Seasonal: Celebrate What’s Now

This Happy Easter post from Barack Obama‘s page received over 380,000 likes.

Recognition: New Text On An Old Meme

This repost by George Takei got over 70,000 likes. Mr. Takei’s page has nearly 4 million followers. I would guess he has a professional social media expert helping him or he’s just the the most “with it” celebrity I’ve encountered of his generation.

Guilt: You’re a Bad person If you Don’t Agree

This example from Hit Like If You Agree had over 59,000 shares. What mom on Facebook wouldn’t share this.

Bonus: Recovering When You Go Too Far

You’re likely to offend some of your fans at some point. Check out the original post and excellent apology from George Takei over using a controversial topic to talk about parenting.

And here’s his (or his staff’s) well thought out response. Notice it gets twice as many likes as the original post it is responding too. Your fans understand mistakes will be made, your job is to listen and respond with candor.

The post 3 Types of Facebook Like Bait appeared first on JazminHupp.com.

Dave Mathis via Compfight

I attended Behavior Change: As Value Proposition, given by Chris Risdon (@chrisrisdon, #behaviordesign) at SXSW Interactive in Austin.

Changing behavior is hard:

• Why do you drive short distances when you could easily walk and be healthier?
• Why do you avoid going to the dentist when you know waiting longer will make your dental problems worse?

Using Opportune Moments

In 2004, you see a story about a Tsunami while waiting in the airport, which is followed by a commercial to donate to the Red Cross. You’re moved to donate but then you have to take a flight, get home, unpack, and feed the dog. Maybe you remember to go to the Red Cross website but now you have to decide how much to donate, figure out your credit card billing information, and so on.

In 2010, you saw the Haiti Tsunami story at the airport. You could text “Haiti” to 90999 and donate $10 via your cell phone bill to the Red Cross. This much simpler process matched the timing of the trigger and took advantage of your motivation in the moment.

Behavior Design

Design with the intent to change someone’s behavior or attitude.

A bitter nail polish makes your finger nails taste bitter so you don’t chew your nails. A study of countries by how many people volunteered for organ donation showed that countries had radically different rates because of the how they designed the sign-up process. Countries where you had to opt OUT of organ donation, had the majority of people registered for organ donation. Countries which made you opt IN to organ donation had the lowest rates. Just by changing the form process, you are able to design for your intended result, these are called “good defaults”.

Persuasive Technology

Technology designed to persuade the user to use a system or platform in a desired way.

Amazon one-click is an example of a process designed to make purchasing easier. Instead of building a cart and comtemplating shipping charges, you’re one click away from making a simple purchase. In the product space, software and services make it plain that you are trying to help the user organize their travel plans (TripIt) or finances (Mint). More and more of these sites use highly personal data to help you change your own behavior.

The New “Me” Generation

Products and services designed and marketed on the premise that their befits – the value received – are specific behavior-based outcomes.

• Data collection is a primary feature: Nike FitBand collects data on your physical activity throughout the day.
• System makes recommendation or guidance: Mint recommends credit card with less fees based on your purchasing data.
• Behavior is measurable: Users can see their progress.
• Prescriptive/Constrained self-determination: Service narrows options to guide user to their chosen outcome.

Sensors & Data

If it can be connected, it will be connected in the Internet of Things.

Sensors using GPS, Accelerometers, RFID, etc., measure everything from where we go to how fast we can bounce a basketball. Consumers are becoming less and less afraid of giving services access to personal data. Mint has convinced thousands of users to give them the login information for all their financial accounts.

Feedback and Feedforward

The progression from weighing at your weekly WeightWatchers meeting to a WiFi-connected scale that tracks you daily, illustrates how personal sensors can provide better timed feedback. Feedforward is proactive service design that gives you information before you make the decision instead of just showing you the results. Chris spoke about how at Subway sandwich shops he always intends to each a healthy sandwich but ends up buying the cookies at the end. What if a service detected he’s entering the Subway and tells him how many calories he’d have to burn to get those cookies?

Framing & Profiling

Not everyone is motivated in the same way. Some folks need a cheerleader to “ra-ra” them up the hill, others need a drill sergeant to scare them into running harder. This is called “Persuasion Profiling,” which means each one of us has a different set of triggers that will persuade us to act differently. Just in the wording of a choice, you can guide behavior.

