”Stop! Collaborate and LISTEN!” Let’s apply Vanilla Ice’s song lyric to social media. Your customers are talking, are you listening? Whether it be around your product specifically, your competitor, or the industry as a whole, people are engaging in conversations online through blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, forums, product reviews, etc. as an outlet to recommend, [...]

Cuddled up in my Snuggie™ blanket over the weekend, I flipped the pages of my February 2010 issue of Elle Magazine and came across a survey about iPhone users that consumer electronics specialists, Retrevo, conducted called the Gadgetology report.  This online survey featured in the Modern Love section of the magazine, consisted of 445 iPhone [...]

Last Tuesday, January 12th the catastrophic 7.0 earthquake hit Port-Au-Prince, Haiti.  Once I had heard the news of the massive destruction, I immediately hopped onto my Twitter account @carolynruiz and searched for Haiti using Twitter Search .  I did this because I wanted to see the real-time news transpiring and how I could contribute to [...]

More often that not, when you hear the word “viral,”you may think of contagious viruses either attacking your computer or your immune system. However, when it comes to marketing, going “viral” is often the goal brands intend to achieve when they push marketing messages out through video, websites, social media, email, word-of-mouth, etc.
Unfortunately, many companies [...]

The battle lines have been drawn. The super powers have been amassing their arsenal of resources. Now, the front lines are engaging. The battle for ultimate control of a brand has begun between the 20th century traditional agency and the 21st century interactive agency.

Last week I was in the local mall getting a jump on holiday shopping. I happened to be in one of the two malls that has opened a Microsoft Retail store. I was curious to see what it was like as I always enjoy browsing the Apple store.

Industry reports continue showing email marketing provides the highest return on investment for every dollar spent compared to all other marketing channels.
According to the Direct Marketing Association, in 2008 email marketing’s Return on Investment was $45.06 for every dollar spent. In comparison, marketing via catalogs returned $7.28 for every dollar spent.
Even though email marketing outperforms [...]

In the past, shopping for a Mother’s Day gift involved calling a florist or going into a store and buying flowers, as well as a card. Now we have the Internet – which boasts free e-cards and websites solely dedicated to flowers, gifts, apparel, poems…and the list goes on. Since the economy is still looking [...]

Video is hot. Technology has lowered the barriers of entry for companies to incorporate quality video productions into their marketing communications. Obviously, there are large corporate brands that shoot full-scale productions for national TV commercials but not all companies are able to afford the media buy associated with a campaign of that scale. But if you’re a marketer on a tighter budget, you can still make video work for you. Here’s how you do it.

Many brands have made the shift to online marketing and are taking advantage of the many tools out there to connect with customers. I recently read an article about cosmetics companies using social media tools and interactive websites to reach out to consumers and help them find products that truly fit their needs. As a [...]