Marketing

Critical Conditions
A professional restaurant-goer’s tips for getting the most out of the experience

By Tom Sietsema
The place: a restaurant somewhere in Washington. The maitre d’ welcomed me and my friends as if we were longtime customers, and the room — all smooth wood, soft banquettes and flattering light — was precisely where we wanted to find ourselves on a winter evening when the thermometer had plunged to near-Arctic numbers. Even before our water glasses were filled, the restaurant was making a fine first impression. read the full article [Read more…] about Critical Conditions (washingtonpost.com)

Rather than having the kids throw food, or tantrums, parents can toss a cartoon into a DVD player provided free to diners at a restaurant in Belleville.

[Read more…] about Restaurant pacifies kids with DVD players

Panzano restaurant manager Jennifer Olson knows all about Jack Henderson the minute he walks through the door.

A computer database tells her his birthday, his wife’s birthday and their anniversary. She knows he likes to eat at the chef’s counter at lunch and that he’s dined at the Italian restaurant more than 100 times. [Read more…] about Restaurants keep tabs on diners

Products displayed in green point-of-sale (POS) positions have a much better chance of catching the eye and ending up in consumers shopping trolleys, according to new research due to be presented next week.

[Read more…] about Get keen on green!

The major search engines are The undisputed gateway for consumers and researchers looking for information online and The primary path for leading them to their ultimate destinations. We’re all aware of their importance when it comes to generating revenue online so let’s get right down to the options you have when promoting your company and/or its products. In a nutshell you have two; Pay-Per-Click (PPC) and Natural Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – both of them designed to position your web site in front of your potential customers. Business to business, or business to consumer it makes no difference, its imperative that you’re visible. Mind you, there is no free ride so make your decisions wisely. [Read more…] about Search Engine Marketing – A challenge with huge returns

Do realise that you can subscribe to Thoughts4Action using RSS feeds?

What is RSS feed?
RSS is a format for syndicating news and the content of news-like sites, including major news sites like Wired, news-oriented community sites like Slashdot, and personal weblogs. But it’s not just for news. Pretty much anything that can be broken down into discrete items can be syndicated via RSS: the “recent changes” page of a wiki, a changelog of CVS checkins, even the revision history of a book. Once information about each item is in RSS format, an RSS-aware program can check the feed for changes and react to the changes in an appropriate way.

RSS-aware programs called news aggregators are popular in the weblogging community. Many weblogs make content available in RSS. A news aggregator can help you keep up with all your favorite weblogs by checking their RSS feeds and displaying new items from each of them. [Read more…] about What is RSS?

“On a very ephemeral level, we’re about the renewal of hope,” says Mario D’Amico, chief marketing officer of Cirque du Soleil. “Everything we do is about the human body’s ability to surpass itself physically, artistically or emotionally.”
….
What began in June of 1984 as a not-for-profit enterprise featuring a nomadic troupe of street artists led by founder Guy Laliberte is now a global sensation driven by more than 2,100 employees, deploying eight, separate, hand-crafted shows worldwide.

Cirque’s own hopes, actually, are [Read more…] about cirque du soleil – what can we learn from these guys?

Best Marketing Book of the Year

https://blog.fastcompany.com/archives/2003/12/11/2003_marketing_books_of_the_year_awards.html#more

PURPLE COW (Seth Godin)
Seth gets a lot of digital ink so if you don’t know who he is then you must be new to Fast Company. A GREAT BOOK!!!!!!!