Josh Greene

Great Harvest Bread

2009-06-29T02:22:00.000-04:00

From the category "Retail Experiences that Really Deliver", I highly recommend the Great Harvest Bakery. They deliver on their promise of great, freshly baked bread, they have free samples in the stores, and are knowledgeable about the ingredients. And, the "Guiness & Gouda" bread is fantastic.

Drain auger - or, the benefits of curiosity

2009-06-17T05:42:00.000-04:00

If you're analyzing a web campaign, or trying to get a clogged shower drain open, there are some significant benefits to curiosity. Last night, I attempted to solve the mystery of our slowly draining tub.

At first, it appeared that plunging the tub would take care of things. However, nothing changed. I called Aaron, a friend of mine who's a plumber. With great patience, he explained that there's usually an overflow vent and I would need to plug that, in order to seal up the system, so that air from the plunger would go down the system, rather than being vented.

I then unscrewed the covering, located the overflow vent, and plugged it with a rag to create a seal. Plunging away, within a few minutes, I brought up a bunch of dirt into the tub. Feeling very successful, I continued. Trouble struck. I managed to suck the rag back down the overflow vent, out of reach of both needle nose pliers, and a hangar.

Aaron's next recommendation was for a drain auger. Fortunately, Home Depot was still open. A very helpful rep in the plumbing section pointed one out, along with recommendations on how to use it. Twenty minutes later, I had retrieved the rag, and mentally decided I was now only facing a normal plumbers visit, not one to repair the entire sewer system. After some additional experimentation with the auger, I had roughly 4 feet of cable in the system, and was unable to find a clog. The drain auger seemed to be working fine

At that point, curiosity took over. One of the sinks had been slow to drain, so I started filling them up, and letting them drain. Interestingly, more junk started to appear in the tub. I ran the auger down the sink, hit something, and suddenly everything started working. A couple of minutes of cleanup later, and the problem was solved :)

As I was cleaning up, I was noticing the similarities with online campaigns. Sometimes you keep trying tactics, and then you finally hit on one that solves your problem/ generates the response you need.

B2B social marketing

2009-05-31T21:52:00.002-04:00

Jeremy Epstein has a nice post out about the ROI on B2B social marketing. He's also got one coming on B2C, that I'm especially curious to see. He and I had had a long discussion on the topic when I was at the Discovery Channel Store, and he's really proving out a lot of the points he made then.

Twin Tech IV

2009-05-28T21:02:00.002-04:00

If you're looking to expand your network in DC, the Twin Tech series of parties is a great way to go. Twin Tech IV was tonight. The nice thing is the published attendee list ahead of time, so you can get a feel of who's going to be there. And, you can always watch Twitter search in realtime to see what's going on.

Placeholder for running post

2009-05-20T04:36:00.000-04:00

Placeholder for running post re: sprint training.

Twitterfeed

2009-05-14T21:31:00.002-04:00

If you have an active Twitter account, I'd highly recommend checking out Twitterfeed. Great way to get your blog posts, or other RSS feeds, included in your Twitter postings automatically. It'll answer the question of "Did we put that on Twitter?". Also, you can do some creative things. For Shop.org, we have an RSS feed of the top item on SmartBrief, and autopost it. You'll also see that in my personal Twitter feed to the left.

Phone call to verify email

2009-05-04T06:23:00.001-04:00

Interesting online marketing tactic - I got a call yesterday from a vendor that I'd last ordered from two years ago. They sell consumer products, with their typical order probably in the $40-60 range. They were calling to verify my email, and to let me know they'd send out a gift code for a discount.
It was a nice gesture, and made me wonder if:
a) the cost of sending incremental emails made the cost of the call worthwhile
b) people who received phone calls had a much higher likelihood to purchase
c) they had an excessive amount of unused time from their inbound phone reps, so they were redirecting it.

What are your thoughts?

Blauction!

