My heart is breaking. My daughter is crying, and all I want to do is protect her from being hurt. Yet, the lessons of “hard knocks”, “irrational people” and “unrealistic expectations” can be taught with one simple phrase, “Step-back, analyze the situation, and move on to bigger and better things.”

In business, what would you do if you received an irate phone call from an existing client, who is demanding a 30x ROI and is seriously disappointed with having received a 10x ROI?

The client states, “Well, I’m not going to remain a client any longer.” Is there any reasoning with a client like this? My advice is not to waste your time. Move onto other clients who appreciate making money, and if they spend $1,000 on marketing and in return get a $10,000 sale, they sure better be happy, 'cause if they’re not, they are only wasting my valuable time trying to change their mind.

Back to the issue of raising kids … If your teenager has just experienced a vaguely similar situation with an irrational friend who has unrealistic expectations of what a “friendship should be”, the issue at hand doesn’t really matter … it could be that only one teen does all the calling and making of the plans; or it could be acts of peer pressure and lack of participation (1 kid wants the other to smoke pot); or it could be hateful name calling and the purposeful embarrassment and bullying that takes place on the bus.

My advice to my daughter is the same advice that I extend to my salespeople, “Don’t waste your time. Move on to other friends who appreciate you, admire you and think you are special. Don’t waste time trying to change people.”

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I have been digesting Chris Brogan’s blog post, My Love For Blogging, from last week. It is a great post. Meaty. Challenging. Inspirational.

I don’t usually print what I read on the Web, in the interest of being Green and sensible. Chris’ post, though, I printed, and then sat with a pen, and read, making squiggly underlines and little arrows, like I used to in school.

Chris says that the love of blogging – and for Chris, it really is a love, a passionate love – is why he has been in the game so long. He encourages bloggers not to “abandon the chance to express.”

I can breathe easy on this one: I’m celebrating a major milestone today … it’s the 4th year anniversary of my blog, which began on MovableType on March 16, 2006. Some of my best posts have been typed in the middle of the night, or dictated into my hand-held Dictaphone while driving. I’ve enjoyed blogging about life as a “mom”, as a wife, as a female entrepreneur, and a caretaker to elderly parents. I’ve been focused, lost focus, gotten back into focus. It’s a work in progress; I’ve blogged with passion and sometimes with obligation.

My blog stats read “This blog has had 338 entries posted to it since its inception.” In the past three months, I’ve posted 22 times. That means that 6% of all my posts have been in the last 90 days. I am not a daily blogger, but I’m working on consistency.

Continue reading ""Happy Blogday" to me. And a shout out to Chris Brogan, "I'm In""

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Mobile shopping is definitely here.

According to the findings of ABI research, mobile shopping in the US accounted for $369 million sales in 2008. That figure jumped to $1.2 billion in 2009. And 2010 is projected to witness an estimated $2.4 billion in mobile purchases. But while the popularity of shopping from one's mobile device is growing everyday, some of the biggest and most trusted web retailers in the industry continue to lag far behind in the mobile landscape. There are really only a handful of companies which are poised to reap the benefits of a growing mobile shopping market in 2010.

What helped a site make my list of 2010's Top 10 Mobile Shopping Sites?

I looked at depth of content, accessibility and searchability, user-friendly features and unique functionality. I looked for sites that rock, that made me stay and … shop awhile.

1. Crate and Barrel Mobile

Crate and Barrel may be new to the mobile space, but the home furnishings brand is quickly taking charge with a new mobile site that has just begun to resonate with customers. With the obvious goal of helping people shop Crate and Barrel’s complete catalog from anywhere in the world, Crate and Barrel has spruced up the conventional mobile shopping with a few attributes bound to be cloned by competitors in no time at all.

• Gift ideas galore! Don’t have any ideas yourself? No worries, Crate and Barrel on your mobile will promptly solve this issue
• Check in-store availability of the products you want
• The entire catalog of products is accessible and searchable from the mobile site
• Manage wedding and gift registries and favorite lists
• Product reviews, product reviews, and more product reviews – the good, the bad, and the ugly are all here

Continue reading "2010 Top 10 Mobile Shopping Sites"

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A very dear friend of mine is enjoying a public relations coup, and I am celebrating on her behalf. I can totally relate to her joy: it is so exciting to read about your company, your inspiration and your hard work, in someone else’s words.

