An overview of some free and paid tools that executives and non-SEO trained individuals can gain value from when evaluating internal or outsourced search engine optimization efforts. ...
Selected by reddoorinteractive
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Search Engine Watch
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SEO Tools -- Worth the Time and Money?
19 Nov 2009 | 7:00 pm -
Frugal Is the New Black
19 Nov 2009 | 7:00 pmThe economic climate has changed consumer behavior. Embrace that change. The basic tenets of marketing still apply in a down economy. ... -
Identify New Paid Search Opportunities
18 Nov 2009 | 9:01 pmSearch distribution relationships impact your paid search campaigns. Here's how you can use this information to alter your results. ... -
The Promotion Recipe
18 Nov 2009 | 7:00 pmAre your social media contacts numb to your promotions? Spice them up using these tips. ... -
Don't Overdo the Tweaking
16 Nov 2009 | 7:00 pmTime spent constantly changing on-page content is time you aren't link building, doing PR, and social media reference building. Here's how to avoid making this mistake. ...
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ReadWriteWeb
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8tracks to Launch Playback API and Developer Program
20 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pmIt appears that the time for freemium music services in the US has passed. Earlier this week streaming music site Imeem sold to MySpace for under $10 million dollars while laying off a large number of staff. For a company with all four major record labels signed, more than 15 million uniques a month and well over 5 million tracks in its catalogue, it came as a sobering blow to the industry. While many companies move to a subscription model, 8tracks continues to forge along in what some describe as a convenient loophole. As of this weekend the company is publicly launching its API for Boston's… -
Memento: Protocol-Based Time Travel for the Web
20 Nov 2009 | 11:45 amThe Web constantly changes and evolves. That, of course, is what makes the Internet so exciting, but it also means that finding older versions of a website is hard. The current push towards the real-time web is making this problem even more apparent. Memento, a project based at Old Dominion University, wants to make it easier to access older versions of a web page without having to go to the Internet Archive. To do this, the project is using a relatively obscure feature of the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). Sponsor The Memento project wants to give browsers a 'time-travel' mode. -
The Future Is All About Context: The Pragmatic Web
20 Nov 2009 | 11:14 amThe semantic Web has long been heralded as the future of the Web. Proponents have said that Web experiences will some day become more meaningful and relevant based on the AI-esque computational power of natural-language processing (NLP) and structured data that is understandable by machines for interpretation. However, with the rise of the social Web, we see that what truly makes our online experiences meaningful is not necessarily the Web's ability to approximate human language or to return search results with syntactical exactness. The value of the semantic Web will take time because the… -
FastPencil: Turn Your Blog Posts into a Published Book
20 Nov 2009 | 9:42 amWriting a book will never be easy, but FastPencil's mission is to make things easier for authors by bringing this process online and to collaborate with others. FastPencil takes writers from idea to published book. The service offers features for collaboration, editing and design, as well as professional consulting services for authors. One cool feature of FastPencil is that it can import blog posts and turn them into books and e-books that bloggers can then sell through all the major book distribution channels. Sponsor Features The areas where FastPencil exceeds are online editing,… -
Was Chrome OS a Disappointment?
20 Nov 2009 | 8:28 amIt's the morning after the big Chrome OS event where Google executives and engineers revealed a myriad of details about the company's first attempt at creating their own operating system. The highly anticipated news conference was tracked all over the web, liveblogged by technology sites, and Twittered so much that it's still listed as a "trending topic" as of this morning. But now that the news is out, has Chrome OS lost its shine? People had high expectations for Google's new operating system but the end result doesn't look like the revolutionary, "change the world" product many had hoped…
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Mashable!
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LUNCHTIME POLL: What’s Your Favorite Video Sharing Service?
20 Nov 2009 | 12:58 pmIt’s Friday, people, which means that not only is it Follow Friday, it’s also time for the Lunchtime Poll! Last week we wanted to know about your favorite news reader (or whether you use RSS at all). We’ll have the results for you later today, but let’s get a head start on the new poll: what’s your favorite video sharing service? We’ll start off with some responses from the staff here at Mashable, and let you fine folks have at it in the comments. Be sure to let us know along with your vote why you chose it as your favorite. We’ll post the results… -
Seesmic Launches Mobile Apps for Android and BlackBerry
20 Nov 2009 | 12:28 pmHot on the heels of the launch of the Windows desktop app preview, Seesmic has brought its Twitter client to the mobile arena as well with the launch of clients for the Android and BlackBerry platforms. Both apps are available for free — get the Android version from the Android Market and the BlackBerry version by pointing your BlackBerry to Seesmic. We had a chance to test out the Android build on the Motorola Droid and came away impressed. The interface is well-designed and easy to use. Read on for our impressions and a demo video below. Four buttons at the top take you to timeline,… -
50 Cent Symbolizes the Impending Live Video Explosion
20 Nov 2009 | 12:13 pmSome of the recent numbers being put up by live video events on the Web are giving TV a run for its money. Take for example the New Moon Premiere, which attracted 3 million viewers in total, a U2 concert on YouTube that reached 10 million, and the red carpet event for This Is It, which saw 1.8 million tune in. Today, we have yet another big number to share, this time from last night’s Ustream premiere of 50 Cent’s movie “Before I Self Destruct.” In total, more than 255,000 users watched at least part of the 90 minute screening, which included the hip hop mogul answering questions live… -
3 Creative Ways SMBs Can Use Social Media for Holiday Discounts
20 Nov 2009 | 11:46 amThis post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business. Every year consumers turn to the web to scour for the best holiday shopping deals. Black Friday has practically become a holiday of its own, with retailers jumping on the bandwagon earlier than ever to satisfy deal-hungry consumers. This holiday season you have an opportunity to leverage social media channels for trackable giveaways and discounts that can not only boost your holiday sales but improve your social media… -
New Moon Reviews: What Twitter Thinks [CHART]
20 Nov 2009 | 11:23 amTwilight-mania just won’t stop! More than 400 million “New Moon” videos have been viewed online, the film is expected to beat all midnight opening records, and Twitter continues to be abuzz with “New Moon” chatter. On Wednesday, we reported that more than 81,000 tweets were sent out about “New Moon,” most of them positive. So how did the Twitteratti respond to the debut of “New Moon” last night? Our friends at Crimson Hexagon ran the numbers and this is what they figured out. Out of 4500 tweets sent regarding the film, this was the…
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SmartBrief on Social Media
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Social nets pose real IT risks
