Writings from Force 5 Basecamp

09/03/13

I was fortunate enough to spend my long Labor Day weekend in Camden Maine with one of my best friends from college. We did some sailing, shopping and of course we checked out the local restaurants! My friend and I are both foodies so we asked some locals for a recommendation of a great seafood or Italian restaurant. We were

08/14/13

Late one evening I took a cruise through Netflix to catch up on TED Talks. I stumbled upon Barry Schwartz‘s talk on The Paradox of Choice. I found it fascinating and dug a little deeper online where I read about his now famous jam study: When researchers set up [in a gourmet food store] a display featuring a line of

08/01/13

I was watching the local news with my wife one evening and was struck by a story of a home invasion in a neighborhood very close to where we live. The story immediately got our attention. We were concerned enough to take extra precautions and make sure exterior lights, locks and windows all were working properly. The very next day,

07/24/13

Over the past few years, I have been hearing more and more that print is a dying medium and that it is slowly being replaced by advances in digital technology. Companies such as Google and Toshiba have launched national campaigns to go paperless by switching to digital means of marketing communication and recent studies in print advertising have shown that

07/09/13

“Games lubricate the body and the mind” – Benjamin Franklin A couple of weeks ago I updated the Weather Channel app on my Android phone and was presented with the opportunity to sign up for a program called mPoints. Using this system I can earn “badges” and “points” that can be redeemed for gift cards or merchandise. This got me

06/19/13

Getting the most out of your online store is paramount. There’s a good chance your online store exists to actually make money. The trick is to get the most from your visitors by knowing what it takes to get your visitors to return. One essential ingredient in creating a “sticky” online store: Engagement. But how do we create engagement? There

05/01/13

Recently the design community has been debating the trend of skeuomorphism in design – specifically UI design. While the debate itself has blurred to the point of debating about what was being debated about, the core question remained: “When does Skeuomorphism make sense in UI design?” What is Skeuomorphism? In relation to UI design, Skeuomorphism is the method of creating an

01/06/12

One Sunday last month, I started my day off with a vente iced vanilla latte with soy and double shot at 7:45am.  Yes it’s true; I am the only farm boy I know that loves Starbucks and all things gold card. To my surprise, the cashier asked if I had heard about “our Treat Receipt?”.  The bottom of my receipt

01/06/12

You’ve been there, you set yourself goals for how often you will blog, maybe it’s even a New Year’s resolution.  Yet it never fails that the time in between each post sneaks up on you  – “Oh No, has it been a week already?”.  I’ve been there, and this is from someone who would much rather strike up a conversation

12/02/11

There are seats still available!!! Force 5 will be hosting a FREE “Training Missions” for area 501c3 Non-Profits.  Our December 6, training mission is “Flying Your Cape within Social Media!”  This training mission will cover the best practices of social media as it relates to telling your story.  If you currently do not utilize social media, you will walk away with

09/12/11

10 Quick Facts You Should Know About Consumer Behavior on Facebook This study is from CMB Consumer Pulse and Constant Contact and focusing on consumer behavior on Facebook. It was just published this week, and reveals some very interesting factoids. As Marketers, we realize that Facebook is among many social media tactics that should be part of your marketing strategy.

08/23/11

We have all done it, you see a cute puppy or kitten or any kind of baby animal.  Your voice changes to that of a 4 year old as you try to talk and make this adorable creature smile – “hello little puppy”, “Your soooo cute”, you get the idea.  You’re probably saying it out loud right now as you