I’ve known Carolyn Newman for over ten years. She is a breast cancer survivor, a mother and an amazingly spirited and innovative entrepreneur. She is bright and funny, and she took an immense health challenge and turned it around. Through her process of rehab and survival, Carolyn identified a market and created a product to fill a niche. She is tenacious. She has a “never give up” attitude.

Carolyn’s company, Warrior Wear Inc., is the result of her vision. “There is nothing more rewarding than seeing your product on store shelves and on the biggest internet sites in the world,” Carolyn is quoted at WomenandBiz.com. “Knowing that you have created something others want and need is pure satisfaction.”

A year ago, I was featured in WomenandBiz.com and my friends, including Carolyn, celebrated for me. Reading the story about Catalogs.com, Carolyn says, gave her the motivation to undertake a public relations effort.

It is important for women to tell the story of our business success. We need to share our inspiration and the lessons we have learned with other female entrepreneurs. We need to celebrate each other.

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A couple of years ago, a friend emailed me, partly horrified, partly entranced. She had just downloaded Google earth, searched her address, and there she was, in her yellow shorts, pushing the lawn mower on the front lawn, frozen on the Web, at her less-than-finest.

In Freedoms, Borders And Google, Derek Gordon comments on Google’s challenges in Europe with privacy violation. I agree with Gordon, who writes, “While respect for individual privacy and dignity are extraordinarily important values -- ones that should be fought for and protected -- the right to freedom of expression is at least as important.”

We are finding ourselves posted on Facebook or YouTube by friends – even by strangers. Our online page visits are tracked, our searches recorded and our preferences stored. Our privacy, or lack of it, is important to all kinds of people.

We aren’t going to change things. And there is incredible value in the right to freedom of expression, creation and exploration. The Web will continue to develop, as will privacy-compromising technologies that benefit businesses and law enforcement and government. What we have to understand is that safeguarding our own privacy is in our own hands. It will be more and more important to be engaged and to monitor how we are represented. Create accounts on Facebook and Twitter and others. Be curious, stay alert. Learn how to use the tools that can put barriers between your private persona and your public data.

Have you Googled yourself lately?

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I was paying bills yesterday afternoon. I like to be prompt. I like to be accurate.

I had a question.

But on that particular invoice, there was no phone number, no e-mail address, no help for me, with my question.

We are all so connected with e-mail bouncing across multiple addresses and tweets and feeds from blogs to laptops to iPhones and more, that we sometimes forget to tell people how to get in touch with us, live and person. Do a quick review of the paper you generate. Is your contact information bold, complete and easy to read? Take a critical look at your Web presence, all of it. If I get to you by way of Google, can I find a "contact" button quickly? Is your phone number obvious, and not hidden behind jaw-dropping Flash?

Can I call you?

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Catalogs.com has a page on Facebook. This is new for us. We are adding fans to hear what they think about Catalogs.com, while we share news, savings offers and interesting catalogs. Catalogs.com is also connecting with our merchants by making their Facebook Pages the “Favorite Pages” of our Facebook Page.

This is how the web of Facebook works. You have to get the word out there, and keep fanning the embers. No pun on the use of the word “fan.”

Some of our merchants are visiting the Catalogs.com Facebook Page, and asking us for a quick tutorial on how to get started. They see the possibilities. They want to join the web, and connect with their customers, both existing and potential. With over 400 million active Facebook users, there is vast potential. It’s kind of breath-taking.

Continue reading "Social Media 101: Creating a Facebook Fan Page"

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Last week, we met with our new marketing team for the first time. We painted our picture, laid out the facts, discussed what we think of our opportunities and challenges.

Our new marketing whizzes? A group of undergraduates from Florida Atlantic University interning with Catalogs.com for their senior project.