19 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pmSocial media escapes oversight at many companies, providing security vulnerabilities that can threaten an enterprise network, -More- -
Each e-contact worth $948 to IBM
19 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pmIBM is embracing social media, but unlike many other firms, it is backing up its efforts with numbers. -More- -
Don't spam LinkedIn groups with links
19 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pmNewbies to a LinkedIn group need to establish a reputation before they post links, or they will be considered spammers, Doron -More- -
Game consoles don't quite integrate social sites
19 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pmFacebook and Twitter are now on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but the way the tools are implemented renders them useless, Gus M -More- -
Twitter reports end of Oprah's show before it's official
19 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pmTwitter was abuzz Thursday with news that Oprah Winfrey would announce the end of her longtime talk show this morning. -More- 11 Advanced SEM Strategies Are your SEM costs up, or conversions down? Ben Brutsch explores strategies that can help, such as: - Deep funnel analysis - SEO and SEM synergies - Campaign Fencing Download Now
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Search Engine Land
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Search In Pictures: Google México Party, One Republic @ Google & Pineapple 5K
20 Nov 2009 | 11:35 amIn this week’s Search In Pictures, here are the latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more. Google México Campus Party: One Republic at Google: Y! Logo Flowers: Our Vanessa Fox Running the Pineapple 5K (hope she [...] .... -
Google Appears To Be Testing New Local AdWords Presentation
20 Nov 2009 | 10:00 amMike Blumenthal received a screenshot that seems to show a test of a new presentation of Google local/geotargeted AdWords. Mike suggests this may be an expression of AdWords local extensions: This is AdWords and not Local Listing Ads, but the presentation (with the blue pushpin) is similar, signifying a local business or a physical location. Here [...] .... -
Search Ad Keyword Lawsuit, Now Over Privacy
20 Nov 2009 | 6:29 amWe have covered many of the search ad keyword lawsuits aimed between competitors or directly at the search engines in the past. Nowadays, it seems like a new suit around this topic is filed weekly. Typically these suits go after trademark violations and the like, but a new suit is focusing on a [...] .... -
Practical Tips To Prepare For Cyber Monday & Beyond
20 Nov 2009 | 6:14 amCyber Monday is one of the most important (if not the most important) day to paid search professionals in America, and I’ve got some great tips and tricks to share on how to make the most of it. But first, I thought I’d share some history of the term I found at Wikipedia: The term “Cyber Monday” [...] .... -
Google’s News Experiments & The Quest To Solve The “Read State” Issue
20 Nov 2009 | 5:00 amHey news publishers. Stop acting as if your content only appears printed on dead trees and tap into the dynamics that the web offers. That’s a blunt summary of advice from Josh Cohen of Google News, from a wide-ranging interview with him on Google’s experiments with new ways of delivering news. Cohen, business [...] ....
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Social Media Explorer
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Determining Your Friends
20 Nov 2009 | 2:00 amI’ve been pondering the value and validity of the term “friend” lately. Until a few years ago, we all probably had a couple hundred friends, give or take. Social networking not only incrementalized that number, but changed the definition of the word for many people. I have 1,300 or more “friends” on Facebook. I’ve probably met and spoken with more than you think, but not all of them. There are 18,000 or so people who follow me on Twitter. I follow most of them back. We are “friends” in a sense, too. But online friendships are very different than… -
Sysomos Adds Facebook Feature To Social Media Monitoring Solution
19 Nov 2009 | 2:00 amWhen businesses are looking for social media monitoring services these days, they normally hone in on two or three capabilities. Because Facebook is this year’s blog, monitoring messages on the platform is a big one. While all social media monitoring services have the same access to Facebook data (it’s all dependent upon what Facebook makes public which is dictated by their terms of service), more creative ways to position Facebook data are surfacing. Image via CrunchBase Social media monitoring service Sysomos launches a new version of their Heartbeat product today which has a… -
The Four Spheres Of Social Media Strategy
18 Nov 2009 | 2:00 amA crowd of 80 or so attended yesterday’s social media boot camp hosted by the Kentucky chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and the Social Media Club Louisville. I was honored to serve as one of the presenters along with the undisputed queen of measurement, Katie Paine, and The Bad Pitch Blog man himself, Kevin Dugan. Rest assured, lots of learning was had, even if you just count my experience. Part of my presentation, which was focused on developing strategic plans for social media marketing, included my Four Spheres of Social Media Strategy. Until… -
New Study Reveals Surprises In How People Share
16 Nov 2009 | 2:00 amWe’re starting to see an interesting by-product of cool social media tools emerge: Research pulled from user data. One such effort, a new study released by SocialTwist, makers of the content share widget Tell-A-Friend, reveals some interesting facts about how people share information online. You can see the report in its entirety on the SocialTwist website. First, let’s set the expectations appropriately. The data behind the study is collected from anonymized user data for people who click on the Tell-A-Friend widget where it is used on blog posts, newspaper websites and more. -
Where Interactive Marketing Dollars Are Going
13 Nov 2009 | 2:00 amForrester Research has released a new report forecasting interactive marketing spend in the U.S. for the next five years. The report, authored by Shar VanBoskirk, is available in its entirety on the Forrester Research website. The report details how certain industries currently spend, and projects how they will spend, on interactive marketing. It also offers some interesting insights for businesses trying to ensure they are either catching, or keeping up with the Joneses. VanBoskirk talks more about it on the Forrester Research blog for Interactive Marketing Professionals. Current Interactive…
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PR 2.0
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The Social Media (R)evolution: Your Time is Now
20 Nov 2009 | 4:23 amSource: ShutterstockThe Future of the Social Web is here today and we’re learning that engagement is not a matter of if or when, but to what extent, how and what value can we deliver and derive from it. The Social Web is much more than a window into information and interaction, it is a completely transformative medium that is changing how we forge relationships, interact with one another, and distribute and discover information. In many ways, the online social revolution is reminiscent of the Industrial Revolution.Access to free and expansive media platforms and distribution channels has… -
On Twitter, What Are You Doing Was Always The Wrong Question
19 Nov 2009 | 10:18 pmWhat are you doing?Perhaps, Twitter asked the wrong question all along.In all honestly, who cares…it was really never about “what you were doing” that inspired your network to stay connected nor was it the siren for attracting new followers. We chose to follow you because you moved or encouraged us to do so – with every update.For many of the users on Twitter, the question that engendered a response and also also aroused a cultural movement was, “what are you doing?” It was a prompt that, for the most part, was taken quite literally. Its answer served as… -
