I was lying in bed last night, just about to drift off into a nice deep sleep when all of a sudden my phone vibrates. That annoying “voot-voot” on my nightstand is so hard to ignore, but I tried my best.  I turned over and tried to put it out of my mind.  But I couldn’t.  The little green LED was blinking, and someone was trying to get in touch with me, even though it was late.  “It might be important, I should check it,” I thought.  Angry with myself over letting the phone run my life once again, I turn back and check my phone.

No matter how hard I fought it; the fact there was a message on my phone was enough for me to interrupt my sleep.  What’s the lesson?  It’s simple, really.  Text messages get read.  Even …

Our last blog post covered UGC (User Generated Content). We thought we would share this press release from NextMedia station WERV, to show the power of UGC.

95.9 The River Announces the $20,000 Winner of Opal Enterprises Ultimate Home Makeover

Aurora, Illinois, February 6, 2012 — This past Friday, 95.9 The River announced the winner of Opal Enterprise’s Ultimate Home Makeover.  Lisa Richason, from Batavia, Illinois, was announced as the winner of the $20,000 home makeover during the p.m. Drive with Mitch Michaels.

Lisa was thrilled to learn on Friday that she won the contest.  She said, “I just wanted to thank the River for announcing that I’m the winner!  This is a much needed makeover… I’m looking so forward to talking to Opal.  Thank you so much for the great news!  You made 2012 for me.”

Lisa, …

In a recent survey conducted with over 1,000 participants, “Millennials” (those born between 1977-1995) reported that 51% trust the opinions stated by strangers online about a business over their own friends and family member’s referral!  The study also found that almost three-quarters of Millennials believe that other consumers care more about their opinions than companies do, and 71% believe that companies care about consumer opinions because the opinions influence how other customers view them, rather than because they truly want to know what their customers think (29%).

There are a few questions that need to be addressed after reading this.  The first is, what did mom do to you?  Marketers have long suspected that consumers value the opinions of others in the form of UGC (User Generated Content).  However, this report sheds light on how critical feedback can be for a business …

First impressions are lasting impressions.  It’s an immutable fact of life.  Whether we want to or not, we make snap judgments any time we meet someone new.  If he’s sloppily dressed, we assume he’s disorganized.  If her clothes are top of the line, we assume she knows quality and believes in herself.  Whether these judgments are accurate or not, we believe them until proven otherwise.

The same thing happens in the minds of your customers with your business.  If I were to walk in your door today, what would my first impression be?  Is it one you’d be proud of?

Here’s a hypothetical scenario.  I have a friend who owns a store located in a not-very-nice-looking building, in a down-trodden part of town.   His store is not well organized, and the appearance of his staff members leave much to be desired.  His …

At this point, we’re all familiar with the bigger Deal of the Day programs that have popped up in major (or semi- major) cities across the United States.  Groupon, Living Social, Screaming Daily Deals and Amazon are just a few examples of the large online Daily Deals programs that consumers flock to in order to try new things (or visit the same places they’ve been!) at a huge discount.

The draw for the consumer is obvious – save 50% or more on fun activities, popular restaurants, high- end spa’s, etc, etc.  They can try something new without the risk of having to justify the cost on an item with a higher price tag.  Consumers get to save money, try something new, and (since most of the Deals companies only sign merchants with higher online reviews and ratings) they’re usually pleased with …

Never before could two people be so closely connected, or held so far apart by technology. In any given living room, at any given time, a grandparent can be on Facebook, a seven year old is taking pictures on an iPad, and a father is struggling to find the “alt” key while attempting to pay bills.

In a world where age and education do not seem to matter when it comes to technological knowledge and exposure, it is radio’s challenge and privilege to connect neighbors and family members through the same brand.

It would be foolish for those in radio to think instead of gathering around the radio on evenings– as families did during radio’s heyday–that everyone simply gather’s around a computer to listen to the radio’s stream.

Though the cume on radio’s streams are rising rapidly, as well as the usage of …

If you browse around the internet much, I’m sure you’ve ran across one of those funny looking blue buttons with “in” on it and wondered what those are all about. You might have even clicked on one. Or, could even know that it stands for “LinkedIn.”

So, what is LinkedIn all about? Contrary to popular belief, it isn’t simply just a profile page to help you get a job.  It’s much more than that.  LinkedIn is a professional networking website, and according to the LinkedIn website, they’re  120 million members strong and growing.

LinkedIn is a great place to meet people in your industry, get introduced to industry contacts (and prospective clients!), as well as network with professionals around the country.  It’s also a nice place to showcase your work, hat of your company, as well as your personal and company achievements.

LinkedIn …

We launched NextMedia360 (our friends call us NM360), four years ago this month.  Wow, where does time go?!  When we launched the division in 2007 the iPhone was announced but didn’t have an app store, our incoming president was trendy enough to be our first leader with a BlackBerry.  The iPad was a fictitious device that Saturday Night Live had created in a skit.  Everyone used Myspace and Facebook was still mostly just for college-aged students, ask a friend if they tweeted and odd stares would ensue.

The conversation for local businesses was “do we need a website, is it worth the cost” or “should it be flash,” the mobile revolution was in its infancy, and advertisers had the luxury of worrying about creating a website that looked good on a computer.    Fast forward to today,  I have had a plasma …