m2h blogs by Marcia Hansen

In this post, The Emotional Sale: Selling through Social Media, Sam Fiorella argues consumers are shifting from logical decision making to emotional decision making as a way to compensate for information overload and time crunch pressures.
Logical Appeals
What types of content appeal to the left side of our brains? Sam suggests feature comparisons, testimonials, and white [...]

In Pre-Commerce: How companies and customers are transforming business together, Bob Pearson, formerly of Dell Computers and now Chief Technology & Media Officer at WCG, a marketing communications agency, delivers the goods on why and how to create a successful pre-commerce program that delivers solid relationships with your customers and strong e-commerce results.
The Transformation of [...]

Some of the most popular marketing efforts at SXSW involve free food and beverages. It’s not surprising given there is even a service that tracks them (see: AustinFoodCarts.com). During the conference, brands rented a food cart, reserved space in many of bars and restaurants on 6th Street, or went the low budget route and passed [...]

The SXSW conference can be a lesson for brands in how to blend a face-to-face event with social, music, and film. The organizers, panelists, and attendees create an experience, lots of content, encourage ongoing social participation and promotion, which all leads to it being an entertaining and educational experience for attendees.
You have to understand, however, [...]

I attended my first SXSW this month, and I am intrigued by various sessions about creating and marketing content that seeks to inspire, entertain, and educate an audience, be it an audience of consumers who have grown more skeptical about what you have to offer, students who have become more and more disengaged by coursework [...]

Organizations that can bring humanity and flexibility to their interactions with other human beings will thrive.
Seth Godin, Linchpin
I really believe what Godin is saying in the above quote, and I’ve tried to put it into action in the work that I’ve done. From responding in a personal voice on Twitter, to doing man/woman-on-the-street video interviews [...]

My newest social media project at Allstate is FrienderBenders.com. We wanted to create a site that shows how bad driving habits can contribute to accidents, but in a fun and engaging way — without preaching at people. Who wants more preaching? Not me! So here’s the promotional video. The video outtakes are funny. If you [...]