While looking through my list of flagged items from Seth Godin’s blog this morning, I came across this one:

Interesting & Interested

… it helps to be both. These are the two ways you earn attention.

If it’s so obvious, why is it so difficult?

It helps to be either. And if you’re both, the effect of each is [...]

I often hear the argument that social media hasn’t been around long enough for anyone to be an expert at it yet. And in fact, you’ll hear a lot of people spouting theories based on speculation and intuition, some of which are right, and some of which are wrong.

Today, I read a book by Dan [...]

Last October, I posted a review of the book “Made to Stick” (which I highly recommend reading).

Today, I decided to try applying a little of the Made to Stick Stickum to my business. So I opened up Google Docs and created a spreadsheet with seven columns. The first contained the names of all my products. [...]

Some brands’ value is all about their products. Others transcend the product. We all know which kind of brand we want: the profitable kind — the one with the “mythological” aura.

Seth Godin wrote:

There are dozens, if not hundreds of entertainment mythological brands. James Bond and Barbie…

There’s clearly a Google mythology and a Starbucks one as [...]

Yesterday, I wrote about how to avoid information overload in a too-fast world. Today, let’s talk about how to get your marketing message heard above the noise in a world where your prospects are overloaded.

Be Good Better the Best

Okay, being the best is a tall order. But at the very least, you’ve absolutely got to [...]

You may have heard of this strategy for getting a tweet to go viral: offer a freebie, but only make it available after a certain number of people have tweeted a link to your offer. Sounds great, but will it work for you? (How can you make it work?)

Over at Mashable today, Brenna Ehrlich posted [...]

Yesterday, I wrote about some research from the 1960’s into the forces that drive word of mouth advertising. The article was focused primarily on what inspires people to talk about brands and products. Today, let’s focus on how to make content go viral.

As I said yesterday:

…the #1 key for viral marketing success is to create [...]

If you can get it, word of mouth advertising is the most powerful form of advertising. It’s delivered by trusted advisors (a.k.a. friends), and costs you nothing.

But attempts to intentionally ignite viral marketing campaigns usually fall flat on their faces. Why? And what can you do to improve your odds of success?

A few days ago, [...]

Even if, like me, you think astrology is a bunch of…let’s call it “hooey”, I’d be willing to bet that you enjoy reading it to see if it fits. In fact, you probably enjoy it whether it does or not. (If it does, it reinforces your self-image. If it doesn’t, it gives you a chance [...]

Marketers are a lot like germs. They try to transfer ideas into living organisms (customers) in a way that enables them to survive, grow, and spread. But just as many bacteria are good for our bodies (like those that help us digest food), not all marketing is bad.

Healthy marketing helps prospects find products that fulfill [...]