Collection > Visualization > Story

We understand how to use the technology to show users their behavior but do we understand that every design decision influences the user? Documentaries demonstrate that HOW we tell a story changes people’s perception, and eventually their behavior. Next stop let’s go beyond the graph and show people how to change their word.

More Resources on Behavior Design

• Robert Calidini 
• BJ Fogg
• Dan Lockton
• Dan Ariely

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What are your tips for line survival?

The post SXSW Line-aggedon: 5 Tips to Save Your Sanity appeared first on JazminHupp.com.

You’ve heard that WHO you know is more important than WHAT you know, but your education focused on facts instead of making connections. Whether you use these skills to connect to your next investor or to meet the love of your life, many of the same principles that make you a great first date will make you a better business networker too.

BEFORE YOU MEET

1. Prepare your soundbites. Almost every meeting will include questions like “what do you do?” and “where are you from?” Instead of the standard answers, prepare short stories that make you sound interesting, fun, and unique. Don’t tell your latest acquaintance that you’re building the next social network and looking for a technical co-founder. That’s predictable and so common it’s forgettable. Tell him how you combined your love of website design with yoga to create a video blog that teaches parents how to introduce yoga to their kids and it’s gotten far more popular than you could have imagined. If this isn’t natural to you, check out books on how to talk about yourself with just the right amount of self promotion such as BRAG! The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing It by Peggy Klaus.
2. Investigate to find common ground. It’s easier to bond with someone when you have something in common. If you’ve lived in the same states, vacationed to the same places, or went to the same school, you’ll want to bring that up early to build rapport. With all the free information available on the internet, there’s no excuse to not know that they love shiba inu puppies too. I use tools like 123People to find where my potential connections lurk online. You’ll make an amazing first impression if you can start the conversation with “Hey I really loved your blog post on Facebook’s inflated evaluation last week, how did you…”
3. Dress up, instead of down. People form judgements about you in the first 15 seconds of meeting you and clothes are part of that equation. I would lean towards looking a little too good instead of the opposite. If you can wear something distinctive, without looking silly, it might help you be more memorable. Gary Sharma, of GarysGuide, wears a red tie to all events, which he even mentions on his business cards and email signature so he’s easier to find and remember.

STARTING THE CONVERSATION

DURING THE CONVERSATION

1. Smile a lot. Look like you’re having a good time anytime someone can see your face. This is especially useful at events where you’d like to make an impression on the speaker. Sit in the front row and look really attentive by smiling, nodding, and taking notes on key points. Most people sit in an audience with a blank stare or spend the whole time checking their laptop. If you’re the friendly and receptive face in the crowd, you’ll be a welcome contact to meet after the event too.
2. Focus on how you can help them. Many people approach networking opportunities selfishly trying to find people to help them. Flip your priorities around and focus on how you can help people you meet. Helping someone make a connection or find a resource will give you an excellent reason to trade contact information. Every time I’ve focused on helping the other person, they’ve returned the favor when I’ve needed something.
3. Don’t cross your arms in front of your body. I recommend everyone take a basic body language course to learn the visual cues that show you’re receptive to the conversation. The very first lesson is to stop crossing your arms across your chest. Although it’s a comfortable way to hold your hands, it makes you seem closed off. I take courses at the Nonverbal Group in New York City.
4. Buy the next round. It may seem simple but offering to buy the next round is a skill men mastered ages ago to keep the conversation going. I learned how few women employ this technique when booking event spaces with bar minimums for Women 2.0′s Founder Friday events. Events with primarily women sell the least drinks because women aren’t culturally tuned to buy rounds. Events with men trying to impress women sell the most drinks for…obvious reasons.
5. Banish distractions. You never know where your next important connection will come from so even if you don’t think the person you’re talking to is “important”, don’t check your phone. Don’t look around the room. Don’t sit there and think about your day or what you need to do next. Be fully present for your conversation partner. It’s the best present you can give them.
6. Be positive. Nothing says “steer clear” like somebody who spends half the conversation complaining about their company/ex/apartment/family or whatnot. Keep the first meeting topics upbeat.
7. Don’t let the conversation stall. Everyone needs a bank of general questions you can ask a new acquaintance to get them talking and find common ground. You already know the standards like “do you have any siblings” but now is the time to invent questions that make you more insightful. I like, if you had enough money that you didn’t have to work, what would you do?
8. Listen more than you talk. We are a culture starving to be listened to. We broadcast our most minor thoughts throughout the Internet, desperate to be read. Listening is much more powerful than talking. Also making people feel like their minor thoughts on the Internet are being listened to can help too so like, retweet, and up vote away.
9. Compliment them. Try to offer at least one honest compliment to your conversation partner. This technique is over used so if you can’t say something genuine, skip it.

