Advertising & Marketing

The Appeal of a Brand

A simple word of sorts that has different meanings in different instances however in the broad scope it is asking people to take a look at us and do something. In the courts we have the right to ask the Appellate Court to take a close look at the decision of the lower court and either reverse or affirm the ruling. We plea with people to take action and donate, keep the peace during times of unrest and last, let’s not forget the attraction that comes with appeal.

How to Rid Your Inbox of Facebook Group Notifications

Facebook Groups, the most recent addition to the Facebook family of tools, while a great way to organize and categorize your friends has quite a few a bit up in arms. Facebook, despite being a permission based platform, has created Facebook Groups as an open join, meaning that each user can create groups and add their friends as they see fit. There are not invitations sent asking someone to join the group, just a simple click of their name and they are added to the group.

Michael Vick’s New Ink: Nike

Yes, it is true, Michael Vick and Nike have inked a new deal. After being quite verbose about dropping him due to his legal problems conviction for dog fighting they have now renewed their love for Vick. This is not something we should be shocked by as athletes such as Vick are as explosive on the field as they are off field. Athletes make money for sponsors and sponsors have to be in the game and attach themselves to the athletes to make the money of the contracts back.

The Entire Package

Packaging plays a critical part in how a product or service is put together and presented to the target market. We spend a lot of time creating the brand and branding the brand, especially for products however when we think about services, we are packaging many times the service within the website. The content on the site, the search engine optimization and through a blog to attract and engage new visitors to market to them for them to become clients.

The Gap’s New Old Logo – A Beautiful Disaster

The Gap has done an about face on the new log0 and returned to the old logo. It was a beautiful disaster in the making that never really became beautiful or a disaster. In advertising we look at the brand, the brand image as well as the brand perception. Advertising is the entire package of a well designed logo that is easily identifiable to the product, the message as well as the tv, radio and print that reinforces the message that the brand wants the consumer to accept and adopt.

7 Tips for an Uncluttered Linkedin Profile

The following a guest post by George Baker from the UK If you want to be a guest blogger here at Kherize5, simply drop me a line with a topic photo credit Mario Sundar LinkedIn is an important place to maintain a professional presence that will help you find jobs, clients and other people and businesses that can be an asset to your own professional life.

What Are You Waiting For?

What are you waiting for Waiting, it is a part of life. We wait every single day and sometimes we do not even realize how much time goes by in our day waiting. We wait for the water to heat up in the shower, we wait for the coffee maker to drip the final drop, we wait for our kids to get ready so we can head on out and start our day. We wait at traffic lights, stop signs, in the dreaded school drop off line or for the school bus to come.

10 Time Management Tips to Increase Productivity

We know how precious time is every day in our lives. We are always looking for more time in our day to meet the demands of running a small business. We always want to maximize the time we have in our day to be more productive as we never want to fall behind and have to play catch up. Our time is valuable to us and finding extra time to catch up is sometimes impossible. Just as running a business is a learning process year after year with growth, managing time is also a learning process.

How to Integrate LinkedIn with Outlook

LinkedIn became a social connected professional network in November 2009 and promised to bring LinkedIn to our Outlook inbox and now has delivered. LinkedIn is the first of many to integrate Outlook Social Connector which helps to keep track of your contacts, from the last time you emailed them, scheduled a meeting as well as stay on top of their recent activity.

How to Upload & Share Videos on LinkedIn

LinkedIn, the oldest of the big three social media networking sites at a ripe age of 7, has slowly plugged along in the social sphere with adding new features to increase user experience for not only highly active users but for those that are new or newer to the personal business connecting platform experience. I refer to LinkedIn as a personal business connecting platform as believe it has molded itself into such.

Facebook Launches Ticker & Popularity Driven News Feed Prompting Outrage

Photo credit Erik Velez Facebook, Facebook, Facebook, when will you ever learn Oh wait, you did a very long time ago. You make changes, people are outraged and talking about them all over the various media platforms. Smartie pants We know that Facebook is free and we have a choice to be on there however, they created a platform for people to use. They created the want, need and have us post things that make the italian mob look like saints.

Are We Done With Free Yet?

Free is synonymous with social media. Give first and then receive pay later, once you have proven you are worthy of being paid. It is the job interview that seems to never end. You have a website, a blog, an active Twitter account, a Facebook and are answering all questions on LinkedIn that garners you attention but it pays zero. It is the necessary evil steps that for small business helps and define themselves within a niche.

