor for Newswire.net on March 18, 2010. The article can be seen HERE.

The single most pressing problem facing every charitable enterprise in the United States is one that is inherently tied to the fundamental nature of non-profits: funding. Regardless of whether the enterprise is a non-religious charity or a church-sponsored structure, the difficulty remains the same. Funding levels are inevitably dependent upon the goodwill and graciousness of sponsors and other donors who underwrite the enterprise’s activities.

Of course, few people would claim that there is a crisis in charitable giving in the United States. After all, though total charitable giving in 2008 and 2009 saw a real decrease in inflation-adjusted dollars, the total amount of money given was still in excess of $300 billion in each year – hardly a number about which to complain. Still, with Federal and State budgets across the nation stretched thin through a combination of overspending and shortfalls in revenue – and with the nation’s economic condition balancing the tightrope between fragile recovery and double-dip recession, many non-profits are bracing themselves for even larger revenue shortfalls in the years ahead.

Unfortunately, any reduction in the revenues received by charities and churches will have an ever-increasing impact on the most vulnerable of society. As government budgets face burgeoning deficits and the very real threat of across-the board freezes or outright cuts in programs that serve the poor and disadvantaged, charities and churches will be needed more than ever to help meet these societal needs. The problem is that demand for these services is peaking at precisely the moment that the financial resources of most charitable enterprises are at their weakest point in decades.

The question that needs to be asked is a simple one:

Given that the demand for charitable services is most keenly felt during times of strong economic distress – such as the current recession, and that it is during such times of distress that these charitable entities often have the fewest resources with which to meet demand, should we not work to find a better way to provide funding to charities and churches to ensure that they have the opportunity to meet the needs of the people they service? In other words, should we not strive to find a means by which charities and churches are allowed to be self-empowering entities?

An Historic Problem

The principle difficulty in empowering charities is primarily derived from the history of such entities within the United States. In fact, the very term “non-profit” is perhaps illustrative of the underlying reason why so many charitable enterprises struggle so mightily to achieve their goals. Derived from the Latin word “profectus”, the word profit literally means “to progress”. In like manner, the word “non-profit” means the opposite –not to progress. Indeed, the history of American charities makes clear that these entities were expected to do precisely that.

The earliest history of organized charitable activity in what would later become the United States occurred with the Puritans who settled in the Northeast. Though devoted to a strong work ethic derived from Biblical directives regarding man’s duty to work diligently, the Puritans nevertheless retained the Calvinist need to compartmentalize profit and charity. Keenly aware of the Bible’s warnings regarding the difficulty rich men would have in obtaining salvation, The Calvinist Puritans quickly developed an answer in the form of Puritan charity as a means to assuage capitalist guilt. This view of charity differed little from the Catholic sentiment that penance for sins should commonly take the form of charitable activity to help the less fortunate, save that the Catholic penance was a ritualized removal of guilt for sin, while charity in early America allowed those early businesspeople to compartmentalize any guilt they felt for gaining riches while those around them suffered from want.

Unfortunately, that distinct separation between the way the Puritans conducted their business and the way they conducted their charities remains with us to this day. Businesses were expected to accomplish their goals through savvy market decisions, an expansive mentality, and keen investment strategies. Charities were expected to accomplish their goals through what was, in essence, organized begging. Four hundred years later, little has changed.

Today’s Charities

The history of charitable entities in the United States has not served to impede the growth of such entities. In fact, there are currently more than 1.4 million recognized charitable enterprises in the country – or more than one charity for every three hundred people. Though some might find that number excessive, the truth is that the scope and reach of most of these enterprises is far more limited than the average citizen might think. Hamstrung by archaic rules that prevent the recruitment of top talent, adequate long-term investment strategies, and direct investment in for-profit enterprises, most non-profit companies are left scrambling for scarce resources to accomplish their mission, while simultaneously scrambling to retain their most talented employees.

The religiously-inspired differences in the way for-profit and non-profit enterprises conduct their affairs would, on the surface, seem to have little validity in today’s marketplace. Where Christian society once recognized a divine command to set aside 10% of all earnings in the form of a tithe that was designed to aid churches in their mission to care for the poor and infirm, recent trends demonstrate that actual charitable giving falls far short of that mark. It is obvious that a ten trillion dollar economy should see charitable giving of at least one trillion dollars each year – a number more than three times the actual amount of U.S. annual charitable giving.

Given the disconnect between the religious underpinnings of charitable contributions and the modern practice of giving, non-profit enterprises have become more reliant than ever upon government grants, corporate endowments, and hastily-constructed fundraising efforts. The law’s prohibitions against profits have caused most non-profit entities to look no further than the next quarter in their financial planning. Indeed, most are called to task every twelve months to account for how the previous year’s monetary capacity has been managed.

How much more successful could these organizations be if they were allowed to take a more long-range view toward the capitalization of their mission? How many more people in need could they reach if they were given the freedom to take greater risks and reap greater rewards in their efforts to build capacity? In other words, are there not ways in which society at large would benefit from non-profits being allowed to pursue capital expansion through many of the same means which for-profit enterprises use to increase their profitability?

A Change In Direction

Any solution to non-profit capacity building will not flow from policy makers in Washington D.C., nor is it likely that the individual States will take up the cause any time soon. What is needed is a fundamental shift in the paradigm that there must always be an inseparable wall between business and charity. Though that wall once served a religious compartmentalization purpose four centuries ago – business is what you do to make money, while charity is what you give as penance for making money – the need for it no longer exists. Unfortunately, the illusion that non-profit poverty somehow equates to purity and greater ethics still persists in our culture, and more importantly, in our law.

One of the most obvious solutions would be to permit non-profits to more directly invest in the profitability of for-profit ventures. The limitations with respect to non-profit investment in capital ventures are at present so restrictive as to almost preclude this possibility. Yet it remains one of the most viable means by which non-profits could make sound investments in the marketplace, thereby building greater capacity to accomplish their mission and serve their constituents.

One obstruction to such investment can be found in the aversion to risk that many non-profits share. With limited funding – and outside skeptics who oppose any use of charitable funds for investment purposes – most charitable boards are understandably reluctant to take even the mildest of risks in the pursuit of capacity. Because non-profits have to acknowledge donor concerns about how money is allocated, the majority of charities suffer from chronic shortages of funding.

To change the status quo and enable non-profits to seek greater capacity through sound investments, one solution involves finding a way for these charitable institutions to bypass the concerns of their donors, and directly invest in the future profitability of various for-profit enterprises – unencumbered by the need to immediately spend every donor dollar they receive to avoid any appearance of impropriety. Of course, the question immediately arises: is such a strategy even possible?

Fortunately, it is. As restrictive as the laws are with respect to how non-profits may and may not invest in other firms, those restrictions provide opportunities as well. In fact, they provide the very means by which non-profits can directly benefit from the profitability of private companies undergoing public offerings – with relatively small risk to the charity or its donors.

The Solution

The accomplishment of these goals involves a straightforward strategy of allowing a non profit the ability of incubating a for profit enterprise. In return the for profit entity alligns itself with a charity (purpose drive corporation) by donating stock to the non profit which in turn utilizes its stakeholders base and tax bracket as an underwiritn vehicle for the corporation at hand.

The tas deduction of the non profit status acts as a mitigation tool of risk of the stakeholders whle the charity becomes the ultimate beneficiary of gain and groowht of the enterprize it incubates.

This solution takes advantage of an alignment of interests from the various parties involved. For the corporation itself, the process enables the raising of capital necessary to take the company public; for the non-profit, it provides a means for investment that does not involve funds that are otherwise needed for the missions operations of the charity; for the donors and investors involved, it allows them to promote and support their chosen charitable endeavor while retaining the opportunity to profit from their investment.

Today we need more than ever the allignment of our greatest financial minds in creating the next generation of financail instruments. Not for the purpose of using computer programs to arbitraige profit potential, but rather to create the new instruments which will once again create value for our country.

[Via http://3winsconsulting.com]

B2B Marketing Principles 8: Slow uptake of digital marketing techniques

2010-03-17T09:40:00.000+02:00

The debate has raged in the business press about the merits of digital marketing techniques in B2B.

B2B companies predominantly sell product and operating a sales driven approach, so it is not a surprise that some if not most continue to use unsophisticated marketing methods to drive interest, stimulate enquiry, convert, and remain in long term dialogue with their customers.

Sales teams want material that supports their presentation of the business, positions the product, helps handle objections, compares with competitor products and closes the sale. This in itself gives some context for why communication problems are created when companies try and introduce a marketing led approach to a sales focused business. Marketing techniques, including digital, are aimed to drive enquiry, work 24-7 and when done well keep your sales teams busy.

Companies in B2B can be slow to adapt digital marketing techniques for several reasons.

1/ Information skills gaps mean there isn’t always someone who sufficiently understands the technology or is able to argue the case for its use at a senior level, contributing to a general reluctance within the business to embrace it.

2/ The fear and cost of change (including the cost of hardware, software, training, resource and maintenance and upgrades) puts some companies off.

3/ The challenge of converting from legacy paper based systems to digital can be process obstacle to overcome.

4/ The bewildering selection of database, CRM, eCRM, types and styles of website can put off important decisions.

5/ The emergence of social media and with it an era of direct communication and engagement frankly scares many companies. They have also spent years building lucrative distribution relationships to secure market penetration and don’t want to risk upsetting business partners by entering into it.

So where does this leave us? Most B2B companies operate limited database and communications systems, do not maximise customer relationships, do not leverage prospects, have underperforming websites and limited awareness online.

But the benefits of embracing digital marketing techniques are vast (and will be covered in an entire series on digital marketing in April 2010). Every click, enquiry, visit, recommendation, connection, friend, fan, follow, email, advertisement can be tracked, measured and evaluated in ways offline marketing techniques can only dream of.

As a minimum, consider putting in place the following:

- A hosted database/eCRM package – like Project Sales Achiever.

- A website with a contact form, news and email opt in subscription and RSS feed.

- Encourage (and incentivise) 1-2 passionate employees to start blogs about what you do.

- Register an email address with Google and set up the following

- Google Reader – to keep on top of industry news without increasing the amount of email you receive

- Google Analytics – to monitor traffic to each and every page of your website

- Google Adwords – even if only £5 a month, create a presence in customer searches

- Have an expert assess the SEO functionality of your site, these guys are my pick www.latitudegroup.com

- Create a Linkedin profile for yourself, join relevant groups and create a company profile and encourage your staff to join it

These are small steps but they will give you additional exposure on the web, raise your profile and give your credibility a shot in the arm.

[Via http://marketingassassin.wordpress.com]

Social Media Meltdown

2010-03-17T03:54:00.000+02:00

If it hasn’t happened to you yet, you will inevitably hear the words “We need to be on Facebook and Twitter.” Now mind you this isn’t coming from some profound strategy or remarkable use for the technology — but simply because that is what all the lemmings are doing. You”ll find these words freshly dripping from the mouth of many senior and mid-level leadership returning from business conference who ironically have:

a) never been on Facebook.

b) if they have, still don’t have a profile picture.

or my personal favorite

c) sign their name/initials to all of their posts.

As much as I enjoy social media and the many humorous laughs it affords, I don’t think marketer’s (and especially trade journals that cater to marketers) really understand that Social Media has its limits. From reading Ad Age you would think that the Apocalypse will now happen in 140 characters or less.

Many marketers suffer from the delusion that customer’s want to have a personal connection or relationship with a brand. I hate to burst your bubble, but they actually just really like your product. Don’t get me wrong, but as much as I like Coca-Cola, I could care less if they are trying to get their 2 millioneth fan on Facebook . . . I just want a refreshing drink when I’m thirsty. Of particular interest to me are the businesses like steel manufacturers getting fan pages. Really?

I certainly hope every business joins Facebook soon so that I can become a fan . . . because afterall, fans = sales, right? Well . . . not necessarily . . . someone put it like this: If a restaurant has 1,000 people sitting in its establishment because they like it, but no one buys a meals . . . you aren’t going to make any money – shocking, I know.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate social media at all. It’s a tool . . . but just that a tool. If you are going to use Social Media have a plan, stick to your plan but don’t make it your business plan.

Rememeber, that your business made money long before facebook and it will continue to make money long after facebook. I hope that businesses will realize the folly of hiring twitter experts or facebook gurus with proven experience in social media (how does one even define proven experience . . . ?) If you’ve hired one of these so-called experts, I hope you see a return on your investment, a real one – not simply 20 comments in response to your post of “Will the groundhog see his shadow?”

Just as we learned the hard way in the late 1990’s with the dot-com burst. I won’t be a bit surprised to hear of the Social Media Meltdown of 2011. You’ve heard it from me, consider yourself warned . . . the writing is on the wall – literally?

[Via http://cornercubicle.wordpress.com]

Marketing for the storm recession

2010-03-15T09:49:00.000+02:00

Image : http://www.flickr.com

Once an afterthought for many companies to market quickly becomes important as the oil revenues dry up, the phones have not played, word of mouth recommendations are not more common, and the unemployment rate begins to rise. How does the average small business will continue to work to build a business professional, keep your head above water and the storm that will take place this recession, with a tsunami earthquake weather?

Just like a beer hurricane in the Atlanticthe world has been a huge amount of warning that this day was coming, and we had a great idea where it came down to earth. When the storm at sea in force, the time when many small businesses need to start was down their marketing efforts, many do not know, and who will be asked to remote desert island, business, what had happened.

However, you can correct the course, if you now take immediate action. It does not take aa lot of money to make the impact in your community, but it is an investment in time to benefit. First, everything starts with a plan, and many small businesses see marketing as something you stumble upon. We were all there, on the phone from the phone manufacturer or seller of this ring, visited with some glossy magazine ads. We all advertising like this from time to time. Now is the time to stop this behavior.

Marketing your businesscan be effective as a military operation was thinking, it must be deliberate, planned and executed and measured. Shooting from the hip in today's economy is no longer, as can be if the economy was strong work. Now is the time for effective marketing, is the evidence, it is time to be creative and some of the things that your competitors are there or not realized they can do. Also, some continue to sleep their way out.

They arewin if you act and do something now. Here are five areas that you can be on the bench, without breaking.

Press release – Journalists are always hungry for great stories, giving them a competitive advantage in newspapers, magazines sell subscriptions to more people can tune into their news program, and so forth. There was once a time when the only people who read the press release was average, but those days are long gone with the Internet. All future of yourCustomers have access to your messages. You need a machine to make headlines. Announce new partnerships, improving service, key staff changes and so on.

Internet – Your company uses the Internet as a tool for your business? With Web 2.0 and now Web 3.0 Strategies are now in full bloom, you use the power of social networks? How about creating a podcast for your community? Your company has a blog? His web page a poster orPresentation of your skills and results? The Internet is not everywhere, combined with more and more companies are using applications in the cloud and services on the Internet, because it is not on the Web, as well?

Search Engine Optimization – When you have a large Web presence have established, are in the situation? Many companies have a website and many blogs out there hiding. The trick to using the Internet as a marketing resource that in fact the peopleYou can find and learn the broader your line up card. What makes you different? What products and services for sale or service? How people find you? Use the Internet and copy writing that people find you are able to be very important. Now more than ever, optimization of search engines is a key factor in the marketing plan.

Networking – The area is perhaps one of the most important priorities that we have to get out of your office andfind out where the target audience. Where to take your customers and ideals for which she flirts with. The success of small businesses are marketing machines that know they are always on the road, meet people and particularly to ensure that people know. Owners of small companies have down in the ditch, that's where the battles won, from hand to hand combat business occurs in the trenches. Take advantage of your Chamber of Commerce, the organizations are networked, just start yourBusiness Club The key is to learn and people.

Be unique – Crack the shell to try something new, different things and see how it works for your business. Do not make the same old thing and expect different results. Brainstorm with a professional, seek the advice of colleagues, or remove something that day at operations of days. There are many ideas in other fields who work for you. We must be clear and search marketing or sales tactics.They use the Internet to push you and share your network with those around you.

More than ever, especially in economic conditions of today's society that meets the best markets, the right people, create the right strategic alliances, has very strong relationships, partner with winners and use the tools that are potential customers to products and services may be able to make these economic storms, now flows into the sea with a storm surge climate, thedrown many of those who are not ready.

Can you survive?

[Via http://marketleaning.wordpress.com]

Marketing Director (Texas)

2010-03-15T03:41:00.000+02:00

Marketing Director – Technology Companies

POSTED: Feb 18

Salary: Open Location: Texas

Employer: Spiceworks Type: Full Time – Experienced

Category: Marketing: Communications Required Education: 4 Year Degree

Employer Information

About Spiceworks

Founded in 2006, Spiceworks™ develops the first free social business application that combines systems and network management software with an online community of IT professionals to help over 850,000 IT pros and 80,000 managed service providers (MSPs) simplify everything IT. Spiceworks makes it easy for businesses to manage their networks, collaborate to solve technology problems, and find the best practices, products and services they need day-to-day. Through its Voice of IT™ market research p….more info

Job Description

Summary: What’s this job about?

Simply put, you need to position Spiceworks as the #1 brand for IT marketing in the minds of approximately 100,000 technology marketers in the world. While you are doing that you’ll work closely with the Spiceworks sales team helping them more than double sales this year. You’ll also be the key leader in telling our development team the features to add to our offering as we build out the Spiceworks Marketing Platform.

Spiceworks has the unique opportunity to transform how technology products (hardware, software, and IT services) are marketed and sold to the world’s five million IT professionals in small- and medium-businesses (SMBs) with fewer than 1,000 employees. This is a $750 billion market per year. Marketing to this highly fragmented industry has been highly inefficient and ineffective. As Spiceworks has now aggregated over 20% of these IT pros we have a unique opportunity to develop a much more efficient and effective way to market and sell to them.

We need a leader. We need someone who has industry presence and connections. We need someone who has a creative mind coupled with an off-the-charts execution gene. We need someone who ‘gets’ we have the potential to create a brand and solution that is as powerful to technology marketers as Bloomberg is for the financial industry or as Google is for online marketers.

NOTES: US Residents Only

Requirements

Responsibilities: What will I do?

• Scope and identify Spiceworks’ market size and targets (companies, positions, etc.) • Develop and implement marketing strategies for both long-term brand awareness and near-term sales with marketers in technology companies and their advertising agencies • Identify relevant events, submit proposals and present • Maintain a steady stream of communications and conversations via blog, Twitter and email with industry thought leaders • Document advertiser and marketer case studies • Identify and cross-pollinate sales team best practices • Influence product direction for the Spiceworks Marketing Platform • Name products and offerings in our Spiceworks Marketing Platform and Spiceworks Voice of IT Market Research Program portfolio • Direct agenda for the Voice of IT research series • Update pricing for existing products based on competitive positioning; effectively price new producs • Create and update sales presentations and marketing materials

The Marketing Director will report to the VP Marketing, Jay Hallberg, a Spiceworks co-founder. The position initially has no direct reports but will work closely with the marketing, sales and development teams.

Qualifications: What does it take to do this job?

• A passion for the IT industry and knowledge of IT products • An even deeper passion for B2B marketing and knowledge of the marketing, ad agency, media buyer, and market research roles • Experience in scaling revenues 2-4x per year • Successful product launches from idea to first sales including contract execution • Demonstrable experience in provisioning a global sales force • Experience in positioning and growing that brand • Track record in successful presentations to both clients and at industry events. • Presence in and mastery of social media • Ability to get extraordinary amounts of work done without direct reports • Connections in the marketing, agency and analyst/blogger communities • Ability to build product line business models • Frustration with the status quo – you know there is a better way for B2B marketers to do their job. • Quiet confidence that are you going to change the world (backed up with a record to show you can)! • Experience in technology marketing, advertising and market research. • MBA strongly preferred.

[Via http://marketingjobsdallas.wordpress.com]

GPS Device

2010-03-12T09:43:00.000+02:00

1. The position of the satellites is known by GPS receiver based on the ephemeris (5 orbital elements), parameters that are transmitted by the satellites themselves. The collection of ephemerides of the entire constellation is completed every 12 minutes and stored in the GPS receiver.

2. The GPS works by measuring its distance from the satellites, and uses that data to calculate its position. This distance is measured by calculating the time that signals take to reach the receiver. Known that time and based on the fact that the signal travels at the speed of light (except for some corrections that apply), we can calculate the distance between receiver and satellite.

3. Each satellite indicates that the receiver is at a point on the surface of the sphere centered at the own satellite radio and the total distance to the receiver.

4. Getting information from two satellites shows that the receiver is on the circle that results when the two spheres intersect.

5. If we acquire the same information from a third satellite we note that the new sphere intersects the circumference just above two points. One of them can be discarded because it offers an absurd position. In this way we would have the position in 3-D. However, since the clock incorporating with GPS receivers it is not synchronized with atomic clocks in GPS satellites; the two given points are not precise.

6. Taking information from a fourth satellite, we eliminate the inconvenience of a lack of synchronization between the clocks of the GPS receiver and satellite clocks. And this is when the GPS receiver can determine a precise 3-D position (latitude, longitude and altitude). As they are not synchronized (clocks between the receiver and satellites), the intersection of four spheres centered at these satellites is a small volume rather than a point. The correction is made to adjust the time of the receiver so that this volume becomes a point.

Reliability of received data

Because of the military nature of GPS system, it is also used by the Department of Defense. It is reserved the possibility of including some degree of random error, which could vary from 15 to 100 m. The so-called selective availability (S / A) was eliminated on May 2, 2000. Although it is not currently operated such induced error, the inherent accuracy of GPS depends on the number of visible satellites at the certain time and place.

When a large number of satellites are recruited (there could be seven, eight or nine satellites), and if they have a proper geometry (if they are scattered), all the details can be obtained in less than 2.5 meters in 95% of cases. If you activate the SBS system called DGPS (WAAS, EGNOS, MSAS), the accuracy improvement can be less than one meter in 97% of cases. But, there are some countries that do not use this advanced system. For example, these systems do not apply SBS in South America because this part of the world does not have this type of geostationary satellites. For More Information Please visit. http://www.gps-teknik.se/

[Via http://gpsteknikse.wordpress.com]

“We have the lowest prices on the products you want so you can hear ‘you got the job’ more often.” – Home Depot radio ad.

2010-03-12T03:54:00.000+02:00

That kind of marketing is what you would expect from a company whose whole strategy is the lowest pricing. If you have ever bought and installed anything from a big box store and installed it in your home or on a job then you have probably felt the disappointment of knowing you paid too much for the quality you got. Homeowners will tell you they want the cheapest product with a brand name but is that reality?

Let’s not forget these ten basic principles about homeowners in this industry.

They want to be sold.
They want to believe that what they are buying is special.
They want the highest quality they think they can afford.
They want a good value, not necessarily the cheapest product.
They don’t always go with the lowest bidder despite what Home Depot says.
They want the piece of mind of a great warranty.
They want the project to go smoothly.
They want the products to be low maintenance.
They want to be able to brag about their choice in the end.
THEY WANT YOU TO BE SPECIAL SO THEY FEEL SMART FOR CHOOSING YOU!

Do you think you can give the homeowner all of these things buying products from the big box stores? Do you think Home Depot really cares if you do a good job at those ten things? Do you think when your prospective customer walks in and sees the price of what you are selling them that they think you bring much value to the table?

Selling what is readily available at big box stores shows what kind of contractor you believe that you are. Homeowners actually want you to tell them you are better. They like to believe that there is something special about what they are buying and who they are buying it from. Their perception of how much quality they can afford is one of the easiest things of all to control in your presentation. They too have gone to Home Depot and Menard’s and bought something that met the basic need but ultimately did not satisfy them.

So why when Home Depot sells a version of one of our key products do some dealers think it is the end of the world while still others jump on the bandwagon and buy the materials there? I think it has more to do with us than Home Depot and they know it. That’s why they do it.

It is easier for us to complain about it or give in. It is much harder to take the high road and sell the value of our products but more importantly the value of dealing with you. We have the resources at our disposal to help. If you need help adding value to your presentations we would love to help you with that. If you need more products that can differentiate you and the systems that you sell, lets talk. Do it now before the selling season is in full swing.

