Durbin Media in the Small Business Review

There's a nice little article at Small Business Review about thought leadership blogs has some quotes from me and a nice little plug for DurbinMedia.com

Gary Stern, the writer, contacted me based on a tip from a Chicago reader of my St Louis Recruiting blog <http://stlrecruiting.com>.

Thank you to the unknown reader, to Gary Stern, and to all people who blog about their businesses.

And I learned something new - there's a new word, and it's called 'thlog."

St Louis Business Blogger Help; Friday, Jan 5

The Business Blogger Help Meeting is going to be Friday, January 5th from 7:00-7:45 a.m. at the Kaldi's Cafe and Bakery in Chesterfield.

We're going to be talking about how blogging can improve your PPC campaign.

If you are currently using PPC, and are dissatisfied with the results or are nervous that your current results aren't sustainable, you ought to drop on by.

Or send us a note. I'll link the bloggers that have RSVP'd at this link in the next couple days.

Google Search: The Case Of Blog Marketing

Brandstorming.com is currently the number one Google search for "the case of blog marketing."

That sounds about right. Sounds like a marketing mystery novel to me.

A Diamond Is Forever, Says TiVo

So while surfing with my TiVo, I ran across one of their marketing promotions that said I could win a $25,000 necklace designed by Heidi Klum.

The $25,000 caught my eye, so I clicked through and it told me to go to adiamondisforever.com

That I wasn't happy about - I prefer promotions that let me access things from where I am at that moment (in front of the tv, not in front of the computer), but I dutifully turned off the television (actually, I put in on Live 365 to check out Cafe Cody), and pulled up ADiamondIsForever.Com.

Ah, a diamond website done entirely in Flash to get me to buy things for the holidays! I look for the sweepstakes (it's here), and find out it's this cute little crossword puzzle, all done in Flash. I knocked it out (making the mistake of losing it when I actually typed in a google search), but it helped that the puzzle tells you when you make a mistake.

72 questions to be entered into the grand prize. It might be worth your time.

Now if I could just remember who the Diamond Is Forever logo comes from...(honestly, I don't remember). Not a bad marketing campaign.

Ultimate Shoelace: This Product Rocks

I have an embarrassing problem. I can't keep my shoes tied. It's true, and it's been a problem since I was a child. My mother tells this story about how I refused to tie my shoes until she bribed me with doughnuts ( she says bribed - I believe she threatened to go without me if I didn't tie my shoes and get in the car). Why do I tell you this? Because my problem has been solved.

You know those products that you see advertised on television that are real simple inventions, but seem real useful? The ones you see late at night on the Home Shopping Channel? This is one of those ideas, and it's incredible. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

One of our clients is Sue Wetzel, the owner of the PR Firm, The Winning Pitch out in sunny California. Franki built Sue's site, and currently helps her blog, and I handled the blog training and various blog marketing aspects of her site.

What Sue does is work primarily with companies that sell products to women. She gets them noticed, and the blog is designed to help her post products for the media and public to check out.

One of those products is the Ultimate Shoelace, which Sue was kind enough to send to me to try out.

Look, we made it clear that this blog can never become a shill for clients. It's focused on branding and advertising for a reason, so there's a concern anytime we start talking about products (we don't believe in corporate shilling).

The Ultimate Shoelace, though, featured here on Sue's site, is an awesome product, and I can't help but write about it. The shoelace is made up of tiny knots that disappear when you stretch them. This gives the shoelace the ability to hold its forms inside each of the eyelets, and also makes it easy to expand and contract when you're putting your shoe on.

What this means is that for your tennishoes and your walking shoes, you can slip the shoe on like it has no laces, with no damage to the shoe. The shoe is pre-tied, and you turn it into a slip-on, but one that holds tightly to your foot.

The shoelaces can be adjusted to hold the shoe on tighter or looser, and because of the knots, there are no problems with slippage. My shoe tying hassles, are done. If you have the chance, buy a half-dozen of these and give them to friends, people who have problems bending over, and those who never learned how to tie their shoes.

This post was uncompensated (as are all of our posts).

John Jantsch Is Publishing A Book

John Jantsch is publishing a book to complement his award-winning site, Duct Tape Marketing. John is a big small-business fan, and his blog has several channels of experts that provide valuable marketing, sales, organizational, and entrepreneurial advice.

He is one of our links, and we're big fans of his brand of small business community building. You can pre-order his books at this link.

What's neat about what John is doing is he's reaching out to the blog contacts he's made over the years to show the power of blog referrals in book sales.