On Twitter and Social Networks, Brands Benefit from Conversations
19 Nov 2009 | 4:40 amSource: ShutterstockA recent study revealed 20 percent of tweets published are actually invitations for product information, answers or responses from peers or directly by brand representatives. Now we learn that Twitter users are actively paying attention to brands on the popular information network.According to research conducted by Performics and ROI Research, about half of Twitter users who were introduced to a brand on Twitter were compelled to search for additional information.The companies studied the activity of 3,000 users of social networks in the U.S. Of those polled, 70% use… -
The Golden Triangle
18 Nov 2009 | 4:11 amSource: ShutterstockPrior to keynoting the PACA conference in Miami, Maria Kessler, president of the PACA Association, asked me if I had read a recent post by Fred Wilson entitled “The Golden Triangle.” We were deep in conversation as I was seeking an alternate title for my next book that identifies the divide between brands, information, and consumers and how we can, as social architects and engineers, build the bridges between people, contextual relationships, and technology. While “The Golden Triangle” isn’t a contender for the name of the next book, it did get me thinking.In… -
With Klout Comes Influence: How To Find Influencers on Twitter
17 Nov 2009 | 8:20 amThis is the uncut version of my latest post on TechCrunch…Measuring individual influence in Social Media is as coveted as it is elusive. While many tools claim to calculate authority, it is the definition of influence that requires clarification in order to grasp the relevance and differences of existing tools and services.For the sake keeping this discussion on track, let’s define influence. According to Merriam-Webster, influence is having the power or capacity to cause an effect.San Francisco-based Klout is no stranger to measuring influence on the Social Web. The company launched…
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Social Media Marketing
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Enough Is Enough
16 Nov 2009 | 6:07 amThe spam and other unsolicited DMs I've been getting on Twitter have finally gotten to me. And I'm going to be taking action. A Bit of BackgroundYou know the kind of direct messages I'm talking about, all with spammy links in them:"Is this you on here?""I just gave you a High Five! Check it out""Hey, I got some free ringtones from here""Hey, can you take this quiz thingy?""I found out my IQ. You should too.""I lost a bunch of weight doing this."And many, many more.Lots of the direct messages I get are of the automated sort when people first start following me. Having been someone who used to… -
When Worlds Collide
10 Nov 2009 | 8:04 pmWell, it's finally here. Twitter and LinkedIn have decided to combine forces. This is pretty significant, and I know that it'll make it easier to share job opportunities and other more networking opportunities that are more professional in nature.I won't bore you with all of the details, but you can now update your LinkedIn status via Twitter, and your Twitter status from LinkedIn. If you'd like to see how to go about it, check out the post on the LinkedIn blog.One of the features I like best is how you can select which updates you want posted to LinkedIn - everything or just those posts… -
What's a Brand to Do?
29 Oct 2009 | 9:03 amSay you work for a brand. Customers have more access to you than ever - and you've got a wealth of choices as far as channels go: traditional marketing, online & interactive, gaming, mobile, social media, etc. But for your customers that are interested in interacting online, what do you think they want from you? And what should you do when you connect with them? Look no further! eMarketer Daily has very helpfully published a piece on Lightspeed Research's "Global Web Index." What do customer want from the brands they love? Information, mostly (well, after a good discount, anyway). -
Recent Twitter Statistics
28 Oct 2009 | 6:50 amThe Pew Internet & American Life Project has released some statistics about Twitter and other similar services that Americans use to post updates about themselves. The bottom line? About one in five Americans uses such a service.Click here for a larger image.Another interesting phenomenon is that we're seeing more young people using Twitter now. There have been anecdotal reports that young people were shying away from Twitter, but we can see the hard numbers here:The median age for Twitter is now 31, while MySpace is down 26 from its previous 27 in May of 2008; and Facebook has risen… -
No Kidding
21 Oct 2009 | 9:21 amI originally wrote this over a year ago, but I think it deserves another go around, as there seem to be even more social media "experts" out there. Please add your suggestion to the comments section or on Twitter with the hashtag #smbulb and let's see how many responses we can get. Stop me if you've heard this. Yesterday, I asked a question on Twitter - one that Joseph Jaffe rhetorically asked on his blog - I posed it as a joke and asked for responses. The question was: How many social media experts does it take to change a lightbulb? My original answer on Joe's blog was: "309. One to come up…
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Brand Insight Blog
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Twitter me this… how do you define “guru” in social media marketing?
9 Nov 2009 | 8:24 amby John Furgurson Eleven years ago, in The Cluetrain Manifesto, Christopher Locke wrote, “the internet has made it possible for genuine human voices to be heard again.” What do you mean, again? This is a first. Never has the average Joe been afforded unrestricted access to an audience any bigger than the neighborhood pub. This giant electronic soapbox known as the internet delivers a world-wide audience. Anyone can pontificate at will, on any subject, and potentially reach billions of people across the globe. On one hand it’s the greatest thing since the invention of the radio… -
Marketing Strategy vs. Tactics
1 Nov 2009 | 11:31 amby John Furgurson I’m appalled. A successful marketing guy asked me a question recently — a real no-brainer — which led me to believe he didn’t know the difference between strategy and tactics. How can that be? He’s held several high-paying marketing positions. He’s college educated in Marketing 101. He’s gotta know this stuff. So I started doing some research online and I’ve found the problem: The internet! There’s more misinformation than information out there. More nonsense than common sense. Even some of the biggest gurus in the industry have posted conflicting… -
On-line shopping — The best thing ever for MANkind.
25 Oct 2009 | 9:27 pmby John Furgurson Twenty five years ago I couldn’t imagine getting all my Christmas shopping done from the comfort of the man den. The idea of a world without malls was pure fantasy, right up there with that scene from Flashdance where Jennifer Beals dances in place until she’s raining sweat. But today, it’s reality. Men really do have an alternative to the drudgery of shopping. It’s called e-commerce. For men, shopping harkens back to cro-Magnon days when we’d hunt down the things we NEEDED to survive. Men shop alone, in order to be more stealthy and less visible to people who… -
If you got hit by a bus, what would happen to your brand?
9 Oct 2009 | 11:05 amby John Furgurson Death and taxes. Death and taxes. The two are always lumped together as inevitable parts of life. So why, as business people, do we obsess over taxes and ignore the issue of death? Nothing derails a small business faster, and more dramatically, than death. When a partner or key employee dies, or experiences a death in the family, the business suffers. No two ways about it. The question is, is your brand strong enough to survive a devastating personal loss? My dentist lost his 3-year-old daughter in a drowning accident. How do you go back to drilling teeth after that? My… -
A feel-good brand in a bummed-out world.
