Last August I took a month-long sabbatical from work to take a 500-mile bike tour of Italy and France. Throughout the trip I was reminded again and again that A) Italian food tastes better in Italy; B) French people don’t willingly speak English, even if they can; and C) certain marketing principles are universal. 1. […]
While doing research for an upcoming tradeshow event, I noticed a consistent trend—restaurants tend to have awful websites. For whatever reason, many restaurants use a website model that was popular in the last millennium: Elaborate intro screens, flashy animations and cheesy auto-playing music, all of which can take a full minute or more to load before […]
When Andrew and I founded Altitude Marketing seven-and-a-half years ago, we compiled a tightly edited list of cultural values that we wanted the company to embody as it evolved and matured. Among these was an ambitious resolution: That day-to-day running of the business should have minimal impact on our employees’ personal/family lives. Separation of church […]
Even if you live in a mud hut in northern Greenland, you’ve heard all about the impact that social media can have on your business marketing. And that’s exactly why I’m not going to talk about it. Instead, I’d like to point out a growing trend—the use of social media as a customer service venue. […]
Digital advertising expenditures overall are up more than 20% over the past year, and digital display advertising is matching that torrid pace of growth. Today’s digital display advertising is more powerful and compelling than the banner ads of yesteryear, for various reasons, including: Google now offers very powerful and free tools that permit businesses of […]
Email marketing can be a very effective tool for just about any industry—if you play by the rules. If you choose to play it fast and loose, email marketing can just as easily get your company’s email domain blacklisted, and could even subject you to stiff fines. Thank the CAN-SPAM Act (http://bit.ly/canspam)—a federal law that […]
Trade shows and consumer shows are an important part of the marketing mix for many companies. They present a great opportunity to launch new products, showcase your advantages, meet vendors, schmooze customers and steal ideas from—I mean, keep track of—your competitors. Of course, there’s a downside. Cost. Trade shows can be almost criminally expensive, especially […]
Last weekend was the 25th Annual Nicole Reinhart Memorial Tour de FCCC (Future Champions Cycling Classic) held at the beautiful Rodale Institute in Maxatawny Township, PA. This is the 7th year that I have been co-director and we had our best turn out ever with over 110 young riders (ages 10-18) from 7 states. The […]
The recent spate of “social media gone wild” stories—like the Weiner-gate circus or the firing of the social media specialist at the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp.—has companies contacting me at a fever pitch trying to get a grip on social media. Business leaders want to understand it, and they want a policy in place […]
On July 30th, the PR gals from Altitude will be participating in the Bald Bear Team Triathlon at Bear Creek Mountain Resort in Macungie, PA. The team triathlon will consist of a .25 mile swim by Chelsea, a 16.2 mile road-bike ride through Berks County by Gwen and a 2.2 mile trail run by Amanda. […]
