The First Ten Years of Search

Search just finished its first decade! Our US Search teams have put together a look back over the past 10 years and key milestones which have shaped the search landscape today. It’s amazing how far the industry has come in such a short space of time and how much it has changed. Most notably, back in 2000 Google was the default search engine for Yahoo users and now they’re main competitors!

Click here to see The Decade in Search highlights and below our thoughts from Amnesia, it’s effect on the APAC region and what the future is set to hold – for the moment at least!

Why has Google become so strong?

• Leading innovation, products and add ons that are simple for consumers to use and make Google the one-stop shop for consuming and sharing online
• For advertisers they have developed user friendly interfaces, in-depth reporting and free applications such as Analytics and Insights to make sure we can target consumers as effectively as possible on the Google network
• Both Yahoo and MSN have both lagged behind in innovation which has ultimately held back their advancement in the majority of APAC

Key Changes for the APAC region:

• Reputation management – the force that is social is an exciting time as online becomes more of an open forum. As search engines start to rank more and more social content the process of reputation management becomes more challenging and also brings up the age old question – is all news good PR?

• Censorship – hot topic at the moment especially here in Australia. Is the free availability of information set to end? We’ll be keeping a close eye on proceedings and also the effects this may have on advertisers

• China is the key market for change, with recent heavy news coverage that Google may pull out over a combination of high levels of censorship and hacking linked to the government.

• Accessibility – the imminent launch of new devices, such as, the iPad and Android phones, will open up the way people can search and the frequency in which they can do it

• Bing – Microsoft’s new search engine has reportedly been growing, albeit at a small rate. It will be interesting to see locally if consumers in each market will transition once it comes out of Beta and all features are available. Look out Google? Only time will tell!

All in all we are about to enter the next chapter in Search. Especially here in APAC where there are many different types of market, from emerging to mature and everything in between. The key to success is strategy localisation to ensure your advertising is meeting the needs of consumers from very varied backgrounds.

[Via http://amnesiablog.wordpress.com]

CCIM of VA's 2nd Virtual Deal Making Call

Last month, the CCIM Virginia chapter organized it’s first ‘Deal Making Call’ to help circulate exposure for member’s listings, and the efforts wholly paid off in what can only be define as success!  A total of 10 properties were presented with about 12 participants on the call including those members who pre-registered to present listings.  Several participants offered feedback following the call saying they really liked the format. One other participant requested a package from a member to present to a potential buyer, so already we have a potential transaction from 1st Deal Call.  With my past experience with these formats, I expect the call participation to steadily grow, potentially to between 50 and 100 folks.  Going forward, we plan to promo participation on the call in a formal advertising campaigns and heavily across social media platforms.

Over the course of the next few months a formalized advertising program to attract buyers and non-CCIM brokers who may bring buyers to call will be initiated.  Only members of the Virginia CCIM chapter will be allowed to present properties on the calls, but all others will be allowed to participate as buyers or buyers’ brokers.

So, please mark your calendars and join us from the comfort of your desk as CCIM of Virginia will hold our next monthly Virtual Deal Making Call on Tuesday, February 9th - NEXT Monday – from 10:30-11:00 a.m.

This month’s call will feature a special guest speaker, Rod Santomassimo of the Massimo Group, who will share with us some details of how he is helping commercial real estate brokers across the US to stay at the top of their game during the current economy.

This is your opportunity to use this webinar to pitch your deals and to find more of what you are looking for to do more business.

First: Register Here: Tuesday, February 9th from 10:30 am- 11:30 am

(You will receive an INVITATION closer to the event date with call-in information.)

Second: Download Slide Template and submit to jtucker@ccim.net by 5:00 PM Friday before the event (February 5th)

Note: Slides are open to CCIM Virginia Chapter Members ONLY. Others are welcome to participate in viewing and discussion.

[Via http://jimtuckerccim.wordpress.com]

Adding social networking buttons to wordpress.com blogs

I love wordpress and that’s the wordpress.com version and not the wordpress.org one (yes I know all you techies are going to go “what a shoe”. Well sorry but I don’t particular like security issues and the fact that the installs suck up bandwidth. Blogger is fine as well in my book but I think wordpress.com offers a bit more bang for the buck and, oh wait, there is no buck, it’s free, so I’m not going to carp that the .com version is more limiting in many respects then the .org and you can’t have as many bells and whistles.

My feelings and from what I can see from Google and Bing searches on various blogs, quite honestly it doesn’t seem to matter what platform you use, the search engines love them all if you keyword and tag correctly.