Good luck, John. We look forward to reading your book.

Is Gap Selling Happiness Again?

For years it seemed it was a rite of passage that every student donned a pair of Gap jeans or a hoodie emblazoned with the brand name across the chest. But in recent years the brand has been publicly failing and struggling to maintain market share. What's changed? Gap still sells wardrobe staples at reasonable prices. The question is - did the brand move away from the customer base, or did the customers make the move?

Naturally, its a combination of all things. Gap strayed from its denim roots and dropped its TV presence for a time, contributing to the slide. Meanwhile a slew of luxury denim brands have flooded the market, making old standbys hard to notice in the pack. And today's kids have previously unheard of amounts of disposable income. This means they'd rather have Gucci bags or Seven jeans, just because they can afford it. According to of Jim Taylor, vice chairman of the Harrison Group, ''Having a Gucci scarf is part of being a kid today.'' So what's a mass market retailer to do?

In my opinion: sell joy. Remember the memorable "Swing" spot for Gap from '98? Or the "Khaki Soul" spot that introduced a new generation of listeners to Bill Withers? I do. Gap created a demand for their product by selling a mood. They made mass market items irresistable with happy music and infectious commercials peppered with celebrities. Rarely are consumers ever buying 'just a scarf' or 'just a pair of jeans.' We're hoping to feel a certain way about ourselves when we wear it. We're often buying into an ideal. A better version of ourselves. Gap was selling an emotion we all wanted to feel: joy. Gap made it seem as though it just took a pair of their soulful jeans to make us feel good. As Ravit puts it:

"The Khaki-Swing commercial wasn't really about the 40's, or about happy people or dancing people and it most certainly was not about Khakis or t-shirts either. It was about a way of being. A life style. An identity. Watching that commercial produced a rare emotional congruence between what viewers saw and how they wanted to feel about themselves; it mirrored what most people want to feel and have- happiness, carefree attitude, connectedness, togetherness, confidence, a sense of community, and individuality."

Over the years, though, Gap changed its campaign strategy and got lost in the shuffle. It's grungy, low-energy spots reflected (caused?) their sluggish sales. But now, I'm glad to observe, Gap has started selling joy again in their commercials. The hip new spot containing Common takes me back to the enjoyable Gap ads of the past. It may be simplistic to say that somber commercials make for slow sales. But in the case of Gap there always seems to be a correlation between the happy bottom line and the joy in the commericals. Hopefully the holidays will be very merry for both the brand and commercial viewers. I'll even forgive them for the angst-filled Audrey Hepburn debacle.

Cogno Codebreaker Ranked Number 3 By Escape From Cubicle Nation

One of our St Louis Business Blog Clients, and our most favorite children's gift for the holidays, was just ranked number three on Pamela Slim's (Escape From Cubicle Nation) Top 10 Favorite Things For The Holidays.

Pam was looking for entrepreneurial companies with great gift ideas, and she selected Cogno's Codebreaker as number three.

How did she find out about them? The Cogno Blog and a blog marketing campaign of course! Jennie and Stuart are an absolute blast as clients, as well as being strong entrepreneurs, and in excellent business blogging style, they made a post about the entry and sent a note to Pam thanking her for her consideration.

We couldn't be more pleased because we're big fans of Pam's approach to starting your own business and we actually enjoy the Cogno games (we're just waiting for the niece to turn seven). Check out the Cogno blog for regular information about Cogno products, and if you are in the market for a gift for 7 and up, consider CodeBreaker, Cogno: The Alien Adventure Game, and the Cogno science faction books (yes, it's called science faction).

Congratulations, Jennie and Stuart!

The Ravages of Blog Depression

This was just too funny to pass up. The problems of blog depression are far reaching, leading to lack of blog posting, concerns about traffic stats, and of course anxiety about your Google Page Rank.

As a veteran blogger, I'm often astounded when something I wrote about years ago gets a big huzzah - and is pitched as new.

Then I remember that what I wrote about years ago I took from someone else, and it's not that bad.

Kind of like this post. Taken from Infothought (in July of 2005).

Every Jobseeker's Biggest Fear

Ahh, yes. Besides outright rejection, those hopeful souls sending in resumes also fear that their carefully crafted CV becomes someone's paper airplane (or worse). What's a good headhunter to do? Capitalize on that fear, of course. MBR Worldwide does this brilliantly in their new print campaign shown here.

Don't miss the other print ads in the series seen at Adverbox.