[Via http://alsidemilwaukee.wordpress.com]

Speaker And Author Offers A Chance To An Empowered Life

2010-03-10T09:58:00.000+02:00

Robert Newkirk, an author and motivational speaker. With the help of his book, You Diamond life, it will be an easier trip to the actualization of his potential.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Log-PR (Press Release) – March 10, 2010 – Centerville, VA 03/05 – Newkirkknows truck accident lawyers.com is pleased to announce its offer of a better life for all. Motivational speaker and author Robert Newkirk serves as an inspiration for anyone who needs motivation to pursue positive growth. He speaks of various groups that include young audiences, religious organizations and other associations that most of its staff advocacy.Every person comes with a set of potentialities. These are things we must work to make the most of what was originally assigned to him to develop and use.Sometimes a gift inside each of us, and we all use to the maximum level in order to get what we deserve to have. The thought of an individual is strongly influenced by the thoughts of the environment. There is no denying that the negativity so many things happening around us, and it may take us down without us knowing about sometimes.This this is where the power of the mind can be very useful. The information entered into his brain made a great impact on a process of thought and therefore through his actions. Therefore, it is essential that we have power in mind before the body can not pursue the steps necessary to success.At Currently, there are various tools that are created for the purpose of mobilizing the same spirit human. A large selection of pieces of motivation in different formats can be acquired and simply listened. Subconsciously, the brain processes this information and stores it deeply.This is then used for negative vibes when attack.To begin to learn more about this opportunity to strengthen the self in general towards a better life, http://www.newkirkknows.com visit….

Source:

You can bid for this painting here. The starting bid was $49. As I type this, it stands at $172.

I think this is my most successful painting ever.

I hope the bids go high, of course. Babies got to eat. But the important thing is that I completed a very, very good painting, someone will enjoy it for a long time, and I will make money so I can keep doing this.

I could not ask for a better life. Generosity all around. There is nothing better.

[Via http://throughthefears.wordpress.com]

How do you create a list?

2010-03-08T09:50:00.000+02:00

Alice

Start with who you already know. Send out an invitation to all the people you have contact with, but make sure that they are eligible. The prequel to this post reminded you how important it is to understand your customers, so focusing on a relevant audience means you won’t be wasting your efforts.

Other ways of gathering more contacts is through your website and excellent content. The former is to make it easy for visitors to sign up, and the latter is to gain a reputation as a useful source of information. Remember to work on your customers’ problems by providing a relevant and poignant solution.

To encourage signups from your website, the subscription form on the webpage should be a priority for capturing visitors’ contact details. Don’t hide it away under the fold or behind some innocuous link, make it blatantly part of the decision making process each website visitor undergoes when they land on your website, such as: is this website the correct one, and what can I do on it? – eg click on a link to go further into the site or sign up to something like an e-newsletter with its incentive.

Unfortunately an incentive is almost imperative: many people now expect something for nothing, so create a free offer in exchange for their contact details, as well as a regular newsletter. This could be an ebook, special report, teleseminar recording, interview with an expert, sample chapter of your book – as long as this is not expensive for you and provides good value for them. Position a graphic of this incentive next to the sign up form; promote your expertise and provide some relevant and valuable information your customer would certainly appreciate.

Another incentive would be the quality of the information you are providing; not just from your special offer, but also from what they expect to receive for their subscription. If they can view past newsletters or articles you have written, to give them a flavour of your expertise, they would be more likely to respond favourably. You could also encourage a wider audience through a ‘send to a friend’ button or a similar device to make it easier to share your newsletter, and by using RSS your content could be fed to social networking websites to reach a different readership. All this should be accompanied with a strong call to action to stimulate the readers to sign up.

My next post will talk about what you can do with your list once you’ve collected enough contacts, and I welcome all comments and questions you may have.

[Via http://appletreemarketing.wordpress.com]

Facebook As A Branding Strategy

2010-03-08T03:33:00.000+02:00

By Lindsay Dicks

Once you are logged into Facebook, scroll to the bottom of the page and click “Advertising,” and then click “Pages.” There is some great information here about fan pages, so take a moment to read through the information, when you are ready click “Create Page.” As you go through the set-up process, remember that in any branding and marketing it is important to categorize your company in the right area to help people find you. So choose carefully.

One of the great things about Facebook is the ease of set up navigation. From here, setting up a fan page is really about following the prompts. Rather than point out each step, let’s look at the important ones to get your personal branding going.

1) Photo – Before you do anything else, make sure you have the perfect photo for your page. Maybe your logo is the best photo for your page, but maybe not. Think about other branding materials you have, maybe something seasonal. Obviously, you want your fans to see your photo and recognize your brand – that’s the goal. But if you have a creative image that is also recognizable, it might help your fan page attract fans with an element of fun.

2) Write something about your company – See the little box under your picture that says “Write something about your company” this is very important because this is one of the items that is visible on every tab of your fan page. This is your elevator statement in 250 characters or less. Be sure to include a link to your website here, and in order to make your link clickable, don’t forget the http:// before the www. (Note – this statement can be changed at any time, so it is a great place to highlight a promotion or other important happening for your company.)

3) Wall Settings – Another important tool in the set up of your page are the wall settings. You have to decide if you want visitors to be able to post messages for everyone to see or if you only want your own messages shown. Unless you have a super controversial company, I recommend starting with allowing everything. It will help you build your wall faster because people like to post messages. If the posts become out of control or unflattering, you can always delete individual posts or turn off the setting all together later. (You will find “Wall settings” under “Edit page.”)

Once you fill in all of the basic information, you have successfully created a fan page. Don’t forget, it is easy to change if something changes, so don’t sweat it.

Now you are ready to take your page live, it is important for you to let people know about your page. This is where having an already active personal profile comes in handy because if you already have a lot of “friends” who are interested in your company, you can “suggest” your new page to them.

Alright you have a page, you have suggested to all of your friends, now what? Now you start the real work. Marketing and branding takes time and attentiveness. You can’t just set up this page and hope people find you. If there is nothing on your page that interests people, no one will become a fan. Social media is fun – your fan page should be too. Post interesting things about your company, but don’t be afraid to post something fun too. Try posting open-ended questions (to entice responses from your fans) such as “What is your favorite XYZ?” “What do you plan to do for the XYZ holiday?”

Posting links and/or photos are also a great way to get people interested, plus they are more visually appealing so people are more apt to pay attention. Posting links to your website has the added benefit of pushing people to your site to find out more. Try posting on your fan page every time you update your blog – “Check this out” and attach a link to your blog.

Remember, the most important reason you have a Facebook fan page is to use it as a branding strategy to promote your personal brand. So, if your company is very “green” conscious, share tidbits about being green. If your company is all about marketing and branding (like us), you might post pictures of events, links to blog posts and information about the companies you help brand.

Those are the basic features of a Facebook fan page, but once you get going you will realize that there are many more things you can add to your fan page such as customizable apps, connect the page to your Twitter feed, and much more. But you can’t do any of the fancy things until you get started with the basics, so for now create your page and start building your fans. Oh, and don’t forget to include a new link on your website to let people know they can become a fan on Facebook.

And that is how you can use Facebook as a branding strategy for your business.

[Via http://paulhinesmarketingvault.wordpress.com]

The real reason why most do not succeed in Network Marketing

2010-03-05T09:37:00.000+02:00

We have all heard many reasons why the majority of people, about 95%, not with network marketing.

Most call it a lack of prospects, or do not have the time to invest in a home.

Some also blame their company's marketing network for its failure.

Or is it the product itself, that this great collapse was caused, and made a mess of the collector.

Blah, blah, blah ….. This is what I say to all those people. Blah, blah, blah.

Ok, seriously, some of theseIf it can be valid. But more than likely, they are not.

Since 95% of the time, is the reason why people are not in network marketing, so QUIT.

That's it. Yup. He stopped working in order to decide and that is because they have not signed anyone, and she has 3 or 4 months since they started, and then you have this thing really stinks and I do not do it!

You see, if only not to hold off giving up this business and not just at the beginning, feels frustratedis a light to find a hot sun on you to reward your determination.

Yes, determination and motivation. You need these things to be successful in network marketing. If you do not, then get now. You need to motivate themselves.

You can use many different things to get motivated. First, it has done what for your business in the first place? Maybe your boss is a problem? Maybe he hates 9-5 jobs? Maybe you need to spend more timefamily.

Whatever it is, use the unit. You do not have to do myself. You can do for your family. But do not give up. If you do this, then you will surely fail.

Network marketing is like a mirror to his face and looks at you. By setting the square that in your eyes, wondering "what should I look?" "I have one that" takes?

It 'a funny thing, but in general, if you're struggling with something, anything in life if you can keep outthrough this struggle and groped to reach the other side, something magical happened.

They recognize that the fight would never have learned so much. Has never to the point that they moved. And you would never have come this far.

The fact is, network marketing is easy if you follow some simple rules and instructions.

One of these rules is not to give up. You create a goal for yourself and follow through the call of the potential customer, pay-per-LearningClick to learn texts Werbebrief do everything, be the best.

You define your goals and plans to implement. You see the result before you and you feel the opening of the big, fat Commission inspections and jumping up and down! Be happy to have chosen a noble profession of network marketing. All have the ability and all the tools available.

Keep your head, keep your eyes fixed on your goals, and Don "t Give Up. Do not be one of the 95% ending the call, will5%. Can be done.

To your success,

James Hosmer

[Via http://networkcomputer.wordpress.com]

Town renames itself Google in bid fo superfast internet

2010-03-05T03:56:00.000+02:00

The city of Topeka, Kansas, has renamed itself ‘Google’ in an attempt to secure themselves as as a Google test location for superfast internet trials. Google announced that they were planning to launch the experiment at one or more locations across America and encouraged cities to make their interest known to the company.

The trials would provide the town with broadband internet speeds up to 100 times faster than the average American household.

This spiked interest for a number of cities across American including Topeka, Kansas, where Mayor William Bunten announced that his town would be renaming itself Google for the month of March. One of the city’s restaurants, Boss Hawg’s Barbeque has even renamed themselves Boss Hawg’s Google-Q for the duration.

Topeka’s stunt caused the Minnesota port town of Duluth to make a subsequent announcement that they would name every first born boy Google Fiber and every first born girl Googlette Fiber.

But they were just kidding. Duluth released a video via YouTube as a spoof ‘in the spirit of good-natured competition between cities’.

[Via http://verymisscoca.wordpress.com]

Good design sells. Fact.

2010-03-03T09:23:00.000+02:00

Starting out in the big world of running your own business can be scary but also very exciting. We have come across a number of people setting up their business who don’t invest time and effort into their logo, branding and marketing material. This may include business cards, letterheads, leaflets and even their website.

I will call this type of start up “The Hard Work and Cheap Joinery Company” (HWCJC for short). Often, what we hear is: “…Well, I have a mate who can knock me something up in Microsoft Word, using every colour in the rainbow and a font like ‘Comic Sans’” or “my son who’s at school has done it for me”.

This will then be followed by a strict and detailed process as follows:

The logo gets printed onto some card that is just thin enough to go through the printer for the business cards, but will add nice smudge marks to them.
They are cut out by hand with blunt scissors.
The Letterheads, to maintain a corporate identity, are printed onto 80gsm (toilet) paper. But hey, it’s cheap.

Onto the website, which again, is to be handled by a mate who’s good on the PC. First of all, he’s purchased the following domain name:

www. freespacesomewhereinspace.com/my-new-business-setup-by-my-mate. (link does not work just to prove a point)

The site design is then handled by their “web-savvy” mate, who will maintain their corporate style with numerous colours, text saved as images (search engine friendly? No.) and META tags or keywords. The finished article will be placed into Google’s top 1,000,000 results, just below “Betty’s Ironing Service”.

Then they start their business and wonder why they are not winning on quotes…

As a well known advert says “…there has to be a better way”. This is what another person who understands the power of creativity would do. First of all, they would set a budget of let’s say £500 to invest in their branding, letterheads, business cards and website.

Lets call this business “Cool Looking Joinery” (or, CLJ for short). CLJ will first of all meet up will with a creative and professional design company. Between them, they would work out who CLJ’s customers are, what their target audience is, and what image and branding is needed to attract the right customers. After the initial meeting, the designer would come up with some great creative ideas, using the right colours, a quality font, relevant and appealing imagery. These would then be worked up into business cards and letterheads, linked together by a fresh and implemented corporate identity.

CLJ are very happy with the designs and then look at having them printed. The designer recommends printing the business cards on a high quality 400gsm board, in full colour, with the letterheads being produced on a 115gsm white bright paper stock which adds to the look and professional style.

The designer and the chap from CLJ progress onto the website and the options available to best suit their needs. As CLJ are joiners, all they need is to have good web presence as they don’t need to sell direct to their client base. The designer recommends work on a small, 3 page web brochure, to be produced in the same corporate style as the printed material.

They get the right domain name in “www.coollookingjoinery.co.uk” which helps customers find CLJ. Then, the designer creates the site using relevant keywords and tags so that the little spiders from Google can find it in a heartbeat. Betty’s Ironing isn’t even on the same page.

Both CLJ and HWCJC get telephone calls from Mr and Mrs Needakitchen. They both go and have a look at the job, then go away and work out the quote.

Both CLJ and HWCJC are going to use the same kitchen units bought from a well known DIY chain, both will do it in the same time frame and both have the same basic quote price. The quotes arrive in the post. HWCJC’s quote is printed on cheap paper, with a poor logo and a business card that looks like a dog’s eaten it. CLJ’s is printed on quality paper, is well designed and comes with a professional business card with the photographs reminding Mr and Mrs Needakitchen of the high class workmanship that CLJ have done before.

So, let’s say you have the to quotes in front of you. One looks and feels professional, the other looks and feels poor. Which would you take?

We know which one the majority of us would go for.

So lets say for example the kitchen cost £10,000 an investment of say £500 in branding and professional material was an excellent return on investment. The key point that I am making is good design sells and is cost effective, bad design will eventually cost you money in lost sales.

Mike Handley, Graphic Reults

[Via http://startupdonutblog.co.uk]

35 Creative Ad campaigns

2010-03-03T03:43:00.000+02:00

From Design Tutorial 4 U (parent link below as well)

…one of the great sources of design inspiration can be found in the world around us. When you step away from the computer and open a magazine, take a walk or go to the book store you can find great ideas for your next project. The world of print advertising; in magazines, billboards and ambient/alternative ads are a great medium to find just the right idea or finishing touch for your design.

Today, lets take a look at 35 creative and innovative advertising campaigns to help give us some great ideas and inspiration that can provide that idea we were searching for.

HERE is just one sample below. Clever, huh?

[Via http://ideastarter.wordpress.com]

One at a time.

2010-03-01T21:52:00.000+02:00

It is very tempting for marketers to become all sweaty about the prospect of a message going viral, all that free awareness, when in the old days, it would take lots and lots of advertising, costing big dollars.

If only it was that easy, just make a funny video and load it up!

It is still a matter of deciding who you want to delight, executing, and then you have a chance that they will spread the word, but without the focus on the small group to whom the experience of whatever it is you are selling is compelling, it is unlikely anyone will make the effort to spread your word for you.

In the early stages, it is inevitably, “one at a time” marketing, and the web does not make it easier than it jhas always been, it is just a different tool.

[Via http://strategyaudit.wordpress.com]

Did You Know There Are Over 117 Lawsuits Filed Every Minute?

2010-03-01T15:43:00.000+02:00

That’s a fact! Hello and welcome. My name is Gregory Graf and I am a Pre-Paid Legal Services Independent Representative. Now you can protect yourself and your family. HOW? Simply by purchasing a membership that will give you full access to a huge national bank of attorneys that will be on call if you ever need their services. Probate, mortgage and tax issues, wills, auto accidents, divorce, and the list goes on and on. What if you are taken to court and need legal council? Could you afford $200-$300 per hour for an attorney? Our expanded family plan costs as little as $26 per month! Our services are PRE-PAID by a huge number of members (about 1.7 million) and everyone pays a small percentage each month. That way the costs are shared and kept to a minimum so when you need an attorney all you do is call. There are no further fees to pay because it’s “pre-paid”. Furthermore, 80% of the population needs what we have. Economic Turmoil Creates Opportunity! If you are looking for a career change or simply seeking extra income in today’s economy, Pre-Paid Legal may be your answer! By spreading the word about our program, you can get paid handsomely for your efforts. Now you can create your own economy even in these uncertain times. Pre-Paid Legal is a 37 year old rock solid proven company tapping into a ground floor opportunity. IT’S A WIN WIN! http://www.legalhelp157.com/ Now that you have reviewed this information thoroughly, let me ask you a very serious question. What excuse will you give your children and your grandchildren as to why you didn’t jump on board with PPL in 2010?

Visit my blog at http://www.prepaidlegalease.blogspot.com/

A proud member of spotabusiness.com -where your business advertises free!

[Via http://blogshelpingyou.wordpress.com]

Friday Funny...

2010-02-26T09:51:00.000+02:00

HEY!! Call your mom and tell her to put on a chicken! It’s FRIDAY!!!

So let’s get into it…

Peta (the animal-rights group, not the B-grade actress), have broken character and kicked a Tiger where it hurts (see what I did there?). Check this out:

Bad kitty!

Too much fun.

Meanwhile, in Brazil, a land known for its racy advertising, Paris Hilton (another B-grade actress. Yes. I’m being kind) has caught flack for her “performance” in an ad for Devassa Bem Loura, a local beer. Check this out:

SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION: Also in Brazil is an ad-agency called RaeMP. Why is this important? Well, they only contacted me for an interview on things South African, advertising and so on. Yeah. They should have known better. You can read the interview here (HINT: Google Translate is your friend. Some things may get lost in translation so don’t lambaste me for my opinions until you’ve asked me about them. Oh yeah, I’m also working on the transcript).

And finally, meet Tim Vaccarino, creative director and All-State Klutz.

The only way that would have been funnier if it was a toddler with a puppy walking into that door. But don’t you love how he can’t compute that the door didn’t evaporate in anticipation of his every move? I think that’s just a general creative director thing. Ha.

And that’s the end of the week.

See you guys on Monday.

Blue skies…

[Via http://phr0g.wordpress.com]

Web development? Search engine optimization? Whaaa...?

2010-02-26T03:32:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone!

Since the days of dial-up, the internet has dropped barriers to entry left and right for photographers wanting to go into business for themselves. No longer do new photographers buy a Yellow Page ad, tell a few friends and then wait for their (wired) phone to ring. Now, you can create a beautiful website for cheap that showcases your portfolio, informs potential customers about your services and makes it easy for them to get in touch.

Internet. Serious Business

As you may have read earlier this week, Meghan asked me to contribute occasionally here for the benefit of her readers. Although I’m no expert (and few are since the internet changes so much and is so BIG) I’ve studied and worked in interactive marketing for 5 years and I think I can give you some insider knowledge that’ll give you a leg up.

The main things I’ll discuss are how to develop your business’ website so it sells your services (and you!) effectively, and then how to drive potential customers to your site. I plan on starting with these topics:

Web Development For Photographers
SEO – WTF? (A series)
Web Design 101
Talk is Cheap: Web Content Generation
What’s a Hit? Or, An Intro to Web Analytics
Social Media for Small Business

…but more than anything I’m interested in understanding what YOU wan to learn. These topics are just a guess. So please feel free to leave comments on what you want to see and if you have any specific questions.

Talk to you guys again soon.

Kelly

[Via http://meghansenkelphotography.com]

The Tiger Woods Affair

2010-02-24T09:38:00.000+02:00

Seeing as the Year of the Tiger has just begun, I thought it might be appropriate to discuss the circus surrounding the golfer Tiger Woods right now.

As I happened to be in the U.S. on February 19th, I had the privilege to watch the full 13:32 minute long press conference called for by Tiger Woods himself. Or rather I had no choice as that was the only ‘piece of news’ discussed on TV that day. Even before that, the mere announcement of the press conference was considered ‘Breaking News’.

Wow.

After the press conference (during which Tiger revealed nothing newsworthy whatsoever, except extended his apologies to everyone feeling like they deserved one) at least 50 different experts commented on the degree to which Tiger’s apologies were really earnest and numerous laymen informed us of their opinion of Tiger’s personal character. One journalist even approached the Dalai Lama, wondering what the Dalai Lama thought Tiger should do. The Dalai Lama replied “Who is Tiger Woods?” which tells us the most interesting facts of this whole deal: that the Dalai Lama does not watch American news broadcasts, nor is he a golf fan. Albeit interesting, this is not really newsworthy either.

If you somehow have managed to escape the story, let me give you the background: In November last year, Tiger Woods was rushed to the hospital after having crashed his black Escalade into a tree 30 metres from his drive-way at the impressive speed of 10 km/h. The first accounts of the sequence of events told of how Tiger’s Swedish wife (having a Swedish wife apparently makes Tiger Woods half-Swedish), Elin, had run to Tiger’s rescue with a 5-iron in hand, trying to pull him from the burning flames of the soon-to-explode wreck. Later, the story was revised to Elin holding a 9-iron and the reason for the crash being Elin, furious with anger, chasing after Tiger, trying to smash in his head rather than the windows of the Escalade.

The media went wild over the story. It was on every newsstand in Sweden and all news broadcasts covered the story intensively. Had Tiger been hurt? Had he been driving under the influence? What club had Elin really grabbed? What eventually seeped out through the cracks in the wall of silence surrounding Tiger’s personal life that he had spent many years trying to build, was the story of adultery. The story of Tiger & Jiamee, Tiger & Denise, Tiger & Caroline, Tiger & whoever, whatever, wherever.

In the state of Florida (where Tiger lives), adultery is, unlike driving under the influence not a federal offense. Yet the story of Tiger’s numerous affairs caused an uproar a hundred times worse than had he been caught with a few beers too many under his belt.

During the following months, nearly all of Tiger Woods’ sponsors broke their contracts with him. Accenture, one of the biggest sponsors, had been using Tiger as a metaphor of how they do business. Their advertising had the tagline “Go On. Be a Tiger.”The obvious risk of ridicule made them quickly replace all of their ads with a new one, featuring an elephant. The tabloids closely followed Elin’s every step and they had a field day when Elin’s mother, the former Swedish minister of migration, was rushed to the hospital because of “anxiety issues relating to the Elin-Tiger situation”.

A few weeks ago, Hannu Olkinuora, the editor-in-chief of the Finnish newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet, held a lecture at SSE, arguing that the way forward for traditional news media is to stress the importance of good journalism. “Journalism is a craft. Good journalism should not be underestimated”, Olkinuora said. “Furthermore, people consuming news need the filtering and sorting function that traditional news media perform”. According to Olkinuora, given a strategy of emphasizing good journalism, traditional news media would never be replaced by crowd-sourced material or news bloggers.

At the risk of sounding like a 40 year old, moldy, piece of cheese; contrasting to what Mr. A believes to be a sustainable strategy for traditional news media, my perspective of the general trend in the industry is that news reporting is gradually becoming more narrow-minded and more alike gossiping at the expense of ‘educative’ news. And I am not referring only to CNN, NBC News and their likes; this includes my own sweetheart morning newspaper Dagens Nyheter. This brings me to my point: Is Olkinuora’s future strategy of promoting superior quality too naïve to achieve sustainable profitability? Is not the current strategy of most traditional news media companies to achieve as high ratings, or sell as many singles copies as possible? If the trend is one of ‘commercialization’ of news reporting this could lead to a surge in crowdsourced news reporting, news bloggers and customized news reporting instead, as people turn to these sources to get informed. Or does the general public simply not care anymore? Are we just more stupid and less curious than our grandparents were?

Another interesting question this story raises is how close the relationship between sponsors and their brand ambassadors should be. Having been the best paid athlete in history, many of the sponsors leaving the ship will not sink Tiger’s boat. But should everything you do as an athlete, including when outside of the the playing field, be subject to intense scrutinizing and considered possible reason to breach the contract?

Keeping Tiger’s story in mind, it contrasts starkly with the brand ambassador strategy that the street fashion brand WeSc employ, where they consider all of their ‘We-activists’ part of their family. “You don’t disown members of your family just because they make one stupid mistake. At least we don’t.”(Greger Hagelin, CEO of WeSc, during a lecture at SSE in Nov. 2009). Personally, I think Hagelin has a point there. I’d like to argue that a sponsorship deal is a partnership between the brand and the athlete and what you do outside the playing field should not be as important as the results you produce practicing your sport, since that is really your basic source of fame and admiration as an athlete. Nevertheless, I do realize that the case of Tiger Woods is slightly different. He was considered practically the closest thing to Jesus, with a perfect rags-to-riches story featuring Tiger as the underdog who achieves greatness through hours and hours of hard labor. Thus, he became a role model in a greater sense than just as a good athlete. Falling from grace the way Tiger did might therefore be considered a justifiable reason for his sponsors to leave him, but it is my opinion that many of them would be better off in the long run sticking with Tiger throughout this whole affair. After all, who really wants a brand that will leave you once the milk starts turning sour?

What do you think?

[Via http://sse4m.wordpress.com]

The Most Interesting Man in the World

2010-02-24T03:53:00.000+02:00

From Clayton Makepeace’s Total Package…..

Have you seen The Most Interesting Man in the World?

I’m referring to the TV commercials for Dos Equis beer. They star a rugged-looking, silver-haired man who is always surrounded by beautiful women.

