It was quite interesting that I received two packages in the mail on the same day. Why? To me these two packages perfectly highlighted Old Marketing versus New Marketing.

To be fair, the Old Marketing I am referrring to, the Yellow Pages Book, was not techically delivered; it was thrown on the ground, near my mailbox in a plastic bag.  But, I digress.  It arrived the same day as a sample of chocolate from Montazuma chocolate.

This is the Old Marketing

When someone mentions the Yellow Pages to me, I comment that I use the book once per year; when I pick it up out of my yard and dispose of it in the trash can.  Not that it doesn't have it's uses; it can be recycled, used to prop something up, hold up books on my bookcase, and other non-essential tasks.  But, as an effective method to market a business; not so much.  The Yellow Pages can work for some businesses as a marketing tool; but that number is decreasing rapidly, along with the number of users of the book.  The majority of our population own smartphones and computers.  Anything that you can find in the Yellow Pages book can be found, along with a substantial amount of other information on a business, via a Google search. This fact combined with the increasing number of homes that have eliminated home phones makes my argument that The Yellow Pages is Old Marketing. 

This is New Marketing

On the same day, I received a sampling of Montazuma Chocolate from Abes Market. Their dark chocolate sample was sinfully delicous. It was fresh and just the perfect combination of chocolate  and sweet, but not too sweet.  The other sample, the Jungle Fever Milk Chocolate with Fruits and Nuts was beyond words!  Simply the best chocolate I have ever eaten!  And yes, I have eaten a lot of chocolate!

So why was this sample New Marketing?  Their representaitve contacted me on Twitter after we started following each other and after they noticed some Tweets about coffee and chocolate.  I provided my address to them privately and before you know it, I have a free sample in the mail.   This is a perfect example of how social media can build a loyal audience!  NOT the free part, but reaching out to individuals and turning them into brand ambassadors! I am a believer in their products and have become a shopper, and obviously a raving fan. Social media is not about free or about which platform a company is on; it's about buiding a community of brand ambassadors.

Social or New Marketing works. Simple as that. 

This is from their website, AbesMarket.com  Follow @AbesMarket on Twitter and try out their products today! 

Abe's Market is the online marketplace for great natural products. We connect buyers seeking amazing natural products with the people who make them. There's no need to prowl the Internet for a broader natural product selection than can be found at your local natural market. At Abe's Market, you can get all your natural product buying done in one place.

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Super Bowl XLVI is history, and the NY Giants are champions again.  Anyone that knows me, knows I love football, and that I am a die-hard Washington Redskins fan.  Hey, if my team couldn't be in the Super Bowl, I figured I may as well root for someone from our division right?

Just some passing thoughts on this Super Bowl, the commercials, and everything related to the greatest spectacle in sports!

Super Bowl & Football Thoughts

• Eli Manning IS an elite quarterback. His place in football history along with his spot in the Football Hall of Fame is secure.  
• Archie Manning not only showed us what a good quarterback can do; he showed us how to raise good young men and provide them with the opportunity to succeed at what they wanted to do.
• Tom Coughlin is a Hall of Fame Coach.  No discussion necessary.
• The Patriots were out played and out coached.
• Tom Brady and at times the Patriots, looked like they had never been to a Super Bowl; that was stunning to me. Intentional grounding out of your own end zone?  Really? Meanwhile the Giants looked like they were in control the entire game. 

The Commercials

• Client Eastwood is still THE man!  That Chrysler commercial gave me chills. Yes, they took government money in a bailout, but they paid it back.  Great job Clint & Chrysler.
• Dogs are lovable and they sell!  Several commercials featuring dogs that were very well done.
• Pepsi still has it! Or at least their marketing firm does.  The Castle Commercial was classic Pepsi, a great spot.
• Sex sells. GoDaddy.com. Do we expect anything more from them? 
• Ferris. Bueller.  VW & Mathew Broderick; instant classic.
• We never get tired of Betty White.
• I am very tired of promos for The Voice.
• The M&M commercial was funny! Brown is the new color and the red M&M stripping was hilarious!  Thanks Dawn ( @VAinParadise ) for the reminder! 