10 Tips for Building an Online Community

Small business owners more and more are finding that the online community is a very powerful and engaging community that continues to grow. Being able to reach out to current customers and even potential customers at their fingertips has fueled and for some peaked their interest that being found online is more than targeting core keyword phrases and writing great content.

Mayor Cory Booker – Social Media’s New Twitter Darling?

In social media we are looking how to write the best blog headlines and article, the most effective way to build our community, the best way to interact on the social media platforms. We sign up for webinars, listen to podcasts, attend conferences to be sure that we are in the know on how we can put our best foot forward to run a successful social media campaign.

What Your Twitter Stream Tells Us About You

Twitter, a tool that we use every day where we post everything from what we are doing, where we are, who we are with, sharing articles, good news, bad news, breaking news just about everything we can think of that may interest our followers or to gain new followers. A myriad of information is shared every second for hundreds of thousands of people 24 hours a day. Twitter being just 4 years old has changed the way that we communicate and share information and also build an online community.

Attention, Your Biggest Asset

Attention, it is something that we need from our audience. With each word that we write, hidden underneath is eyes on me as if it did not, we would be sending them away. Why Because there would be nothing that would hold their attention. This is what separates a good post from a great post or a good sales page from a great one.

10 Tips To Generate Business Leads With LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the business professionals platform is not always the first choice when we think about growing a business. Growing a business in social media we immediately think of Twitter and Facebook as they have the power of engagement. People interact more on Twitter and Facebook as we can send a tweet or post on a wall whereas with LinkedIn the direct contact is still via email.

Batting For The Same Team

Batting for the Same TeamEver feel like you are just playing on the same team as everyone else In social media in many ways, we are. We share articles, we retweet words and we give praise mostly to those that are our competition. Sounds crazy but think about it. Sure, some may say that Chris Brogan, Darren Rouse, Brian Clark or even Hubspot are not really their competition but then you are saying that you will not be creating and selling an ebook, not looking to keynote, creating webinars and…

Google Updates Social Search Results

Photo credit keso Google launched social search back in 2009 to promote connections and what we shared. A search query yielded results from not only those that matched the algorithms of Google but down at the bottom of page 1 were results of those that we were connected with. Certainly our connections were sharing information that was worthy of appearing on page 1.

How Do You Go from Great to Greater?

It is that part inside of us that pushes us. As a parent we want to be the best parent, teach and show our kids all that we can and be that great parent to them. In our relationships we want to be the great friend, lover and the go to with our BFF. In business we want to be greater than great. Come on, I admit it. I want to look in the mirror and know that I am giving it all I have to be greater than great.

10 Languages Your Body Speaks

What language does your body speak Your arms, legs, feet, eyebrows what do they say about you Body language is the unspoken words, the vibes you give off when engaging in conversation or just simply standing in room. Body language is one of my favorite topics and areas of study research in the world of offline.

9 Tips for Creating Great Taglines

Taglines – do you need them and if so when do you use them When naming your business taglines can help to capture the audience by communicating the brand message or a catchy phrase that is remembered. Avis, We Try Harder. Another area slogans and taglines are incorporated is when launching a new product or product line to be a part of the campaign. Diet Mountain Dew – We’re On Your Wavelength. Taglines are also widely used in movies.

Are You Socially Accepted?

Are you socially acceptedBeing accepted is necessary for us to grow emotionally, be and become a friend, partner, parent, etc as well as prevent us from isolation, inability to interact and self destruction. Our levels of acceptance do vary at different parts of life as when in school, our acceptance is based upon our intellect, ability in sports, physical attributes and our overall likability personality.

Creating Strategies and Tactics for your Blog

Your blog is a component contained within your overall marketing strategy. When you start a company or planning for the next year you create a marketing strategy that outlines how you will increase sales and grow the company. A marketing strategy is encompasses the online and offline aspects of the marketing efforts which include the website, the blog, the print ads, radio, tv, mobile advertising, events, event attendance.

How to Opt Out of Facebook Places

Facebook Places, launched last week has set out to bring friends together while out on the town. Accessed via the new most recent version of the Facebook iphone app or touch.facebook.com (available if your mobile browser supports HTML 5 and geolocation), users are able to check-in and notify friends of where they are and also see if some are nearby. Connecting friends it is what Facebook does and bringing them together away from the laptop is an expansion of the connecting.