In one version of the commercial, he arm-wrestles a Third World general and releases a grizzly bear from a trap. In another, the narrator relates that even his enemies list him as their emergency contact and that the police often question him just because they find him interesting.

If you are a student of advertising, you know this is a knockoff of David Ogilvy’s famous ad campaign: The Man in the Hathaway Shirt.

If you don’t know the history of this ad, you should …

Click here to keep reading …

[Via http://donniebryant.wordpress.com]

Mutlu musunuz ?

2010-02-22T09:19:00.000+02:00

Bu soruyu son yıllarda kendinize en son ne zaman sordunuz ? Bunca işin-gücün ve problemin arasında bu soruda nereden çıktı şimdi diyebilirsiniz. Oysa günü bu soruyla başlatmak ve bitirmek çok önemlidir. Bugün mutlu olmak için ne-ler yapacaksın ? veya Bugün mutlu olmak için ne-ler yaptın ? diye soruyor musunuz kendinize ? Çünkü biriyle karşılaştığımızda, telefon açtığımızda veya internet’ten mesaj gönderdiğimizde ilk sözümüz “Nasılsınız ?” diye başlar. Onlarda bize aynı soruyu sorarlar. Bu soruya “Teşekkür ederim, iyiyim”, “Hamdolsun” veya “Çok Şükür” gibi cevaplar veririz. Akşam yorgun eve döndüğümüzde ailemizde bizi kapıda bu sözlerle karşılar. “ Nasılsın ? Günün nasıl geçti ? Umarım iyi geçmiştir ” Bir şeyler söylemek istemediğimiz zaman ise halimizden tahmin etmeye çalışırlar. Örneğin İngilizlerde söze “Nasıl gidiyor ?” veya “Umarım iyisindir” diye başlar. Günü “Umarım günün iyi geçmiştir ? “ diye bitirir.

İş hayatında “ Valla hiç iyi değilim…” ya da “ Hiç sorma…” gibi cevaplarla çok sık karşılaşmayız. Çünkü bu soruya verilecek olumsuz cevap öncelikle bizi rahatsız eder. İşimizin günlük stresi altında olumsuz değil olumlu şeyler duymaktan hoşlanırız. Çünkü hayata hep olumlu tarafından bakmanın daha doğru olduğunu düşünürüz. Çünkü inancımız, büyüklerimiz, okuduğumuz kitaplar, aldığımız özel eğitimler, tecrübelerimiz ve benzeri bir çok şey hep hayata olumlu taraftan bakmamız gerektiğini söyler.

Hayata olumlu tarafından bakmak isteriz istemesine de ama kendimize “ mutlu musun ? ” sorusunu pek sormayız. Peki neden ? İyiyim demek, mutluyum demek değildir. Buradaki iyiyim sözü aslında “idare ediyoruz işte ” anlamına gelir ve gerçekte olumsuz ve rahatsız edicidir. Ama nedense iyiyim cevabının karşımızdaki kişi tarafından olumlu algılandığını düşünür ve kendimizi buna inandırırız. Belki de çevremizdeki mutsuz insanlardan biri olmak ve bunun da bilinmesi bizi rahatsız eder. Kişi ve olayları olumsuz eleştiren, işlerinin istediği gibi gitmemesini sürekli dış etkenlere bağlayan bir kişinin iyiyim, hamdolsun, çok şükür demesi traji-komik bir durum ve mutsuz olduğumuzun açık delili değil midir ?

Oysa başarılı olabilmek için öncelikle mutlu ve şartlar ne olursa olsun geleceğe umutla bakan bir insan olmamız gerekir. Çünkü insanoğlunun mutlu olması başarıya giden yolda onu en çok motive eden duygudur. Mutlu olmak; koşulsuz inanmak, eğitimli, sağlıklı, olumlu ve başarılı olmaktır. Mutlu olmayan insan, kendisi ile barışık olmayan, olumsuz, sağlıksız, sürekli koşul ileri süren, şüpheci, yarı cahil ve başarısız insandır. Bu nedenle bu soruyu kendimize daha sık sormalıyız. Gerçekten mutlu muyum ? Öyle ya, iş hayatında başarılı olabilmek için önce bu sorunun cevabını dürüstçe kendinize söyleyebilmeliyiz değil mi ? Eğer cevabınız mutlu değilim ise buna üzülmeyin. Çünkü mutlu olmadığını bilmek ve bunu söyleyebilmek, nasıl mutlu olurum sorusuna cevap aramanızı sağlar. Hem de her koşulda. Unutmayalım ki, bir doktorun hastasını tedavi edebilmesi için önce doğru teşhisi koyması gerekir. Çünkü mutsuzluk ve umutsuzluk başarısızlığın simgeleridir. Başarı için öncelikle mutlu bir insana ihtiyaç vardır. Ayrıca mutlu olmadığınızı düşünüyorsanız bu ülkede yalnız olmadığınızı da unutmayın. Çünkü ülkemizde insanların yüzde 45,7 si kendisini mutlu olarak tanımlamıyor. Bunu nereden mi biliyorum ?

Geçtiğimiz günlerde TÜİK “Yaşam Menuniyeti” Araştırması 2009 (18 Şubat 2010 sayı:27) sonuçlarını açıkladı. Araştırma sonuçlarına göre ülkemizde 18 yaş ve üzeri bireylerin sadece % 54,3’ü kendilerini mutlu olarak ifade etmiş. Bir diğer ifade ile yüzde 45,7’si henüz mutlu değil. Hatta mutlu insanlarımızın sayısında bir önceki yıla göre 1,5 puan azalmış. Kendini mutlu olarak ifade eden bazı insanlar (!) diyebilirlerki bu düşüşün nedenlerini başında hiç süphesiz geçtiğimiz yıl bütün dünyada yaşanan olumsuz ekonomik gelişmeler var. Haklısınız ama bu oran 2007 yılına göre 5,9 puanlık bir düşüş demek. Ne haber ! 2007 yılında kendini mutlu olarak tanımlayan insanlarımızın sayısı yüzde 60,2 ile 2003’den bugüne en yüksek oranına ulaşmışken son iki yılda böyle dramatik bir düşüş yaşanması oldukça ilginç değil mi ? Bir de bunu en iyi hisseden bölgelerden birinde yaşıyorsak konu ilginç değil ancak bir gerçek olabilir.

Araştırma; 2009 yılında yaşanan ekonomik gelişmelerin birey üzerindeki etkilerini de incelemiş. Buna göre bireylerin yüzde 60’ının artık daha ucuz ürün tükettiği ortaya çıkmış. Ayrıca yüzde 34,3’ünün borçlandığı, yüzde 25,9’unun ise eğlence ve tatil harcamalarını kıstığı görülüyor.

Araştırmaya göre mutluluk oranı ile eğitim seviyesi arasında bir paralellik var. Yani eğitim seviyesi yükseldikçe mutluluk oranı da artıyor. Şöyleki ilkokul mezunlarının mutluluk oranı yüzde 52,5 iken üniversite mezunlarında bu oran 63,2’ye yükseliyor. Evli bireylerin (yüzde 57,3) evli olmayanlara (yüzde 46,8) göre daha mutlu olduğu görülüyor. Ülkemizde kendilerini en çok ailenin mutlu ettiğini ifade edenlerin oranı yüzde 71,2. Kendilerini en çok sağlıklı olmanın mutlu ettiğini ifade edenlerin oranı ise yüzde 70,7. Kendi geleceklerinden umutlu olan bireylerin oranı ise yüzde 65,5. Ama kadınlarımız (yüzde 67,9) erkeklere (yüzde 62,8) göre gelecekten daha umutlu. Bunlar araştırma sonuçları. Gelelim bizim gerçeğimize…

Uzmanlara göre bölgemizin en büyük problemi işsizlik ve eğitimsizlik. Ayrıca hükümetin bölgemizdeki problemleri çözme hızı da oldukça yetersiz. Yani herşey aleyhimize. Böyle bir bölge de belki de “ mutlu musunuz ?” sorusu öncelikle Başbakanımıza ve meclise seçtiğimiz vekillerimize sormak gerekir ne dersiniz ? “ Bizim bu durumumuzdan, işsiz ve eğitimsiz mutsuzluğumuzdan gerçekten mutlu musunuz. ? “ diye. Belki de ülkede kendini mutlu olarak tanımlayan insanların sayısının her geçen gün azalmasının nasıl bir tesadüf olduğunu ve neden bir şey yapılamadığını sadece hükümete değil muhalefe de sormak gerekiyor, ne dersiniz ?

Ama bütün bunlar geleceğimize umutla bakmamızı engellememeli. Umutlu olmalıyız, çünkü mutluluğu hak ediyoruz. Bireysel olarak mutlu olabilmek için eğer bölgesel mutluluk gerekiyorsa öncelikle eğitim sorunumuza çözüm üretmeliyiz. Çünkü eğitim, ailemizi, sağlığımızı, kazancımızı ve mutlu olmamızı doğrudan etkileyen en önemli unsur olduğu görülüyor.

Gelişebilmek için değişmemiz gerekiyor. Değişim ise yavaş ve zamanla olan bir şey. Bugünden başlamak, her türlü zorluğa karşı savaşmak, yarın daha mutlu olamamız için önemli bir yatırım. Unutmayalım ki başarı ne kadar zor olursa mutluluğunun değeri de o kadar yüksek ve kalıcı olacaktır. Herkes hatasını bilmek ister ama kimse bunun kendisine söylenmesini istemezmiş. Biz onlardan olmayalım isterseniz. Gerçekten mutlu olmaya hazır mısınız ?

Not: Bu yazı bölgesel yerel bir yayın olan Ekonomi Anadolu Gazetesi 2.sayısı için yazılmıştır.

[Via http://tanericten.wordpress.com]

Mobile World Congress 2010 - Barcelona

2010-02-22T03:34:00.000+02:00

Mobile World Congress 2010 – Barcelona

This is about Mobile World Congress and about modern trade shows in general.

Welcome to the 21st century marketing, please note the world has changed… well… changing! Fast!

So get on the roller coaster ride or move out of the way!

My View:

I have been involved in marketing and trade shows for about 15 years now.
Oh, how the world has changed.
Oh, how many people have not noticed? J

About me:

I was in Mobile World Congress 2010, in Barcelona last week.
My first visit to this MWC (or its equivalent in Cannes) was at 2001.
I was there (almost) every year since.

Some Facts:

Thousands of visitors (almost 50,000).
Over a thousand companies exhibiting (1,300).

What are modern trade shows not about?

They are not about walking through the aisles looking for a cool company.
They are not about getting knowledge
They are not about information
They are not about brand! (well,… maybe a little)

What are modern trade-shows about?

They are about meeting people
They are about human interaction
They are about making contact
They are about looking people in the eyes
They are about shaking hands
They are about making partners
They are about doing business

[Via http://liorzad.wordpress.com]

A Better Marketing Plan for Woman's Clothing Stores: Exercise

2010-02-19T15:53:00.000+02:00

It’s not too late to do this for your clothing store. You’ll have a better marketing plan in time for Spring and going forward. Take some time with your best Advertising Rep and analyze what sales promotions worked, what sales promotions didn’t, and what the sales promotion and marketing plans are for next year.

It is important to keep notes through the year and see what worked, what didn’t. If you didn’t do that last year, you can start now. Then you’ll roll out only the best, experiment with new sales promotions where there are openings (you can find some in this forum that are especially tailored to woman’s clothing stores).

Create an evaluation checklist.

Monthly Theme Sales Forecast Actuals Profit Comments

Jan

Feb

March

April

May

June

July

Aug

Sept

Oct

Nov

Dec

The peaks for a Woman’s Clothing and Ladies Wear Stores are the months of Sept through December where sales range from 8.9%-10.8% of annual sales and April through June where sales range from 8.8 – 9.6% of annual sales.

The valleys for this type of business are January through March where sales range from 5.8-7.1%. Source: Stats Canada Retail Trade Survey – 2008

[Via http://salespromotions.wordpress.com]

Twitter Series Part One : Beginning with Twitter

2010-02-19T03:50:00.000+02:00

Twitter is a service that’s quickly increasing in size. It’s a blend between a social networking internet web site and a micro-blog. With over two millions users, Twitter is becoming a popular way to stay in touch with co-workers, friends, family and more.

“If you are not on Twitter then you are not on the world wide web“

As for how you are able to use Twitter to market yourself or your business online, begin with updates. E.g., do you sell health supplements products? If so, rapidly describe the product you just made and provide a link to the internet site where it’s available for sale. Rather than saying buy my product, ask for feedback. Depending on how your message is looked at, the link may not be clickable. If anybody likes it, they may buy.

If you’ve yet to try Twitter, you will want to do so. As stated before, Twitter is a combo micro-blog and social networking internet site. For that reason, some internet bypass the chance. One of those is internet marketers and home based workers. If you work from home or from your computer, your primary goal while online is to bring in money, not make new friends. This focus is beneficial, but it can also hurt you and your business.

Since you are able to use Twitter to do more than just update your current friends and family members, you might prefer to get started. If you do not already have a Twitter account, the first step is visiting the internet site, which is located at Twitter.com. You’ll see a link to get started. Click on that link and fill out the form. You’ll be required to create a username, a password, and provide your email address.

“If you’ve yet to try Twitter, you will want to do so”

Although you are able to easily add Twitter friends and followers that you don’t know, some are conservative about accepting invites. For marketing purposes, use the internet, forums, and other social networking websites for information. E.g., if you sell homemade products, you could also belong to an arts and crafts or home founded business forum. Post a message inviting Twitter contacts. In no time in the least, you could have quite the following. Remember, the more Twitter followers you have, the more you are able to market your business. Internet Marketing Guide

Get Started and Follow me on Twitter @Mick_Ando

[Via http://internetmarketingguide212.wordpress.com]

Trash compactors repair and cleaning of

2010-02-17T09:47:00.000+02:00

Trash compactors has nothing to do cleaning. A trash compactor is responsible for the household disinfection flattening of space convenience, not clean, or clean your garbage, although this is very good, if it does not.

Cleaning work, can not be separated and clean. Occasionally, you really clean up trash compactors, if you want to maintain sanitation of your house or in the kitchen, where they are usually placed in the trash compactor. There is nothing like a dirty trash can bad whereCompactor.

You should how to do, if you start trash compactor taste? Clean it, of course. On the contrary microwave or oven cleaning, cleaning trash compactors must start on the outside. Do not forget, such as wearing a pair of gloves, protective clothing. To get a clean cloth or sponge, spray some polished clean, scrub the outside of trash compactors.

Such as stainless steel cleaning, degreasing and magic green or stainless steel magic spray cleaning products are very good brand使用. If you do not already available, with liquid detergent and clean water are often not very simple mixture.

Sprinkle in your garbage compactors little baking soda, if the disposal of its contents. Baking soda helps to reduce waste and disinfection stench. For something like a soda can afford big revenge, is not it?

Some things to note garbage compactors, there is no open, but to start: Check the safety and circuit breaker control. You may have blown fuse orPerhaps the circuit breaker tripping or something. It has never hurt these things, please check the mechanics. The impulse to try to resist the trash compactors repair, your warranty will be invalid, you run the risk of more damage to the device.

[Via http://scratchanddentsearsappliances.wordpress.com]

Less is always more

2010-02-17T03:44:00.000+02:00

How many web sites have you been to that just blather on, and on, and on, and on….

It’s bad enough that these sites are full of information we need to know. What makes them worse are that they’re full of information we don’t want to know. How many times have we read Since 1872.. or we have 25 employees, 20 offices and great hair!

What were they thinking when they wrote that crap?

It’s like that first time you ever walked into a candy shop as a kid. Remember what it felt like? You were in the shop, peering over the counter at all those endless rows of jars full of jawbreakers, lollipops, gum drops and more. There was so much to choose from that you just bought as much as your little hands could handle.

You get home, your Mother sees you and reminds you that if you eat them all at once, you’ll get sick. So you tell her ‘OK’, go to your room and gobble them all up. The result? You get sick.

It’s the same thing on a web site. In this situation, the candy is the information. When you write your own web content, you want to include everything because you think it’s important. After all, you’re proud of what you’ve accomplished and for all intents and purposes, you have every right to be. But the problem is you’re missing the point. Your reader only wants to know what you can/will do for them. They don’t care about anything else. If your web site is overloaded with needless material, your reader gets sick of it and then they’re going elsewhere.

The moral of the story is that you need to be sparing with your information. In this case, less is more. Tell your reader what you can do for them and no more. Blow them away with your expertise and experience when you meet them or when they call you up on the phone. Use your web content to get them to pick up the phone, send you and email or communicate via smoke signal. First thing’s first, kids. Don’t clog up your site with information that only you want to read.

[Via http://bigredwordnerd.wordpress.com]

Informasi Lowongan Sonokembang Catering Bali (Exp: 18 Maret 2010)

2010-02-15T09:55:00.000+02:00

Info Lowongan: SONOKEMBANG CATERING BALI, adalah perusahaan jasa boga yang bergerak di bidang katering selama 25 tahun. Berkantor pusat di Surabaya dan telah membuka cabang di kota besar di Indonesia, antara lain malang, semarang, jakarta dan kini cabang ke 5 di Denpasar. Saat ini membutuhkan akunting dan marketing:

MARKETING

Dibutuhkan : 1 orang

Tanggal Pemasangan : 15-02-2010

Tanggal Penutupan : 18-03-2010

1. Male or female, minimum 30 years old

2. Minimum D3 from reputable university

3. Computer literate (Microsoft Office, Internet)

4. Knowledge of both local and international markets and travel agent sales

5. Able to multi task and work under time pressure

6. Good communication and interpersonal skill, able to work as a team

7. Responsive, customer oriented, honest, friendly

8. Ready to work in Saturday and/or Sunday

AKUNTING

Dibutuhkan : 1 orang

Tanggal Pemasangan : 15-02-2010

Tanggal Penutupan : 18-03-2010

1. Female, minimum 25 years old

2. Minimum D3 in Accounting

3. Fresh graduated are welcome

4. Computer literate (Microsoft Office, Accounting software)

5. Knowledge of Tax Regulation and General Accepted Accounting Principles

6. Able to maintain performance under pressure

7. Hard worker, discipline, honest

8. Fluent in English both written and speaking will be an advantage

9. Good communication and interpersonal skill

send your comprehensively CV, recent photo, including your current expected salary to:

email: sonokembang.bali@gmail.com

mail: SONOKEMBANG BALI

jl. Bedahulu No. 34, DENPASAR

Lamaran dikirim ke

SONOKEMBANG CATERING BALI

Alamat : Bedahulu No.34, DENPASAR

Telp. : 421981

Email : sonokembang.bali@gmail.com

Website : http://www.sonokembang.co.id

Untuk info lebih jelas hubungi :

Dinas Tenaga Kerja, Transmigrasi dan Sosial Kota Denpasar

Jln. Hayam Wuruk No. 151 Denpasar, Telp. (0361) 235457

website: http://tenagakerja.denpasarkota.go.id

Informasi lowongan Kerja/Karir Terbaru Tahun 2010:

Kumpulan Jobs / Lowongan Terbaru 2010
Informasi Lowongan di Aura Production (26 Februari 2010)
Informasi Lowongan PT. Klinik DAK (21 Februari 2010)
Informasi Lowongan PT. Pitibo Sukses Mandiri (13 April 2010)
Informasi Lowongan PT. Prudential Life – Cab. Jember (13 April 2010)
Informasi Lowongan di PT. AKU SAYANG INDONESIA KU (PT. ASIK)
Kumpulan Beasiswa Februari 2010
Info Kerja: Lowongan Anggota KPI Pusat 2010-2013
Info Bursa Karir ITS (BKI 19) Tahun 2010 di Surabaya
Informasi Lowongan di Dua Bank di Wilayah Sumatera
Informasi Lowongan Trainer Bidang Perikanan di PPPTAL
Informasi Lowongan Guru di PT. Sinotif Internasional
Pengumuman Penerimaan BUMN: PT PLN (PERSERO) Tahun 2010
Informasi Lowongan Tenaga Guru di Indonesia Heritage Foundation (31 Maret 2010)
Informasi Lowongan di Dana Cipta Mandiri (12 April 2010)
Informasi Lowongan di Wira Makmur Computer (15 Maret 2010)

[Via http://selong.wordpress.com]

2010-02-15T03:18:00.000+02:00

Someone’s DNA to watch over you!

Back when my father was starting out as a copywriter, he had this idea for a men’s fragrance called Cash Cologne. I kid you not. Its theme: “Wear Cash and you’ll smell like a million bucks” …or something like that. There was no client or product attached to the concept. He and a buddy had come up with the idea while shooting the shit one day. I believe they’d gotten as far as contacting a perfume manufacturer before the whole thing fell through. Had they continued the next step would have been obvious: a small-space ad in the back of a magazine. Which brings me to the topic of this article…

The last few pages of many national magazines –including high quality pubs like Dwell and Esquire- contain small space ads that are, by turns, ridiculous, naïve and totally cool. Here is the last bastion of old-school American dreamers. They make art from your favorite photographs or shock-absorbing mats to put in front of your stove. Guys like Photowow and Gelpro These are folks who woke up one day with an idea, sunk their nest eggs into it, and then took out an ad.

No bigger than a pack of cigarettes, these ads usually feature a photo, a small paragraph and a website/800 number. No fuss, no muss. They offer little in the way of concept or art direction. Often produced by the publisher via template, they are extremely utilitarian. Even the “roommate wanted” ads in college dorms are more complicated.

From pillow-chairs that enable creative sexual coupling (yowza!) to handmade mailboxes from New England, these tiny adverts offer a great window into the entrepreneurial nature of Man. Inventors and pioneers built this country. Some of them probably started out in ‘small spaces’ like these.

Next time your thumbing through a magazine, take a look in the back. See what they’re selling. I bet you secretly crave at least some of it. Who doesn’t want “modular rugs for (your) stairs” or “beautiful canvas art pieces…made from your favorite photographs?” My personal favorite: wall-sized paintings based on (your) actual DNA. “It’s art as unique as you are!” How cool is that?

dna11 website

Follow me on Twitter

Order my novel on Amazon

[Via http://godsofadvertising.wordpress.com]

Customer service: The human element

2010-02-12T09:55:00.000+02:00

Wistia is a pretty cool paid video hosting service that I discovered awhile back. I decided to do a free trial with them tonight, and got this message about 30 minutes after signing up:

No automated “Welcome to Wistia!” emails for me to instantly delete. Just a quick message from a real person. And the kind gesture of giving out his cell phone number in case I have any problems seals the deal. I’m not going to call that number (why would I?), but the fact that he gave it to me establishes a greater sense of trust in the service itself. And yes, I know he copies and pastes that to everyone who signs up. I don’t care. It still works because it’s unique.

Of course, this is a very mild example of injecting the human element into customer service. Video hosting is not exactly something where people need constant reassurance that support is readily available. But there are great opportunities for other industries where this concept, taken to a higher level, would be much more effective.

For instance, let’s say you’re uninsured and need open heart surgery. You can’t afford the procedure in the U.S., so you’re thinking about getting treatment overseas. This is extremely scary for you and feels incredibly risky, even after you do extensive research on the best doctors and hospitals in various countries. But then one of your potential overseas doctors emails you, proposing a video conference call (instead of a phone call) to discuss the procedure and go over any questions you might have. You decide to do the video call, and get to talk with your doctor face-to-face. You hear his voice, see his smile, and you grow to trust him. He’s no longer a set of credentials on a website — he’s a real person that’s going to take good care of you. Done deal.

Any customer that feels a large degree of uncertainty wants to be convinced that, if things go wrong, they’ll be in good hands. They want to know that real people care about them, not just some hired worker who’s being paid $7/hour to read a script. So erase their doubts and show them your face.

[Via http://charliehoehn.com]

Affilate marketing

2010-02-12T03:40:00.000+02:00

This post is courtesy of Affiliate Millionaire

The World Wide Net has not only got the world closer and also has created obtainable the vast details! The World wide web has changed immensely since the new millennium and has developed tremendous possibilities for marketing. Providing and earning utilizing the Planet Extensive Internet has steadily now develop into the sunrise industries. The Internet will be the ideal medium for marketing and advertising, the purpose becoming that it is 24×7 and 365 days a year presence ahead of the possible consumer.

Internet marketer marketing and advertising could be the quick catching trend in online advertising and marketing and it serves several purposes not only for your manufacturers but additionally on the consumers. Makers usually do not ought to put in further efforts in providing their goods and services, which are completed by the third party internet marketers. Affiliate marketer promoting, is just getting another person else to promote your goods within the Net.

What's affiliate advertising?

