#32 Talk and listen to your customers

From the past to the future, Best Buy CMO Barry Judge tells the story of how Best Buy's Marketing Capability talks (and listens) to its customers.

W6M: Digital is going to play a big role, but I am all about comprehensive campaigns. Some highlights from this video include:

• Talk with your clients, not to them
• Create an experience in stores, show them what they can do with your products
• Transparency builds trust
• Encourage employees to talk about their jobs

#21 PhotoFunia

I recently discovered a new website called PhotoFunia.com. Again, when I say new, I mean new to me. Basically, Photofunia is an online image editing tool that allows users to insert their pictures into fun shots.

W6M: You really just have to see this to believe it. No real explaination needed. This site is very cool, very viral. Don't be tricked by your friends that created pictures using PhotoFunia.

If you have any similar sites that you would like to share, let us know.

#7 The 2008 Presidential Election Goes Viral

The election has come and gone. The results are in and Obama crushed the web. From the Obama Sneaker to the Obama Girl he was every where. One of the founders of Facebook teamed up with Obama to help spread the word online. I am guessing that like me, about 100 of your Facebook friends posted this on their profile status:

W6M is the 1,357,978th person to donate their status to get out the vote for Barack Obama today. Donate yours: causes.com/election.

Whoever was in charge of online for McCain, was a little less successful. I did not see one McCain comment on anyone's Facebook page. However, I did see some great SNL skits and a few great photoshopped images of Palin.

W6M: Try to take advantage of all mediums. Print and TV advertising is great mass marketing, but niche marketing on Facebook, YouTube, blogs and other areas is a great opportunity to reach a highly targeted audience.

If there are any politicians reading this, feel free to steal this idea. Start A Blog. People don't really know what you do all day and what types of decisions you have to make. Tell me what decisions you are making and why. Even you have to make a decision on my behalf just tell me you voted this way because and I will vote for you the next time. Politics has too many smoke and mirrors, how about some transparency and honesty?

#4 My Top 5 iPhone Applications

I made a list of my Top 5 iPhone Applications. If you go on YouTube you can search for iPhone Applications and there are a ton of videos out there about other applications available, the above video takes a closer look at one of my Top 5 iPhone Applications.

• Urbanspoon - tells you what cool restaurants are available around town


• Facebook - lets you access your account on your phone. I have the Myspace application also, but I am not a big fan. Most of my friends seem to be switching over to Facebook.


• Sportacular - let's you get up to the minute scores on most major sports. This is a must have for sports fans.


• Marketing Profs - this application is a great source for marketing info. It's bascially cliff notes for marketing profesionals on popular articles, case studies and seminars.


• Shazam - Next time you are listening to the radio and want to know the name and artist that is currently playing, Shazam can tell you want the name of the song and let you download it from iTunes.

If anyone has suggestions on other cool applications, let me know.

W6M: iPhone and PDAs are becoming the norm. Marketers should attempt to take advantage of these and other new marketing mediums when they can. Do you have any clients that could benefit or take advantage of marketing on the iPhone?

#3 iPhone 3G Proves To Be Worth It - See if you qualify for an AT&T Discount

Obviously I am a little behind the curve on this one, but I finally broke down and got the iPhone and love it. Since purchasing the phone in July, I have tried to convince all my friends to get one.

The phone itself is decent, sometimes I lose a call here and there, but you will have that. The real draw though is everything else the phone offers.

• My work email and Gmail all feed into one easy to use location. I can't figure out how to get Hotmail to sync up though. I am guessing Apple doesn't want to play nice. I tried to forward my Hotmail to my Gmail account, but looks like Microsoft doesn't want to play nice either.
• The iPhone allows you access to tons of great applications. You can search what the top free and paid apps are. Usually the paid apps have similar versions that are available for free.
• GPS is a little tricky to use while you are driving, but works pretty well.
• Camera takes decent pictures, but no video on the 3G.
• Youtube works great, but iPhone does not support flash so some websites are hard to access.
• Contacts, Favorites and Recent calls are easy to access.

Also, AT&T offers cell phone discounts to companies and schools. Looks like my company does not get one, but yours might. I typed in my college email address and it worked. As long as your account is active, you might be eligible for a discount.

https://www.wireless.att.com/business/enrollment/

W6M: Your clients are always looking to test out the next best thing. If you aren't up to date on the latest technologies, your clients may look elsewhere. Try to be on top of the latest and greatest. You may miss out if you don't.