Facebook New Pages Redesign: A Comprehensive Step by Step Guide

Facebook has redesigned the pages which for most of the small business world is our business page. These new changes are similar to the individual pages in the layout however there are quite a few other changes that are big opportunities for businesses to take advantage of to make their page much more interactive and functional. The upgrade is optional at this point however all pages will be converted over on March 10.

Google Launches Places Search

Google has launched another search, this time Places Search, which is not to be confused with Local Search or Instant Search. Places search is similar to instant search in that they predict what you are searching for and provide results through Places Search when it is identified that you are seeking a place. Confused Yeah, me too until I went in and performed some searches and found that it was very useful as a consumer.

How to Optimize for Bing

Bing introduced almost a year ago as the replacement for the stagnant MSN.com, set out to improve the organization of how searches are compiled. By bringing more order to the pages with the placement of tools that is similar in placement to the Google information contained under Show Options, Bing promised easy navigation in various categories that are relevant to the search query.

Diet Coke Supports Team Coco with Show Zero

Diet Coke has teamed up with Conan O’Brien to create the buzz around and give viewers a bit of a preview of his new show set to air on TBS November 8, 2010. Show Zero, a promotional teaser, according to Ad Age will feature Conan O’Brien, celebrity guests as well as a live commercial from Diet Coke. The show will be streamed November 1, 2010 at 11 00pm eastern 8 00pm pacific. This triple cast is not new to any of Conan’s faithfuls as according to teamcoco.

School Bus Advertising – Viable Revenue Stream or Going too Far?

Out of home advertising has grown over the last few years from billboards, public buses, bus shelters, mobile billboards, human directionals, taxi toppers, etc. to now anything that is literally right outside of your house. As advertisers try and reach the masses with the hopes their target will zone in and focus upon the ad and take a mental note of it, we as consumers are inundated and focused on what we are doing and many times are unable to have any unaided recall of the advertisement.

Adding Some “Meet” to Your Brand

Your brand both personal and business needs reason for people to think about it, visit and buy. Tall order to constantly be in the mind of a consumer. Sure, there are routines where people go to the same place every day do get the coffee or my vice a 44 oz of Diet Pepsi but are they paying any attention to the other items or in the case of blogs articles that you have readily available I know myself I have that tunnel vision where I am there to buy 1 item and unless the folks at my 7-11…

5 Ways to Improve Local Search Rankings

Local search optimization puts a business on the map literally. As a small business that caters to a local community a 1 ranking on the search engines is not only very difficult man times it is almost pointless unless locals are finding you. As searches increase and the search engines place more emphasis on the local search, the opportunity and ease of rankings increases. Google’s local search and personalized have leveled out the playing field per se.

Earning The Title … Quietly

We cannot escape them. We are born with them as we become a son daughter, sister or brother. We grow and gain new titles of friend, BFF, student, husband, wife, an ex, a parent, enemy, a sports fan, etc. It is overwhelming when we think about it as there are so many titles that we are given throughout our lives but do not really pay that much attention to them. In our careers, we apply for jobs by title and that match our skill set (or close enough).

13 LinkedIn Mistakes to Avoid

LinkedIn, the socially connected professional network, has made numerous changes over the past few months to become more thank a job resource. The changes have made it a viable tool for people to connect, discuss, get answers to questions as well as connect with people that they just may be working with in the future. The future of social media marketing is bright and the tools we use today are building blocks for what is yet to come.

Social Media Is Not A New Conversation

Social media has changed the way that we market our brand as it is that constant billboard of brand message as well as consumer reaction. The shift from the one to one communication in traditional advertising has evolved from a consumer-to-consumer conversation into a brand-to-consumer conversation. It is not a new conversation but a new means of conversation.

What Is The Purpose Of Your Blog?

Why do you blog It is a question that many pose and the answers while they vary, they all lead to one thing to make money. This could be to drive people to a product or your services through the content but it is ultimately to make money. Sure, there are some that are recreational bloggers and do it as a hobby but most of the bloggers are here to gain awareness to drive people to do something and that something is to buy.

Taco Bell Drive-Thru Diet: Ad Malfunction or Just a Bad Joke?

The end of the year brings the joy of the family gatherings with the food, wine, cakes, cookies, AKA over indulgence which leads to those unwanted pounds, prompting that new years resolution to lose those pesky pounds. Every year same thing so, it was not surprising to see a major fast food chain jump on the weight loss bandwagon. Taco Bell has taken their Fresco menu items and created the Drive-Thru Diet menu featuring 7 items with under 9 grams of fat.

