Andy Nulman Brings the Pow! Surprise

A new found friend, blogger, enthusiastic entrepreneur and POW! Right Between the Eyes author, Andy Nulman is giving away 200 free copies of his book. He simply outlined that each of the 200 bloggers who request the book, link back to his site, list their address and POW! his book will appear on your doorstep. It's an offer I couldn't refuse.

So Andy, with my passion for marketing and spontaneous surprises, I am kindly requesting a copy of your book. I'm sure it's going to be a great read and I love what you're doing here to involve bloggers, nice little surprise tactic.

Kindly send the book to:
Lijit Networks, Inc.
C/O Grace Boyle
1050 Walnut Street, Suite 340
Boulder, CO 80302

Thanks for the tip Andy and best of luck with launching your book this year! If you want to join in on the fun, follow the link here for instructions.

AD WEEK's Top Media and Marketing Innovations of 2008

Recently, ADWEEK posted the Top Media & Marketing Innovations of 2008 with 14 innovations, people and ideas making the list. I thought each was pertinent, as I reviewed them inserting my thoughts throughout. Since we're nearing the end of this year it's nice to look back and reflect because the growth of technology within the digital age is booming.
1. Obama: Digital Change Agent: No surprise here, Obama proved the web's powerful capabilities in raising money and support. "While marketers have drooled over the Long Tail, Obama grabbed it -- attracting more than 1.7 million contributors, with 93 percent of $2.9 million in online donations coming in by way of increments of less than $100. " -Brian Morrissey

2. The TAMi Show: NBC's Multiplatform Olympics: As the first global broadband event ever, the 2008 Beijjing Olympics blew many of us away. NBC's TAMi stands for, "Total Audience Measurement Index," which helped to measure all media exposure. -Anthony Crupi

3. Hulu Takes Hold: The joint video-streaming venture of NBC and Fox delivered popular shows such as Heroes, The Office and The Simpsons to consumers-wherever, whenever they wanted it. There is even speculation "that Hulu could overtake YouTube in revenue in '09." -Steve McClellan

4. iPhone Juices Mobile Medium: The "iPhone phenomenon created a shift in the mindset of the American consumer--from 'Why would I want to surf the Web on my crappy phone?' to 'I can do that? I want one now!'" Enough said. -Mike Shields

5. HuffPo: The Rise of the Political News Site: Arianna Huffington's, The Huffington Post experienced a 474% growth rate, with 4.5 million unique users in 2008, per comScore. Her voice and site is a top 100 blog and a trusted source for information -MS

6. Fox's Clutter Killer: "This season, Fox confronted head-on the issue of commercial clutter, the growing number of ads and promos stuffed into shows by the networks." With this season's show, Fringe they aired half the usual network commercials and promo load making it the top-rated new drama among adults 18-49. Fox is paying attention to their consumers needs which is an impressive business venture. -SM

7. Turner's Big Year: Turner Broadcasting System boosted its share in the marketplace by offering "broadcast replacement" inventory. They also broke free from third-party ad networks and developed an in-house system which has led to viewing online ads at 50 million unique users and 3.5 billion impressions. -AC

8. Zuckerberg's Most Popular: The move in May to "open the social-networking service to outside developers," proved its influential capability. To date, 400,000 developers have created 52,000 apps. What a development to digital media. -BM

9. All A-Twitter: One of my favorite social media tools, (micro-blogging) proves "our conception of one another--and brands--are often formed by bite-sized interactions." They keep it simple, yet powerful, even when it comes to their small, 25 person team. -BM

10. Sponsor in Aisle Five!: Wal-Mart, the largest U.S. retailer rolled out their in-store digital network where they monitor and control television, content, ads and merchandising. Smart. This digital interaction "creates a dynamic, interactive dialogue between marketer and consumer." -Katy Bachman

11. Cinema Ads a Star: Their pre-show, 'First Look' showed a combination of ads and entertainment which reached 70% of moviegoers in the top 10 markets this year, and more than 65% in the top 25. They're experiencing double-digit growth in their ad business. -KB

12. Stardoll: Dressed for Success: The two-year old Swedish site built a virtual playground for tween girls that boasts 22 million members in 200 countries! Woah, look out they're "taking playtime to a whole new level." -MS

