tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90859726950973939582012-02-16T05:08:28.440-05:00Internet geek fascinated with innovations online and<br> how these shape internet driven business today.Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.comBlogger311100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-40422994579822661692010-09-11T15:36:00.000-04:002010-09-11T15:36:29.944-04:00

Just sat through Kim Vallee's presentation on how to monetize your blog. Lots of interesting ideas came through. My personal challenge is how do you maintain editorial integrity when you are doing sponsored postings.  I guess the key here is full disclosure of what is paid content, what is sponsored and what is editorial. Now, the presentation makes a couple of big assumptions. First, you need

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-80251164134218862092010-09-11T12:57:00.001-04:002010-09-11T15:24:52.458-04:00

It's been a busy month in the Montreal Social sphere as we wrapped up the Montreal Wordcamp and now in the very heart of the Podcamp sessions. A few points I found useful in CT Moore's and Brian R.'s sessions. It's not a matter of social versus search but rather social with search. The fact that search offers cold recommendations and social media offers hot recommendations, obtaining a blend of

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-69754168607325303072010-01-24T11:24:00.000-05:002010-01-24T11:24:16.819-05:00

I'm back from the SherpaEmail event, I come back with a head full of ideas and a firm conviction of what I already knew. Social won't kill email but email can't stand alone if you really want to break through the noise and be relevant. You have to stop siloing your marketing efforts, integration is the true key to success here. Intergrated Marketing Management and Integrated Marketing

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-88320060304247501212009-11-03T21:33:00.004-05:002009-11-06T10:48:57.198-05:00

Ever felt guilty after a pricey or delicate purchase? Think of the last time you bought a car, or bought a nice pair of shoes. You unavoidably felt a certain level of discomfort. It’s normal, it’s post-purchase cognitive dissonance. Essentially, it’s that moment of doubt where we wonder if we did the right thing. As marketers, it’s our job, when we offer shopping or specialty products to reduce

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-28092318603935530162009-09-29T08:33:00.004-04:002009-09-30T10:03:50.247-04:00

Loulou, a Canadian fashion magazine, celebrated its 5th anniversary and worked with Visa on a multi-channel marketing mix to promote Visa and several retailers through a Montreal and Toronto based block party and daily specials. Being part of their target market, I got showered in marketing messages from day one on this three week initiative. It was done brilliantly!You had to sign up through the

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-20468929033091356802009-08-25T17:43:00.002-04:002009-08-25T17:55:40.956-04:00

I'm officially signed up and starting back at university on September 1st. I'm very excited about this and decided to go through my old textbooks to freshen up.My textbook, only 2001, refers to successful Canadian companies and exemplifies their strategy as being one of leadership, dominance, innovation and intelligence.When you read the names of the companies listed like Nortel Networks as

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-35105979760997033162009-08-18T08:39:00.002-04:002009-08-18T08:50:28.215-04:00

It's no secret, Q4 is the critical earning time for most businesses, especially those in retail. Holiday sales between Thanksgiving and Christmas account for 30% of yearly revenues.As the adage says, plan a year ahead, but few small business actually do so. Maybe it's a matter of time, or maybe is a matter of being nimble in an ever changing situation. Here are some quick fix that can help you

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-30162824362736103392009-08-11T23:06:00.001-04:002009-08-11T23:07:48.418-04:00

I know, it's been too quiet in here, but I've been chatting up a storm on Twitter. Add me today!I am planning a complete overhaul of this site when time permits.

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-6981740917992667852009-07-06T16:25:00.006-04:002011-02-20T22:13:04.135-05:00

I'm excited. I rarely take on such a personal tone in this blog but it's been on my mind all day. I'm going back to school, part time, obviously. Work is great and challenging but I'm up for some mental stimulation of the academic kind.Whenever I feel my gray matter getting complacent, I go out and take on a course on various topics. A few years back, I took cooking classes, which propelled me

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-73243105967907753602009-06-24T19:25:00.003-04:002009-06-24T19:50:40.310-04:00

You've probably heard all about @DellOutlet making $2M in sales by peddling their liquidation inventory online, or Ashton Kutcher blowing CNN out of the water by hitting the 1M follower mark before them.Are you contemplating going the Twitter route for your business? Then before you do so, I recommend you read these articles.10 Twitter Best Practices for Your Brand (Mashable)- A must read if you