Affiliate promoting is far better referred to as marketing which is carried out through the Planet Wide Website and in this the internet marketer professional promotes the manufacturer’s or advertiser’s solution and is paid for driving the buyers for the manufacturer’s or the merchant’s website. So as to turn out to be an online marketer, the unique has to complete investigation as to that is the hottest market for the net. Industry for merchandise like, well being, pets, and golf is wonderful and this may be the 1st consideration in affiliate marketer marketing and advertising. Inside the second action registering with a free internet marketer program around the net and acquiring an online connection gets the promoting commenced. The promotion of the affiliate hyperlinks that features the products is affiliate advertising. Affiliate marketing and advertising can also be referred as revenue sharing.

The best factor about internet marketer marketing is that both, the online professional and the merchant benefit, the company doesn't ought to look for extra resources for advertising the goods. The affiliate marketer marketers perform as distributors for that vendor and they showcase his/ her products. To turn out to be a successful internet marketer one has to have some mentoring, passion, and patience.

The advantages of affiliate marketer promoting

An affiliate marketer is only the promoter of a specific item and does not have to deal in the many processes of item creation, the marketplace exploration and production is done by the producer. What matters on the internet professional is possessing the affiliate links to promote the supplement. The expense in internet marketing and advertising is negligible and one can start out with or without having any income. Affiliate marketer advertising and marketing is simple because the manufacturer previously does the tricky part. The Internet is offered all the time towards the visitors along with the affiliate marketer professional doesn’t ought to monitor each and every visitor to link. The affiliate marketing makes it possible for the personal to work from home and you will find no extra expenses besides an Web connection and also the personal computer. Free of charge sites as well as blogs, article promoting, forum advertising and marketing promotes the affiliate hyperlinks.

How to choose one of the best affiliate-marketing programme

Those seeking to promote their solutions by way of the affiliate marketing must look for selected points like affiliate marketer promoting methods, which could be accessed on most in the on the net affiliate networks. The examples of internet marketer marketing equipment are internet page banners and website advertisements. The advertiser or the product owner can compare the rates in the distinct internet programmes which can be obtainable about the net. The merchant can find the affiliates on the on the web affiliate marketer networks platform. For the far better promotion with the supplement, the service provider and the internet marketer must do the job jointly and plan the right technique to the promotion campaign.

In deciding on the best and successful marketplace online, the advertiser or the merchants must comply with the prevalent trends in internet advertising and marketing which will assist in better understanding from the consumer’s choices in purchasing the merchandise.

Learn more on Affiliate marketing in Affiliate Millionaire

[Via http://affiliatemarketingnetworks.wordpress.com]

MAP Pharmaceuticals - Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare - Deals and Alliances Profile--Aarkstore Enterprise Market Research Aggregation

2010-02-10T09:54:00.000+02:00

MAP Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (MAP) is a development stage company, engaged in developing drug candidates to treat local respiratory and treatable diseases. The company also develops inhalable drug particles to facilitate pulmonary delivery. The company’s proprietary product candidate is Unit Dose Budesonide, a nebulized version of budesonide for the treatment of pediatric asthma in children. The company is headquartered at Mountain View in California, United States

MAP Pharmaceuticals – Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare – Deals and Alliances Profile is an essential source for company data and information. The profile examines the company’s key business structure and operations, history and products, and provides summary analysis of its key revenue lines and strategy as well as highlighting the company’s major recent financial deals.

Scope

- Provides key company information for business intelligence needs

- Gives information on the company’s major recent financial deals including Mergers and Acquisitions, asset transactions, PE/VC deals, equity offerings, debt offerings and partnerships.

- Data is supplemented with details on the company’s history, key executives, business description, locations and subsidiaries as well as a list of products and services and the latest available company statement.

To know more about this report kindly visit:

http://www.aarkstore.com/reports/MAP-Pharmaceuticals-Pharmaceuticals-Healthcare-Deals-and-Alliances-Profile-20639.html

[Via http://aarkstores.wordpress.com]

music success in nine weeks: new banner for this blog

2010-02-10T03:52:00.000+02:00

OK, so technically it does not fall within the scope of Music Success in Nine Weeks – but I am trying to take action on lots of online fronts, and one of the things was that I wanted a custom header for this blog. Which it now has! And I am pretty happy with it – it creates a bit of a link between what I do with Offering and what I do as an individual musician – plus I love the way it looks!

So: all in all a good, productive day. Interesting that I had several weeks of struggles and not making much visible progress – I guess the progress was happening anyway, it just takes a while to become visible.

The next chapter in Ariel’s book: social networking. Which makes me very, very happy. I absolutely love Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites and love exploring new terrain there. HAPPY!

[Via http://jeanineguidry.wordpress.com]

Levi Strauss & Co. - Retailing - Deals and Alliances Profile--Aarkstore Enterprise Market Research Aggregation

2010-02-08T09:53:00.000+02:00

Levi Strauss & Co. is engaged in retailing of apparels. It is also engaged in manufacturing and distribution activities. The company’s products include jeans, casual and dress pants, tops, skirts, jackets and accessories. It owns the brands namely, Levi’s, Dockers and Signature by Levi Strauss & Co. The company sells its merchandise through the company-owned stores, franchised stores and website. It retails through 60,000 locations out of which 1,800 are franchised stores and company-operated stores. Levi Strauss & Co. along with its subsidiaries principally operates in the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific. The company is headquartered at San Francisco in California, United States

Global Market Direct’s Levi Strauss & Co. – Retailing – Deals and Alliances Profile is an essential source for company data and information. The profile examines the company’s key business structure and operations, history and products, and provides summary analysis of its key revenue lines and strategy as well as highlighting the company’s major recent financial deals.

Scope

- Provides key company information for business intelligence needs

- Gives information on the company’s major recent financial deals including Mergers and Acquisitions, asset transactions, PE/VC deals, equity offerings, debt offerings and partnerships.

- Data is supplemented with details on the company’s history, key executives, business description, locations and subsidiaries as well as a list of products and services and the latest available company statement.

To know more about this report kindly visit:

http://www.aarkstore.com/reports/Levi-Strauss-Co-Retailing-Deals-and-Alliances-Profile-19678.html

[Via http://aarkstores.wordpress.com]

GRIZZLY BEAR CAR COMMERCIAL!

2010-02-08T03:55:00.000+02:00

QUESTIONS!!!

Did u ever play ‘punch buggy’ with ur sibling?

Will Grizzly Bear outsell Vampire Weekend in 2k11?

Is this the ‘best use of indie music in a mainstream commercial’ in the history of commercials?

Does commercial licensing make a band ‘more bank’ than ‘releasing full albums’?

R u enjoying the corporate indie arms race of the 2k10 decade?

RESPONSE!!!

Felt three emotions.

(1), annoyed b/c ternative music was ‘tainted’ by some corporation. GrizzBr’s rep is stained. Mnstrmrms would make it less authentic.

(2), mnstrmrs would finally discover some good music.

(3), no one would notice b/c car commercial music isn’t that ‘relevant’.

[Via http://klyam.com]

Silicon Valley Solar, Inc. - Alternative Energy - Deals and Alliances Profile--Aarkstore Enterprise Market Research Aggregation

2010-02-05T09:54:00.000+02:00

Silicon Valley Solar, Inc. (SV Solar) is a venture funded company formed in 2006. The company is predominantly engaged in designing and manufacturing advanced flat plate internal concentrator solar modules, which are marketed under the brand name Sol-X. SV Solar owns and operates a production line spanning over 15,000 square feet of area in Sunnyvale. This Sol-X pilot production line has the capacity to manufacture more than 2MW of PV panels annually. SV Solar has developed proprietary Sol-X Technology which provides a significant competitive advantage of producing solar modules in present solar industry.

Silicon Valley Solar, Inc. – Alternative Energy – Deals and Alliances Profile is an essential source for company data and information. The profile examines the company’s key business structure and operations, history and products, and provides summary analysis of its key revenue lines and strategy as well as highlighting the company’s major recent financial deals.

Scope

To know more about this report kindly visit:

http://www.aarkstore.com/reports/Silicon-Valley-Solar-Inc-Alternative-Energy-Deals-and-Alliances-Profile-16267.html

[Via http://aarkstores.wordpress.com]

For A Good Cause

2010-02-05T03:54:00.000+02:00

When you’re fired up fighting for a good cause it’s tempting to think that anything you do for the cause is justified.

But that’s seldom, if ever, the case.

Global warming gets plenty of media attention. We’re told rising temperatures will melt glaciers, ruin the oceans and force millions to migrate. To escape, we must reduce CO2 emissions and other pollutants.

But are the global warming crusaders right? Are their predictions based on accurate measurements and good science?

You will find sceptics in the scientific community and among the general population. And these doubters seemed to gain ground when “global warming” became “climate change”.

Much of the debate surrounding global warming is centred on the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which has published a number of reports through the United Nations.

The credibility of the IPCC has been severely damaged by revelations that some of their statements have little scientific validity. We’re being told they are based on assumptions, not measurements; or on careful selection of data.

I don’t know whether climate change crusaders will survive the scandals, but I do know it’s easy to cut corners for the sake of a cause. When we’re passionate about something, we sometimes go beyond the facts to make a stronger case or to attract a particular audience. It may work for a while, but our arguments will collapse when someone exposes our exaggerations and lies. Once you lose credibility it’s difficult, if not impossible, to regain your audience.

When it comes to marketing and publicity, impressions may be more useful than facts.

Photos of starving children or images of buildings shaken apart in an earthquake are powerful marketing tools. They have great potential for raising money. But the “victims” whoever they are, deserve to be served by honest representatives.

[Via http://write300.wordpress.com]

iLingual

2010-02-03T09:53:00.000+02:00

iLingual is a recent app produced by the Lean Mean Fighting Machine for the Emirates airlines. The app is smart, simple, useful and entertaining all in one and that is something rare to come by. It works by taking a shot of your mouth and then implanting it onto your phone for it to speak for you in other languages. Sounds crazy? Check it out below. So far it comes in English, French and German and I’ll definitely try it out this weekend.

I’ve experimented with many a language-teaching apps that offers services from vocabulary and grammar exercises to complex dictionaries and audio support. If you can’t be bothered with any of that and want a quick fix that might get some smiles, you might want to check this one out.

[Via http://ligress.wordpress.com]

The Seven Simple Secrets to Success in Business and Life

2010-02-03T03:20:00.000+02:00

Why do 90% of all new businesses fail within their first year? Why do most “sales” professionals falter within their first three months? Why do most people give up so willingly on their “goals,” “objectives,” or [New Year’s]”resolutions?”

The answer in one word…PURPOSE!

Successful people have taken time out to define their WHY
Successful people take actions that are aligned with their PURPOSE…no matter how small. Then they march on persistently with faith and hope in tow
Successful people leverage their imagination from a positive place to visualize themselves already fulfilling their life’s purpose
Successful people get clarity and definiteness by consistently writing down these thoughts
Successful people step into their fear(s) as opposed to staying in their comfort zone
Successful people deliver more value than they receive because their passion shines through
Successful people focus on the question, “How can I?” and therefore more likely to create and collaborate with others

A few thoughts from one of my favorite books, “Think and Grow Rich,” By Napoleon Hill: “Thoughts are things,” and “Successful people think their way into realizing their goals.” Success only comes though, when you are aware of your “true” potential, you are emotionally connected to that purpose and you decide to take action. If you are ready to reveal your hidden potential and put a definite plan into action, join me for a MasterMind Intensive: “Your Purpose Driven Business Plan!” Coming this month.

RJ Lennon,

“The Professional’s Business Coach”

MasterMind Coaching & Consulting

BLOG:                http://mastermindcoach.wordpress.com

WEBSITE:           http://www.mastermindconsulting.biz/

e-mail:            Rj@MasterMindConsulting.biz

“STEP FORWARD INTO GROWTH

OR STEP BACK INTO SAFETY

THE CHOICE IS YOURS”

[Via http://mastermindcoach.wordpress.com]

10 Ideas For The New Decade - Edelman

2010-02-01T09:43:00.000+02:00

During the last decade, social and digital media have moved from being purely the domain of tech-savvy types into mainstream phenomena. Revealing four key themes, “Digital Visions – 10 Ideas for the New Decade” features 10 essays that identify some of the global societal and technological trends that are reshaping how we think, act and buy – and highlighting the opportunities for clients to pivot into them early.

Edelman Insights: “Digital Visions – 10 Ideas for the New Decade” – (.pdf)

View this document on Scribd

History washing machine - who invented the washing machine?

2010-02-01T03:47:00.000+02:00

When people began to do the laundry, but also may be caused by buried in stone, and then wash away the dirt stream or river. Although the board to use, the crew put a bag of dirty clothes and tie around the top of the rope. In this way, you will give up the other bag, so that the water after the ship shake the clothes. There are indications that, from an old washing machine in Rome at the expense of the ashes of animals, to make signs. Others include the use of soapPerfume and alcohol.

Hand-washing clothes washing machine management, one of the most difficult task of the invention. It is very difficult, women's weapons, often resulting in lye burns. Women are often employed to help or put it laundry cleaner, using the same process.

It has undergone many years, washing machines, the development of today's most people. Now, you can plant, steam your clothes, cleaning cycle, two different organizationsIn the same pressure, while those who use only a few liters of water. Technological advances, there must be significant changes, washing machines and use.

Two types of hand-washer

In 1797 the invention of the first type of washing machine. This is a scrub board. This allows the impact of women on the rock end of the laundry. In 1851, James King invented the drum washing machine, but still hand-powered washing machine. This fine-tuning and dynamic mobile phoneOn the water moving.

Rotating / spinning washing machine

1858 The first rotary-type washing machines and Hamilton Smith patents. In less than 20 years ago, in 1874, William Blackstone, had submitted a birthday gift for his wife. This is the development of the first washing machine to be removed by washing clothes remove the dirt. He used the machine for at home. However, most of these machines are made of steel and has heavy, dirty cover. Some people even woodBathtub.

Dole

The first all-electric washing machine is called "the door. Hurley Machinery Company, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, in 1908 introduced such a machine. Washing machine has an electric motor and a large galvanized bucket. Glass is actually committed by Alvaro Fisher and inventions patent right is granted 1910th and early motor is one of the biggest problems related to the water will drop to wires, and would lead to shortsSpark or shock.

A well-known washing machine is about some interesting facts

In 1893, Florida, the United States and Thailand initiated agricultural enterprises. As the business seemed to slow down in winter, he decided to accept a wooden barrel washing machines in 1907, can be. Soon, he began washing all the time, and the Thai was born.

Whirlpool actually began in 1911 Upton Machinery Manufacturing Corporation. The hotel is located in St. Joseph, Michigan, it started with the washing machine motor perturbed.

Schulthess GroupWith more than 150 years. It began in 1909 produced the first CD-ROM. They also supported the press, for the 1949 invention of the disk controller card. In 1951 began Schulthess Group in the European manufacturing, automatic washing machine.

General Electric is the first, and now does have a washing machine, which has five different buttons. These are used to control water temperature, speed and stirring speed. That was in 1957. Ultimately, this bringsWashing machines, similar to that used in today's world.

[Via http://boschdishwashermanuals.wordpress.com]

AMEC plc - Clean Technology - Deals and Alliances Profile--Aarkstore Enterprise Market Research Aggregation

2010-01-29T09:40:00.000+02:00

AMEC plc (AMEC) is an international project management and services company. It supplies significant consultancy, engineering and project management services to the global energy, power and process industries. Further it also designs, delivers and maintains strategic and complex assets for its customers. The company principally operates in the U.K. and North America. It is headquartered in London, U.K. During 2008, the company acquired Slovak specialist nuclear services company AllDeco, s.r.o. that is engaged in nuclear decommissioning and reactor services. In October 2008, AMEC divested its UKWind Development businesses, through an agreement with Swedish company Vattenfall.

AMEC plc – Clean Technology – Deals and Alliances Profile is an essential source for company data and information. The profile examines the company’s key business structure and operations, history and products, and provides summary analysis of its key revenue lines and strategy as well as highlighting the company’s major recent financial deals.

Scope

To know more about this report kindly visit:

http://www.aarkstore.com/reports/AMEC-plc-Clean-Technology-Deals-and-Alliances-Profile-22886.html

[Via http://aarkstore.wordpress.com]

My Rules

2010-01-29T03:50:00.000+02:00

So, the MN Product Camp happening this weekend has kept me a bit more than occupied. To the point, unfortunately, that I haven’t been able to post articles that I have formed in my mind, but have had no time to write.

So, I simply and updating my “rules” page. This is a tab on my site here where I will list the rules I believe are worth following for product managers and product marketers. The rules are not necessarily mine – and I will attribute when I quote directly. But, they are foundational in nature.

If you have any rules that feel should be included, please comment. The list is intended to grow with the product professional community.

Looking in from the outside, there are building blocks we all should master before tackling the harder stuff up the ladder. Only then, when we remember the rules of the game, can we achieve and succeed.

[Via http://outsideinview.com]

Directed Studies, mentor, practicum

2010-01-27T09:22:00.000+02:00

Oooli Beverages is the company that my group and I are going to work with for the next four months. This is the real deal. Acting as marketing consultants for a company. I’m quite excited and scared at the same time.

Do I have enough knowledge and can I really apply what I learned at BCIT to this project to my fullest potential?

This is a test. This is not only a test to see how well I can apply my knowledge, but also a test to see if I can actually work in a professional environment as a marketing consultant or whatever I become in the future.

Ideas are running through my head. But are they good enough? I know these thoughts seem pretty pessimistic, but to someone as young as me about to put myself out there in the real, professional world, I’m kind of scared. Will I be up to par with everyone else out there about to graduate who are much older than I? I bet if employers ever knew my age, they would be a little hesitant to hire me…or they might be excited to see and train a newcomer.

I think I’m more excited than scared right now. I have the help from my lovely group members. I’m sure we will do fine. And our faculty advisor is really helpful.

I also have to think of a few companies that I am interested in that I may what to know more about. A mentor interview to know how that certain industry professional got to where they are today. I am interested in looking at interior designers in the lower mainland. Nancy Riesco and Tanya Schoenroth both have designers in their company that have graduated from Kwantlen’s Interior Design program. Curious to hear their stories.

Another thing I must keep in mind is my practicum coming up in March. I’m really looking into doing the Marketing Internship at Vancouver Magazine. They are always taking in interns on an on-going basis. And I think it would be really good because I’m in the tourism option and it would really help me build more knowledge of my hometown as I grow older and start looking for a career.

So many things to do…so little time!

[Via http://iwanttodesign.wordpress.com]

Marketing Approach: Brand Recognition and the Gen Y Kids

2010-01-27T03:35:00.000+02:00

by Matt Cheuvront on 01/26/2010

I honestly don’t know if you can market to a generation.

Stereotypes aside, we are all different. Gen Y is a product of their environment growing up. Moral teachings and how to view the world, entitlement and pop culture shaped Generation Y. So how do you reach the masses?

Brand recognition.

To this day, I know the Oscar Mayer commercial songs by heart. I associate food on the go with the brand because of Lunchables. It’s about owning the space that your brand is about – so if the topic comes up, your brand is the first one that comes to mind.

Not everyone can be Kodak, Amazon or Rainbow Brite – which have a built in audience already. Smaller corporations have to utilize the space – social or not – to determine who their consumers are. Demographics are shifting. Approaches are different. A blanket approach to generations just won’t work.

Grass roots marketing is an approach that should be integrated in the social scheme for brand recognition. Find your brand ambassadors – the ones who will talk about the product, their experience, and showcase it. Build up that foundation so others are curious about what the brand is up to.

So, how can you relate that back to brand recognition? Generation Y in itself trusts their friends and those around them. They crowdsource on social media sites to see what’s best. They turn to Yelp for restaurant recommendations. A grass roots social approach will help brand recognition and effectively market to those consumers that you want to hit.

So what do you think? Is it possible to market to a generation? How do you define demographics? Is brand recognition the true way to go?

[Via http://javilabbe.wordpress.com]

Broadcast/Pro Video Tape Recorders/Players (VTRs/VPRs) Report-Aarkstore Enterprise

2010-01-25T09:41:00.000+02:00

Ingenuity and accommodation should be the words for VTR/VPR marketers in the coming years. Digital holds the future and any linear product has to be designed to support it flexibly… and affordably. Hard disk, optical and memory cards are the preferred formats, with disk drives getting the most attention these days. Analog devices that can interface well with nonlinear equipment, in a variety of formats and resolutions will be the components of choice during all facility upgrades.

This is just part of the findings from Broadcast/Pro Video Tape Recorders/Players (VTRs/VPRs) Report . The full report provides quantitative data, based on extensive annual primary research surveys (since 1984) of broadcast and pro video facilities in each of the following end-user vertical markets: broadcast television stations, cable television stations, post production facilities (video and film), video production and multimedia facilities, corporate and institutional video facilities (government, educational, medical).

Quantitative data tables for 2006, 2007 & 2008 show total number of end-user facilities, total number and percentage purchasing by year , total dollars spent purchasing, total units purchased, average number of units purchased per end-user facility, and average price per unit. This data is displayed for each of the six vertical end-user markets as well as for the total across the board broadcast / pro video marketplace.

In addition, charts and tables show total units by format, by price range and by market share of the leading brands.

The approximately 10 page report commences with a detailed written report of the total category as well as of each individual vertical end-user market, bringing the quantitative data tables and charts to life with insightful analysis and forecasts. The written alaysis is followed by the quantitative data tables and charts

For more information please visit:http://www.aarkstore.com/reports/Broadcast-Pro-Video-Tape-Recorders-Players-VTRs-VPRs-Report-2137.html

PH.NO. 919272852585

[Via http://aarkstore.wordpress.com]

Lowongan Kerja: PT. Bank Bahtera Masyarakat

2010-01-25T03:48:00.000+02:00

Deskripsi : Bank Perkreditan Rakyat Bahtera Masyarakat adalah sebuah Bank yang sedang berkembang dan membuka kesempatan bagi anda yang ingin bergabung dan mengembangkan karir di Bidang Perbankan.

PT. Bank Perkreditan Rakyat BAHTERA MASYARAKAT
Alamat : Jln. Batu Tulis Raya No. 8, Jakarta Pusat
No Telp : 3841006, 3521343

Lowongan untuk :

1. Kepala Kantor Kas (KKK)
2. Supervisor Marketing / CMO (Motor / Mobil ) (spv)
3. Credit Marketing Officer ( Motor / Mobil) (CMO)
4. Funding Officer (FO)
5. Verifikator (Vf)
6. Accounting (Acc)
7. Customer Service Officer (CSO)
8. Collector Khusus (Ck)

Lokasi Kerja di : Jakarta, Serpong, Cikupa, Jurangmangu,Cikarang

Persyaratan : Diutamakan Memiliki :

Kendaraan sendiri ( 1,2,3,4,5,8)
Pengalaman di bidang funding perbankkan (4)
Pengalaman di marketing kredit min 2 thn (1) min 1 thn (2)
Pengalaman memimpin tim marketing kredit/collection (1,2)
Pengalaman dalam surveyor, pernah menjadi cmo (5)
Pengalaman dalam bidang Accounting BPR (6)
Menguasai wilayah jabodetabek, tegas (8)
Khusus Wanita, penampilan menarik, pandai berkomunikasi (7)

Alamat Surat, dsb : Kirimkan lamaran dan CV lengkap langsung ke :

HRD. PT. BPR BANK BAHTERA MASYARAKAT
Jl. Batu Tulis Raya No. 8
Jakarta Pusat
Atau via email ke : hrd_bankbahtera@yahoo.com
via online : http://www.bankbahtera.co.id/career.php
(Cantumkan no Telp/HP yang bisa dihubungi dan Kode pada Subyek Email)

Tgl. Penutupan : 24 Feb 2010

[Via http://selong.wordpress.com]

Brown-nosing 101: Mn/DOT Commish Sorel on Innovation and Jamming, Collaboration - uses forbidden government word "marketing" - yet not struck by lightning

2010-01-22T09:53:00.000+02:00

Thought I’d share an excerpt from an FHWA Innovator newsletter article featuring our Mn/DOT boss, Commissioner Tom Sorel.

The interview mentions my office at Mn/DOT: Policy Analysis, Research and Innovation, which is headed up by Nick Thompson (of UPA and MnPass project management fame) and Phil Barnes (the new-ish Mn/DOT Risk Management guy), and employs a whole bunch of really good, smart people and interesting, important functions within it, such as research and market research, risk management, library, eWorkPlace, ADA, and other stuff like flying cars and friendly but emotionally unstable robots.

While I don’t know Tom that well personally, I have met him a few times, and I do get the impression that he genuinely cares about two things that I’m very passionate about: innovation and marketing.

On the flip side, he did bump me off one of the state airplanes back in October, forcing me to drive to Duluth – and, as we all know, Duluth is one of the places where everywhere you go is, quite literally, uphill, both ways, in the snow. I doubt I’ll ever be powerful enough to give him any kind of payback for that one.

