18 Rules For Everything

April 12, 2010

There are no real rules to life, right? For instance, in this day and age, any schmo can launch anything and call it a business. Whether it gets on your nerves or not — well, it’s the new rule. Or non-rule. So, to celebrate our new freedom as a society, here are 18 rules for [...]

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How to be Memorable with Your Marketing

March 28, 2010

Isn’t it interesting how some things stick out in your mind – and others, well, you either can’t (or don’t) remember? This can be true with marketing. I’m talking all kinds of marketing: ad campaigns, direct mail pieces, social media marketing, outreach, events…gosh, the list goes on. So… How do you make your marketing “memorable?” [...]

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WWSMMD – What Would Social Media Marketing Do?

March 13, 2010

Background: I’m at the bank, and watched a situation unfold. I tweeted about it. Here’s a blow-by-blow of what I witnessed: Customer comes in, under control but clearly upset, as he had used an ATM to withdraw $400 — but the machine did not dispense his cash, just a receipt. The person at the Information [...]

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Fan Pro Quo – A Social Experiment Aimed at Small Business Referrals

March 4, 2010

Insomnia gave us this nifty little idea… It’s actually not our idea, but that of a really clever guy named Larry Brauner, whose Online Social Networking site did something similar earlier this year. Here’s how it works: You visit the Area 224 Page on Facebook. If you aren’t already a fan of Area 224, consider becoming [...]

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Brand vs. Model, Benefits vs. Features – How to Learn from Ford

March 3, 2010

What’s it like to build a brand in this modern age? I often hearken back to days of old — when I was in an operating company of a large financial services conglomerate*. Often, we’d hear something from the field: “hey, we’ve created this product, we need to sell it” or “this is a service [...]

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The Area 224 Plan for Newspaper Relevance

February 24, 2010

Above the masthead on the Chicago Sun-Times read this little banner: “Still 75 cents.” Amidst a global recession, the casual observer might think: “Wow, the price of something is staying the same.” But observers of this space know that intuitive thinking like this, while safe, doesn’t get you where you need to be. Chicago’s days [...]

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Rhythmic Gymnastics Don’t Belong in the Winter Olympics, Or Your Marketing

February 17, 2010

Received a call here at Area 224 HQ from a dear friend, and here was his question: Why do I have to jump through so many hoops to get someone’s free report? In brief, here’s what happened: Friend attended webinar for free. Friend liked what he heard from a speaker, decided to visit a website [...]

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$100,000,000,000,000 worth of email newsletter advice

February 9, 2010

“You’re kidding me, right? This can’t be real currency, is it?” Yes, this is a picture of a 100 Trillion Dollar Bill. From Zimbabwe. Issued a couple years ago. Now worth nothing, as hyperinflation meant that 100,000,000,000,000 didn’t buy what it used to. What does this have to do with your email newsletter? Quite a [...]

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Why Turning Down PR is GOOD for Business

February 3, 2010

A major news outlet called me, Dave, last week and wanted to ask me some questions. I said “No.” Before you call me a wacko and say that I should have said yes because it would have been TREMENDOUS positioning for me, Area 224 and our Real SMM launch, here’s the backstory. Back in the [...]

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SMM stands for Social Media Manna

January 28, 2010

We came up with this concept shortly after a chat with Jim Alexander of Socially Mediated. Yes, it’s that easy – come up with a Social Media strategy for your organization and it will be like Manna from Heaven. Wonderful, tasty sweet bread falling from the sky. Social Media Manna. SMM. Social Media Manna will [...]

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