Browsing Archive: May, 2009

A Welcome, Contrarian View on Social Media Marketing

Posted by Robert Wallace on Thursday, May 28, 2009,
Frank Reed writes an interesting post in MarketingPilgrim, where he provides an overview of Gene Marks' recent BusinessWeek article called, Beware Social Media Marketing. Marks focuses on social media for small business. I would add a subset of small businesses, the startup. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogging, etc. They are without question all the rage, have been for awhile.

The issue, which Marks' states well, is that there are a lot of myths out there about social media marketing - myth...
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A Frank Conversation with Silicon Valley VCs

Posted by Anil Jain on Wednesday, May 27, 2009,
Matt Marshall summarized comments from a number of Bay Area VCs and angel investors from a May 18th breakfast in this VentureBeat article.

If you're in the process of raising capital or involved in investing, this is a worthwhile read.  One of the key takeaways is an emerging realization that investors' focus on extreme capital efficiency may in fact be limiting the potential of early stage start-ups.

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Sales vs. Marketing - A Reminder from a Master, Peter Drucker

Posted by Robert Wallace on Sunday, May 10, 2009,

“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.”

- Peter Drucker


Sometimes it takes a look back on the masters to remind you of the basics. Please note, Drucker includes product (ahem...the 4 P's) in Marketing. Like I've said a million times, Marketing is way more than a pretty logo, a nice brochure, advertising and a slick website (although those things help). Regardless of what you’re selling, at the end of the day ...
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A Smart Brand (Re)Building Move: Intel's New Ad Campaign

Posted by Anil Jain on Wednesday, May 6, 2009,

I remember the original Intel Inside campaign and how proud Intel's MMX-related ads made Intel owners and Intel employees feel about their company.  A well-recognized microprocessor giant, Intel is overshadowed by device manufacturers (HP, Apple, Dell...) in the consumer's mind.

The Intel Inside campaign was a stroke of brilliance by Intel marketing leaders as it helped PC users attach significance to the core ingredient inside their computers and helped create a "stamp of quality" that helpe...
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All web designers, and all who hire them, should read this article

Posted by Robert Wallace on Wednesday, May 6, 2009,

Dan Ritzenthaler, user experience designer and owner of Wurkit, wrote an amazing article yesterday on "Taking the Guesswork Out of Design." I have led many a website development project - large and small, online brochures and e
commerce, B2B and B2C. And I sure wish (1) I had this article on hand during the early projects and a primer, and (2) had it to help keep the project team focused on what's important. The article speaks of many of the standard points - what are the goals of the site, wh...

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New Next Generation Insurance Site Launches

Posted by Robert Wallace on Tuesday, May 5, 2009,


Next Generation Insurance (NGI) launched its new website today, in coordination with the latest press release from GradGuard, NGI's insurance property that makes the purchase of reliable, “right-fit” insurance both easier and more affordable for college students and their families.

Read the GradGuard press release

Check out www.nextgenins.com and www.gradguard.com

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