Small Business Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing for small businesses is the buzz these days. The opportunity exists for a small business owner to gain exposure to their targeted market. Social media marketing is a medium that provides the tools necessary to participate and engage in conversations to build relationships.

Persuasion Through Communication

Persuasion through communication has changed with social media. In the past with traditional media we were persuaded through sending out a one way communication where we talked, they acted. They acted by ignoring or buying. While this seems simple and in traditional advertising it is, as we were dependent upon the numbers, the ROI, the reach, frequency, impressions and the sales dollars.

Small Business Branding: Are You A Loyalist or Switcher?

A loyalist or a switcher What makes you loyal or what is it about the competition that lures you away I was reading an article by new blogger Adam Marcal about this very topic. Adam, in his Boundaries of Brand Loyalty article, speaks about how he shared a meal with Heinz’ Vice President Bill Simon (US Category Development & Sales Operations) and the conversation shifted to the non-condiment division, namely Smart Ones Healthy Meals.

Project Social: Finding A Job

I am a strong believer in starting anew and opening new doors. That cycle of life stands before me now as I open a new chapter of life and dive head first into my Marketing Case Study Finding A Job. Not just a job, a job where I can be a part of a team, where my leadership and experience adds value to the team and where I can make a difference and produce results. The Best FitThe best fit for me is a VP Director level role in consumer centric marketing.

Small Business Branding: 6 Steps to Social Media Strategy

As a small business grasping social media and all its parts as it relates to the impact it will have on your business is somewhat of a new concept for many. Small business owners wear a lot of hats and to add this to the mix brings to mind what will this do for me, what impact will it have on my business Do I even want to expose my business to this These are questions that so many small business owners have and the more they learn, sometimes the less they want to know.

Who is Your Charlotte?

Charlotte’s Web, (non-affiliate link) the childrens classic by E.B. Webb, teaches us about friendship, loyalty, trust as well as survival. Wilbur, the runt of the litter is set for slaughter until the farmers’ daughter, Fern, convinces him that she can care for him and nurse him back to health. From the start, Wilbur is struggling but with the love and care from Fern he is able to grow big and strong enough to go and live at the Zuckerman’s farm with the the other animals.

What Does Your Audience Want to Hear?

Your audience target market looks to you and comes back to you for answers. They support your blog because you consistently feed them with information that they find valuable that and can use themselves or share. Is that a true measure of telling them or giving them what they want to hear Sometimes we can equate that but others are we so sure Popular bloggers get retweeted regularly, up and comers are more of a hit and miss.

Are You Talking To Your Audience Effectively?

Talking to your audience in a manner that directly speaks to them and gets them to do what you are seeking of them plays an important role in your overall marketing plan. In advertising for each campaign, there is a clear message to the target market to connect with them emotionally through need or want. This emotional connection is what drives many to buy and continue to buy when the product or service meets or exceeds the expectations.

8 Tips for Consumer Optimizing Your Site

Search Engine Optimization is the process of creating content that is significant to your business, matching the content to the search terms through keywords to build ranking and authority within the search engines organically to ultimately increase traffic, awareness and sales. The search engines are constantly crawling sites for new and relevant content to meet the demands of the search queries and search has evolved with Google Instant, Bing Yahoo Merger as well as Facebook Search, the…

American Express Open Launches Search Manager

American Express Open the small business division of American Express has launched SearchManager, a paid search management tool powered by Clickable. The number of small business owners engaging in paid search, according to American Express’ reasearch via Rob Ciccone, SVP at American Express Open is a startling 29 . American Express OPEN and Clickable hope to change that with SearchManger.

Trident Layers – An Ad Gone Bad

Trident Layers made the move Integrating traditional advertising with social media marketing. Beautiful A full page ad in USA Today with tweets from real people from Twitter. Brilliant I am a big supporter of this integration as I strongly believe that this is the way that traditional advertising needs to and will go. It has to almost to, to continue to be a viable source of advertising. Bring people offline to online and have them be a part of your online community.

5 Things A Brand Is Not

We hear it over and over, I like that brand, I only buy that brand or they have a good strong brand. What really makes up a brand How is the brand different from branding A brand is the message of promise based upon principles what we tell people and what we want them to believe from their first exposure. The message of promise is created from the personality of the company that becomes the brand persona.

Social Media: The Cult of Attention?

Attention, whether we are seeking, giving or observing others, lurks around us. It is present from the minute we rise to the time we shut down for the night. The kids, pets, commercials and grabbing that cup of coffee, we start our day being bombarded with varying degrees of attention. In areas that we seek, we have an expectation those we are seeking attention from will be responsive.

