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As I write this, I’m sitting on a balcony looking out at the Gulf of Mexico. It’s day 80 of the oil spill, and the “new normal” here is anything but. As a business owner, the worries are always present. As a citizen of the Gulf Coast, the anger is always present as well. But as a member of the human race, it’s the daily battle between sadness and determination that I find myself feeling most intensely. Our beautiful gulf is changed in a thousand ways large and small, and the resulting hurt may never fully go away. But there are decisions to be made about the Gulf Coast’s future, and that is what we must give our full attention.

This month marks the fifth anniversary of Global Marketing Solutions. Remembering the early days, I can call up again the uncertainty and the exhilaration. Challenges, obstacles, changes—those were everyday occurrences then. Sometimes I despaired of making it all work. Other days, the victories were the best times of my professional life. The only thing I knew then was that we would just keep going until it all worked itself out one way or another.

Fast forward, and here we are. My solitary start now includes a team of people who bring an amazing commitment to excellence with them to work every day. Every day brings new reasons for gratitude. We’ve had a lot of fun. So when an uncontrollable event such as the spill comes along and threatens our way of life and what we’ve built, we’re understandably unhappy about it.

We don’t know what tomorrow looks like, much less five years from now. But the vision in my head looks like this: We are all still here. The surf that is kicking up today as I write is still kicking. Everyday challenges and blessings still present themselves. Oil in the gulf may or may not be a part of our normal lives, but the point is, we’re still here.

We had big plans for celebrating our fifth anniversary. They all were centered around you, our generous, smart, loyal clients and friends. We wanted to make a splash and kick up our heels with you. While that no longer feels like the right way to mark the occasion, we do want to commemorate it in some way. It’s an accomplishment we’re proud of and grateful for. So we’re going to make contributions in your honor to organizations that are making a difference in our recovery from this life-altering event. Read more about that here.

Thank you for your support of us as a company and as people. It is appreciated more than words can express. It will be remembered. And your investment of faith in us will pay dividends of many kinds in the days to come. We are focused on the vision: All of us are still here.

April

Email Referral System
Many consumers are simply resistant to company-generated marketing messages. Even if your most creative and most sincere advertisement manages to reach them, their thought will likely be, “Of course you’re going to say that—it’s your product.” Therein lies the value of customer referrals.

People trust their family and friends, and are more likely to try a product or service based on the recommendation of someone they know, someone who doesn’t stand to profit either way but is simply passing on useful information.

In a recent email insider blog, Neil Berman suggests using email marketing as a method of generating referrals. According to Berman, “Email marketing makes perfect sense as a referral engine because email touches so many referral sources, and many other sources as well.” To incorporate this marketing method, Berman recommends asking for referrals in all email communications sent to customers, providing referral links in e-newsletters and email messages, and allow recipients to share emails with others.

Social Media Fans
Consumers seem to “like” a lot these days—at least concerning social media. They like connecting with friends, accessing social media via cell phones, and, important to advertisers, learning about products and services through social networking. ROI Research Inc. studied 3,000 social network users and discovered some telltale numbers.

For starters, 80% of the study participants reported having a Facebook account, 39% of Twitter users respond to other tweets at least once a week, and 30% of participants use their mobile phones to access Facebook or Twitter (or both) at least once a day. People are using social media to connect with old friends who they may not have heard from again otherwise, and they’re able to stay in contact with friends and family on a day-to-day (and sometimes hour-to-hour) basis.

The audience is there, and the study’s findings concerning the popularity of companies and their products on social sites is encouraging: half of Facebook users click on ads to “like” certain products, 37% reported learning about products on social sites, and 32% have recommended a product or service to friends on social sites.

Click here to read more about this study.

Global Marketing Solutions is proud to be a sponsor of the 2010 Polo at the Point, October 15-17.
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April W. Boone             April@GMStheBest.biz
John Boone                  John@GMStheBest.biz
Laura McGill                Laura@GMStheBest.biz