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-25896954165969028612009-06-09T14:37:00.005-04:002009-06-09T18:57:25.220-04:00

I attended today the Montreal Tech Entrepreneur Breakfast Meetup at Boccacinos. It was absolutely packed full of talented and eager entrepreneurs of all ages from the tech industry. Some toying with the idea of quitting the 9 to 5 and making it on their own, and others, seasoned consultants.We had a great conversation going on low cost and no cost resources available online for entrepreneurs

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-51623116026529485502009-06-04T20:33:00.003-04:002009-06-04T20:56:35.080-04:00

Yesterday was a fairly stressful day for my beau and myself. My significant other was getting lasik laser eye surgery at Michel Pop's clinic. A 15 minute procedure which consists of slicing your cornea, lifting the flap of cornea, zapping molecules in the lens, replacing the flap and hoping it heals, although it never does heal completely. The price tag for this potentially permanent solution to

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-21481986148443809742009-05-30T21:48:00.010-04:002009-05-30T22:16:59.510-04:00

We're all familiar with the advertising genius with Anseuser-Busch's Budweiser and European giant Heineken. Although most of the beer ads shown here have now been acquired by either, I always love to see international variants on what is an almost international beverage of choice.Not surprisingly, recurring themes are sex, humor or a combination of the two.Żywiec BreweryAlmost like...Stella

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-13627295354829692182009-05-23T20:16:00.006-04:002009-05-23T20:41:16.294-04:00

Frames were an integral part of the horrors of web design circa 1997 with along with animated gifs of of construction signs. Some of the most ghastly websites boasted an incredible 4 frames. Horrendous to maintain and a nightmare to navigate.Here are 5 reasons why you shouldn't use frames - at all!1. Search engine results. If someone goes to an internal page, they'll likely not have the rest

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-50545552148035432492009-05-03T20:50:00.003-04:002009-05-03T20:55:09.923-04:00

Alas, the adage of no rest for the wicked will be broken for the next two weeks. I've been brewing with post ideas which I need to put on the back burner and relax my gray matter. I'll be back on May 19th 2009.In the mean time, I'll leave you in the capable hands of these lovable space invaders.Ciao!Mel xxoo

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-75530850339525823542009-04-16T22:55:00.005-04:002009-04-16T22:58:10.216-04:00

If you haven't already seen this, this video illustrates the power of mobile and social media together. This is truly a new era in communications.

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-70890508564797052652009-04-16T22:28:00.007-04:002011-02-20T22:16:25.840-05:00

Something very odd is going on... It started with Facebook, taking on a Twitterish turn. Yesterday, I noticed Digg had an embedded browser toolbar that behaved oddly enough like the Stumble Upon bar. Google's Follower widget reminds me very much of Ning's community layout.The companies are visibly trying to find the recipe to the secret sauce and are muddling the waters of difference between each

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-15895223155321783942009-04-14T20:23:00.003-04:002009-04-14T20:38:53.985-04:00

Since I'm a bit dry on inspiration - writing content for your own blogs and work can be pretty draining on inspiration! I've gathered the notable headlines of the day in the world of online business.Google is loosing up to $1.6M dollars a day - Internet EvolutionAnalysts say that Facebook could kill Google *rolls eyes* - Silicon Valley InsiderBlackberry's network went down for 3 hours yesterday -

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-78957594838057789842009-04-09T20:29:00.004-04:002011-02-20T22:18:23.267-05:00

As I was updating my Blackberry, I discovered Google Maps' Latitude. This may or may not be new but it's certainly interesting.It basically lets everyone you add to your Latitude contact list know exactly where you are at any moment of the day...! It uses the GPS functionality in your mobile phone and transmits this information back to your contacts. What makes this even freakier is that based

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-21516453521442495962009-04-06T07:52:00.006-04:002009-04-06T22:20:07.327-04:00

At this point in time, it's hard to imagine the online experience without Facebook and Twitter. But there are still those that have skipped over the fads of online chat - with MSN Messenger, Gmail Talk; social/vanity networking with MySpace (it feels like Angelfire on crack - scary) and Facebook; and now microblogging aka Twitter.As much as I love Twitter and Facebook, reality is that quite a

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-37826931305820512662009-04-01T20:01:00.002-04:002009-04-01T20:08:08.863-04:00

Here's a quick synopsis of the April Fool's goodness we've seen online today.- Google's Cadie- Google to buy General Motors- Reddit joins Digg - !!!- Seth Godin passes laziness for brillianceAs I've read earlier today, April Fool's is the internet's day off. Enjoy!