19 Aug 2009 | 4:35 pmby John Furgurson It’s being dubbed a “”depressed economy.” There are nightly reports on our current “ecomonic dulldrums,” and the “downturn” in consumer spending. But if you sift through all the doom and gloom you’ll find that some brands are thriving in this “challenging economic environment.” How do they do it? Here’s the secret: Make people smile! It’s as simple — and as difficult — as that. If your product or service can elicit genuine smiles, you’ve got a winning brand. Because happiness is contagious. And when people are experiencing stress…
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Ignite Social Media
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American Red Cross - Non-profit Social Media Marketing Example #4
20 Nov 2009 | 8:06 amFor our next post in the social media nonprofit series, I wanted to highlight one of the ways that the American Red Cross has been successful with their social media strategies. I recently stumbled across their website and discovered their “Holiday Mail for Heroes” campaign. I love the holidays, so it’s no surprise that I wanted to find out more. This great program allows people to send holiday cards to service members, veterans, and their families. Amy Grant is partnering with the Red Cross and Pitney Bowes to make the program a success and was at the special kick-off event… -
Facebook Fan Badge: Show love for your favorite fan pages
18 Nov 2009 | 12:24 pmUPDATE 11/19: Keep reading for a quick how-to guide to posting to your Facebook profile. Most people would no doubt lose their jobs if they spent half the working hours that I spend on Facebook. Luckily for me, working at a social media agency means that pretty much IS my job. So, as I was doing my job today, I came across something I've not yet seen: Facebook Fan Badges. I'm more than familar with Fan Page badges that creators of fan pages can use to promote their presence on Facebook across various other social channels. However, this new discovery sparked my interest. Here's what I was… -
Industrial Strength Reputation Monitoring : Pubcon 2009
18 Nov 2009 | 7:32 amLast week was the infamous Pubcon Internet and Social Media Marketing conference held in Las Vegas Nevada. Over 4,000 fellow Internet marketers each year descend on the bright city. This year, I had the chance to speak on a panel about Reputation Management and Monitoring. I was excited to see this year that they had added an extensive amount of panels discussing social media marketing tactics. If you think SEO and Social Media still don't belong together at Internet Marketing conferences, then you are living in the dark. Below you will find my presentation I gave at the conference where I… -
Meet the Good Mood Gig Finalists
17 Nov 2009 | 7:32 amIf you follow our blog, then you probably recall one of our most recent campaigns for Nature Made SAM-e Complete®: The Good Mood Gig. We had an overwhelming response, as over 800 folks applied, and the collective votes reached nearly 300,000. Thanks to everyone who applied and voted, we’ve enjoyed checking out your entries and essays. Now, we’re highlighting our top 20 vote earners, who created videos to show off why they should be the ones to land the Good Mood Gig. You can (and should) go vote for one of these applicants, because it is going to be hard enough for us to… -
Under the Dome - Stephen King's Newest Novel is a Social Experiment
28 Oct 2009 | 7:57 amI'm a fan of Stephen King, even though I find some of his work to be a bit daunting and overwhelming, he is still one of the greatest literary giants of our time. There's really no denying that. His stories are often gruesome and bone-chilling (Cujo, Carrie, The Shining), and some are even heart wrenching and beautiful (Stand by Me, The Shawshank Redemption). Others are epic works that encompass entire lives and worlds (The Stand). Now, King has embraced the power of social media and adapted a new way of storytelling by sharing peices of his latest story, Under the Dome, all over the world.
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Marketing Profs Daily Fix
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Paul Williams: Three Ps For Better Leading: Pace, Process, Pulse
20 Nov 2009 | 6:00 amOne of the characteristics of a great leader—no matter whether that leader is a person, a brand, or a company - is the ability to stay "tuned-in" to the needs of their audience. Are they still "with" you? Do they get where you're going? Do they have confidence in the direction? Out of college, my first job was at Walt Disney World in Orlando. I was a tour guide at the "Listen To The Land" boat ride in Epcot's Land Pavilion. I led Guests on a 20-minute journey through farming methods of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. It was one of the easiest "leading" jobs I've ever had. I didn't have to… -
Stephanie Miller: Are Email Preference Centers Worth It?
19 Nov 2009 | 3:40 amAdd global compliance and cultural custom to the list of why email preference centers are really hard to sell internally and build well. I had a meeting this morning where we started to list out all the different country and local laws governing choices across various brand service agreements, and it quickly became overwhelming. It was no help that the database guy kept saying, "That'll cost you more."No wonder the director of marketing looked at me and said, "Is this really the best way to spend our precious time, energy and IT resources?!" So many email marketers say that they know a… -
Ann Handley: Innovation Matters: Balancing Sustained Versus Disruptive Innovation
18 Nov 2009 | 5:06 amThis is a guest post by Eric Zeitoun, president of Dragon Rouge USA, a leading independent brand and design consultancy. While we struggle to emerge from a full-blown recession, marketers know all too well that advertising and (unfortunately) innovation are the first budgets that are most likely to get cut. So how can marketers continue to innovate?Before we answer this question we need to go back to the definition of innovation since it has become a very popular and often misinterpreted topic. There are four distinct types of innovations: Product optimization (which seeks to optimize a… -
Elaine Fogel: Cash-for-Grades Fundraiser Just Another Marketing Incentive
17 Nov 2009 | 6:00 amWhat's all this outrage for North Carolina school principal, Susie Shepherd, for supporting her parent advisory council's innovative use of marketing incentives? Who are we kidding? I used to teach, so I know how some schools operate like they're in the third world, without proper books and resources. This school was just looking for creative ways to raise much-needed money.In my opinion, the outpouring of disdain is hypocritical. The days of doing well in school for the intrinsic value are waning, as more parents offer reward systems. Read Barbara Coloroso. The kindergarten sticker turns… -
Ted Mininni: Taking a Bite Out Of Apple
16 Nov 2009 | 6:10 amIndications are that Apple--long admired for setting the bar high when it comes to beautifully-designed, innovative, game-changing consumer products--may be facing some stiff competition. According to Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey: “Apple is under threat on the brand front in a way they haven’t been in recent years.”A recent Brandweek article: “Amid Transition, Rivals Are Descending on Apple,” questions whether the company’s competitors are finally launching products that might take a bite out of Apple. Apple’s response doesn’t seem reassuring, either. New ads have…
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Social Media Consulting and Strategy by a Social Interaction Design Specialist
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Social search and advertising: Google's endgame?
27 Oct 2009 | 10:42 amA few weeks back, Jeremiah Owyang wrote a piece "Revealing Google's Stealth Social Network Play." In it he detailed the tactical benefits of a combined of Google Reader, Wave, and Sidewiki in a back-door strategy aimed at social networking. And more to the point, to realizing the advertising opportunities around social networking.Google has been neither a leader nor a even a decent case study in social networking. It's home-grown social network, Orkut, is popular elsewhere but not here. Open Social is still very real, but is largely invisible to the public. And when it comes to making use of… -
Realtime streams: now and then
8 Oct 2009 | 8:40 amAll social media involve a dislocation that de couples the act of communication or interaction from its artifact, which is a text or recording. This is a shame, in some respects, but one that creates possibilities that wouldn't exist if it weren't for the medium. The medium allows us to be always here and now but visible elsewhere anytime. It has a built in "anyplace, anytime."This anyplace, anytime is brought into focus by each of us when we use social media. For us it's always now. When I use twitter, I use it now. If I read your tweet, it's now. Your now, which is now "then," is again… -
Brands, and putting twitter word of mouth in context
6 Oct 2009 | 12:39 pmAn interesting study of twitter's viability for eWom, or electronic Word of Mouth marketing, has been making the rounds (Twitter Power:Tweets as Electronic Word of Mouth). The research involved analysis of 150,000 tweets, treated as natural language expressions, or "talk". The aim of the research was to study tweets in which brands are mentioned for a number of attributes relevant to brands, including sentiment, purpose, frequency, and so on.I found this interesting for several reasons. First was that I've been arguing of late that the conversational turn in social media (twitter, status… -
Social media, converging streams?
