My preschool age son recently discovered our car (named Arthur) is a Honda. He is now a Honda fan, and spots Hondas all over the place. He has eyes for no other brand. He is, in a nutshell, a brand evangelist.
So as I sometimes try to do, I decided to take some lessons on being [...]

Welcome to Spark an Idea Thursday’.  Each week we’ll be sharing some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers.  We invite you to grab our image and carry the tradition through to your own blog!  If you do, please link back to this post so we know where you were inspired! Sparking [...]

Just before Saint Patrick’s Day, I was pleasantly surprised to find a green package on my doorstep. It was from IZEA, the Orlando-based social media marketing firm (well, the other one. The really big one). I’ve attended events they put on, rubbed elbows with a few employees, and bugged the CEO Ted. Anything I could [...]

I wanted to share a funny story with a moral!
I’ve never been one to follow up after I send a client a gift. It seems too much like I’m looking for appreciation and thanks. And that’s not why I send gifts. But I’ve learned my lesson.
This past Christmas, I sent out beautiful chocolates from Schakolad. [...]

Here are the brands I talk about in this video:
PRWeb
Constant Contact
Relax Wine
DHC
And some great articles about brand evangelism.
Chris Brogan talks about The Tricky Path of Brand Relationships
Dobney.com talks about brands and relationships
Jason Whitman talks about how smart USA rallies fans around its brand
So how about it? What are the brands that you love? What do [...]

A client of mine, Bert Shlensky of Right and Left Brain Solutions, recently wrote a noteworthy blog post called Don’t Let New Internet Marketing Tools Overtake the Basics. And while internet marketing is my world, I have to admit, he has a point.

Rule #1:Do not offer email customer service if you will not respond to email inquiries.
Rule #2: Do not be in business if your call wait time is over 5 minutes.
Rule #3: Do not make it difficult for a customer to cancel her account. Especially if she is a blogger.
Stamps.com, you’re on my s#%t list.

A while back, I posted my interview with Steve Yastrow, author of We: The Ideal Customer Relationship and Brand Harmony. I just finished We and wanted to share my thoughts.

So Wendy Piersall and I are strolling through an outlet mall in Orlando last week, and the mall sharks were circling. You know, the people who stand at the kiosks in the middle of the mall that squirt you with perfume, take your picture, massage your head or otherwise molest you in the vain hope that you will buy their product?

“Look away, Wendy, look away. Do NOT make eye contact,” I hissed.

I recently saw this ad in Direct Mail News and it made me stop to read it (hard to do). They’re touting their database services as a way businesses can “start creating more personal and targeted conversations with your customers.”