If you can get by my awful egg pun, take a second to read this entry about a giant egg billboard for McDonald’s. It’s a giant egg that mechanically opens during breakfast hours to let people know that McDonald’s is cooking up fresh eggs at that time. Once breakfast is over, the egg closes up, ready to hatch again the next morning.
If only Adam Sandler had one of these in “Big Daddy,” he could have saved himself some heartache.
Last weekend, I was interviewed for a radio show called “Tech Talk.” The host, Craig Peterson, wanted to know how small businesses combat low productivity in the summer. I had a few thoughts,which you can listen to here . I think the thing we do best is manage expectations with our clients. We know things will take longer in the summer; not only are we on vacation, but our clients usually are, too. We discuss that up front so everyone is on the same page. There’s more, but it’s probably more fun to listen to it!
Women are famous for their ability to talk up their favorite products and services. We often tell our clients that women don’t just like to talk about good experiences; they feel compelled to spread the word. If we have a great experience at a store, we can’t wait to get in our car and call our best friend and tell her about it.
There are agencies that are now hooking women up with product marketers in an attempt to get them to “buzz” about their goods. I am a member of one of them (BzzzAgent) and have sampled electric toothbrushes and moisturizers and organic milk as a result. All for free and if I like it, they give me coupons for friends to try it, too.
From feeder businesses to solar/hybrid lawn mowers that use as little power as a lightbulb, here is a list of TrendWatching’s 41 innovative business ideas. Some of these businesses are not in the U.S. but in this global world, a trend across the pond can quickly become the latest thing here in the blink of an eye.
Terri has complained about her Vista machine since she bought it. It’s the computer she wants to love because it’s loaded with other great, fun tools, but Vista has given her so many fits she just can’t open her heart completely.
She’s not alone. People have been complaining even more loudly than usual about the latest operating software release from Microsoft. Even the tech folks at Intel don’t want to play with Vista. They’re opting to keep XP and skip the Vista upgrade.
Which reminds me. You can still buy an XP machine at Dell — until the end of June. After that, you can pay extra to downgrade your license. As Adam Freedman, my tech guru from Dunwoody PC explains:
The XP “Loophole†– Microsoft has told its big resellers like Lenovo, Dell, Acer, and HP, that as of June 30th, they can not sell you a computer with XP on it. Not totally true. They can sell you a computer with Vista Business and then downgrade the license to XP Professional. So, you as a consumer have to pay $100 more for this version of downgraded licensing, and Microsoft gets to tout just how successful the launch of Windows Vista can be! Disgusting…
My laptop has about six months left on it, but I don’t want to risk getting stuck with a Vista machine so I am going to log off this blog and go buy me an XP machine right now.
Amazon has just made comparison shopping easier. Now if you’re out and about shopping in the “real” world (but really, who has time for that any more?), and find yourself wondering if you can get that same product cheaper on Amazon, all you have to do is send Amazon a text message with the product name and it’ll text you back its price. (And options to buy it right from your phone.)
I hope this isn’t true because so many women I know think the Dove ads are brilliant (and great for our teenage girls to see), but there are rumors that the photos were extensively touched up. . . not so “real” after all. Now, if they were touching up things like hair sticking out, that’d be o.k., but any cosmetic changes would defeat the entire purpose of the campaign.
This article posits the theory that where you live may have as much to do with your personality type as it does with what the area offers. Atlanta attracts a lot of conscientious and agreeable types. (So what the hell am I doing living here?)
How do you reach small business owners? Other than local Chamber of Commerce meetings, they don’t naturally organize horizontally (across industries). You usually have to find them vertically, at their respective industry trade shows. Reaching them through their trade publications can be expensive, and reaching them online has been frustrating and time-consuming. Until now, that is. Some big media companies have aligned to pull together a trade advertising network. This means you will be able to pick a business target and advertise across multiple online sites to reach your demographic. This has existed for years for businesses targeting consumers (you can buy ads targeting a specific demo, such as Women 18-49, on Google AdSense, for example), but I don’t believe there’s been an efficient way to reach business customers. We’ll definitely keep an eye on this for our clients in the B-to-B space.
I know that health insurance is one of the biggest obstacles preventing many would-be entrepreneurs from making their business dreams a reality. So while this isn’t a post on marketing or media, I felt it would be useful to many of you. This article contains several links and ideas on obtaining health insurance. Still no tips on making it affordable, but it’s a start.
We're the brains behind New Thought Marketing, a consulting firm based in Atlanta. When it comes to marketing, we know how to push the envelope and we know when to keep it simple. If you need assistance in strategic thinking, contact us. Otherwise, sit back and enjoy our blog.
