Where am I going,
Have I gone too far...
Have I lost my mind.

No Blogging in 4 years...




That's insane.

JWT 100 Things to watch for 2013

For the third year in a row, I've added this to the TT blog post. It's a insightful look into the trends for 2013. What should we be on the lookout for. Here's 100 tasty ideas that might be ripe for harvest. If your business, like mine, feels like it's in a centrifuge, you'll find this informative and maybe even necessary to ward off extinction. 



http://www.slideshare.net/jwtintelligence/jwt-100-things-to-watch-in-2013?ref=http://www.jwtintelligence.com/2013-and-beyond/

Companies going to lots more in a shorter message!

New project... PDQ Doors has been uploading videos for their newly renovated website. Before its over, we'll have over 15 short clips on products, troubleshooting, and various landing pages. Here's a sample video of one of the brief product descriptions.

Things to watch in 2011

JWT shared what we should watch for in 2011... We'll comment on there predictions in the next post.

How do you go about changing the world...

Perhaps the most influential person in my lifetime. When we look back at some of the greatest innovators...Edison, Bell, Ford, Salk, Disney - you've got to include Steve Jobs on that list. Some of his contributions... the proliferation of the Windows drop-down Navigation, The Mouse, Imacs, Ipods, Itunes, Pixar, Iphones, and the latest enchantment...Ipad.

Here's a few soundbites into his genius...

Answering his critics with the essence...

The Apple Brand

The Crazy Ones...

A Tribute

About Trademarks and Copyrights

TM vs. SM vs. ® vs. © Copyright © laws protect ownership of things like music, writing, artwork, photographs, and other "original works of authorship." Copyright protection is automatic and may last for over 100 years. However, not everything can be copyrighted, and some copyrights expired prior to 1976 laws. The "circle-c" mark has been "optional" since the 1970s, but is properly used with a date and identification of the author/owner. Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, it is a federal crime to remove or alter a copyright notice when you're making copies, regardless of whether the copies are lawful or not. Trademark laws protect "words, names, symbols, sounds, or colors that distinguish goods and services from those manufactured or sold by others and to indicate the source of the goods. Trademarks, unlike patents, can be renewed forever as long as they are being used in commerce." Unregistered trademarks are a bit harder to enforce than registered, but last as long as they are being used. Trademarks may be registered in states or countries or both. The (TM) symbols for TM and SM are completely optional and require no registration. However, there are advantages to having a state or federal trademark registration, including the fact that it will tell others when you first used your brand, which can be important in priority disputes. Valuable marks justify getting professional advice.

To learn more - and there is a LOT of info - check out the United States Patent and Trademark Office Home Page (their glossary is a good place to start) and the U.S. Copyright Office in the Library of Congress. Check out video library (http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/process/TMIN.jsp) Here is more input: Depending on your local state laws, trademark registrations have different lifespans and can either be renewed or not. If a trademark is registered it is only registered for a certain period of time and then the owner decides to renew it or not. As long as you continue using a trademark, and were the first to use it, you can enforce it in state or federal courts, whether or not it is now or has ever been registered in a state or federal proceeding. Most state copyright laws were preempted by federal laws passed in the 1970s, but may still be important on certain types of works, such as "sound recordings" made prior to the changes.

There is also a "circle-P" mark on some older phono records, meaning they are covered by an international phonograph duplication treaty. The © copyright notice and ® registration mark have nothing to do with state registrations. Any time you claim rights in a trademark, you may use the "TM" (trademark on goods) or "SM" (service mark) designation to alert the public to your claim, regardless of whether you have filed an application with the state or USPTO. However, you may use the federal registration symbol "®" only after the federal USPTO actually issues a registration, and not while an application is pending or after registration expires. Also, you may use the registration symbol with the registered mark only on or in connection with the goods and/or services listed in the federal trademark registration. Any major change to the mark or the goods/services will require another registration. Federal registrations require periodic maintenance fees (i.e., every 10 years).

Creative Commons

You may have seen a new circled double cc notation accompanying content on the web, in video, or print.

Creative Commons is a balance within traditional “all rights reserved” settings that copyright law creates. Creatve Commons tools give content creators, companies and institutions a streamlined, standardized way to grant copyright permission to their content and work. The combination of creative commons tools allows users a vast digital commons, and a pool of content that can be copied, distributed, edited and built upon, within the auspice of copyright law. Below are a brief listing of CC licenses.

