Monthly Archive for February, 2007

Meet the world

Published on February 21, 2007 in cause marketing and social marketing. 2 Comments

I put these up on my Fast Company Expert Blogger page and thought they needed to be passed on to you guys as well.

Caro Doria is Brazilian, 25 and has been working for the magazine Grande Reportagem, in Lisbon, Portugal, for the last 3 years. He is part of the team that produced the flags campaign which has been circulating the Earth in chain letters via e-mail.

Angola

Brazil

Burkina

China

Columbia

EU

Somalia

United States

Email marketing trends

Published on February 20, 2007 in ROI, business and marketing. 1 Comment

Thought I’d pass on a great email marketing trend report (PDF) from ExactTarget…

Enjoy!

Fast Company 6th Annual Fast 50

Published on February 19, 2007 in business, cause marketing, entrepreneur and social marketing. 0 Comments

For the last few years, Fast Company has been promoting profit-driven socially-focused organizations.

Here is the latest Fast 50 list of fifty people of companies that are making a difference in the world.

And here’s a little shameless self-promotion for my posts as an Expert Blogger for Fast Company.

Shocking “business” stats

Published on February 17, 2007 in cause marketing, management and social marketing. 0 Comments

I was just turned on to the upcoming movie, Amazing Grace, about William Wilberforce and his life’s work of abolishing slavery in England. It from the same follks that produced Bridge to Terabitha, Chronicles of Narnia and Ray.

As a businessman with a decent amount of international sales & marketing experience, I had no idea just how big child slave labor is TODAY. There are more than 27 million people in slavery around the world today. That’s more than double the numbers of the mid to late 1800’s. I know there are valiant efforts in place to reduce child labor and sweat shops, but the numbers are shocking:

  • 27,000,000+ in slavery today
  • 50% are children
  • 1 in 5 of the world’s 5-17 year olds work in the worst forms of child labor
  • 91 cities in the US have reported cases of human trafficking
  • 800,000 people trafficked across international borders each year

To learn more and sign the petition to end modern day slavery, visit Amazing Change, the social action component of the movie. Rumor has it that George Bush will be the last signature before it goes to the UN to take sanctions against countries that encourage or turn a deaf ear to slave trade. Love Bush or hate Bush, this is the right thing to do.

Visit the Amazing Change Website

Marketing (r)evolution Carnival #2 – February 12, 2007

Published on February 11, 2007 in advertising, branding, marketing, marketing (r)evolution and strategy. 4 Comments

Marketing (r)evolution Carnival - Nick Rice

Welcome to the February 12, 2007 edition of Marketing (r)evolution Carnival.

This ended up being much larger than I anticipated, but there’s a lot of good articles here. Enjoy the 2nd Edition.

Advertising

David Polinchock presents Experience Manifesto: BEL Predictions posted at Experience Manifesto, saying, “I thought that our 2007 predictions would make a good addition to the next edition of the marketing (r)evolution carnival.”

Christopher J. Brunner presents Are You Using Your Business Cards? posted at The Small Business Buzz, saying, “Are you using your business cards to network and advertise your business? If not, here are some tips to help you utilize the power of these mini-billboards called business cards.”

Vahid Chaychi presents How to Maximize Your Profit in Pay Per Click Advertising posted at Internet and Search Engine Marketing, saying, “Pay per click advertising is good but you should be able to make a profit through it. It means you should make more than what you spend. You can do it by choosing the right keywords, proper designing of the target page and … .”

Christopher J. Brunner presents Adding Non-Text Elements to Your Business Cards posted at The Small Business Buzz, saying, “Thank you for considering my submission for inclusion in this month’s edition of MRC. Michelle Cramer”

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Of Loan Refinancing, Debt Consolidation And LowerMyBills’ Dancing Cowboys posted at The Digerati Life.

Branding

Ron E presents Branding to the Young…of Heart posted at Brand Curve, saying, “Branding and Marketing to the baby boomers is getting hotter by the minute. Some thoughts on how companies can tackle this -forgotten- market.”

Kim M. Bayne presents Naming Your Web Site posted at Minced Media.

David Maister presents Stylists (Staff Turnover and Customer Retention) posted at Passion, People and Principles, saying, “Who owns your brand? Your employees or your company?”

Anna Farmery presents Communication – Push or Pull? posted at The Engaging Brand.

Krishna De presents 5 keys to authoring your business book posted at Krishna De.

Marketing

Matthew Paulson presents Why I Don’t Buy From Quixtar posted at Getting Green.

K T Cat presents Where the Traffic Comes From posted at The Scratching Post.

Anna Farmery presents How Apple excites you posted at The Engaging Brand.

Charles H. Green presents Trust Tip 47: Subsidize Marketing with Sales posted at Trust Matters, saying, “Are you getting the most marketing impact out of your sales interactions?”

infonote presents Marketing and the legal environment posted at Kaizenlog, saying, “Kaizenlog contains a marketing section with information that people should find useful.”

Daniel presents CopyMarketing · 9 Steps To Reach Your Customers Successfully! posted at Copymarketing: Writing Profitable Marketing Copies.

Daniel presents CopyMarketing: One Very Effective Headline That Matters posted at Copymarketing: Writing Profitable Marketing Copies.

Daniel presents Benefits: The Real Currency of Marketing posted at Copymarketing: Writing Profitable Marketing Copies.

Scott Allen presents Monday Marketing Tip #5: Cotton Candy Marketing posted at About.com Entrepreneur’s Guide.

