Who Knew?

I was in a marketing seminar last week and the question was asked, “Ever been caught in Voice Mail Hell?” It made me think I should explain why we at Hodgson do not have voice mail.

I have two main reasons. First, years ago I had a client who would only leave me voice mail messages at night. So, every morning I would come in and my voice mail light would be blinking. I would call back for clarification, leave a message, and wouldn’t get the answer until the next morning in a new voice mail message, which often needed clarification, setting the whole cycle off again. It was frustrating.

Second, I like talking with people. If someone tells me they will give someone a message, I trust that they will. I’ve asked our clients, and they like talking to people too. So, if you call us during business hours, you will always talk to a real person and not a recording. Who knew?

Everyone is talking about bad economic times and tightening their belts, and believe me I know folks are cutting back to weather the storm. But, over the past twelve months, our largest vertical growth has come from the non-profit segment. I realize there are probably tons of reasons that are making this segment our growth market, but, I like that, even in these tough economic times, non-profits still see the value of the web as a major tool for their marketing and business process needs. Who knew?

Recently, President Obama was giving Washingtonians a hard time for closing schools due to icy road conditions. I believe his exact words were, “When it comes to weather, folks in Washington don’t seem to be able to handle things.” He should be thankful he’s not in England.

A recent 8” of snow basically crippled London for three days earlier this month. All five of the capital's airports briefly shut down. London’s familiar red buses stopped running, and most trains didn’t run. It turns out that London doesn’t have a single snow plow. A city of seven million people, and not one of them owns a snow plow. Who knew?

Sign of the Times

An Australian couple was recently served notice of foreclosure on their home through their Facebook account, after several attempts to contact them at their home and via email failed. Their lender was required to serve a default judgment on the couple before it could seize the property. However, the couple failed to show up in court, and were unreachable at their last known address, so attorney Mark McCormack used the internet to find the couple. While this incident in Australian is believed to be the first of its kind, it could open the door for legal documents to be served via Facebook, MySpace, etc., throughout the world. I’ve always said social networking sites were the face of the future, I just didn’t realize how prescient I was.

Choosing our annual holiday gift is tricky and probably consumes way more of Sarah’s and my time than it should. Starting in late-October we both start pouring over catalogs trying to find something that clients will enjoy, that ties in with our current marketing campaign, that brands Hodgson in the right light…you get the picture, it’s a lot to factor in. So, I was particularly pleased to get this note from John Truran, Senior Vice President Sales and Marketing, for Keppler Speakers.

hey guys...

I'm taking a studio lighting photography class and our first assignment was to shoot a black object on a black background. So when looking for something to shoot, I thought that awesome Hodgson wine box would be perfect. It worked out pretty well... I've attached the final image.

Thanks again for a great gift...and prop!

John

Here’s hoping the rest of you are able to put your holiday gifts to good use this year.