The students – half my age – made me remember working on my MBA at University of Miami. We had similar case studies. I was excited to meet the executives, gather data and run with an idea before putting it to paper. I wonder if the company I used in my case study implemented any of my material.

At Catalogs.com, we are all excited to see what our marketing interns come up with. We are open to out-of-the-box concepts. After they digest the information we loaded on them in our meeting yesterday, they will be formulating a marketing plan. We left the possibilities open, not wanting to stifle creativity. We avoided filling their notepads with our ideas – and encouraged the students to brainstorm their way to something really innovative.

Continue reading "Interns Turn Youthful Perspective on Marketing Innovation"

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For a quick moment I didn’t know what I was looking at: an e-mail from someone in my office framed with a high-tech black and red blog header and a dapper gentleman’s photo. There was our company name and links and our employee’s name.

A news alert found the mention of Catalogs.com in a blog post. The blogger had copied the entire text of an e-mail received from one of our marketing people, and pasted it into his blog: greeting, body and signature line.

The e-mail is a thorough, detailed follow-up for a sales call made by a Catalogs.com marketer to the owner of a specialty clothing company. Nothing to be concerned about: the e-mail is nicely written and represents our company professionally. And although it sits a little off center that someone would post the entire context of a private email in a public forum, and ask for business input from his readers, we are not particularly concerned. We will watch for responses. Monitor the action, if there is any.

Then, we found that this blog feeds to the prospect’s Facebook fan page. And there is our Catalogs.com marketer’s e-mail on the Facebook wall. With comments from fans. Again, nothing to worry about, but a real awareness raiser.

Jeffrey Rohrs writes this week in DMNews , “A main point is to remember that any media that connects you with customers online is social. One thing that people tend to forget is that e-mail is a part of that machine. It's easy to forget that of all the sharing happening online, 50% of the sharing is happening through e-mail.”

Jeffrey is on target, and it is also important to remember that e-mail as a social connection can be forwarded, posted and shared across many forums. When cultivating your social media presence, don’t forget that every electronic communication is part of the chain.

I’d love to hear your comments. Would you use the text of an e-mail - other than a client testimonial – in your social media content?

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Sammy, Senior Editor and fashion blogger at Catalogs.com, is on her way to the Big Apple for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. She leaves sunny South Florida on Valentine’s Day, which is a lovely day for a passionate odyssey into the world of high fashion.

Sammy, writes about fashion at Let’s Talk Style. She has been putting pen, or rather keys, to virtual paper for a couple years. Sammy has a following of fashionistas who love her wit and often tongue-in-cheek view of the world populated by models, designers, awesome handbags, can’t-live-without sweaters and celebrities.

So how does a fashion fanatic go from blogging one day to jet-setting her way to the world’s greatest fashion circus?

Pretty much the same way one goes about blogging on any topic to having a real presence in the conversation: being passionate.

Sammy has a natural knack for writing – she is a published playwright – and she has enthusiastically cultivated her presence as a fashion observer. She isn’t afraid to promote herself. Her passion and her well-crafted blog served as her entrée for fashion press accreditation. Miami Beach Fashion Week, Sammy’s home turf, was the perfect starting point to create a place for herself among the cameras and beautiful people. She earned a place in the “Press Book” and kept her observations and her blog in the fray. Now Sammy’s inbox is filling with Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week 2010 invites to shows, receptions, showrooms and boutique events.

For the next couple of days, I’m living vicariously. Fashion blogging is Sammy’s niche, not mine.

Continue reading "Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week: Tahari … Be Still My Heart"

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I am not a huge football fan.

But when it comes to the Super Bowl, oddly enough, you can’t pull me away.

Why?

I have a passion for advertising and marketing. I love the wittiness and hilarity of the ads. I am eager to see the cutting edge in much-hyped big budget TV commercials.

My favorite this year was Budweiser’s Clydesdale and the Longhorn steer. Leave off the last few words of the voice over - “not even a fence” - and the ad would have met my idea of perfection. “Nothing comes between friends” was perfect, with punch and effectiveness that made it stand out in the Super Bowl ad pack.

