Facebook recently announced its newprivacy enhancementsthat may just make our information less private. Although there are new controls that allow you to limit who sees your personal information, posts, photos, etc., the change that’s causing blow back is due to a new category, called “publicly available information,” that is beyond users’ control. This new category includes a person’s name, picture and city, the list of their Facebook friends and the Facebook pages they have endorsed. As a recent LA Times editorial observed, “The friends list is particularly sensitive, privacy advocates note, because of the amount of personal information that can be gleaned from knowing a person’s associates.”
Why did Facebook do this? According to the LA Times, it’s simply good business. For them, not necessarily for you. Read the Op-ed piecehere.
The food trucks are taking over LA and we love it! Especially since we’ve partnered with many of them to bring traffic, prospects and PR to our client’s TLofts development in WestLA. The trucks stop by TLofts Monday-Friday, so come out and sample some of this gourmet street food. This link will take you to the weekly schedule.
For a primer on all the great truck food, check out this video from the folks at WunderBlog covering their recent truck tasting tour. Their first stop is at TLofts.
Trade shows are a great way to build business, network, and experiment with new cocktails. But they do require your time and money, so it makes sense to try to get the most out of your investment. In a recent post on Skyline Tradeshow Tips, Michael Flavin highlights five key strategies for increasing the effectiveness of your trade show participation.
Choose a trade show that offers the possiblility of success. This means rolling up your sleaves and doing some research. You’ll want to find out what shows will appeal most to your target, how many people have attended the show in the past, how well the show is promoted, related costs, etc.
Set your goals. What do you want to get out of the show you’ve selected? Are you there to make sales, build a database or just network? Decide on this prior to attending so you can determine afterward if the show was a success.
Put the proper people in place. All that money you spend on fancy booth graphics, the slick DVD and stylish brochure won’t matter if the people you have behind your table don’t know how to work the show. Make sure your people know how to qualify leads so they’re spending their time with viable prospects versus someone who just after a free key chain. Which brings up the next point…
Make your promos memorable. Really, how many key chains do you need? Consider doing something more conceptual that ties in to your product or service. And don’t rely solely on a giveaway to promote yourself. Prior to the show you should be contacting attendees/exhibitors via email or direct mail to let them know you’ll be at the show and why they should care. Many shows allow you to purchase a list of attendees for just this purpose.
Follow up. If you put in the effort, you’ll likely capture some great leads during the show. But if you don’t follow up with them, it’s all a waste. This is where discipline really comes into play. Have a clear system in place for following up so after the show you’re ready to strike while the iron is still hot. Wait too long, and they may forget about you.
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch intends to block Google’s search spiders from indexing his News Corporation’s sites. As has been widely reported, Murdoch believes the time is right for people to begin paying for online content. He also feels that content aggregators have been getting a free ride by “stealing” content and it’s time for this practice to stop.
In this interview with Sky News’ David Spears, Murdoch explains the thinking behind his position.
Several months ago we posted about a new Pizza Hut iPhone app that let people order their pizza and play a pizza delivery inspired game right on their phone. According to a recent article in Mashable, the pizza maker has generated incremental sales of more than $1 million dollars since the app’s introduction. The app’s success has surprised many, including Pizza Hut’s own senior director of digital marketing, Bernard Acoca.
“We always saw a steady level of growth with our mobile business via our WAP site, but to be candid it wasn’t the explosive level of growth we’ve seen with the iPhone app. iPhone applications capture consumers’ imagination in a way that WAP sites simply can’t do, so the decision to expand to the iPhone was as good one for us.”
In addition to bringing in added revenue, the app has also earned one of the highest distinctions available; it’s been featured in an iPhone TV ad. Click here for the full story.
Oh sure, anyone can implement an effective email marketing campaign that offers great ROI. But what if you’re looking to tank your email campaign? Not so easy, is it? Don’t worry, Andrew Kordek from Deliverability.com has outlined nine basic steps guaranteed to sink your campaign. In a nutshell:
Boast to your subscribers about your prowess in email marketing. And do it often. They really care about this.
Forget about what your subscribers want; you’re in this to generate revenue. So, be sure to send them an email everyday and eventually they’re bound to buy something. Or opt out.
Remember, you’re not really sending emails or communications, your sending “blasts” and all that the name implies. Get those subscribers in your sights and blast and blast away.
You know all those white papers, articles and blogs that cover email marketing best practices? Print them out and turn them into paper airplanes. C’mon, no one knows better than you anyway.
People signed up for your email so they must obviously want it. They crave it. That said, don’t spend too much time thinking about what you send, they’ll be happy to get anything. They’re so needy.
