Things We Love « Talk, Inc

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Posts Tagged ‘Things We Love’

Things We Love 5/6

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

Debbie loves Cracker Barrel – I made my first pilgrimage to the Mecca of southern cooking last week. I was concerned it wouldn’t live up to the hype. But it actually surpassed it. The veggie platter was yummy and the service friendly. When they learned it was my first visit, they gave me a beautifully wrapped map detailing all 579 locations across the country. The map (and enclosed Chix Stix candy) kept the Talk team well entertained on the way back from a business meeting in Winston Salem. I got a great lesson on my state capitals. And a delicious reminder on how excellent customer service and smart marketing is the best way to bring your customers back for seconds.

Jennifer loves organization tips – Those who know me know I am an obsessive straightener and organizer. I continue to be fascinated by those who can live and work amongst clutter. So, I was delighted to come across an articled titled “10 Ways to Let Go of Your Stuff - Confessions of a Clutterer” in the March issue of Real Simple magazine. The author, Erin Rooney Doland, makes some wonderful points for those who are trying to recover from this condition. You can read more at Unclutterer.com or RealSimple.com.

Kirsty loves my Share This button – I installed this plugin on my FireFox browser to help me more easily share great content I come across online. With the click of a single green button, I can email, IM, Text or post what I read to more than 30 social networking and bookmarking sites. Now, I never have to worry about looking for a post’s sharing button, or fret if they don’t have a button for my favorite sites.

Nathan loves Twitback – I wrote about a number of elements that really make Twitter better for businesses a few weeks ago, and one of these elements was creating extended profiles, or what some call “twitter backgrounds”. These custom twitter backgrounds work great for branding your twitter profile more, or giving that little bit of extra information that the normal twitter profile just doesn’t provide. It used to be that in order to create this extended twitter profile, you had to have some photoshop skills, or access to someone who did. Well, Twitback handles all that for you!

Shawn loves Birds Of A Feather, Letterpressed Together – Yes, this is another letterpress blog. But this time with a twist. Color. And lots of it. Bright colors have really been catching my eye lately. Perhaps it’s because I am redesigning our Talk business cards and Web site with a fresh new palette, or maybe I’m just feeling it this spring. Whatever the reason, the letterpress experts over at Studio On Fire really hit the ball out of the park with a colorful peacock themed wedding invitation set.

Susan loves periodic table of typefaces – I’m a self-proclaimed font dork. I can spend hours looking through sites like dafont.com and myfonts.com checking out the latest and greatest fonts. And the periodic table of typefaces make finding classic fonts I like (and even ones I don’t) that much easier. Though it only shows one or two letters, that’s usually enough for me to know if the style fits what I’m working on.

Tags: Customer Service, Graphic Design, Internet Marketing Wilmington NC, Marketing, Social media, Things We Love, Typography
Posted in Branding, Graphic Design, Internet Marketing, Marketing, Professional Development, Public Relations | Comments

Things We Love 4/29

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

Debbie loves great customer service – One positive outcome of the recession may be a return to southern hospitality and good, old fashioned customer service. In today’s economy, few have the luxury to take their job for granted. The result? Service providers seem to be trying a little harder to keep customers happy. So smile and remember the customer is always right, even when they aren’t.

Jennifer loves helpful news stories – I saw an interesting segment on Dateline the other night. The story was about people who had unclaimed money or property that was rightfully theirs. Their tearful joy prompted me to get online and find out if I might have money owed to me that I was unaware of. Unfortunately, nothing came up under my name. You can read about this and check out a few different search vehicles for yourself at msnbc.com.

Kirsty loves People’s Voice Webby Awards – Have your say about the very best of the Net by voting online.

Nathan loves Facebook – For all the hype that Twitter is receiving, and it is a great service, I still like Facebook more. The content and conversations that are shared there are of a much higher value than on Twitter. Not to mention Facebook Connect, like Kirsty mentioned last week. It’s only a matter of time until Facebook figures out how to open up some of its more “private” data (like mini-feeds and wall posts) to outside sources. That’s when Facebook will really become an invaluable asset to companies. Plus I always enjoy catching a good fish with some buddies using Fish Wrangler.

Shawn loves crayons – Where would I be if I hadn’t had Crayons as part of my childhood? I remember how excited I was when I finally got a 64 pack with the built in sharpener. Such a big responsibility. I took care of my crayons. Never breaking them. Carefully peeling the fuzzy labels away to prevent rough edges. Rotating them in my hand as I used them so I didn’t wear away one side more than the other. I didn’t just color inside the lines. I took crayons to a whole new level spending hours on just one page. Mixing layers and layers of colors with lots of shading. I would use a butter knife to scrape away unwanted color or use my little fingernail to chip away wax giving the illusion of highlights. As you can see I wasn’t your normal kid coloring with Crayons. Colour Lover’s post on “120 Crayon Names, Color Codes and Fun Facts” brought all those memories back to me with a little more. There are fun facts, photos, Crayon inspired color palettes, Hex values and RGB equivalents for all my favorite Crayola colors.
Susan loves 1-800-Flowers.com’s Mother’s Day contest – The flower giant’s latest promotion asks entrants to go to Spotlightamom.com and write a short personal story about a mother-figure who has touched their lives. Then people can go online, read the entries and easily share their favorite stories on various social networks. Now there’s a company that knows how to tug on the heartstrings and conquer the Internet at the same time.