Turning It All Off

Turning off sounds like isolation and seclusion. It is but at the same time it is what can make you go from good to great, from slim wallet to fat wallet. I had the pleasure of being dialed into How to Eliminate & Overcome Overwhelm with the lovely Carrie Wilkerson (a k a Barefoot_exec) and the eliminate was not really what I was expecting.

Is Sesame Street Parody The New Brand Builder?

Sesame Street, the first preschool educational programming has entertained and taught millions of children across the world. It all began on November 10, 1969 as a means of preparing young children for school and has become the longest running television program on PBS. In its early yearly years the focus was on the children and teaching them letter sounds, counting, songs that were about letters, words, counting, etc.

What is Your Hottest Time of Day?

For as much as I love weather and am told frequently that I may have missed my calling of being the favorite weather gal that is not what this post is about, nor its it about your personal heat index and libido. It answers the questions that many have about when is the best time to post and promote your blog as well as how much time do you need to spend on your social media efforts.

Taco Bell Uses Advertising Tactics to Defend Its Beef

Taco Bell was slapped with a false advertising class-action lawsuit this week claiming that their beef does not meet the USDA standards to be classified and advertised as beef. The suit filed by Alabama based law firm of Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, claims that in testing the beef it contained 34 beef and does not meet USDA standards to be called beef.

8 Tips for Naming a Business

Every few seconds a new business idea is thought of, every few minutes a new business venture is launched. What used to be the most difficult is increasingly becoming one of the easiest – the idea on paper and the plan. The difficulty has shifted to a great name that is available. The internet has given way to so many new businesses and well as provided a resource for promoting the business.

You Ain’t Got Nothin’

Ever be in a situation where what someone is saying does not feel right They are talking over everyone else, are louder, and never stops They stick to one point and the more they speak the more you are feeling that what they are saying is not right They continue to beat one point to where you, yourself, get to a point where you have to listen despite knowing it is nonsense Nothing you want to or can say will even be heard.

When Celebrity Endorsements Hurt the Brand

Celebrity endorsements are golden as so many want to be them, feel a closeness to them and the more we see them the more we know them and want to have what they have. This is why celebrity endorsements work and sell product. Think Gatorade. They have cornered the athletic market and replaced water as a hydrant. Drink Gatorade and you will be the athlete of the century. The water companies are not standing up nor are the fitness folks saying water is the best hydrant.

Trapped In The Writing Bottle

As kids we dreamt of writing down a message, sticking it into a bottle and sending it out to sea with the hopes of someone finding it and contacting us to say that our message has been received. While this is a great thought we do not event think about the barriers that message in the bottle will face.

The Impact of Criticism

People criticize us, we criticize them and others. We use it as a defense mechanism, we use it to exude our power and control or sometimes simply as a conversation starter to explore what others are thinking and if they feel the same. Do we always realize the impact that it has We know it when to comes to us but what happens when we push it away from us Do we ever think about the person we are criticizing or are we so focused on ourselves that just do not think…

Targeting In The Moment

Targeting is how businesses find new customers, entice customers who may not have purchased in a while or current customers to make the brand top of mind, more attractive and increases sales. Consumers are more demanding of their brands and the expectations are high as one faulty move and, the customer is ready to find someone else. They are ready to find the brand that is paying attention to them as opposed to them trying to pay attention to the brand.

Small Business Marketing: How to Avoid Brand Switching

Brand switching in some ways it is almost inevitable as that is what makes competition. While one company is trying to keep customers, another is trying to lure them. Getting into the mind of a consumer is with social media has become easier with brand mentions, conversation and monitoring but it still does not penetrate enough into what makes and or continues to make a consumer choose Brand A over Brand B.

Small Business Marketing: 4 Characteristics of Good Content

It has been repeated over and over, Content is King well, as it is. It is the start of the branding processthrough your initial message. Who are you talking to, what do you want them to believe Content is also the driving force of getting found. It controls so much of the success of your business as good, relevant, targeted content more visitors more customers. What is good content This is very subjective as what I may view as good may have someone else breaking out the red pen.

Playing It Safe

Playing it safe a myriad of thoughts comes to mind as we think of so many times we played it safe. We hold our tongue, we try and find our voice and create a persona that we show them. Them who The client we already signed, the potential client, our peers The reality is that we create an image inside ourselves that we want people to adopt. Is that really who we are We want people to believe what we tell them, what we are presenting them as to who we want them to think we are.

