Curated Stories Mar. 22, 2010

The Real Results series is supported by Gist, an online service that helps you build stronger relationships. By connecting your inbox to the web, you get business-critical information about key people and comp…

Trust.
What a complex word and concept.
Whom do we trust and why?
Do we even realize when we cross that intangible line from uncertainty to one of trust?
Then once we cross that line is there some sort of sli…

Social networks have caused a huge shift in how companies frame and execute their business. The success of Best Buy’s Twelpforce blurred the lines between marketing and customer service, usin…

Still think Facebook is for kids and college students? According to O’Reilly Media (2009), over half of all Facebook users are out of college, and their numbers are growing each year. Why are so many…

MacStories.net uses Basecamp and Backpack to bring together the blog’s international team.

The authors start out describing how they use Basecamp, which they describe as “so powerful because of its simplicity”…

Less than a week has passed since the interactive portion of SXSW, a Mecca for the world’s digerati, wrapped up. Some have written scathing reviews vowing never to return and others provided a more balanced loo…

3 ways you can help ensure Facebook success for your brand – #CPG – http://bit.ly/9VelCZ (via @hubspot)

These days everyone seems to have advice about how to run your social media marketing program. There are so many tips floating around, it’s hard to know …

When important news affecting your organization breaks fast, sometimes the best way to connect with customers and the media is to quickly build a new Web site.

The technique of building a new Web site in real…

One of the things that can befuddle managers, even experienced ones, is how to make small talk with the big boss.

When you are talking about someone who has authority over you, be it your boss’s boss or the CE…

In this post Mark Hayward shares some tips on blogging for small business when you’re not a writer.

image by tomswift46
Have you ever accidentally slammed your hand in a car door? OUCH!
I think that very unp…

Whether you want to save and watch a Flash video offline, convert a Flash music video for your MP3 player, or do something else entirely, learning how to rip a…

Every site needs promotion, right? That means your new site could use a quick boost from what others have already created. This post will cover some marketing APIs, as part of our Site in a Box series.
Find a G…

Ask any marketer to draw you a picture of the sales funnel and you’ll get virtually the same picture. There are a number of proposed ways to look at the funnel applied to social media, includin…

I’d like to start a Junto. (pronounced hoonto)
Originally, “The Junto was a club established in 1727 by Benjamin Franklin for mutual improvement. Its purpose was to debate questions of morals, politics, a…

Just as we were seeing doctors who were embracing social media to do more for patients, it appears that some are trying to clamp down. As in the legal profession, it appears some old-timers are over-reacting t…

B2B marketers and PR pros know that getting coverage in an industry-specific blog is highly beneficial. Blog links are valuable for SEO. Relevant blogs can drive targeted direct traffic from the blo…

Its been awhile since Ive had to deal with a malware-laden PC, but my long streak of luck ran out this weekend when a family friend—who describes himself as…

With a Projected Outlay of $4B by 2015, Mobile Targeting Is Next Big Opportunity
Advertising Age, March 22, 2010 — Its the ad served while you are reading the news in the morning on an e-reader that knows…

In Brand-Saturation Age, Major Marketers Turn to Franchising and Other Models
Advertising Age, March 22, 2010 — Procter Gamble Co. got to be an $80 billion company and the worlds-largest marketer almost e…

The best book ever written on the art of effective writing is The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White.
There is much good advice in this classic text, especially in the last 20 pages, titled…

New data shows that marketers have more control over customer interactions but lack all the resources needed to react quickly. Is this an IT problem, or just hyper-speed market dynamics?

