About Julie...

The responsibility to grow the business is yours. The skill set and process that make growth happen are very much hers. Julie Burrows has run $1 billion consumer business, launched over 70 new products and deeply understands consumer interactivity and social media. Using her skill, growth becomes your product's results. More.

Meeting Chris Brogan

Posted by admin in Social Media, Tools, Training/Re-training, Uncategorized on February 4th, 2010

I had a chance to meet Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan) and hear him speak yesterday.  Chris is the leading blogger on social media and author of  Trust Agent.  Here are some of his key findings and pleas to us marketers!Picture 18

  • His greeting to the group with “Sawabona!” a Zulu word which means “I see you”.  He urged us all to use social media to “see” your customers in a new light.
  • “Social media is the right way to do marketing.” He felt most prior marketing messages made the marketer feel good, like they were talking to themselves.
  • Key social media tasks:  Listen > Connect > Publish
  • Listening by “growing bigger ears” is the secret sauce.   See his blog entry with practical ideas:  http://www.chrisbrogan.com/grow-bigger-ears-in-10-minutes/
  • Connect:  use social media tools to bring value to your clients.  For example, instead of a blog that promoted GoToMeetings he worked convinced this client to address the needs of the not-in-the–corporation worker with a blog called workshifting.  (FYI…this is a great resource for me!)
  • The key to publishing is to write about others…on a “12:1 ratio. The more you write about others the more awesome you are to your customers.”  Another quote: “ People matter more than that one sale.”
  • Interesting tidbit:  Social media now bigger than porn on the web.  Fantastic!
  • Final words:  “BE HELPFUL!” I say “Amen!”

It was a great event… so fun to finally meet many folks I had been following:  Mary Bjorn @mbjorn, Rich Mahn @rickmahn, Mykl Roventine @myklroventine, Christopher Lower @mrchristopherl , meet some new social media MPLS folks:  Aimee Cheek@aimeecheek, Keith Privette @keithprivette, Lisa Grimm @lulugrimm, Kristin Hortenbach @pickycook, and of course  see old friends Dan Wallace @ideafood and Pam Muldoon @pamelamuldoon.   Looking forward to meeting Desarae Veit@desaraev as well!

Thanks Chris for spurring us all on in your humor-filled way!

,

3 Comments

Where do you go to find trends?

Posted by admin in Trends, Uncategorized on January 21st, 2010

robyn-watersThanks to Robyn Waters for these great suggestions  (Women’s Business Minnesota 10/04.)   Robyn monitored trends for Target for years and I met her through Jeff Prouty and the Prouty Project.   I  saved this article for five years because it always gives me inspiration!

Trending Tracking Resources by Robyn Waters

  • Cool Friends…hang out with diverse cool people who aren’t afraid of left turns; who try new things.
  • WGSN (Worth Global Style network) ….an online trend service based in the UK.  Check it out!  http://www.wgsn.com/
  • Books… business, design, spiritual, fiction, coffee table, tomes, best sellers, obscure treasures. (My favorite… I love bookstores and libraries!)
  • Google…  curious about anything?
  • Travel & Adventure…can be your backyard, down the street, or halfway around the world! (My current adventure is the ice rink across the park.)
  • Magazines… subscribe to some, buy more.  Look for magazine outside your field of expertise.
  • WSJ/USA Today… a great combination, but you need BOTH to get perspective.
  • Constant Observation of People… waiting in line, on an airplane, shopping, at the movies, eating out, driving down the road… who’s driving, wearing, eating what and how and when… The Yogi Berra concept:  you can observe a lot just by watching!
  • Julie’s addition:  Check out Robyn’s blog and site for more inspiration!

No Comments

Apple vs. Google…ads and apps you feel

Posted by admin in Uncategorized on January 15th, 2010

Two battlegrounds are emerging with Apple and Google entering each other’s turf.

Mobile Internet: Google launches Nexus to attack Apple’s IPhone

Mobile Advertising: Apple buys Quattro Wireless to attack Google Adwords on mobile

I believe the consumer will be the winner of these battles. When I worked in the local news website world, I realized local news was the News you feel.  These moves by Apple and Google bring us much closer to Ads and Apps you feel. The consumer will start to see apps and ads that are much more relevant for where you are located.  My Iphone lets ME LOOK for what I want wherever I am.  Now I’ll be pushed ads and content where I am.  I’ll push away the spams but let in content that is totally relevant to where I am that I wasn’t even aware of before.  Ads and apps become so much more valuable.  And it’s coming…. to an IPhone or Nexus near you!

See today’s BusinessWeek article:  http://tinyurl.com/yb8erqv for more analysis on Google vs. Apple.

No Comments

Bra Color Phenomenon

Posted by admin in Uncategorized on January 11th, 2010

Facebook Bra Color

Objective: Drive Top of Mind Awareness of Breast Cancer Research

Goal: Reach millions of women immediately

Strategy: Create a fun way for women to connect with other women on an intimate topic related to breast cancer.  Don’t tell the men.

Plan: Create a social media craze by asking women to update their status with their favorite bra color and share it only with other women.  Sponsor is ______ ?

Anyone who works with me knows I’m fanatical about understanding objectives, goals, strategies and plans before launching into the execution of a plan.  Well, this example clearly met its objective…and who knows if it really did have a plan!  This event actually happened last Friday and DID raise awareness for Breast Cancer Research (#11 on Google trends on the first day).    To read more, see the link to abcnews story.  Here’s to luck and fun over planning …. never thought I’d say that!

And for the record, black.

Julie

2 Comments