Peggy Nordeen, Starmark International’s CEO, was recently selected by the South Florida Business Journal as a 2009 Diamond Awards honoree. The Diamond Awards honor an elite group of ten Broward CEOs that not only excel in the corporate community, but in civic and charitable arenas as well. The honorees were selected through a special advisory panel consisting of former Diamond Awards recipients and key business leaders.
Usability testing involves the systematic observation of persons using a product under controlled conditions. Best conducted by an outside agency or usability expert, usability studies will provide insights into performance, accuracy, recall and emotional response. For example, how many steps did it take Joe to find something to buy on your website or check out? How many mistakes did he make in navigating your site? How much information did Joe walk away with? Was he comfortable on your website or was it a stressful experience?
If you haven’t seen the “Will It Blend?” videos created by Blendtec, watch them now on YouTube and prepare to laugh. However, you’ll also marvel at how effectively these videos convey the product’s unique selling point: power.
This series of short videos launched in October 2006 with a budget of $50, a garden rake and Tom Dickson, the founder and CEO of Blendtec, starring in a white lab coat. Within five days, these no-frills clips had gone viral with six million views. Since then, a number of unexpected items have been blended by a Blendtec, such as glow sticks, marbles, tilapia and a Rubik’s Cube.
How do your consumers get to your website? Where do they go once they get there? And when are they leaving? These are the basics. If you don’t know the answers to these questions, you need to download and install an analytics package. Whether you are running a large or small website, there are powerful tools you can use to uncover visitor preferences and track their journey through your site in order to optimize a website or marketing campaign’s audience response.
Booming over the last few years, social media has become an integral part of the way we communicate. Some of social media’s early adopters include college students, who remain fluent and active in social media in its various forms. Some savvy colleges and universities have taken notice, leveraging social media to grow their student bases and extend engagement with current and past students.
For example, when users of all ages use social media they create a “self profile.” Nearly 100% of the time they include the name of their college. This is one of tools social networks use to help users connect and re-connect — and this is one of the key reasons that social media in higher education is such a strong fit.
Searching for the next hot-spot destination? With the launch of direct flights from Miami International Airport, a European island paradise is just a few hours away. Tenerife, or more commonly known as The Island of Eternal Spring, is the largest of the Canary Islands, an archipelago that is one of Spain’s autonomous communities. Tenerife, an outermost region of the European Union, is located just off the west coast of Africa.
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While getting your news directly to MSNBC, Yahoo! News or Google News may be a far-reaching goal, there are other ways to get to the big time. Several news wire services exist online to help you facilitate the process of disseminating press releases. Businesswire.com, PRnewswire.com and PRweb.com route your news by category to journalists in various fields of interest, including international, arts and entertainment, sports, technology and more. Taking it a step further, BlackPRWire.com, HispanicPRWire.com and USAsianwire.com distribute news to culturally specific media.
Get in some face time with your customers by conducting market research with a focus group. Essentially, a focus group is a way to receive constructive feedback directly from your customers or potential customers. Focus groups are used in planning, marketing and evaluation by answering questions that will help you improve your company’s product or service. Focus groups can help you resolve existing issues or even generate new ideas.
Governor Charlie Crist today announced the Viva Florida! campaign, a multi-year, multi-city consumer awareness campaign tailored to educate audiences and promote Spanish culture and heritage throughout the state. (more…)
Email marketing is essential these days. It’s a way to communicate with customers monthly, weekly, daily or several times a day – but with the benefit of a low “cost of entry.” To begin, all you need are email addresses, an email marketing service provider, and of course, something to say. But be sure to keep it interesting. Email topics may include upcoming sales promotions, information about your service or product, a credibility story, events and more. These ongoing messages keep your company top-of-mind and help build customer loyalty.
Reach the consumers in your neighborhood, city or region with local search. This is a great tool for small businesses looking to advertise on the Web, Yahoo! and Google offer local versions of their search engines. Citysearch is another site to look into. With this marketing tool, small businesses such as restaurants, hair salons, insurance agencies and boutiques will be able to target a localized consumer base through search results.
Recognizing the economic power of multicultural business, DiversityBusiness.com – the nation’s primary resource for small businesses and Fortune 1000 companies – has named Starmark International one of the Top Ten Woman-Owned Businesses in Florida. Regionally, Starmark is the second top woman-owned business in Fort Lauderdale, according to DiversityBuiness.com’s ranking.
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