Jim Worrell's blog

You hear lots of stories about how social media is changing the landscape of marketing.  Most companies outside of the USA do not realize just how fast this is happening.

I thought I would give you a couple of statistics to make you sit up in your chair and say "Wow!  Maybe I need to be doing more in social media!"

1. 89% of all US companies use LinkedIn as part of their marketing efforts.

2. 71% of companies in the US use Facebook as part of their marketing mix.

3. Of the top 100 business brands, 93% are on Facebook.

4. 77% of companies already have a Google+ page.

Point #4 above is truly shocking because Google Plus only came out last June, whereas Facebook has been around since 2004.

To all the readers of this blog, to all my personal and business friends, collegues, partners, collaborators, customers, vendors, and supporters, I want to say THANK YOU!

Thank you for your support for this past year.  Thank you for your encouragement.  Thank you for your feedback on what you want from me and my company.  Thank you for your business, your confidence, your enthusiasm and generally, your friendship.

The world is moving so fast it is hard to keep up.  Web 2.0 (soon 3.0), mobile marketing, social media, video e-mail, virtual reality, GPS-enabled everything, smart phones, apps, WHEW!

At this time of the year, I think it is important to set all that aside and simply be thankful for the many blessings all of us have. 

Blessings of family, friends, and opportunities.

I wish all of you the best of Holidays, and a very prosperous 2012.

Sincere and warm regards,
 

All of us are hoping for a rebound in the US economy (and we hope the Euro zone is able to get the mess in Greece and Italy straightened out).

The following link shows a pretty optimistic look at the economic data in the USA.  It's a lot of interesting data, and you can make your own conclusions, but it generally paints a pretty good trend in the US market.

The Economy At A Glance

Dedicated to your positive economic outlook,

This is #2 in our series of "10 Ways to Increase Business in 30 Days."

Yesterday we talked about establishing an Inbound Marketing Program, and capturing the leads that come to your website. (We find it hard to believe how many companies do not even track this.  Incredible!)

Today we are going to talk about how to turn your website into a selling machine.

Just yesterday I had a conversation with a company in Brazil that was trying to increase their global business.  They said they were the fastest growing CRO in Brazil, and that their website must be working.  They were only partially right.

Sadly, Steve Jobs is no longer with us.  The entrepreneurial community has lost one of the best.  Steve set a bar for all of us to follow.

He was a strategist, a dreamer, a salesman and promoter, and an intelligent businessman.  I am sure all of you share in my sense of loss.  None of us knew him personally, but we felt as if we did.

He spoke to us through his products, making them simple and intuitive, but not too simple.  That was his genius.

One thing that Steve said during his presentation to the graduating class of Stanford University is the following:

“Trust your intuition, it knows where you want to go.  Follow your instincts.”