Someone is a GENIUS!
YouTube – Woolite: Torture via Neatorama

Bridging The Gap In Social Media Marketing [INFOGRAPHIC] via @spikejones

I saw this on TechCrunch yesterday and after all the bad Groupon nightmares I’ve mentioned on Twitter, I thought I should post this to balance things out.

Here are a few things that stood out to me as I read the article and looked into the restaurant.

• Mr. Friedman is a tracking fiend. He tracks what the Groupon customers spend, how much they tip and whether or not they came back again after the deal was over. He’s got solid numbers to back up his opinion.
• He ran the numbers and made the deal reasonable. If you check out his menu (http://grandpaeddiesbbq.com/menu.htm) you’ll see that two people are easily going to exceed the amount of the deal.
• This isn’t the only marketing he does. He’s got Twitter going, Facebook, a email list as well as text coupons. I’ll bet money that he regularly does tv, radio, print, and direct mail too.

Finally, and this is the most important thing, he’s got a great product that he believes in. He’s not begging people to come back. He knows that once he gets them in the door, they’re gonna come back. Awesome food at great prices. How can you beat that?

The Rib Man’s Response To Groupon Bashing.

Spotted at Sahara’s down the road from McDonald’s.

YouTube – The Internet in 1969.

via: http://www.neatorama.com/

Spotted @ Trader Joe’s In Cary.

Social Media, SEO, Location Based Marketing, TV, Radio, Newspaper, Billboards; no one piece is really going to make your marketing successful no matter what the experts say, and all of it mashed together will make you broke and insane.

The real secret is to be awesome.

Don’t bribe your customers to brag about you online. Be so amazing that they can’t help but do it.

Facebook is launching their deals platform in the US today. If they can beat Groupon’s pricing structure and offer more flexibility for business owners, I think they’ve got a good shot at dominating this particular end of the market.

Oh, before you think about a Groupon campaign, you should read this article: Entrepreneur.com :: Groupon Nightmares (and How to Avoid Them)

We launched the site in January. After sending her a pdf version of her logo, I got the following email:

“Thanks so much!!!! By the way, I’ve had a lot of compliments on the website! Love it!”

I love it when people are happy because of the work I’ve done.

Inner Strength Physical Therapy – Wilmington, NC

I’ve been reading The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary Into Extraordinary for a leadership group at church (I know it sounds odd, but it does make sense).

I’m not a big Starbucks fan (I prefer Port City Java personally), but the book is a great read. They talk very little about coffee, but spend a lot of time on things like ownership, innovation & customer relationships.

Even though they do some weird corporate stuff like putting a Starbucks across the street from a Starbucks, it’s nice to see a big company where the emphasis isn’t on profits alone.

You can find it at Amazon by clicking on the link above, or (better yet!) spread the love to some local bookstores:

• http://www.pombooks.net/
• http://oldbooksonfrontst.com/
• http://www.rarebargainreaders.com/