Sidenote: Before you get all wound up about the expense of flying to Duluth, it can be cheaper than driving if we fill up the plane – we even have people and a program to calculate the savings and everything, so relax.

I find it interesting that Tom calls marketing “marketing”, as it seems to be an unwritten rule that, in government, we don’t call it marketing. We call it communication(s), or public relations, or outreach, or technology transfer.

I don’t agree with that approach, however, as I believe that we in government need to be driven by the same forces that drive private industry: money and (ideally) customer service. We may not be making money, but we can save it and spend it wisely. We can focus on providing better customer service and servant leadership. We can market our services and value. To me, that’s what marketing is: trying to show that a good or service you provide has intrinsic and/or monetary value (hopefully both).

One note about Tom’s interview:

Tom mentions a project we did based on the IBM Innovation Jam model, which we ended up calling an E-Magination Jam, or E-Jam. I was lucky enough to be part of the cross-departmental team that helped execute the project.

We ended up using an online service called Uservoice. If you email or call Daniel Kan at Uservoice, they were offering a government discount of 100% (read FREE) for the first 12 months if you use it for gathering public input (like Seattle, WA, and Austin, TX), and a 50% discount for whatever else you might use it for.

And, if you tell Daniel I sent you, I get…badadadadadadada…nothing! That’s right, zilch! Since I work for the government, I can’t accept any kickbacks. The upside for you is that I really must like it if I’m endorsing it for free – the downside for you is that you and some guy Googling “forbidden brown jam” are probably the only ones who will ever read this post.

Since the E-Jam I have used Uservoice for one other internal project designed to increase transparency and collaboration during our annual research project selection and funding process. While Uservoice isn’t perfect, and isn’t as customizable as I would like, it is a very good introduction to the world of online transparency, jamming, collaboration, customer feedback, or whatever you care to call it.

- Jake

Read the full interview here: Q&A With Tom Sorel: Tapping the Power of Innovation

Why is now such a critical time for the highway community to innovate?

If there ever was a time to look at innovation, now is that time. We just published our transportation plan, and we identified a $50 billion funding gap over a 20–year period. I’m asked all the time how we’re going to close that gap. Recently, I did a media event at which I was asked that very question. I said we’ve got to look at different kinds of funding mechanisms, and innovation goes hand in hand with that. If we can be innovative in areas like contracting, financing, new materials and congestion mitigation techniques, I think we can close that gap.

What progress do you see the highway community making in becoming more innovative?

For many years we didn’t have the funding challenges we have today, so there wasn’t strong motivation to look at innovative practices. But that’s changing. When you look at transportation organizations today, you see that organizational structures and skill sets are changing to reflect an innovative approach. But it’s not something that can happen overnight. Because they have been around for a long time, many transportation organizations are big ships to move. It’s just the nature of our business.

I think the key to moving forward is respecting the past. I say that over and over again here in Minnesota. If we can respect the past and the people who have done a great job getting us to where we are today, then change and innovation become more acceptable. You don’t want to discount the past because a lot of creative and innovative people preceded us.

Minnesota Transportation Commissioner Tom Sorel. Photo credit: Minnesota DOT

Why did you launch a new Minnesota DOT office—Policy Analysis, Research and Innovation—with innovation as a key responsibility?

Shortly after I got here, I decided we needed a strategic vision that reflects the future. A key element of that vision is innovation. We’ve identified it as one of the strategic directions of the department. I felt we needed some element of the organization that could support that, so we created this office as the focal point for jump-starting innovation. That doesn’t mean innovation is not occurring throughout the department, but this office helps us create an innovative culture.

The other thing we did within that office was create an external partnering group to work on relationships with the stakeholders Mn/DOT deals with, such as city and county officials, contractors and consultants. Within that group we established a marketing component that serves as a focal point for external marketing for the department.

How important is marketing to your agency’s success?

I am a big believer in marketing and always have been, so when I came to Mn/DOT I wanted to see that we had the marketing element the organization needs. We’ve always had marketing research activities and good marketing in certain areas, such as our snow and ice control area. I wanted to expand that.

We have since been using marketing and market research for other things, such as our urban partnership agreements. We’ve been using marketing techniques in discussions we’re having on rail and on our TIGER [Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery] grant applications.I see a big role for marketing in gaining an understanding of public values and being responsive to public needs. We’re now developing a marketing plan for the entire department. We’re ratcheting up what we’ve done in the past and trying to develop a mindset of thinking like marketers. It’s something I talk about to employees all the time. It’s not just the marketing staff who’s responsible. We’re all responsible. We need to understand what our customers value and what kinds of services they’re looking for.

What else are you doing to jump–start innovation?

There is one thing we’re in the middle of now that I’m pretty excited about. Several years ago, I was looking at how private sector organizations stimulate innovation. I came across an IBM program called Innovation Jam. They pick a topic, and for several days people get online and throw out ideas. Other people join the conversation, and they just keep building on it. In the end, they have some new and innovative ideas for products and services.

When I came to Mn/DOT, I thought, “Why can’t we do something like that?” So as we speak we’re in the middle of an E-magination Jam. It’s going on online for this entire week. Employees are throwing out ideas and then jamming on these ideas. If you don’t have an idea, you go online and vote for other people’s ideas.

We’re trying to focus employees on our strategic directions—safety, mobility, innovation, leadership and transparency. So the ideas they put up there should fit into one of those strategic directions. But they have the capability of throwing anything up there. It has been a really creative process. We’ve set aside a little bit of the Destination Innovation fund to fund some of the ideas, and we’ll fund other ideas other ways.

Read the full interview here: Q&A With Tom Sorel: Tapping the Power of Innovation

Hey Minnesota, how about hosting a Minnesota x.0 Live Innovation Jam like Vermont 3.0? At least it’s not Delaware 3.0…

[Via http://jakervik.wordpress.com]

My fabulous Christmas presents

2010-01-22T03:49:00.000+02:00

Coming back from our holiday two Christmas presents were in the mail.

The first one was Alyson Stanfield’s famous book “I’d Rather Be In The Studio!”, which I just started to read today and the second was the long-awaited DVD “Encaustic with a textile sensibility” from Daniella Woolf.

Two hours of Encaustic fun!

It’s hard to decide what to do first, read the book or watch the DVD…I’ve done a bit of both today.

The best thing is I have signed up for Daniella’s workshop at the Conference. Hopefully I will get in!

[Via http://encausticcanada.wordpress.com]

Exhibiting at a Trade Show? What to do after the show.

2010-01-20T09:42:00.000+02:00

I just don’t get it. Companies spend a great deal of money and time to put on a successful presence at an important trade show and they don’t follow up with their leads from the show. Studies have shown that over 75% of leads taken at a show by exhibitors are never followed up. I’ve seen it as well. Many times it is a disconnect between marketing and sales. Marketing spends a great deal of time on the show but often don’t work with sales before, during and after the show to get the most benefit from the show. Given the company’s investment in events like a major trade show, this is unbelievable.

It has been proven that contacts made at a trade show are some of the best contacts possible for a company. Individuals who attend trade shows are usually there for a reason, often looking for solutions to their problems. They are taking the time and effort to investigate their options. Usually they are ready to purchase a solution within the next year from the date of the show. Therefore these show attendees should be contacted and courted, quickly and efficiently.

Here is what needs to be done after any trade show event:

A. Finalize the event cost spreadsheet and write an after show report. In this report mention the total cost and state key information from the show especially any successes and failures including:

what could be improved for the next time such as additional items to pack
customers met
attendance of event
what competitors were there
# of prospects
key relationships established
any trends at the show

B. Enter all leads into your prospect tracking system or customer relationship management (CRM) application such as Salesforce, Act or Goldmine. At a minimum get them into a spreadsheet. If any information is missing such as a contact’s phone number then do a web search to get the missing information. If appropriate have a post show meeting with those involved to gather information that might be beneficial to the company.

C. Promote your attendance at the show. Write a blog post or article about what happened at the show including trends seen and highlights from the show. Include your company’s highlights from the show but discuss other companies as well. Send this show article to customers and prospects that could not attend the show. This is a touch point that many will appreciate. A blog post or article will key your company’s name, products and/or services into the top of mine of those that went to the show.

D. All leads should be immediately responded to by visit, mail, overnight delivery, email, and/or phone. Highly recommended that a follow-up package to key show leads be sent immediately. All contacts should hear from the company within 5 days of the show. Email is probably the easiest to do this with a thanks for attending. Prepare the email to send before the show so that it is not rushed. Assign every contact made at the show to a specific sales representative or upper management person and have them call the contact within 10 days of the show. After 10 days check with them and find out their progress. All information gathered during the call should be entered into the CRM package. Segment contacts into different groups so that the marketing can be tailored to them. Groups could include the following:

existing customers that visited the booth
prospects that visited the booth
other contacts such as vendors, potential partners, potential employees, etc. that visited the booth or your company had meetings with at the show
anyone else that attended the show

Of course, booth visitors get a thank you for visiting your booth and the marketing piece is personalized. Show attendees that did not visit your booth gets information about your company. An incentive to learn more should be included in the contact. Marketing can create a marketing campaign to the prospects and these prospects should be included in future campaigns.

E. Decide a go/no-go to attend this event the next year. And, if they vote go, make sure the show staff know your interest in attending next year and start planning for next year’s show. Many of the same attendees from this year’s show will probably be attendees at next year’s show.

Trade shows are an important part of a company’s marketing plan, as well one of the most expensive items. What is done after a trade show is just as important as what happens during the show. Maximize your effort after the show and follow up with those engaged. If you do this you will be ahead of your competition.

[Via http://jimwalery.wordpress.com]

Food That Can Think For Itself

2010-01-20T03:45:00.000+02:00

Microspheres add flavors, vitamins, fragrance and cooling agents to foods.

Have you ever overcooked a frozen pizza and wished the pizza could have told you it was ready a few minutes earlier? It’s not impossible. The pizza maker merely has to manufacture the pizza to emit a specific flavor when it’s ready, using something called microspheres.

Just a few microns in diameter, microspheres are hollow spheres made of polymers, starches or waxes that can contain a large variety of materials such as flavors, vitamins, fragrance and cooling agents. Almost every major company in the food and cosmetics industry, including firms like Hershey’s ( HSY – news – people ), Procter & Gamble ( PG – news – people ) and Estee Lauder, is using or looking into using microspheres. They’re also being used increasingly in ceramic and glass form to make better grinding machines and to make road paint more reflective.

One popular application for microspheres is for adding vitamins and minerals to foods, as consumers become more intent on better living. Nutrients such as Vitamin C and iron will lose their potency when exposed to air for long periods of time. So energy bar manufacturers are using microspheres to keep nutrients fresh. According to foodprocessing.com, a few examples of energy bars using microspheres are the Ohmama Bar and Hershey’s controlled-release SmartZone energy bar.

Microspheres are also being used to add heart-healthy but smelly fish oil to bread. Several bakers, including Wegmans Food Markets of Rochester, N.Y., use micro-encapsulated fish oil so they can mask the odor but still be able to bake breads containing them. Microspheres used in food must be approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and are made of complex carbohydrates (like certain starches) or other natural materials that could be found in your kitchen.

Microspheres can change function easily just by changing the composition of the outer shell. Microspheres with water-soluble shells could be used inside baby diapers to release a pleasant fragrance when the baby has just peed. P&G already has several patents granted that use microspheres inside diapers in creative ways. Here is a 1998 patent that talks about microspheres that crack open and release perfume when removing the diaper from the baby.

Unilever about a year ago launched a version of its Persil fabric conditioner containing microcapsules that latch onto clothing and burst open to release their fragrance by the friction of movement by the wearer

Salvona, a privately held specialty ingredients manufacturer that is a supplier to companies such as P&G and Estee Lauder, has seen its sales increase 30% over the last year. It manufactures and sells microspheres for about $40-$60 per pound that go into such things as frozen pizza to release flavored ingredients when cooked.

What you can encapsulate inside a microsphere is limited only by your imagination and purpose. A class of microspheres that reacts to a change in acidity could be used to create stomach-friendly drinks for people who would normally have to take anti-acid tablets. The microspheres in the drink would do the job by releasing anti-acid before the stomach ache even happens.

Liquor companies could invent some pretty entertaining drinks. A fun idea would be to use acid-activated microspheres in a line of “Magic Cocktails.” When you add lemon to a Magic Cocktail, you could get a completely different flavor along with a surprising color. (Salvona confirmed that both the anti-acid and the Magic Cocktail idea are technically possible.)

Kimberly-Clark ( KMB – news – people ) makes Huggies wipes that consumers are using for more then just cleaning, but also for cooling and refreshing their skin. Here is a patent Kimberly-Clark was issued in 2008 that talks about wet wipes with microspheres containing heating or cooling agents.

A more far-fetched idea could be a spray with heat-sensitive microcapsules containing a skin-friendly liquid that evaporated quickly. If this was possible, these capsules would instantly cool the body (through evaporation) and potentially prevent people from sweating in unfavorable times.

A newer class of microspheres can now offer multiple effects. Sam Shefer, chief executive of Salvona, had me try a surprising prototype lip balm that his team developed. It tastes orange at first, but after a few moments gives a cooling minty sensation. How it works is simple. Microspheres containing the orange flavor also contain nanospheres that give the cooling sensation. Salvona can manufacture ones that contain up to five distinct ingredients giving different sensations and effects.

Salvona sees the greatest potential in skin care. They can manufacture microspheres that first exfoliate (remove dead skin) and then release nanospheres with salicylic acid to prevent acne. What is great about this idea is that conventional products containing salicylic acid dry out your skin. But with this technology, the microspheres containing the salicylic acid only react with an enzyme that is produced on the acne. So the salicylic acid is delivered only to the acne and nowhere else.

In a time where consumers are asking for organic and unadulterated products, the idea of engineered intelligent foods and cosmetics may be a tough sell. Unlike a few years ago, it is extremely difficult to find any public information on efforts to develop engineered foods. In the early 2000s, Kraft was part of a large consortium called Nanotek set up to explore the applications of nanotechnology. Kraft had announced its efforts to develop customizable foods, including a drink for which the taste could be customized by the consumer using microwaves and nanospheres. Kraft pulled its support of nanotech in foods in 2004 after public outcry.

Salvona says it has not seen a drop in demand. On the contrary, it has seen a greater demand in recent years from the food industry. Consumers have the last say on what products will dominate our future, and manufacturers are listening closely. It is certain that consumers are craving healthier foods that will improve their well-being and the microsphere industry definitely has a lot to offer in creating products that will make our lives easier, healthier and more fun.

Osman Can Ozcanli was the head researcher of Inventables, helping companies such as Nike, Coca-Cola and Herman Miller innovate. He is now an independent designer who invents consumer productsfor multi-national companies. Contact him at osmancan@gmail.com.

[Via http://lanle.wordpress.com]

Search engine optimization

2010-01-18T09:47:00.000+02:00

Search engine optimization (SEO) start with a best keyword research and counting their popularity to rank any website in search engines. Most of the today Seo services provider are annoyed and always in a rush to rank websites. This reserved them revising their services attempts and wastage of time and traffic on site. Keyword research and SEO work to rank a website need lots of patience and intelligence. You need to use major tools provided by the search engines like Google, yahoo and msn. It will help in strapping search engine optimization.

You can use tools provided by Google like different keyword tools and Google suggestions and insight. You can also go for Google web master tools to receive better number of traffic and searches on your website every day. In term of Off page optimization you can use the powerful tool article writing on a live website page. It gives benefit to your site so much because search engine crawlers and users both like to visit the pages that have good and unique contents.

If you are going for on page optimization then you should keep in mind then crawler crawls easily html web pages so your html page should be optimized and having the content that crawler can read easily. You can put best title for your site, keyword and description according to site niche.

SEO based content writing is the best element on a live web page. Both, search engine crawlers and human beings love to read original and effective content filled with useful information. However; there has to be an efficient use of SEO content writing techniques as well. It will help the website to get crawled quickly by the search engines with in few days that emphasizes the expected ranking of the website.

[Via http://deepwebtips.wordpress.com]

Dymocks #fails. Borders #wins

2010-01-18T03:38:00.000+02:00

Dymocks bookstores doesn’t share a mission statement on their website. They do however have a page describing their history and approach and the statement below is, to me, roughly a vision statement.

“As a family owned business and the oldest Australian-owned bookstore, Dymocks prides itself on meeting the leisure, learning and gift needs of all booklovers by offering superior customer service and an enhanced book buying experience.”

Borders Australia, has a mission statement:

“To be the best-loved provider of books, music, video, and other entertainment and informational products and services. To be the world leader in selection, service, innovation, ambiance, and community involvement. We recognize people to be the cornerstone of the Borders experience by building internal and external relationships, one person at a time.”

But after a recent experience, I would suggest that only one of these retailers is living up to their mission statement.

A consumer’s mistake

My father bought my wife a book for Christmas. It’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” the first of a highly successful trilogy of crime novels by Stieg Larsson.

My wife already has this book so we asked my father if he had kept the receipt so that we could change it. Unfortunately, he had not kept the receipt but he told us that he bought it from Dymocks.

I looked at the book and saw that it had the sticker still on it. So we headed over to a local Dymocks store to try to exchange it. We wanted to simply swap this book for the second book in the series which is sold for the same retail price.

However, after we asked Dymocks if we could exchange without a receipt we were told quite sternly “Absolutely not. No receipt. No exchange.”

A bizarre policy

This seems ridiculous to me. Lets look at the underlying transaction happening here. Essentially, one book in perfect condition that can be sold on is swapped for another book of the same value from the same store. There is no loss of revenue for the store and it’s quite a standard practice for stores to offer exhange. Fair enough, having the receipt would provide some validation that the book was bought there. But people do make mistakes and lose receipts. The book still had the Dymocks tag on it after all! Other than not having the receipt, what else was different?

Lets say we had the receipt. The book would have been swapped immediately. The unwanted book placed back on the shelf and sold at a later date – and we’d go home happy and pleased that we were given the second book.

I didn’t give up – but recognising that the store manager wasn’t going to budge I headed over to another Dymocks. Once again we had the same stern refusal. This now really irritated me.

What was the logic behind this? I’m not asking for cash! I just want to swap the book? Why do you need the receipt? Can an exception not be made to support your supposed goal of “superior customer service and an enhanced book buying experience” Clearly not.

A better experience

I recalled the year that I spent living on student exchange in the United States while at university. Customer service always seems much better over there than here so I decided to try a tactic that worked for me there a few times.

I went to the nearby Borders store here in Sydney (Borders being a U.S. firm) and explained the situation to the customer service rep. I showed her the book and she saw it was unused, in perfect condition. I said that all I wanted to do was swap it for book two of the series.

The clerk immediately told me that this would be absolutely fine. She helped me find the second book in the series in the store and processed the transaction. Borders received the unwanted book and I walked out with the desired one. I’m happy. My wife was happy. Borders was obviously happy.

Small things make a big impact

I can’t say that I will never shop in Dymocks again. I may leave buying a gift too late or need a book in a hurry and Dymocks may be the only available option. But given a choice I will certainly select Borders over Dymocks.

I think this is an example of how overly strict rules around customer service can create a negative result for businesses. Here I am ranting about how irritated I was by Dymocks’ hard line, and simultaneously praising Borders for their comparably outstanding customer focus. For practically no effort, and for no negative financial impact, Borders has won me over.

Small things eh?

[Via http://paulalexgray.wordpress.com]

Pro Bono marketing

2010-01-15T08:55:00.000+02:00

This is the first of my crowd sourced blog entry ideas as suggested by Christopher Hewitt Chris wanted to know whether providing services Pro Bono was a good idea for startups.

In a word Yes.

More important than the answer are the reasons. It says something about us as people or an organisation. It starts the brand personification process.

It says we give before we expect.

It says we have confidence in our knowledge and our skills.

It says we trust you not to take advantage of us.

It says we are prepared to a resource before we expect you to become one.

In all it creates an environment where reciprocity is likely becuase of how humans work. In addition, it’s the best way of providing a sample, when providing a small bottle of shampoo or a taste test isn’t possible.

Startup Blog says: Pro Bono is rad.

[Via http://startupblog.wordpress.com]

Transit Agencies Need to Invest in Marketing: A Lesson from Los Angeles

2010-01-15T03:32:00.000+02:00

TRANSIT takes note of the marketing efforts undertaken by the Los Angeles Metro company, which is responsible for subway (MRT), light-rail, Bus-rapid transit and bus service in the Greater Los Angeles Area.

Those familiar with Los Angeles in California, USA, would probably think first of Hollywood, then perhaps expressways and traffic congestion. Los Angeles is also one of the first cities where the phenomenon of ’smog’ (ground level air pollution caused by industrial and car exhaust) was first really noticed, reported and studied.

But you may not know that at one time the Los Angeles area had one of the largest public transport systems in the entire United States!

And you may not know that the past few years have seen significant investment and improvements to public transport in LA, including the expansion of the subway (MRT) and light-rail systems.

But there is another crucial component to getting car users out of their cars and onto public transport, and that is creative and effective marketing of public transport to the ‘choice’ users (as opposed to the ‘dependent’ user).

As you know here in Malaysia, most public transport agencies focus on the ‘dependent’ user much more than the ‘choice’ user.

Perhaps there is something to learn for us.

From Transit Agencies Need to Invest in Marketing: A Lesson from Los Angeles at The City Fix blog.

“The key to putting together the group,” Mr Raymond said, referring to the in-house ad agency known as Creative Services, “was that we wanted to make public transportation cool.”

Making buses appear as an attractive alternative to cars is an ambitious goal for any transit agency, but it’s especially ambitious in a place like Los Angeles where image and the automobile are everything. Yet, traveling around LA it’s hard not to feel the presence of Metro. It’s fleet of colorful buses are ubiquitous on every major city street. And unlike standard city buses, these buses aren’t dreary and dull. They boast vibrant colors like California poppy from a color palette inspired by the city. Metro also has a number of playful ads on billboards encouraging Angelinos to leave their cars at home and take the bus, rail or carpool.

A humourous way to promote public transport. Image courtesy of Metro & The City Fix.

Two different perspectives on public transport. Have you seen ads like the one on the left in KL? Which one do you identify with? Image courtesy of The City Fix.

TRANSIT Says:

As always, your thoughts on the ‘image’ of public transport are welcome.

[Via http://transitmy.org]

The price of privacy

2010-01-13T09:53:00.000+02:00

The Register has an amusing account of a TechCrunch interview with Facebook creator, Mark Zuckerberg, claiming that he is a prophet.

Surprisingly, Zuckerberg is not referring to foreseeing the rise of social networking, but rather the lapse of concern over privacy.

Zuckerberg said that he saw the coming of an age where people would want to share everything, and he aimed his business at that market.

“That social norm is something that evolved over time and we followed.”

But is it really a social norm? Or is it something that people are beginning to accept because the companies driving social networking have finally found a way to make money?

Social networking sink-hole

John Norton of The Guardian posted an interesting article last month about how social networking can not make money.

“The truth is that investing in social networking represents the triumph of hope over experience. The optimism comes from a feeling that it’s impossible to gather, say, 350 million people in one place and not somehow make money.” he says.

The number is not random. It is in fact the user count of Facebook as of last week – a population greater than that of America. And yet Facebook is still running at a loss. Twitter, according to Norton, has not made a cent.

These networks can not charge membership – for then people will just not sign-up. Advertising, which has worked so well for Google, does not work so well in other cases – with click-through dropping as low as 8% according to Norton.

Is investing in social media, therefore a waste of time?

Fun and games

Facebook has come under fire recently for its privacy policy updates that, by default, share your information with everyone, including Google.

According to PrivCom.gc.ca, social networking is part of a revolution in marketing. It allows companies to openly harvest personal information about people and target products directly at them.

Dennis Yu, CEO of advertising/marketing firm BlitzLocal, came clean to TechCrunch recently, in an article about just that.

“People on Facebook won’t pay for anything. They don’t have credit cards, they don’t want credit cards, and they are not interested in shopping. But you can trick them”

He explained how applications developed for Facebook can go viral, and users are all too willing to give over their personal information, “Users in one click gave the game permission to access their profile data and they didn’t think twice about it.”

This data includes who they are, where they’re from, what they like and most importantly email and phone numbers, which can be sold to advertisers.

A number of court cases, including the recent class action suit against Zynga and Facebook, are attempting to defend users against such scams, but how much good will the suits do if people are so willing to give away their personal information?

The information age

As I mentioned in my previous post, we’re in an age now where people want to get to know each other online, and this requires sharing of information. On that much Zuckerberg and I agree. However, Zuckerberg implies that a willingness to share automatically means people are no longer concerned about privacy.