13. Web Amps Up Radio: CBS Radio's new online player has reinvented streaming--representing best that "the oldest electronic medium can migrate to the newest." Partnerships with AOL Radio and Yahoo LaunchCast also has boosted their new integrated-marketing possibilities. -KB

14. Oh, Snap! Magazine Ads Get Interactive: Unless you're living under a rock, the decline in print ads is obvious. However, SnapTell (Palo Alto based company) "enables brands to send messages to readers who shoot photos of magazine ads with their mobile photos." Men's Health, Rolling Stone and ESPN The Magazine are just a few to have adopted the technology this year. - Lucia Moses

Launching and Learning

Last night I helped host a Ladies Who Launch event focused around public relations, marketing and branding for local Boulder ladies looking to launch their new or existing business. It was held at Common Threads on Spruce Street and about 35 women attended. Each of the four speakers were well versed in their topic and I thought each brought informative and appealing knowledge. I mean really, who doesn't love entrepreneurial women all meeting in an adorable, clothing boutique shop, sharing their ideas, buzzing with humor, enjoying hummus and veggies and pellegrino?

Listening ladies at Common Threads

To recap, Victoria Keziah, Founder and Principal at Egg Strategy, spoke about the power of branding. Through her current studies at Naropa University she relayed the philosopher, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel thoughts about thesis and antithesis, representing one end of the spectrum for branding to the other end. Branding shouldn't be forced, it should bring together two co-existing powers to a synthesis in the middle by filling a greater need (i.e. Whole Foods, Core Power Yoga).

Tara Anderson, (@tarable) Marketing Manager and a fave co-worker of mine at Lijit touched on the online tools that help to leverage business. She focused on blogging, while intermittently offering her humorous stand-up skills. If you didn't catch Tara's drift ladies, start blogging!

Tara (speaking on the right): "Start blogging!"

Elaine Ellis, (@Elainiac) an Account Executive from Metzger Associates gave insightful views about media and public relations practices, mixed with social media strategies. I liked her hand out of relevant sites to use, because many women hadn't even heard of Bad Pitch Blog or Filtrbox for staying on top of the coverage your business is getting.
Melani Ward, (@melaniward) copyrighter, marketing strategist and coach gave five succinct points on how to convey your topic with ease. 1) Understand target market. 2) Know audiences hot buttons. 3) Leave your ego out of it, what's in it for me? 4) Call to action 5) Tell your story.

Young and old learning together. Mother in for a visit, soaking it in.

Although I'm not an entrepreneur (yet) I still liked the knowledge swirling around in that room and I definitely felt fulfilled with some takeaways for my own life. Stay tuned for the next Ladies Who Launch event in December...

Ladies Who Launch

Since this September I’ve been lucky enough to be part of the Boulder/Denver, Ladies Who Launch (LWL) branch. Our team Director is Ricki Booker, an entrepreneur and vivacious trained leader. LWL offers tools, resources and a system of support for women launching or maintaining a business.

With that being said I have taken on the role Event and Marketing Coordinator. A few of the support and resources LWL offers, we host local events and speakers to help build a community around the challenging hurdle of entrepreneurship for women. I wanted to write about a few upcoming events we're hosting.

1-Chit Chat: This is based off the LWL incubators. It’s free to everyone (even non-members). It is tomorrow, Wednesday November 5th at 6:30-8:00 PM, at Common Threads on Spruce Street in Boulder. No strings attached, if you’re interested RSVP here and bring a friend! If you’re looking to grow your current business, launch one or would just like to meet a supportive group of women the chit chat would be a great way to start.

2- Branding, Marketing and Public Relations event: This is November 11th at Common Threads 6:30-8:00 PM. Also free, this event features speakers in the area that will speak on their designated topic to leverage your business or idea, then we will open it up to discussion. We have Tara Anderson, Community Catalyst and co-worker of mine at Lijit, Victoria Keziah, Founder and Principal at Egg Strategy, Melani Ward, copyrighter, marketing strategist and coach and Elaine Ellis, Account Executive from Metzger Associates. Please RSVP here for this event.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at gracekboyle @ gmail dot com or Ricki at rbooker @ ladieswholaunch dot com. We would love to see new faces and grow this branch, because it really is about you. I look forward to seeing you there.