Dana's Blog

Getting Kids to Think Like Entrepreneurs

Submitted by Dana Baedke on Thu, 03/07/2013 - 11:47

We just delivered two super fun promo items for a local school district's Odyssey of the Mind group (car magnets and trading pins, which are sure to be a hit!).

Odyssey of the Mind magnet and trading pinOdyssey of the Mind (OotM for short) is an international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college.

Why Odyssey of the Mind is Great for Kids... "Odyssey of the Mind teaches students how to think divergently by providing open-ended problems that appeal to a wide range of interests. Students learn how to identify challenges and to think creatively to solve those problems. They are free to express their ideas and suggestions without fear of criticism."

My daughter participates in a small group at her elementary school and I can't imagine a better training ground for future entrepreneurs! This group of kids meets regularly and works together with the supervision of coaches but "no outside help" to work on a specific "problem," write a script and build props, all while having lots of fun! This weekend is the regional tournament where they get to present what they've worked on for the past six months. I can't wait to see what they've come up with! If they do well, they could move on to the State Tournament in April and then on to World Finals at Michigan State University in May.

Go Omers!

Five Things We Love about ZOHO CRM

Submitted by Dana Baedke on Thu, 11/29/2012 - 07:23

Here are five things we love about 

1) You can access and update all of your contact data from anywhere

2) You can easily sync with popular email marketing systems like Constant Contact, no extra work!

3) You can create custom forms for your website; data goes straight to ZOHO and you get notified

4) You can customize ZOHO to track all of your marketing efforts - do you know where your customers come from?

Coca-Cola's seven rules for building a mega-brand in social media

Submitted by Dana Baedke on Fri, 10/19/2012 - 06:47

I just read a great blog post by Pattie Sellers, Editor-at-Large for Fortune, "Coke's Facebook expert on how to build a "social" brand." Sellers' blog, Postcards, is about how power players lead and manage others and navigate their careers, mainly women (love this!!).

BRANDS ARE NOT...

Submitted by Dana Baedke on Fri, 10/05/2012 - 05:59
This is a fantastic, inspiring video... they say BRANDS ARE NOT... a logo, marketing, advertising, corporate identity, then they proceed to use logos throughout the video to represent successful brands. So, we respectfully disagree on that point. BRANDING IS all of these things and these things are critical however the point they make beautifully is that BRANDS ARE confidence, passion, belonging and a unique set of values that belong to an organization and those it serves. All of these things must go together to create a remarkable brand.

Time for the bottled water biz to reinvent itself

Submitted by Dana Baedke on Tue, 09/18/2012 - 06:46

According to an article on the Advertising Specialty Institute website, a town in Massachusetts is working to ban the sale of single use bottled water, but has the town given an alternative? Have they offered up a program enabling retailers a way to offer consumers a way to fill up their own water bottles with fresh, clean H20? 

I have seen water fill-up stations in a few places and think this is a great opportunity for businesses to create buzz for their brand with re-usable cups and bottles, some that are even manufactured with recycled plastic. I found another article on Hubpages.com, "Water Refill Stations — The Wave of the Future" that talks about cities in Canada, England, Australia and New York City and Concord, Mass in the US that are leading the way in educating consumers about tap water and ridding the planet of endless empty throw-away water bottles.
 
Forward thinking retailers will install 'point of use' water filtration systems to bring people into their establishment. And the multi-billion dollar bottled water industry will need to reinvent itself or at least prepare for major decline.
 
What do you think?

The Difference Between Success and Failure

Submitted by Dana Baedke on Fri, 08/24/2012 - 10:38

The best ideas always come to me during my workout routine - a 4-mile run or 2.5 mile round trip to/from the gym for weight training 4-5 days per week—if you don't already have a great reason to work out regularly maybe this will help motivate you!

Bat Moms: A Lesson in Leveraging Your Marketing Content

Submitted by Dana Baedke on Mon, 05/14/2012 - 12:48

Over the weekend my aunt, who is a conservationist, forwarded me a really interesting “Happy Mother’s Day” email about how bats are really great moms – in the dark they can find their single baby (called a “pup”) amongst thousands of hungry bat babies. This is so cool, I thought, I’d really love to share it.

Ten Tweets from a Facebook Webinar

Submitted by Dana Baedke on Tue, 12/13/2011 - 17:07

Last week I participated in an informative social media webinar – "Facebook for PR Pros" put on by award-winning PR software provider Cision.

During the webinar I tweeted ten Facebook tips & facts and would like to share them with you :). Enjoy!

Mastering A Million

Submitted by Dana Baedke on Tue, 12/06/2011 - 07:59

I read somewhere recently that the majority of women business owners earn less than $30,000 per year and that very few take their business to the $1 million revenue mark. These statistics make me nuts. If you know me, you know I am REALLY passionate about women succeeding in their businesses and the fact that I like to put my goals out there. So here it goes: I plan to break into that small percentage of $1M women-owned businesses. And, I think that just saying this – publicly – is going to help me get there; now I'm accountable to you ;).

Grow Your Business with Promotional Products: Tip #3 - Think Strategically

Submitted by Dana Baedke on Sat, 12/03/2011 - 07:36

Have you ever brought promotional items to an event where they disappear as fast as you can put them out? One of my biggest pet peeves is the "trade show giveaway" where items are laid out on your counter and given out like candy. And one of the funniest things I've ever seen is the little old couples that frequent events to swipe every freebie they can get their hands on.

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