September 30, 2009 | Jeff Cohn
Jeff Cohn receives Inc. 5000 award.
I just finished attending the 2009 Inc. (as in Inc. Magazine) Conference, celebrating the Inc.500/5000 list of the nations’ fastest growing companies. To be on this list, a company must show a minimum level of revenue ($1m) and submit certified financials to prove revenue growth. The top 5000 companies are ranked. This year, Cohn Marketing marked our second consecutive year on the list at the rank of 1279. Those companies on the list as well as “alumni” of the list are invited to the conference, now held annually in D.C. Part award and recognition, part motivation, part education and part just fun, the conference brings together entrepreneurs from all walks of life that have made the list. It’s a great experience each year, meeting these incredible people that have started businesses with a good idea, a few dollars and a lot of hope and prayers.
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September 18, 2009 | Jeff Cohn
I had the chance to fly through Milwaukee’s airport today, changing planes on Air Tran Airways. I fly a lot. And with my background in shopping center management and marketing, I am always intrigued by the similarities between airports and shopping centers. But that’s for another post. Today, I want to talk about customer service amenities.
MKE business center
As I got off of my flight, I walked through the concourse wondering where I could sit, plug in and work for an hour or two during my layover. I walked by a room near my gate called “Business Center.” The door was open, there was no staff and no membership fees to pay. Just a calm, clean, quiet room with carpeting and nice lighting, along with a lineup of ten cubicles. Each cube offered plugs, a working space and very nice office chair. Read the rest →
September 9, 2009 | Jeff Cohn
I recently had the opportunity to take a few days off, and chose to visit my favorite world capital, London. One reason I chose London was the availability of a business-class ticket using miles on Delta. Or was it Northwest? I’m really not sure.
To book my flight using American Express Membership Miles, I had a number of airline choices, including Delta and Northwest. So off I went to the Delta site to see what I could find. Nothing. Nada. Even on Northwest. After all, they are in the process of merging, right? That was followed by a visit to NWA.com, where, hurray, I had a long list of choices, including flights on…you guessed it, Delta.
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September 1, 2009 | Jeff Cohn
It’s an interesting thing to be in the world of marketing, PR and interactive services today. The world seems to be changing before our eyes and at a pace that is shockingly fast. I remember the days when I was a client in the real estate industry. We would hire an ad agency for our creative and advertising needs. A PR agency for our media relations. And who knows for a website—maybe a freelancer, maybe another agency.
Today, I run a business that offers a solid blend of brand strategy, public relations, interactive/web, multicultural and creative/design services. But these areas of focus are blending, mixing, converging together at the speed of light. As clients’ needs become blended from traditional marketing to online visibility, so must we, as a service provider, be able to meet those needs. A PR advisor who knows how to pitch a story must also know how to develop a creative piece to support the story. The web developer must understand how a site will work to support the client’s online reputation. Social media is all the rage and is typically PR-driven, but the marketing strategists need to know when it makes sense to employ, as well. Print designers have to add online and interactive design to their repertoires.
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June 24, 2009 | Jeff Cohn
I had to get some information from our office administrator, Karen. As I was standing by her office area, I noticed a box in the corner, one I had not seen before. The box was small, only about 10 x 10 inches. It was white but had a colorful label. I read the copy and learned that this was the collection bin we use for old inkjet cartridges, expired cell phones and other disposables. On the label, I learned the box was from United Cerebral Palsy. It invited us to use this collection site for these materials, and the organization would collect them and repurpose the items. I asked Karen how long we had had the box, and she told me about a year. From my perspective as a marketer, this simple but brilliant idea had many lessons.
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