Tags: Internet Marketing Wilmington NC, Marketing, media, Promotions, Social media, Things We Love
Posted in Internet Marketing, Marketing, Professional Development | Comments

Things We Love 4/22

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

Debbie loves Spring in Wilmington – This week is absolutely glorious and a wonderful reminder of why we choose to live in Wilmington. The simplest act of taking the dog out for a quick walk around our office building becomes a joyous event. The azaleas are blooming, the cherry trees are full of pink puffs and the grass and air smells heavenly. I have Spring Fever, which translates into bursts of creativity at Talk. Take time to smell the flowers everyone.

Jennifer loves e-Newsletters from the vet – Our vet shares a great e-Newsletter with helpful information to care better for our beloved pets. The “Pet Portal” also allows us to go online to see when our dogs and cat are due for vaccines, check-ups, or meds. You can also schedule appointments or ask questions via email. Very convenient for busy people!

Kirsty loves Facebook Connect – This feature for commenting systems on blogs like Mashable.com allows you to sign in with your Facebook information to contribute to online conversations. And when you do so, you can integrate the option with your Facebook account so your friends can read about what you’re saying online.

Nathan loves Google Reader – With at least 300 blogs in my reader, I’ve been addicted to getting a constant stream of information pulled to me, all in one location via RSS feeds so that I don’t have to visit 300 different sites to get the same content. On top of that, gReader lets you star the articles you like the most for future reference, allows you to search through all the articles in your reader, share the articles you choose with friends, and even make comments to have discussions going on them within your reader. Google Reader is an awesome tool for keeping up with whatever you choose, and if you use Firefox’s Grease Monkey plugin, it only makes greader cooler.

Susan loves Twibes – This group-oriented Twitter feature helps you find more people to follow who are interested in the same things as you. By joining a Twibe you can talk with other Twitterers about the things you love, share tips and get questions answered. And you can also expand your following through an instant list of people who may think you’re cool.

Tags: Internet Marketing Wilmington NC, Marketing, Social media, Things We Love
Posted in Internet Marketing, Marketing, Professional Development | Comments

Things We Love 4/15

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Kirsty loves TravelPortland on Twitter: I’ve never been to Portland. But that’s precisely what piqued my interest in the Portland, Ore. Twisitor Center. The virtual visitors center allows you to post questions about your Portland visit and when you add the hashtag #inpdx, someone from Travel Portland will get back to you promptly with an answer. I think this promotion is so innovative and I’m sure it won’t be long before other travel and tourism entities explore similar ways of conversing with visitors through social mediums.

Nathan loves Wordpress – Wordpress is a great blogging platform that can double as a content management system, and it’s free for anyone to use! It’s a fantastic tool that allows individuals or companies to easily put their thoughts online and be heard, no matter the topic, through a blog. Not to mention it has all sorts of great plugins like All-In-One-SEO that helps improve Wordpress‘ already great SEO benefit. Then there’s all the awesome looking themes that are available for free. Wordpress has a fantastic community of designers, programmers, and creatives supporting it. We like it so much, we use it here at Talk, and I use it for my personal blog.

Shawn loves business card humor – I am in the middle of redesigning our own Talk business cards. So, when I stumbled upon this hilarious spoof video it gave me quite a chuckle. Its a $4 per piece business card that took 25 years to design. The owner claims its so good that “even if they don’t like you they won’t throw it out”.

Susan loves Save One Show – Each year I go through the internal debate whether to pick up a new show and risk losing it prematurely (RIP Pushing Daisies!) or simply turn off the Television and open a book. Watch With Kristen at E! online is determined to help out TV fans like me who want to save their favorite show from cancellation. Not only can fans tell the networks what shows they are passionate about, Save One Show offers a great way for advertisers to gauge what shows have a very loyal following, so if the shows come back for another season they may want to throw some advertising dollars that way.

Tags: Internet Marketing Wilmington NC, Marketing, Public Relations, Social media, Things We Love
Posted in Internet Marketing, Marketing, Professional Development | Comments

Things We Love 4/8

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

Debbie loves Twilert – It’s a Twitter application that allows me to track mentions in the twittersphere. For instance, I’ve been tracking mentions of Port City Java. Every day I get an email of tweets that mention Port City Java. You’d be amazed at how often people tweet about their coffee. It’s a great way to track what people are saying about your brand.

