The Twitter Adoption Curve
I must confess, I started off as a Twitter Skeptic. More accurately, I was probably a Twitter Denier — someone who actively discounted any potential business value associated with Twitter. I was wrong. It took me a while but I have grown to appreciate how Twitter can be effectively used to engage followers, build [...]
The Art of Brand Storytelling – Starbucks
I have long believed that “Behind Every Great Brand There is a Story”. If you understand your story, what makes your different, and how to tell your brand story to your customer, you can build a strong brand with deep customer loyalty. If are simply another product and you do not have a brand story, [...]
What’s Your $500 Billion “Like” Button?
The Wall Street Journal is saying that Facebook’s “Like” Button was instrumental in transforming Facebook from an interesting social media past time into a $500 Billion advertising giant. There are many many social media applications in the market with many overlapping capabilities. Could it really be that something as simple as the “Like” button made [...]
The Impact of Digital Advertising on High End Brands
In a September, 2011 article, AdWeek asks the provocative question, “Is Digital Killing The Luxury Brand?” This is a good question because high end, luxury brands by definition need to establish themselves as standing above the fray. They are exclusive. They are different. They are better. And, they don’t hang around with the commoners, either [...]
Social Marketing Budgets To Increase
According to recent research from Marketing Sherpa, spending on social media marketing is poised for continued growth in 2011. As shown in the chart below, 68% of companies claim their expenditures on social media will increase, with 16% having more than a 50% increase, 19% increasing between 20% and 50%, and another 33% showing an [...]
Ten Reasons Small Business Should Build a WordPress Website
To WordPress or Not To WordPress, That is the Question? Historically, most websites have been custom websites built by a web designer using website design software such as Adobe Dreamweaver or NetObjects Fusion. Web designers combine their graphic design skills with their knowledge of coding to bring a design to life on the web. As [...]
The Power of Word-of-Mouth – 2.5 Times More Effective
The increasing impact of Social Media and how it facilitates a “Brand Conversation” between businesses (i.e brands) and customers is highlighting the importance of Word-of-Mouth marketing. More and more customers are experiencing a complete brand experience instead of just touching the brand for a single transaction. Advertisers like Geico, with the Gecko, and P&G’s Old [...]
Why Does the Same Search Produce Different Results? Web History
Many of my clients wonder why they see different SEO results than me and the other people in their company. Here’s some of what’s going on. If you and I are doing a web search for exactly the same term, say “Best Restaurants in Raleigh, NC”, shouldn’t we get the same results? No. Why? Because [...]
Impact of Google Website Preview on Website Design and Branding
Google recently introduced a “Website Preview Page” capability into their search results. Google now puts a small magnifying glass next to your search results. By clicking on this magnifying glass, or hovering over it, you will now see a preview of the search engine results page as show here. The search result for branding agency [...]
SEO – Meta Keywords, an outdated SEO tactic
Meta keywords, or meta tags, are an outdated SEO tactic that has not been used by the major search engines for many years. Google and other search engines read the code “behind the page” and not the just the words that you see on the page. In the code, there is a place to put [...]