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-57597777525688972892009-03-26T19:18:00.005-04:002011-02-20T22:20:21.618-05:00

I found this little gem of a blog post about 38 things he wished he had known when he first started in marketing.My favorites were:No one has a clue how to market anything. We are all winging it. It's just that some are better at winging it than others.I really couldn't agree more. Winging it better comes with having more experience. Being a good marketer is all about trying and learning from

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-26389794264471434482009-03-26T08:24:00.006-04:002011-02-20T22:22:12.740-05:00

The dreaded S.A.A.Q., the French Canadian equivalent of the well known and sorely hated American D.M.V.'s.Last week, I got my driver's license and health care renewal papers. Fortunately, to make our lives easier in Quebec, we have the chance to renew both at the same time, at the same location. Included in my envelope was a flyer on the new RFiD chipped drivers license which would allow me to

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-55411592090074521212009-03-23T21:48:00.002-04:002009-03-23T21:54:03.800-04:00

We used to have so much fun together. It was easy to find my events, and look up my friend's walls. I could randomly go through photo albums and revisit old memories.For the few friends that wanted to spam me to boredom with the "Do you think I'm hotter than Jocelyn Wildenstein?" apps, I could blissfully block all their future requests without curbing their enthusiasm. But now, I'm assaulted with

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-23299030641794057052009-03-23T18:05:00.006-04:002009-03-23T18:16:05.342-04:00

Thanks to Stumble (see previous post), I found this great article about Startup Hacks: An Early Stage Checklist.It's not a new concept or a bold idea, but it's a statement that probably will define those that survive this recession. Your products/services need to solve serious pain points, and that without it, life would be unbearable.All of these value added services that we pay(ed) for are the

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-91411672792854236552009-03-22T20:59:00.005-04:002009-03-22T21:36:13.736-04:00

It's no secret that StumbleUpon.com is highly addictive and can cause many surfers (including myself) to waste entire evenings away just stumbling across the web, finding new websites. The web has always been a great time waster, for an internet geek like myself. Back in 1996, I could waste entire days -college!- just looking at the various websites listed in the Yahoo! directories. Not

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-47518400286865776382009-03-19T08:22:00.007-04:002009-03-20T16:15:47.711-04:00

I've been hearing horror stories of companies laying off employees that had no direct impact on sales. What a horrible company decision. Some of these cut backs affected branding and public relations. A big no no in my book. How can a company, or group of people come to the conclusion that branding and PR has NO effect on sales?Brand perception is key to many purchases we do. We may choose to pay

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-73252966833703841432009-03-18T07:55:00.004-04:002009-03-20T17:25:30.174-04:00

A great line I learned from the very wise guru Ganesh in a sales training workshop. Something rang true to those words, and helped me become a better marketer.A bad salesman will be able to occasionally sell to a client while dazzling them with big fancy words, and flaunting knowledge. Unfortunately this kind of selling often leads into contract cancellations and unused products and services.In

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-82308649302744613812009-03-16T17:02:00.005-04:002009-03-16T22:27:52.956-04:00

Today's post from Seth Godin, with linear versus parallel got me thinking about the types of businesses or situations that fail horribly even when using both method to deliver optimal service.This has happened to me last week, as a matter of fact, with GotoWebinar. Great product, often a life saver for telecommuters (like myself). Despite my bad experience, at this point in time, the benefits of

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-30182758806804963242009-03-14T14:54:00.003-04:002009-03-16T22:32:48.788-04:00

As I was walking towards Lebeau Vitres D'Autos to pick up my car, (pebble under the tire of a vehicle on the highway plus my windshield, equaled a nasty spider crack - had to change the whole thing!) I saw a small store front office that had the word in its name.It seemed like such a small place, it didn't make sense. To me, the word corporation - and maybe this is this documentary's fault -

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9085972695097393958.post-48094837345480467182009-03-11T19:55:00.000-04:002009-03-14T14:52:55.101-04:00

With the economic downturn, many so called experts are pushing with much fanfare the fact that to rise above, you need to use social media to network, network, network.Recently, I started getting friendship request on Facebook from fellow Montreal marketers and networkers. This led me to think, why not reach out to me through Linkedin instead? That is, after all, what its main purpose is.I find

Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03326186740212350951noreply@blogger.com0