Digital Marketing Orange County Blog
Why Does Santa Always Wear Red?
While Coca-Cola has had a subtle, pervasive influence on our culture, it has definitely shaped the way we think of Santa. Prior to the advertising illustrations created by Haddon Sunblom illustrations in the 1930s, the Christmas...
Time Travel to the Next Year in Digital Marketing
It’s time to do a little time traveling. Not too far. Just a quick side trip into ‘012. After all, it’s just around the corner. And the New Year is sure to bring more blistering changes sweeping through the world of digital...
Is Targeted Advertising the Next Ruler of the Web?
Online marketers have a whole new bag of tricks designed to connect with consumers. Unlike content advertising, the connection is based on consumer characteristics and determined by sophisticated algorithms. Known as targeted...
Get Social With the New Media Landlords
Is it time to reassess the use of the term ‘social’ in social media? Quite possibly, especially when you consider how decisions currently are made. In the contemporary climate, both consumers and business people increasingly rely on...
Entice Customers With Content They Can’t Refuse
It all comes down to brand familiarity. And that’s precisely why social media is such a powerful marketing tool. No other online resource does so well at bringing people up close and personal with whatever it is you have to sell. Once...
Feed Them an Email Marketing Message They’ll Devour
If you write it, they will read. It’s true. Your audience has wide open eyes and ears for your email marketing message. But consumers are a picky lot. So not only does your message have to be loaded with high value info....
Google AdWords Reverses Direction
Once upon a time, online advertisers crafted sizzling campaigns by bidding to run ads in tandem with keyword searches. This was the power of Google Adwords, a resource that put the almighty keyword in the center of the marketing...
Put Your Facebook Page in the Spotlight
The Facebook kingdom is overflowing with companies jostling to boost brand awareness. Are you lost in this crowd? Are you ready to carve out your own niche? Here’s how to put your Facebook page in the spotlight with the...
Are You Trapping Customers With an Info Avalanche?
Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing. Food. Drink. Messaging. That’s right, messaging. It’s not uncommon for even the savviest businesses to overuse email, social media, and texting in their quest for customers....
How Social is Your Social Media?
So, you’ve got Facebook and Twitter fans pouring in from every corner of the known universe. Fantastic! But don’t pat yourself on the back just yet. If your social media campaign is like most, people eventually will be turning away...
Smart Phones the New Marketing Marvel? Apps-solutely!
Smart phones are getting smarter. It’s only a matter of time before we all have little beeping, blinking geniuses in our pockets. Understandably, mobile marketers are rushing to exploit the I.Q. surge. Easy access and compelling...
What does it mean to Think Different?
Within a single minute, millions around the world last week learned of Steve Jobs death thanks to the very personal technology he helped bring to fruition.While it is rare for the departure of corporate executive to receive the...
Time for Uncle Sam to Make a Net Profit?
Your favorite relative apparently loves online retailers. The proof is Uncle Sam’s sales tax policy — he doesn’t require internet businesses to collect any! That’s right. Not one single penny. Why is the government keeping its...
Tackling B2B Marketing on a New Playing Field
It’s a great big Google world. OK, sure there are dozens of other search engines. But if you need to find something out in a hurry, who you gonna click? Most likely the big G. Great news for those of us tackling direct B2B...
A Social Media Gold Mine
Like most of us navigating the marketing landscape, I’m constantly on the hunt for insights that bring the sometimes nebulous world of social media into sharper focus. Recently, I learned of an online resource that promises to do that,...
Keep the Apple Shining
Steve Jobs’ resignation from the position of Apple CEO signals the end of a remarkable period in the computer giant’s history. In 1997, the year Jobs returned to Apple, the company was floundering. Ho-hum products and monetary waste...
Even John Scully wasn’t this stupid.
Last week, Hewlett Packard’s startling announcement sent shock waves through the computer world. As hard as it is to believe, the company intends to slam the brakes on its tablet computer and smartphone products. Yes, these nifty...
When Does Social Media Become Socialist Media?
It’s a question that likely dates back to the first time a member of the human species exercised his or her right to voice an opinion – At what point does freedom of speech go too far?The answer typically is found in that fuzzy gray...
Leap to the Level of Marketing Expert
Where would we be if Thomas Edison had given up after his initial experiment? Quite possibly at the candle shop purchasing the latest in wax-coated illumination for our homes and offices. Throughout history, perseverance has made the...
Natural Disasters are No Accident
So why can’t we have insurance that plans for them? Today, Laguna Beach was closed to through traffic due to flooding. It has not flooded here in 100 years. Yet today, downtown business owners are devastated by a natural disaster for...
Brand Relevance Brings New Firepower to Companies
Numerous companies and organizations are tapping into a new kind of firepower — brand relevance. In a nutshell, brand relevance gauges a customer’s affinity for a given brand. The metric, in turn, enables marketers to calculate the...
Email vs. Social Media
A battle is raging online. And not just between those mighty search engines. Email and social networking are in a blazing hot contest. At stake are the hearts and minds of thousands of users. Chadwick Martin Bailey...
Utilizing Angry Critics to Build a Better Product
Virtually anyone selling a product or service has a few of these ticks in their fur – brazen, big- mouths tearing a company to shreds with torrents of criticism. Most executives wish they simply could wave a magic wand, and POOF!...
Stretch Your SEO Mileage
As with television ratings, search engine rankings often determine the popularity and therefore sponsor-worthiness of websites. He who gets the most hits, gets the most greenbacks. It’s the universal law of cyberspace. In...
Orange County is Still a Golden Spot in the Golden State
More than a few of you out there probably will be affected or maybe even afflicted by last week’s election. Some might be uncorking champagne and dancing energetic jigs in the streets. Others might be seething volcanoes of...
Gain Social Media Fans By Feeding Their Appetites
Once upon a time, social media was a convenient way for thousands of attention-seekers to exchange news flashes about the minutiae of their lives. Then marketing entities discovered a pot of gold gleaming somewhere within the social...
How to Supercharge Your Online Writing
Hi-rez photos, streaming videos, screaming graphics, 3D virtual worlds. Seems no website worth its weight in high speed data bits lacks these essential components of visual sophistication. Still, as more and more commerce and...
Brand Building on the Shoulders of a Stream
It’s an avalanche, a flood, and a blizzard all at once. Major changes are ripping through the world of marketing with gale force. And what’s driving these winds of change? You guessed it – the Web. Along with social media, online...
Long Live the Pontiac Chief
I recently attended the NHRA Winter Nationals and noticed that the most popular body for those outrageous funny cars seemed to be Pontiac. So when I asked another spectator why, he simply said “they have the best aero-dynamics.”...
On-Shoring is the Answer
America needs jobs to bring us legitimate growth and prosperity again, and manufacturing jobs are the key to our ability to compete in a global economy. Why? Because the physical shipment of U.S. goods to other countries is the most...
Increase Brand Loyalty with ‘Free Dessert’
I’m sure you have experienced it yourself. Your waiter, who has done a superb job of serving you so far, surprises you and your guest with an “on the house” dessert. He simply offers it as a token of thanks for being such a...
Social Media Produces Mixed Results For B2B Marketers
Social media is all the rage in marketing these days. But does it bring value to business marketers? BtoB Magazine (Crain Communications) has been following this topic very closely with several excellent case histories focused...
Digital Marketing – Don’t be a “Bubble-Head”
We’ve all done it. You make some marketing decisions based on your own behavior, media habits and brand values. Sure, sometimes your instincts are spot on. But this only accelerates bad habits. Just like how winning in Las Vegas on...