Writings from Force 5 Basecamp

06/27/11

This weekend was not unlike many others. Running errands, working in the yard and the garden. Also common, was a trip to the store for supplies. On one such trip to Lowe’s, I was impressed by the customer service. While wandering the many aisles, looking lost, I was asked if I needed help, I certainly did. After being taken to

06/23/11

I read in a brief  from Ad-ology that nearly 35% of U.S. adults said they intend to buy a new or used car in the next 12 months. One explanation is pent up demand.  This means consumers have been holding back on their spending  like a corralled stallion and now they are finally going to let that stud burst out of its

06/21/11

In a May 2011 Report authored by Michael Stelzner and sponsored by Social media Examiner, the 2011 Social Media Marketing Industry Report set out to uncover the “who, what, where, when and why” of social media marketing. More than 3300 marketers provided insight on the latest trends in Social Media. Here’s a quick summary of the findings: Marketers place high

06/20/11

So much has been said about South Bend since it showed up on the “List of Dying Cities.” A city much like ours in many ways, Grand Rapids, (also on the list…) put together an incredible video in response. I have lived in South Bend most of my life and I spent 4 years in Grand Rapids attending art school,

06/17/11

I have to say I have a love-hate relationship with Jimmy John’s. I love the sandwiches, they are good and freaky fast. The thing I am not so enamored with is walking into the restaurant and having the majority of the folks working behind the counter yell “HELLO” at me. Most don’t even look up, it feels more like a

06/16/11

I emailed a respected marketer and he made a statement that was quite profound.  He said, “Free stuff we’ll take all day long.  But I also don’t want to work with somebody who gives away their products or services too cheap – if they can’t sell their own stuff, how can they help me sell mine?” I loved his perspective

06/14/11

credit: Rocky Ayrawal Hey, Want a deal? Ok, here it is….I’ll give you $2,500—1/3 now, 1/3 in 30 days, and the final 1/3 in 60. You give my customers $10,000 in retail business from your shop. How does that sound? That’s a Groupon deal. The “daily deal” industry structures their deals so that the retailer must be very careful about

06/09/11

For many of us, the internet is an integral part of our lives. Aside from my personal use to book trips, make online purchases and get directions through MapQuest, my focus is generally how it is used as a tool for businesses. I read about best practices in website building, the latest CMS technology, trends, internet marketing, etc. Recently, I

06/08/11

We see this phrase all the time. But as we dive deeper into the motivations of social network users, we see folks connect with Brands for many different reasons. I have a facebook friend that raves about a particular women’s clothing line. In my opinion, she’s a huge brand ambassador. So much so, that if I needed to purchase a

06/07/11

Whenever I’m asked about Force 5, one of the things I say about our company is that we are“small and smart.” Most people understand immediately what half of that means. We have only a handful of people on our staff – so, we’re small – pretty easy. Small is good these days. That means we don’t carry a lot of

06/02/11

Hungry Twitter Recent news of Twitter purchasing Tweetdeck and cutting off third-party development of Twitter clients has me wondering where Twitter is headed. Twitter has no doubt proved itself as a contender in the online service arena. But can it prove it’s well-carved niche with the likes of Google and Facebook? With the limitation of additional third-party clients and Twitter

06/01/11

I was at a convenience store this past weekend and saw the following sign. So the question that immediately pops into my head is “how is it possible that “Unmatched Pleasure” and “tooth loss” appear in the same ad?” I can’t imagine the marketing challenge involved in trying to sell this product. You have a product that clearly isn’t good