I’ve been a little obsessed with memory lately. As I get a bit older, I realize my memory isn’t what it used to be. So I’m very curious as to how much is age related and how much of it can be combated with a little work. Think of it as gym work for your brain. I recently ran across this interesting article about how your mind may be capable of retaining more than you think.

I’m not good at relating the neuroscience part of the article, for that go here. But what I found really interesting was that people with amazing memories have not always had them, they trained them to be that way. Specifically the article says “We all have this skill within us.” There is hope for me yet! Now I’m off to start training.

Landing pages have always been a tricky thing. As with email copy – you can write something that you think hits it out of the park and yet the analytics show it fell short. Far short. There are so many pieces that play into landing page success that it is often difficult to target what went wrong. Was it where the customer came from? Were there too many qualifying questions? Or not enough? Was it confusing? Did we offer them what we promised? And about another 20 more questions that make you wonder why a landing page might not perform.

Well you can eliminate copy from your worries with these three simple copy writing tips specifically designed for Landing Pages.

1. Every element of your landing page has 1 job
2. Always start with a page goal and work backwards
3. Stop trying to write

In essence, don’t try to do everything. If your landing pages still need a boost, you can read the whole article here.

I get a lot of questions about LinkedIn. Should it be for personal use or for business? Is it simply for recruiting new employees or can I also use it to market my business? LinkedIn is one of the social media portals that is least utilized by companies and it is one that has the most potential. HubSpot created the ultimate list of how to use LinkedIn. What I like most about it – it is split into 2 different categories. The first 22 tips are for personal and professional use and 23-37 are how to use it for business. I think every small business can learn and grow from at least a few of these steps so go check it out.

Social Media Today highlighted a great article today about the five reasons why every business must embrace social media. Heard it before? Yeah I know. But this one does have some good tips, as well as a cool infographic for those of us who can’t be bothered to read more than 140 characters these days.

1. Social media is inescapable, even to ourselves.
2. Social media puts a face (or rather, a voice) to the name.
3. Social media provides exposure for your website, which is one step closer to your ultimate goal.
4. Social media is a democratic platform that allows direct communication between users big and small.
5. Social media assigns cultural relevancy to our world at large.

Don’t miss out on the next ALS Ice Bucket Challenge – or whatever ends up being the rage in the next week, or month. Build your community now so you can join the conversation as soon as the next big thing hits. Not sure which outlet to tackle first? Get a high level idea of reach and demographic usage in the infographic here.

We are a week into Daylight Savings Time and I still don’t feel adjusted. “Spring forward” is always a bit of a killer for me, and from what I have been reading on Twitter, I’m not the only one feeling the pain. In times like this, it can be tempting to push through the sleep deprivation and add a few extra cups of coffee, but unfortunately that won’t work in the long term.

According to the Division of Sleep Medicine at the Harvard Medical School, the short-term productivity gains from skipping sleep to work are quickly washed away by the detrimental effects of sleep deprivation on your mood, ability to focus, and access to higher-level brain functions for days to come. The negative effects of sleep deprivation are so great that people who are drunk outperform those lacking sleep.

The latest research states we need at least 7-9 hours of sleep a night to be productive. And some of the most likely culprits that inhibit our sleep are the things we love the most – coffee, weekend binge sleeping, and watching tv or playing on an electronic device before bedtime. Between that the chaos of a usual day, no wonder most Americans complain about being tired! Do you want to make some major headway on that big project? Put it away for the night. You’ll do better and be more productive on it tomorrow, after a nice long sleep.

Customer loyalty might be harder to come by than previously thought. According to The Challenger Sale, the combined impact of company and brand impact, product and service delivery, and value-to-price ratio accounted for just 47% of customer loyalty to a particular company. 47%?!? So if you are a company that has a solid brand and you sell an exceptional product at a fair price – you are still less than halfway to earning a repeat customer. Ouch right?

So where does the other 53% come from? The “sales experience”. Think about companies like Amazon or Ebay who have become giants in the retail space because they make it easy. These types of companies provide a seamless sales experience including one click purchase, stored credit and shipping information, plus recommended items that are actually useful. If these items make up 53% of customer’s loyalty, you better be sure you are spending at least half your time working to perfect them. Are you unsure whether or not your purchase route is seamless? The best way to find out is to test it yourself. And once you have done it – have a family member do it. Better yet, pick that technology un-saavy parent, uncle, or grandparent and get their honest feedback. It will help immensely in designing a better purchase path that will help you to hold onto those ultra-valuable repeat customers.

For a few brief shining weeks a horse named California Chrome breathed life into an otherwise moribund industry.  As Triple Crown Fever drew new fans to the sport, our client, an off track betting facility based in Silicon Valley, went looking to attract an unfair share of those new fans.  It was a bet that paid off handsomely.

With a 30% increase in attendance and a $180,000 bump in dollars wagered, the small budget that went to radio and digital delivered a great return.  It was felt that the buzz being generated by the anticipation of a rare triple crown winner meant a high frequency radio campaign using 15 second ads delivering the simple clear message “Best place to watch and wager as history is being made” was the right use of the medium.

For our digital campaign, we did a three part banner series. We wanted to make sure each race of the Triple Crown got their own focused campaign. Since digital can be optimized and changed real time, it was easy to switch out banners once each race ended and start promoting the next event thoroughly. Throughout our 6 week campaign, we were able to secure over 6 million views with a CPM of less than $1.00. We were also able to create customized and targeted search ads that would dynamically populate based on what people wrote in the search area.

Marketing that increased revenue, attendance, and market share is marketing that allowed San Jose Fairdowns OTB to hit the trifecta.

It’s Inspirational Thursday. I don’t actually think that that is a thing, but I might try to make it one.

“You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.” – Steve Jobs