I was curious to see if one could also add social media sharing links to blog posts on wordpress.com, its possible on the .org version as plugins and there are people that have done coding tutorials but I had a hard time finding anything aside from http://www.addthis.com to be able to do this on the .com version. I couldn’t find it in the help section as well but figured there must be a way.

I came across http://www.perlitalabs.com/Social_Bookmark_WordPress_Builder/url_builder.php?title=Test%20Title&url=http://www.test.com and http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/social-bookmarkings?replies=42 and a post originating from http://sunburntkamel.wordpress.com/ . I am unable to find the original post but the information originated from there from someone else’s blog, my apologies but could not find the original post I found it on. (Thank you whoever you are)

This is the original code suggests for implementing SM links and images in wordpress.com

social-bookmarking-template-sunburntkamel

It appears the .gif links are still active but wanted to insert my own and also wanted to add twitter (which I don’t know if it existed when he wrote this)

This was my version, please have fun tweeking if need be and please let me know if you have any problems or suggestions.

WordPress.com social media linking codes

I had some trouble with the twitter link but seemed to find out what worked and did not work. Two recommendations when implementing the twitter link: use bitly to shorten the link up in advance and also if you have any special characters in the title or the url, specifically & and ” change them when inserting. If the title has either of those two symbols replace (&) with (and) and delete any (“)s. The characters do not translate when posting to twitter. The link won’t work.

This is kind of a pain because you have to insert for every blog post and change the links but have not found any alternatives as of yet. The nomen should be replaced with the name of the post and the addy with the unique url. If you keep a copy in MS word and then just copy it into another new doc and sub the url and the blog title it only takes a minute.

I don’t have a code yet for Linkedin, which I’d like to add at some point, if someone has done one I would appreciate it and will add it in. If you find some links that don’t work, please let me know as well.

[Via http://chefforfeng.wordpress.com]

What the WSJ Missed: The Lessons of Lady Gaga (For Every Marketer)

Covered in blood, meeting the queen in bondage attire, and now–the WSJ. Lady GaGa clearly has a few less-obvious and more notable lessons the WSJ skimmed over. While they didn’t quote her, the internet does so here are a few finer points:

It’s Not Just About the Music (Biz)—or the “Product”

Her product goes well beyond what’s distributed on itunes and played in every spin class, club, gay bar, etc. To quote WSJ: “Though she writes her own material, she is as focused on visual theatrics, fashion, and global appeal.”

Similarly, the lessons of GaGa aren’t just for the recording industry. CMOs, CEOs and creative companies and entrepreneurs should be taking notes. She is the biggest brand to emerge in 2009.

Own What Drives Your Brand

House of GaGa gets a WSJ drive-by as “a core team of advisers.” Hand-picked from (her words, elsewhere) “my coolest art friends,” they are the core of her brand. These collaborators help design the shows, the staging, the costumes, the clothing, the hair, the lighting, the everything.

Oh yeah, and it’s under her control.

As she says, “It’s a whole amazing creative process that’s completely separate from the label.”

Share the wealth, but own what counts. Her contract might give the record company some of her MAC cash, but the intellectual vision and property are all hers.

Are you outsourcing everything to a revolving door of agencies or freelancers? Does an AOR own your creative vision? Keep a core team inside and out that’s committed and connected. Famous, cheap, and/or easy = not enough.

Put Your Money Where Your Business Is

Overexposed? Maybe, but you’ve yet to see her yachting around Lake Como or having a balcony bash at Turks & Caicos.

From the beginning, her cash went back into, yep, Haus of Gaga:  “I wanted to put my own money into the show… I was making money as a songwriter and I didn’t want a condo or a car because I don’t drive and I’m never fucking home, so I just wanted to put all my money into my performance.”

Where’s your capital—cash, focus, creativity—going?

Strong Direction + Execution, Execution, Execution

The Haus of Gaga isn’t an entourage, it’s an execution-based creative laboratory with a bias toward doing and outdoing. The briefs are simple and well-defined, with very actionable outcomes:

“I said that I wanted to make my face light up. Or that I wanted to make my cane light up. Or that I wanted to make a pair of dope sunglasses. Or that I want to make video glasses, or whatever it was that I wanted to do.”

Take away: Tight briefs and strong vision are crucial to team success. Yet ideas without execution are just happy hour conversation—and worth about as much.

Grammy or not, this is just the beginning. Get more GaGa thoughts here tomorrow.

