The Ford Focus was not a good brand. In fact, the brand was in such bad shape that there were online groups dedicated to hating on the Focus. So put yourself in Ford’s shoes for a minute… would you kill the brand or try to save it?

Ford decided that the brand, although not well liked or respected, still had a ton of recognition… and that is real value. They decided to try to save the brand using some creative digital marketing.

The Ford marketing team, led by Scott Monty, knew they needed something radical to turn the tide, which is very difficult at any large company. They needed to go rogue.

Ford hired an agency and created a series of webisodes using a hilarious puppet named Doug. Apparently HR was not too pleased with … Read More »

Welcome to Part III of the blog mini-series about Nudge Marketing with content from the Rand Fishkin presentation from NMX in Las Vegas. If you missed parts I and II, I encourage you to read those first and then come back to this blog post.

You can find Part I at this link, and Part II at this link.

To recap very quickly, Rand Fishkin from SEOMoz talked about a new kind of marketing when you slowly and consistently nudge your prospects and customers to take small actionable steps that benefit them and you. In the digital marketing space, this can take on many different appearances depending on what kind of business you have and who … Read More »

Thanks for reading installment No. 2 of my short series on Nudge Marketing. This is a continuation of 15 Nudge Marketing Tactics from the New Media Expo Conference with speaker Rand Fishkin from SEOMoz.

To recap quickly, Rand Fishkin spoke about Nudge Marketing at the New Media Expo (#NMX) in Las Vegas recently and I was lucky enough to hear his presentation. I blogged about Nudge Marketing Tactics 1-5 in an earlier post. If you have not seen that one yet, I encourage you to read it first and then come back to this post. For each tactic, I list the tactic from Rand and then provide my commentary in the [brackets] to expand on the subject matter.

Without further adieu, here are Nudge Marketing … Read More »

Rand Fishkin from SEOMoz spoke at the New Media Expo (#NMX) in Las Vegas recently and I was lucky enough to snag a seat in the back of the packed room. He talked about a new kind of marketing psychology he called Nudge Marketing. Much of what Rand said came as a flashback to me from several behavioral classes I took during my MBA coursework at Kellogg.

Here are the first 5 of the 15 Nudge Marketing tactics Rand covered in his presentation along with some additional explanatory commentary [in brackets] from me.

Nudge Marketing Tactics 1-5

1. A ton of people can’t be wrong. [Use a statistic to make people think they are not in the cool crowd if they don’t use you. For example, we could say, “4 out of 5 social media experts … Read More »

Happy New Year, Innogagers! (Innogageans? Innogaginos? Never mind.) It’s a brand new year and a good a time as any to take a good look at your digital marketing strategy for 2013. Like many people, you may be making a slew of resolutions, both personal and professional, and maybe secretly preparing to let those resolutions slide in a few months…or weeks…or (gulp) days.

I have a love-hate relationship with resolutions. I love making lists and checking them off. It makes me feel organized, capable, and important. I hate, however, the feeling I get when I don’t check things off: chaotic, incompetent, and a bit like an impostor. (Maybe a bit more melodramatic than usual too.) I also hate how to-do lists can cover important and even enjoyable tasks with that nasty veneer of “have-to.” So far in the first week of 2013 I have … Read More »

Pinterest can be a tremendous tool for digital target marketing. However, one could make the argument that it’s worse to Pin poorly than not to pin at all. I’m going to take a slightly less extreme stand and just say that it’s important to Pin well. As you move forward with digital marketing campaigns or strategies, here are a few simple steps to make Pinterest work for you and your company.

Make your site a Pin-cushion: install a Pin It button on your blog (…you do have a blog, right?), make sure every content page has an attractive and relevant image showcasing your product or services, and invite people to follow your own Pinterest account. (Follow me for photos, fashion, food, and fat things that waddle.)
Don’t have a Pinterest account? Well, go ahead and create one. (It’s … Read More »

Pinterest has a reputation of being the domain of stay-at-home moms or school teachers with too much glitter, hot glue, and time on their hands.  But the digital pinboard site is actually a powerful marketing tool, not least because of that vast female audience. (Remember who holds the purse strings!)

At this point, I will openly disclose that I am part of that female audience and far from immune to the allure of, “Ooooh, shiny, I want.” But I’m also a photographer, a blogger, a digital marketing strategist and a business builder, and the visual, intuitive nature of Pinterest lends itself well to marketing to someone like me. A few of the ways I use Pinterest, both as a marketer and a marketee:

I pin my own photos to increase my exposure, using a handy little WordPress plug-in on … Read More »

There was a great article recently on Forbes by Haydn Shaughnessy about how Apple is getting beat up in social media but their sales don’t seem to be affected.  It hit on a chord that has been in my mind for a while. Something that I discuss with clients very often. Social media is not a magic pill. There must be a strategy, and it must tie in with business goals! Oh, and don’t forget your product and service remain king. Lets look at the facts.

The two examples Shaughnessy, who keeps up on digital marketing news, supplied in his article are perfect because I have personal experience with both companies. I own four apple products, and I owned a Kodak printer not that long ago. Apple has given me … Read More »

A Digital marketing manager often places email marketing as one of his or her main marketing tools. You may have heard that an “email subscription list” is one of the most valuable assets a company can own (my personal favorite tool is Mail Chimp). However, it is only valuable if the individuals on the list opted-in to your email messages and they actually read what you sent them!

When I work with clients on their digital marketing campaigns, they’re often tempted to take the easy way out. Upload a bunch of names and spam them! Clearly this is not a good strategy and does not result in a positive response. One exception I would make is putting contacts from throughout the year into a lead nurturing program in which your goal is to have them opt-in for … Read More »

Businesses that serve a small local area always want data down to their neighbors for their SEO. I don’t blame them, but unfortunately we can’t spy on our neighbors through their windows without having some legal problems. So we turn to our great internet search tools to find out what our neighbors are looking for and how they put it into words. PROBLEM! There isn’t enough data in Google for this area…

As a business that is pushing into the internet marketing world you have probably come across this problem when looking at a very specific geographical regions. I’m talking about towns, townships, small cities, and places where the town center may just be a post office!

We face this same problem with clients who sell to local cities and towns. Local search engine optimization tips are something our clients ask … Read More »