Pepsi MAX & Doritos Partner to Crash the Super Bowl

The Super Bowl the ultimate high and low for the die hard football fan.The high of the big game, especially if their team has made it but the low that the season is officially over and Sundays are back to long afternoon naps on the couch. For advertisers it is not only one of the most expensive one ad media buy they will make, it is the cream of the crop if they are within the top three of the USA Today Ad Meter .

Patching the Potholes

Photo credit MSVG Potholes, the holes in the road that you see coming and think you are going to miss but yet some how your tires find them. You see all the people in front of you hit it and are convinced that you will have the proper angle and grip that will ensure that you will not become victim to this crater in the road.

Measuring Your Blog’s Success

Engaging with customers or potential customers via the social media platforms has changed the way that we advertise and market our company and personal brand. There are conversations taking place 24 hours a day and we are able to capture these conversations and react to them. Your blog is no different. Articles are being read and shared every second of every day.

LinkedIn Unveils Sharing Tool

It is time to share and share alike on LinkedIn. For all of us Twitter and Facebook users who have grown accustomed to the retweet and share button, this is yet another means of sharing articles that we find useful with our connections on LinkedIn. Yesterday when you went to post an status update on LinkedIn, you may have noticed that the status box had changed.

LinkedIn Launches Student Job Portal

LinkedIn has launched a student job portal to help students as well upcoming and recent grads find entry level jobs and internships at some highly reputable companies around the world. Recent grads as well as students are once again facing some grim times in the job market with no real relief on the horizon.

LinkedIn Launches LinkedIn Today

Photo credit coletivomambembe Extra Extra Read all about it on LinkedIn LinkedIn has launched a personalized new site, LinkedIn Today that is similar to most other news sites however this one is personal to you without you ever having to set it up. Your profile and your connections have set it up for you. The articles that appear on your Today page are the top stories of the day and not necessarily like groups, articles that were only shared by members or connections.

LinkedIn Launches Company Search

Photo credit Mario Sundar LinkedIn has added another feature to further advance our connections with individuals and their co-workers with the new LinkedIn Company Search. You were always able to find a company by searching for their name however the company search takes it a step further and provided personalized results by indicating the connections within that company, other connections you share as well as new filters to aid in the search.

LinkedIn Adds Voting Buttons to Group Discussions

The ability to share blog articles along to sites like Digg, StumpleUpon, Reddit was in essence your way of telling the author that you liked their article. Enter Facebook’s Like button, the game changer. The confusion that was created back in April over the fan pages, community pages and the like and link was explosive.

LinkedIn Adds User Permissions to Groups

LinkedIn has increased group administrators’ ability to weed out spam by adding a user permission tool. The new tool allows the administrator of the group to establish guidelines for how users are able to post within the group as a whole. In September, LinkedIn added the promotions tab which was to encourage users to avoid posting non discussion items in the discussions and move them over to the promotions tab.

Is the Bing and Facebook Partnership The New Trusted Search?

Facebook and Bing have come together to advance search though one of your most trusted voices your friends. Your friends are the go to, the ones you call to ask advice and seek approval from. We do not always like what our friends like as that would be incredibly boring but the things we do have in common and like are what brings us together. Bing and Facebook have enhanced that by partnering to make it easier to see what your friends like with just a few strokes of the keys.

How to Semi-Customize Your LinkedIn Profile

LinkedIn has added a new drag and drop feature allowing you to semi-customize your profile. Recognizing that users interact on LinkedIn differently, the need to showcase detailed information beneath the main profile box became greater. The blue profile box that serves as a snippet of your employment history, education, recommendations, connections and websites cannot be altered from its current location however the detailed information beneath can be customized.

How to Cure Your Blog’s Hangover

A hangover is never fun, that feeling of why did I have that last round of shots or that last drink or the ever so hangover promising of mixing alcohols. No-one sets out on a night with friends to be sick the next day. It happens sometimes and the times that it hits so bad that you go from couch to bed, to bathroom and back to bed frequently in one day brings on that self promise of I will never do this again which we all know is a lie but it somehow makes us feel better that moment.

How to Build Your Customer Engagement Online

Marketing today is different than it was a few years ago. A new paradigm for marketing has emerged with social media where we build relationships with with customers on a 1 1 ratio and focus our efforts on building customer share as opposed to market share. Market share is not necessarily a thing of the past but we have advanced through technology and shifting the focus from the masses to the individual customer.