AFTER THE CONVERSATION

1. Follow up! Follow up! No really, follow up! We all think important people are too busy to respond, so most people never reach out in the first place. I’ve given out business cards to 50+ people at an event in which every single one promised they’d follow up with me and gotten 2 emails afterwards. If you get someone’s contact information, send them a follow-up within 24 hours every SINGLE time. I use CardMunch to import business cards into my address book automatically and send LinkedIn invites. If you see a speaker that you’d like to connect with, the least you can do is tweet a useful tip from their speech with their username, tweet them a compliment, and follow them on Twitter.
2. Personalize every follow up. I use the Gmail plug-in Rapportive to display everyone’s social media updates along side every email I write to them. This allows me to personalize each email with something like “hey I saw you were in Chicago last weekend, did you find any good restaurants while you were there?” instead of the general “hope all is well with you” opening.

Jazmin Hupp is the Director of Marketing at Tekserve, the independent Apple Shop in New York City that specializes in Apple solutions for business. Jazmin went on 72 first dates in 6 months to research her Online Dating Advice Book blog. She is speaking at a digital dating workshop in New York City on the Saturday before Valentine’s Day.

 Jelly Belly photo by Mike Crain. 

The post 16 First Date Skills That Will Make You A Better Business Networker appeared first on JazminHupp.com.

Here’s how to create informative content that delivers qualified leads that are ready to buy everything you sell, illustrated by examples from retailers and service providers around the country.

Note: For simplicity, I will refer to what you are selling as a “product” but the same principles work for services and so on.

Teach Us WHAT To Care About

Every purchase has multiple elements that your buyer needs to consider. By teaching your audience those elements you empower them to become a buyer AND get to imply that your product addresses all potential concerns. Apple Specialist, Springboard Media, offers customers browsing their computer selection the Top 9 Mistakes to Avoid When Purchasing a Mac. Not only does the document offer good free advice to customers but it lays the groundwork for Springboard’s staff to add-on accessories by mentioning concerns like data backup and warranties.

Tell Us Why You’re The One Doing It RIGHT

Talk about how your product unique in the marketplace because all your competitors have changed but you’ve upheld a process that creates a better product. This is especially potent in industries that have changed without your customer’s lifetime. It’s easier to convince people who already reminisce about the past that the “old way” of doing things results in a more original, accurate, and superior product before automation and profit-sharing ruined craftsmanship. See how Heritage Meats, an artisan butcher shop that specializes in organic, locally grown and sustainable meat products, convinces us that what they offer is no longer available because he is the last trained artisanal butcher left in an industry dominated by supermarket butchers. The whole video is worth watching, but the butcher makes this point brilliantly at about 2:20 into the video.

TEACH Us Job/Life Skills

You will you create a wider audience for your product by educating a new group of potential customers. Remember to frame the title of your workshop/ebook/whatever from your customer’s perspective.

Also you’ll get a better response if you make your audience feel smart instead of dumb, so lay off the abbreviations and assumptions.

Get Someone Else To Tell Us To TRUST You

Your audience is going to be skeptical of everything you say because you’re trying to sell them something. At Tekserve, I plan executive lunches where a customer tells his or her peers how they solved a common business challenge. Although Tekserve’s help implementing the solution is mentioned, the results are more credible coming from an independent customer instead of a sales person or case study. This is the same reason that earned press is more influential than any print ad in the same publication.

Partner Up for Double The Exposure

Is there a business that provides a related service that your customers also need (but you don’t provide?) Get your message out to more potential customers by partnering up to create a piece that serves both businesses. See how Hubspot marketing software and SurveyMonkey created The Ultimate Guide to Using Surveys in Your Marketing to attract mutual customers. Your best bet is to team up with a business of a similar size with mutual interests. If one business is significantly smaller, the larger business might resent the smaller partner for having less reach. Also be careful not to tap businesses that you might soon compete with, I wouldn’t be surprised if Hubspot adding survey tools to their package in the future and soured this relationship.

