Debbie loves A Dog’s Day – Owned by Stacy Boyd, A Dog’s Day is a mobile grooming company that will pick up your dog at your home or place of business, whisk her away for some primping and pampering and then bring her back just a few hours later looking gorgeous! Camden had her first visit with Stacy this week and she’s never looked better. Stacy’s prices are competitive and her love of dogs is obvious. Camden just about jumped in her lap the first time they met. A Dog’s Day also offer boarding. Call Stacy at 910-616-0069. Your dog will thank you.
Jennifer loves etsy.com - This week I have rediscovered etsy.com. While cleaning out the “favorites” on my home computer, I came across this website I hadn’t visited in a long time. Etsy offers all handmade items at very reasonable prices. You’ll find everything from accessories to woodworking on this site. You can bet that some of the next gifts I buy for family and friends will be from this great website!
Kirsty loves Scanwiches – OK this week’s pick is mindblowingly-unrelated to the worlds of marketing, PR and advertising. However, it does showcase the fact that you can find anything on the Internet. And also proves that with a really great idea for a website, you can wind up in the New York Times. So, maybe a website that features scanned images of sandwiches is not so unrelated after all.
Nathan loves Blogo – For those of you who spend a lot of time blogging, or at least spend a lot of time writing posts that don’t make it past the cutting room floor for your blog (I know I have a lot of those), Blogo is probably the best blogging software I have used. Its icons can be a little confusing at first, but it synchs seamlessly and perfectly with any blog platform you use. Best of all, it does a great job formatting your post, something that even the prestigious wordpress still does poorly. While it does cost a some bucks, Blogo is money well spent for prolific bloggers!
Shawn loves Colorado based First Bank’s latest billboard and online campaign – I’ve become a bit jealous of the great chemistry between First Bank and their creative team. The results are very edgy, current and what I consider truly “outside of the box” thinking. Advertising may be on the decline and under attack but if done well can still have a great impact. Past promotions such as “Bank in your ski mask without getting arrested” and “This is the closest thing we have to a private jet” are great examples of trusting your creative team and being rewarded with worldwide buzz. The latest campaign shines a light on small businesses – literally. They have taken the simple message “We care about small business” and brought it to life by actually showcasing small businesses. They show Mrs. Bennett and her piano lessons, Abbey the babysitter, Rod the wedding singer and Joan the math tutor. Are they real? Apparently they are. In fact, Mrs Bennett is so booked that she is referring new calls to another company. Perhaps I should open a First Bank business account.
Susan loves author blogs – Social media isn’t just for traditional businesses. There has been a big push lately for authors to have their own websites, blogs, twitter accounts, etc. Linda Gerber, a Young Adult writer, understands that to reach her target audience, she needs to go where her target audience is. So with the release of her latest novel, Death By Denim, she hosted an online release party with guest bloggers and giveaways to generate buzz. I devoured the book Saturday afternoon, joined the online party by reading and commenting on the blog, sent her a Tweet telling her how much I loved it and received “Aw. THANK YOU!” in response.
“Studies of the last six recessions have demonstrated that companies which do not cut back their advertising budgets achieve greater increases in profit than companies which do cut back,” Ogilvy on Advertising, 1983
A January 26 
