The power went out at my house in Arizona a couple hours ago. Apparently a transformer exploded. I threw blankets on the fridge, grabbed my 'puter and drove to a Starbucks to continue working. Oh - I forgot to mention it's 110 degrees out. No AC in AZ in summer is pretty brutal.
Once I slid into Starbuck's 3rd place coolness, I pulled up SRP's website (the utility) looking for updates to this debacle. They posted smack-dab in the middle of the page a link to their Twitter account for updates. Albeit a tad sceptical, I pulled it up, followed them and have been graced with updates and cooing words of humility by SRP. As well as - and more interesting to me - messages from other customers reporting the power slowly coming back to various locations around the city (though not near my house yet).
Bravo to @SRPConnect for being there to respond to your customers. And for answering my inane questions. Not that you had much to share, being there you have allowed crowdsourcing to happen spontaneously as your customers report where the power is back. You may not have anticipated this when you got online, but it's effective and should be encouraged.
Anyone in a business wondering if it's worth being online during service disruption is nuts. This situation is proof positive that your customers are out there. Without an outlet they could say untrue things. Or worse, create their own versions of the story. SRP is a good example of being in the right place at the right time no matter how uncomfortable - and hot - it may be.
The power went out at my house in Arizona a couple hours ago. Apparently a transformer exploded. I threw blankets on the fridge, grabbed my 'puter and drove to a Starbucks to continue working. Oh - I forgot to mention it's 110 degrees out.
As QR codes become mainstream, there remain many questions about what a QR code is and how best to add them to marketing campaigns. If you've decided to actually implement a true campaign, be certain to include these thoughts in your planning:
Social Marketing is a customer-expectation more and more each day. Businesses are acknowledging the value SM brings but have taken differing paths implementing how they are getting there. Some are "doing" social while others are "being" social. Which are you?
While good intent remains incredibly valuable, the meaning of your content has rising value that may someday eclipse intent. Meaning is the collective value that is placed upon your content. Collective being the filter of people placing value on your content by listing it or sharing it.
The Twitterverse is abuzz with pronouncements regarding the need for email marketing in the post-social media world. Platitudes of "Email marketing is dead" fall in the stream almost as often as "Emails get more website traffic than Social Media" - as with most arguments, the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
7 blogs that have impacted my view of online marketing in ways I cannot begin to describe - nor give proper thanks for sharing what they know. Trust me on this one, my friends, if you don't subscribe to these blogs, you will miss out on some of the best online marketing information available.
If you haven't followed Google search lately, you are in for a couple surprises. Not long ago, Google announced implementation of Instant and Place Search - both of which will impact your site's search results in pretty big ways.
-Use your customer's perspective -Use simple, conversational language -Ensure facts are accurate -Run a spell check -Use Images/Video reflecting content -Use humor appropriately
This is the start of a series of posts about creating good online content. I'm pretty certain it will be helpful to most people just starting out - and the experts may learn a thing or two as well... Read More
SaveOurStarbucks.com played a role in Starbucks' good decision to reach out to its customers with a smart customer trust rebuilding campaign. And further proof that creating an easy way for direct customer communication is critical for success in today's environment. Read More
When discussing what marketing strategy is most effective, the concept of Content Marketing cannot be overlooked as it is the core for any online marketing strategy. Content Marketing's aim is to provide a resource for your customer so they with engage with you, visit you repeatedly and purchase your goods or services. New research shows how critical this is now and will be in the future.
To prove this point, we created an experiment that tested what Odden calls "frugalism" - in this case we were frugal with engagement time and resources and proved how deadly that sin can be.
The moral of the story is that you need to cultivate your online conversations in a way that reflects your in-person conversations. This means you need to conduct yourself in a way that makes you attractive to others. Don't be a broadcast bore. Don't only talk about yourself, Don't forget to say thank you now and then. And most importantly, think of two way communications as worthy of your time and energy. If you don't, you will lose out on the value of maintaining relationships.
As I've discussed over and over, social media communication should be viewed no differently than real life communication. As such, the basics of people skills will serve you well. Read More
My thoughts on this subject remain pretty strong - no matter how much advice a person can read or hear, failure is the best teacher when it comes to a Social Media Strategy. Read More
This article came about because of client reaction to another post and points out the importance of responding to client feedback. It also addresses 4 very important Social Network realities.
Using social media to distribute the content of your website is a proven formula for success. However, don't just think of adding content as one-way communication - that is so old-school... Read More
This series of articles were originally published on www.loudclick.net. They have become some of the most popular pages on the site. In this series. we concentrate not on every detail but on the features you will interact with frequently and those that provide you a basis to know how it can make your website successful. Read More
Social Marketing is a customer-expectation more and more each day. Businesses are acknowledging the value SM brings but have taken differing paths implementing how they are getting there. Some are "doing" social while others are "being" social. Which are you?
While good intent remains incredibly valuable, the meaning of your content has rising value that may someday eclipse intent. Meaning is the collective value that is placed upon your content. Collective being the filter of people placing value on your content by listing it or sharing it.
7 blogs that have impacted my view of online marketing in ways I cannot begin to describe - nor give proper thanks for sharing what they know. Trust me on this one, my friends, if you don't subscribe to these blogs, you will miss out on some of the best online marketing information available.
If you haven't followed Google search lately, you are in for a couple surprises. Not long ago, Google announced implementation of Instant and Place Search - both of which will impact your site's search results in pretty big ways.
I recently sent my 1000th Tweet, an occasion allowing me to revisit the 
SaveOurStarbucks.com played a role in Starbucks' good decision to reach out to its customers with a smart customer trust rebuilding campaign. And further proof that creating an easy way for direct customer communication is critical for success in today's environment. 
When discussing what marketing strategy is most effective, the concept of Content Marketing cannot be overlooked as it is the core for any online marketing strategy. Content Marketing's aim is to provide a resource for your customer so they with engage with you, visit you repeatedly and purchase your goods or services. New research shows how critical this is now and will be in the future.
To prove this point, we created an experiment that tested what Odden calls "frugalism" - in this case we were frugal with engagement time and resources and proved how deadly that sin can be.
The moral of the story is that you need to cultivate your online conversations in a way that reflects your in-person conversations. This means you need to conduct yourself in a way that makes you attractive to others. Don't be a broadcast bore. Don't only talk about yourself, Don't forget to say thank you now and then. And most importantly, think of two way communications as worthy of your time and energy. If you don't, you will lose out on the value of maintaining relationships.
As I've discussed over and over, social media communication should be viewed no differently than real life communication. As such, the basics of people skills will serve you well. 
This 2-part series focuses on making your site's content as searchable as possible. Some may call this Search Engine Optimization (SEO). 
Using social media to distribute the content of your website is a proven formula for success. However, don't just think of adding content as one-way communication - that is so old-school... 
This series of articles were originally published on 
