Nerd Stalker

Dr. Michael Solomon discusses the roles of brands in the "Freemium" world  By Dr. Michael Solomon We are  exposed  to 4000 to 10,000 ad messages everyday. There’s no doubt we’re all assaulted by brand messages that scream to us on billboards and screens, from within TV shows and movies, and even on Post-It notes and refrigerator magnets. Most of us live in a state of sensory overload. We are exposed to far more information than we can process. That means the fight for your attention—or what some marketers refer to as an eyeball economy—gets tougher all the time.   That’s essentially the statement that one version of the popular  freemium  ("free" and premium") business strategy makes to marketers. Sure, a freemium often delivers additional functionality for a fee compared to what the free version does. But for many the real attraction of an upgrade is the chance to shop, play or work in an ad-free environment. When consumers are willing...

By Adam Witty and Rusty Shelton The battle to create brand recognition is taking place in a media world that’s noisier and more crowded than ever. That’s why some entrepreneurs, CEOs and professionals have come to realize that they can set themselves apart by looking beyond the corporate brand and instead building their personal brand, positioning themselves as an expert and leader in their industry and marketplace. It’s a path that such luminaries as Rachael Ray and Dave Ramsey used to much success, says Adam Witty, CEO of Advantage|ForbesBooks ( www.advantagefamily.com ) and co-author with Rusty Shelton of  Authority Marketing: How to Leverage 7 Pillars of Thought Leadership to Make Competition Irrelevant . “Although what’s called ‘authority marketing’ isn’t used as much as it should be, it’s not new,” Witty says. “More than a century ago, P.T. Barnum understood how to generate buzz around his name and get the press to report on his every move, which led t...

Ignite Visibility LLC unveils “ Social Media Marketing: The Movie Today, Ignite Visibility LLC unveils “ Social Media Marketing: The Movie ,” an in-depth look at the power of social media and the players that brought it to the forefront of digital marketing. It comes on the heels of the successful “ SEO: The Movie ,” which explored the history of SEO - how it started, how it evolved, and where it is today. But “Social Media Marketing: The Movie” takes a different spin on the story of social media. Rather than digging into the past, the movie focuses on industry insight and real strategies businesses can use to find success in the space. The film interviews experts on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn and even Podcasting. Through the film, marketers and business owners will learn how to use the top social media sites online, how to set a strategy, how to deal with the drop in organic reach, how to measure success, what strategies are that ...

Big Data Video Seer Ooyala Releases Q1 Video Observations Ooyala, the big data company focused on premium video content has just released it's Q1 report on global video content. This report reflects the online video metrics of the vast majority of Ooyala’s 500+ customers, whose collective audience of hundreds of millions of viewers spans nearly every country in the world. Check out some of the findings.

In this episode we talk to Daniel about how the advertising industry has totally changed on a massive level. We discuss specific points where ad strategies and failing and conversely how one can course correct and leverage better ideas to win. Daniel Brian Cobb is an Emmy Award-winning advertising executive, keynote speaker, and business strategist who has partnered with some of the world's most remarkable brands for nearly three decades—such as Disney, Warner Bros., Chick-fil-A, Coca-Cola. Cobb founded Daniel Brian Advertising (DBA) with the intent to reinvent the marketing industry. Cobb's motto is, “better brands for a better human condition”. He also serves on the board of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, CA-based Missions, and Me And Angel House Orphanages. He is the author of, "Surfing the Black Wave: Brand Leadership in a Digital Age".

You attend numerous presentations and meetings a year--filled with the typically dense and disorganized PowerPoint decks--and leave most of them thinking, "Well, that's an hour of my life I'll never get back." But out of this sea of mediocrity, a rare few rise up, captivating you and driving you to action. What makes these few so special? Despite what most people think, it's not because they were delivered well. It's because they were crafted in a way that deeply aligned with how your brain wants to consume information. The presentations that failed did so precisely because they violated the largely unknown "natural laws" that govern how people actually learn. In The Compelling Communicator , you will learn a proven process for designing presentations that touch your audience in a highly impactful way, motivating them to take your desired action by: Building around a small number of powerful ideas Keeping content within the audience's ...

Gabriel Shaoolian , Founder & CEO  of  Blue Fountain Media , Gives Some Suggestions to Build Effective Email Campaigns Only the most effective email marketing campaigns are the ones that are able to capture the interest of users and engage them. To make sure that your brand is spending their time and resources towards initiatives that will garner results, it’s important to keep several key elements in mind as you build your campaigns. Below are 7 email marketing tactics that will help to improve both the open-rate and click-through-rate of your efforts:

OMMA gives your AR/VR Panels for Marketers Live [ View the story "Scenes from the OMMA VR/AR" on Storify ] At the Online Marketing Media Awards (OMMA) VR/AR they explore how marketers will take Virtual and Augmented Reality from this mind-altering novelty phase into an opportunity to enrich branding, deepen consumer relationships and maybe even sell a couple things along the way. Watch it live now!

