Last week in a meeting with a plastic surgeon, we discussed the "basics" and whether she was meeting those basics of a solid strategy for patient marketing. Here are the basic, fundamental steps to growing your practice: Contact. You have to get your telephone to ring with cosmetic patients who are interested in your services. Looking at your website and online presence is a good first step in achieving this. Book.  Your staff must be able to convert those callers into scheduled... Full Story

While online advertising has been primarily a direct-response-focused space, brand-focused spending is growing, according to a new report by eMarketer. By 2014, nearly 42% of online ad dollars in the U.S. will be spent on branding, compared with just 35.7% this year. "Many of the largest advertisers have shown little interest in the Internet ads often most suited to branding," said David Hallerman, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report "Brand Marketing Online: Paid, Owned,... Full Story

I have been asked several times lately "why blue sky?" Blue sky to me means all things positive, all the good things that can happen for my clients and their companies as a result of a well-created and implemented marketing plan. All blue sky dreams are possible if you apply a plan and hard work. I see blue sky as the positive value and goodwill created in companies that are providing a quality product or service to a loyal customer base. When I look up and see a blue sky, I see the... Full Story

[caption id="attachment_200" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Famers Outlet sign"][/caption] I am ashamed to admit that it took me five years of living in Houston to finally get to Canino Produce on Airline Drive. I am a farmer's market person. When I travel I always want to see the local market so it was strange that I never went to north Houston to experience Canino Produce. And of course, the marketer in me absolutely loved it. Canino is over 20,000 square feet of farmers market.... Full Story

As part of starting my company, I am encountering people who seem astounded that I would start a new business in the "current economy".  In my reading, I know that no matter what the current economic conditions, starting business takes perseverance. Heck, running a long existing business takes perseverance. There are good days and bad in any company or economy. Here are my thoughts on ways to persevere in any business endeavor. Be Goal Oriented: I know my goals, I know why they... Full Story

Return on Investment versus Return on Objective Translation:  Your bosses don't care about the things you care about. Marketers have embraced ROI but the measures many choose are still comparing marketing option to marketing option, evaluating how those dollars performed compared to the alternative. "Option" in the sentence above could be replaced with the word "expense". In order for marketers to win respect organization-wide, they need to be thinking in terms of business... Full Story

Sunday morning I had breakfast in Mother's Restaurant in New Orleans. Per photo attached, it was established in 1938. As I prepare to attend the "Fast Casual Executive Summit" in October, I wondered if Mother's was one of the originators of the fast casual concept. For as long as I can remember, you ordered at the register, took a seat and waited for the service team to bring your food. In New Orleans, this is still a relatively little used concept except in the national chains. When I... Full Story

Have you ever heard of swarm theory?  It explains the ways groups of individual agents move together. Swarm theory has been used to model the behavior of schools of fish, ant colonies, and flocks of birds. It has even been used to explain intelligence in humans as a product of social interactions. Whenever I read something about swarm theory, it always seems to me to be analogous to the way successful companies move over the long-term. There are lots of debates among strategy... Full Story

Marketing rigor mortis:  "the fear of making an unjustified leap even when it lands on a correct result" ROI, ROO, Analytics monitoring, A/B split testing, monitoring real-time, focus groups, customer research ... all are wonderful tools and concepts when used to augment your marketing savvy. When utilized as the foundation of all decisions, they can lead to marketing rigor mortis as defined above. Marketing professionals need to take into account the information available to them but... Full Story

Houston Dog Blog | Pedigree Sponsors the Houston Dog Blog at Blog Paws West. From Brett Chisholm:  Write a post about thePedigree Adoption Drive through September 19 and they'll donate a bag of food to a shelter in need. 1 post = 1 bag! Please share! Full Story

I even like that they used video to explain QR codes to people as part of the online campaign. Be sure to check out the mobile landing page by snapping the QR code, simplicity is beautiful. http://osocio.org/message/the_big_wild_qr_codes/ Full Story

On September 8, 2005 I arrived in Houston. Five years later, I find myself in my hometown visiting with an old friend discussing why it is we love New Orleans so much and why as native New Orleanians we always come home. Cliff Johnson offered some wonderful input on New Orleans. During his 70+ years, he has lived all over the world and always come home to New Orleans.  The answer we came up with  ...  there is a pace and vibrancy to life in New Orleans that is a part of us.... Full Story

"As long as repeat business is important, and as long as customers have a chance to go somewhere else, employees must deliver high levels of satisfaction for a company to be successful." Claus Fornell, University of Michigan report out the results of the American Customer Satisfaction Index. In marketing, we are sometimes so focused on, well, marketing that we forget how important it is that the organization we are marketing is delivering on our brand promise.  Whether B2B or... Full Story