SCARE Us Into Talking To You

If everything else fails, humans are animals that respond to greed, vanity and fear. That’s why CyberSource, a payment fraud detection service, gives a webinar on the most common fraud attacks on your business. CyberSource doesn’t start out by telling you to buy their product, they teach their audience the complexity of the problem that their product happens to solve.

The post Why Marketers Need To Inform Instead of Advertise in 2013 appeared first on JazminHupp.com.

Release Your Shutter Button, Don’t Press It

The number one cause of poor-quality (fuzzy) photos is that your iPhone isn’t completely still when you take the picture. Hold your iPhone with two hands and hold down the shutter button with your thumb. The camera shutter isn’t released until you take your thumb off the shutter button. This can make a big difference, especially when you’re shooting in low light.

Stabilize Your iPhone

As hard as I try to hold still, some of my shots still come out fuzzy. Here’s what I’ve done to stabilize my iPhone when taking pictures:

• Hold your iPhone with both hands with your arms pulled in tight to your body, breathe out, and then release the shutter button
• Hold your iPhone on top of the nearest flat surface (table, chair back, walking stick, gate, etc.)
• Use the Belkin LiveAction Camera Grip to make your iPhone easier to grip and less likely to move when you use the built-in external shutter button
• Use a Joby Gorillapod Bendable Tripod to hold your iPhone (you’ll need an accessory like the Belkin LiveAction Camera Grip to use this or any other tripod)

Use Apps to Hide Your Mediocre Photography Skills

Color Splash

• I bought Hipstamatic for my original iPhone because the retro filters hid the fact that my camera wasn’t as high definition as I wanted.
• Instagram is a nice free alternative with lots of built-in social sharing options.
• Check out Color Splash for an artistic option to make part of your image pop.
• Finally Adobe Photoshop Express and iPhoto make basic photo editing easy on your iPhone or iPad.

Avoid the Digital Zoom 

The iPhone uses a digital zoom when you try to get closer to far away objects. (This is different from the optical zoom on a regular camera with a built-in lens.) Digital zoom uses the iPhone’s processor to interpret what your object would look like closer up and frankly digital zooms are pretty lame at it. Your pictures will tend to be grainy. You’re better off just taking the picture and then using photo editing software like iPhoto to zoom afterwards.

Get An iPhone Lens

Olloclip is an external lens system for your iPhone that gives you macro, wide-angle, and fisheye lenses. It works with all iPhone video and photo apps and is a simple add-on for better photos.

Composition Matters

Placing your subject in the middle of the frame gets boring fast. Read the Top 10 Photography Composition Rules to learn the rule of thirds, balancing elements, and more. While in the iPhone Camera App, press Options and turn Grid on to use the rules of thirds easily. Look for new angles that you wouldn’t see in a typical photo.

Avoid Direct Sunlight

Direct sunlight on your subject’s faces will cause harsh shadows and likely some squinting. It’s also always best to shoot with the sun at your back or diffused by clouds. Shooting into the sun can lead to your subjects being washed out. If you don’t have a choice, check out my next tip on HDR.

Try Turning HDR On

HDR (high dynamic range) was introduced in the iPhone 4. It takes several photos in a row and then combines the best sections of each automatically for a more evenly lit photo. Try it out when you’re shooting outdoors by going to the iPhone Camera App, pressing Options, and turning HDR on to use it. You can set your iPhone to save the HDR and regular version of the photo by going to your Settings App, selecting Photos, and turning Keep Normal Photo on. The downside is that each photo takes about 5 seconds to save and keeping both versions is going to take up more space. Also, you need to hold your iPhone extra still because it’s going to take multiple photos in a row. Read more about When to Use HDR.

Upgrade Your iPhone

If you’re using a previous generation iPhone as your primary camera, upgrading your iPhone can be the best investment in better photography. Just check out this music video that Camp 4 Collective shot with just two iPhone 4S cameras. If you’re going to record video and audio on your iPhone, you’re going to need a better microphone, the Belkin LiveAction Mic is an affordable option. Read their hints on shooting better iPhone video with the iPhone.

Gillian Chase – iPhone 4s Music Video from Camp 4 Collective on Vimeo.

