That is the thinking of many business owners, small or large, but it seems that along with the times changing so are the minds of business executives.  An article over at Mashable.com called, Execs and Social Media: Why they Love It, Why They Fear It, examines a recent survey that shows that even though many executives still have concerns about its usefulness, the majority are embracing this new marketing medium.

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Out of 438 management, marketing and human resources executives polled, 81% saw social media as being useful for both brand-building and enhancing customer or client relationships. Just under 70% see it as a valuable recruitment tool, 64% think social media is useful for customer service, and a lower sampling at 46% saw it as improving employee morale.

Asked how they actually used social media in the workplace, respondents listed brand-building as their top goal (82%), followed by networking (60%), and a long tail of other reasons including customer service, sharing project information, monitoring their competitors, prospecting for sales, research, and other.

Yet many executives still appear to have concerns about using social media in the workplace. Of those in the survey who reported not using social media, over one half listed the reason as not knowing enough about it.

Read the entire article at Mashable.com

While change is a scary monster to some, it is unavoidable and must be faced or you may risk falling behind; and playing catch up isn’t a fun game to play in the business world. 

Ok, let’s do it, let’s change!  Right?  But the key to making the right change lies within the minds of one group of people: Your Customers!

-What do they want?  Why do they want it?
-What do they need?  Why do they need it?
-How do they perceive your company?
-What do they think of your products and services?
-What do they think of your competition?
-How do they distinguish between you and your competition?

All of these things and more need to be considered when making the right changes in your company.  In business, the need for change is controlled by the customer.  In fact, it is demanded by the customer because they will take their business and money elsewhere if their needs can’t be met.

So, how do we tell our customers that we’ve heard their voices? Through advertising!  You must promote your business in a way that highlights the best and brightest aspects of your company in order to keep customers coming back and bring new customers in.

There are many ways to advertise and multiple mediums through which to do so.  You must research to figure out which form of advertising is best for your company; that will reach your customers, highlight your qualities and express your unique selling advantage in an efficient and effective way.

Click Here, Magazines Turn to New Strategies for Revenue, to read about advertising companies making changes in order to fit an always changing market.

While their methods might not be what works for businesses on a smaller scale the driving question behind it stays relevant; what is it our customers respond and react to, in forms of advertising, in today’s market?

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Lab Watches Web Surfers to See Which Ads Work

Like other television companies, Disney Media Networks — which includes ABC, ESPN, ABC Family and Disney XD — has long conducted intense consumer research about its programming. But now, as the Web and DVRs uproot the way people consume television, and thus rip apart the industry’s business model, the unit is adding advertiser research as a fresh focus of intense inquiry.

Disney will unveil some of the lab’s early findings, including some surprises about new forms of online ads, on Tuesday in a presentation to about 200 advertisers in New York.

It is relatively easy for Internet companies and their advertisers to measure precisely how often Web site visitors click on advertisements, and which kinds of ads draw the most clicks. But what about those who do not click, the many millions of others whose eyes merely flit across the screen? Disney and other companies say they believe that not nearly enough is known about them — what kinds of ads in which configurations are likeliest to draw them, and hold them?

Read the entire article @ NYTimes.com

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Last Man Standing

With the closure of Circuit City earlier this year — and Comp USA before that — Best Buy is the only remaining national electronics chain. On its face, that would seem like a good thing for the company. But analysts argue that Best Buy has inherited a lump of coal.

Even in good times, electronics retailing can be a brutally tough business, littered with failures that were unable to survive thin profit margins, ever-falling prices, feast-and-famine product cycles and, more recently, major price pressure from Internet retailers.

Best Buy is “the last man standing, and it’s a good company,” said Andy Hargreaves, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities. But “consumer electronics is one of the worst businesses in the world to be in.”  Brian J. Dunn, Best Buy’s new chief executive, disputed that characterization.

At the same time, Mr. Dunn, who started as a store salesman at Best Buy in 1985, plans to keep renovating. He acknowledges that being the last remaining chain won’t ensure success.

Mr. Dunn said that Best Buy must account for changing tastes, like the shift away from CDs and DVDs, which have for years been a crucial generator of foot traffic in Best Buy stores. To cope, Mr. Dunn said, Best Buy was in the process of moving those products out of the center of its stores and focusing eyes and attention on fast-growing product areas, like mobile phones and low-cost laptops.

And Mr. Dunn said he wanted to create an atmosphere where consumers were attracted not just to products but also to services that help them master fast-changing technology and configure and connect devices.

“The center of the store will become an expression of the way people connect — connect with movies, music, pictures, to each other — all the things that matter,” he said.

Read the entire story @ NYTimes.com/business

Mom-and-Pop Operators Turn to Social Media

SAN FRANCISCO — Three weeks after Curtis Kimball opened his crème brûlée cart in San Francisco, he noticed a stranger among the friends in line for his desserts. How had the man discovered the cart? He had read about it on Twitter.

For Mr. Kimball, who conceded that he “hadn’t really understood the purpose of Twitter,” the beauty of digital word-of-mouth marketing was immediately clear. He signed up for an accountand has more than 5,400 followers who wait for him to post the current location of his itinerant cart and list the flavors of the day, like lavender and orange creamsicle.

“I would love to say that I just had a really good idea and strategy, but Twitter has been pretty essential to my success,” he said. He has quit his day job as a carpenter to keep up with the demand.

Much has been made of how big companies like Dell, Starbucks and Comcastuse Twitter to promote their products and answer customers’ questions. But today, small businesses outnumber the big ones on the free microblogging service, and in many ways, Twitter is an even more useful tool for them.

For many mom-and-pop shops with no ad budget, Twitter has become their sole means of marketing. It is far easier to set up and update a Twitter account than to maintain a Web page. And because small-business owners tend to work at the cash register, not in a cubicle in the marketing department, Twitter’s intimacy suits them well.

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To Read the Entire Article visit NYTimes.com/business

Each of the topics he focuses on are all great points to remember when creating a sucessful e-mail campaign:

Get your e-mail opened: Use catchy subject line to interest readers, keep in mind this goes to customers and contacts; tailor to them and nuture that relationship.

Have Great Content: Try to stay away from always selling; send something informative that will engage and educate readers.  Stand out as an expert and be the first in the readers mind when they think about your services.  This also makes them more likely to forward your e-mail to others.

Look Professional: Keep your e-mails looking good by giving them an organized look using pictures and text together in a smart looking professional template

Proof Read: Always have your newsletters proof read by someone who wasn’t involved in the creation process so that they can take an objective look at the content and make the necessary corrections.

This is all great advice to ingest when starting to use e-mail marketing or even if you’re just trying to re-boot your current newsletters and give them a new look to reach more customers.