Holding Your Ground

In business it is necessary to remain grounded as it keeps you focused. When we lose focus, we start to spiral and that spiraling is many times the beginning of the end. Running a business, a blog or even your social presence is a lot of work. There are many outside factors that we do not always expect that pop up that are not a part of the every day operations. They need your attention as does your family, friends, customers and as well as yourself. Yes, yourself.

Facebook The New PI?

Facebook, oh how we love our Facebook but is it putting you at risk It is our profile and we are talking to our friends so we have a false sense of security and easily forget big brother is watching. Not so sure Well, we know that what what we say can and will be used against us in the court of law.

Facebook Adds Ability to Unlike to Liked Pages

Ever like and be linked to a Facebook page and then realize that it was not for you What about having to like to enter a contest and then be left with a flurry of updates that you never really paid any attention to but that appeared in your news stream The only way to rid yourself of these unwanted messages was to remove them by hiding the post or all of their posts, which did not unlink you.

Drawing Out Your Future

Your future success, it is something that we think about and generally map out through creating flow charts or something of the like. When is the last time you actually took a pen pencil and drew out your future If you are like me, you may map out the direction of where you want the business to go or the new opportunities that will be afforded and talk to others about it and create new diagrams on napkins that are filled with arrows and boxes.

Dominos Pizza Photo Contest Lacks Engagement

Domino’s Pizza, the second largest pizza chain in the United States has gone though a product overhaul lately by pretty much admitting the old recipe for their pizza was not good and to give them a chance again with the new recipe. Applaud them for not taking the nose dive that the Coke, New Coke, go back to the old Coke did. We ordered and ate it out of convenience as we timed the delivery challenge of 30 minutes or less.

Are YOU The Next Sensation?

We want that authority, we want that notoriety, the nod from colleagues and the only choice for customers. We establish a presence on social media profiles to not only be a part of the latest and greatest but to send out the message that we are here. We are here to help, promote others, give advice, create dialogue, communicate and be. The be is what the ultimate goal is. Come on, admit it. I know I want to be. Is that wrong to admit No. It is real.

Are You Attractive?

Are You AttractiveThis is a question that makes us a bit uncomfortable sometimes. We do not know what to say as if we say yes, we could be perceived as conceited, cocky or arrogant. It is interesting as when we think about being attractive, we immediately think of the physical features. While this is not a question that we get asked all that frequently, it is a question we need to ask ourselves frequently. Are You Attractive A brand needs to be appealing or we will not buy it.

9 Tips for New Bloggers

Welcome to the wonderful world of blogging Blogs are a means of expressing yourself, sharing your knowledge, introducing yourself to the blogging community as well as being active on the social sites. It seems as if almost everyone has a blog these days and trying to develop readership and a community around the blog is not a build it and they will come. Any experienced blogger will let you in on that secret where it takes a lot of work and patience to grow your blog.

5 Ways to Engage with Your Voice

Staying on point with face-to-face encounters there are ways outside of your body language to make an impression. As previously posted, 7 Face to Face Blunders, we all could identify as ourselves or people we have seen make these blunders. These blunders all have an effect on how people view you with that first impression. How do people view you when they meet you We know that how you are dressed has an impact, but once you open your mouth to speak has an even bigger impact.

15 Customer Service Mistakes to Avoid

Customer service, something we as business people and also consumers encounter every day. From grabbing our first cup of coffee at our favorite store to our first phone call of the day, we take part in the consumer experience as well as have an impact on our on customers experience. While not every customer will be signing our praise there are so mistakes to avoid to enrich the consumer experience and create loyal customers. 1. Inattentiveness.

Why Your Appearance Matters

Your appearance matters in more ways than we think of each day. When we think of appearance we think of how we look. It is a big deal as we know generally our first appearance sets the stage of how people view us and develop an image of who we are. We form opinions of brands based upon who we believe they are. We are drawn to them through an attraction that is through their physical appearance, their taste, reputation, their friendliness, their generosity, sense of humor and also their values.

Small Business Branding: 3 Elements of Personal and Business Brand

As a small business owner is can be a struggle to determine which brand will be best to promote personal or business. When you interact with people whether online or in person, at first glance they associate you with your name or your business. Do we want them to remember our name or our business Probably both almost as one word. Growing up I was 1 name, my first and last name combined together suevara.