Choose 1-3 Great Photos to Share Instead of All 427

Remember when film cost money, so you carefully chose which moments to capture? Well now that there’s almost no incremental cost to snapping one more photo, people have gone a little crazy. Take it from this social media expert, your friends will enjoy a few carefully chosen shots instead of every minor detail of your last vacation.

This is a repost of my popular article on Tekserve’s Blog.

The post 10 Tips for Better iPhone Photography appeared first on JazminHupp.com.

What is Facebook’s EdgeRank

Similar in the way Google uses PageRank to determine which websites are at the top of their search results, Facebook had to create an algorithm to filter status updates. EdgeRank is a algorithm that determines how many people see your status updates on their wall.

What Affects EdgeRank Positively

An increase in the number of fans liking and commenting on your content will incase how many people are reached by each post.

What Are The Most Engaging Content Types?

Overall these rules hold true for the different content types, but there are some specific differences for different types of pages below too.

1. Photos: Quick and easy to consume, plus major comment fodder. Had twice the engagement rates of other types of posts.
2. Status: Fast to read and doesn’t require the user to click through. Users are actually more engaged with updates longer than 140 characters. So it’s NOT a best practice to run the same update to Twitter and Facebook because you should run slightly longer copy on Facebook.
3. Video: Videos need text summaries posted with some context for the reader. Videos with no description had the worst engagement of all types of post.
4. Link: Links require users to click out of Facebook

For An Artist, Band or Public Figure

For Brands & Products

• Photos were 7x more engaging than status updates. So work with your graphic designer to come up with photo versions of promotions.
• All other content types averaged less than 1% engagement.

For Causes and Communities

• Photos were the most engaging
• Videos were a close a second because these communities were very responsive to videos about their group and viral videos

For a Company, Organization, Institution

• Photos most popular
• Video second most popular
• Links are less engaging because users are less likely to want to share or comment on commercial messages with their friends and family watching
• Polarizing content (taking a controversial position) will create more engagement

For Local Businesses

• Photos were 3x more engaging than links.
• Photos are closely followed by videos – Videos don’t have to be fancy, content as simple as a personable/community/local message gets high engagement. One of the most popular local videos was an iPhone video of the snow fall outside a store.

For Entertainment (Sports teams, Movies, Games)

• Status updates are the most engaging because you have very loyal fans that are more likely to comment on any update
• Photos were the second most engaging
• Videos were third

So Should I Only Post Photos?

Once you understand what your fans respond to, you can use these guidelines to your advantage. Plan your messaging around popular post types. So if your most important message of the week is “We’re debuting a new dress line at Suzie’s Dress Shop.” Don’t post a link to the new dress line, post a photo of the dress with a description of what is going on.

EdgeRank is Like A Credit Score…It Follows You

How engaging your previous posts were will affect how many people see your future updates. Like a credit score, your EdgeRank follows you between posts. If you post lots of un-engaging content your future posts are less likely to be seen.

Chef Boyardee Cute Photo With A Brand Message

Quick Tricks

• At the end of the post, tell readers to “click like” if they agree to drive tons of engagement.
• Ask users to add their opinion in a comment. “Vanilla ice cream is the best flavor. What’s your favorite flavor?”
• Make sure to always pair a written description with photos, links, and videos. You should add context with this written description.
• Make your updates timely and related to real-world events/holidays/etc.
• Post cute things (dogs, cats, babies, etc.) but they have to be related to your brand! See the Chef Boyardee message here.
• Post a photo and ask your fans to caption it.

The post How to Save Money Advertising on Facebook by Using Facebook’s EdgeRank appeared first on JazminHupp.com.

Which Customers Should I Send To?

Obviously this is going to depend on the goals of your specific campaign but I like to consider the following:

• Geographic location: For most mailings, I limit my list to customers within 5 miles of my store. There is no use in sending a promotion to tourists who only visited your store once on vacation.
• Total revenue: Everyone has high and low value customers, perhaps try converting medium spenders to high spenders in your next campaign?
• Frequency of purchase: You may find that more frequent shoppers are more likely to respond to your mailing over single visitation high-spenders.
• Timing of purchases: If you’re planning a holiday promotion, you might try contacting the customers who shopped with you during that last holiday season.

