Trends
Make People See Your ‘It’, A 5-Step Approach
Here’s a short story on innovation from Seth Godin that I’d like to share. It brings home what we do and why it matters. The sad, true tale of Otto Rohwedder Otto Rohwedder invented sliced bread. He focused, like most inventers did, on the patent part and the making part. The thing about the invention…
Read MoreThe Dark Side Of The Cloud
I am often asked what cloud computing is. Most people know the buzzwords: working in the cloud, move to the cloud, life in the cloud, etc. Technically speaking, Wikipedia says cloud-computing means using multiple server computers via a digital network, as though they were one computer. Cloud computing, like regular computing, can be broken up…
Read MoreSmall and Medium-Sized Business Tips On Raising Your Brand
I posted this article late last fall and today I think it needs repeating. Since posting, I’ve come to realize that small and medium-sized businesses have difficulty understanding the need of developing a recognizable brand. Why would Harry’s Garage in Green Bay or The Little Doz’ Inn in Appleton, WI need a brand? Because it…
Read MoreVanity Suffixes For Your Domain, Small Businesses Need Not Apply
This week in Singapore, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which is the Internet body that oversees domain names, voted to open the control of domain suffixes a.k.a. gTLD (generic top-level domains) like .com, .net, .biz, etc. In the past they have allowed a total of only 22 suffixes. Going forward, companies…
Read MoreFive Ways to Poke the Box
I just read Seth Godin’s “Poke the Box” and learned a valuable lesson. It’s okay to fail, actually it’s a good thing. I have to admit, I have been embraced by a “trying to be perfect” mentality from time to time in my life. Maybe even a little bit everyday. As usual Seth helps me…
Read MoreTop Five SXSW 2011 Videos
SXSW 2011 has wound down for this year, but they’ll be back next year and I plan to be there. SXSW has something for everyone, especially in social media or inbound marketing. So many of the heavy hitters are there that it makes ones head spin. It has taken a bit of searching around, but…
Read MoreRight-Sizing Innovation for the Small Business Owner
Increasingly our world favors BIG. BIG Companies. BIG Stars. The next BIG thing. Big business seems to favor other BIG businesses, like during Christmas when ABC’s GMA seemingly supported only the online BIG Box stores, leaving small online entrepreneurs in the dust as reported in our December 8th blog, “Scrooge Strikes e-Commerce Small Business.” What…
Read MoreDon’t Give People What They Want
I came across a great quote today while reading “Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant” by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne (Harvard Business Review Press, 2005). Samuel “Roxy” Rothapfel, previously a nickelodeon owner, started up Palace Theaters. By using the low-cost, lower-quality nickelodeon style of entertainment,…
Read MoreTop Three Trends Likely to Upset Your Social Media World
What trends will arise, perhaps even merge, and continue to change and then further impact our lives?
Read MoreHow Small Businesses Get the Most from Social Media
Just how are small businesses using social media? What level of online presence should you have? One way to start is to review what other small business owners are doing and model it after them. Once again our friends at Mashable! have provided some insights in their latest Infographics report. In a nutshell, here’s what…
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