How to scale up your agency: a fresh approach
A colleague and I were discussing “leadership” and what that truly meant. We came up with this analogy, which I hope you’ll enjoy. Imagine you move rocks for a living. The more rocks you move, the more you’re paid. You don’t move rocks, you don’t get paid. Thus, you understand the direct linkage between putting […]
Calling Dan Gilbert: Our Solution to Detroit’s youth unemployment issue
Nearly a quarter of youth in the United States are unemployed: And Detroit’s unemployment rate, though steadily improving, is at 18.8%, over double the national average of 7.7%, according to the latest figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics: High youth unemployment multiplied by a high unemployment area yields a 59% youth […]
Why some technology companies fail and others succeed
Many folks speculate why Google has overtaken Yahoo! in search or why Facebook has dominated in social networking, versus Friendster. I believe there’s one key factor— if you’re running a technology company, you need a technologist at the helm. Larry and Sergey of Google were Ph Ds (or about to be) in Computer Science. The […]
Compete or Die!
One of our new clients was held hostage by a programmer that built a custom CMS when WordPress would have done just fine. This programmer also did his own hosting, which failed quite often, allowing him to bill the client for time to fix things. The client was complaining about being held hostage and here […]
Why loyalty programs are failing and how to fix yours
An article in MediaPost today highlights why few companies are delivering upon their loyalty programs. In a nutshell, consumers want personalized rewards, whether it be through their grocery store cards, airline frequent flyer program, or other points-based systems. But marketing departments are not able to personalize because they are unable to collect the data needed […]
How Jack in the Box reminds me of the Jetsons, airport security, and video games
I stopped in at a Jack in the Box today and noticed no employees at the register. Customers were ordering through a kiosk. This beautiful touch-screen marvel spoke in English and Spanish and upsold you at every turn– would you like bacon on that? How about upgrading to a large one? Just a little more […]
You can buy marijuana legally in Colorado
Want to know what’s one of the hottest areas in local? Medical marijuana dispensaries. I read in today’s Denver Post that dispensaries are popping up everywhere. The license fee is only $3,000 and there is no cap on the number of dispensaries that can open. This land grab is a result of Amendment 20, passed […]
2010 Local Online Advertising– why We’ll see massive growth
Let’s first address the size of the local online advertising market, then show why these masses will have a good shot at finding success in 2010, but haven’t before. If you don’t like stats, skip down to the red text below and start reading. Borrell Research, in their 2009 “Main Street Goes Interactive” report lists […]
Google AdWords Bid Simulator– observations
The new Bid Simulator, which you’ll see in the keywords tab, forecasts how many clicks and impressions you’ll see at different bid levels. It only shows the simulator for some of the keywords– not sure what logic is used to choose which ones. It certainly isn’t search volume, since some of the lowest volume terms […]
World’s largest group dating site goes from free to subscription based
A guest post by Adam Sachs, co-founder of Ignighter, a group dating site with great relationship advice and a fun place to work I’m Adam Sachs and I run the world’s largest group dating site. Since our initial launch as a Facebook Application in January 2008 and subsequent relaunch as a destination site in August […]