Month: June 2007

Photo Content

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date June 25, 2007

ClickZ: With all the talk about user-generated content (UGC), marketers often overlook one of the most effective ways to exploit this concept: providing a way for your target audience to share their photos on your site. With today’s tools, photo-sharing is easier and more cost-effective than you might think.
As a non-text content, customer photographs allow marketers to tap into social media. Though only a small percentage of users submit their snapshots, these images attract more viewers and others interested in experiencing them in other ways, such as mash-ups. These images can appear on your site, your blog, or photo-sharing and other third-party sites.
Add User Photographs to Your Site [ClickZ]

Sales & Marketing

Strippers’ Sales Techniques

Post author By Pamela Swift
Post date June 24, 2007

WiseCamel.com: Like you, I like strippers.
However, I generally find myself leaving the strip club with an empty wallet. Any business that can get you to spend all of your money is a good one to be in.
But while walking out of a club one evening, I realized that a big reason they have such a good business is because strippers are such great salespeople. It is not simply due to the fact that they are selling to stupid, horny men like myself, but because they use a lot of highly effective sales and marketing techniques.
You too can achieve great success by applying sales and marketing techniques of strippers. Here are the 10 sales and marketing techniques I have learned from strippers.
10 Sales and Marketing Tips I learned from Strippers [WiseCamel.com]

Sales & Marketing

Moms Check On McDonald’s

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date June 24, 2007

Mediapost: With the childhood obesity issue and food marketing back in the headlines, McDonald’s is launching a summer PR effort it says is in response to consumer rather than political pressure. Six moms will serve as embedded citizen reporters, covering the company from the inside.
McDonald’s cites a March survey by GfK Roper Custom Research showing that nearly 90% of moms believe it’s important that fast-food restaurants provide more information about the food they serve.
The six moms–of different ethnicities and from disparate parts of the country–will report to the outside world via blog and video on a McDonald’s Web site for the next few months. They will be getting an insider’s “Willy Wonka” view of the Oak Ridge, IL-based company, and how it chooses, prepares, and distributes food.
Through the Moms’ Quality Correspondents program, the women will meet McDonald’s nutritionists, chefs, ingredient suppliers, executives and others.
McDonald’s Lets Mom Bloggers Into The Kitchen [Mediapost]

Customer Service

What Customers Want

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date June 23, 2007

Entrepreneur: JetBlue remains the best low-cost carrier for the third straight year, according to J.D. Power and Associates’ 2007 North America Airline Satisfaction Study. The survey gauges customer satisfaction by looking at performance indicators across several categories, such as cost, in-flight services and boarding/deplaning time. It’s somewhat surprising, considering the winter weather blues that kept more than 10 of JetBlue’s flights grounded. One jet literally froze on the runaway, trapping passengers flying to sunny Cancun, Mexico for more than eight hours.
Linda Hirneise, executive director of travel practice at J.D. Power and Associates, believes JetBlue kept its ranking because the airline commands a fiercely loyal customer following with its modern amenities including leather seats, all-you-can-eat in-flight snacks and satellite TV at a time when many other airlines are phasing them out. American Airlines, which stripped passengers of the seat pillow last year, showed the largest decline in quality among the traditional carriers category.
JetBlue Still Top Low-Cost Airline [Entrepreneur]

Entrepreneurship

Next Better Idea

Mind Petals: Well I’m here to challenge that notion about quitting and giving up. Yes, we should be quitters and give up on things in life. Just because we’re entrepreneurs, it doesn’t mean we have this “never-give-up” law up imprinted in our souls.
Sure, if an idea turns into a mess and begins to bring unhappiness into your life, then get rid of it. Bury that baby! It’s perfectly fine to give up on an idea and push forward with something else.
Think of yourself as an scientist… actually, don’t think of yourself as one — you are a scientist. And as a scientist you are going to explore and experiment and fail. Some of your ideas will be solid, some weak, and some “so-so.”
But here’s the thing: you need to learn how to quickly get out of a “bad” idea and start searching for a “good” idea right away. The key here is to find an idea that you can focus on and truly explore for, well, the rest of your life possibly. But, if you continue to keep yourself trapped in a series of “so-so” ideas that are eating up your energy, creativity, and well-being, then you are going to be the demise of yourself — your entrepreneurial journey.
Learn when it’s time to put the nails in the coffin and bury your bad ideas. Learn this now and learn it fast. It’ll push your forward as an entrepreneur and there will be less weight on your shoulders. And the less weight on your shoulders, the easier it’ll be for you to move the world.
When is it Time to Put Your Idea in A Box, Nail it up, and Bury it for Good? [Mind Petals]