This is a story about whether social media actually works to sell your business to new customers. As a “digitally-savvy” customer, I was confronted recently with the personal challenge of finding a service provider to work with in two entirely different industries. The first was an accountant, and the second was a builder for a
Continue reading »Monthly Archives: "April 2011"
If you believe most global media, in less than 24 hours we will all witness one of the landmark historical moments of the past century: the Royal Wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton. The importance of this wedding goes far beyond engaging those with an extended case of royal fever, though. Photographers are angling
Continue reading »This is not a piece about politics, it is about marketing. Earlier this year, Google announced that they would launch a new product that was widely reviewed by those in the know about the consumer electronics industry as a brilliant money loser. The product, called the Nexus One, was anticipated to be the ultimate contradiction
Continue reading »Is everyone telling you that your small business should have more "friends" online? Of course you already know that your customers have virtual friends as part of their social networks and they can "friend" someone on Facebook. On Twitter, they choose to "follow" another user and the old Facebook Page model used to allow you
Continue reading »Until our modern day, humanity had never made useless tools. When archaeologists found "tools" while unearthing history, they would find hammers or arrowheads – tools that were clearly designed to solve some sort of problem. Useful tools. When historians look back at the exploding universe of social media tools that we are building today, they
Continue reading »There are some things in business that no one really teaches you. It is the "instinctive" part of being a professional, and it mostly refers to little things. A powerful reminder of how important those little things are comes from the founder of the brand I work for, David Ogilvy, who said: "I always use
Continue reading »If there is one sign of hope for the marketing industry as a whole, it is that no one really wants boring, one-way, shout-oriented interruptive marketing to survive. Social media is a natural ally in this fight, given its focus on fostering conversations and creating content, but what about the role of marketing as entertainment?
Continue reading »Who has time to read books? We all should, but it’s tough to know what is worth reading. As a fellow author, I have a unique point of view on what I look for in great books. On the first Sunday of every month, the Influential Marketing Book List will spotlight and review several new
Continue reading »I used to sit in the front seat of a taxi. When I lived in Sydney, it was a cultural rite of passage … a learned behaviour that revealed an acquired understanding about the Australian culture. As I headed towards the southern hemisphere earlier this week and landed in South Africa, the impulse struck me
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