[Via http://aliasvivian.wordpress.com]

Budgets & Benefits

On January 16th, we had our first Saturday morning seminar with Suzanne Feucht, accounting coach and trainer, to talk about basic financial tools. There were lots of participants and even more questions, so it was hard to get through everything Suzanne had on the agenda. They appreciated that she emphasized the basics: using the right accounting software, keeping track of paperwork, etc. The big message was they wanted more accounting and financial seminars in the future.

January 21st, Susan Rich joined us for a new addition to her Write it Rich! series. This presentation was on benefit-based copy, and how small businesses can think about what their product or service provides, and use that message to market themselves. We got to look at (and laugh about) some vintage ads, and point out where the key message was and what we were being sold… not a product, but a benefit. There was a lot of great discussion, so much so that we went a little over time. But no one seemed to mind too much – they were busy practicing their benefit-based copy and writing up their own blurbs and ads.

[Via http://mercycorpsnw.wordpress.com]

And the beat goes on

Just got another email, this time from Hooved Animal Humane Society (Sue’s present home). It turns out they’re having a tack and craft sale at their facility in late February–wanted to know if I would like to participate. Of course!!! This is starting to get exciting. I’ve like the idea of “expo” type shows ever since I did the one at Willow Tree. People come with the idea that they’re going to buy something, while at horse shows they’re much more focused on chasing those prize ribbons. I’ll still do some horse shows this year, but I’m thinking the local “all things horsey”-type shows might be more productive for the product I’m selling.

[Via http://allifarkasartist.wordpress.com]

Manager, Member Services (Houston, TX)

Manager, Member Services (Member Retention) POSTED: Jan 11

Salary: Open Location: Houston, Texas

Employer: Greater Houston Partnership Type: Full Time – Experienced

Category: Marketing: Other Required Education: 4 Year Degree

Employer Information

About Greater Houston Partnership

The Greater Houston Partnership(GHP)is a not-for-profit organizaton which is the primary advocate for Houston’s business community and is dedicated to building regional economic prosperity. The Partnership is the umbrella organization under which the Greater Houston Chamber of Commerce, the Houston Economic Development Council and the Houston World Trade Assoication were combined. These organizations, while still legal entities, operate as divisions of the Partnership. The Partnership has a….more info

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Job Description

DEPARTMENT RESPONSIBILITIES The Member Services Division is responsible for the retention and acquisition of members. Coordinates business development programs, networking events and visibility including business-to-business opportunities for members.

POSITION OBJECTIVES Drive the retention of members and assist the division in the development and implementation of programs aimed at helping Partnership members see value in retaining their membership.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES The following responsibilities are essential to job performance:

1. Manage and implement the annual membership Campaigns. 2. Identify, train and manage Ambassadors and Allies; volunteers responsible for the retention of members. 3. Design, manage and implement the member retention programs. 4. Organize programs specific to the needs of large, mid-size, and small member companies. 5. Develop and carry out a layered strategy for communicating to Members the services, resources and value of membership. 6. Maintain investor relations by effectively building relationships with Members; develop and conduct action plan for face-to-face contact with Members. 7. Manage and develop business development programs, councils and committees, i.e. Business to Business/Member to Member, workshops, and networking events. 8. Represent the Partnership at corporate and community events. 9. Provide supervision and coaching for assigned Coordinators and Administrative support staff, including performance reviews, career development and other relevant supervisory functions. 10. Design and conduct internal staff training programs for quality service to Members. 11. Other duties as assigned.

NOTES: Local Residents Preferred (No Relo).

Additional Salary Information: Commensurate with experience. Paid parking, 401(k) plan, subsidized group insurance coverage, vacation and sick time benefit hours, 11 paid holidays

Requirements

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES The following knowledge, skills and abilities are desirable for job success:

• Minimum of 3 years experience in a fund raising, marketing, communication, or related field, in a public, private or non-profit organization, or a combination of the above type experience and training. • Minimum requirement is a Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field, or 10 plus years relevant experience. • Experience in retail and customer service a plus. • Excellent verbal, written, analytical, presentation and interpersonal skills. • Proficiency in Windows, Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Excel, other software programs. • Ability to coordinate, engage and fully utilize member expertise. • Professional appearance. • Preference for working with all levels of internal and external contacts. • Ability to exercise mature judgment and tact. • Ability to professionally manage diverse groups of people. • Preference for fast paced, goal and team oriented environment. • Ability to work well under pressure and deadlines, with minimal supervision. • Self-motivated and directed. • Ability and flexibility to prioritize and work on multiple assignments.. • Preference for detail work. • Bilingual helpful.

[Via http://marketingjobsdallas.wordpress.com]