#1 Hide Irrelevant Data

Depending on how your list is pulled, you may have columns of information that you won’t be using to make your mailing list decisions (customer numbers, phone numbers, etc.) Select those columns and Option-Click to hide them or go to Format > Columns > Hide.

#2 Freeze Your Header Row

If your list is more than a screen length long, it’ll be easier to read if you freeze your header column with labels. This will allow you to see those labels no matter how far you scroll down. Select the cell under your row of labels and go to Window > Freeze Panes.

#3 Turn on Filters

Your mailing list likely has some entries with incomplete information (blank name, address, city, etc.) You’re going to check for blank cells by filtering your data and sorting it. First select ALL of your data (if you leave any columns out, they will be mismatched with the rest of your data FOR ALL OF TIME.) Then go to the Data > Filter. Now you have nifty little inverted triangles at the top of each row.

#4 Filter for Incomplete Data

Go to your first nifty inverted triangle in your first column (typically name) and sort the list by ascending or descending. Then scroll to the bottom of your data and you’ll see all the rows that are missing data. If you have the business name but not an individual in that business, your direct mail piece will likely end up in the trash. Mail rooms just don’t know what to do with general mail that isn’t addressed to a specific employee or department. Do this with all of your columns, delete rows with incomplete data until you’ve eliminated all the bad addresses.

#5 Find & Replace Bad Data

Your data may have unhelpful cells filled with “NULL” or all your ampersands (&) were replaced by “•”. Scroll through your data and see if there are any repeatable errors you need to find and replace. If you have complete cells of unhelpful data:

• Select the column with the replaceable data
• Hit Command-F
• Put the bad text in the “Find what:” box
• Click Replace and leave that box blank
• Then select ”Find entire cells only” (if you don’t you’ll also erase anyone that happens to have “null” as part of their name or address)
• Hit Replace a few times to make sure it’s working correctly
• Then hit Replace All to finish the job.

If you have strange text that has replaced normal characters you can put the bad text in the “Find what:” box and what it should have been in the “Replace with:” box and repeat the same steps (keeping “Find entire cells only” turned off).

#6 Duplicate Your List Before De-duping

It’s a good idea to duplicate the list you’re working before you do any major (or experimental) deletion. Go the bottom tab of the sheet you’re working on and Option-click it to bring up the Move or Copy menu. Select your sheet and Create a copy to duplicate your list.

#7 Eliminate Exact Duplicates Automatically

Depending on how your list was pulled you may have duplicate customers on the list (and you don’t want to spend the money sending them the same piece twice.) This will only work if the data you have is an exact duplicate. For example, if you have one row where the customer has put their apartment number and one row where they haven’t, you’ll have to wait until the next step to catch that.

• Select ALL of your data (if you forget any columns your data will be mismatched FOREVER and your mailing list will be ruined.)
• In your ribbon (the big menu at the top) go to Data and then Remove Duplicates.
• Select the columns that are most likely to have duplicate information. I like to select the columns with name and ZIP code. If the name and ZIP code match I have enough data to assume the customer is the same and therefore one entry should be eliminated.
• Select Remove Duplicates.

#8 Eliminate Partial Duplicates Manually

Your final check for duplicates uses conditional formatting to highlight possible duplicates for you, so you can scan down your list quickly.

• Go to the Home ribbon.
• Then select Conditional Formatting > Highlight Cells Rules > Duplicate Values…
• I prefer to select Format with: red border but you can use whatever you like before pressing Ok.

#9 Make the Final Cut

Before you spend mucho time scrolling down through your list manually to remove duplicates, you may want to narrow down your list even more. Think about cutting customers that are far away, don’t spend enough, or you don’t have recent addresses on.

#10 Do The Last Manual Check

Scroll down your mailing list and do a final check for issues like:

• If you have two entries for the same name, eliminate the entry with less address information.
• Delete customer nicknames or extra information that may be in your data.
• Anything else your database might have institutionally wrong with the mailing information.

#11 Create Your Control Group

To measure the effectiveness of your mailing, sort out at least 10% of the list and mark that as a control group. This will be a group of customers that fit the same buying patterns as the customers you mailed but did not receive the promotion. This will help you assess of the customers that you did mail how much buying would have happened without the promotion. You CAN’T just chop off the bottom of the list though, this must be a random sampling.

