Dale Berkebile

Are you using Linkedin successfully?

So often people set up profiles on all the social networking tools and they then wonder now what. Well today I thought I would share a few of the problems many people have on Linkedin and hope you find some new tips to apply to your profile today.

Ok, I know this is a funny article coming from the guy who struggles with spelling, but typos can kill a brand.

I just got back from my Christmas trip with family in Houston, TX. After getting home and grabbing some food, the wife and I thought we would throw on some mindless TV to chill and ease back in to our normal home life and work week.

Reinventing oneself is a hard and scary process, but in order to innovate you need to push forward and go into uncharted territories.

I have taken on this reinvention process many times to build the company “I wanted.” Many times this was for selfish reasons driven by ego. I wanted to be cool and have this great company who was the top in my industry. Ok, so this is all great, but how long can you continue to feed your ego without big wins for others. What I have found is that the more I change the more I become my best customer.

Carole Mahoney and I were talking the other day and she helped me define a regular frustration I have by reviewing…

where design and branding
fits into the bigger picture of
business development.

Yep, that right folks… Brandwise is doing another class in Fort Worth titled Social Media Marketing Made Simple!

If you missed last months class, now is the time to get signed up! Social Media marketing should be part of everyone’s marketing mix. It is a very cost effective form of marketing, but if you are thinking of hiring an intern to do the work, think again. Although they are digital natives, they are usually not as business savvy as an expert. If you think you want to go it alone that you certainly will not want to miss this class.

If you’re looking for a reason not to spend a lot of money on marketing, you are in luck December 21st, 2012 is the end of the world as we know it!

How can the billions of dollars being spent on marketing be so ineffective?

I’ve been in the marketing industry for nearly 20 years. One thing I can say for sure is that 99% of marketers and marketing are total crap. Is this the pot calling the kettle black? Well, I don’t think so. Honestly I’m an ad guy that hates advertising. Why is this? Because it interrupts my TV programming, my radio listening, my magazine reading and clutters up my inbox and my mailbox. The point here is this… most advertising and marketing is done blindly in hopes to find one person who will buy a product… all the while frustrating the other 10,000 people that have to put up with it. Highly targeted advertising catering to my wants and needs is great, but so rare.

How many times have you been on a sales call and you get the ol’ “The Timing Isn’t Right” put off?

Today I read a great article by Pete Caputa titled “The Timing Isn’t Right.” If you are involved with sales, a business owner or head of a marketing team (especially online marketing), you will want to read this article. Pete talks about many things related to a website redesign and the timing of it, sales, online marketing strategy and the like in this article. If you have been kicking around a site redesign, you may think again after reading this article. Of course you may continue down the redesign path, but if you do and you apply the items discussed you will be much more successful with the redesign.