Archive for October, 2009



Reward for painting the new digs…a stolen iPod?

Monday, October 26th, 2009

By Matthew Malburg

In case you haven’t heard or stopped by our office in the last month, we painted. It was a good process to determine which walls were going to be accented, and now I love the look around here.

There was a blah type feeling when looking around the office when we first moved in. We tried to bring some color with us in the form of artwork and our guest chairs, but we still couldn’t shake the feeling. More color and life was needed. So Dion went about working with an interior designer to choose the right walls and colors. Tod refined the plan and I hired the painters.

Finally, on Saturday, September 19, I met the painting crew at our offices at an imprudently early hour so that I could let them in, oversee the work and make sure the job was completed to our specs. Overall, it was my opportunity to play production manager for a day. I was excited, because my office would also be painted. So I moved my things to another workstation for the day and really cranked while I let them paint.

So, to make a long story a little shorter, when they finished and I went back into my office, I found my iPod was not where I had left it. I wore it to the office that day, put it in my desk, and left it there while I worked at another station for the day. Poof went the iPod. Must have disappeared, because no one ever saw it again (or so they claimed).

The story has a happy ending though. The painting company agreed to allow us to short pay the bill, and so now I have a new iPod on the way.

The moral of the story, for those not paying attention, is to never, ever come to work on a Saturday.

Posted in Matthew Malburg, Staff Posts | 1 Comment »


I Twittered that Facebook Rejected my MySpace Friend Request and they Won’t Tweet With my Business? What the Tweed is Going On?

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

By Michael Bongiovanni

It’s 9 a.m., and you’re ready to go. You flipped the sign on the front door from closed to open. All of your products are organized, with the top sellers near the front, mixed with some less expensive items, strategically placed in between for some “sure sells.” You’re well dressed, the outside and inside of your location are spic and span. You’ve gone through the checklist and you’re ready for business. You think to yourself, “all of this attention to detail is surely going to help boost sales.”

A few hours go by, and only a visit or two with no sales. As the day goes on, only a few more people stop in to browse. Now, it’s closing time in an hour, and you stop to reconsider some of the advertising articles you’ve come across.

“What about my website?” you ponder, “I’ve had the same one for years and I’ve done ok.” “Facebook, Twitter what?” you think to yourself, “It’s a fad and it’s not for me. I don’t have any contact info for people, so what’s the sense of that social stuff?”

Ok, ok. You get the point.

It’s time and there’s hope! That website your nephew put up for you just isn’t cutting it anymore. The web is for anyone and everyone, but it’s not just about having the site anymore.

Don’t blow off the new things you may be hearing about, like Twitter and Facebook; it’s really not all that difficult to understand, and the statistics behind them are astonishing.

Check these out:

“Eighty-three percent of online shoppers said they are interested in sharing information about their purchases with people they know, while 74 percent are influenced by the opinions of others in their decision to buy the product in the first place.” (Manage Smarter, September 2009)

“Users put great trust in their social networks. One-half of Beresford respondents said they considered information shared on their networks when making a decision – and the proportion was higher among users ages 18 to 24, at 65%.” (eMarketer, October 2009)

“A March 2009 study by Knowledge Networks, for example, found that between 10% and 24% of US social media users turned to social networks when making purchase decisions about various categories of products and services.” (eMarketer, October 2009)

“Facebook, blogs, Twitter and customer reviews are considered the most effective tactics for mobilizing consumers to talk up products online.” (Etailing survey of 117 companies, September 2009)

It’s starting to make sense to people, and now more than ever, people are talking about products, services and personal experiences. Are they talking about your business and the great products you sell?

Don’t ignore social media marketing; just jump in! Millions of people are already there, discussing new products. Expand your reach, connect with your target audience and boost your sales.

Posted in Mike Bongiovanni, Staff Posts | No Comments »