Have you ever been checking out of a shop when the cashier innocently asks whether you would like 15% off your next purchase? Of course you answer yes, after all who doesn’t want a deal? But then she asks you to jot down your email address … oh no, you know where this is leading … to a lifetime of junk mail. You pause, pen at your lip, wondering what to do, whether 15% off is worth it. Finally you write it down. Read More

Everywhere I look, every article I read, seems to hammer home the fact that peer influence marketing is becoming the most effective method of selling a brand. Word of mouth marketing has always been a reliable way to do business. Why? Because brands know that consumers would rather hear it from someone they know and trust. In The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell describes the three characters needed to start an epidemic. Read More

The long tail, a concept popularised by Chris Anderson in 2006, proves that selling less of more is the most profitable way to do business. For years the film, music, and literary industries (to name a few) focused their attention on a small segment of the talent that made up their business. Why? Because it costs money to promote and sell products. It doesn’t make sense for a publisher to invest in an unknown author who is going to sell 500 books (max) that they’ll never be able to convince the supermarkets and Waterstones of the world to buy. Read More

The other day I blogged about digital “connectedness” and the role of brands in social media. MySpace identifies itself as a platform that creates user experiences around stuff consumers are rabid about and then taps a brand into those experiences. It seems that this is exactly what HBO and K-Swiss have done with their Kenny Powers campaign. Eastbound & Down is a hit TV series featuring the lovable, loud-mouth Kenny Powers. Read More

There's no better way to start an autumn Wednesday morning then drinking a Lemsip and reading an essay on poor link building http://bit.ly/watchyourlinks.The author, Dærick Gröss, outlines the risks of hiring an outside company to do certain components of your SEO- I am referring specifically to organic link building via blog post comments. Read More