I recently read another article about how business cards are changing due to technology and found that people have started using Quick Response Codes (QR Codes) on their business cards. QR Codes are 2 dimensional codes that can be scanned using smartphone cameras to upload contact info, photos, MP3s and more. If you [...]
With all of the noise being made about Apple’s recent “Antennagate” fiasco, people may have overlooked Apple’s recent foray into mobile marketing with the iPhone OS 4: iAd. iAd, a mobile marketing service that works through iPhone’s applications. Like Google’s Adsense, the ads are targeting to specific users using location and interests based on [...]
I am continually amazed at how companies can let simple public relations matters become total corporate disasters. Most recently we have discussed PR disasters such as the BP Oil Spill, Tiger Woods, Toyota and John Edwards. Denials and cover-ups make the story bigger and harder to resolve. We can now add Apple [...]
On this blog, we have been following Starbucks astounding success with social media platforms, the most recent one being with Foursquare. Starbucks has recently reached another milestone in social media success by being the first consumer brand to acquire over 10 million Facebook fans. As of today, Starbucks has 10,030,184 Facebook fans and 955,181 [...]
A few months ago, we wrote a blog post on Starbuck’s digital media success. They are continuing to embrace new media by latching onto location-based marketing.
Location-based marketing is used via Smart Phone applications. Examples of Location-based applications are GoWalla, Tri-Out and Foursquare. Since Starbucks is using Foursquare as its location-based marketing platform, [...]
We discussed the current state of business cards last month, but the subject came up again in a recent article by Josh Catone from Mashable. In 2007, Amy Verner wrote (pre-iPhone) in The Globe and Mail that the ”growing number of Blackberry users presaged the end of the traditional business card”.
Catone notes that [...]
Many companies are reaching out to bloggers to promote new products, company events, specials deals, coupons, etc. Bloggers are usually eager to help, especially if it will drive traffic to their blog, but you need to approach them a certain way in order to for a successful relationship.
First, do your research. Don’t [...]
We are so lucky to live in a time where there are so many new time-saving management tools at our fingertips, but how can you convince your staff to use it so that you can use new technology to its full advantage? Change is difficult for everyone, so here are some tips and getting [...]
Gathering information from competitors is an old strategy, but is still used today. Bigger companies often have entire departments dedicated to Competitive Intelligence, but watching what your competitors are doing is just as important to small business.
Who Are Your Competitors?
First, you should identify your competitors. A recent article in Inc. suggests [...]
It was the blog post heard throughout the internet this morning! The notoriously advertisement shy Twitter is introducing Promoted Tweets. They will start issuing corporate accounts in which businesses pay for their Tweets to show up at the top of search results. For example, if your business sells coffee, you can [...]