Sunday was Twitter’s fourth anniversary, according to a tweet from co-founder Jack Dorsey (his first tweet ever is here). Just four short years, and already Twitter has become a significant part of our live…

Last week in Austin, award-winning author Charlene Li gave a room full of SXSW attendees a preview of her soon-to-be-released book, “Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the W…

Many companies like Dell or Moonfruit have discovered Twitter as a separate sales channel. Both use rather similar strategies: They either offer special discounts or work with giveaways to attract followers, dr…

It might not seem like much of a word but in fact influence is often associated with people of power or knowledge. It is people like these that because of the nature of their power or knowledge that can affect…

“In the Twitter age” is a term I heard this past week from a slightly frustrated public relations professional talking about how he’s been forced to modify his crisis management plan. And change h…

This *excellent* post by @juzmcmuz on what Agile might mean for strategy gave us loads to think about – http://j.mp/dlDMWH (via @BBHLabs)

Congrats to Charles Jolley and the entire team behind the SproutCore 1.0 launch. Bespin uses SproutCore now, so I am excited to see a stable build, and the hints to the future:

This project was in the works f…

The Martin Howard collection of antique typewriters is stupendous — beautiful machines, wonderfully photographed. Prints for sale at reasonable prices.

Comprised of typewriters from the very beginning of t…

[#4 in the Content that Works series.]
Tomorrow, I have a post about what Matt Thompson calls “context-centric news” and how it differs from what he calls “episodic news.” (They are similar to what I c…

If you’re a company considering using social media tools for business communications, marketing, sales, etc, you’re no doubt wondering about how much time it will add to your already busy day, especially i…

[click on image for larger screen shot]I started thinking about the idea of creating customer intimacy after reading Kevin Roberts book, Lovemarks six years ago, when it was first published. Roberts described…

Share7 Insanely Useful Ways to Search Twitter for MarketingThis content from: Duct Tape Marketing
This article originally appeared on American Express OPEN Forum and is one of the most retweeted articles I’ve…

There is a fundamental problem among social media experts today. Some people have argued that the problem lies with people who are rushing to call themselves an expert without having the necessary experience. O…

In 2007 Charlene Li, then at Forrester Research, now running the Altimeter Group, along with Forrester ’s Josh Bernoff, Remy Fiorentino, and Sarah Glass released a report that introduced us to Social Technog…

How are leading banks applying social media and mobile devices in ways that drive revenue and customer value? Spain’s BBVA provides an excellent example of how this can be done.
Here’s a look at how they’re…

But there’s a new animal in the 21st century… and that animal is social media. It’s hard sometimes to reach through to companies who have been around for a …

Over the past several months it seems every Fortune 500 company now brands their commercials with social media badges for Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. …

Gavin Heaton and Drew McLellan’s “Age of Conversation” project is about to publish a third book. “AOC3: It’s Time to Get Busy” could be available as early as next month.Im proud to note I participated in this e…

According to a report by Microsoft, it is (geared towards the manufacturing industry). Towards the end of last year Drew Gude, Director, U.S. High Tech and Electronics Manufacturing Industry Solutions for Mi…

This weekend, AdAge published two articles discussing the lengths to which advertisers are collecting and using data to target consumers for ads. One article details some of the techniques, and the other discus…

As social media becomes mainstream, and more brands venture into the waters, it’s not only essential to decide who, …

I’ve reviewed plenty of e-commerce sites for this blog, but one aspect I haven’t looked at so much is the thank-you page, the last page shoppers see after placing an order.
A recent report from Snow Valley ha…

Online applications give me a competitive edge. I want to be a ‘big little company’ with the same (or better) IT capabilities as the biggest of my clients. I try to make the maximum use of online applicatio…

The sweeping health-care bill passed by the House of Representatives Sunday, and now headed for President Obama’s desk, promises a sea change in the way that small business owners purchase and provide health in…

To remain fit and healthy, an average session at the gym requires only a small commitment of just sixty minutes per week. An exciting new business initiative launched today guarantees that for the same investme…

Andrew Sullivan has a good roundup of reactions from a variety of perspectives.

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Car leasing can be accompanied by many fees and few protections.

I’m excited to announce today that Stories That Sell: Turn Satisfied Customers into Your Most Powerful Sales and Marketing Asset has won Gold in the Advertising/Marketing/PR/Event Planning category of the 20…

One of the most pervasive mantras of the social media hype circus is that it’s “all about the conversation” with your customers. But if you look at what’s really happening out there I think you can c…

For those that have a hard time believing that social media improves the positioning of a brand, you might be interested to learn that consumers engaged in …

Insightful post explaining marketing 2.0 suggesting we’re moving into the age of Marketing 3.0 – http://bit.ly/bVo0FH (via @frogdesign)