Christine Fife

There has been so much written in the past year+ about daily deal sites and they seem to still be popping up in droves. Ironically, small local businesses are still getting blindsided by them because they’re not being told by the deal site how to really make it work for them as a marketing tactic. Remember, the goal of the big daily deal sites like Groupon or Living Social is to get the word out about the deal and get people to buy it and tell others about it. Their goal is not to ensure that the deal ends up making your small business money rather than costing you profits. In my research and working with clients I’ve seen a number of ways that these can work to actually make you money and get you repeat customers without being overloaded with new business that you’re not making a profit on. Daily deals are fantastic for selling products as opposed to services. Why?... (more)

How To Measure Your Company’s Social Media Presence

Social Media like Twitter and Facebook are hot, hot, hot right now — being used for everything from marketing to market research to customer support. But for all the buzz, the activity taking place in social media remains hard to measure, and there are still no clear standards on how to evaluate it. Web Metrics Guru Marshall Sponder takes you through social media measurement tools and helps identify the right Web-metrics choices for your business . ... (more)

Integrate Social Media Tools Into Business, Not Marketing Campaigns

In a blog post by Shiv Singh, author of the Going Social Now blog, Shiv argues that “Social media is not enough in a downturn.” In the post, Shiv says: “That its not enough to focus on social alone. That nurturing the conversations in the social realm are the starting point not the end game. That it is indeed about getting customers to influence each other to make positive purchasing and brand affinity decisions. That the core philosophies around social can and should be deeply integrated into a business. And that, the more holistically you look at social influence marketing - ac... (more)

Marketing Budget - Decision Time

The other day a CMO told me she didn’t have budget to fund her Conversation Marketing initiative. She explained budgets are already tight…and now we have to layer Conversation Marketing on top of our other marketing initiatives. Yes. Smart marketers will find a way. It’s not a matter of jumping on the bandwagon with the unknown destination…it’s a matter of using conversation marketing with existing content to increase your page rankings, improve your SEO, or better target your leads…which conversation marketing done the right way does. So yes, Mrs. CMO — you do have to include ... (more)

Conversation Marketing: Dog Explains

Ah, we finally found our funny bone. Conversation Marketing video series takes a new turn. Watch for future videos. A Duck, a Dog and a Donkey walk into a bar… Conversation Marketing: Dog Explains ... (more)