Is Starbucks the Most Dangerous Competitor to Facebook?

Today’s post is a collaboration with Clinton Bonner, community connectivity expert, futurist, and blogger at Everything to Everything. Starbucks is not only offering free Wi-Fi in all stores come this fall, but also unveiling their Starbucks Digital Network that all in-store web and mobile users will have the opportunity to enjoy (it’s a partnership with [...]

5 Ways to Turn Helpfulness Into Marketing Greatness

We’ve talked in the past about helping vs. selling, and that the former approach takes you a lot further in the realm of social media and word of mouth marketing. When I discuss this concept with companies, however, too often I hear something in the realm of “we don’t know what to provide our customers [...]

Are You Treating Your Fans Like Cattle

Email ain’t dead yet. When they wake up, 59% of consumers check their email account before anything else online, according to new research from ExactTarget (disclosure: client), in a sweeping survey of 400+ Americans. (play with the data in the super cool interactive tool below) This correlates well with a similar, but far less statistically [...]

Driving Sales with Relevancy and Utility

Guest post by Jeff Molander, professor of digital marketing at Loyola University’s School of Business, public speaker and author of a forthcoming book aimed at improving digital marketing results. Find him at jeffmolander.com In this economy need is the new want. And exceptional businesses are realizing tangible, meaningful outcomes using social media & mobile marketing. [...]