• Home
• Speaking Tour
• Starting Roster
  • CWM Glossary
• Store
• Contact
• Blog
• Products & Services
  • Creative Multimedia
  • Findability Through Social Media
  • Interactive Learning Environments

News Feed

New Media Marketing – It’s Still Rock n Roll To Me

January 22, 2010 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment 

Over the last year we’ve seen an explosion of “social media coaches” on the scene.  I think that’s great.  While the approach of “teaching new media” to key players can work…what’s more critical now is that we’re getting “back to the future” of more holistic marketing guidance.

So many companies are behind on their marketing period.  They’re still spending money on banner ads and magazine ads in the name of “branding”.  We work with a company that has found an entirely “new” budget for marketing after some simple analytics performed on their current web marketing presence.  How many people are actually converting? Bupkis. OK let’s stop doing that.  Done.  New budget.

So what’s needed out there is a complete marketing plan look.  Define what tools might supercharge and accelerate marketing efforts.  Then deploy the tools and the revised plan.  If the comprehensive approach isn’t taken, a company may still see great results. But too often we see the “bolt on of social media” approach that brings lots of new eyeballs and “relationships”…without ever closing the deal.

So there is no “social media” or “new media” to me anymore…there’s simply marketing and whether you’re being effective…or not.  New Media Marketing is still rock and roll to me.

Immigrant Entrepreneur Summit Drake University

November 14, 2009 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment 

I had the pleasure today of speaking at the Immigrant Entrepreneur Summit at Drake University. It was a powerful day filled with the entrepreneurial spirit and rugged individualism that makes this country great.

I connected again with the conference organize Ying Sa and her magical company Community CPA that is the driving force and creative vision behind IES.

I also got to connect with Igor Dobrosavljevic and his smart girlfriend (she attended my session Suzana. I finally met Justin Volrath too.  There was ample opportunity to chat Lori Bosley too from Mojo’s (you have to have their fish tacos!) and Foxboro Business Center.  Toni Lampley was here too among others from NAWBO Central Iowa that I met recently when I spoke to their group.

So the bottom line is that I spent the day absorbing the power and spirit of Central Iowa’s rich immigrant community and participating in the awesome collision of the ON and OFFLINE worlds.  What a day!  I hope I can come back again next year and have stories to tell about how many immigrant entrepreneurs we guided into online findability bliss.   Thanks so much for asking me to participate.  Videos below.  It seems the recordings broke into 2 pieces on their own.  Sorry for the quality and the walking off camera…I just set up the Mac book on a whim to provide a record of this talk for my guests.  No paper!

Cheers

What I learned most from 6 Sigma Training and Social Media Immersion

October 12, 2009 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment 

When I got done with my 6 Sigma Black Belt training the question looming in the back of my brain was, “Why did we only spend about 1 day of 20 talking about change management and the corporate culture aspects of deploying 6 sigma as a business tool?”  My gut told me that culture and inertia are the hardest things to overcome.  So here we were handed a new tool kit but but only 1/20th of our training was spent explaining how to beat the house odds.

So it goes in the land of social media or new media engagement tools.  So many “experts” and coaches engage clients and give them the tools…while the client says, “Just give this stuff to Jennie in Marketing…she just graduated and is in tune with “The Facebook” and that “Tweeter”.  Not good.

While there is no perfect formula and I don’t advocate the “Wait until all conditions are perfect before deploying” model…I do think it’s wise to work with your client to assess and plan for the inevitable difficulty of who will drive these new marketing avenues when the cool factor declines.  Are you embracing these tools as a key part of strategy or simply doing it ‘because’?  Are you looking for clear and measurable results?  Or…are you just dipping your toes in the water to if your strategy will reveal itself?   I don’t think any of these strategies are wrong.  But, they all depend on the most change resistant element in the mix…the human.

It’s been a pretty amazing week around the create WOW media studio at Impromptu Studio

January 30, 2009 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment 

Our team, fearlessly made to look superlative by Media Maestro Paul “I love live radio” Gratton, has transitioned from assisting in the recording/streaming of the podcast I do weekly with Andy Brudtkuhl of 48Web……to doing a live streaming show with up to 5 guests.

Did I mention that show is Macs World Live and it’s done DAILY from 2-4PM Central Time. Yes. Impromptu Studio where we’ve carved out our little piece of audio and video studio heaven is now teaming with additional life.  It’s kind of like we chummed the water and a school of hungry entrepreneurs and innovators caught the scent and are now voraciously devouring the red meat.

Ready to expand Captain Dan?

We’re also working on a weekly Iowa based business show that will take “radio” to a level you’ve never seen.  The show will stream live each week and will have new elements of follow up and extension that are going to have an measurable impact on businesses in the Des Moines metro.  I can see this show concept being picked up in every market around the United States where entrepreneurs, online marketing and media folks, and business experts collide with a BIG BANG that drives success.

2009 is off and running

January 5, 2009 by Doug Mitchell · 1 Comment 

There are so many great things in the works for 2009 that I’m having trouble sleeping. This morning started at about 3AM and we’re just getting started. Stay tuned for some important new branches growing on the createWOWmedia marketing tree.

Thanks again to all of our superlative clients and partners in our marvelously explosive field.

Also coming soon, “Increasing Your Internet Findability Factor” paper.

