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How many of you remember Carmen Sandiego? If not, I’m sure the classic theme song will help refresh your memory. Currently, with today’s geo-location based platforms, there’s a different theme song playing, for you and your friends. Where in the world is ________?
The digital space is changing for businesses, as it’s necessary to be up to date with the latest/greatest marketing trends to attract new customers and maintain existing relationships. We now have to be search engine optimized, social media optimized, and now with the growing trend of geo-location marketing, geographically optimized. Read the rest of this entry »
By: AMA Member Arsham Mirshah
The 5 Golden Rules of Networking… AND Social Media!
What do Social Media and Networking have in common? It might be obvious, but they both depend heavily on your ability to deal with people (or be social).
PS: Have you read How To Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie? – Highly recommended if you’re a human.
OK – so you want to engage in social media or you want to be a successful networker to make connections, develop business, improve customer service, and at the end of the day, make more money.
I understand.
Use these 5 golden rules of Networking / Social Media ONLY if you want to be successful… Read the rest of this entry »
If you haven’t dipped your toes into the social media waters, it can be overwhelming at first. Confusing or frightening, to say the least. You shouldn’t create a Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter presence just because “everyone else is doing it.” That’s not going to cut it nor is it going to be of value.
Before you dive into the deep end and worry about drowning in social media, do yourself a favor (yes, you can thank me later) and answer the following questions:
- What are we trying to achieve through our social media activity?
- How do we measure our goals?
- Who is our audience?
- Have we started listening yet?
Part 2
By Ed Weiss
Part 1 recap: (1) Architects wouldn’t erect a building without a blueprint. (2) You shouldn’t create a branding plan without one, either. (3) Start with a good mission statement. (4) Build your brand messaging around the mission statement. (5) Put together a strong committee. Make sure the CEO will support you. (6) The committee’s job is to figure what you need to know in order to be successful. Then, get the answers. (7) Be sure everyone understands why you need these answers. (8) Start the question list: (a) Identify your target audience. (b) Understand what the target audience expects from your product/service/charity, etc. (c) What do we need to know about our competitors and why. (d) Understand how your competitors treat their customers. Continued below…
5. How do you differentiate your organization from the competition? Some companies decide this internally without answering the previous questions and they could be getting it wrong.
Marketing expert Jack Trout (co-author of Positioning: The Battle for your Mind), wrote another book Differentiate or Die: Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition (John Wiley and Sons. 2000) in which he lists 11 tactics that have proven successful. Some of these are: Read the rest of this entry »
To be completely honest, the key to successful relationships is at your fingertips. Literally. Take a moment and think about the three following actions:
- Shaking hands with an acquaintance
- Sending a followup email days after you recently connected with someone
- Dialing a phone number and calling a person who you haven’t spoken with in a while
While these three actions seem extremely basic, they’re often the hardest steps in building a successful relationship. I get it, we’re all busy. But it’s necessary to follow these three actions similar to those that we perform on a daily basis (I hope!). I’m referring to the directions on the back of a shampoo bottle: rinse, lather, and repeat. We can all agree that those are relatively simple directions, correct? And we all follow them, right? Read the rest of this entry »
In the last seven years, one of the hottest topics in marketing has been social media. With individuals and companies hosting conferences, presentations, and webinars, in addition to providing white papers there certainly has been plenty of buzz created on this topic. Within the social media arena, thought leaders have evolved such as Gary Vaynerchuk, founder of Winelibrary.com and author of The Thank You Economy as well as Crush It! Another thought leader who is well known is Pete Cashmore, the founder and CEO of Mashable, one of the most sought out social media, digital, and technology news sites on the web.
Have you’ve come across a funny looking image in a strange square box? Guess what, these images are being used to quickly increase website traffic. Here’s the five W’s (and one H) about these images.
I’m sure you’ve come across a strange square box like the one to the left. Look around, you will see these funny looking images on anything from your monthly billing statement to pre-packaged products like toothpaste. Did you know these images are being used to quickly increase website traffic? Let me give you the five W’s (and one H) about these images. Read the rest of this entry »
According to a recent CNNMoney article, the longest post-Depression economic decline was 16 months, which occurred in both the mid 1970’s and early 1980’s. Our current economic downturn began in December 2007, and we are still not out of the woods yet.
Given the duration of this “Great Recession,” many organizations have had fewer financial resources, and, as a result, many have not focused on marketing. At Rubeling & Associates, we have also felt the impact of the downturn, but, despite this, we recognized the need to push harder in marketing our organization. The good news is our efforts haven’t been in vain. Read the rest of this entry »
Nearly everyone has suffered this at least once in his career—the boss who makes each workday a living terror. You can find the Boss from Hell in any industry or occupation. Even the best companies slip up from time to time, allowing bullies to rise through the employment food chain to management.
If a national survey were taken to find out the reasons people change jobs, by far the number one reason for job dissatisfaction would be bad management. As a career coach, surprisingly, I’ve found that increased earning potential usually ranks far below the desire to leave a mean, unreasonable boss. If you wake up each day dreading the next eight to ten hours, your problem might be your supervisor.
You’re working for the Boss From Hell if: Read the rest of this entry »
Within the next few weeks, many college students who have spent the last four years (or in some cases, there are those who completed an “extra lap” or two) will enter the job market. During this time, the majority of these bright individuals will be gearing up to enter the workforce.
However, there are plenty of other job seekers out there looking for employment in addition to the graduating class of 2011. A year ago, I faced a similar challenge: how to overcome the increasing unemployment rate and add myself as an employed professional. Throughout the last few years, I’ve come up with a number of tips and tricks that I have used for every company that I’ve interviewed with to date. Below, I’ve outlined these with some notes next to each one. Read the rest of this entry »
marcidevries
Dov Hoffman
Katie Roberts
Amy Garland
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Megan Campbell
