Bing! A new search engine emerges

Google might have some competition coming its way in the form of Microsoft's Bing, a search engine that is developed to give answers instead of just relevant information. 

Intrigued, I decided to take a look. I immediately went to Google to find information on Bing, and chuckled when I realized the irony of the situation. I wonder if people will ever get accustomed to going elsewhere to find information rather than Google at first thought? Perhaps that is an ignorant comment seeing as our technology world advances at an incredible speed and new ideas and concepts sprout up every second, Google could be overtaken in a minute if a bigger and better competitor came along...right? I guess we'll find out. 

In the meantime, it's worth your while to check out Bing. The homepage itself is pretty impressive (if you're impressed by cool images and web page design, that is). I sat for a moment thinking of some amazing term to test search Bing's claim at finding "answers" rather than just relevant information, and I, of course, could think of nothing better than "Sloane Cannon" (feel free to detect the sarcasm).

I popped up in several results, some blog posts from my personal blog, some from this blog, and a few results from previous accomplishments--even dating all the way back to my high school years. However, Google results were no different. So far, I haven't been able to think of something I really need "answers" for rather than relevant results...but I'm still thinking. 

I've decided to keep Bing as part of a permanent tab to give it a few more tries, see how its popularity fairs since its just recently joined the live Internet. If you want more information on Bing check out this article from the Wall Street Journal, OR simply go to Bing itself and see what you can find. 

Happy searching and answer finding, and happy Monday everyone!

Until next time, 

Sloane and Chelsea

Swine Flu Spin

Sometimes a news story can get out of hand. There's no telling why, it could be anything--people who believe anything they read to a bad spin on a subject thanks to some public relations professionals who still practice the dishonest, outdated, and one of the reasons PR pros have a false bad name, spinning technique. 

But for whatever reason, things can get blown out of proportion and the Swine Flu, excuse me, H1N1, is the latest victim. 

I just went to the Wall Street Journal site and saw they had added a tab titled "Flu Outbreak". I log onto Facebook and am bound to find at least 10 new status updates exclaiming their fear of the Swine Flu. The Fort Worth public school system closed schools for several days a few weeks ago. Parents are keeping their kids at home. People are walking around using hand sanitizer every few minutes. My parents called me, panicked, telling me to avoid crowds for several days. 

It's gotten a little over the top. While there definitely is a flu going around, it's not the first, and certainly not the last. I like Bret Stephen's take on the whole ordeal in today's Wall Street Journal. 

Sometimes it is quite valuable, if not always, to get an unaltered point of view from someone not affected by any hysteria in the news and public. Hopefully the people who are 'spinning' the Swine Flu out of orderly control will take note of Mr. Stephen's argument. 

Until next time, 

Sloane and Chelsea

Razzle Dazzling Your Website

An article in the Wall Street Journal talked about businesses taking a more interactive approach to their websites to gain more awareness, publicity, clients, and sales. 

My thinking of this idea: Viewers will probably close the box a few seconds after the video starts to get down to the real reason they visited the site, but hey, what harm can it do? 

I checked out one of the companies mentioned, Nike, to see what they had come up with on their website. 

My thinking of Nike's video: 

First few seconds- Hmmm. Seems like a pretty simple 'feel good' advertisement...nothing out of the ordinary...

Couple seconds later- Are they naked?? Can they show butts in advertisements?? 

Couple seconds later- My, how advertising has changed...

Couple seconds later- Giggling at various parts in the video

Couple seconds later- This is actually really funny...Well done, Nike, well done. 

Couple seconds later- Hey, I recognize the voice of that girl...oh! It's Kara Goucher, she coaches me on my ipod running download. Haha!

At end of video- I kind of want to go running naked now. 

Conclusion: It was a little over 2 minutes, which is LONG for an advertisement, but I watched the entire thing, giggled, thought Nike was extremely clever, and felt like buying their product at the end. Or at least browsing their shoes. In short--it worked. Check it out here. 

Another example: The author Jodi Picoult's website. Being an author, you would think there's not much she can do to 'show' her product besides a picture of her latest book. False. There's a trailer sneak peak of a new movie coming out in June that was created from her book My Sister's Keeper. There's a video promoting her newest book, Handle with Care, showing pictures of various things while she talks about the book and reads the first paragraph or so. 

Result? I'm on page 354 of Handle with Care. 

I'm not a sucker for advertisements and interactive websites. I'm just a sucker for GOOD advertisements and interactive websites. 

If you want more people coming to your website, add GOOD content. It's that easy. 

Until next time, 

Sloane and Chelsea

Building + Branding = Bucketfulls...of success.

We've all been there: mouth dry, palms sweaty, eyes darting around the room, feeling as if the room is getting smaller and smaller by the second, the interviewer boring holes into your head as they stare at you with pursed lips...licking your lips you try and answer the seemingly easy question: Who are you? Why choose you over other applicants? 

Whether this experience happened during an interview for President of the Glee Club in high school, a first round interview after graduating college, or attempting to land your first big client in a corporate job, we've all experienced the deafening silence that occurs once you realize you can't answer the question "who are you?". 

Don't think it's that hard of a question? Well, try this then: Quick!! List 5 things about yourself that make you YOU. 

Waiting...waiting..."Unique" doesn't count. Try again. (checks watch) Alright. Nice try. Moving on. 

In this economy you've got to have the "it" factor to make it in business, in a job interview, and basically, just in general. Once you've got it figured out it's pretty much smooth sailing. It's the figuring it out part that stumps most everyone. 

You've known yourself since Day 1, but for some reason you can't answer the simple question to move yourself forward. Here's how to un-stump yourself: Blueprint. (did you really expect me to say anything else?) 

Blueprint is all about answering the big WHO ARE YOU question. That's where we start with every single client. If figuring out how to answer that question is all you need-Great! Consider it done. We'll help you map out your past and current successes, identify common trends and concepts, and how to use those in future endeavors. Then we'll send you on your merry way. Should you need PR or design work to go along with your "brand" new view of yourself, you'll know who to call for that too. 

Once you've contacted us to make an appointment make sure you check out this article from the Wall Street Journal. They've got some good pointers about branding and using it to get ahead. 

Until next time, 

Sloane and Chelsea

Fixing Economic Crisis: Check!

I think everyone is familiar with the word 'Recession'. And 'Economic Crisis'. And 'Downturn'. Not to mention 'layoffs', 'salary freeze', and 'cutbacks'. Not one of those words makes me feel warm and happy inside...instead a scary cold and panicked feeling settles in. 

But I'm not here to deliver depressing news on top of the already gloomy circumstances. I'm here to get you revved up! Motivated! And energetic about your business! In other words, never fear, Blueprint is here! 

While reading the always trustworthy Wall Street Journal online, I came across an article titled "New and Improved". In a nutshell, it features 5 companies who were suffering from the current, situation-who-shall-not-be-named-but-it-rhymes-with-brisis, and each being a small business without an abundance of upper management, they were able to turn their marketing strategies around and find their footing again. 

It's that simple. If what you have isn't working it's time to find something that does. Maybe go back to, say, the 'blueprint' of your company...Or, better yet, call Blueprint to help you examine your strategies and come up with fresh, new, innovative ideas of how to better market your business, product, or brand. 

Let Blueprint help you with your blueprint. 

Now that we've conquered the economic crisis, moving on to world peace! 

Until next time,

Sloane and Chelsea