Josh gets it. Big time. He knows the basics very, very well. He knows the extra stuff if you have the time and budget, too.

Josh worked with a National Recruiting Network over the last two years, helping client offices achieve organic visibility through intense Search Engine Optimization campaigns.  Outside of working with recruiting firms, Josh has also worked to launch start-up websites and help them achieve organic rankings very quickly to build their businesses.

Josh gets search. I get that you have a budget. I think you’ll like our search engine packages: basic optimization services for just $600/month. E-mail me for details (sherean at newthoughtmarketing dot com). Set-up fees are affordable, too (just $250/page).

p.s. – He’s also a social media whiz and will work with Terri, Vesatee and Cara on social media projects as well. Bonus! (Actually, as you may have heard, social media’s an important piece of the search puzzle. So it’s a good thing he knows it.)

Starbucks has an iconic cup design that is a major part of their brand identity. Even still, they want to figure out a way to reduce the use of their cup and move towards a day where all cups are reusable, recyclable or compostable. And they’re backing that desire up with some cash. They co- sponsored a competition to come up with eco-friendly alternatives.

The winner, Karma Cup, has an absolutely brilliant plan: put up a chalkboard in the store and mark off every time someone uses their own reusable cup. Every 10th person will get a free cup of coffee. Genius! You’ll want to encourage your friends to do it because the more people do it, the more opportunities you have to win a free cup. The chalkboard is a great reinforcement tool. Read all about the contest and the great runner up ideas at FastCompany.

How could you use something like this in your own business? This goes beyond a personal frequent shopper card because it enlists your customer in actively recruiting other customers. Is there a product or service that you’d like to encourage the use of? Maybe it’s new and unproven and you could use a similar technique to motivate sampling.

Have a great weekend.

Yikes! Chevrolet in its pursuit of marketing excellence, has decided that they want their cars to be called “Chevrolets” and not “Chevys.” As if they have any say in what the consumer will call them. I can only imagine the board room discussions about brand consistency and how that will help them . . . help them what? Sell more cars? DON’T THEY KNOW THEY ALREADY HAVE A WELL-KNOWN BRAND NAME? AND IT HAPPENS TO BE . . . CHEVY?

Idiots.

Quick. Anybody remember the name of the electric car they’ve been working on and touting for years? Oh yeah, it’s the CHEVY Volt. Not the Chevrolet Volt. Or for that matter, nobody even calls it just the “Volt.” It’s the Chevy Volt, period.

<sigh> The brand police at Chevy, er, Chevrolet have gone so far as to issue a memo to its employees instructing them to stop referring to the brand by its nickname and instead, use its proper name. They’ve even – and I am not making this up – put little cuss jars up and have encouraged employees to put a quarter in the jar every time they slip and use the word “Chevy” instead of “Chevrolet.”

They cite great brands like Coke and Apple as models of smart, consistent branding. They did this without any apparent hint of irony because Coke is, after all, short for “Coca-Cola” and when was the last time you called your iPod an Apple anything?

OK so the lesson here is if you have a brand name that your customers use and it has positive associations, then be happy. Leave well enough alone.

Sign up to get a Kindle book of your choice every month for 12 months and get a free Kindle. Amazon presents you with ten book choices, and since the cost of delivering it is zero, there’s plenty of margin for all…

He has several more ideas so surf on over and check them out. It’s a smart, aggressive strategy. I hope Amazon is paying attention. I might add an idea or two of my own such as partnering with universities and textbook manufacturers.

What do you think? Is the Kindle going the way of the 8-track? Is Steve Jobs about to do it again?

Yeah, I know it’s childish of me to pile on but this is the kind of thing that spreads faster than strep. The days of protecting your image and brand are OVER. Not just for BP, but for all of us. You can’t protect it; you have to sit up, take your lumps like a man (pardon the sexism), own what you did if you screwed up, do everything you can to make it right. Don’t take shortcuts or b.s. your customer (I’m talking to you, Toyota and you, Sigg, and you, BP) because we’re onto you and we will tell all our friends who will tell their friends and so on and so on and so on.

And you will live in infamy forever.

I still have businesses tell me they don’t want a Facebook page or a blog because they’re afraid they’ll get negative comments. Seriously? That’s what you’re worried about? The COMMENTS? How about the actual issues your customers have? Address them. And you know what? When you address them forthrightly in a public forum, most people will forgive you and even reward you for doing the right thing.

