With social media consultants popping up faster than Realtors in 2006, we need to set the record straight: knowing how to use the tools doesn’t make you a social media expert. Like the proverbial three-legged stool, using social media effectively means paying attention to three basic elements: StrategyToolsPeople Strategy: Before you set up profiles in every social … [Read more...] about Social Media Marketing: A Three-Legged Stool
Moving On
Much has been written about the value of persistence in sales. It has even been said that you need to contact a prospect seven times before you make a sale. Like the “one page résumé”, the rule of seven has taken hold as one of the most entrenched ideas in business. After more than 20 years in the business world, I’ve come to realize that these notions are just myths. I’ve … [Read more...] about Moving On
Free: The Future of a Radical Price (Book Review)
I just finished reading Chris Anderson’s book Free: The Future of a Radical Price. It is a fascinating read, following in the footsteps of Freakonomics, the book that a few years ago taught us that a subject as dry and technical as economics could be entertaining if used to explain why ordinary things around us turn out the way they do. Free has generated a lively debate in … [Read more...] about Free: The Future of a Radical Price (Book Review)
What Makes You An Expert?
Tim Ferriss or Malcolm Gladwell? Four weeks working on your credibility indicators, or 10,000 hours of intense practice? What really makes you an expert? On the subject of expertise I tend to agree more with Malcolm’s definition than with Tim’s. Becoming an expert takes practice and experience. Here are, in my opinion, the five … [Read more...] about What Makes You An Expert?
Product Placement Doesn’t Need to Break the Bank
The general tightening of advertising budgets and the lack of effectiveness of traditional advertising have turned product placement, also known as brand integration, into an important component of the marketing mix. Through product placement in films, brands get wide exposure while helping film producers absorb part of their production costs. Two well known examples are … [Read more...] about Product Placement Doesn’t Need to Break the Bank