Early this morning, we emailed our first quarterly marketing update to a patch-worked list of friends and clients. As with any first edition, the road to “ready” had been long and bumpy. But having worked through several test rounds with our freelance designer, we felt confident in the product, and it felt good to finally say, “Send it!”
Laura Pasternak, Principal of MarketPoint LLC, has been appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Lyric Foundation of Baltimore. The Lyric Board is responsible for long-range planning and management of the Patricia and Arthur Modell Performing Arts Center at the Lyric Opera House, and serves as trustees for the national historic theatre. Read more
Five Hundred. It seems to be the magic number on LinkedIn. At 500 connections, the site stops counting. “500” means “you’ve arrived” – you are part of the elite, those who constitute the upper crust of business’ primary social media site. When you pass 500, your number freezes at “500+.” You may have 501 connections, or five-hundred-thousand. It doesn’t matter anymore. Up here, you’re all equal. The competition ends.
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According to Blogging.org, more than 42 Million blogs are published in the United States. Given the current U.S. population (315 Million), that means if you can count to eight, you can find a blogger. Cumulatively, these blogs generate more than half-a-million posts, every day, and attract more than 25 Billion page views per month. Yes, that was billion with a “B.”
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We all misspeak. And sometimes, it’s comical. From Yogi Berra to George W. Bush, no one is immune to gaffes. But when the words we choose take on more meaning than we intended, it can be ironic, and maybe good for a few laughs, in which case, we call them malaprops.
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MarketPoint Executives Michael Zimmerman, and Laura Pasternak will present “Challenger Brands: Competing Against the Four-Year Schools” at the 39th annual conference of the National Council for Marketing & Public Relations (NCMPR), in Chicago, on March 11. The presentation has been designed to help community colleges establish a solid marketing position and boost enrollments. Read more
I admit it. I’m a Craigslist addict. It’s not that I expect to find anything on Craigslist that I actually need – that’s not the point. It’s the dream of finding something of great value at a ridiculously low price. Years ago, it was flea markets. I seldom found anything of value at the markets, but again, that wasn’t the point. I was addicted, and had been since childhood. When I was young, I would accompany my father on Saturday morning trips into town. Dad had a penchant for bargains. He once brought home an entire case of Dinty Moore Beef Stew, not because anyone in the house actually ate beef stew, but because it was a bargain, at less than ten cents per can. That’s how my father shopped, as if at a restaurant, reading every line from right to left, in search of the best deal.
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According to the BBC, the tiny nation of Gambia has shortened the work week to four days, making Friday a day of rest. Of course, workers still log 40 hours per week, they just do it in four days. And where are we, by comparison?
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There was a time when enthusiasm was all you needed to get by. Things were less technical, then. Selling was done door-to-door. And “word of mouth” happened over coffee cake, at a friend’s house, or at the church social.
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We recently had the opportunity to review a survey performed by a group of graduate students, who had volunteered, in fulfillment of a class assignment, to help a prominent nonprofit organization. The survey featured a series of appropriately worded Likert items, in which respondents were asked their level of agreement with several statements.
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