Communicating
« Previous EntriesTranslating Marketing Trends for Small Biz, NFPs
Friday, June 25th, 2010The 2010 Kellstadt Marketing Group Symposium held this spring for DePaul University alums, students and grad students offered some intriguing insights into what they called the Next Gen. Much of these sessions serve marketers in corporations looking to expand and innovate on a grand scale. But the Grotto approach is to glean what we can [...]
Right-Size Web Design
Saturday, January 9th, 2010With the arrival of a shiny new year — along with a shiny new decade — the promise of hot tech and the drive for business improvements can inspire many an entrepreneur to take a closer look at the company web site. Would the site deliver better results with some strategic updates? Does the look and [...]
Sometimes You Just Need to Ask for Help
Monday, April 13th, 2009By nature, small business owners have a real DIY attitude. You have to when you wear that many hats: ceo, marketing director, receptionist, coffee maker/fetcher/cleaner-upper. It’s a great, and probably necessary trait. But successful entrepreneurs also need to know when they need help.
Maybe it is high time you hired an intern for some marketing assistance [...]
Does Your Web Site Need a Check-up?
Saturday, March 21st, 2009
Do you find yourself apologizing for your web site when you send someone to it? (“Just ignore the pictures/flashy thing/out-of-date stuff.”)
Do you feel like the site could actually motivate more people to call or buy?
Does it just seem like the site feels a little dated or out-of-step with what you see on the Internet these [...]
Mind Your Copyrights: Is Facebook Getting Grabby?
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009Whether or not you have taken the plunge and started exploring the possibilities for smart business marketing among the social networking sites, this news bears watching. This week, a story broke that Facebook recently – and quietly — changed its copyright policies which made it rather unclear as to whether or not they would own whatever [...]
Putting Yourself Out There
Sunday, September 28th, 2008Mind how you post information about yourself on social networking sites as businesses look to the web to compare notes. A recent poll by CareerBuilder.com shows 22% of hiring managers screen employee profiles on Facebook (doubled from 11% in 2006). Many found discrepancies and promptly eliminated an applicant from the pool of candidates.
Others report positive [...]
A Delightful Fontasy
Thursday, July 31st, 2008To most, the world of typography is essentially invisible. We read, we write, we see letters of several styles and sizes pretty much all day…in work, ads and right here right now! But the underlying personality that the fonts convey can be rather a mystery to all but the designers and the production savvy among us. If you’ve ever [...]
Keeping It Fresh: Watching Language Evolve
Thursday, May 29th, 2008Frankly, I can weary of new words bandied about by, let’s face it, marketing departments and gurus and the like. The slangfest can get pretty odd. The whole IBM “ideation” situation leaves me with a serious case of the eye-rolls. But we need to keep those eyes on how people (colleagues, clients, youngins) around us are [...]
Mehvehzeh? Mdvdz? Medvedev!
Thursday, May 8th, 2008Anybody else spend the morning trying to pronouce the name of Russia’s new president? Ok, maybe just me. Even listening to it again and again in the radio news reports of his coming out party, I just couldn’t get (gyet?) the hang of it. Putin. No problem. Yeltsin. Fine. Medvedev?
Actually it looks better, easier in [...]
Discover a Need. Meet it.
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008Running a sustainable and successful organization means finding a way to do something unique and staying in touch with that spirit of innovation. Companies and not-for-profits alike have focussed much attention on their core mission statements, as well they should. But that mission should be regularly activated by what you truly do for your clients and constituents.
Here’s an [...]