One of my favorite blogger humorists, the Cake Wrecks lady, is at it again with Halloween wrecks. Here's what she has to say about this craptastic cake.
Yep, Stephanie S. reports that this was actually labeled "Mummy Cake". As opposed to "Ticked-Off Cross-Breed of a Storm-Trooper and a Teenage-Mutant-Ninja-Turtle Cake".
New Forrester research indicates widespread acceptance and adoption of social media, with up to 75% of respondents reporting some usage of social media in 2nd quarter of this year. What's included in social media? Well, a lot of the usage is among folks reading blogs. No mention in this brief article on whether or not Facebook and similar social networking sites are catching on with the over 35 crowd, but anecdotally, I can tell you that I'm getting lots more friend requests from old high school and college friends. I've even had a few ex-boyfriends track me down!
From a marketing standpoint, we always tell our clients that more and more of their customers are all over the web and there are some great ways to reach them. We almost always recommend search engine marketing first -- that's a must -- but depending on your customer set, we often look at blog outreach programs, social media press releases (basically, interactive press releases), and social networking. Studies like this simply affirm that more and more of your prospects are hanging out in the social media pool. It's time to start thinking about how to reach them there.
The concept behind social news sites such as Digg, Reddit and Newsvine is pretty simple: search and read the latest in news and happenings and share this content with your circle of friends, colleagues and (perhaps) admirers. But as information becomes increasingly customizable, democratized and instantaneous, these general sites may not feed your insatiable grown-up appetite for real news. Here's a list of great niche social news sites that will undoubtedly fill you up:
Great social news site specifically for small-to-medium sized business companies
Social news site for marketers, entrepreneurs and business professionals
#1 Social news site for internet marketers, with a focus on search
Social news site focusing on current health news
A news site that focuses on technology, start-ups, business and entrepreneurship
Financial Social news service
Internet marketing Social news site that focuses on making money
Is it just me or does this new Pepsi logo look like the Obama logo turned sideways? Besides that, why are they changing their logo? They claim it's to infuse some excitement into the brand during a recession. Look, we do logo redesigns all the time -- usually for companies who never had a professionally designed logo in the first place. And changing logos can give you an excuse to reach out and touch your customers, or just fire up the troops internally. So I can't make a blanket statement and say this is a bad idea. What I can say, is how much did this cost? How much will it cost to re-brand the trucks, bottles, all the packaging, etc.? How else could they have spent the money? Maybe with some kick-ass contests (people love those any time, but especially in a recession). Or some big, attention-getting marketing stunts at cities throughout the country. Or college campuses.
It's time to start planning for holiday greeting cards and gifts (if this is something your company likes to do). Tired of the fruit baskets, gourmet food baskets, or tubs of popcorn? Here are a few food ideas we love.
Looks like a greeting card. Tastes like a big 'ol cookie with buttercream frosting. (Thanks to my friend Lisa W. for the tip on this years ago.) These make great birthday cards for clients, too. (They have tons of designs for every occasion.)
With names like "Papa Don't Peach," and "Shofar So Good Apple Honey", this is not your average bread. This local Atlanta bakery has the yummiest sweet bread treats.
Another local Atlanta business, Pop!, makes frozen popcorn balls with fruit bits and drenched in chocolate. Terri -- a serious popcorn lover -- is salivating over these.
Gigantic fortune cookie with your own custom "fortune" message inside. These are the size of a football. Send it with a message to your customers wishing them "good fortune" in the coming year.
Food treats make great gifts any time of year; not just the holidays. In fact, many of these companies have Halloween-themed treats available now, and all are great to send for client birthdays. In the coming weeks, we'll post ideas for non-food related gifts. If you have any other suggestions, please post them in the comments section.
Most of us would like to be known for outstanding customer service, but we don't spend much time thinking about the steps we can take to actually improve our level of customer care. And when we do, it's often geared towards upgrading technology or other expensive systems. Sometimes, all you need is a warm, personal human touch. (And given the state of the economy, shoring up relationships with your customers is critical.)
