Author Archives | Don Ball
Don Ball - who has written 90 posts on Polymer Studios :: Web Consulting.
Feeling posterous lately
No reflection on our beloved WordPress blog, but I’m finding myself more and more relying on Posterous for my blogging. Posterous makes it brain-dead easy to post via email or from a browser, using the “Share on Posterous” bookmarklet. Go check out my Posterous, if you wish. The other nifty feature is that Posterous will automatically repost [...]
Continue reading...Cheap tricks for entrepreneurs
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
One of the sessions I’ve proposed for the next UnSummit is called “Cheap tools and tawdry tricks for consultants, freelancers and accidental entrepreneurs.” The idea for the session stems from two rather obvious trends: Everyone’s a startup Thanks to the downturn, the streets are littered with talented but unemployed professionals. Some are using the occasion to go [...]
Continue reading...Emotionally intelligent hold messages
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
For most businesses, the question of what to play while customers are on hold is not critical. Important, but not vital to customer satisfaction. What if most of your business is handled over the phone? If you’re the iconoclastic savings bank ING Direct, you help customers cope with waiting by playing messages that are witty, informative [...]
Continue reading...Welcome Farm Credit 10th District
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Below are a number of resources related to my talk, “Social Media: Friend or Foe?” given on November 19, at a marketing conference hosted by the Farm Credit Bank of Texas. I want to thank Stan Ray and Lora Blume for their tremendous hospitality and everyone who attended for their kind attention and challenging questions. Social [...]
Continue reading...What if users are the problem?
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
“Over and over, I have seen how a UCD (User Centered Design) process will tend to emphasize certain benefits of an experience like ‘convenience’ over other, more meaningful sources of social value.” From an article in core 77 by Robert Fabricant, creative director of frog design.
Continue reading...Exciting entrepreneurial developments in MSP
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
I’ve probably bent a few too many ears in the Twin Cities about the need for creative and technical types to get together and find ways to put their skills toward something greater than just serving advertising and marketing clients. While the ad/marketing biz is great (hey, it pays my bills), IMHO it’s not a [...]
Continue reading...Why so quiet?
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Although things have been quiet on the Polymer Studios blog, we haven’t been idle. In addition to project, yours truly has been blogging steadily for one of our clients on matters related to retail marketing for banks. Feel free to peruse the 50+ postings at johnryanblog.com. Or you can skip to the chase and simply click [...]
Continue reading...Polymer Studios inks big soccer sponsorship
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
For those of you who read about last summer’s visit to Corazón de Ñaupas in Peru, I’m pleased to report that Polymer Studios is the proud sponsor of the town’s soccer club. On my last night in the village, the club presented me with a formal request for sponsorship, typed up on the only typewriter for [...]
Continue reading...Bright spots on the horizon
Friday, January 16, 2009
It’s no secret that the advertising and marketing industry gets walloped quicker and harder than most any industry during a recession. At least that’s how it played out in the last dip and how it’s looking this time around. If you look at some of the specific crises driving this recession you’ve got a perfect storm: The [...]
Continue reading...The shopper marketing revolution
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
70% of all purchase decisions are made in store. 68% of in-store purchases are impulse buys 68% of consumers are brand-switchers. Only 5% are loyal to one brand. These numbers, which come out of a GMA/Deloitte research paper called “The Call for Shopper Marketing,” really bring into question how we’ve allocating our time and money in reaching out to [...]
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Sunday, November 29, 2009
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