• Insert a new column at the front of the sheet by selecting the top cell left cell (like A1), then Insert>Cells and then Entire Column. 
• Select the the second cell in the new column (like A2) and enter “=RAND()” in the cell to insert a random number.
• Select the second cell in the new column (like A2) again. Then hold Shift, scroll to the bottom of your list and click the last cell with data in that column (like A19292) to select the entire column.
• With the entire random number column selected, go to Edit > Fill > Down to insert the “=RAND()” formula into every cell.
• Now that you have random numbers, use your automatic filters (upside down triangle at the top of each column) to sort the mailing list by ascending or descending random numbers.

The post How to Clean a Customer Mailing List in Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac (De-dupe and Address Validation) appeared first on JazminHupp.com.

Photo by Kim LaCapria

Why Merchandise?

• It raises your average purchase amount by silently adding-on to every sale.
• Turns mission shoppers into browsers and makes them curious about what else you offer.

Great Merchandising…

• Is simple and fast to understand.
• Slows down a customer’s eyes
• Is coherent and logical (you don’t put diapers next to vodka)
• It groups products that a certain type of customers are likely going to buy (you put products for seniors in one display, not mixed with products for parents and teenagers)

What is the message you want to send?

• We have this in five colors?
• We have sales stuff?
• Here’s the full picture of what you need.

4 Types of Bad Displays

The post 14 Keys to Great Retail Merchandising appeared first on JazminHupp.com.

1. You Never Applied

Applying for jobs is no fun but seriously if you don’t apply I’m never going to hire you. Applying doesn’t mean telling a friend of my friend that you *might* be interested in talking about the position. It means actually filling out the online application completely and then following up on any mutual connections. Skipping the 10 minutes to fill out your information online forces me and my HR staff work much harder to hire you. Make it easy on us!

2. You Sucked At Filling Out the Application

I realize filling out online applications isn’t fun but you gotta do it right! Don’t skip over questions. Don’t screw up the grammar, spelling, or capitalization. For gosh sakes, spell and capitalize my company’s name right!

Photo by Marshill

3. Your Resume Is Longer Than 2 Pages

I’m going to spend 8-30 seconds reading your resume before I decide if I want to speak to you. Your best qualities for this position better be darn clear within the first 5 seconds or you’re not getting a call back. Remove bullet points like:

• Scheduled meetings
• Developed and maintained relationships
• Coordinated between X and Y departments

4. You Didn’t Do Your Research Before The Interview

The first question I’m going to ask you is what do you already know about my company. You better have a good answer that shows you did more than read my “about us” page. Bonus points if you relate my company’s strengths to yours or actually spoke to current employees or customers.

5. You Misspelled or Incorrectly Capitalized The Stuff You’re Supposed To Be Expert At

You know who knows the different between MAC and Mac or Word press and WordPress? I do, because I’m actually an expert in those skills you claim to have.

6. You Negotiated On Salary Before We Offered You The Job

In a sales pitch they’ll tell you everything about the product and how great it’s going to make your life BEFORE they tell you how much it’s going to cost you. Treat job interviews the same way. Never state the salary you expect up front. Make sure I fall in love with the idea of hiring you and how amazing you’re going to make my business and then ask for a little more than I wanted to pay you. Of course if what they’re offering is drastically different than what you want to make, you’re wasting everyones time. However, if you’re within 10-25% of what they’re expecting to pay, you can probably get it if you’re truly the best candidate.

7. Your Email Address Is HotPants69@hotmail.com

If you’re not an internet marketer, I’ll forgive you for using gmail but please get firstname.lastname@gmail.com (or something very close to that). If you do claim to be a pro online anything, you better have your own domain.

8. Your Online Presence Isn’t Present

You claim blogging as a skill but you haven’t updated your blog since 2007. Your LinkedIn profile is half-completed and your picture is fuzzy. You tweeted twice two years ago and your icon is still the default egg. Honestly most employers aren’t going to go years back into your social media accounts. If you clean up and update the last few months of posts, it’ll probably be fine. If you’re applying for a social media related position you should have at least two years of blog posts.

Bonus! A Very Original Way to Get Noticed

Although it won’t work for all employers, Jesse Dejardins recommends an original approach to resumes.

The post 8 Reasons I’m Never Going To Hire You appeared first on JazminHupp.com.