Having taken on this new role of blogging on the Personal Branding , I naturally have been looking at many of the other personal brands that are out there. A few names come to mind very quickly when you think about strong personal Robert Scoble, Guy Kawasaki, Steve Jobs (the ... more

"Inventory is bad, inventory is evil," finance and operations professors intone across business schools worldwide. And every B-school graduate knows companies should balance enough inventory to meet customer needs while accommodating shifting preferences. That said, companies face a paradox; holding too much inventory ties up valuable cash, but too little ... more

Marketing's mission is to somehow change a customer's behavior. We try many things to affect that advertising, email, search, events, webinars... and the list goes on and And in tough economic times the opportunity to affect customer behavior is exceptionally acute, especially when it comes to existing loyal So check ... more

A recent Brandweek article, Concentrating on , piqued my interest. In the article, we learn that Clorox has launched a new campaign to show consumers the many uses for bleach, besides using it to whiten their laundry. New ad spots show that bleach can be used to disinfect cutting boards, ... more

I'm back from the Fulbright in Yerevan, Armenia. And while most of my current thoughts seem to be on the increasingly intimidating task of finding a new position in the marketing world, I have also spent time contemplating what my family and I just It was the adventure of a ... more

As a copywriter, I'm particularly interested in names. Some I love, such as "Amazon" or "Starbucks," for their evocative quality. Some I hate (imagine what you will here) and some leave me just plain puzzled. Why is it, for example, that hair salons are especially prone to bad puns such ... more

It helps to have been around business blogging and social media for a while. It gives one historical Case in point, the almost perennial debate over whether it's okay to mix advertorial content in with editorial. That argument has been bandied about ever since the days of Marqui's Blogosphere in ... more

Why do you use Twitter? A week or so ago MarketingProfs CEO Allen Weiss on Twitter, "Sitting here with my wife trying to figure out what motivates people to use twitter....any ideas?" Allen had just returned from a few days of meetings with me and the rest of the MarketingProfs ... more

Dwindling budgets suddenly make low-cost social media look like the pretty girl at the " - Ann I love Ann's optimistic take on social media in the downturn. And I fundamentally agree. Big promotional budgets are hard to find, but you still need to get your message out there. And ... more

Think about None of these cool new social media tools were developed with "us" (marketers) in mind. Blogs, social networks, YouTube, etc. were created for people to keep in touch with their family and friends. So it shouldn't be a big surprise that the majority of people who first embraced ... more

In the last couple of years, as companies have become more interested in social media, they have tried to find ways to use these tools to reach "influencers." Sometimes these initiatives are referred to as 'blogger outreach' programs. But there is a much more influential and important group that most ... more

I work in a professional services firm and in order for firms like ours to differentiate themselves, they have to create perhaps hundreds of personal brands around individuals who understand niche topics extremely well. And since buyers have transparency through the use of search engines they can really get a ... more

A few weeks back, Geoff and I wrote an off-the-cuff, tongue-in-cheek "Top 25 Ways to Tell if Your Social Media Expert Is a Carpetbagger" and it drew the most interesting conversation around ghostwriting (#7 was "Will ghostwrite blog posts and other social content for There are lots of writers, agencies ... more

Not all leads should be treated equally. In our business, for example, the sales cycle can be upwards of 9 months .... so lead nurturing it critical to stay in front of your prospect during their journey from awareness to consideration to Furthermore, you are never quite sure when that ... more

Social media has long been lauded as a wonderful way to connect with customers and to build excitement for your But social media can also be an amazingly effective crisis management tool. That is, if the tools are in the hands of someone that knows how to utilize them properly, ... more

Deloitte LLP issued a very important report this fall, based on a survey the company commissioned. "Food and Product Safety and its Effect on Consumer Buying Habits" put hard numbers to what marketers have long Pat Conroy, Deloitte LLP's vice chairman and consumer products practice "Our research shows that consumers ... more

Alan and Paul recently wrote posts here that tackled the questions of credibility and trust. Those of us who are consultants understand well that to get work, we must project both Businesses won't hire us unless we appear credible and trustworthy. The questions come down 1) How do we project ... more

Come from myriad sources such as friends, family, co-workers, online reviews and even e-commerce algorithms. have shown that recommendations are trusted more than information proffered by media sources or corporate advertising. However, with daily reports of fraud and deception in political and financial spheres, a tide is building that threatens ... more

On the face of it, it seemed like a good idea – work with an existing and well-known meme to promote the Age of Conversation why don't they get in the lead-up to the new year. It would give the contributing authors some content to blog about, hopefully create some ... more

A year and a half ago when I was researching how to start a wiki and looking for best practices in wikis .... there was little information out there about it. So I decided to reach out to our internal consultant and found out there were already six wikis within ... more

I know it's not sexy. We're not tossing web 2.0 phrases around or sharing some hot, new creative aimed at a brand new target audience. In fact, this marketing truth is downright boring. Keep talking to your current Whether you are trying to increase sales or retain the sales you ... more

Back on July 30th, I about Truvia in a post dubbed, "Marketing the New Sugar." In my post, I commented on this new sweetener derived from the leaf of an herb called stevia. Now, many food companies, including the major soft drink companies, are scrambling to add the "new sugar" ... more

If you've ever purchased kids' clothing at a consignment shop or garage sale, you won't be able to do it after Feb. 10, 2009. In this tough economy, that's going to hurt a lot of working families. And why? Because Congress passed a new regulation under the Consumer Product Safety ... more

I've often written about NASCAR " -- the strongly held belief that if no one in your little bubble of upscale artsy friends is into something, then clearly no one else could be either-- and how it afflicts the advertising community. But there's an equally insidious syndrome affecting the tech ... more

Here's one of my worries as we continue to trudge through the murky waters of the recession. Business owners have always been an impatient lot, when it comes to marketing efforts. They plant the seed and then two days later, when nothing has sprouted, they dig up the seeds before ... more