The SMG Family wishes Rebecca Stevens a

The SMG Family wishes Rebecca Stevens a HAPPY BIRTHDAY today!! You ROCK Bec!

Why the customer isn’t always right

We’re 100% positive you’ve heard the saying “the customer is always right” thousands of times before, right? Well, right. Except a recently posted article on the Huffington Post is telling us that that saying is wrong. We were caught completely off guard. It’s not often that you run into such a passionately written op-ed, and especially one that contradicts something everyone has heard through their lives. “The customer is always right” is most of the times meant to be the number one rule in business, but here are Alexander Kjerulf top five reasons to why this rule is wrong:

1. It makes employees unhappy

2. It gives abrasive customers an unfair advantage

3. Some customers are bad for business

4. It results in worse customer service

5. Some customers are just plain wrong

You can check out the reasoning behind each of his comments on his full article at the Huffington Post. But just from looking at these, what would you say? Do you agree with Alexander or do you believe that “the customer is always right” still holds true these days? Let us know what you think! (Huffington Post)

Turning Creativity and Innovation into Profit

Creativity and innovation: two things you would assume people knew they needed for their business to succeed. False. A lot of people and business owners, don’t understand that they need those two elements to have an ever growing, appealing and successful business. Unfortunately, nowadays, if you fail to incorporate creativity and innovation into your business, you are cutting yourself short and preventing your business from reaching its full potential. Sad, right?

We’re not saying it’s easy. It’s far from that actually. But, it can be done. The number one thing you should do to improve your chances of fostering a creative and innovative environment? Train management to accept it. Managers need to not only accept this situation but also be able to recognize good ideas and run with them without second guessing themselves and their team. Managers should also be able to foster this creative environment and help their teams come up with the most compelling ideas without limiting them. The next and organic step, for that matter,  is translating those ideas into actual performance. (Mashable)

From “Social” to Awkward in One Minute…

We hope you’re prepared to get “social” and super super uncomfortable. The fact that someone wrote this song, and that it is so awkward should prove that they are not really great at social media, right? Couldn’t really tell you what part makes us more uncomfortable. There’s the #selfie fest, then the rap, oh man. Just all of it. So, so rough. We can’t even really put it into words. We don’t know about you guys, but we really wouldn’t give that guy our business. Thankfully, you have people like us that care about your business and know what we’re doing.

 

Data Brokers Want YOUR Information

As some of you may know, we live in a world where our information is sold to major corporations. Information is a very vague word in this case. Data brokers can access where you live, your age, your habits and ultimately create profiles on you. Once they create these profiles on you they then sell it to major corporations so that they can more effectively target and advertise to you. As we’re sure you’re thinking right now, there are some major privacy issues involved in this whole ordeal.

The whole system currently got slammed in “60 Minutes,” and it is pretty insightful. If you are interested in getting to know more about the controversy that surrounds the subject you should definitely take a couple of minutes to watch it. So you’re probably wondering how to stop these companies from accessing all of this information about you. There’s no way to 100% defend you against this, but here are the top 3 methods.

1. Start with your search engine. To stop search engine tracking and make sure data brokers will not be able to get your information, make a habit of deleting your search history and cookies.

2. Enable the “Do Not Track” feature. The DNT feature enables you to opt out of third-party tracking. To use DNT on your browser, go into your preferences and look the option labeled privacy. All you have to do then is enable the DNT feature. The same goes for your mobile phone. Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Explorer and Safari should all have this feature.

3. Make sure your connections are encrypted. It’s super easy to tell whether you’re using an encrypted connection. Just check out the websites URL, if it starts with “https” it is an encrypted connection, if not, then the connection is not “safe.” (Yahoo Finance)

 

From Former Addicts to Ad Executives

Life is definitely complicated for recovering addicts. Besides having to worry about “normal” life issues like paying rent, and being able to sustain yourself, they also need to keep themselves in check with their addictions. Well, advertising agency Creative Matters, based in LA, is one that is innovating. This agency is staffed by former addicts, helping those in recovery to learn new skills while still making the most out of their unusual expertise. You guys should definitely check out the full article at Fast Company. The work cofounder John Sullivan does with Creative Matters is truly amazing and an inspiring story of survival, redemption and recovery. Not only are they doing an amazing service for the community but they are also creating great marketing and advertising! (Fast Co)

 

Pinterest Paid Pins?

It has recently come out that Pinterest is asking between $1 million and $2 million from prospective advertisers. This amounts to somewhere between $30 and $40 CPMs, a pretty high figure for online. With this pricing, Pinterest is making it clear that they are looking for high quality advertisements, somewhat like Instagram.

There is no date set out for Pinterest paid ads to hit the social media platform, but it has been talked about since late 2011 early 2012. A spokesperson said, in a statement given to Ad Age, that “We’ve been experimenting with promoted pins with a small numbers of advertisers since last fall. We are continuing these tests, but we don’t have any announcements to make at this time.”

So what do you think? Is Pinterest finally going to give in to promoted pins and paid advertising? (Ad Age)

Man vs Machine

Guys, you know that we love technology just as much as the next guy, but boy did we sigh in relief once we got to the end of this video…Chinese industrial robotics company Kuka hosted the first-ever man versus robot table tennis match and it was pretty interesting. Since they didn’t livestream the match we are not sure if the shots were cut together, but former number one table tennis pro, Timo Boll certainly struggled to beat Kuka. What is most amazing are the slow-motion shots, possibly because Boll and Kuka Agilus’ were moving too quickly to be captured in normal speed cameras. The video is pretty remarkable. Let us know what you guys think! (Mashable)

New Responsible Driving PSA

New Zealand’s Transport Agency has recently rolled out a new campaign promoting safe and responsible driving. The public service announcement is shocking and very compelling. Their YouTube description reads: “No one should have to pay for a mistake with their life. When we drive, we share the road with others, so the speed we choose to travel at needs to leave room for any potential error.” Watch it and let us know if you guys think this is a successful PSA or not.

Jerry Seinfeld Back At It

I mean, it’s hard to talk about the last time that Jerry Seinfeld was relevant, but I’m not going to get too much into it before Seinfeld fans track me down or something…However, we got to admit he absolutely killed it in his stand-up performance during Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show earlier this week. Seinfeld commented on our use of smartphones and other communication methods. Needless to say we were laughing pretty hard at a few points he brought up. It’s definitely an interesting look at today’s society. Let us know what you think!