BizCoachDeb's BizBuzz -

It seems innocent enough: go head to head against your competitors by mimicking their campaigns, saying similar things and trying to evoke the same kind of sentiment from the unsuspecting consumer. But no, it’s not so innocent, and it’s happening right now, in small towns and cities across the country, even my own Boulder, Colorado. This sneaky assault is happening right under the very nose of each and every purchaser, shopper and diner nationwide. It’s called “local-washing”, and it basically means corporations dress and talk the language of “we’re doing it local”, but in essence, it’s just a ploy. You can read more about it here in an article by Stacy Mitchell in Indy.com, where she discusses how national corporations are co-opting the idea of “local” in an attempt to have consumers believe they are local in everything they do. Right. Sure they are. Tell that to the small businesses across America who have shuttered their windows when the Big Box chain rolled into town or the tiny downtown business districts that report record vacancies because their tenants couldn’t hang on during the worst recession of our generation.   The rest of the story...

There’s another neato geolocation player entering in the game very soon, and it’s easier for consumers to take advantage of the incentives merchants can set up. The standard has been for mobile app users to “check in” to receive perks and discounts, but Shopkick’s app works by subscribers simply walking through the door. Another added punch? They have forged some incentives with some partner stores and the model allows “kickbucks” to be used for Facebook credits and purchasing songs off Napster, to name a few. They’ve drummed up $15M in their recent round of financing and apparently Macy’s and Best Buy are interested in the potential; the latter hosted a preview in their San Francisco store, with more stores to follow soon. An Iphone app is poised to be ready by the end of August, with the Android app following shortly after.   The rest of the story...

Today I was delighted to read a post that was a topic bouncing in my brain for some time. Karima-Catherine beat me to it , (and it’s all kind of awesome) but in essence, it relates to the plight social media professionals have when we get that email asking, “Can we grab some coffee so I pick your brain?”

How many times have you gotten that question? I believe this happens to all kinds of freelancers and other professionals. For me, it’s common, happening several times a week. For the price of a cup of coffee, the sender (maybe innocuously) thinks it would be great to sit and let me share my ideas, tools, and strategies. Suffice to say, I’ve gotten more tight-lipped and cautious about what I share, often just referring people back to the web. My insides want to jump about and share everything, but I can’t, or rather, I shouldn’t. Why? Because I have spent a small fortune in time and resources to become sharp and knowledgeable in the spheres in which I consult. As professionals, that’s our duty. If I share all I’ve learned in a free chit-chat, what would be left and what value have I placed on my work? Precious little.   The rest of the story...

As if I needed another reason to be social, Mashable has gone and taken it up a few notches. At last count, there are 619 Meetups taking place around the world today to celebrate Social Media Day. From Boulder to Udaipur, places are having panels, while others are having Happy Hour. However your city is celebrating it, the bottomline is it gives you a chance to meet IRL with that person you’ve been tweeting with on Twitter or following on Facebook, or better yet, you’ll truly connect with someone you’ve never interacted with at all.

The entire premise of social media is the interaction you have with others, and nothing makes those connections more poignant or special than physically looking someone in the eye and shaking their hand — or maybe finally giving them a hug. Is it a bit scary for the bashful? Maybe, but there is a constant that I’ve experienced at Tweetups and other such gatherings; the making of new friends.   The rest of the story...

In case you missed the most recent news, Mashable is reporting geo-groovy app Foursquare has raised $20 Million, taking its value up to $95 Million. I could not be happier. When companies get this kind of support and certainly this kind of buy-in, it means the market is listening and that smart people are seeing the bigger picture — and the great potential for such a clever application. Let’s hope the small businesses of the world are listening, too.  As I roll around Boulder, I’m still surprised by the lack of a good foothold it has with local merchants. I’m doing my part to change that, but it will take some time.

Oh, and one more key piece that makes me happy about this news? Foursquare owners decided to continue building, rather than selling themselves off to some larger company that could ruin them. Score one more for the little guys! That seems worthy of a special kind of Mayor badge.

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