Gary Vaynerchuk may sound like an all-American boy, but at 33 he is a successful, grown-up businessman who has put his enthusiasms — and his penchant for publicity — to work in achieving 15-fold sales growth in his family’s wine business in the last decade, to $60 million… Last December, seeking to enhance sales, he offered free shipping and promoted it three ways. As a result, he said, a direct marketing mailing cost $15,000 and brought in 200 new customers; a billboard ad cost $7,500 and won 300 new customers; and tweeting the promotion on Twitter attracted 1,800 new customers.

One Detroit-area apartment owner is connecting online with current and prospective tenants. Interested in a place? Send a text for a floor plan
Forty-nine-year-old Eric Brown is no expert in social media. In fact, he doesn’t believe such a thing exists. For Brown, social media is a question of trying new forms of communication, from blogs to Facebook and Twitter, and seeing what works and what bombs. What he has learned, among many lessons, is that reaching out to the unhappiest customers can sometimes not only make them happy, but even …

Old-school lessons in marketing
I was reading a Q&A column today in the LATimes by Karen E. Klein on new business marketing. A reader had asked her, how do I as a new small business owner selling designer hats get the word out about my business. The answer from Karen: “promote yourself online as a fashion expert.” As a small business owner myself with forays into social media, I am surprised by how much Karen’s advice did not ring true for me. Surely not all of the answers …

…a mix of some of the most popular and comprehensive search marketing tools that both Best Rank and other 3rd party websites offer. Each tool is organized into logical sections so that you can understand each main section at a time:
via SEO Tools – Search Engine Optimization – PPC – Keyword Research | Best Rank.

YouTube. Flickr. Digg. Metacafe. Stumbleupon. Technorati. Del.icio.us. Kaboodle. Fark. Furl. Swik. Mixx. Are social media tools like these the future or simply new ways to waste time? Can’t we slow this train down?
Unfortunately, we can’t. But if you think about it, we don’t want to either. The Web is a vital source of innovation, and it levels the playing field between small businesses and corporate giants. The only problem is keeping up with the pace of its rapid (some would say rabid) advances. Taking advantage of all the Web has …

So, do you still think social media is a fad that we’ll all look back on and laugh at in the future? You can keep thinking that, but you’ll be stuck on the sidelines while social media continues to grow in 2009. In fact, let me give you 11 reasons you won’t be able to ignore social media this year. …more from Digital Labs. Photo credit: Caitlinator.

There’s an old saying in the world of advertising: Tell your story, or someone else will tell it for you. Now that mass marketing channels have fragmented and social media has blossomed, getting someone else to tell your story sounds pretty damn good. But, from the look of things, most companies just don’t get how this stuff works… more from Copyblogger. Photo credit: martinhoward

A little more than two years after approaching branding and design firm 321 Worldwide about an image overhaul, The Pickwick Arms hotel has a new look, new Web site, new tagline and logo, new room keys, and even a new name: The Pod Hotel.
And because it’s 2008, its also has its own social network.
Guests of the Pod, which is in New York City, can now log onto the network, called PodCulture, in advance of their arrival and socialize with other hotel guests …read more at Private Social Network Aids Revenue …