The Licenses

• 

  Attribution
  CC BY

  This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered. Recommended for maximum dissemination and use of licensed materials.

  View License Deed | View Legal Code

• 

  Attribution-ShareAlike
  CC BY-SA

  This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. This license is often compared to “copyleft” free and open source software licenses. All new works based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use. This is the license used by Wikipedia, and is recommended for materials that would benefit from incorporating content from Wikipedia and similarly licensed projects.

  View License Deed | View Legal Code

• 

  Attribution-NoDerivs
  CC BY-ND

  This license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to you.

  View License Deed | View Legal Code

• 

  Attribution-NonCommercial
  CC BY-NC

  This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.

  View License Deed | View Legal Code

• 

  Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
  CC BY-NC-SA

  This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms.

  View License Deed | View Legal Code

• 

  Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs
  CC BY-NC-ND

  This license is the most restrictive of our six main licenses, only allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.

  View License Deed | View Legal Code

12 Mind Blowing Facts That Every Marketer Should Know About The Web!

From HubSpot -

It's no secret that the marketing landscape has changed dramatically over the past few years as social and mobile technologies have gone from early-adopter novelties to mainstream essentials.

Still, there are plenty of traditional marketing stalwarts out there who aren't buying all of the social media hype or can't convince their boss or marketing team to experiment in the brave new world of inbound marketing.

So we've rounded up a dozen powerful stats that are sure to be eye-openers, if not total mind-changers.

1. 78% of Internet users conduct product research online.
That means your website stands a good chance of being a prospect's "first impression." That also means your new business card isn't a business card—it's Google.

2. In the past year, Web-based email usage dropped a staggering 59% among 12-17 year olds, who prefer to communicate via text, instant messaging, and social networks.
If 12-17 year olds aren't your primary customers, you may think, "So what? They're just kids." But web-based email usage has been on the decline among ALL Internet users under the age of 55. And by the way, today's kids are tomorrow's customers—and they're probably not going to be reading your email.

3. 78% of business people use their mobile device to check email.
So that means pretty much everybody that can check email on a mobile device, does. Is your email newsletter optimized for mobile devices?

4. 40% of US smartphone owners compare prices on their mobile device while in-store, shopping for an item.
Is your business website optimized for mobile devices? If not, you may be missing out on hundreds of sales opportunities.

5. 200 Million Americans have registered on the FTC's "Do Not Call" list.
That's 2/3 of the country's citizens. The other 1/3, I'm guessing, probably don't have a home phone anymore.

6. 91% of email users have unsubscribed from a company email they previously opted-in to.
We're getting savvier with technology and less patient with unwanted solicitations. And it's just so easy to hit 'delete'.

7. 84% of 25-34 year-olds have left a favorite website because of intrusive or irrelevant advertising.
Frankly, I'm surprised this stat doesn't read "100%" and apply to a much wider age range.

8. 57% of businesses have acquired a customer through their company blog.
Finally, some good news! Blogging is good. Intrusive ads are bad. See how simple it is?

9. 41% of B2B companies and 67% of B2C companies have acquired a customer through Facebook.
If this stat doesn't poke a hole in the "Facebook is not useful for B2B companies" myth, I don't know what will.

10. The number of marketers who say Facebook is “critical” or “important” to their business has increased 83% in just 2 years.
That's right—critical or important. When a channel generates not only leads, but real revenue, you can't call it "experimental" any longer.

11. Companies that blog get 55% more web traffic.
The more you blog, the more pages Google has to index, and the more inbound links you're likely to have. The more pages and inbound links you have, the higher you rank on search engines like Google—thus the greater amount of traffic to your website. Which is why we repeat: Blogging is good.

12. Inbound marketing costs 62% less per lead than traditional, outbound marketing.
That's right—62% less. The average outbound lead costs $373. The average inbound lead costs $143. And as we love to say around here, "if it don't make dollars, it don't make sense." Outbound marketing just don't make sense anymore.

You can find sources to all of the above stats along with a boatload more eye-popping facts, figures, and how-to's in the presentation embedded below or you can join us next week each and every day at 12pm EST for a very special edition of HubSpotTV where we'll share hundreds of tips (and give away dozens of awesome prizes!) in celebration of Marketing Transformation Week.