Straight Talk | Ted Rubin

I met Juan Valdez — yes, the “actual” Juan Valdez — this week (more on that at the end of this post)!  The fact that I am genuinely excited about this, and that you likely know who (and what) I’m referencing here says a lot about the success of this brand.  Café de Colombia is [...]

With the ongoing emphasis on maximizing marketing campaigns by using online communication and tools, we need to remember that consumers still exist – and often still operate in – the bricks and mortar world. Marketers/Brands must carefully blend both online and offline interactions to effectively communicate on the path to purchase. There is a great [...]

Yes, social media can generate business dollars — very real and measurable dollars.  As I said in a recent Tweet, “… Awareness=Revenues. Differentiators=Margins. Authenticity=Loyalty. ALL measurable.” The concepts are similar to traditional media marketing, but they each have a different twist when you add in the social factor. Awareness = Revenues Obviously, if shoppers don’t [...]

Bloggers are amazing people who add a great deal of value to my life and work – and in my social media saturated work/life, that means a great deal!  Every day I am thrilled to be part of the awesome blogger community, and here’s why you (and your brand) need to love bloggers too: 1. [...]

Marketers used to be able to get away with intrusive advertising, placing online ads as pop-ups, highly distractive Flash animations, and a variety of other methods designed specifically to grab shoppers’ attention.  However, consumers have changed and are no longer enticed by ads (or other marketing tactics) that interrupt them… it’s as though they now [...]