Crowdsourcing is where a someone reaches out to a community to solve a problem. This phenomenal resource has hit the market big time. Seeing everyone from NASA to BP doing it.

Like Nixon said, We all have problems some are just more nuclear than others... However solving those problems used to involve locking yourself in a closet and then emerging only when it was accomplished.

We see that even BP can do something right, crowdsourcing was the answer to the leaking well. (Yes, it turns out a plumber in the Mid-West came up with the design that TODAY is capping the well.)

You too can crowdsource even if you have a small production problem or have an intense staffing problem. Simplify a complex problem into small pieces then have people work/bid/volunteer to accomplish those pieces.

Make crowdsourcing your way.

Having trouble crowdsourcing? We have done it successfully for years, let's talk and come up with a solution (maybe bring a friend).

"Belief is Power - Doubt is Death." I recently dug up this quote while I have been doing research on leadership. Thanks Franklin D. Roosevelt. So, if belief is your brand, is it believable?

So you think you're "The Best" at this or that. How? Why? The reader will think it junk if there is no qualification. The false information is rampant, however perception is reality.So, when perception is proved false the believer will feel betrayed and obviously you don't want to be on the opposing side of that. As a wise man once said, nobody believes a flat lie, but people believes lies that have some truth attached to it.

So you think you're ready to tell the truth about your brand? Let's talk.

I'm human therefore I fear. I guess it could have been in place of "think". You can ALWAYS bank on the fact that people will be fearful. Warren Buffett makes that perfectly clear by his buying trends in the market, not to mention writing it in his book "Snowball".

You might want to consider a "fear" approach or product. In New York as soon as it starts raining, out of nowhere umbrella sales people are all over the place. They know that people under stress (there are many when it's raining in NY) will buy.

Consider trying this strategy whatever you sell... Tire shop; spare tires, Clothing Company; spare buttons, Apple; Product Insurance, Target; Product Insurance, Starbucks; return policy, Restaurant; coupons (people will be hungry later), the list goes on.

Who knows this could be your ticket to a bigger "Black" calendar than "Red".

Do you need some help determining your fear product? Give us a call!

Everyone has an incentive. Much like the mob would say... "Everyone has their price." Moral, Financial, Obligation, Time, Love, etc. Successful marketers have for years looked at these incentives to help their brand along. (Reference= Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy)

World Vision (a charity organization) has people sponsor children of foreign countries monthly. This is their cash cow and it's based on people's moral incentive to help other needy people.

On a larger scale, the IRS has people pay their taxes yearly and the incentive here? You get the picture.

When thinking about your brand think about what people's incentive is to buy. If you have one that is a little vague, do something about it. Make it as powerful as you possibly can.

Need some help? Give us a call for a free consultation.

I could not help but see all the marketing around Michael Jackson lately. Movie goers will see a film that is a documentary on Michael's life entitled "This is it". A CD release of the same name is also out to possibly accompany the movie. Let's not get to crass, Michael is a phenomenal writer, sing and dancer. But man the amount of marketing in the latest ploy leads me to think is there better marketing than dying?

Look at other artists that are celebrated only after dying. I guess the challenge for a brand is dying and evolving into it's next iteration. A few examples come to mind with Apple introduction of the iMac and iPod. Other examples I would include Stussy, Puma and Target. For sake of space I will not list out the reasons. But a dyeing brand could be poised for a rebirth.

Here are 10 brands that would be interesting to see reborn... 1- GM 2- Doc Martens 3- Snapple 4-AAA 5-KMart 6- Casio 7- My Space 8- Beanie Babies 9- Nordstrom 10- Eddie Bauer.

So you think MSN/Bing are a good search source. Well you might be in the serious minority. Accordong to hitwise.com (national leader in web traffic tracking) Google has amassed 70.93% market share for search engine. WOW! If your site has been doing well in the MSN/Bing category but not Google  you might want to think hard about getting us to help you.

http://www.hitwise.com/us/datacenter/main/dashboard-10133.html

Turns out that AT&T is ticking off customers with bad service. (You probably knew that already). Well now you can point and laugh a little harder considering a new study that says they have had a hard time subsidizing the iPhone. Well we can all hope that Apple will make them bleed so much they will want to give up their contract and the world will finally get a piece of the "Apple" pie, the iPhone.

Check it out...
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-10371785-233.html

In case you have born recently as my daughter has, you might or might not have heard about Twitter. The unique service that lets users text anyone "following" them, in answer to the question, "What are you doing?"

Well as everything goes you're in one day and out the next. Twitter is not immune to this either.

Has this new trend gone unnoticed until recently (2 years)? Hardly ...
<img src="http://weblogs.hitwise.com/bill-tancer/twitter1.gif>