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Archive | July, 2009

A gift basket worth talking about

Life has been rough lately for home builders. Gibson Design Group got their attention with a nice gift that recognizes their struggles … and the fact that they might need a drink! Remember Andy's rule of corporate gifts: If it's not worth talking about, it's not worth sending.     

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Two simple mail-order ideas

I ordered a suit from Bluefly.com and got two surprises in the box: 1. A nice shopping bag. For a luxury site like this, they need to work to give you the luxury shopping experience. It was nice to get all the extras that you don't normally get by mail: The bag, the hanger, the […]

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Cisco’s social media case study: How we increased positive mentions of the brand by engaging in social media

Come to BlogWell: How Big Brands Use Social Media on August 13 in Minneapolis — hosted by General Mills — where you’ll hear McDonald’s, Mayo Clinic, H&R Block, CME Group, General Mills, Ford, Progressive, and Walmart share case studies on how to create a fantastic social media program. You’ll learn how to get started, get past roadblocks, and make […]

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Newsletter #741: The “Involve the Community” Issue

When people can share experiences around your products and services in a social way, you'll significantly increase your word of mouth. Here's a few ideas on how to do that:    1> For the meal   2> For the sale   3> For the community   4> Check it out: Eternal Moonwalk 1> For the meal  Make your […]

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6 steps to effective blogger outreach + insects

Grasshopper.com is a telephone service for entrepreneurs. They recently changed their name from GotVmail.com — and it's become a classic case study in well-done rebranding and high-quality blogger outreach. What they did: 1. Chocolate grasshoppers: They mailed a buzzworthy gift to bloggers — a bag of ready-to-eat chocolate covered insects. 99% of the time, us […]

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Wells Fargo’s social media case study: How to engage in social media during a crisis

Come to BlogWell: How Big Brands Use Social Media on August 13 in Minneapolis — hosted by General Mills — where you’ll hear McDonald’s, Mayo Clinic, H&R Block, CME Group, General Mills, Ford, Progressive, and Walmart share case studies on how to create a fantastic social media program. You’ll learn how to get started, get past roadblocks, and make […]

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This chocolate has a story. What’s yours?

"Must's chocolatiers select different origins of cacao to create the perfect match for many fine wine varieties." A chocolate that is made to be paired with wines. That's an idea that you can market.  There are a zillion new chocolate bars created every year. They all look the same on the racks at the grocery […]

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BlogHer continues to lead on paid blogging ethics

Watch this video from Ad Age where BlogHer's Elisa Page talks about the importance of ethics around paid blogging.  As Elisa says, "the mere disclosure that a blogger is accepting money to include product mentions in a post is not enough to solve the problem." BlogHer's principles of separating advertising and editorial are right on. 

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Competing against your crappiest competitor

When you call on a new prospect — they aren't picturing your awesome stuff. They are visualizing the worst performance by your lamest competitor. That's what you're selling against. Your job as a salesperson is to replace that horrible image with an picture of how fantastic your stuff is. You do that with concrete examples: […]

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