6 Oct 2009 | 8:35 amOne of my favorite books about community is a work by Nobel Prize winner Elias Canetti called Crowds and Power. It's a beautiful and thoroughly insightful study on people assembled in different ways and for a kaleidoscopic set of reasons. I turn to the book often when thinking about how social media both separate and connect us, using it as an imaginary frontier of sorts for what mediated crowds might or could do.A piece by Tim Leberecht reminded me of Canetti this morning. Got me thinking about converging streams and how conversational media sometimes produce that effect of being together at… -
Social Interaction Design: Ratings
5 Oct 2009 | 11:35 amI had other things in mind for this morning until a client sent me an article in today's Wall Street Journal about online ratings. She, like many others running review and ratings-based sites, is "suffering" from excessively generous end user ratings. The article, which surveys a number of online properties, cites the tendency to 4.3: On the Internet, Everyone's a Critic But They're Not Very Critical. Offering up a number of anecdotes as reasons for the broken state of online ratings, the article's authors pretty much capture what many of us get intuitively about why online ratings really…
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Chris Garrett on New Media
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How to Release Your Web Marketing Potential
20 Nov 2009 | 5:01 amThere are two challenges that 90% of my consulting clients face and I am going to give you the answer to both in this article. After you read this you will be able take a look at your blog or your business and know what you need to do in order to make your 2010 more successful than your 2009. A big claim? Maybe, but I see it work over and over when I coach my clients so I am confident if you implement what I am about to tell you. I have been there. First in the programming niche. Then in the SEO and affiliate niche. For a time in the photography niche. And of course I am now in social media. -
Brilliant Free Stuff from Friends
30 Oct 2009 | 9:07 pmAuckland, New Zealand I’m sat taking some time out from our travels down under to let you know about a couple of great giveaways. Yes, I am on my travels again. This time touring the other side of the planet. We are down in Auckland, New Zealand right now, after a quick stop in Singapore and just before we head to Sydney, and then Melbourne Australia. Ordinarily I wouldn’t be updating my blog with a vacation update but this news is too good. How good? My friend Sean is giving away an entire audio course. Not only is he giving it away, it’s a course that he is currently… -
Gary Vaynerchuck Interview
13 Oct 2009 | 5:00 amGary crushing it at Web 2.0 Expo NY Today I am happy (and more than a little relieved) to be able to share with you this quick and informal interview I grabbed last week with Gary Vay.Ner.Chuk. Gary has quickly become a fixture on the convention scene, TV celebrity and a media darling because of his larger than life energy and positive personality, and also his expertise in personal branding, social media and business. Right now he is in the process of the launch his brilliant new book, “Crush It“. I was fortunate to grab 30 technical gremlin frustrated minutes where I got to ask… -
Join Me For a Live Chat
12 Oct 2009 | 2:17 amAsk me social media and blogging questions and see me answer live As part of the launch of Social Media Examiner I will be doing a live video chat along with Mike Stelzner. It’s free and easy to join in, and should be good fun! 10:00 New York time 15:00 London time Check out the full details here. Also, while you are there, check out my first article for the site … “How to Create Headlines that Go Viral With Social Media“ Related Posts:Social Media Marketing Survey Results - Free PDFHow to Really Use Social Media Marketing as a Tool For BusinessI Want Your Social Media… -
Get My New Business-Blogging Book with $10 Off
8 Oct 2009 | 6:50 amBusiness Blogging Made Simple A real-world guide to creating, writing and promoting a successful blog Inside my new e-book “Business Blogging – 50 Steps to Building Traffic and Sales,” you’ll discover: Why your business needs a blog (yesterday!) The biggest pitfalls of blogging — and how to avoid them How to build a following of faithful blog subscribers Proven tips for converting your blog traffic into sales Order now and get instant access … Save $10 – offer ends 14th Today! (Offer extended) I am really proud of this new book, I think the Wordtracker folks have done a…
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Buzz Marketing, Creative Thinking and Personal Branding Like a Rock star
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Dubai Update
18 Nov 2009 | 11:13 pmHi all, In my last post I said there would be regular new videos from my Dubai trip… unfortunately, the wifi in the hotel doesn’t work, so I haven’t been able to upload anything. So wait a few more days, and then there will be videos galore. We also did a Blistering Success episode from the hotel [...] -
Videos from Dubai
14 Nov 2009 | 4:09 amHi all, I fly to Dubai tomorrow to speak at two events: a Twitter Convention, and an Online Business Success seminar. So I won’t be doing regular blog posts for a week or so, but what I will be doing is creating a load of great videos from Dubai. Everything from content videos with my Blistering Success co-host [...] -
Free Webinars FTW
12 Nov 2009 | 3:56 amHave you ever seen a webinar before? They are my absolute favourite way of learning new and powerful skills, in fact, they give me a warm fuzzy feeling in my belly… or that could be the fish I had for lunch… anyway… I am going to be doing some new and FREE webinars over the next couple [...] -
The Road to the Oprah Winfrey Show
7 Nov 2009 | 7:48 amThe Oprah Winfrey show is perhaps the biggest chat show on the planet, and today starts the journey for me and my Blistering Success show co-host Ciaran Doyle to appear on the show. (seriously) This may sound crazy, but bear with me… The goal here is to see if two down to earth, zero hype and zero [...] -
Let’s Work Together
4 Nov 2009 | 4:51 amUPDATE: I have received over 60 emails thus far, so apologies if I don’t reply straight away Hi all, Would you like to partner with me on a project, business or opportunity? If you have an existing business that you would like to take to the next level, I would be open to possibly working with you. I can [...]
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B.L. Ochman
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Why Do So Many Companies Hide Their Social Media Involvement?