How to Disable & Opt Out of Facebook Photo Tagging

Photo credit Ben Stein Photo tagging in Facebook is very popular as people love to share the photos and let everyone know who their friends are. With this popularity comes some much unwanted spam, many times unbeknownst to those that are actually tagging friends in photos. Disabling the ability to allow friends to tag you in photos could be necessary, especially for those that have a more open policy when it comes to friending on Facebook.

Best Super Bowl Commercials 2011 Go Back to the Basics

The 2011 Super Bowl is in the books and the Green Bay Packers have won their 4th Championship in franchise history. Congratulations to the players, coaches, fans and city of Green Bay. The other game, The Super Commercials, was played out on television. The Super Bowl commercials have been the academy awards of commercials as the exposure from being deemed the best Super Bowl commercial is highly coveted.

LinkedIn Introduces LinkedIn Skills

LinkedIn has introduced yet another tool to their arsenal of upgrades and launches to increase user experience and continue to make LinkedIn a viable resource for growing a business and also helping the unemployed to match the skill set of potential employers. The new LinkedIn Skills, while in beta, promises to focus in on your skills and the skills needed to attract hiring managers, seekers of your business skills and also to keep a watchful eye on your competitors.

Are you Creating Opportunity or Waiting For It To Come to You?

Opportunity is all around us but yet at the same time sometimes we never see it. In business we look for new ways to market our business, reach our target market, build on online community and through this all we overlook the opportunity that is all around us. We are creating opportunities by attending networking events, conferences, twitter chats, etc. for potential clients, meeting new people to refer business to or to grow our community.

The 2 Greatest Communicators

It is what we do in just all about all aspects of our day. Whether it be verbal or non-verbal we are constantly communicating and conveying a thought, an action or some sort of emotion. In order to communicate, we have to connect. In social media, connecting is why we are here. We read blogs to connect with the author, comment by sharing our feelings about the article and then to share it on the various platforms to connect with others.

8 Color Tips for Your Brand

Brand color The colors that represent your company reflect upon your brand. Consumers subconsciously react to certain colors in many different ways. Your brand is your promise message and until they have reason not to, consumers should trust that message. Right There sometimes are a myriad of factors that affect why or why not a consumer trusts a company but one that goes overlooked is the colors chosen to support the branding.

Small Business SEO: Keyword Rankings

Google and other search engines organically rank websites by relevance to search terms. Relevant, highly searched terms are difficult to rank for as the the relevance is determined by the keyword match and number of links. As a small business is seems almost nearly impossible at first to rank on page 1 for high searched terms. As previously discussed, utilizing longtail keywords is a great tool to rank for terms that do not necessarily have high search volume but will bring targeted traffic.

Facebook Targets Small Business Owners With New Features

Facebook, after a less than stellar 8 days on the NYSE, is taking a step back from the big lights and glitz and glamor and is focusing on the small business owners. Small business owners make up so much of the marketplace today and while it may feel as if there is a bit of over saturation for those companies that help small business owners, there are still too many lagging behind. Facebook was one of them.

Does A Brand Need To Be Remarkable To Succeed?

Does a brand need to be remarkable to succeed or is ok good enough We see some businesses that are just ok and are very successful or maybe they are perceived to be successful Maybe they are bringing in one time sales and no repeats Or maybe they are hanging on by a string and trying to stay afloat. For some, if the cash register is ringing that is all they need as they must be doing something right if they are converting sales.

Are You Going In For The Hug Instead of the Handshake?

Ever have someone lean in for the hug when a handshake was more appropriate It has happened to all of us. There is that awkward moment when we go to put out hand out and they are thrusting towards us and we are standing there as stiff as a board wondering what to do next. MOVE AWAY It makes us feel uncomfortable and what is just a few seconds, feels like forever.

8 Tips for Embracing Change in Social Media

Social media has changed the we way that we market and advertise. It has opened many new doors through building relationships with customers, which for any business is a new sales driver. People buy from people they like and trust. Social media is about the people as there is always a person behind every Tweet, Facebook update, blog, etc. It is a rat race if you are looking at the numbers of followers, fans, retweets and traffic but social media is not a mathematics game of paint by numbers.

Why Personal Advocacy In Social Media Works!

For many small businesses out there making their first social media profile it is often assumed that they should tweet or update on Facebook under the company brand name. Whilst there are some advantages to this, I think that social media is designed to open up a more direct one to one connection between your brand and customers. To me interacting with most company social media profiles is like talking to their PR team (who often run the profiles ). Always polished, never human.