David Olsen presents Affiliate Marketing – Five tactics for getting the most out of your traffic posted at Affiliate Profit Center, saying, “Affiliate Marketing – Five tactics for getting the most out of your traffic”

Drew McLellan presents Surprise (Marketing lessons from Walt) posted at The Marketing Minute, saying, “This is the first in a series of 8 posts that spotlight the marketing wisdom of Walt Disney.”

Benjamin Yoskovitz presents Publish Articles Online to Generate Buzz and Traffic posted at Instigator Blog, saying, “Looking for ways to generate buzz, I’m attempting to accomplish as many of Ron McDaniel’s 57 buzz challenges as possible. One of them was to look at writing articles online (in article directories.)”

Becky Carroll presents Marketing Experiences, not Products posted at Customers Rock!, saying, “Thanks for the opportunity! This post is the first part of a series and discusses how we can look at marketing from a customer’s perspective, across the entire customer experience.”

Chris Sandberg presents Using Social Proof as a Marketing Tool posted at Internet Business Blog.

Elias Dabbas presents The Benefits of a Local eBusiness posted at The Media Supermarket.

Strategy

Matthew Paulson presents Gold: A Bad Investment posted at Getting Green.

Ruben presents 5 Explosive Secrets to Boost Your Traffic For Free For Years posted at Turn Your Blog Into Money Making Machine.

David Maister presents Changing People’s Minds posted at Passion, People and Principles, saying, “Is your marketing strategy changing minds?”

Vahid Chaychi presents How to Report Spam and Scam Emails posted at Work at Home Entrepreneurs, saying, “If you have an email address, you should be able to report spam and scam emails. If internet users learns this, we will have a safer internet for everybody.”

almomento presents The Hidden Power of Mastermind posted at BurstCreativity.

Krishna De presents Google alerts – probably the best free research tool in the world posted at Krishna De, saying, “Discover 10 ways to use Google Alerts to grow your business”

Steven Silvers presents If your advertising agency isn’t getting arrested, maybe they’re not trying hard enough. posted at Scatterbox at stevensilvers.com, saying, “The accidental publicity value of the Great Boston Terrorist Ads Scare will convince other companies to create their own buzz through “public nuisance marketing.””

Jon Miller presents 8 Ways The Internet Changed Software Marketing posted at Modern B2B Marketing, saying, “Unshackle yourself from traditional marketing and sales models — here are eight ways how.”

Erek Ostrowski presents Organizational Culture: The Keys to the Kingdom posted at Verve Coaching, saying, “Understanding the role that culture plays in defining an organization’s potential gives you the keys to the proverbial kingdom.”

Vahid Chaychi presents Learn your Lesson the Easy or the Hard Way posted at Work at Home Entrepreneurs.

Millennium Mommy presents Priscilla Ortiz – Journal to Prosperity, Path to Freedom Inc.: More for you posted at Priscilla Ortiz – Journal to Prosperity, Path to Freedom Inc..

Daniel Scocco presents Competitive Advantage: Responsiveness to Change posted at Innovation Zen.

That concludes the 2nd edition hosted by Strategic Design. Submit your blog article to the next edition of marketing (r)evolution carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: , , nick rice,

The never-ending 5 questions meme

Published on February 1, 2007 in social media. 1 Comment

I’ve watched this go across the blogosphere and thought I might be left out, but no luck – not that I mind.

Lyn Chamberlin of the brand dame tagged me on the 5 questions. This one is slightly different – everyone answers the same questions. So here goes:

  1. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED SO FAR FROM VISITORS TO YOUR BLOG
    I’ve learned that there are a lot of people interested in the nexus of design and business. When I was working as a marketing manager for a Fortune 500 firm, I felt like I was on an island most of the time. People weren’t used to a “creative” that could also think strategically.
  2. IF SOMEONE OFFERED TO PAY FOR A COURSE (OR MORE) FOR YOU, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
    I’d go for an MBA from a world-class business school (Oxford, Harvard, Wharton) to see how different the educational process would be from my ~4 years at a state university.
  3. ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH WHAT YOU HAVE ACHEIVED IN 2006?
    Ha, trick question. I had a good year, but I’m rarely satisfied. I’m always striving to learn more, try more and get better results. It’s almost a compulsion.
  4. HAS BLOGGING CHANGED YOUR LIFE IN ANY WAY?
    Like most bloggers, I love the way blogging has democratized publishing. It’s very much a case of the ants have megaphones – and that’s a good thing. Sure there is a ton of crap in the blogosphere, but as a collective, it’s power is almost unfathomable – and we’re just starting to see the potential. We’ll look back at 2006 as the year of the blog.
  5. IF YOU COULD MEET THE ONE PERSON IN THE WORLD THAT YOU TRULY ADMIRE, WHO WOULD THAT BE?
    I’d choose either St. Peter or St. Paul. Jesus would be just a little too much to handle. But to be able to talk to someone that personally witnessed the most revolutionary years in human history would be awesome. I would love to hear the teachings straight from them – and probably be a little shocked how much it has changed and been watered down over the last ~2000 years.

So, now I’m going to tag Marc Sirkin,  Suzanne Sowards-Hamm, Robert Kingston, Derrick Daye, and Matt Bailey.

Answer the same questions please.

technorati tags: marc sirkin, suzanne sowards-hamm, robert kingston, derrick daye, matt bailey, lyn chamberlin