Madonna & The Halftime Show

• Wondering if Bridgestone is pleased with what they paid for?
• At 53, Madonna can still move and looked great. I know I don't look half that good at 47! 
• Dancing in 8" heels can lead to certain trips; but she did have great recovery.
• Lip syncing: never have liked it and think it's lame.  Had a great discussion on Twitter last night with Sueanne Shirzay ( @SueanneShirzay ) about this.  I respectfully disagree with her; no matter what the size of the venue, you shouldn't have to lip sync if you can still sing :)
• MIA flipping off the nation.  Really; what that necessary?  For this reason alone, I think the show sucked; just not the venue for it.

Social Media & The Super Bowl

• A lot was made prior to the game about social media and the NFL, but to me the most use of social media was the advertisers. Several commercials were leaked via advertisers YouTube channels prior to airing on Super Bowl Sunday. I believe there was an attempt to recereat VW's success last year with the Darth Vader commercial.  
• Social media cannot be forced.  Communities and discussions cannot be forced. None of the spots created that Darth Vader buzz prior to the game.
• I noticed, especially on Twitter, more discussion of the commercials than the game.  Found this very interesting.

Those are my thoughts and ramblings.  How about you? Did you like the game, the show, the commercials?  Or did you not even watch?

Want to connect with me?  That is easy, I am always on!  You can Friend me on Facebook, Follow me on Twitter, add me to your Circles on Google+ and connect with me on LinkedIn.

There is no argument that Facebook is a major player in social media, and the impending IPO could be HUGE financially for those willing to invest in stock in the leading social site.

So, why is this good news as it relates to free enterprise. it is a shinning example of how one individual can create something that becomes a platform used worldwide.  Think about it, Mark Zuckerberg decided to start the site on his own. He didn't go to his local or federal government for help.  He made the decision to start the company, albeit for reasons not connected to success (check out the movie The Social Network - http://www.thesocialnetwork-movie.com/  for more on that); but that is not the point.  The point is, one individual created what has become the leading social media site with over 800 million active users!  That is amazing by itself; but now thinking abou the company going public and the money that it will generate for Facebook is staggering.  The point is too that he did this in a free market, free enterprise environment that we have here in the United States.  We should all be thankful that it exists and should support it as much as we can.

This also means that Facebook's perfromance, their profits and losses will be key due to the fact that shareholders will expect results.  It should be interesting to see how that impacts advertising revenue and future changes to Facebook

Good luck to Facebook and it's investors. Will you be buying stock in Facebook?

Want to connect with me?  That is easy, I am always on!  You can Friend me on Facebook, Follow me on Twitter, add me to your Circles on Google+ and connect with me on LinkedIn.

In light of this weeks 24 hour blackout against SOPA, we thought it would be a good idea to explore what the world would be like without WIkipedia. Check it out below:

<br />Created by: Online University

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ProBlogger published a post over the weekend from Uttoran Sen of traveltamed.com.

The post, entitled 31 Unexpected Perks of Blogging You’ll Never Want to Give Up can be read in it's entirity here.

I have consumed this post several times and bookmarked it to refer back to not only for myself, but as a teaching tool to others that may be on the fence about blogging. The post highlights several great reasons to blog and to keep blogging. 

Whether you are blogging for yourself, your business or just to record your personal thoughts; you will learn from writing. You will inspire others while becoming more knowledgable about your topics.  Jump on in, the water is fine!

Want to connect with me?  That is easy, I am always on!  You can Friend me on Facebook, Follow me on Twitter, add me to your Circles on Google+ and connect with me on LinkedIn.

I must admit, I have been a fan of Ford motor company for years. Over the years I have owned two Ford's and my family has been loyal to the Ford brand for many years.  It didn't hurt that my uncle, Bob Ripley worked for a local Ford Dealership for several decades.  Anyone familar with southern West Virginia will recognize the name Dodson-Hager Ford.

Thinking of the cars Ford has produced over the years brings back great memories.  Come on, the Ford Mustang?  How great was and is that car?  Well, with the exception of the Mustang II during the 1970's, but we can overlook that period in time. 

