Good reading

How to trim the top of a hedge with a riding lawnmower. You have to admire the ingenuity :)

SEM - the pricing revolution. George always has fascinating things to say about the industry.

10 years ago - the first search marketing conference.

100 free things to do in DC.

Efficient customer service

I've worked at several organizations that have placed a huge emphasis on customer retention. Strange experience this week. Needed to end the membership at one of the health clubs I belong to. I was told that I could call the membership hotline, which instructed me to email them the cancellation.
I got back an automated response letting me know I'd hear back from them within two business days. I did, and got a nice message telling me that my membership was now cancelled. No question about why I was ending the membership, and no attempt to retain me as a member.
On one hand, I was pleased to have such a pleasant customer service experience. On the other, seeing how much effort they put into recruiting customers, wouldn't it have been worthwhile for them to try something to keep a customer?
What do you think?

Top 10 list from Social Media Day

I spoke yesterday at the DMAW Optimizing Social Media Day in Washington yesterday. Several people had asked for my top 10 list, which wasn't part of the planned presentation. It follows:

1. Play to your strengths
2. Sell internally
3. Decide on an online personality
4. Empower people
5. What's the worst that can happen
6. Find the right places to monitor
7. Money doesn't solve every problem
8. Lists work well, and are authoritative
9. Ask people to do something
10. Everybody loves a secret/free gift/inside knowledge

More to come, including my takeaways.

Thought provoking links

Many thought provoking articles this week:

When Growth Spurt Is Needed, Grab ‘Unique, Unfair Advantage’ - big news in the ecommerce space with the purchase of Rue La La.

Get Elastic's picks for best blog posts of October.

Edward Norton runs the NYC Marathon today with three Maasai warriors.

Who the hell are these people? The overuse of stock photography.

Michael Arrington on social media and scam offers.

Google redefines disruption: "Less than Free" business model

And, on another note, I'm talking this Thursday at the DMA's Social Media Day: