Be More Like Perez Hilton
Keep reading, I promise there is justification to that statement. The answer is easy… relevancy. Being relevant online is what makes people respond. It’s what gets them talking about you and with you. Recently, I’ve been doing a “fall-cleaning” of my Twitter account. There are several celebs amongst my list of friends and colleagues like Perez Hilton and Speidi. (Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag… for the non-Hills fans.) Speidi is a perfect example of being irrelevant. At one point in time I thought their whirlwind

Cyber Monday is November 30th – are you ready?
Cyber Monday is just around the corner for online marketers and retailers alike. Just like Black Friday (the Friday after Thanksgiving) is the ritualistic kick-off of the holiday shopping season, Cyber Monday signifies the busy day for online retailers.  How influential is Cyber Monday?  Well, 2007’s Cyber Monday spending indicated an 84% jump from the average daily online spending total during the preceding four weeks (@comscore). So, is it time to jump on the Cyber Monday band wagon? Most likely yes, but you’re not alone.  Last year there were 132 million more promotional emails sent on Cyber Monday compared to usual email behavior (@ex

Improving Your Email Campaigns with Social Networking
Every few years, new technology comes along and shakes things up in the marketing world and most recently, social media has made the biggest splash. Because of the soaring popularity of social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, we have to wonder how these sites will affect the other outlets for marketing. Today, let’s focus on email and how to embrace the impact of social media. Just like with anything else, as our world rapidly changes around us, we need to adapt and re-evaluate our strategies, and email marketing is no exception. There has always been talk of how either “email is dead” or soon will be, especially with the introduction of

Tennessee is Blazin’ New Trails
Yesterday was a big day in Tennessee Tourism. Governor Phil Bredesen, along with the Commissioner of Tourist Development, Susan Whitaker, announced an initiative that will take Tennessee Tourism to the next level. The Discover Tennessee Trails and Byways is a statewide initiative that will cover all 95 counties in Tennessee with 15 regional self guided driving trails as well as feature five of Tennessee’s National Scenic Byways. During the press conference, the Old Tennessee Trail was announced as the first trail covering Davidson, Williamson and Maury counties. And, to

Build Your Destination Brand Online With A New Employee and Twitter
Perhaps the notion of “living your brand” is easier than ever now that we have social media tools like Twitter.  Recently, some tourism organizations have been creating nice exposure for themselves by advertising new job opportunities to work at their destination – all in the name of branding.  Apparently, the newest way to tell your destination’s story is to hire someone whose job description embodies the brand.  I love it.  The most widely talked about success story has been Queensland, Australia, who recently won the coveted Grand Prize at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival with an ad campaign seeking to hire for “The