From the BlogConnect With Me

There shouldn’t be an app for that

Alright, so the iPhone 5 is on its way. And this week I saw a comment on Twitter highlighting the “Top 5 Apps to Help Your Kids Brush Their Teeth”. The comment was fully hashtagged and of course linked to the article detailing those apps. I’m an iPhone fan. I’m even an app fan. But [...]

Completely, totally, unreadable, non-mobile-friendly, email newsletters

I catch plenty of news headlines on Twitter and via Facebook. But I don’t mind admitting I still seek out daily or weekly email newsletters that can show up in my inbox on a regular schedule so I can consume them when I’m good and ready. The problem for me, as a guy who’s constantly [...]

Hyperlocal ad widgets that work like Google Adsense

It’s morning. You’ve brewed your coffee. You’re skimming the news online, maybe including your local version of Patch.com. As you peruse that site, of all the relevant, targeted ads you’re going to see see strewn about the webpages, wouldn’t you love for some of those were ads on local deals, not just local businesses? Yes, [...]

More customers paying full price

If you’re a retailer, whether it’s with one or many locations, you want customers. (Captain Obvious comin’ at ya live with that last sentence.) But you should also have an expected average ticket price. Meaning, if you can count on, let’s use a round number, 500 people dropping in your store or restaurant on an [...]

New digital marketing solutions for restaurants

Restaurant owners, you’ve got so many killer marketing options emerging right now. So much so, you should be foaming at the mouth to jump on one. Or biting at the bit. Or whatever more appropriate metaphor works here. Do you want your own iPhone app? It’s available for little cost.  Do you want to start [...]

Whoa little fella, you’re not speaking my language

This post is genius. Salespeople should read it. Marketers. Even brand managers. The problem with too many in those three populations is that they’re so wrapped up in their own worlds — their products’ features, their services’ benefits, their tech specs, their retail experience — that they talk in their own language, yet still expect [...]

Groupon: Can you really count on the ROI?

Will Groupon survive? My answer is found in the immortal words of Kip from Napoleon Dynamite, “Like anyone can even know that.” Questions are being raised about Groupon‘s management decisions, accounting practices, burn rate, even its overall financial viability. But let’s stay at the merchant level right now. Do the ROI calculations even make sense? I’m [...]

Coming at ya’ live from NRA 2011

Alright, so it won’t be “live”, per se. But I will be shooting out some Twitter, blog, and audio (video?) updates from the National Restaurant Association show in Chicago over the weekend. I won’t be “covering” the show like some kind of web journalist for anyone. I won’t be “livestreaming” it. I won’t push real-time, [...]

It’s time you read ‘Unmarketing’

Many years ago I discovered “Moments of Truth”, by Jan Carlzon. That book fueled my early views on the concept of the customer experience. It was important because it taught the idea of the “customer experience” before anyone thought of putting that phrase in quotation marks, like I just did. In fact, as I recall, [...]

If I had a nickel for every Internet marketer’s ‘mistake’

Authenticity matters to me. When I see a wildly popular Internet marketer make a “mistake” and either: A) Send out the “wrong” link via email and have to re-send it again, and again, and again… B) Or publish a blog post with advance signup information that was — wait for it – supposed to have been [...]

Is it time to start texting your customers?

Maintaining your own in-house email list is a no-brainer. But what about your own mobile list? I’ll bet you’re overlooking it. Most companies are obsessed with email. But read this very long and detailed blog post by Tomi Ahonen and you might rethink your position. Trusting his math for now, here are a few highlights: [...]

It’s okay to disagree with Seth Godin

Seth Godin has shared thousands of ideas, insights and philosophies on his blog over the last few years. I’m a fan of many of them. He’s a game-changer (see Permission Marketing). He’s got ideas on branding, marketing, as well as your career (see Purple Cow, All Marketers are Liars, and Linchpin). He’s willing to try [...]

I’m tired of “content”

For the last two or three years, there’s been an overwhelming emphasis on “content” in blogging. It’s king, we’re told. (Side note: the phrase “content is king” is so unique and groundbreaking at this point that it has 348,000 search results on Google.) But this question keeps popping into my head: Did the greatest writers [...]