Inspiration | The Stairwell

Archive for the ‘Inspiration’ Category

Digg’s Epic Relaunch: Can they capture their former glory?

Posted by in Business, Findings, Inspiration, Marketing, News on August 9th, 2012

There was a guy by the name of Kevin Rose working for G4 TV in 2004 when it was actually just called Tech TV. Kevin could have been a decent talk show host or maybe a spokesperson that tech companies trotted out at conventions with those weird looking flesh-colored microphones. That would have been cool but he had bigger things in mind. In 2004 SEO was still an unknown science. Google was still emerging as the top player and most companies had just started hiring SEO specialists. Rose figured he could get major play on the internet if he gave

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YouTube Channels are Launching Business and Boosting Online Profiles

Posted by in browsers, Code, Digital Advertising, Findings, Inspiration, Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Tutorials on April 30th, 2012

Last week I wrote briefly about Chris Hardwick and his Nerdist Company. In the week since I got the chance to speak briefly with the man about his YouTube Channel and how he’s preparing for the time when YouTube and Hulu become rivals to Comcast Cable and Dish Network, “Three to Four years is a good estimate,” Hardwick said when asked about a time table for that. If his YouTube Channel is any indication he’s pretty ready. Along with a few others he’s building a huge following that could pay off big in the next few years. Hardwick, along with

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How Borders could have used Social Media to boost their Chances of Survival

Posted by in Business, Inspiration, Marketing, News, Search Engine Marketing on August 5th, 2011

When I did marketing for one of the riverboat casinos in the Chicago area I was told a lot of excuses for why a particular day didn’t draw as many people as they wanted. Some of my favorites were. “No buddy wants to go the casino in the winter. It’s cold and snowy. People just want to stay in.” “No one wants to come out in the spring.” “Kids are still in school and they want to be outside after being cooped up inside all winter.” “People don’t go to the casino in the summer. They want to be outside

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Avoiding that Social Media Plateau

Posted by in Findings, Friends, Inspiration on July 26th, 2011

So you’ve just finished your first big social media push and you’ve gotten a good response. Then you get even more fans once your hard launch fan acquisition campaign kicks in. The thing is eventually no matter how good your social media sites are and how great your first big push goes eventually things are going to trail off and plateau. Your fan count will stop going up like it was and people won’t be talking as much. It happens to the best social media pros. Everyone gets tired of his or her new toys once after a while and

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Using Coupons to Boost Your Social Media Presence While Keeping Fans

Posted by in Business, Inspiration, Marketing, Uncategorized on June 9th, 2011

As I’ve said here on The Stairwell many times, one of the keys to social media marketing is to give your fans something new as much as possible. That can be everything from new information or even just a laugh, or something to talk about. That can be okay for a bit. But if you really want to build a following and convert your social media presence into genuine customers you need to give them something concrete – either a giveaway for something real or coupons they can come in and use. A great social media giveaway accomplishes two things.

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How Big Deals Can Change Things for Every Business Looking to Get Online

Posted by in Business, Findings, Inspiration, News on April 22nd, 2011

The thing about the current social media scene is that it’s still very much in its infancy. As far as new forms of media go, it’s about what television was 5 or 6 years after it was available for the masses. Just like those early days of television things were a little chaotic. The networks were scrambling to slap together content. When ABC and Disney struck a big content deal in 1954 it completely changed the face of the medium and went a long way toward stabilizing the way people made television. Social media is still at a position that

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Combining Social and Physical Media

Posted by in Business, Findings, Inspiration, Search Engine Marketing on April 15th, 2011

A few articles back, I talked a bit about packaging and how you can tie all your different social media sites together to make them even stronger. Some companies have taken things to the next level by packaging everything together, including their print and online ads. Particularly, companies like Kraft Foods and Pepsi have started using social media to boost their print campaigns and vice versa. It’s a great thing because it calls attention to their social media while giving them a unique marketing campaign.

There are some drawbacks to using your social media along with your print media. Well,

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Avoid Sponsored Ads and Stay Cost Effective with Social Media

Posted by in Business, Inspiration, Search Engine Marketing on March 11th, 2011

One thing I’ve said repeatedly on here is that social media is virtually cost free. You can do the same things that major companies do without having a major company budget. In a lot of ways social media has evened the playing field but just like the movie theaters where they’ve put ads before and sometimes during the movies. Some companies will find a way to spend money to get their message heard louder instead of working smarter. So it’s no surprise that Facebook and Twitter took advantage of this and offered paid ads and promotional spots to people who

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Using Social Media to Augment Your Direct Mail Marketing Campaign

Posted by in Business, Inspiration, Search Engine Marketing on January 18th, 2011

Up until now I’ve pretty much always focused on social media and digital advertising. I’ve done a little bit with direct mail over the years, but until recently I never really used it in a cross-media promotion. A lot of marketing professionals see direct mail as a dying medium and instead focus exclusively on digital marketing. As I’ve tried to illustrate over the last two weeks the best campaigns are ones that can seamlessly work in all forms of media, including direct mail. Old Spice has made extensive use of direct mailers over the years to much success. The fact

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Medium In Flux Follow Up: Advertising a Niche Product Across Different Media

Posted by in Business, Findings, Inspiration on January 13th, 2011

Last week we went over some of the year’s best ad campaigns. My criterion for the best of the best was, among other things, that they played well across different media. In a world where even movie theaters are getting in on the viral marketing act by showing commercials and cross promoting video games and live events, and your TV and your computer are becoming one and the same, a campaign that goes across different media is essential. One group of companies that are trying to do just that is comic book publishers. As I said last time, publishers are

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