And the Google ad was wonderful. I type fast - yes, Google ad fast - and live my life fast, but not that fast. I laughed out loud. It was funny and sweet. We are replaying the script this morning, and the final search not one of us forgot, “how to assemble a crib.” What a great advertising debut for Google, and I am not agreeing at all with the criticism that a Parisian love story was not “Super Bowl” material.

What I found a wee bit disappointing is that this year, not a lot of the ads were really exciting. I’ve had enough bawking chickens. Babies trading stock online. Cartoon characters pitching soft drinks.

Then there’s the opposite side of the sentimental Google commercial: too much testosterone. I understand that this is the Super Bowl, the culmination of a season of head-jarring, bone-smashing entertainment. But there seemed to be an emphasis on violence. A Dorito stuck like a ninja star in a man’s neck, a semi-truck full of beer rolling over a human bridge (ouch!), sassy little children, no matter how cute, smacking an adult. And the dog that strapped a shock collar onto his owner, which made me laugh, although I’m sure the ad horrified dog trainer Victoria Stilwell, the evangelist of canine positive reinforcement and non-violent redirection.

The most fascinating “buzz” of the evening was on my laptop, though, where I was logged into Twitter and YouTube and surfing for work in between ads and plays on the field. There was an online conversation within seconds about each commercial (and probably the football plays too, but that’s not where I was tuned in) and an instantaneous YouTube replay for my favorites. These ads were not only Super Bowl commercials, they were multi-media social mega-entities. The “play” they garnered off the Super Bowl field has a huge economic reach.

And I’ll admit: I added the Google commercial to my Playlist. It’s a keeper.

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A colleague just referred me to this article from Direct: Online Marketers Talk the Talk, But Don’t Walk the Walk: Study. The article made me stop and ask myself, “Is Catalogs.com effectively using personalization tools?”

And it made me realize that we’re definitely NOT doing all we can, especially in terms of our own newsletter. Though we are doing some personalization, we are far from a stellar example of best practices. If you are a leader in a company, like I am, you might ask yourself, “What are we doing and how much more can we do?”

In the study, it was noted that three quarters of online marketers recognize that personalizing offers should be a tool, but that only half are actually using personalization tools. Years ago, Catalogs.com recognized the critical importance of personalization. We generated a personalized “savings certificate” with your name on it, stating, “Leslie, you will receive Free Shipping.” This was an attention grabbing device that immediately helped us convert that “browsing consumer” into a bon-a-fide sale.

Continue reading "Personalization Tools: Are you Walking the Walk?"

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I keep tabulating online hours. For my kids, for myself, even for the colleagues I see on Facebook and Twitter. It is mind boggling.

A Kaiser Family Foundation study has me fascinated. The study indicates that eight to eighteen year olds spend more than 7-1/2 hours a day with media. This is seven days a week. Our kids find these 7-1/2 hours when they are not listening to a teacher, eating family meals, reading for school, participating in sports and sleeping.

This study will impact the way that those of us who use media as a business tool target young people. First of all we know that they are connected, and connected almost all the time. We know that there is a lot of information competing for our kids’ attention. Kaiser reported that young people pack 10 hours and 45 minutes of media content into 7-1/2 hours. Our children are masters of multi-tasking. Or not.

I cannot imagine that kids are absorbing and processing this content well. In the interest of getting a lot, perhaps they are not getting it well. The suggestion that they “sit down and concentrate” seems passé. Concentrate on which window, for how long?

This all makes me sad. In my house, I still cherish time spent lying in bed with my kids and reading books. NOT on Kindles or iPads, but the old-fashioned hard cover, page-turning type of books.

Our messages have to be faster, flashier and more skilled at grabbing a slice of fractured attention than the messages we created before, to do just the same thing. Our marketing efforts, and especially our educational efforts, have to capitalize on our kids’ ability to tolerate “media noise” and their inevitably waning ability to concentrate.

As our business colleagues dive into social media, and spend at least some portion of the business day flitting from Twitter to Facebook to blog, we also have to craft new strategies for attention-capturing business communication. This morning I read an interesting post by Chad White on his blog "Email Insider," on effective email marketing.