Don’t waste money on an email expert to run your program since any bozo can do the job. No bozos around? Grab someone from the mail room; they’re experts with the mail, right?
Choose an email service provider based on the following criteria: A) they can send email, and B) they are the cheapest ones around. Don’t be bothered with trivial things like does their user interface and service support suck.
Never grow your list organically when you can buy a list with 4 million opt-in names for just $99. Hey, who doesn’t love a bargain?
And finally, be sure to let your CMO or president tell you how to run the show. Just because he or she does not fully understand what you do, that’s no reason to think they can’t do it better.
You’re not really going to use that old vacation photo for your Facebook profile, are you? Estee Lauder has a better proposition. Beginning October 16, the cosmetics company will offer free makeovers and photo shoots at select department store cosmetics counters to produce head shots women can use for their online profiles. The promotion will also include a giveaway of a 10-day supply of foundation.
This event runs counter to the cosmetic industry’s “gift with purchase” promotions, but the executives at Estee Lauder are viewing this as a way to bring a more contemporary image to the brand and perhaps attract a younger buyer as well. And, since the photos will have an Estee Lauder logo in the background, the company can likely expect to increase its brand presence on Facebook and other social sites.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has recently announced two new requirments that will impact both advertisers and bloggers.
Testimonials
According to Mary Engle, associate director of ad practices at the commission, the FTC is changing its guidelines on endorsement so that advertisers will no longer be able to use statements like “Results may vary” as a way to justify claims that are counter to the norm of a product or services’ expected performance.
David Vladeck, head of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said, “Disclaimers of guidelines are not working. Misuse has been especially prevalent in weight-loss products.
“In the FTC’s review of 300 ads, two-thirds used consumer testimonials. Few showed realistic claims, and disclosures of atypical results were flashed too quickly to read. ‘Results may vary’ does not adequately inform consumers that claims are outliers or extreme cases. They do not disclose results consumers should realistically expect. That is the main problem.”
The changes to the guidelines will take affect this year.
Bloggers
The Associate Press reports that under new guidelines approved the by the FTC, bloggers will now be required to disclose any gifts or payments they receive for reviewing a company’s product. The penaly for noncompliance is a fine of up to $11,000 per violation.
Given today’s economy, it’s no surprise that coupons are being clipped faster than the dialog in a David Mamet play. A quick Google search will tell you that e-coupons are just as prevalent. And while retailers may be chalking up incremental sales due to e-coupons, they may also be giving too much away too easily.
According to Alex Rampell, CEO of TrialPay, an e-commerce solutions company in Mountain View, Calif., many companies are offering e-coupons to prospects who were ready to complete their online transaction without any additional incentive.
Look for smarter ways to link coupons to behavior. Take a company like the Gap — anyone can shop at the Gap online, then do a search for coupons and pay less. Wouldn’t it be better for the Gap to target people who are non-Gap shoppers? Instead of making coupons available to Joe Public on the Internet, it might be better — just as a for instance — to offer Gap coupons to consumers when they sign up for Weight Watchers, or when they buy a baby book at Amazon.
Google’s AdSense contextual targeting service is a great tool. It allows marketers to serve up ads directly to web users who are viewing info that has some type of relevance to that marketer’s product or service. For instance, if you were reading an online article on woodworking, an ad for Home Depot might pop up.
Sometimes, however, the system gets it wrong. Way wrong. How else do you explain this ad falling just below a news article about the Mumbai terrorist attacks last year?
“Terrorism: Pursue a certificate in terrorism 100% online. Enroll today. Ads by Google.”
Facebook recently announced its new privacy enhancements that may just make our information less private. Although there are new controls that allow you to limit who sees your personal information, posts, photos, etc., the change that’s causing blow back is due to a new category, called “publicly available information,” that is beyond users’ control. This new category includes a person’s name, picture and city, the list of their Facebook friends and the Facebook pages they have endorsed. As a recent LA Times editorial observed, “The friends list is particularly sensitive, privacy advocates note, because of the amount of personal information that can be gleaned from knowing a person’s associates.”
Trade shows are a great way to build business, network, and experiment with new cocktails. But they do require your time and money, so it makes sense to try to get the most out of your investment. In a recent post on Skyline Tradeshow Tips, Michael Flavin highlights five key strategies for increasing the effectiveness of your trade show participation.
Several months ago we 
You’re not really going to use that old vacation photo for your Facebook profile, are you? Estee Lauder has a better proposition. Beginning October 16, the cosmetics company will offer free makeovers and photo shoots at select department store cosmetics counters to produce head shots women can use for their online profiles. The promotion will also include a giveaway of a 10-day supply of foundation.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has recently announced two new requirments that will impact both advertisers and bloggers.