To wit: recently, I discovered Etsy, an online marketplace for handmade goods. I've bought a number of items from different sellers and have experienced great customer service. (Much like ebay, customers rate the sellers.) But the service I received on my last purchase went even beyond good. This seller included a beautiful card with a personal note to me. She put two gourmet tea bags in the card (which had nothing whatsoever to do with the purchase; it was just a treat). She wrapped everything carefully. You could tell she did not just toss this in a FedEx box. Rather, she tied each item with a lovely string and a home made tag. The tag gave instructions for washing and care, and ended with this delightful note: "enjoy."
So why am I telling you about an independent seller on Etsy? A shop with only 33 items? Because, if she can do it, so can you. When was the last time you hand wrote a thank you note to your clients? When was the last time you included a "surprise" treat or gift? Have you thought about how you package or present your goods or services?
Recession Proof Marketing Tip #1 -- Shore Up Relationships with Existing Customers
Early this year, we drafted a marketing plan for ourselves -- a top-level outline of what we need to do to be successful this year. One of the organizing principles we used is how to grow a business in a recession. At the time, nobody was sure if we were in a recession, but plenty of people thought we were headed for one. And now, with the financial market meltdown, it seems more and more likely. As business owners, what can we do to make sure our businesses survive, or better yet, thrive?
We'll start posting tips for you to consider. If you have additional ideas, please post them in the Comments section.
Tip # 1 -- Shore Up Relationships with Existing Customers What are you currently doing to service your existing accounts? Do your customers LOVE you? I mean, really, really think you're amazing? What can you do to consistently amaze and delight them? Make a commitment, today, to surprisingly good -- outstanding -- customer service. Pull your team together and brainstorm what that might look like. Here are some ideas to get you started:
Ask your clients what you can do to help them sell more (or do more of whatever it is they want to do).
Surprise them with a gift, discount, extra service. No reason. Not a holiday surprise, but "just because." Expect nothing in return. (Simple gift ideas: a subscription to a relevant business magazine, Starbucks gift card, gourmet food items)
Call them. Don't e-mail. Call and say "hi."
Take them to lunch, dinner, a movie, a play.
Keep your eyes out for relevant articles, research, etc. Send it to them with a personal note.
Ideally, you should do a combination of things. We encourage you to get your team together today and talk about "creating customer evangelists." There is, in fact, an entire customer evangelism movement over at the Church of the Customer blog.
So your company has started a blog, but lately, your have found your posts are rather lackluster, and have become discouraged by the lack of traffic to your blog. Don’t fret.Here are some ideas to beef up your blog:
Remember, Content is Still King
It can be very difficult to come up with a new blog post every day that is relevant and engaging. A good way to get around writer’s block and post great content is to consume content! What is everyone talking about right now? Watch the news, read other blogs, check out the most popular stories on social bookmarking sites such as Digg, Newsvine, or Del.ici.ous, listen to the radio and read magazines and newspapers. Compare your findings with Google Trends, which gives you a search “snapshot” of what’s on the public’s mind. Write about these topics, and give it a little perspective on it.
Keep interesting postings, notes, pictures, punchy copy --whatever strikes your fancy-- in what I call a “Resource File”; which is a folder that you can turn to whenever the creative well runs dry.
Keep track of your blog posts that were popular. Re-purpose this content and update this topic regularly.
Use pictures and video whenever possible! Allow for others to share this collateral.
Encourage a conversation.Remember that your blog should establish you/your company as a valuable resource that offers useful information. Try not to become just another squawk box or advertorial. Ask for feedback or additional insight from your readers.
Promote Your Blog- the Smart Way.
Link love is the best kind of love for a blog and a surefire way to build traffic. Check out Zemanta, a cool new plug-in that instantly shows other relevant blog posts from around the world and immediately builds tagged links between your posts and others.
Make sure your RSS are functional and visible.
Connect your social networks and your blog. This will elevate your profile and alert people about your blog.
Remember, your blog should be an experience for your audience. Always keep them in mind when developing content and the rest shall follow.
One of my favorite blogger humorists, the Cake Wrecks lady, is at it again with Halloween wrecks. Here's what she has to say about this craptastic cake.
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