I pride myself on being an efficient multi-tasker, but this made me think about slowing down, if just for a moment. I will try to write better business emails, with meaty subject lines and more carefully crafted content. And I will write some real letters. Because although emails are extremely effective and efficient, nothing captures the attention of a business executive quite as much as a hand written note. Just an idea for future marketing … it will stand out from the clutter.

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A colleague recently lent me a book, with an inviting red dust jacket and intriguing title, The Go-Giver. It’s a little book with a big message, she promised.

Trish Baron, Vice President of Business Development at Catalogs.com, is a big fan of Bob Burg and John David Mann's powerful book, The Go-Giver. She recently spent a morning at a Florida Direct Marketing Association program listening to Bob talk about the business philosophy behind his book: putting the other guy first.

The Go-Giver is a parable populated by characters that embody Burg and Mann's “Five Laws of Stratospheric Success.” The laws are intriguing, Trish explains:

#1 Law of Value – give more in value than you take in payment, this is the difference between price and value.

#2 Law of Compensation – income is determined by how many you serve.

#3 Law of Influence – how abundantly you place other people’s interests first.

#4 Law of Authenticity – operate from your true essence; authenticity equals integrity.

#5 Law of Receptivity – stay open to receive with belief in yourself and your product.

The simple message of The Go-Giver is inspiring. Burg’s trade secret? The power of giving.

When I spoke with Trish regarding Burg and Mann’s book, it reminded me so much of Dale Carnegie’s famous book How to Win Friends and Influence People. Both books start with the simple premise, to become interested in others and put others first. Part of my own business (and personal) success is due to Dale Carnegie’s books which I’ve read. I can’t wait to read Bob’s too.

Trish is one of Catalogs.com’s most successful and talented sales professionals. She instinctively incorporates many of Burg’s Laws into her daily interactions with merchants. She easily works to establish trust by focusing on the other person and paying attention to his or her needs. Around the office, all our sales professionals strive to become marketing consultants, always listening and advising, certainly not just selling. The key is to ask “feel good” questions, show that you are genuinely interested in the other person’s responses. A top marketing consultant/sales professional requires an uneven balance: 20% talking to 80% listening.
Burg’s suggestion that because we live in a low-trust society, those people who position themselves as trustworthy stand out and have the key to influence resonates strongly with the millions of others who applaud The Go-Giver.

It is important for everyone in business, even those of us who are very good at what we do, to get a refresher. We should continually look for books with messages that motivate us and find speakers who inspire us. This is how we avoid burnout and continue to evolve in the jobs that we have chosen. Next time Trish asks me to join her at a Florida Direct Marketing Association meeting, I’m certainly going to make the time.

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This morning my male colleague was clueless.

“Haven’t you been following the hilarity?” I was incredulous.

The twitter around the unfortunate name for Apple’s iPad has the women in the office giggling. It’s such an ewww-how-could-they moment that we have to roll our eyes.

“I don’t get it,” my male colleague insisted.

Does it bother me when some asks for a legal pad? Is it uninviting to visit a friend’s bachelor pad? Irksome that the space shuttle departs from a launching pad? Bothersome to roll my mouse over a mousepad?

Not really, but the iPad is somehow just a bit off.

Maybe it is the combination of letters, with the emphatic capital “P.” Or the little “i” that precedes it, suggesting a hip new code phrase for “that time of month.” I am certain that a focus group of everyday women, who buy electronics as well as other girly stuff, would have pointed that out.

The gender split on reaction to the name of Apple’s iPad is strikingly obvious in the office. The women get it, and the guys don’t. This is what must have happened at Apple. The guys just missed it.

I am eager to experience the iPad, though, and to add my praises to those surging through the tech news. The large, lightweight screen and the bright graphics are tantalizing. The iPad will do for recreational web surfing what the laptop did for business, I heard this morning. That’s a tall order.

I will adventure in the iPad world. I think it will be perfect for stretching out on the sofa with my social Web sites open and music downloading. And I will skip the heating pad.

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