The dawn of social networking brought about the creation of a new ecosystem, where in order for the environment (the sites) to survive, the sharks (the scammers) have to survive too. The people who frequent these social networks may not be aware of the danger, they my make silly mistakes like offering a limb to a great white (Farmville springs to mind), but this doesn’t mean that they no longer care if they’re eaten.

When it comes to privacy I believe there’s a very fine line. People may be more willing to share what their favourite food is, but that doesn’t mean that they want to be harassed in their own homes by telesales people trying to sell it to them.

[Via http://cyberlens.wordpress.com]

Here lies Steffan Postaer. He wanted to be a good man but he was too busy writing…

2010-01-13T03:49:00.000+02:00

Is what you are who you are?

Last Sunday, Pastor John Buchanan (Fourth Presbyterian Church Chicago) gave a terrific sermon on the rite of baptism. Earlier he had performed the sacrament on two babies. And so later spoke of names, identities and how they relate to God’s plan for us. Interesting stuff. Especially for a borderline agnostic like me.

While there was much to glean from his sermon, I want to focus on one thing in particular. Buchanan referenced a book he’d read by Sister Joan Chittister (The Gift of Years) that struck a nerve with him. It did the same for me. I think many of you will relate to it as well…

We define ourselves by our work. It becomes the Who, What, Where, How and Why of our lives. Can you deny it?

In our society, introductions to people almost always include asking what the other person does for a living. I do it all the time: “So, Phil, what do you do?” Big deal. It’s a good way to find common ground.

But what happens, the pastor asked, when ‘what we do’ is over with or, worse yet, taken from us as in layoffs or job eliminations? Do we lose our identities? Do we become nobodies in the eyes of our peers and ourselves? Buchanon suggested living by such a self-absorbed credo devalues us as human beings, often causing serious anxiety and depression. In America, our identities are inextricably tied to ‘what we do’ versus who we are or what we believe in. Take away that and we’re left with…what exactly? Given the current recession and myriad job losses, his sermon was especially poignant. Yet, even in good times the ‘what we do’ credo is troubling. For one thing: what happens when we retire?

Uh oh.

I have always unabashedly identified myself as a writer, be it copy, editorial or fiction. To wit I wrote and edited my high school newspaper (The Lane Tech Warrior). I did the same for both student papers at the University of Wisconsin in Madison (The Daily Cardinal and Badger Herald), not to mention scribing for an independent publication, The Madcity Music Mirror. I started my career as a copywriter at Leo Burnett and continue to do so at Euro RSCG in Chicago. I’ve written three novels and dozens of short stories, some of which have been published. I write and maintain Gods of Advertising as well as The Rogue’s Gallery, which, as some of you know, was originally intended to be a forum for copywriters to showcase their writing.

So, yeah, for me it’s all about the writing. The point I’m building to: What happens when all that ends, as one day it surely must? I get paid to write and creative direct copy. This also gives my blog credibility (hopefully). Take away my job and then what do I do? Relax? I can barely do that now. How am I supposed to do it 24/7?

According to Buchanan, if we are spiritually fit we are more content and serene, regardless of our employment status. But getting fit means letting go of personal ambitions. Self-centeredness must slip away. Easier said…

To me writing is a very selfish act, even if for clients. It has a narcotic effect. I not only get off on doing it; I can’t stop. There is always another brief, another story, another presentation. Writing takes me away from my family, friends and other obligations. Buchanan suggests it also takes me away from God.

His point isn’t that writing is a despicable act (even ad copy!) but that putting it before others and God potentially is. Similar counseling is given to alcoholics: ‘Get outside of your head,’ they are told. ‘Think of someone other than yourself!’

I promise…just as soon as I rewrite that body copy.

Pastor Buchanan\'s sermon

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[Via http://godsofadvertising.wordpress.com]

The new C's of January

2010-01-11T09:33:00.000+02:00

The two new C’s beating the P and the G in Gillette or now called the ex-Folgers sanitary brand coy has failed to deploy the safety parachute as campaigns from Coke are likely soon flooding the market for this year’s numero uno position in Asia. Esp. with the Asian challenge fading for Coke as it is firmly established in China as well, In India it has further cemented the gold rush for the heat with a new mega celebrity , budgeted in Indian rupees campaign with cinekhiladi Akshay. Last seen in the Colors resurgence on the Indian terra firma, Akshay may still be out first export from Bollywood for non Indian audiences or diaspora with 2010 establishing a second decade for innoarket aware vative Coke marketing and most of it corresponding to the Indian desi heady rush without the Ramesh Chauhan fights early on.

Also, the second C that got the gall of the razor was Canon which beat doomsday prediction for the recession friendly retail industry with a 35% uptick in budgeted targets for cross RS 1000 crores or $400 million this year riding a new market aware Xerox and Photograhy products campaign. Here’s to the new Cs..there are enough jobless students out there to absorb a lot of additional Cs in the marketing software.

If you want more Financials and related stuff, double back to http://advantages.us. Adage has the revolution for now and we are on Ad age.

[Via http://twitterone.com]

Agency/Client Relationships: Collaboration is the Key!

2010-01-11T03:50:00.000+02:00

I was reading a blog by Gail Kurpgeweit entitled What My Dad Taught Me About Marketing to Women and it really got me thinking. How well do marketing and market research agencies anticipate their clients’ needs and how flexible are they in meeting them? From my experience, I would have to say not very well, particularly in today’s economy.

From my experience working on both the agency and the client sides, I have seen both the client and the agency miss the boat. In the past, traditional agencies have focused on being the expert/authority on a subject and could spew out the generalities that come from such a position. That said, what was and is now needed are partnerships in which both parties come to the table with expertise and knowledge to build the relationship and collaboratively construct an answer that is “right” for today. And, to be successful, marketing and market research companies will need to know how to work with each of their clients and their clients’ senior management to build workable strategies and solutions based on today’s needs, which can be real moving targets.

Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not like the clients and agencies aren’t going into their relationships assuming that they are building a partnership. It’s just that neither party seems to put enough effort into building an answer that is appropriate for today’s dynamic business environment. I think this lack of an active partnership comes from a few important factors:

Yesterday’s business dynamic was that a business person hired a “marketing expert” because marketing was outside of his/her core competency and that “expert” was assumed to have the answers immediately. Clients got used to immediate answers and agency folks became enamored of their unquestioned authority stature and all was good… until, the business environment became highly dynamic and today’s perfect answer became an abysmal flop tomorrow. There aren’t any easy, pat answers anymore.
The need to actually talk about business situations is compounded by the fact that clients and agencies are just too busy to effectively communicate
- Clients don’t inform their agencies about what is going on in their industry and agencies don’t communicate that they know just enough about their client’s industry to use the right buzz words and be dangerous.
Agencies are so focused on getting new clients on the books, they aren’t taking adequate time to get to know and understand the unique needs each client has. They can’t assume that all insurance companies have the same needs and pain points, just as they can’t assume that all CPG (consumer package goods) companies have the same needs and pain points.
Environments/industries are changing at light speed, and agencies just can’t keep up and know all of the answers from square one!

So what does this mean for today’s marketing and market research companies? To retain their base and perhaps grow in these uncertain times, they need to:

1) Focus on the partnership. The relationships that marketing and market research companies have with their clients have to strengthen in order to make them mutually valuable.

2) Be a real expert. It’s not okay to spew the industry buzz-words and lack substantive assistance. Agencies have to make a meaningful difference to each client. Sometimes an agency has to ask the tough questions and force folks to recognize the elephant in the room.

3) Visit more. If time is money, than relationship meetings are worth their weight in gold. It’s during these in office visits that you will learn the most about what is going on in your client’s world.

4) Be more nimble/flexible. Agencies need to be better at coming up with answers on the fly. They also need to test their comfort zone boundaries when it comes to strategy development. You can’t rely on the same old, same old.

5) Really listen. Clients usually articulate their needs/pain points if you listen hard enough.

6) Ask more questions. Don’t assume the client has thought their needs all the way through. And clients, ask your agencies for help. Don’t think you know it all either!

Will client relationships evolve to the point where the marketing or market research company operates as a true extension of their client’s team? If they don’t, the deterioration rate for agency/client relationships – which has been in a downward spiral for over ten years – will continue to take this potentially valuable relationship out of the business norm. In the end, it’s up to all of us!

[Via http://sharonmarkovsky.wordpress.com]

Hip Hop is the answer

2010-01-08T09:40:00.000+02:00

I love it when people break through the walls of jargon usually used in an attempt to mystify.

With brands facing increasing consumer demand for transparency, the people in organisations who can lead this change is the marketing department. However, if marketers won’t let go of their jargon, they can’t hope to connect with people who aren’t like them, which let’s face it, most of target consumers wouldn’t be.

That’s what makes this presentation cool…jargon free social media tips. The stats are old now, but the theory is still relevant.

Look up Mark’s other presentations on Slideshare or check out his blog

[Via http://markcowell.wordpress.com]

Great New! I've Been Offered A Business Deal Via Email...

2010-01-08T03:10:00.000+02:00

Check out this little gem arrived in my inbox this week:

Dear Sir/Ma,

Happy New Year!.

I would like to intimate you on the possibility of your company partaking in the

on going Tender bid for the Supply of your product to Iraq.

The product are to be supplied in large quantities, to 18 Iraq Government

Protectorates (Provinces).

I will be acting as your middle man in Iraq to submit your Company

biding information’s to the Task Force Command Office in Iraq.

I am currently on board of the contracting command Office for Economic

Development in Iraq and with my connection, I am quite

Confident of securing approval for you to supply your product.

I want you to note the issue of different financial regulations between

Iraq and your country. As such you will be paid 100% through the Iraqi

Ministry of Finance upon the approval of your quotation and Invoices before

you commence supplies.

When you’ve received the payment, we would be expecting a monthly supply,

as the sum budgeted for this Tenders is quite enormous as to outstrip your

capacity And capability to supply. A consideration also is that your quotation must

be CIF Port of Umm Qasr (or the Jordanian Port of Aqaba).

I will reveal more procedural information to you upon your receiving the

acknowledgment of this proposal from you.

Best Regards.

Yours Sincerely

Nabeel Salman Kadhim.

[Via http://speakyourpeace.30careers.com]

Guerilla Marketingu(LUI) Lucian Mindruta

2010-01-06T09:42:00.000+02:00

Omul care a scris ASTA a “patit” ASTA.

N-as putea crede intr-o mie de ani ca acesta este epilogul acestei povesti. Sint convinsa ca urmeaza ca domnul Mindruta, dupa ce s-a expus cu buna stiinta pe postul national cerindu-si iertare nevestei intr-o “problema” care nu interesa pe nimeni, va aparea sa ne explice adevaratul motiv al acestei povesti: as intui ca e vorba de o campanie menita sa atraga atentia unui public foarte numeros interesat de birfe si cancanuri, care sa fie sensibilizat pentru stringerea de fonduri pentru copiii bolnavi, de pilda. E un instrument de marketing inedit, dar foarte bine gindit si care cu siguranta va avea feedback-ul scontat.

Domnule Lucian Mindruta, ati generat interes prin valurile desigur, magistral create. Asteptam sa vedem ce faceti cu el, cu interesul adica.

[Via http://cuvintre.wordpress.com]

Nokia: if you can't beat 'em, sue them

2010-01-06T03:17:00.000+02:00

Earlier this week there were a variety of posts about how Nokia is filing all kinds of injunctions against Apple to prevent them from importing anything that is remotely tied to the mobile phone business, including everything from the iPhone and iPods to the MacBook (read more). This seems to be the norm in the tech world these days. However, I have to ask, instead of wasting a bunch of money on lawyers and lawsuits, wouldn’t Nokia be better served by actually trying to take on Apple by creating superior products and services?

We’ve seen this same scenario playing out between Verizon and AT&T as of late. Both companies were suing one another and launching a barrage of expensive television commercials discussing their competitor’s problems, while neither company did much to actually make a difference in their customers’ lives.

So here’s the deal Nokia. Instead of copying the iPhone like every other company has done, why not pull your talented research and marketing team together and actually listen to what mobile phone users want. There are opportunities to create better products. I am a loyal fan of Apple and the iPhone; however, I will also admit that neither the company or phone is perfect.

It’s easy to sue. It’s also expensive, but hey, you can pass those costs on to your consumers. Resentment will build, as will a complete lack of loyalty. What we really want is great products and service, but this is a lot to ask for – it’s where the hard work is required.

[Via http://jwsokol.wordpress.com]

Are super brands like religions or are religions actually super brands?

2010-01-04T09:42:00.000+02:00

I’ve always agreed that in order for products, or indeed services to establish super brand status they must establish the same ideology as those wishing to maintain or increase the number of religious followers. After all, it is the strong belief in something that ensures a followers (consumer) complete loyalty.

The three principles of religious ideology are identified as ABC, Assure, Believe and Convert. The same is true when wishing to create a brand’s identity, maintain a brand’s perception and grow a brand’s awareness and understanding amongst its target audience.

One super brand ideally placed to compare to that of religion would be the super brand created by a dyslexic farm boy called Ingvar Kampard back in 1930s, we know it as IKEA. What started off as regional belief by Swedish consumers, who would spend a day travelling to their nearest store, has now become an international icon – a ritual if you will, where millions of people spend their weekend travelling to their nearest store buying what the store is selling! Kampard even produced a furniture dealer’s testament, which at the heart lay a reiteration of the IKEA spirit. (Acknowledgement: Matt Haig, Brand Royalty)

I’m not claiming that people will kill others for their belief in the IKEA Spirit, but the belief and continued faith of consumers (followers) has to be strong to maintain their trust in a product, service – or even a name!

So it begs the question, are marketers and communication practitioners brand guardians or actually spiritual communicators? Or am I just over egging the whole process for word count reasons…you decide.

[Via http://talktojason.wordpress.com]

Googly, Woogly, Woosh and Spaaaaaar Fresh

2010-01-04T03:00:00.000+02:00

In todays post, I would like to cover two specific advertisements to mention two points – the first one talks about the need for adapting advertisements to different media and the second one will talk about brand building based on customer perception.

1. Ponds Charmis has been running an ad campaign with the song “Googly, Woogly Woosh” (ad here) for sometime now. I recognize the tune and LOVE it, seriously! However, I recently heard (repeatedly) the same tune on radio, without a mention of the product name or any words to indicate what it was about. Left me wondering….with the visuals, the tune in the background adds a lot of value, without the visuals one would need some amount of audio (apart from the really catchy tune) to build your brand on the radio. Else, aren’t we talking about wasted airtime?

2. Spar Hypermarket is running a major campaign on Bangalore FM with the tagline “If it is not spaaaaaaaaaaaar fresh, it is just not fresh”. Again, I love the tagline, it is fantastic and the ads are innovative too. However, one of the major reasons I go to Spar in Bangalore (a really long drive from my home) is because it has one of the largest ranges of groceries and the store is always well stocked. One might argue that there is always “Big Bazaar”. I would say that by limiting the scope of what they offer, Spar has been able to offer a reasonable depth in what they offer and do so in a format that doesn’t feel over-crowded or messy. If they are trying to reach out to the people on a weak spot and build a brand around this specific fact of “freshness”, it might be a good strategy. But if this is how they are trying to build their brand, they might want to ask their customers why they choose to come to Spar vs. other options and build a story around that.

[Via http://discoveringthepurpose.wordpress.com]

The Reason Why Keywords Are Important

2010-01-01T21:37:00.000+02:00

Throughout our marketing effort, we’ve been fortunate to have seen the effects that keywords can have.

Currently, we have 39 blog posts each about a variety of different topics. We’ve mentioned books that we’ve read, movies that we thought we interesting, and topics about our own games.

With the relatively large sample of topics to choose from, you’d think that we’d get some interestesting results when people do searches…

So, would you care to guess which search terms bring us the most traffic?

Well, the results of what we find are NOT suprising. The search terms that are bringing us the most traffic are:

1. John Carmack (our article on John Carmack)

2. Merry Gear Solid (our mention of Merry Gear Solid 2)

Both are video game terms. With John Carmack we specifically mentioned him in the title (I’m not actually sure that matters or not), and I think that with Merry Gear Solid, we just beat the crowd (or people are not that interested).

Unfortunately, we can’t seem to think of a way to effectively come up with marketing keywords. Our plan is literally to keep doing what we’re doing: speaking honestly, and trying to help people as much as possible.

I have a feeling that once The Good Apprentice is finished, we’ll see a huge amount of traffic on this blog. Hopefully, we’ll be able to gain a lot of information that will be useful to you guys that we can share!

****************

As a side note, we’ll be re updating the website AGAIN. We’ve been thinking about going in this direction for a while, so check out the site for our new look:

Jr. Jellybeans (They’re All Gonna Laugh At You)

[Via http://jrjellybeans.wordpress.com]

A New Year's Resolutions Template for Marketers

2010-01-01T09:07:00.000+02:00

Market smart, always test, always measure and always analyze.

Experience and listen to experience.

Be flexible, be responsible and be quick.

Be good in data mining and be good in story telling.

Socialize with your audience (and you know what I mean), don’t just give them what they need, give them what they just wished for.

Think big, go niche.

Go mobile and go offline too.

Don’t stop when everyone else does.

__________________, ________________________.

__________________, __________, ___________________________.

_________________________________________________.

[Via http://senaertem.wordpress.com]

IPromote ad platform to break mobile barriers for local businesses

2009-12-30T09:50:00.000+02:00

IPromote has released a mobile advertising platform to help local businesses take advantage of the marketing capabilities of the mobile channel in a cost-effective manner.

For $5 a day, iPromote said small businesses will now receive instant mobile and PC Web-based ads. Local businesses will also be able to target locally in one campaign through iPromote’s local ad server, AdXpert.

“The iPromote mobile platform enables local businesses to obtain a turnkey display advertising solution in the mobile market,” said Michael Barr, CEO of iPromote, San Luis Obispo, CA. “We wanted to break down the barriers for small businesses to locally advertise on mobile devices in a cost-effective manner.”

IPromote is a division of 2KDirect and provides display advertising services.

Leveling the mobile playing field

IPromote has created a process for local business in which they can obtain Web-based and mobile ads instantly by using the URL of their Web site.

IPromote’s technology automatically detects images, text and other content from a client’s Web site and builds an online media package.

If a business has no Web site then a business can use their online directory listing. IPromote’s technology automatically goes to its stock photography database and places relevant photos into clients’ ads.

A business has total control of local targeting, budget and campaign duration.

“The addition of mobile not only gives our advertisers more reach, but also a competitive edge, since they are now advertising across mobile devices,” Mr. Barr said. “Mobile users are now obtaining relevant ads from local businesses in their area instead of the national ads that are currently on smartphones.

“For example, it is much more interesting to see an ad for the local restaurant in your neighborhood than a national ad,” he said.

Proactive eyeball catching

IPromote is talking with some of the top mobile ad networks, which currently work with many of the most popular applications and mobile-optimized Web sites.

The company will also be directly integrating with mobile sites through current and near-term partnerships.

IPromote targets businesses in 30 verticals such as food and dining, health and beauty, real estate and retail.

Mr. Barr said display advertising is a highly effective way for local businesses to proactively reach new customers.

“Mobile advertising is a high-growth sector with no signs of slowing down,” Mr. Barr said. “As the smartphone market continues to grow, we will most likely see the amount of time spent surfing the Internet shifting to mobile.

“Location-based targeting is something that can be achieved more effectively across mobile devices,” he said. “Users tend to interact with mobile ads more than Web-based ads, which provides brand awareness for the advertiser.”

Source: http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/advertising/4974.html

[Via http://umertanveer.wordpress.com]

Make your own mistakes.

2009-12-30T03:51:00.000+02:00

Everyone makes mistakes. It’s a fact of life. Every company makes mistakes, too. Are the companies that make mistakes the ones that fail? Only if they keep making the same mistakes.

They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. I think whoever came up with that definition must have been in advertising. Too many brands try the same thing year after year and seem surprised that they lose ground to their competitors.

It’s easy to spend too much time worrying about making mistakes, especially in this business. We can get caught up in over planning, over thinking and over talking—not to necessarily ensure more success but to minimize the risk of our mistakes.

But the annals of business history are filled with business mistakes that led to huge profits—from the invention of rubber to the now ubiquitous Post-It note.

When asked about his invention of the light bulb, Thomas Edison is widely reported to have said that his first failed attempts weren’t failures at all, he simply discovered 10,000 ways that wouldn’t work.

In the end, people don’t remember the mistake, they remember how you deal with it, what you learn from it and what you make of it.

If you’re not making new mistakes, you’re not innovating. You’re not pushing the envelope. You’re not doing anything new. In other words, you’re becoming a commodity.

You need to learn to budget for mistakes. If you’re making new ones and not the same ones, they are an investment, not a liability.

[Via http://burnadvertising.wordpress.com]

Effective Promotion

2009-12-28T09:50:00.000+02:00

Rules for Effective Promotions

Effective Promotion

• First, FOCUS all promotion efforts on your target market and your show objectives. Don’t fall into the trap of just getting a full list of registrants and sending blanket invitations. And don’t do something at the show that will attract everybody. You don’t want everybody in your booth, you want the right people in your booth.

• Be CREATIVE. You can be innovative without spending a lot of money. Look for ways to make it fun, different, and exciting.

• Try very hard to PERSONALIZE each mailing. Avoid using mailing labels and bulk mail stamps. Even if you get labels from the show management, take the time to retype the names on the envelopes. It makes a huge difference in whether or not your target even opens and reads it.

• It’s always better to plan for FREQUENT preshow contacts, rather than depend on a one-shot promotion. If a prospect receives a personal letter, a fax, and a postcard over a period of 3 or 4 weeks before the show, they’re much more likely to remember you and stop by.

• Give them a compelling REASON to visit you. Do you have a show special they can take advantage of? Do you have a new promotional product line or service? Make sure you say that in your promotions. The top complaint from attendees regarding promotions is the fact very few actually give a good reason to visit.

• And make darn sure you send any preshow promotions out EARLY enough. It is truly distressing to hear over and over again from attendees about this. It’s far too common for an attendee to return from a trade show and find several invitations waiting in the pile of mail that arrived while they were AT THE SHOW! Send everything to ARRIVE at least ten days in advance. What a waste of promotional dollars when a preshow communication doesn’t get there before the show.

[Via http://promodirect.wordpress.com]

Social media here, there, everywhere

2009-12-28T03:51:00.000+02:00

Social media is no longer just a cool toy for the nerds. It’s an established platform that can advance multiple phases of your business, including marketing, sales, customer service, and recruiting. I’ve put a few of these uses in the chart below.

What Social Media Can Do Branding Company news

* What people are saying about you

Positioning

Expertise Other Marketing PR & Communications

Product updates

* Industry news

* Competitive news Sales * Lead generation

Promotions

Sell distressed goods Customers Problems

* Suggestions

Questions Other Recruiting

Funding

Background checks * Top 5 small business uses according to a survey

in Ad-ology Marketing Forecast 2010

[Via http://linkdaddy.wordpress.com]

The Pursuit of Bollyness-II: Wagging the Dog

2009-12-25T15:52:00.000+02:00

Continued from P of B Part-I…

For the next couple of weeks things got so hectic that there was no time to worry about the promise made to Mr. Prakash and the next meeting due.

A scene I was beginning to picture increasingly with graphic images of dangling Damocles’ swords and me as the hapless Damocles. Uneasy, however, did not seem to lie our modern day Dionysius’ head. At least, to all outward appearance.

I tried calling Karan Sabjan for his opinion on whether the Big M would be interested. Sabjan thanked me for adding years to his life by giving him his best laugh of the month.

This was one situation where I had nothing further to contribute. Either one knew how to get to Amibath Machchan or didn’t. I didn’t.

Feeling a bit like Pandora, with thoughts leaning increasingly towards aftermaths of usual Greek tragedies, I decided to broach the subject with LL.

As the days went by, this was not easy though. Surely he wasn’t avoiding me?

With the next meeting just a couple of days away, I redoubled my efforts to corner LL and ask him for strategic guidance*.

*This is polite subordinate to boss management-speak for: Hey, you got us into this mess, and this time, you’ve gotta get us out.

“Get me Prakash”, said LL.

Having got him on phone, LL proceeded to tell him how his father had an urgent though minor surgical procedure due on the very same morning of the next meeting scheduled and could we reschedule it? Mr. P was fortunately off to Denmark and so the next meeting was fixed up to be a whole two and a half weeks away.

Admiring this adroit manoeuvre; I admit it freely, would have never thought of it – we heaved collective sighs of relief, but I felt the figurative dangling thread fray a bit, and the sword inch closer.

But LL had thought of something.

There were only two possible approaches as advised by LL’s role model Confucius:

One – Man who run in front of car get tired.

Conversely, also known as – Man who run behind car get exhausted.

Two – He who will not economize will agonize.