Holly loves Carolina basketball – I know this isn’t marketing/PR/advertising/social media related, but we just won a NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP and I honestly can’t think of anything else more exciting to write about this week! I watched my alma-mater stomp Michigan State then proceeded to get a little teary-eyed as I ran to Franklin St. to celebrate with about 35,000 of my closest friends and Tar Heel fans. All I have left say is GO HEELS!

Kelly loves Advertising Age’s “Top 10 Reasons Your Company Probably Shouldn’t Tweet” – Despite the fact that celebrities, CEOs, and marketing mavens are twittering away doesn’t mean it’s the best marketing tool for everyone. According Ad Age, the top reasons a company should not tweet include using Twitter as a social-media strategy instead of a tactic, having to get approval from legal for every single tweet, and thinking it’s alright to use a “ghost tweeter” for the president of your company. Let’s face it, social media is a multi-faceted marketing tool that can very easily become overwhelming for those companies who don’t take the time to monitor what is being said about their brand before joining the Twitter conversation. Simply starting a Twitter account for the sake of being like everyone else is not a smart move. Check and see if you fit under their top ten reasons not to tweet.

Kirsty loves HootSuite.com – Not only does it help me schedule my tweets when I’m very busy (I think I’ve perfected my method), but I can tell which tweets people like the most from its statistics function. In March, links in my @kpiper tweets had 1,800 clicks and I learned that tweets about Jerry Seinfeld, bad PR pitches, Sacha Baron Cohen and LinkedIn are big winners!

Susan loves AT&T Wireless’ commercials – Being in marketing, I pay attention to commercials. Not just the product, but the quality, the script, the music, the actors. All of these components can make or break a spot. And I have to say that AT&T has done a great job lately of getting my attention in a good way. I can’t help but watch, and sing along to, “Sweet Pea” and “Backpackers” every time they come on.

Tags: Advertising, Social media, Social Media in Wilmington N.C., Things We Love
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Things We Love

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

Debbie loves “LaRue for Mayor” – This delightful children’s book is about a schnauzer named Ike LaRue who decides to run for Mayor against a two-legged candidate who is running on an “anti-dog” platform. I bought this to read to my dog Camden to prepare her for our involvement in Paws for Reading. As a pet therapy team, Camden and I will be visiting schools this fall to help students develop their literacy skills. Studies show that reading aloud to dogs (or cats) helps children develop their reading abilities and gain self confidence. Camden gives “LaRue for Mayor” two paws up!

Kirsty loves twhirl – This desktop client for social software like Twitter, Friendfeed, identi.ca, or seesmic is putting the fun back in tweeting. The Adobe AIR platform makes this rich desktop application more functional and customizable than using Twitter on the Web. If you’re not on Twitter yet, there’s never been a better time to start with twhirl.

Kelly loves Peter Shankman’s book, “Can We Do That!: Outrageous PR Stunts that Work and Why Your Company Needs Them” – Filled with shocking and crazy PR stunts that increased his client’s brand visibility, like filling a swimming pool with soda and 100 skydiving CEOs, Shankman’s book has helped me to think nontraditionally when it comes to creative thinking and getting your company (or your client) noticed. Sometimes a silly idea can turn into a great PR campaign!

Kristen loves the new cast of Dancing with the Stars pre-premier drama – The youngest and oldest contestants will be competing alongside two Olympic athletes, and with almost four weeks until the season premier, one “star” is already in the news. Kim Kardashian cut her foot on a glass table in her hotel room and there was doubt she would be able to compete in the show. She assured all of the worried fans that she will do whatever it takes to dance. There is no doubt that the show will be just as spectacular as the pre-dancing fiascos because ballroom dancing without the drama would just be boring.

Lindsay loves Freekibble.com – As a parent of a former shelter dog, I love the idea of feeding homeless dogs and cats. By visiting Freekibble.com daily and simply answering a trivia question, you can contribute 20 pieces of kibble. I’m equally in love with the creator, a twelve-year old girl who saw a need and with uncanny marketing sense, set out to create awareness and spur change. She even garnered national media attention in the process.

Natalie loves sticky notes – I don’t know what I’d do without them. When we’re really busy, like we are this week, they keep me organized and help me remember things. They’re great for group brainstorming exercises. I’ve even designed an ad on one. The tiny stickies are my favorite.

Shawn loves the return of Beverly Hills 90210 – I love cheese TV. And the very best of the best is Beverly Hills 90210. I can’t imagine that the remake will even come close to the original, but I can assure you I will be tuning in next Tuesday night.

Susan loves Squidoo.com and Tunefind.com – As a lover of music, I’m constantly tracking down music I hear in commercials and on TV shows. I’ll jot down lyrics and reminders of the scenes to help me locate the songs once I can get to a computer. Squidoo and TuneFind are making my quest much easier. And I love them for it.

Tags: Book Review, Things We Love
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