2009-05-01T15:41:00.002-04:00

Shop.org is hosting our first "Blauction". You can see it at http://blog.shop.org/2009/04/30/sponsorship-auction-place-your-bid-2/. We're auctioning off a sponsorship slot for our Annual Summit. We think it's a fun way to combine social media with sponsorship sales.

Firex smoke detector

2009-04-21T21:48:00.002-04:00

I did several Google searches very early this morning for Firex 120 1182. In case you're ever wondering about why the smoke detector is going off at 2:30 in the morning, it's because they're most likely to fail as it gets cooler.
The good news is, you can find a manual online eventually.
But, the short, 3 step version to solving the immediate problem is - if your detector is more than five years old, disconnect the power, take out the 9V backup battery, and if it it still continues chirping, put it outside :)
Step 3, proceed to Home Depot, buy a new version from Firex for $14, with a completely different model number, although essentially identical, and, hopefully, enjoy a good nights sleep.

Once a Runner

2009-04-06T05:08:00.001-04:00

I've posted a few "lessons from the stairwell" lately. Sometimes, you just need to put your head down and power through a challenge. Once a Runner was the best running book I ever read, which made the point with its legendary 60 x 400m interval session. I still have a dog-eared copy in the basement. It's been out of print for a long time and has just been reissued. Good reviews from Slate (last December) and the Wall Street Journal.

Advice for speakers

2009-04-05T14:04:00.000-04:00

Good article on "Advice for Speakers". I spoke last week at the Rimm Kaufmann Group summit, and the advice about not speaking to the screen was particularly appropriate.

Old conferences

2009-03-28T14:20:00.000-04:00

I've had a couple of experiences with content from conferences that I've participated in resurfacing. EcomExpo this year had rebroadcast an Affiliate Marketing Panel I had done at eTail a while back. The most recent was coming back from regional Shop.org dinners and Search Engine Strategies this past week. I was reading a copy of Search Marketing Standard that I picked up. There's an article title "Fitting SEO into the Company Puzzle". I haven't found it online yet, but there's a quote from the panel I was on at SES in 2006 where I had referenced thanking the staff that's helping you implement an SEO plan. Still good advice, and fun to see that pop up again :)

Twitter widget

2009-03-17T05:46:00.000-04:00

Twitter has finally come out with a fairly reliable widget. You'll see it on the left side of the blog. I'm finding myself posting more short links and tidbits on Twitter recently, rather than longer form blog posts. So, this is a good way to keep track of that.

Trading a link for consulting

2009-03-09T05:26:00.000-04:00

Jacob, a �social media consultant,� had an interesting post up today offering to trade consulting time in exchange for a link. It's a great marketing idea, so I'm linking to it. It's always good to talk to other people in the same field, and I'll let you know how the conversation goes.

2009-03-06T05:06:00.000-05:00

I use LinkedIn frequently for work. I've passed 1,000 connections, which I realize is quite a bit more than the norm. However, at this point, there are at least two dead people I'm connected to. It's a little bit odd seeing them when browsing through contacts, and it's gotten me wondering --

Do folks view this as a bit of memorializing, or more likely, their families are unaware of the account and/or how to remove it?

>> Apparently, LinkedIn does have some sort of a process for removing people.
Good post on a similar topic with Facebook.

WOM Slam

2009-03-04T22:16:00.002-05:00

Congrats to Jeremy on a successful WOM Slam... I'm hoping he'll post the details soon - it's a great idea.

Obama's retention dilemma

2009-03-01T13:20:00.002-05:00

Nice post by Josh Gordon from Knotice:
It's a similar dilemma that many of us in marketing face daily - once the hard fought battle for customer (or voter) acquisition is completed, there is the equally daunting task of retaining that customer.

Your flight is leaving in three hours

2009-02-25T06:02:00.002-05:00

I recently booked airline travel for the first time through a well known online travel provider. Interesting feature - they call you three hours before each flight to let you know if it's still on track. I'm wondering how much benefit there is to this - most airlines don't move a departure time until much closer, but I suppose it would be helpful if a flight has completely canceled. Of course, the 5am call to remind me of my flight later that day seemed like poor programming on their part. What do you think - useful feature?