Next meeting, Mr. Prakash walked in fully expecting to see Machchan ensconced in our humble office abode. In his best suit and tie too. Mr. P, I mean.

LL informed him that we had contacted the Big M and that he had quoted an astronomical rate similar to his Badur contract.

I adjusted my expression accordingly so as to try look like we were the sort of people who had Machchan on call.

Knowing fully well Mr. Prakash would have never been able to loosen his purse strings to this extent, LL then commenced upon a severe campaign against using celebrities in advertising. Having embarked upon the celebrity route once, you are stuck with them forever. You’ve got to continue using a well known face else all will be lost. The fickle customer would move on. The astronomical fees you pay would have to be permanently budgeted for.

In short, hiring a celebrity for advertising would be like riding a tiger. You couldn’t ever get off.

And what if the celebrity you’ve chosen lost popularity suddenly? Made a racist slur or in a drunken haze drive over a number of innocent people on the footpath. It would rub off negatively on your brand. A dreadful fate indeed.

Having made this convincing argument, LL decided to hammer the final nail in the coffin.

Amibath Machchan, while shooting in a rural, drought prone area for his next film, had insisted on a truckload of mineral water bottles. No, not for distributing amongst the thirsty populace as you may be excused for imagining. The popular brand of bottled water was used by him – wait for it – to bathe.

As LL would have it, this generated a lot of controversy and criticism for the Big M. In reality, it was soon forgotten.

This same region incidentally was an important one for Mr. Prakash’s brands, generating a substantial amount of sales. As LL drew an eloquent picture as to what would have happened had we paid so many millions for the Big M; Mr. Prakash’s disillusionment was complete.

Having reacted true to type, he now thanked us fervently as we had been personally responsible for saving him from a fate worse than death.

It took him only another ten more minutes to decide that he had actually arrived at this conclusion himself and claim that he had already planned to decline the offer for Machchan’s endorsement should he have been ready and willing.

It is just as well the Big M would never know how far he fell from grace in our conference room in that one hour.

To soften the overall blow, LL suggested several second and third level Bollywood stars but Mr. Prakash was now a staunch convert to our cause. He happily agreed to endorsement from a humbler actor, known for playing character-led roles, suggested by Karan Sabjan.

Thus concluded another successful chapter of a highly strategic, skilfully played zero sum game.

[Via http://annoymously.wordpress.com]

Box Office Success

2009-12-25T09:09:00.000+02:00

Awe inspiring movie making…; Creativity at its best…; Technological innovation transforming into silver screen magic…; Intriguing way of unveiling the plot and storytelling…; Top notch technicians….; Celluloid beauties and Screen idols…; Personal touch moulding century old story lines into modern-day novelties… This is how I would think of most of the Hollywood Box office successes and their reasons for raking in the millions and made them Historical master pieces worth watching over and over.

The story in Bollywood is a tad different. They thrive on sensationalism, fantasy, demi god heroes, script and lyrics and music to create success and draw the crowd. For decades it has been the family values and tradition that they utilise to define the plot. Very few movies stand apart and have experimented and travelled the Road less travelled. There have been far more people taking these bold decisions off late.

Coming down further south and seeing how Box office success was and is created in Kollywood….

For several years it has always been Hero centric movies in the Kollywood. Right from MKT Bhagavathar, M.G.R, and Rajinikanth to the current crop of heroes, its been all about the hero worshipping the mother’s feet, speaking bold dialogues on the face of the camera, dancing around trees with gorgeous actresses (most of them totally alien to the Tamil language) and pouncing on the bad gang. Again the ones who take the other road are very less here too. But there has been a prominent rise of one particular force in one of the biggest film industries in the world.

That force is nothing but – “Marketing and TV media publicity”. This has been the reason behind several latest successes (in terms of box office collection). Even though most ofthese films might get only average rating from a traditional film critic, they all have managed to earn decent returns. Sun Pictures with with backing of Sun Network’s array of channels, FM stations, political muscle and marketing acumen has made a string of medium budget movie releases. All have been above average on earnings. The group buys distribution and marketing rights of many Minimum return-guarantee films and plans the release of all of them on a sequential manner. Targeted, well planned list of trailers get released day after day, building momentum gradually right up to the release day. This is followed by half an hour interactive programmes with the Movie team (Director, Actor, Actress, Producer and comedian) on each of their channels. Dont forget the Audio release, Movie preview, Movie Launch functions aired on a 3 hour time slot. This is what we call Fully Loaded

This is one aspect of the force. the other aspect is that it has become a blessing in disguise for the movie production houses who find it difficult to market and bring in the needed RoI for their films. This has helped them to recover whatever they have invested with a decent margin and thus encouraging them to produce more movies. It has also helped a lot of new comers get chances to prove their mettle. Overall even though the movies run just because of the marketing genius, this new found success formula has extended the shelf life of medium budget movie makers.

Can the same tactic work out for other products genres too ??!!

[Via http://technolect.wordpress.com]

Pets.com – a classic example of product development failure

2009-12-23T09:08:00.000+02:00

Reflecting back on the noughties (2000-2009) there are plenty of high profile cases of businesses built with high expectations but which failed to deliver. Many of these are examples of products being developed with little or no understanding as to whether or not there was a market demand for it.

In this post I analyse the much publicised example of the dot-com disaster Pets.com.

Build it and they will come… won’t they?

An all too common error at all levels of business from small garage inventors to mega corporations is a tendency to create products and services in a state of isolation and then task marketing and sales teams to “go out and find a market”. It’s quite an insane approach when you think about it. It would be like gluing a toaster onto a skateboard, calling it the Roadtoaster 5000 and then asking a friend to find a few thousand people who’d like to buy it.

There may be some anomalies, but the vast majority of successful products are developed following an analysis of a market – to identify if there are any needs or problems that people are facing, how important these needs are, how many of these people there are, if they would actually pay for something that meets their needs, if any competitors are already serving those needs and what it would take to offer a more compelling proposition than them.

Throw in a bit of basic segmentation, targeting and positioning and you would then have the beginnings of a business case to then look into developing a product to meet those needs. That in itself is a multi-step process because it may not be financially viable or even technically possible to meet the needs.

In short: Don’t build a product and then look for a market to sell it into. Look for a valid market requirement or need first. Then you can go about developing a product.

It’ll make squillions

Launched in August 1998, Pets.com was created to sell pet food and accessories via the internet. The premise was that you could “buy online and cut out the middleman” and “take advantage of Pets.com’s strong buying power”. Users of the site could browse through different categories, choose products they like and have them conveniently delivered to their home. Think Amazon’s original premise – books – but for pet products.

Interesting concept right? Sure, but Pets.com did no market research before launching. They made a lot of big assumptions: that pet owners would want to buy online and knew how to (remember, this was 1998); that selling pet products alone was compelling enough (as opposed to say an online supermarket which could sell pet supplies and other groceries); that people wanted to have such pet supplies delivered and were happy to wait a few days, rather than just driving down to the shops and getting it now.

But market research and validation of ideas seemed to be unimportant back in the heady early days of the information superhighway. Within a year of launch it had been acquired by venture capital firm Hummer Winblad (who amazingly still list Pets.com on their timeline of acquisitions!) and industry executive Julie Wainright. They even got Amazon.com on board as an investor.

Here’s the product – start marketing now!

With cash in the bank and fire in their bellies, Pets.com’s owners spent big in marketing communications and developed a brand around a sock puppet character that was regarded as either hugely entertaining or incredibly irritating depending on whom you spoke to.

They then poured cash into a massive advertising campaign, launched in January 2000 with a Superbowl TV commercial with a media price tag of $1.2 million. This was followed by intense online, print, television and radio advertising as well as a massive publicity push that saw the Sock Puppet make an appearance in the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade.

Awareness skyrocketed. Everyone was talking about Pets.com. The site was hit with traffic as people began to place orders. A month later Pets.com went out and raised over $80 million dollars in its IPO.

There must have been a lot of back patting and happy Friday afternoon drinks. Pets.com was on a roll. The money would surely start pouring in, wouldn’t it?

A flawed business model

Pets.com’s owners soon noticed some issues. They discovered that demand wasn’t anywhere near as high as they had estimated. They may have been perplexed – why wasn’t Joe Sixpack in Suburbia placing orders? Didn’t he realise how awesome Pets.com was?

Pets.com had obviously not heard of the simple AIDA model (Awareness -> Interest -> Desire -> Action). Their massive marketing campaign had certainly generated a lot of Awareness and some Interest. But it wasn’t translating into sufficient Desire and certainly not to enough Action. Not enough people were ordering products and those that did were ordering only small amounts.

Had Pets.com actually done some research and investigation it could have known this in advance. Pets.com did not offer a compelling enough value proposition – there was simply no market requirement for home delivered pet food.

Whilst this meant revenues were much lower than expected, it also meant that costs were higher than necessary. Pets.com had invested in massive warehousing facilities to store all the dog food they figured they’d sell. This was a fixed cost that could not be avoided and it made a serious dent in their sales profitability. To make things worse, Pets.com went so far as to offer discounted and even free delivery which given the physical size and weight of the product was hugely expensive.

Sales did grow due to aggressive pricing and the massive marketing spend, but this only meant that Pets.com was losing money on most sales. The model was unsustainable. It was argued that this was just the nature of building a new business but even a fifth grader running a lemonade stand knows you need to charge more than you pay otherwise you won’t be in business long.

RIP Pets.com

In November 2000, Pets.com folded after having burned through $300 million in less than two years. Over 300 people lost their jobs and the site was shut down. CEO Julie Wainright said in a statement ”It is well known that this is a very, very difficult environment for business-to-consumer Internet companies. With no better offers and avenues effectively exhausted, we felt that the best option was an orderly wind-down with the objective to try to return something back to the shareholders.”

Whilst it was a high profile example of dot-com foolishness it was not an isolated occurrence. It’s still astounding that so much money was lost at the time. It’s hard to accept the argument that people simple overestimated the potential of the internet. Sure, that may have happened but Pets.com’s entire business model was flawed with apparently no real understanding of some very basic business models (i.e. you have to make more money than you spend!).

What would a product manager do?

It’s unlikely that we’ll see this sort of extreme silliness again. To be fair, over the past ten years a lot of niche specialist pet supply stores have started up but they operate at a much more scaled down level and have focused their product offerings and services on specific market segments.

As outlined at the beginning of the article I still see many examples of products being developed with no preliminary research, analysis or investigation to see if there is actually going to be any need for the product. This inevitably leads to wasted money, time and effort.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Once again, the lesson of the story is simple:

Don’t build a product and then look for a market to sell it into. Look for a valid market requirement or need first. Then you can go about developing a product.

NOTE: This blog post of mine was originally published on the brainmates website. brainmates provides product management and marketing consulting and training services for leading organisations in a range of industries. And I work there so check them out!

[Via http://paulalexgray.wordpress.com]

Become a Better Investor with REIWired

2009-12-23T03:44:00.000+02:00

Do you find it difficult to find and close deals? Worry no more because REIWired can change all that! Boasting a huge collection of various learning tools, REIWired.com is the perfect partner for investors who want to bring their real estate investing business to a whole new level.

With its extensive database of instructional materials, REIWired has established itself as the prime source of quality real estate education in the country. With the website’s help, real estate investors would be able to learn various strategies and techniques from some of the biggest and brightest names in the real estate business.

Whether you are into wholesaling houses, rehabbing homes, or flipping properties, you will get all the information you need to step up your game. Learn various real estate investing hints and tips from the likes of Mike Collins, Preston Ely, Cris Chico, Tim Mai, Steve Cook, Mark Jackson, Larry Goins, and “Flip This House” star Than Merrill. You can also get valuable pointers on financing and generating leads from marketing gurus Heather Seitz and Dan Stojadinovic, among others.

REIWired also has a large collection of articles that discuss various topics on investing in real estate. So if you are having trouble negotiating with home buyers and sellers or wondering which medium to use when advertising the properties you are selling, head over to the website’s article page.

In addition, the website has dedicated a page for those who want to listen to audio recordings of various tele-seminars on real estate investing. By registering with REIWired.com, you will be able to get access to these informative audio files and learn something new without having the need to read articles or watch instructional videos.

Because REIWired is a “one-stop shop” for your real estate education needs, you don’t have to surf the Internet for hours just to find the information you need. You also don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on instructional CDs, DVDs, and manuals that don’t give you clear and positive results. And most of all, you don’t have to create important real estate documents on your own as the website can provide you with templates of quitclaim deeds, authorization for mortgage, assignment contracts, “we buy houses” flyers, power of attorney, and more.

So if you want to make millions of dollars in the real estate business, log on to www.REIWired.com today.

[Via http://flippinghouses12.wordpress.com]

It's A Heart Issue Part Four

2009-12-21T07:37:00.000+02:00

So we’ve looked at what is the heart of your business and last week we looked at how that new perspective applies to your customers. What did you come up with? Did you try it out? If you haven’t yet, this week that is your assignment, along with what we are going to talk about now.

No doubt that as you worked, or will work your new found heart, you will begin to realize that there are holes. Holes in your sales process, in your marketing strategies and most definitely, holes in your media that you use to share that heart with your customers.

As the Christmas season is drawing to a close. Take this time to think about just what types of media you use. What is missing. How can you tweek what you have to align with your new found heart. These areas are key in refocusing your media to align with the heart of your business. If you don’t have heart you are dead. If your clients don’t know your heart, how can they interact with you and trust who you are to them. How do they know what sets you apart.

As you move into the New Year, thinking about these questions. Answer them. Then search out a professional to help design and create the media that can make all the difference.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

[Via http://themediatoolbox.wordpress.com]

Jarritos

2009-12-21T03:49:00.000+02:00

It’s been an interesting year for me with tons of firsts. My first year of being married. My first time in grad school. My first time going to Europe. My first time receiving something from another company because I was blogging about them.

Couple months ago, I wrote a rather innocuous post about eating take out dinner from Cafe Habana in NYC and washing down our delicious Cuban sandwiches with a Mexican soda called Jarritos. Well many weeks ago, I had a representative from Jarritos, David, leave a comment on the site about wanting to send out some samples due to my particular interest in the drink. I got back in touch with them and a week after that exchange, I had a large box from UPS waiting for me. I received 12 different flavors, a Jarritos mixtape CD and a Jarritos t-shirt! It was like an early Christmas gift.

The drinks have been delicious. I’m about halfway through them. My faves so far: Mandarin Orange and Toronja. Thank you Jarritos and David!

Bottled skittles.

So good.

Hecho en Mexico.

Thanks again!

[Via http://truest.wordpress.com]

What you don't want for Christmas

2009-12-18T09:45:00.000+02:00

Oliver Wright writes:

One of my seasonal ‘jokes’ goes that you can tell when Christmas is approaching by the adverts on TV. Thus, like many others I suppose, I am thrust from my usual lethargy into a mild panic, making hurried calls to my siblings and parents, enquiring what they might want for Christmas, with the implicit fear that the shops might somehow run out of appropriate gifts.

In spite of our recessionary times, the high street in London has done surprisingly well for itself compared to 2008 when the onset of the recession dampened the Christmas (spending) spirit. November sales are up only 1.8% on last year nationally, but in the capital sales are up 13.3%.

Even if we are short of cash, we certainly shouldn’t be short of ideas: most of the major newspaper websites have a glut of buying guides, telling us what we could buy, and for whom. But for every article about ideal presents, one often finds a dissenting contributor in the comments sections, outlining the merits of a presentless Christmas. Capitalising on these frugal sentiments, The Green Thing has created a cunning spoof of the Amazon.co.uk website, delightfully titled Amazero.com, encouraging us to buy their single product – nothing (it’s priceless, of course). With a slightly more traditional approach, Adbusters sponsored ‘Buy Nothing Day‘ on the 26th of November this year.

Both of the above campaigns make the claim that Christmas – or more simply, buying lots of stuff – is bad for the environment, and detracts from the true spirit of the season. However, if you’re more inclined to think that Christmas is a waste of money altogether, then Joel Waldfogel’s book ‘Scroogenomics: Why you Shouldn’t Buy Presents for The Holidays’ may contain some more compelling arguments. Based on US surveys, he suggests that people would generally be willing to spend 20% less on the gifts that they received were they to buy them for themselves. This difference – in economic jargon, the deadweight loss – is worth $13bn a year in the US. He continues:

There’s every reason to believe the deadweight loss is as big elsewhere. That would get you to $25 billion a year around the world in value destroyed through gift giving.

Waldfogel isn’t against gift giving – just bad gift giving. Tim Harford has some useful recommendations based on Waldfogel’s arguments: spend modest amounts (hence reducing the likelihood of a large deadweight loss), or increase the sentimental value of your gift – invest time or creativity into making something personal. In other words, give it value to which you can’t attach a price.

In a neat twist, Waldfogel’s book is out for Christmas. But before you buy it, make sure the recipient wants to read it first.

The Image above is taken from the Amazero.com website, and is used with thanks.

[Via http://blog.thefuturescompany.com]

Is the purple cow killing businesses marketing strategies?

2009-12-18T03:32:00.000+02:00

I recently viewed a presentation from Seth Godwin, (have also read his books). Fundamentally he makes a great point. With the emergence and unbelievable growth of the internet, businesses and services have become interchangeable. So Seth states you have to hunt for something unique about your business to enable you to stand out. Sounds like a sensible strategy but got me thinking.

During writing for my latest seminar I uncovered some amazing facts, in 1950 in America the average person got bombarded by fifteen adverts a day! Can you image that, I have the picture of a family sitting around the dinner table (eating meat with two veg, it is the 50’s after all) talking and recalling all the ads that they saw that day. Imagine that! Now the average American gets hit by around 3000! Yes 3000, I find that amazing. Makes really bad news for traditional marketers, you sort of get to the point of saying what’s the point anymore to billbords, magazine advertising etc

Seth makes the point given a market is as complex as this then you have to be a purple cow, for those that haven’t read his books he says if you drive down a country road and see a normal cow do you even notice? Would some even raise a eye brow at a normal cow? But if you drove and saw a field of cows and one was purple would your stop or even look? He makes the point of course. Now I agree that you need to find your purple cow but sometimes I think too many business try to be cleaver and find a point of difference. I think accept it that it if you sell a widget and ten others sell the same except it’s the same widget! Now I believe if you get resigned to the notion that because every widget is the same why would you buy mine and give up your missing marketing 101. GET A COMPLETE SALES AND MARKETING PLAN

You have to think of your client (or potential client) and solve their biggest issues, then and only then work out how to get to them! In New Zealand theres a website www.trademe.co.nz a takeoff of ebay, I get pitched every month from someone wanting to create a takeoff trademe. None work! There’s lots of reasons why but one nice one was in trademe’s first five or so years every weekend they dropped flyers on cars in supermarkets! Our biggest website, now equating to 60% of all internet traffic in New Zeland had to get their customers to find out about them by dropping flyers (manually!!) on car windows!

They had no purple cow, no new amazing breakthrough in technology but good old fashion brains to realise they had to work out ways to go direct to their potential customers.

In my experience advertising clutter is getting horrible but theres a silver lining, I believe that this growing clutter is evening the playing field for all companies (there will always be a few this doesn’t work for, coke, nike etc). Now if you can think of a way to get to the end customers then most of the time your one up on the big guys. I can’t see ATNT or AMAZON doing flyer drops!

Your big advantage as a small company

Yes the worlds changing and for the small businesses this change will benefit you, if you’re smart. The best way now to cut the clutter is to enter the world of social networking. Stuff purple cows, get friends to buy your products. Be liberal with the term friends, in my mind anyone that wants to buy from me can be my friend. Hell give me enough money and come round for dinner!

I was amazed that I set up a twitter account and within a month I had over 2000 people following me, imagine the world were regardless of advertising budget I can get a daily message to them if I want. Everyone should check shitmydadsays in twitter, 500,000 people follow him! Amazing. Use facebook, twitter, bebo any social networking. The bets stratergy I believe is to get as many followers then sell your heart off! There is rules and tricks which I might talk about at a later date.

Hope people get value out of my blog, feel free to visit my website www.webpartners.co.nz

[Via http://webpartners.wordpress.com]

Marketing - l’apparition de nouveaux produits et services

2009-12-16T09:18:00.000+02:00

Quels changements de comportement qui entraînent l’apparition de nouveaux produits et services

Le sens individuel n’est pas donné ni par l’église, ni par l’état le matérialisme est arrive au pouvoir ! L’identité n’est pas lie par production, mais la consommation. On fait des achats, on existe ! Le sens de la vie a cédé devant le sens de la superficialité. Plus que jamais les gens cherchent l’expression de soi et l’identité à travers de shopping.

Le droit d’être, le droit de choisir, le droit de consumation sont indispensable à notre être. Nous avons donc l’occasion d’inventer de nouvelles significations pour nous même. Dans ce nouveau monde l’individualisme, la capacité de choisir, la marchée économique tous créent confusion.

Peter Katz, auteur du livre « Nouveau Urbanisme » a dit « Nous vivons dans une société basée sur des réseaux et qui a encore faim pour la communauté» Incertain, douteux, les gens commencent à la recherche de ceux qui partagent les mêmes valeurs. L’humanité aspire à un sentiment d’appartenance. L’humanité a été et restera toujours une réunion tribale.

La géographie, la culture ne sont plus lie et entretoisé car la notion d’espace a une signifiance différent sur l’entèrent. On peut être membre dans des différentes communautés. Le principal Progress du monde post industriel se reflète dans le domaine de technologie d’information et de communication.

La technologie IT a aussi valeur personnel, car il se trouve dans nos maisons. Il nous donne l’illusion d’avoir contrôlé, l’accès à l’information, la possibilité de savoir nous invite à consommer. La technologie nous donne la possibilité de modeler toujours notre identité librement

[Via http://serenitate.wordpress.com]

Business Advice from Unexpected Sources?

2009-12-16T03:48:00.000+02:00

I was watching the episode of Lipstick Jungle where Victory was opening her own boutique and hired the cheap contractor to save money. That wasn’t working out so well. Joe swooped in and began drawing on the wall.

He drew a triangle with a word at each point: good, cheap, fast. He explained that you can’t have all three at the same time. You can have good and fast, but it won’t be cheap. You can have cheap and fast, but it won’t be good. Cheap and good? Be prepared to wait for it.

That really made sense to me. I also started thinking about it from almost an opposite side as a way to evaluate which projects would be worth pursuing. Project A doesn’t have much of a budget but the project doesn’t last long and will allow us to produce a quality project that can help us get more business. Let’s take it! Project B has $ but not enough time for us to produce good work. That’s a pass because we never want to take something that won’t allow us to do quality work. And so on and so forth.

It’s a bit of a twist on the original concept but when looking at Project C that needed us to work for a long time at a low budet on a project that wasn’t relevant to prospects, that had to be a pass. If you can have none of the three, run!

Since seeing that episode, I’ve noticed Joe’s triangle theory in a couple of business books and articles. It’s quite possible it’s common, and I had just never heard it before.

Got me to thinking about other tips or theories that might have been picked up from non-traditional sources of advice. Please comment if you’ve had a similar experience.

[Via http://blah2voila.wordpress.com]

Uncover The Quick And Easy Way To Get Website Traffic With These 7 Steps

2009-12-14T09:40:00.000+02:00

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Marketing can be defined as recognizing the needs of the customer, foreseeing them as well as satisfying them and earning a profit in the process. Online marketing has created a change in the way businesses deal with their existing as well as would-be clients. A marketing professional will find the Internet to be a source of unlimited promise. Nowadays, the Internet is being widely used. Most areas now have the broadband technology. With the help of Web 2.0 tools, the broadband technology enables all customers to enjoy a rich multimedia experience. When you would like to get more information on web marketing check out this site.

Identifying and recognizing your market is the first step towards the success of online marketing. Looking ahead and taking note of the products you wish to sell, work out your potential customers’ profile. When you have identified some general aspects of your target market’s profile, you can make changes to your product offerings to suit these new customer needs.

You may have to get people to visit your site by adopting different methods. Having your very own blog is one of those things. You might even consider free publication of your articles on some of the leading websites. You can have on-line press releases and also consider paid advertising.

To keep visitors interested in your website is has to be professional, rich in content and frequently updated with relevant content. The home page should lead the guest to the pertinent pages he may be interested in. Keyword phrases strategically placed within the website’s pages ensures that the search engine will find them without difficulty. To get a closer look on internet marketing service visit this site.

Visitor profiling can make your content much more meaningful and every page more useful to the user. This task must be handled with considerable tact so that your users are not deterred from visiting your site. Pertinent information provided on your website will induce the customer to buy your product or service.

Explain the user why your products are better than existing ones. Explain how your products and services are of high perceived value and low perceived risk. Your trustworthiness in the market must be indicated by the text that appears on your web pages. Client testimonials appreciating your product are a big advantage.