If you’d like to be on “the list”, simply add your name and email below by the comment box and you’re in.  Until then….

Doug Mitchell has a new job title at create WOW media: Marketing Technopologist

December 19, 2008 by Doug Mitchell · 1 Comment 

There’s a great piece on the Wall Street Journal (wsj.com) called “The Secrets of Marketing in a Web 2.0 World”.  While much of the article shares some pretty common themes over the last few years (in our circles at least), I was floored by the next to the last paragraph.  The article recommends that businesses find and hire a:

marketing technopologist

I’ll let a quote from the piece explain:

So who should direct a company’s forays into Web 2.0 marketing? A number of managers identified an ideal set of skills for an executive that go beyond those of a typical M.B.A. holder or tech expert. We coined the term marketing technopologist for a person who brings together strengths in marketing, technology and social interaction. A manager said, “I’d want to see someone with the usual M.B.A. consultant’s background, strong interest in psychology and sociology, and good social-networking skills throughout the organization.”

I’m pretty sure this is what I do every day.

Hi I’m Doug and I’m a Marketing Technopologist.

Doing less with more in 2009

December 17, 2008 by Doug Mitchell · 5 Comments 

We talk quite a bit about doing more with less.  Our clients and potential clients are seeking higher return on investment, measurability, and increased Internet Findability. Online marketing/blogging/video provides all of these in one nicely wrapped package.

B2B Magazine just had a feature outlining some goals/strategies/deliverables they believe will be key for companies in 2009. It’s a great read.  We especially like 2nd and 7th topics on the list.

Leveraging social marketing

However you define social marketing, this piece is critical.  Start with a blogging foundation and build your social marketing strategy around that.  Maybe for you Twitter and Facebook are where you need to be.  Focus your efforts and get to providing value to the market.  Join the conversation.

Video explosion

We couldn’t agree more.  As Google begins to integrate video results into “normal search results” you want to be there!  When someone searches on “Plumber Des Moines” and there’s a nicely produced video showing what it’s really like to do business with you, your odds just went up.

Let the other guys spend their money being a bigger part of that monstrosity that killed a bunch of trees and gathers dust we used to call a phone book.

Maximizing email newsletter subscribers with aweber.com

December 16, 2008 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment 

So if you’ve visited us for the first time, you probably were confronted within 5 seconds with an “email subscribe” box and a grayed out site.  This is a nifty feature in the email marketing system from aweber. (we are an affiliate and this is an affiliate link because we believe strongly in this product and recommend it heavily).  Some people probably find this “insta-pop” annoying.  We understand.  We’re assuming that you have limited time so we’re giving you a quick out, in exchange for permission to market to you.  Straight forward we think.

The proof is in the pudding.  Email subscriptions up 500%.  We hope you’ll subscribe too.  There’s a box down by the comments of this post if you’d care to join our little small and medium sized business online branding revolution.

Leveraging an email marketing system is a MUST if you’re planning to amplify your brand.  Aweber goes a long way to helping companies do this in a non-technical/non-threatening way.

Marketing Departments Under Pressure to Demonstrate ROI Turning to Web

December 16, 2008 by Doug Mitchell · 1 Comment 

There’s a great article from Manage Smarter talking about the pressure today’s CMO’s are under to prove ROI.  Problem is that nasty little issue about not having any good data or technology to measure and report effectively.

We’ve been saying that for sometime and in fact, that pressure to find marketing methods that meet muster has resulted in substantial growth in our business.

This quote blows me away:

Despite years of conversation about ROI, the tactic of actually measuring marketing investments is still in its infancy, per the Conference Board. Thirty-seven percent of respondents claim to have been tracking ROI for less than a year. Less than a quarter have been doing it for more than three years. One third doesn’t bother at all.

Exactly!  In non-web marketing applications, it’s very difficult to figure out what’s effective and driving business. On the web however, it’s a given.

I know many companies personally that have this down to a simple science of spend $xx,xxx/month online and we acquire $xxx,xxx in business.  They simple change variables and have a very predictable result with a margin of error.  What’s the ROI of a yellow pages ad or a 1 page ad in a magazine?  Who knows?

Social networking is a piece…not the pie

December 3, 2008 by Doug Mitchell · Leave a Comment 

We believe in and utilize the online/social tools that we think connect us to the greater market, clients/potential clients, and the business community at large.  But these tools (twitter, Facebook, blog) etc. are a piece of the entire marketing pie we’re bakin’ up.

We attend events and meet real people.  Those real people connect us to other real people (sometimes directly and sometimes we just get 5 new Twitter subscribers from those connections).  We speak around town.  A recent Meetup event resulted in 3 calls, not from attendees directly, rather referrals from attendees. Nice.

So remember, you need to have the online social pieces in place.  It’s highly desirable to communicate in a manner that your clients and potentials desire (like subscribing to our Twitter or FriendFeed stream to listen in to exactly what we’re up and who we connect with before diving in with us)

Next Page »

• Podcast Feeds

  • 
  • 

• No talks scheduled at the moment.

• 

• Categories

  • No categories

• Archives

  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
• Blog Network:

  Name:
  CreateWOWMedia

  Topics:
  multimedia, video, video

  Join my network

  Blog Networks

a 48Web production · Copyright © 2009 · All rights reserved · createWOWmedia