A couple weeks ago, Greg discussed the ways that he stays motivated and finds new creative ideas. For me, I prefer to find my creativity online, since my computer seems to be permanently attached to my hip.
The 3 places that I know I can turn to whenever I need something to pique my interest are:

1. Stumbleupon I use their toolbar in my browser, so it is as simple as clicking “stumble!” and I get sent to a site that fits within the areas of interest I have pre-set. I can then choose whether I like or don’t like what they give me. This allows stumbleupon to learn what you like and become more and more customized just for you. Not only do I have things like web design, social media and marketing tagged, but I also include photography, cooking and fashion. Having a strong mix means I rarely get the same things, and they are usually very helpful in boosting my creativity.
2. Twitter Sometimes it is more important to look at what other people are sharing than to share your own thoughts. I have collected some of the best links and thoughts from my followers, without needing to add my own 140 character thought. I enjoy just listening to the conversation around me, and it is hard to hear if I am always trying to add my 2 cents.
3. Ad Age Online Advertising Age covers some of the most important stories and changes in our industry, and while you can get it mailed to you, I prefer to read it online. It makes it easier to share the links to the stories, and I can click through at my own convenience. While I don’t always agree with their perspective on stories, it does provide a great place to find them all.

Which sites do you find motivation? Is there a site that I should be looking at that I am missing?

Fuzzy bunnies, cute little girls, and what sounds like the NFL music combine to make one interesting advertisement for Windows 7 (can you sense my sarcasm?).

Even more strange is that the marketing push behind the product begins tonight with a 30-second TV commercial that breaks during the CW’s prime-time premiere of “Vampire Diaries.” (according to AdAge article covering Windows 7). Fuzzy bunnies and Vampires?

Yup, makes perfect sense to me!

But what if it works? What if they are targeting the right demographics and we just don’t know it yet?

The battle between Mac and PC is one for the ages, and Mac’s have always had a bit of the upper hand when it came to the younger demographic. This type of ad campaign, in the middle of the Vampire Diares may be exactly what they need to capture the younger audience. While I find the ads rather cheesy and obnoxious, many of the teen girls seem to be enamored with the vampire trend and anything fuzzy. For PC to be launching their new (and hopefully more user-friendly system) in the middle of a show that is captializing on the vampire/teen movie trend speaks volumes about their audience and goals. Let’s just hope they’ve realized this and are actually going to use it to their advantage!

I will be very interested to see what people think after the actual commercial airs.

When I think about a bank, I want security first and foremost. I want to know my money is safe and that my bank will be there when I need it. With the problems in the economy, and the failure of many of the big banks, the last thing that someone is thinking about when it comes to their bank is luxury, extravagance and arrogance.  Apparently Chase has either forgotten this, or just chosen to ignore it.

After the buyout of Washington Mutual by Chase, their marketing team needed to come up with a powerful way to introduce themselves to the California market. Instead of crafting a genuine commercial talking about the security of the bank, all the services it can offer you, the changes they are making to improve banking in general and why you should bank with them, they crafted this:

Really? This is supposed to make me feel safe with you as my bank? This is supposed to lower the concern for what is happening to my money and my accounts. Yep, people in a diner, the dude on the surfboard and the hot air balloons scream security to me too! And what about those of us who aren’t Wamu/Chase members? How does this advertisement invite me in to learn more? What about this ad tells me that I should trust Chase to be my bank and manage my money? Leading your audience with a nonsensical video montage and a track that has nothing to do with anything (We all shine on???)  is not the way to win our trust or our money. It is a great way to embarrass yourself and your marketing team, though.

On top of their television ads, Chase has crafted a new slogan: “Chase What Matters”. Depending on which side of the coin you’re looking at, it is either insinuating that you should chase what matters to you (and they’ll give you the money for whatever you want) or they are telling you that Chase is what matters. Isn’t this how we got in this whole mess in the first place?  Don’t have the money to buy that boat you’ve always wanted? No problem, we’re a big established bank so you can trust us to give you the money to go and get what matters to you – whether you can afford it or not.  And the big financial institutions’ arrogance through this whole process!  Don’t regulate us, we know what we’re doing.  And now Chase is what matters.  Right.

What matters is that we don’t like you and we’re taking our money elsewhere.

Let’s start with a quick list of the most popular marketing tools:

• Print marketing in magazines and newspapers
• Television ads
• Radio ads
• Social networks (twitter, facebook, linkedin, youtube)
• Blogging
• Web (adwords, banner ads, etc)
• Direct mail
• Cold calling

The marketing tools you should use are directly correlated to what you want your marketing to do. By this I mean, if you want millions of people to see it, you need to make a statement and money is no object, TV ads may be for you. If you have a budget and need people to understand more about you, to learn before they buy, blogging and social media are probably a better solution. If your services only benefit a very specific group of individuals, combining direct mail and cold calling may be just what the marketing doctor ordered.

Today, we want you to take a step back from your busy schedule for just 5 minutes and answer these 5 questions about your marketing strategy.

1. Which tools do you use to market your business?
2. Are those the most appropriate for your business strategy or are those just the tools you’ve been using?
3. Are they bringing you more business than you can handle?
4. Do you wonder what else is out there to market your business?
5. Should you choose a new strategy or tools?

Don’t forget to share your results in the comments!

If you haven’t heard of Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies, where have you been hiding? Written by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, it has been one of the most influential books I have read on social media/networking and business.

If I could, I would pull out all of my favorite quotes and thoughts to share, but unfortunately, there are about 200 that I have made note of in the 241 page book (yes, I made note of almost a quote per page). So, I have decided to share the top 10 thoughts from the book – and leave them open for discussion. These were quotes that made me think, jot down notes, and dig deeper into my brain to think about them.

The number in italics at the end of each quote is the page number, just in case you want to grab the book and find out more details.

1. …people on the Internet showed they were in charge. Any individual can be stopped, co-opted, bought off or sued. But the Internet allows people to draw strength from each other. 6
2. Concentrate on the relationships, not the technologies. 18
3. Take a step back and ask yourself, ‘What are my customers ready for?’ and then ‘What are my objectives?’ Once you know that, then you can start planning. 67
4. Marketers tell us they define and manage their brand…Bull…Your brand is whatever your customers say it is. 78
5. With so many products trying to gets people’s attention, shouting at them isn’t nearly as effective as it used to be. 102
6. The key to succeeding in social networks is to help people spread your message and to measure results. 106
7. A community is a like a marriage; it requires constant adjustment to grow and become more rewarding. And if you’re not in it for the long haul, well, maybe you should think about the ugly endings you’ve seen to marriages that lacked the long-term effort. 149
8. Product developement is hard. Why not let your customers help you with it? 181
9. Like a diet plan built on quick weight loss, quick hits and wins can evaporate rapidly if groundswell thinking doesn’t become a regular part of a company’s process. 199
10. Within a few years, a company that doesn’t engage in this sort of activity will look dated. What would you think of a company who had one static graphic and no links on its home page? In 1995, that was typical – now it’s laughable. And in the same way, companies that aren’t wired into the groundswell in 2012 will look very 20th century – which is to say, out of touch. 238

Share your thoughts on any of the quotes above, or if you’ve read the book as well, did I miss one of your favorites?