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Social Media and Sales

Can Social Media really help sales? The simple answer is of course yes, but probably not quite the “yes” that you are wanting. Social media is rarely, if ever, the direct sales channel itself. Social media can increase the likelihood of sales through better targeting, more consistent touchpoints and availability of information, establishing affinities and…

Online Experts

Online Experts

Expertise for Hire. Whether you’re ordering a wedding cake or searching for a new employee, the lesson is simple: People will pay for expertise. Whether painting your home, repairing your car or – cough, cough – handling your social media, customers demand things done right – especially if they’re paying for it. That’s where your business and its expertise…

Google’s Got Visuals

Google’s Got Visuals

Google Product Listing Ads are now being rolled out to all of Google’s advertisers in the United States. The format, which has been in testing with select advertisers for the past year, makes AdWords more visual by allowing advertisers to list specific products with accompanying images. While the ads represent a departure from Google’s traditional text…

Online Advertising

Online advertising is thriving in the U.S., according to figures released in the latest IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report. Businesses and individuals spent approximately $12.1 billion on online advertising in the first six months of 2010, up 11.3% from the first half of 2009 and 13.9% from the second quarter of 2009. In fact, this…

The Loyal Treatment

The Loyal Treatment

If you’ve been listening to Mel Gibson’s phone calls lately, you might have reason to doubt the existence of loyalty in society today. Nonetheless, in business, it’s something that your customer should strive for – customer loyalty, that is. Obviously, you’ve got everything to gain in a loyal customer: keep them happy and reap the…

Death of a Newspaperman

Death of a Newspaperman

News media — including newspapers, news weeklies and TV news programs — was struggling long before the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent recession. In 2009 alone more than 100 newspapers shut down across the United States. With 24-hour TV and web news cycles, physical newspaper distribution has become somewhat of an inconvenience. That combined with the…

Creating and Consuming Media – Where’s the Balance?

An integral part of creating great media is consuming great media. However: There has to be a balance. Spend too much time looking at other people’s work, and you’ll end up neglecting your own work, and possibly even suppressing your own creativity. Then again, if you work in a bubble without seeing what else is…