18 Nov 2009 | 9:16 pmWhile thousands of companies have either experimental or well-established presence on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social media sites, those communities remain invisible on all but a tiny fraction of company homepages. Why do companies hide their social media efforts from visitors? My guess is that their reasons include o fear that they'll lose control of their brand if too many people know they can have a say; o lack of cooperation between marketing and IT; o and perhaps pressure from lawyers who are nervous about new-fangled new media. It's hard to find a company website whose… -
Three Top Reasons Why Social Media is Still a Tough Sell
9 Nov 2009 | 6:47 pmBy B.L. Ochman Big companies have moved cautiously for eons. While many are corporations are making forays into social media, very, very few are taking huge risks. Instead of jumping in, they're still standing on the edge of the pool, diipping a toe in the water. As a result, getting companies to add social media into the marketing mix is still a hard sell. Here are three of the top reasons why. 1- Consultants make social media sound scary. Consultants, eager to prove the viability of social media in the marketing mix, are overwhelming stodgy companies by making social media sound more… -
Think There Are No More Real Heroes? Meet Zoe Koplowitz
2 Nov 2009 | 8:13 amI hope you will show this post to someone you love. This morning, at 9:30 a.m., I had the great good fortune to meet up with Zoe Koplowitz, as she approached mile 24 of her 21st NYC Marathon - on purple day-glo crutches, 27 hours after the start of the race. She, and a team of Guardian Angels who acompany her as she keeps her pace of approximately one mile per hour, were on course to finish her race in just under 29 hours. She told me she felt "fine," and we talked about her dog, as Benny - clearly recognizing a great soul - bowed before her (his best trick.) I told her she was a great… -
10 Things Social Media Can't Do
31 Oct 2009 | 11:30 amBy B.L. Ochman Amid the endless pronouncements about social media -- often shortened to "social" these days by consultants trying to sound like they know what they are talking about -- is the reality that social media is not a solution, or a sure bet. Social media can't: 1. Substitute for marketing strategy A Twitter campaign, or a Facebook page that announces your weekly specials is not a marketing strategy. 2. Succeed without top management buy-in Social media requires a way of thinking that includes willingness to listen to customers, make changes based on feedback, and trust employees to… -
Top Five Reasons Why Free is a Good Business Model & How We Plan to Use it to Retire Before We're 90
30 Oct 2009 | 9:21 amPawfun, the site I hope will one day allow me to say "I used to be a corporate social media consultant", is one year old this month. My partner, Caimin Jones, and I started out thinking we'd sell a ton of t-shirts, customized photo note cards, and personalized pet photo greeting cards to pet lovers. We've sold a bunch, but not enough to allow us to retire from consulting before we're 90. Then, Eureka! We realized that we weren't using the very community-building tools we've spent the last 10 years cajoling our Fortune 500 clients into trying. Pawfun's new focus: free We're changing our focus.
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Online Marketing Blog
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SEO for Flash: 5 Tips and Best Practices
19 Nov 2009 | 10:32 amSEO for Flash – is it a reality yet? One of the most common issues for web sites with poor search visibility involves Google not being able to crawl and index a site’s content. Web sites made entirely with Flash are problematic because there are often no links for search engine crawlers to follow or HTML text to copy. According to the Opera (browser) developer center, somewhere between 30% and 40% of all pages tested contained Flash files representing a lot of content that may not be included in search results or only partially indexed. Despite a large number of sites publishing… -
Google: Social Media is a Party, SEO is Bullsh*t, Advertising is Good For You
19 Nov 2009 | 4:00 amI noticed someone using Google suggest in another story today (honestly forgot where) and thought I’d see what Google “thinks” about social media. Then I tried SEO. Not surprising. Funniest of all, considering Google’s business model, was advertising. Pretty telling when you think about it. Of course this isn’t what Google “really thinks” about social media, it’s Google’s response to search queries and effort to predict what we’re really searching for. Google Suggest works by drawing from searches by other Google users, sites in… -
Book Review: Socialnomics by Erik Qualman
17 Nov 2009 | 11:33 am“It’s a people driven economy stupid” and “Online word of mouth has made many traditional marketing strategies obsolete”. Those are powerful words and central to the theme in “Socialnomics” by Erik Qualman, Global VP for Online Marketing for EF Educatio, the world’s largest private educator. I appreciate Erik’s characterization because it’s how I’ve viewed social media since our digital marketing & PR agency started blogging and using social news/bookmarking sites in 2004: as technology that facilitates word of mouth. At… -
Why Use Social Media For Public Relations
16 Nov 2009 | 6:34 amRecently, I presented at PubCon on the intersection of social media and PR. The session title was “experts on PR and Twitter,” however the session description went on to discuss a variety of networks. Therefore my interpretation was to speak on the intersection of social media and PR, and not just PR and Twitter. The social web is far more than just Twitter, and if Twitter is the extent of your participation you’re missing out. Lee’s diagram of social media and channels of distribution presents a visualization of a strong approach, where the centerpiece is a blog. The… -
5 SEO Tips for Online Retailers
13 Nov 2009 | 4:00 amOnline retail websites face a unique set of obstacles when it comes to improving sales through better search engine visibility. Repetitive product descriptions, a lack of content and frequent churn of products can all be hurdles to overcome. But with these specific tips for retail search engine optimization, online retailers can turn those challenges into opportunities and maximize their organic search traffic. 1. Add fresh content to the website. Many online retail websites focus on selling products rather than informing and providing value to customers, and hence severely lack content.
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Social Media Rockstar
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11 Ways to Get More RSS Subscribers
16 Nov 2009 | 6:48 pmOne year ago, I started this blog with the goal of improving my writing skills and also my connections in the social media world. I also wanted to practice creating viral content. Out of 48 posts, 12 of them (25%) went viral and got over 200 retweets. Near the end of my first year I had about 2000 RSS subscribers – a modest number. There were an average of average of 9900 monthly unique visitors, with a peak in April of 16,894 unique visitors. While some people have figured out how to get blog subscribers much more quickly, I was more successful than with my other blog – which… -
When TV Product Placement Goes Too Far
26 Oct 2009 | 3:07 pmCalifornication – a prime-time Showtime TV drama – celebrates the womanizing exploits of a lazy rockstar writer named Hank Moody (played David Duchovny). It has some good moments and sharp, engaging dialogue mixed in with the rough. But it jumped the shark for me personally, when it engaged in ultra-sneaky product placement for a social media site that pushed past all known bounds of advertising. Chillin’ and shillin’ with a product placement for Guitar Hero Moody lusts after a hot college student (Eva Amurri) who says she moonlights as a stripper. When he goes to her… -
Interview with Gary Vaynerchuk
12 Oct 2009 | 5:26 amGary Vaynerchuk is ‘the man.’ He’s a 33-year-old, charismatic and slightly over-the-top video blogger who’s managed to grow a multi-million dollar business by mixing his passions for wine and social media marketing. You can join along in his video wine tasting adventures or follow him on Twitter. What excites you the most about social media? “Everything has changed in the last 3 years. The fact that you can use social media for your marketing, and not have to pay millions of dollars, has really, really sent this whole game in a different direction.” Wine 2.0:… -
5 Signs You’re NOT a Social Media Expert, Yet
5 Oct 2009 | 9:48 pmOver the past two years, social media has quickly flown onto mainstream business marketing’s radar. This boom has created thousands of “Social Media Kindergarten Teacher” types with lower-intermediate skills… who get passed off as industry ‘experts’ on unsuspecting novices or clients. Next, there’s a class of smart, relatively advanced social media users who are still learning the professional + business consulting ropes. Above them, there are a handful of true social media experts who personally define the industry’s best practices and train… -
Social Media Interview with Mani Karthik
29 Sep 2009 | 11:19 pmMani Karthik is an India-based professional blogger and SEO consultant. Mani has an insightful daily SEO blog (in English) with over 5,000 subscribers, a team of overseas employees, and world-class level of search + social media skills that distinguish him as one of the very top international web consultants in Asia. You can follow Mani on Twitter or subscribe to his SEO blog. Where do you live, what do you do for work and fun? “I’m from Cochin, India (a tropical city on the southwest coast, in Kerala province). I make a living by helping people sell things online, fine tune their…
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Denver Post: News: Breaking: Local
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Teenage girl dies in Breckenridge ski accident
20 Nov 2009 | 1:37 pmA 14-year-old Colorado girl died in a skiing accident today at Breckenridge. The name of the teenager was not released. -
Westminster officer injured in shoot-out "doing well"
20 Nov 2009 | 12:58 pmWestminster Police Officer Sean Chandler, wounded in an exchange of gunfire with two bank robbery suspects on Thursday, is in good condition at St. -
Slight decline in Colorado October unemployment
20 Nov 2009 | 12:58 pmDENVER—A shrinking labor force and about 1,000 new jobs have helped put Colorado's latest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for October at 6. -
Heaven Dragon owner pleads guilty in pot network
20 Nov 2009 | 10:55 amThornton restaurant owner Dan Tang pleaded guilty this morning to laundering money to fund a marijuana growing operation. -
Suspected drunken driving crash on I-25 causes critical injury
20 Nov 2009 | 10:38 amA suspected drunken driver heading the wrong way on Interstate 25 this morning caused a head-on crash, which critically injured a passenger in the suspect's vehicle, police said.
