We know a couple things about Gen Y.  One is that they spend enormous amounts of time online.  The other is that the majority of them do so from a mobile device like a smartphone rather than from a laptop or desktop computer.  So if you’re counting on millennials to drive part of your business,…

Ever find yourself in a situation where you need to come up with several ideas, options or concepts?  Try this.  Decide ahead of time how many you want, then write the numbers down the side a blank sheet of paper (or typing them, if you do this onscreen instead of on paper).  Having a definite…

If the “service air bag” light shows up on your dashboard, things change.  Wherever you’re driving, you’re wondering whether the airbag is about to self-activate, which makes you a lot more alert than usual.  In business, unfortunately, there aren’t any red lights to let you know what to worry about.  But what if there were? …

In marketing as in life, timing is everything.  If you sell mulch, sales will be robust in spring and fall, and non-existent in winter.  If you treat allergies, you’ll see a boom during the peak seasons in spring and fall, and a drop-off the rest of the year.  Marketing during the off-season for your products…

Have you ever spoken with someone on the phone, and known instantly that they were smiling?  How did it make you feel about that company?  Now imagine the opposite scenario.  How do you feel when the person on the other end of the line is clearly unhappy?  Here’s the dilemma for businesses.  When it comes…

A client in the legal profession recently noted with some irritation that search engine optimization (SEO) is greatly oversold.  His proof?  Most of his business is referral-based.  That means people aren’t conducting a vague online search for just any law firm – something the SEO sellers assume to be true.  Instead, they’ve already gotten his…

It’s surprising how few companies outside of the retail sector are doing e-mail marketing well.  Surprising because it’s so much less expensive than a lot of other media channels.  Surprising because you have so much control over who gets it and when.  Surprising because you can track it so closely.  And surprising because people want…

Most industries are in a wild state of flux these days – yet many companies only recognize change after the walls have started to crumble.  Case in point: Amazon’s Price Check app for iPhone, which allows you to walk into a store, scan a product’s UPC barcode, then see where you can get it for…

We hear it all the time.  Clients tell us that their customers don’t know about all the things they offer.  The refrain they hear is, “I didn’t know you did that.”  And it costs them sales.  If your customers don’t know that you offer a product or service they need, there’s a good chance they’ll…

The new DVD release of James Cameron’s hit film, Avatar, includes the usual extended director’s cut, lots of deleted scenes – and something new.  There’s a “family audio track,” which has all objectionable language removed.  With the only difference between PG and PG-13 often being language, why hasn’t this been done before on DVD releases? …