I always love a neat marketing office. There is something about a creative environment that is different from the normal white-wall cubicle stereotype. Guy Kawasaki points us to Threadless, who has one of the coolest offices I’ve seen to date. Take a look at both. You won’t regret it.
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Many people go through their lives in what they believe are safe waters. We all have our aspirations and goals we would like to accomplish, but it always seems that the more life altering ones don’t always see their way through. Some never even get tried. For some, they look back and wonder, “What if I did that? I would have been at this point by now.” For example, a college student dabbling in the idea of starting a web business selling interesting guitar pick designs. He may think, “that would be a neat idea…I bet I could make some money doing that” and never follow through with that. Years later he may be kicking himself for never trying, and not even bother to try it now.
Think about all of the things you’ve always wanted to do but never did, and how you would be today. Some of the things you may try will succeed, others will fail. In the end, though, you will still earn valuable life experience no matter what the result. Taking action makes the best of us.
I see two major blocks preventing people from turning their ideas and life changes into reality. Fear of the unknown and ill-conceived, self limitations.
People stick to what they know because it is easy, they know the results, and don’t have to worry about failure and not knowing the outcome. The realization must occur that without any change or even trying no growth can occur, and can even lead to stagnation. No one ever said change was easy, but it isn’t as hard as you may think. It just requires motivation and follow through.
The other notion of self limitations is a very large impediment on your progress. By self limitations I mean not believing their is more to yourself than what you see. You may be a restaurant manager, and just think of yourself as that without pursuing other avenues…hopping from one restaurant to the next. Here’s the thing. You are not just that. There is no rule saying that you always have to work in restaurant. There is no law telling you to do so, and nothing is preventing you from learning and doing something else. Want to start a business selling decorative pepper shakers online? Research how to start a business and get your feet wet. I don’t care if your dreams are as extreme as running away to the islands and building ships inside bottles. It’s possible, you just have to do it.
It’s very tiresome and sad for me to hear people talk about things they want to do with their lives and never set anything in motion to progress. No more thinking you can’t do it, or it’s only for the experts. You can become the expert. Don’t think and wonder what if. Just do!
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Google recently updated Google Analytics. With it, there are some fancy new graphics and features. While it looks nice, some of it can feel a distracting with its overwhelming set of features. The key is not to get too distracted by all of the bells and whistles and be able to stay on target with your goals. Seth Godin summed it up well in his recent post.
It’s really easy to let ego take over and think about just trying to increase site traffic, but don’t forget that there was an original reason for the site in the first place! Unless your purpose was to just drive more traffic and create awareness, and you have no other conversion goals, then you may want to think more on how Google Analytics can help you attain your original goals.
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When trying to touch base with a customer and maintain some level of brand loyalty, it is important to take note of detail. If you are sending a personalized message, proper care should be taken to ensure the right name goes on it, and if there is code involved, that it is properly tested. The image below is a case in point.
I received this message from Microsoft regarding my XBox 360 Live membership. The last time I checked, however, my name was not “Failed to convert to string from variant type 1″. Now this isn’t an email from some random guy on the internet, this is Microsoft. A company that prides itself in hiring elite programmers and other intellects. Everything else about the 360’s service has been top notch, so it seems strange to see such a blatant oversight occur in this email. Having worked with mass emailing before, I can understand oversights…during the testing phase, not with the letter that is launched. Considering this email gets sent to people across the U.S. everyday, I wonder how many others experienced this, and what their reactions were?
Bottom line, if you plan on making good customer contact, test thoroughly and always proof read. It only takes a few minutes of your time and you could prevent inserting your foot into your mouth.
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I was reading Ron McDaniel’s post on the Buzzoodle blog and found a great tool for showing appreciation to commentors. The DoFollow plugin for Wordpress allows comments to be followed by Google, helping a site increase its ranking.
The plugin is now installed on this site so that if someone posts a good comment, it will be followed by Google. Just another way of spreading some love in the blogosphere. If you are a Wordpress blogger and want to help others, too, check it out!
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I’m coming up with a new design for one of our websites and am running into a snag. I started work on it more today, looking through the web for more ideas, trying some on my own, but nothing. I have a basic skeletal structure, but that’s it. My mind is shooting me blanks.
Part of the dilemma: I could spend time pouring over other sites in our industry, which I have done yesterday for a bit, but promptly stopped. I realized something. How can I make a website that stands out from the rest if it looks just like the rest? I’m not talking about going totally crazy and creating something unrecognizable, but at least something with its own look.
Maybe I should draw inspiration elsewhere from more unlikely sources such as life experience, or something even as obscure as a restaurant menu or a really neat building. Strange, yes, but different, and possibly refreshing, nonetheless. That’s my say of the moment. I’m sure something will come to me soon. Perhaps its best for me not to think about it too hard.
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Unless you’ve been living under a rock and void of a computer with Internet capabilities, you’ve noticed the skyrocketing trend towards user created content. Youtube, Myspace, Facebook, Blogspot, and Flicker have all been familiarized by Internet junkies across the world.
Why is this such a phenomenon? Why does it work so well for marketing? The reasons are simple, and powerful:
While traditional advertising still has its place, the public should not be ignored. It has been made incredibly simple for them to voice their word, and it holds a strong persuasive value. Companies are taking the hint, and have even created contests revolved around user participation. What companies do you know are benefiting from user created content?
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Yesterday, I had the honor of meeting Ben McConnell of Church of the Customer. He gave an excellent presentation on marketing as it occurs out of the hands of “experts” and into the hands of common people.
Lots of great stories were shared as examples of both viral, buzz marketing success and failures. It really got me thinking more about the power of user created content, its appeal, and rampant spread. It really is a brilliant way to market. Yes, the message is out of your control when everyday people talk about you, but the message is free and highly viral. Users eat this up because they get a chance to create, spread a message and get noticed, it’s easy, powerful, and gives them a sense of freedom.
As an added bonus, we received copies of Ben and Jackie’s book, Citizen Marketers. If you have any interest in marketing I suggest you take a look at their site, and their book for a nice refreshing view on marketing.
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I recently received a comment on my Blog from another Blogger, Mark, at SpendMeToSchool. At first, the comment looked just like spam, but my curiousity got the best of me and I checked out his site. What I found was quite interesting. The blogger claims that he will choose his profession in life based on a number of votes from readers. The catch is that each vote costs $1. Each occupation is decidedly different, ranging from rodeo clown to stunt man.
While the idea of making money by having others make life decisions for you for cash isn’t new, this was still an interesting site to visit. Will he pull through with the task at hand? Take a look for something interesting.
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At Buzzoodle, we encourage many of our clients to Blog. It’s a simple way to create a wealth of content at a fast rate that also raises your credibility. People seem to grasp the idea of posting frequently to generate content and improve SEO, but many seem to forget about one key thing. Networking.
Connecting with other Bloggers is the best way to increase traffic and extend your network. Always remember that blogging is more than just posts and articles, it is a highly social tool. Here are some things you can and should be doing to make your blog a success:
Remember, writing posts is just a small part of the big picture of blogging. By taking advantage of the power of networking that’s possible with this, blogging can be a vital tool for marketing you or your company.
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