Prominently announce any compelling offers that you might have on hand – offers that are too tempting for the visitor to resist. Visitors must be given the choice to select their preferred mode of payment along with the facility of multiple communication channels to reach you. Even though the visitors do not buy at the first instance, you can have a system of following it up with them till they give a response.

Make sure to include a database on your website so that it operates in the background. Data related to each transaction happening on your site should be captured by the application. Ideally, a control panel must be built-in into your website so that you have a record of transactions that need immediate attention. A synopsis of the past data is available on the control panel so that you can monitor the business trends and take any remedial action if necessary.

[Via http://onlinemarketings5713.wordpress.com]

Article Marketing Basics for the Small Business

2009-12-14T03:43:00.000+02:00

Businesses today rely on word of mouth combined with Internet searches to attract customers. Article Marketing is a leading way for any small business to get the word out about their offerings. Why not learn how to harness the power of article marketing for your own small business? Get your copy of Article Marketing Basics for the Small Business and learn the secrets of marketing through the written word.

Page Count: 12

Buy Now

About the Author: Tess C. Taylor is a Freelance Web Writer and Content Manager with an extensive background in business and human resources. Through her popular articles on business topics found on many major websites, Tess shares tips and tools that the small business owner can use to succeed in the digital market. Tess is the owner of Taylor Resources Writing LLC, a full-service writing company in Charleston, SC.

To learn more about the author, please visit Taylor Resources Writing LLC.

Read/Submit Book Review(s) in the Comment Section below.

[Via http://guides2successfulliving.wordpress.com]

Economy coming out of recession... are you?

2009-12-11T09:24:00.000+02:00

There are indications that the world is slowly coming out of recession and companies globally are hoping to regain lost momentum. India, in fact, has outperformed predictions and is looking at a robust growth in 2010-11. While some may not, most companies will manage to survive this slowdown and some may actually come out stronger!

This does not sound very surprising if you look at some fundamental stuff that companies do, or should do, in a slowdown. Any company that engages in consolidating its market share and focuses on long term goals during a slowdown, is actually taking a step forward rather than cutting back.

So what type of companies will come out stronger? What do you need to do so that your business too improves with improving market conditions? Here’s my list;

Value proposition – Additional value offered to customers, rather than discounting price, will not only keep them motivated to be loyal but also help in retaining your margins and increasing your goodwill.

Costs vs. efficiency – Most of the focus is obviously on cutting costs, but there is a real danger of losing your competitive edge if you stop or marginalize activities that affect your customers’ overall experience. Many companies that stop marketing completely are at a risk of losing their ground; the focus should rather be on improving marketing efficiency.

Engagement with customers – Only your customers can tell you if they are, and how much they are likely to use your product or service. Market conditions for you will improve only when your customers’ confidence improves, so discuss these broader issues with them.

Efficiency analysis – Review various business functions and run marketing analytics to fill holes that may be causing leaks in your resource pool.

Manage relationships – It is very important that your vendors do not run out of business and your employees don’t lose motivation during trying times. You will need them to gain momentum once the markets are looking up.

R&D and innovation – Some amount of resources can be moved to research and innovation. For instance, you may not spend so much on sales and promotion and instead channel some of these resources to develop new capabilities or improve on existing ones.

[Via http://ablemarketing.wordpress.com]

When its ok to sell on price.

2009-12-11T03:49:00.000+02:00

This is a great article put together by, S. Anthony Iannarino, Many thanks to him for putting this together.

Not selling based on price is the third rail of sales wisdom; it is dangerous to suggest otherwise, I know. The common wisdom says that it is wrong to sell on price. The common wisdom is wrong. Sometimes selling price is exactly the right strategy. We run into trouble as salespeople when we don’t know enough about our own company’s business to know whether or not it is the right strategy.

Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema outlined the the three basic strategic choices a business might make in their wonderful little book The Discipline of Market Leaders. Those choices include Operational Excellence (the price leader, think Wal-Mart), Product Leader (innovation, think Apple), or Customer Intimacy (best total solution, think your company if you are in B2B). Companies do well when they make one of these choices and act accordingly. Salespeople run into trouble when they work in opposition to their company’s choice.

If your company has made the choice to be the low price leader in their space, then you must sell price. Your target market must be those for whom price is the most important factor. When you align your efforts with your company’s strategy, things work out well for both of you. But when you decide to try to capture a higher sales price when selling to the price-motivated prospects, you are working against your company’s strategy. They have built their strategy on volume. Ultimately, the higher price you captured will cause customers to continue looking for another provider, and they will find one. You will lose sales, and your company will lose the volume for which it was designed.

What the common wisdom against selling price is really addressing is the fact that salespeople often choose to sell based on price when it is not their company’s strategic choice. If your company sells B2B, it is doubtful that they have chosen lowest price as their strategy. It is a very difficult position to hold. They have more than likely chosen to be the innovative product leader or to focus on the best overall solution. Both of these choices require that a company capture a higher price for the cost of innovating or the cost of customizing solutions to create the best overall solution for their clients. As a salesperson, selling based on price here works against their company’s strategic choice. It works against their own interests a salesperson too; it makes the clients you acquire expensive to serve because your company is not capturing a high enough price to be able to provide the level of innovation or solution that they really need. It leads to unmet customer expectations, lots of complaints, and lower than necessary margins.

If your company is the innovator, align your efforts by selling to those who need your innovation. This group of prospects can capture the value of using your company’s offering to better compete in their own space and you can easily create value. If your company’s choice is customer intimacy, sell to those for whom the best overall solution is the right choice for creating value in their organization. Align your efforts to the market your company is designed to serve. If your company has not chosen price as a strategy, it is wrong to sell on price.

Salespeople who believe that every customer wants the lowest price are wrong. Many companies choose to buy based on innovation because that is where they create and capture value themselves. Others really want the best overall solution. In all likelihood, if you are selling price to these segments it is because you have not successfully differentiated yourself and your company from the pack and you have not created enough value for the customer to capture the a higher price.

The rub? Too many companies try to occupy more than one of these strategic choices, confusing both their customers and their salespeople.

Source: Thesalesblog.com

[Via http://basicsmarketing.wordpress.com]

The 10 Commandments of Effective Homepage Design

2009-12-09T09:30:00.000+02:00

This article is from Convio’s Connection Cafe. It’s short, to-the-point, and can help improve your online presence quickly! Posted by Lacey Kruger at Nov 18, 2009 11:06 AM CST

Categories: Content Management, Usability

Just coming out of the Homepage Design Slam session at the Summit, I wanted to provide a brief recap for those who couldn’t make it. Don Roach, our Art Director, and I led the session and got some great (and brave) volunteers to project their homepages and subject them to constructive critiques from their peers. Each volunteer got a party favor in the form of a large Post-It tablet sheet listing some quick fixes they can consider to optimize their homepages. I’m hoping it will be a great tool for them to use to convince others in their organization to make some iterative changes. Don and I made a list of 10 Commandments for designing effective homepages, which we shared with the group to use as guidelines as we reviewed each page.

The 10 Commandments of Homepage Design

I. Thou shalt clearly state who you are and what do you.

II. Thou shalt be able to point to where your top 3-5 online goals are represented on the homepage.

III. Thou shalt offer clear, concise navigation.

IV. Thou shalt provide scannable, up-to-date content that entices visitors to click for more.

V. Thou shalt dedicate space to each of your audience groups.

VI. Thou shalt convey a visual hierarchy so visitors know where to look and what to do first.

VII. Thou shalt include 3-4 ways for visitors to engage.

VIII. Thou shalt avoid the Flash intro or any other gratuitous animation.

IX. Thou shalt make sure most relevant content is above the fold.

X. Thou shalt balance meaningful content with relevant supporting graphics.

Do you have other ideas on guidelines to consider? If you attended our session – what did you think? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

[Via http://nonprofitstrategies.wordpress.com]

Social Media Marketing with Facebook and Twitter (Video)

2009-12-09T03:43:00.000+02:00

Lynda.com :: In Social Media Marketing with Facebook and Twitter, Anne-Marie Concepción shows dozens of ways to promote a company’s brand, increase sales, drive traffic to a site, and engage with customers using two of the hottest social networking venues today, Facebook and Twitter. Anne-Marie teaches not only the fundamentals of social media marketing, but also how to create a professional, top-level presence that can put a company in the viral marketing sweet spot. From creating Facebook fan pages to crafting the most perfect Twitter bio for SEO, Anne-Marie dives into the details of both services, and discusses the best third-party add-ons that maximize the social marketing impact. [view video]

[Via http://joetheflow.wordpress.com]

Social Media in Marketing is Just That...Social

2009-12-07T09:38:00.000+02:00

Last month I spoke on a panel at a Marketing conference at Electronic Arts in Redwood City with several marketing professionals speaking about innovations in marketing. The panel was set up a bit around brand marketing as well as social media so those on the panel spread across a large group of marketing functions as well as types of companies. After all, marketing for a consumer packaged goods company is not the same as marketing for an online gaming company. We have a much better educated consumer these days.

The questions were pretty basic about our own particular experiences. I always think that each industry, product and company has its own challenges/barriers to overcome. In the entertainment business where I have run affiliate marketing partnerships for the last 10 years, the challenges are very unique whether an established brand such as Ticketmaster or a hot new start up like Reel.com was back in 1997. It is hard to give advice when such antedotes do not apply to other situations. In the end the basic principles of managing your brand are still the same though and times have changed in brand marketing, product, promotion, placement, and pricing (the 4 P’s) are still very important and fundamental to the marketing of a product or service.

There did come a point during Q&A though when the panel was asked about what is the new hot thing or what is innovative in Marketing today. Many on the panel hesitated and I started to agree with some of the responses that there is nothing really new and innovative. Maybe there were new channels such as the internet and social networks where placement was just more timely and pricing is more discounted and services and browser based products seemed to succeed better than physical products.

Just as the conversation stopped I asked everyone if they knew who the CEO of Electronic Arts is (this panel was taking place in their building after all) and a few hands were raised. I asked the same about Proctor & Gamble. Again hardly anyone raised their hands. I then followed and asked if anyone felt either of those brands knew who they were. Silence. When I asked the same of Amazon, Microsoft and Zappos, the names Bezos, Ballmer and Hsieh were blurted out and hands were raised and people agreed those companies sure knew a whole hell of a lot about who their comsumers are. For years, companies have been wanting to “own” the customer so that they could market to them as efficiently as possible on a 1 to 1 basis. Well the big deal and innovative piece is that these companies are now able to do this. Faces now represent the brand more than ever. Sure we all knew Lee Iacocca but he never had a dialogue like new companies do today. The opportunity to get to know your customer is there so that the dialogue is no longer about name less faces and people talking to you from a call center in some 3rd World country asking you about the weather.

Sending an email or letter to a company CEO used to be hard enough as nobody gave you their information. Now people like Tony Hsieh of Zappos have their own public Twitter accounts where you can have a public or private dialogue with him about how much like his company or your favorite pair of shoes that you want him to carry. Now while that may not be quite that personal and while Tony might not respond to everyone, it is quite empowering to the customer that at least their voice will be heard. In this day and age our society always wants to air their grievances and praises publicly. Things just aren’t that personal anymore.

That said, in the world of music, there is a lot of impersonalization going on when it comes to music discovery. It always used to be that you had one or two good friends who you could rely on to recommend a hot new song. You could allso rely on your favorite DJ to introduce you to something cool. Nowadays, radio stations are being condensed, Djs are now replaced online by music sites where you self select and program your own radio station and or get recommendations from perfect strangers. I personally find the recommendations on iTunes to be very off-putting. Artists such as Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) and Matt Morris (@Mattmorris) are getting personal on Twitter, interacting with their fans. Back stage passes mean a whole new thing with artists granting you the opportunity to meet them before a show and take photos for just a little more money. Gone are the days when the artists were held on a pedastal like gods and you swayed in a mosh pit of 50,000 people barely able to see the band. People want to touch and feel the merchandise. My 7-year old daughter now believes that every concert starts with getting together with the band for a photo shoot. She doesn’t root for people on the awards show because of the music they play but rather on how nice they were to her when we went to see them play. She wants me to text them during the concert to win an after concert meeting as well. Of course my job affords me these luxuries occasionally, but as this example points out. People have a tendency to have an affinity for those things which have a little more touch in their lives. People don’t want to just have a photo of Lady Gaga, but they want to be in a photo with Lady Gaga

So here’s the point. Social media now allows us to do what we used to do on a more realtime basis. We used to get advice from the 3-4 resources in our lives that shaped our tastes. Now we still can, but we are able to share more information and on a more timely basis. We’re also able to get more information in your hands so you can make a better decision. Sometimes the brand, or serice or product is presented to you in a way that is more personal as well. Your friends who told you about the next great thing, now can just send you a quick note via Twitter to your cell phone. Why is this important? Because you’d rather hear that advice from a face and name you know rather than a person you’ve never met. We learn more about each other and sometimes we get to give feedback that someone will really use.

In the end its all a personal sale, a personal purchase that means more to you than it probably would have 10 years ago. Its the real change in marketing evolution. It’s about at lea three things that help social media to change the way we make our buying decisions today: 1) More product information 2) More Personalization/customization and 3) more timely interaction

[Via http://route53.wordpress.com]

So where do we go from here?

2009-12-07T03:46:00.000+02:00

Down economy, Low Cash, Corporate Downsizing…Mortgage Crisis?

Sound or feel eerily familiar? I have been down that road. I have been burned out of every last red penny in my name. I have slept in my car in the dead of winter…when it won’t even start. I have stolen food, when I was so hungry that theft being illegal wouldn’t deter me from my mission of finding sustenance. I ate meals at charities and churches and relied on charitable organizations for a warmer coat.

So how did I find a new comfortable life? Where did I go that turned my life around. How did I go from literally nothing at 19 to being retired and financially set at 25? Well it was a long bumpy road. Finding odd jobs as a mechanic and working as a night janitor for a fellow I met at my church ( I began going just for the food). I realized my life wasn’t really going anywhere. I was living in a small town where people being afflicted homelessness and drug addiction where more common than decent folk holding down jobs. I was delinquent on all accounts of credit. My only shelter was a 1995 Saturn Sc2 with a cracked crank and a busted clutch. My friends and I commonly referred to the town as a “Time Warp” because people moved in, lost there way, and never were saw by decent society again. I refused for that to be me.

I joined the U.S. Army in 2005. I was moved around the country for training courtesy of Uncle Sam. I found the old Basic Training cadence “Freedom Isn’t Free” to be absolutely correct. As I was sent to Iraq in Aug 2007-Jul 2008. I provided maintenance support to a target acquisition battery. I rode convoy, was shot at, and eventually suffered during an explosion in Mar 08. In which myself and two more of my friends were injured.

While recovering I realized that besides my eye-sight being taken from me temporarily, my balance being off and my left ear not working right anymore. That I did not want to be a career military man as a way of life. I began hunting on what little internet could be found in Balad, for a new means to support myself and my new soon to be wife (now my wife as of 11 Jul 09). I saw every scam under the sun. I was even taken by a few. I was just about to give up and look for a job as a Police Officer or something Military or Civil Service related when I stumbled across the (now) biggest thing in my life (besides my loving wife).

I was horribly skeptical at first. I thought MLM’s were a bust. That the only man who gets paid is the man on the top. I just never thought that I would find what I found. I found a company whose sole mission is to make YOU the man on the top of your MLM. This was huge. I was still skeptical but signed up anyway to see some free video’s of how these guys were going to teach me how to be the Big Dog. Lo and behold they came through and taught me everything I needed to know and even stuff I didn’t understand and won’t need to or never will use. They did it all so awesomely in fact that I feel it’s my duty to share it with my fellow man. I’m not even going to get paid for this. I just want you to know that there is a few people out there that have really figured it out. They gave me step by step instructions on everything from setting up my first sight, to what to cover in my video’s, to advanced media marketing tips. They even thought of things to help me that as I was looking for help was I was thinking there is no way they thought of letting me track the progress of my site through them. WOW! Was I wrong or what.

The first thing I feel you need to know is what Emerson wrote. “Change happens when the pain of staying the same, becomes greater than the fear of change”. That’s my life quote.

There is no magic turn key site to instant cash. There is no buying 10000000000 page views a day that convert at 85% for $1.00 However I do allow you to see the same system that saved my life. Yes you read it right. This system SAVED MY LIFE! For a $1.00 for the first 14 days. No bull though, I put $1.00 into this thing at the recommendation of my father. I made $95.00 three days later. Those three days I didn’t sleep, I barely ate, and I worked non-stop. The money was really there though.

That’s my point. You don’t get anything without a substantial amount of effort. If you are willing to work towards good things. Good things will come! If you do not desire to go into this Internet World looking for your path to freedom and success, I can be your guide. For someone once helped me. I will not claim to be the richest Internet Guru out there. Lord knows I am not. I don;t sleep in a car or eat out behind churches anymore. All my cars are new and work right. I don’t need rims and a stereo…I will settle for the GT on the back of my new Mustang (paid in cash) be enough for me. So if you are looking for an honest team mate who’s got your back to help you on your way to success in life.

Please join me.

http://www.sevenfiguremastermindteam.com/DanielJSmith/30584

http://www.workwithdansmith.com/

After all I don’t spam, you searched and you found me. I am only wanting your email address so I can Give you my knowledge with videos and letters. I expect you to know that I am real and, that if you are serious you will join with me to build a better life for yourself.

[Via http://workwithdansmith.wordpress.com]

ad of the day - Suicide Sells Pepsi Max

2009-12-04T09:39:00.000+02:00

I was amazed to see this Pepsi Max advert using such a taboo subject to illustrate the “one very lonely calorie” idea behind the campaign targeting weight concious consumers. The underdog brand of cola have found the common enemy in this consumer group, the calorie, and so I guess nobody cares if the calorie commits suicide. I think it’s great, it has balls and it certainly doesn’t lack the “LOOK AT ME!!” factor, however, strangely it seems to lack brand consistency with the usual Pepsi Max guidelines, but we’ll let them off for this amazing and evocative illustration.

[Via http://spreadthick.wordpress.com]

How a web design goes straight to hell

2009-12-04T03:32:00.000+02:00

Many of us have had clients or bosses turn an awesome project into a complete nightmare. I stumbled upon a website called www.theoatmeal.com, and I found a piece that illustrates a web design project gone bad. I totally laughed my head off. Check it out:

Source: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell

[Via http://meowgarita.wordpress.com]

WHY YOU NEED A SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY!

2009-12-02T09:27:00.000+02:00

If you had any doubts about the value and potential of using social media, check out 30 Interesting, Useless and Pointless Facts on Jeff Bulla’s blog at the following link! Don’t be put off by the title!

You begin to understand why you can’t afford not to know to about Social Media whether you are in the public, private or community sectors!

Here is just one example and three facts!

37% of Generation Y were aware of the Ford Fiesta via social media before it launched in the USA.

25% of Ford’s marketing spend is on digital/social media!

Ford is the only US Auto company not to take a government grand!

Now you begin to see the possibilities now that using LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook may bring? We have some tips for developing a Social Media Strategy at this link

[Via http://wisewolfconsulting.wordpress.com]

Bagel and Pap Smear with a side of Santa?

2009-12-02T03:45:00.000+02:00

Oh yes, ladies and gent(tile)s, the CBS Cares pap smear commercial has a christian version. If you missed my post last week you can read about it here. In short CBS has created a campaign around gifting pap smears. (that would be a hell of an item to regift, no?) Here is the jewish version complete with cream cheese reference (ew)

Thanks to my friend 24 at heart, I have been made aware that it’s not just jewish guys that think a pap smear appointment is the perfect holiday gift. I’m not going to lie here, I am a little put off that the christian guy is so much better looking than the pap ’schmear’ jew with the nasal voice. And who could resist the line, “Give her the gift that even Santa can’t deliver”. Check him out (what a babe!)

But… it gets better. You see CBS is an equal opportunity advertiser. So for all you guys out there, this babe is urging us to schedule you a prostate exam. Oh yes, this is not a joke. And the tagline from this sultry blonde would be? “Give the gift that says Merry Christmas, I love ALL of you”. Shouldn’t that have been, “Give the gift that says turn your head and cough?”

What, you say? No woman of the tribe hawking a prostate exam. Oh yes there is! And her line? Oh really, I can hardly type from laughing so hard, “This Hannukah, give the gift of a kosher prostate.” WTF!!!! Again with the food reference. And this hebropsycho has this creepy way of smiling when she says the word prostate, like she is about to… never mind, you know what they say about jewish girls.

Ok, I will have to admit that these are getting attention, but they are kind of like staring at the accident. Since when did secular patient information go out of style?

I can’t wait to hear the hispanic versions!

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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[Via http://icouldcrybutidonthavetime.wordpress.com]

5 thoughts on Marketing - Dan Wiedon

2009-11-30T09:50:00.000+02:00

Dan Wiedon from Wieden & Kennedy is one of these people you wanna listen to, don´t you?

Brand

We want to know about the people within a company. Who are they? Why do they do what they do?

We don´t trust the companies “business process”, we want a human relationship.

Idea

Management of ideas is like gardening. And sometimes you don´t know immediately what is a weed and what is a flower.

Clients & Agencies

In a productive relationship you don´t know who is agency and who is client. They both sit there and try to find out together if this thing will be working.

Passion

Today everybody seems to be passionate. At least, it is expected. Make sure it is more than just words.

Future

As simple as in the past around the campfire. Are you a good storyteller or a bad storyteller. Make me cry, make me laugh, make me do something. If you do it on the internet or on a mountain hut, I don´t care. Just move me Dude!

[Via http://workersonthefield.wordpress.com]

The SOHO by Masamichi Kitayama...

2009-11-30T03:45:00.000+02:00

Woooaaaahhh… So I have been following Kitayamas work for a while, especially since he has designed all my favorite Retail spaces ever designed, and now he is dropping the ultimate project…He is taking the lead in the overall architectural and interior design direction for a building project titled “THE SOHO”, a large scale office complex with services and amenities matches a luxury hotel (via the fresh people at slamxhype)… Just Look and understand what architecture and design can do to ones life…Everything…

[Via http://bonafidechainblinger.com]

Is PR dead? by Aimee Postle

2009-11-27T09:28:00.000+02:00

So, is PR in its traditional perceived form dead? Not a loaded question in the slightest! Three things have got me thinking about this – completing the CIPR Diploma, climbing Snowdon, and starting on the CIM Diploma.

The more reading I did around PR while studying for the Diploma (and the Certificate before it), the more I realised that PR in its strictest perceived form just does not – or should not – exist anymore. PR professionals (and I use that word deliberately) do not just wine and dine journalists or massage egos. Our role is – and should be – so much wider.

The PR profession (again, a deliberate choice of words) has a PR problem. While we may have developed professionally to offer clients so much more than the PR practitioners of the early 1900s with their publicity campaigns – we are not telling people about it. And, when we do, they don’t understand our jargon.

Our trip up Snowdon got us all thinking about what it is we actually do – what benefit do we offer our clients? Our vision, mission and values have been clearly defined for some time (has everyone seen our brand onion?) but how we crystallise that into a service offering that clients actually understand has been a longer process.

We subscribe to the CIPR’s definition of PR – it is about reputation; the result of what you do, what you say and what others say about you. We feel this covers the holistic nature of the PR profession – defining your cause and then integrating your communications so that your messages and values are consistent across all media and to all audiences.

This is where the CIM Diploma comes into it. The reading I’ve done over the last two months has highlighted just how much we do that extends outside of the traditional realm of PR.

While we do not profess to be HR people or business management consultants, we do know how to use communications to achieve buy-in from all parties – internal and external – and how to use that for competitive advantage (the holy grail as defined by the CIM).

So, open to debate, “we are business communications problem solvers” – succinct and to the point? Or vague and yet more jargon? Does it actually accurately convey what we do? Or is it just another way of hiding behind words while we try to articulate clearly the value that we add?

[Via http://kineticpr.wordpress.com]

Mayer Embraces New Media and Sells 300,000 records

2009-11-27T02:53:00.000+02:00

So this is somewhat of a follow-up to my last Mayer post regarding his constant communication with fans. He just released Battle Studies last week and so far has sold over 300,000 copies. Not bad in today’s world of free music. Not bad at all.

It helps that he has over 2 and half million twitter followers and is active on his YouTube channel and blog. Lefsetz pointed out in a recent post that Mayer’s tweets are honest, making you feel like you know the guy. He’s not coming at you looking down and he’s not just pushing his music on you. He’s talking everyday things that other people are talking about on twitter. He’s part of the conversation. He’s a real person.

You may or may not like the music or the guy, but you gotta hand it to him for embracing change.

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[Via http://newrockstarphilosophy.com]