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TheDenverChannel.com - Local News
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Prosecutors Set To File Charges In Vail Shooting
20 Nov 2009 | 1:15 pmProsecutors plan to file charges Monday against a man suspected of killing one person and wounding three others in a shooting at a bar in Vail. -
Police Chase Ends In Gunfire; Both Suspects Dead
20 Nov 2009 | 1:07 pmA blazing gun battle ended in death just after noon Thursday, as police and several bank robbery suspects exchanged gunfire in front of horrified witnesses at a strip mall and major intersection. -
Alamosa Swears In First Female Mayor
20 Nov 2009 | 11:58 amAlamosa has sworn in its first female mayor. -
5 Things That Kill Your Sex Drive
20 Nov 2009 | 11:35 amDoctors say at some point in time everyone loses libido and when that happens it can cause problems for both partners. -
Restaurateur Pleads Guilty In Money-Laundering Drug Operation
20 Nov 2009 | 11:06 amA Chinese restaurant owner in Thornton has pleaded guilty to laundering money to fund a marijuana-growing operation.
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Denver News
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What I Learned at the Official Associated Content Meeting in Denver, Colorado
20 Nov 2009 | 5:27 amLast night I went to the Denver Associated Content meeting for staff and contributors. -
Denver Police Search For Cold Case Murder Suspect
19 Nov 2009 | 11:40 pmRequired fields are marked with an asterisk The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications. -
Bank robbery suspects killed, 2 officers wounded in Westminster shootout
19 Nov 2009 | 7:34 pmGunfire erupted as police in north metro Denver tried to apprehend two suspects wanted for a bank robbery Thursday afternoon. -
Shots fired during apparent bank robbery
19 Nov 2009 | 3:22 pmShots have been fired during an apparent robbery in suburban Denver, resulting in injuries. -
Denver police catch bank robbery suspects
19 Nov 2009 | 11:01 amPolice arrested two suspects who they say tried to rob a credit union early Thursday morning.
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Denver Business News - Local Denver News | Denver Business Journal
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Labor Department: Colorado ‘mass layoffs’ up again in October
20 Nov 2009 | 1:38 pmThe number of Colorado businesses that laid off 50 or more employees at a time climbed again in October, to 19, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Friday. -
Udall says he’s “encouraged” by Reid health-reform bill; doesn’t say how he’ll vote
20 Nov 2009 | 1:17 pmU.S. Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado said Friday he will vote to allow debate on a Senate version of health-care reform legislation, but did not indicate whether he will vote for the bill. -
DIA advises Thanksgiving travelers to get there early
20 Nov 2009 | 12:57 pmTravelers flying out of Denver International Airport during this Thanksgiving holiday period should arrive in ticketing lobbies two hours before take-off due to the increased crowd sizes, DIA officials warned Friday. -
EU extends deadline on Oracle-Sun Microsystems deal
20 Nov 2009 | 12:02 pmThe European Union deadline has been extended on the antitrust review of Oracle Corp.'s $7.4 billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems Inc., a deal that would combine two of Colorado's largest tech employers. (ORCL) (JAVA) -
Warrant issued for Denver developer Erik Osborn
20 Nov 2009 | 9:12 amA warrant has been issued for the arrest of Denver developer Erik Osborn for failing to appear at a pretrial hearing on the morning of Nov. 19, the Denver District Attorney’s office confirmed Friday.
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The Practice of Leadership
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Research finds leadership skills inadequate to meet current and future demand
16 Nov 2009 | 11:29 pmNew research from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) which surveyed 2,200 leaders from 15 organizations, in three countries between 2006 and 2008 produced some interesting findings. The research project was designed to answer the following questions: What leadership skills and perspectives are critical for success now and in the future? How strong are current leaders in these critical skills and perspectives? How aligned is today’s leadership strength with what will be the most important skills and perspectives in the future? A comparison of the leadership strength from the research… -
Leaders Take Risks!
1 Nov 2009 | 12:01 pmPhoto by schoschie The act and practice of leadership is a risky undertaking. Leadership is the act or bringing about positive change. This requires leaders to initiate, to blaze new trails, to venture into the unknown and unexplored terrain. All of this entails risk. Kouzes and Posner in their bestselling book, “The Leadership Challenge” describes it this way: “Leaders are pioneers – people who are willing to step out into the unknown. They are people who are willing to take risks, to innovate and experiment in order to find new an better ways of doing things.” Leaders take… -
10 reasons why you’re going to fail!