The current line up of Ford products seem to further the quality of the brand. I do not own a Ford currently, but their trucks, SUV's and some of their cars are worth the look in my opinion.

The current line up Ford commercials, at leeast the interveiew style commercials, stink in my opinion!

If you haven't seen them; here is one:

Recently these commercials have underwent a makevover of sorts, shifting the interview to outside, on the steps of a building in impromptu press conference styel format.  Complete with someone, portraying a photographer, running up to snap pictures of the interviewee. So, what is my problem with the commercials?  They are old school and expect the viewers to believe that these Ford owners are surprised to be interviewed.  They show "reporters" writing down answers and sticking microphones in the faces of the owners.  And, they have NO reference to social media whatsover! Even at the end of the commercial, no website link, Twitter image, Facebook logo or YouTube brand page link.  I guess what makes me shake my head is that Ford has a strong online and social presence, so why hide it?  Click over to Facebook; they have MULTIPLE pages; one for each model!  It's like these commercials are produced by a complete different marketing department; and they seem so fake! They are not attempting to connect or build a community at all with these commercials. 

Do shoppers turn to social to research cars prior to purchasing?  Yes, check out this post from Splash Media:  Social Media Marketing CAN Fuel Auto Sales - If Done Right.  Cars.com has done it for years, so can all other brands. 

Those are my thoughts, and a bit of a rant I suppose. But what do you think? Do you like the commercials? Are they effective? 

Want to connect with me?  That is easy, I am always on!  You can Friend me on Facebook, Follow me on Twitter, add me to your Circles on Google+ and connect with me on LinkedIn.

For several years now, I have followed and consumed most of the writings of Chris Brogan. Working in marketing and social media, Chris is a wealth of information.  However, to me,  the nuggets of wisdom on life, work and other topics are just as valuable.

Each January Chris publishes via his blog his three words for the year.  Chris does this to encourage himself and others to use these words to focus on defining goals for the year instead of making New Years Resolutions. If your curious about his post for this year, check out My 3 Words for 2012.

I also read a story from a more spiritual perspective by Debbie Macomber, Choosing Words to Live By.  She choses one word per year to focus on for the entire year.  Her story is powerful and her words are ones that have helped her over the years.

I have chosen to do this in years past and it helps me focus on goals for the year, so I encourage you to give it a try.  Let me know how it goes for you!

Here are my 3 Focused Words for 2012:

Listening

We have all heard the phrase "we were given two ears and one mouth for a reason." Sometimes that is lost during the moment, especially with me. So my first focused word of the year is Listening. My committment to those around me is to spend more time listening and less time talking. Anyone that knows me knows I can talk; but doing so instead of listening is not the best use of time for myself or the other person.  Listening is paramount for me this year.

Friendship

My second focused word for this year is Friendship. I am blessed with an abundance of connnections, followers and friends online as well as offline.  However I have not always been the best friend I can be to those people. That is changing. Focusing on Friendship is vital to maintaining the friendship as well as just overall relationships. Luckily I have shinning expamples of how friendships should function. Friendships come first for me this year.

Challenging

My third Focused word for 2012 is Challenging. I am challenging myself with being a better Listener, with developing and valuing all Friendships. I will challenge myself to be the best friend, husband, brother, son and business owner I can be.  I will challenge myself to improve my health this year. 2010 was a good year for getting in shape for me, but ended with a triple play that sidelined me; bulging disc, rotar cuff injury and the need for a cortizone injection just to walk. Yes, I overdid it, but then I let that be an excuse for 2011.  No more. Challenging myself is key this year.

Those are my words; what about yours?  Do you focus on specific words for the year?

You can connect with me through the platform of your choice:  Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn or Twitter.

In the ongoing redesign of your Facebook profile including the release of the new Timeline, Facebook has moved your Pokes.  To some, this doesn't matter, but to others that spend time throughout the day Poking their friends, this is a big deal!  Well, not a big deal, but something that is probably causing people to scratch their heads.

Facebook have moved your pokes to the left side underneath other apps and the list of features you have as part of your account.  Your Pokes are no longer listed with your birthday reminders as they have been for years.

This photo shows the Poke location; as well as the Pokes I need to return :)

Happy Poking!!

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