All businesses are using their online marketing efforts to build their brand, market their products and services and for many businesses – they want their visitors to take action in the real world. It is that integration of offline, in-store, events and the online initiatives you make – that can entice your audience – for a response to your call to action – like getting them into your store, participating in events or purchasing products that you may not offer via an e-commerce store. Read the rest of this entry »

The best way to show our readers that a serious, planned approach to social media as a key marketing channel can lead to success (when integrated with offline channels), is to provide case studies or corporate examples of triumph and prosperity.

Today’s post is going to do just that. In 2008, Starbucks (YES, I am one of their devotees ) found themselves in some serious hot water. Sales were down, there were major corporate management changes (which included Starbucks former CEO Howard Shultz returning and some management being let go), store closings, and some of the rapid rate expansion was slowed so that the company could go back to basics. The challenge? “How do they get back their relationship with their customer — the one they had when they first began?” Shultz claimed that, “Starbucks had lost its soul.”
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