1 Nov 2009 | 11:50 amI can across a really stunning post on failure by Tony Morgan, “10 Reasons Why You’re Probably Going to Fail” that is really worth sharing, so here is Tony’s list… 10 Reasons Why You’re Probably Going to Fail It’s not your passion. If it doesn’t make your heart beat fast or cause your mind to race when you’re trying to sleep, you’re probably doing the wrong thing. You don’t have a plan. You need a vision, and you need to identify specific steps to make that vision become reality. That includes a financial plan. (I happen to believe you need direction from God on… -
The 2009 Most Influential Business Thinkers
1 Nov 2009 | 11:45 amForbes.com released their 2009 “The Most Influential business Thinkers” results. The consulting firm CrainerDearlove compiled this list of today’s top thinkers, by surveyed 3,500 people and a panel of experts to determine the 2009 edition of the Thinkers 50, the fifth edition of a biennial list of the most influential living management thinkers. This years results are listed below. Rank Name 2007 Rank Country Day Job 1 C.K. Prahalad 1 India/U.S. University of Michigan Academic 2 Malcolm Gladwell 18 Canada New Yorker Columnist 3 Paul Krugman U.S. Princeton Academic 4… -
Keeping your goals in focus
30 Aug 2009 | 1:39 pmPhoto by kevindooley The article “For This Guru, No Question Is Too Big” from the NY Times discusses the work of the best selling business author Jim Collins. Given the popularity of Jim Collins the article discussed how he allocates his time, which is as follows: “… in a corner of the white board at the end of his long conference room, Mr. Collins keeps this short list: Creative 53% Teaching 28% Other 19% That, he explains, is a running tally of how he’s spending his time, and whether he’s sticking to a big goal he set for himself years ago: to spend 50 percent of…
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Management IQ - BusinessWeek
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More Self-Inflicted Drama at AIG
13 Nov 2009 | 1:10 pmRobert Bermosche has made plenty of waves in his three months at the helm of troubled insurer AIG, starting with his early bluster about not being pushed into selling assets too soon. On Nov. 11 Bermosche got into hot water again after the Wall Street Journal reported that he’d threatened in front of board members to quit his post over the pay limitations being imposed by the Federal Government. Following an emergency bailout in September 2008, the government now owns 80% of AIG. In a letter to employees sent out after the story surfaced, Benmosche didn’t deny the reports, though he… -
CEO Oversharing
5 Nov 2009 | 4:11 pmRecently Chip Conley, CEO of Joie de Vivre, a $230 million company with more than 3,000 employees, got enmeshed in a bit of a modern corporate culture snafu. Conley's not your average Harvard MBA pinstriped buttoned-down corporate chieftan. He's an entrepreneur. He writes his own rules. So to him, it wasn't so strange to post some pictures of himself at the Burning Man whatever-it-is in the desert on his Facebook fan page. Or to tweet on Twitter about the demise of his 8-year-long relationship. Some of his employees, however, found it unseemly for a CEO to be shirtless on Facebook. And since… -
Marketing Drugs: The Pitfalls of DTC
5 Nov 2009 | 9:56 amWhat happens when pharmaceutical company ads urge TV views and magazine readers to "ask your doctor" about a particular drug? A new study from market researcher Verilogue suggests patients either aren't asking for the drug by name, or worse, they're asking about its scary side effects. Verilogue came to that conclusion from a unique and useful vantage point: It recorded 12,500 real conversations between patients and physicians. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) drug advertising is one of the most controversial issues in pharmaceuticals. Critics say the ads promote the over-use of prescription drugs… -
CEO Pensions Encourage Earnings Games
23 Oct 2009 | 3:44 pmA new study finds that it’s not just the outsized pay packages executives at AIG, Citigroup and others receive that is a problem. Nor are the golden parachutes given those forced out the only thing that deserves scrutiny. Regular run-of-the-mill CEO retirement has become a reason for CEOs to goose the numbers. The study by Paul Kalyta of McGill University finds that a CEO whose retirement pay depends in part on the company’s performance in his final years at the helm, will manage earnings up as he approaches retirement. After he’s gone, the stocks tend to drop sharply. By contrast,… -
Pay Czar Slashes Compensation; Makes Governance Changes
21 Oct 2009 | 2:55 pmIn a striking display of government authority, pay czar Kenneth Feinberg is taking a knife to the pay packages of certain companies receiving U.S. funds. According to media reports, the government will slash the compensation of the 25 highest-paid employees at the seven firms receiving the most aid. The biggest drop will be to salaries, which will plummet 90% on average for these firms, while total compensation will fall by an average of about 50%. (Those numbers could be skewed by agreements reached with executives like outgoing Bank of America CEO Kenneth D. Lewis, who is forgoing all of…
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Branding Strategy Insider
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How To Be A Good Advertising Client
16 Nov 2009 | 9:10 pmThe wisdom of David Ogilvy lives on in this reminder to client side marketers... How To Be A Good Client: 1. Emancipate your agency from fear. 2. Select the right agency in the first place. 3. Brief your agency very thoroughly indeed. 4. Do not compete with your agency in the creative area. 5. Coddle the goose who lays the golden egg. (provide enough time and resources to do the job well.) 6. Don’t strain your advertising through too many layers. 7. Make sure your agency makes a profit. 8. Don’t haggle with your agency. 9. Be candid and encourage… -
The Anti-laws of Luxury Marketing #18
15 Nov 2009 | 9:10 pm18. Don’t relocate your factoriesReducing cost prices is vital in the mass consumer markets, and this often means relocating factories. Luxury management does not apply this strategy. When someone buys a luxury item, they are buying a product steeped in a culture or in a country. Having local roots increases the perceived value of the luxury item. BMW, which is successfully pursuing a luxury strategy, builds all of its automobiles in Germany – apart from the entry line: the 3 Series – and is keeping production of the Mini in the United Kingdom. Keeping production of its models and… -
Brand Naming and Acronyms
14 Nov 2009 | 9:10 pmAn acronym is a pronounceable word formed from the initial letters of a name (WAC, for Women's Army Corps), or formed by combining the first parts of a series of words (RADAR, from Radio Detecting and Ranging).As these examples suggest, once an acronym becomes embedded in the language, most people forget -- or never bother to learn -- the underlying words. Just ask someone what "laser" actually stands for. (Ready? It's "Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.")Naming a product or service with an acronym is like an Olympic diving competition. The best efforts carry a high… -
The Language Of Brand Names
13 Nov 2009 | 9:10 pmNames not just "are," they "do." As a part of language, names identify a business or brand, but also subtly suggest certain types of action.To explain, we must wade into the pond of language. Scholars have pointed out that every utterance has three functions:# The locutionary function involves what the expression denotes.# The illocutionary entails how it functions as a speech act, which philosophers of language define as an utterance considered as an action.# Perlocutionary functions include all the effects an utterance has on the receiver.Brand names, like other words, use all three… -
Social Media Not The Answer For Weak Brands
12 Nov 2009 | 9:10 pmIf you were a first-time visitor from Mars and you happened to drop into a marketing meeting somewhere in the United States, you might assume that marketing people do nothing but talk about "TGIF."That's Twitter, Google, the internet and Facebook.There's no question these four revolutionary developments have forever changed the marketing function. Word-of-mouth has now become word of finger.A key difference: Word-of-mouth leaves an invisible trail in the ether. Word-of-finger leaves an electronic trail on the internet.In the past, nobody paid much attention to word of mouth, even though by…
