In the spirit of the holiday season and importance of getting together with friends and family this post provides a compelling argument regarding the priority you should place on turning online connections into offline relationships. Physically spending time with people is when relationships are truly forged. This post provides examples and tips regarding how you can convert your online network into offline friendships.
Time and time again history has shown us that often the most successful businesses in any category produce things that provide an exceptional user experience. It is usually through a combination of quality, design, service, and purpose. Just look at Apple's iPhone - It was a complete newcomer to the mobile phone market but it's focus on user experience through design and innovation took the world by storm...
It's a fact - Traditional methods of marketing (TV, Radio, Newspaper, Magazine Ads, Trade Shows, Direct Mail, Etc) have become less and less effective. These "push" tactics are intrusions that people have become numb to or developed defense mechanisms for. There will always be a need for some "push" tactics in marketing but it is giving way to the new paradigm of "pull" marketing...
"You can't fight the future". This is a saying a former boss of mine often used that stuck with me. Ironically, he didn't subscribe to the philosophy himself, but that's another story. The point is things change and you either have to adapt or be left behind...