>> So far, one vote in favor of the programmer from Jeremy.

Marketing Wisdom 2009

2009-02-12T06:46:00.001-05:00

Marketing Sherpa is out with there annual compendium of marketing wisdom. It's titled Marketing Wisdom 2009 and you can download it from their website: There are 94 great anecdotes, of the variety that you'd hope to hear from marketers and agencies at lunch or a conference, covering the whole spectrum of online marketing.

Fly Williams

2009-02-11T05:53:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite spots books growing up was Heaven is a Playground. There's a nice update in this weeks Sports Illustrated on what happend to Fly Williams, one of the two main characters in the book.

Lessons from the stairwell (pt 2.)

2009-02-09T05:51:00.000-05:00

Lessons from the stairwell, pt. 2.
Focus is important - running in a stairwell demands focus and attention to detail. Once you're in oxygen debt, that last thing you want to do is misjudge a step, slip, and land on your face.

In contrast, a recently received email from a hotel in Hawaii -

Hello!
Please see attachment for a great offer from the beautiful [Upscale Hotel Chain] Village!

[-- Mrs. X name removed]

Director of Sales - Worldwide Accounts

No personalization, an attachment with information on group meetings, and the email is sent by Mrs. X's assistant. How focused was that email? :)

Lessons from the stairwell

2009-02-04T18:33:00.002-05:00

After the conference finished up today, I wanted to get a quick workout in, and decided to run stairs in the hotel. The fitness center was uninspiring, and with 8 floors, it figured to be a good workout. It was a typical cement stairwell, with not much to recommend it, and something stenciled on each floor about a fire retention wall, good for two hours, and to keep all openings closed in case of fire. A definite lack of ambiance - but great for a workout.

About 5 minutes in, I noticed a guitar case and a small amp tucked behind some of the visible piping. I spent the next few trips up and down wondering what the story was behind it. Did a hotel employee hide it in the stairwell, and sneak out to practice. Was there a front desk clerk who hid it there, planning to race to his after hours job at and underground club? There was definitely some thought and determination that I read into the placement.

Towards the end of the climbing, I noticed that a cook had come out into the second floor. He had taken off a chefs hat and heavy Dewalt workboots, and unrolled a prayer rug. He was lost in his religious observance, and didn't even seem to notice me as I went huffing and puffing by. I was impressed by the concentration, and his planning in finding a quite, relatively peaceful spot.

Which raised a fascinating question in my post exercise haze:
What motivates you enough to head into a stairwell (real or virtual)?

Shop.org - Strategy and Innovation Forum

2009-02-02T22:37:00.002-05:00

I'm at the Shop.org Strategy and Innovation Forum. If you're interested in following along, the Shop.org blog will have live blog updates, and you can also see updates on Twitter Search.

It was wonderful to meet you at Twin Tech III

2009-01-26T21:25:00.002-05:00

How not to write a follow up email... presented without comment, for the moment :)

Hello,

It was wonderful to meet you yesterday. I have attached [Company X] capability statement. I am looking to team with companies who require current and future IT solutions teams or staffing or networking within the government sector to connect people with great opportunities. Please review the information and please let me know how a can be of service. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
[name witheld]

Twin Tech III

2009-01-22T21:35:00.002-05:00

Some quick thoughts from attending Twin Tech III tonight:

Great turnout - I ran into a lot of folks I know from the DC new media scene
Tiny nametags - definitely something to work on for next time...squinting to try and see if someone had a company name was borderline socially uncomfortable.
Live Twitter feed - I loved the live Twitter feed, and would mention the name of the company that sponsored it if I could remember it.
Music - not sure if it's even necessary, given everyone was there to chat.
Mix of people - lots of service providers, lots of people running their own sites, and a decent number of people job hunting.