Having said that, I think it’s too late for BP. What do you think? Any shot of damage control here or are they done?

It’s diabolical, isn’t it? Actually, it’s what I would do if I were in their situation. But still . . . ewwww. . . it’s kind of icky, isn’t it?

Incidentally, if you haven’t registered your business with Yelp and other review sites like Kudzu, please take a moment to do so. Make sure you check your reviews regularly and respond immediately to any negative ones. Let us know if you need help; this is part of the Online Reputation Management service that we offer our clients.

Facebook is now the most visited website among ALL adults, garnering more visits even than Google.

A few more interesting stats. Note that teens only make up 10% of Facebook’s users. The rest are all old enough to vote.

So I’m happy to report that social media’s been around long enough that we’re starting to see real results that SMBs can use to develop their social media marketing plans. This survey demonstrates that social media fans are more likely to buy from the brands that they support (on Facebook and Twitter, for example).

It seems like common sense, doesn’t it? Some of my favorite brands on Facebook are small ones. There’s a woman who started a company making necklaces for breastfeeding babies to fiddle with while nursing called “Mommy Necklaces.”  She has nearly 3,500 fans on Facebook (including me) and does an outstanding job of interacting with them. She runs random Facebook-only promotions and giveaways – and I realize I’m only a test case of one – but I’ve bought several more necklaces than I would have as a result.

When someone “likes” you (or “fans” you, as it used to be called) on Facebook, they are essentially giving you permission to market to them. Your updates will appear in their Facebook stream (think of it as their Facebook home page). So while they’re checking out what their friends are up to, they’re also reading your posts. It’s a great way to promote discounts, contests, and ideas. If you’re a B-to-B company, use it to show off your smarts. Post articles or information that might interest your clients.

And when your followers post on your Facebook page, write them back! Thank them, respond to their comments, engage in a dialogue with them. You are forming a relationship online and more and more, these online relationships are becoming BIG drivers of word-of-mouth and new business.

Need help? Let me know. In the meantime, come follow us on Facebook!

Author: Kemba Johnson

What you would give to a client, you should always give to yourself first.

I’m standing in a Mexican supermarket choosing pastries called besos, empanadas de crema and tabasqueños. No, I wasn’t grocery shopping (well, maybe a little), I was working.

New Thought Marketing was putting together a Cinco de Mayo gift box for clients. And we wanted to include some delicious Mexican pastries. If the boxes were long enough I’d just include the churros from my favorite stand and call it a day… after I tested them one more time of course.

But the box wasn’t long enough. So there I was on my grand pastry expedition. The first sweets I tried were frankly just okay. If I got these in a box, I’d think the idea was cool, but I wouldn’t be excited.

Off to the next place where the empanadas were soft, fresh and delicious, with a light dusting of sugar on top. Perfect. Two bakeries and six pastry tastings: It was a difficult job, but someone had to do it.

So the moral of the story (and yes there is one) is test your marketing promotions in order to give away value. It may be just a 10-cent pen. But if it has your name on it, it represents your brand. So it had better be a good pen, one that you’d like someone to give to you, not one that you have to shake to get to work (don’t you hate that).

At New Thought Marketing, we will often take a client to a promotional items showroom. Not only does this allow our clients to discover new promotional ideas, it allows them to test the quality. As much as you can, try to think about what a customer would be excited to receive, instead of what you are willing to give away.

Sometimes the answer will surprise you… and can actually be cheaper. For example, a major long distance company (I leave which one to your imagination) was offering 30 free minutes, 60 free minutes or a free long distance call of any length to new calling card customers.

Not only did the free long distance call win more new customers, it was also the cheapest, costing about $2.95 on average vs $11.50 for the 60 free minutes and $5.75 for the 30 free minutes. Without testing or putting themselves in the customers’ shoes, the company would have lost potential new customers.

Which one would you have chosen? Think about it: What is 30 minutes or even 60 minutes worth to you? It’s a little too nebulous to wrap your mind around. But a free long distance call…well, that’s a free call to your mother to say everything you need to say. And it doesn’t matter how long it takes. A conversion is ultimately more valuable than free minutes.

In the end, I hope our clients found the pasties delicious…I know I did. Too bad I didn’t have the pleasure of searching for the perfect margarita mix!