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Marketing
Do You Want Fries With That?
If you’ve been to a fast food restaurant, you probably have been asked this question. This question is an example of a call-to-action. A call-to-action tells people what to do by inviting them to make a decision. The invitation won’t always be responded to positively, but if you don’t ask, you’ll never get a yes. [...]
How and Why to Keep Customers Happy
This seems like a no-brainer, but unfortunately a lot of companies just don’t get it. A few years ago I wrote a post entitled ‘Customer Service is the New Marketing‘ where I shared some thoughts on the importance of customer service and a great video interview with Lane Becker from Get Satisfaction. Three years later, [...]
Benefits of an Internal Social Media Marketing Team
The following is a guest blog post from Sam Mauzy. Sam is a contributing writer for Invesp. Social media initially began as a way for individuals to communicate with others through the expression of their personal thoughts, ideas, or suggestions on certain issues. While it was always an interactive tool used to communicate different types of information, [...]
Empower Your Staff
If you know me, you’ve probably heard me mention how “customer service is the new marketing.” In fact, I wrote a post about it three years ago. It was true then, it’s true today. I want to share an experience I had that reinforces the point. At The Real Canadian Superstore, I wanted to purchase a [...]
Customer Acquisition vs. Customer Retention
Advertisements, promotions, sales. These are all about increasing your client pool or customer acquisition. In 2009, it’s reported that companies spent 56% of their marketing budget on customer acquisition activities and only 33% on customer retention activities. Many companies are guilty of wooing in new customers, while disregarding the ones they already have. They dangle [...]
You Don’t Control the Medium
If you seen the news recently, you’ve probably heard about the Twitter campaign that McDonald’s launched using the hashtag #McDStories. You can see one of their promotional tweets to the right. They had great hopes to inspire stories about Happy Meals. The campaign took a horrible turn and made news headlines around the world. You [...]
Everyone is Responsible for Brand Management
If you work in marketing, one of your primary responsibilities is to manage your organization’s brand by positively influencing public perception of your organization – public perception after all is reality. What if you don’t work in marketing? What if you are a janitor, IT specialist or a truck driver? Everyone within your organization is [...]
What’s the Big Deal About .xxx Domains?
It’s been a few months since the controversial .xxx domain opened up. From the very beginning institutions (include colleges/universities) began snapping them up to ‘protect their brand’. The Edmonton Journal reported that Grant MacEwan University paid $1,875 USD to secure five .xxx domains. I’m just not sure I completely buy-in to the hype. First of [...]
Don’t Cast Your Google Adwords Net Too Wide
Google Adwords is a great cost-effective way to market your business locally, nationally and around the world. One of the aspects of Google Adwords is selecting what search keywords to target that will trigger your ad to appear. Some consultants may suggest to cast your keywords net wide to ensure maximum exposure and get the [...]
Put Yourself in Your Customer’s Shoes
I just got back from vacation (hence the sparse postings in the last few weeks) and I wanted to share an experience I had. I was filling up at the Shell gas station in Drumheller, Alberta and bought $90 gas. When I went inside to pay, I was upset to find out that the Interac [...]
Highlights from #MRUShift
Today I was privileged to attend the Social Media Shift forum at Mount Royal University. It was great to see over 200 people that saw value in social media, so much so that they invest time and money to learn from great speakers. If you were watching my live-tweeting, you probably came across some of my comments. [...]
Let’s All Get on the QR Code Bandwagon… Maybe
By now you’ve probably seen these 2D images called QR codes. They are popping up everywhere. Businesses, in an effort to use the latest technology are plastering them on posters, billboards, businesses cards and more. QR (Quick Response) Codes can encode various data elements including a URL or contact information. These codes can than be [...]
Technology Impacts Communication
As I’ve been preparing for an upcoming social media presentation, I started thinking about the impacts of technology on advertising and communication. Each time technology changes, the way the we communicate changes. Sometimes the communication method becomes virtually irrelevant, like morse code. Other times, the communication medium remains strong, like the written word. You know VHS [...]
My Yellow Pages Booster Seat
For a long time, Yellow Pages have been an effective tool for local advertising. From coupons to full page ads, businesses attempt to reach prospective customers. We all have heard the popular slogan, “Let your fingers do the walking.” There were numerous successful commercials based on this slogan. Over the years I remember the offices [...]
It’s the Website’s Fault
How many times have you heard this or had it implied? When conversions are low, whether sales, enrolments or event registrations, the website is usually the first thing to be blamed as the cause. Websites, even though they have been around for years, are still ambiguous. People that are not close to the web industry [...]
Be Upfront With Your Intentions
At my work we have dozens of domain names that we manage. Every few months I get a piece of mail from the same company kindly reminding me of domain names that will be expiring soon. The wording of the letter attempts to instill a sense of urgency hoping to get me to act immediately. [...]
Be a Thought Leader
We all hate buzz words, but this is a topic that has been on my mind lately. I’ve had discussions with one of my colleagues about thought leadership. Wikipedia simply describes thought leadership as an entity that is recognized for having innovative ideas. Although the phrase was only coined in 1994, the concept has been around [...]
The Future of Marketing
I had the opportunity to tune into the Future of Marketing virtual conference today, where 60 of the top marketers gave their insight into the future of marketing in 60 seconds. The conference was great, but it left me wanting more. The good thing is that the virtual conference is a great idea generator. I [...]
Stop Cold Calling… Avoid the Brick Wall
How many have you ever had a cold call? I imagine everyone has. Around six months ago I received a call from a vendor that provides web-based FAQ solutions. At the time I was busy with a website redesign project and brushed them off. Just recently, they contacted me again and sent me a follow-up [...]
Netflix Canada – A Trust Gap Case Study
I love movies! When I heard that Netflix was coming to Canada, I almost did that Toyota jump that we use to see on commercials where people jump in the air and bend the legs back. Unfortunately, I haven’t signed up for their service yet, the reason is the trust gap. The Trust Gap I’ve [...]