Anthony Yodice of  Blue Fountain Media  Shares his Marketing Must Reads for the Summer © Edite Artmann | Dreamstime.com -  Woman reading at the sea Summertime is synonymous with rest and relaxation. It’s the best time of year to take a much needed vacation, unwind on the weekends, and unplug from work when you have the chance. That being said, unfortunately, the summer season for marketers doesn’t mean you suddenly have all the time in the world to do other things, but it’s important to take part in activities that you enjoy. If reading is one of these activities than you already know that summer is a great time of year to pick up a good book. Whether you’re at the beach, commuting to work, or have time before bed, diving into a book is a great way to reduce stress, stimulate your brain, and learn something new. For digital marketers, chances are your idea of a good book may differ from the average reader. If you work in the industry, than you know how ...

Taffy Williams discusses ways businesses can develop a product strategy This month, we talk in depth with entrepreneur and author, Taffy Williams on " 4 Ways That Help A Business Standout " based on the same article he wrote for his blog - Startup Blog . Taffy draws on his years of experience(aka bumps and bruises) to discuss the 4 ways in details with some relevant stories about uniqueness, preference, repeat business and pricing. Check it out.

Gagan Luthra of Cypress Semiconductor explains their PSoC ecosystem Tech brands can be big and small but there is nothing better than to learn from the big tech brands. At the recent Maker Faire, we saw a lot of self-similarity amongst the chip makers (Intel, Atmel, TI, ARM and Cypress Semiconductor) aka tech brands on how they built their product ecosystems. Basically they did it with open access, education and community building. Even, Make Media itself has similar characteristics in their ecosystem - openness, education and community building. We speak with  Gagan Luthra , product marketing manager of Cypress Semiconductor on how a tech brand like  Cypress Semiconductor  creates an ecosystem around their products. Why is an product ecosystem important? For a small company or startup, it can provide the reach that can be beyond borders. An product ecosystem is one that is open, accessible and self-sustaining. This following 10 'must' list can be scalable or com...

Merry Christmas startups and tech nerds! Our friends at RevMob  have put together a great infographic for Mobile App startups to take notice. If you are in mobile app marketing or just a mobile app entrepreneur, you may want to dust off a mobile ad campaign ASAP. Imagine all those new devices being opened today and tomorrow around the world. The number of app installs, vital mobile Ad metrics such as eCPMs  (effective cost per thousand impressions), CVRs (Conversion Rate) and CTRs  (Click Through Rate) all see a drastic boost in the November- January timeframe each year and peaking now. Check out the infographic! - SocialGreg

Over 140,000 attendees. I will have a larger write up later regarding the Salesforce Dreamforce 2013 conference. Sorry for the latency in the beginning of the video I was dependent on the conference Wi-Fi but it gets better as it goes along. In this recap I discuss such topics as the fact that Heroku partially usurped the show, how salesforce is truly a platform now, how effective their sales process is in terms of closing deals with the enterprise so quickly, and how an Evernote booth person gave me the cold shoulder when asking about their new Evernote for business Salesforce integration.  They had a $1 million hacking prize.

(5mins) Recommend watching this in full screen mode. Twibbon stormed on to the scene yesterday, on day one they got a ton of participation from the Twitter community. Twibbon is a brand spanking new free web service, for the person who wants to join a cause it really could not be easier. For the person who wants to create a cause there is a very small ramp up and process that I'm sure will be smoothed out as the application matures. If your ok with manipulating images in your editor of choice you should not have much trouble creating your cause overlay. Kudos to the Scotland based Storm Ideas for pumping out yet another innovative application, they are definitely a company we will continue to keep a close eye on. Twibbon.com is the easiest way to promote awareness of your cause on twitter. Create a twibbon in 3 easy steps and soon all your supporters will be proudly wearing their twibbons on their twitter profile images. Simply describe your cause and upload a twibbon ...

Demo of General Electric Smart Grid Augmented Reality 3D hologram. Watch the 3D hologram come to life in my hands, then try it yourself. One note if you do try it , on the wind demo blow into your mic and see what happens.

SellaBand.com -- By deferring the cost and talent of scouting to a crowd of music lovers, SellaBand puts powerful marketing and production tools into the hands of those with a personal interest in the music. It ’s one of several examples of crowdfunding -- and it could change how the music business is organized. More…