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Head(line) of the Class

July 27, 2010 Strategy
skywalker headline

I still remember one of my favorite headlines with a chuckle: “Skywalkers in Korea Cross Han Solo.” I was enticed to click the head after spotting it while browsing a news website. The headline is so clever that it actually seems like a no-brainer to use. But remember, the editor was only crafting a headline [...]

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Building Community, One Blog at a Time

July 26, 2010 Insight
building community

A reader made my day today. Well, she’s more than a reader. She’s a blogger, and she just began blogging for a magazine website that I manage for a client. She reminded me of the impact our publications and websites can have on our audience—she even reminded me that I have an audience. Honestly, I [...]

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Ask For a Date, Not For a Marriage

July 15, 2010 Strategy
will you marry me

It’s pretty easy to get carried away when you’re excited about the possibilities of a potential relationship. You feel the connection. They’re just your type. And they even seem mildly interested in what you have to say. So then, of course, you pop the question. You ask them to marry you. And then they get [...]

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How Do You Have Time For That?

July 8, 2010 Insight
kitchen timer thumbnail

I have been wanting to write this post for a while. But I haven’t had time. I figured I’d do it eventually. But project deliverables got in the way. So did happy hours. And so did sleep. Don’t get me wrong: I kept writing it on my to-do lists. I definitely wrote it down more [...]

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The Dark Side I Sense in You

July 2, 2010 Insight
dark side yoda

I was amazed to learn recently that Facebook sends more people to news sites than Google does. Sixty-eight percent of your Facebook fans are likely to recommend your product, and fans will spend nearly $72 more than non-fans. All these facts come courtesy of an interesting American Marketing Association webcast, “What the Big Brands Do [...]

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Who Are You and What Do You Do? Customer Engagement Part 1

July 1, 2010 Insight
my name is nametag

In our business, we get called lots of names: custom publishers, social media specialists, SEO gurus, email marketers, magazine designers, and maybe a few more that probably shouldn’t be published here. And depending on who you ask and what we’ve done for them, you’ll probably get a different perspective on what we do. But none [...]

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The Quality Hustle

July 1, 2010 Quality
fast cheap good

Fast, cheap, good: pick two. You may have heard the adage, and it makes lots of sense applied to the world of media. We’ve already examined the exigencies of fast and relished the comforting ripples good can generate… but can cheap ever fit in with a quality ethos?

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“Apple Of My Eye,” an iPhone 4 Film

June 28, 2010 Convergence
apple of my eye iphone film

Shot on an iPhone 4 and edited with the iMovie app on the iPhone in 48 hours by Michael Koerbel. Phenomenal and inspiring. “Apple of My Eye” – an iPhone 4 film from Michael Koerbel on Vimeo.

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Content is Everywhere

June 22, 2010 Insight
cvs content is everywhere

Writer’s block—it hits at the worst of times. Like right before I sat down to write this. A phrase used by one of my coworkers snapped me out of it: “But content is everywhere.” It can be as simple as taking your camera out while walking around the neighborhood and discovering a new local hangout. [...]

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Creativity: The Cure-All

June 18, 2010 Insight
box thumbnail

It could have just been another task on a lengthy to-do list: Figure out how to maximize space in the office building of a company that, well, attaches sentimental value to inanimate objects (read: we hold on to a lot of our work). Being a custom media company – one that produces magazines, marketing collateral, [...]

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Strangers in Your Pocket

June 17, 2010 Insight
business cards

Think of the last networking event you went to. Chances are, you brought a few business cards with you and probably handed a couple of them out. You likely received a bunch, too. And there were more than a few people handing them out indiscriminately like pamphlets on the street. Chances are you accepted the [...]

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Help! Facebook Turned My Friends Into Marketers

June 14, 2010 Insight
facebook requests thumbnail

Before you absolutely destroy me in the comments, I’d like to confess: I’ve probably “suggested you become a fan” of something on Facebook*. And there’s a good chance you denied it. And I probably sent it to you again (thinking you must have missed it). I know you didn’t miss it. I know it wasn’t [...]

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Good Clean Fun

June 11, 2010 TMG on Video
orbits prom date

Sometimes you see marketing done so well that it makes you want to give a high-five to everyone in sight. Marketing like Wrigley’s smart branded content initiative for their Orbits chewing gum brand (starring Jason Bateman and Will Arnett – the comic geniuses perhaps most famous for their work on Arrested Development). The premise?

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