I had the pleasure of spending three (3) days with Vistage Chair and Agility Leadership Expert, Mike Richardson.  On the third day of my visit, we got inside the walls of a multi-million (hundreds of millions of dollars) dollar e-commerce company, Provide-commerce. 

For me, going to a company that does hundreds of millions of dollars of on-line sales is like a 5 year old going to Disneyland. My first reaction was, “How could I not know of a company that did this much in on-line sales?”  The answer is pretty straight-forward.  While I had never heard of the company with their name on the building, with just a few minutes of research I learned that Provide-commerce operates several website properties, such as ProFlowers, RedEnvelop, and ProPlants, just to name a few.

Mike Richardson stacked the meeting with over 20 CFO’s from San Diego businesses all talking about measurement and ROI from website optimization.  Many thanks to Provide-commerce Adam Fischer for being the most awesome host. 
Instead of saying, “I’m going to Disneyland!” I think it should be, “I’m going to Provide-commerce!”

Adam Fischer, Mike Richardson and Jason Lavin

Provide-commerce building

Just back from New Orleans and could not help but to snap a few photos of this diner just outside The Big Easy in Metairie, LA.   It’s not every day a marketing technique can stop you in your tracks and make you turn around – this one did… I think it’s the new reverse marketing. “The only thing worse than our food… is our service.” Funny.

The Tic-Toc Café redefines reverse marketing with a catchy slogan and a mural that plays off of Salvador Dalí’s “The Persistence of Memory” modern artwork.

As you might imagine, the place is packed with regulars and the food is quite good.  Matter of fact, Ted Kampen (owner of  the local New Orleans electrical service company) tells me that he goes there pretty much once per week.  Clever reverse marketing might get customers in the first time, but good food and service will keep’em coming.  Tic-Toc… I call your bluff.

Some more photos of the interior. Good stuff.

What happens when you LOVE your Google Rep and she pays a visit to your office? Well, you dress like her of course!

Lauren (GoldenComm) and Dana (Google) enjoying their coffee

Ok, the dressing like each other part was a coincidence (maybe we just had Valentine’s Day on the mind), but we do love our Google rep, Dana. GoldenComm had the opportunity to host Dana at our office and we even got to introduce her to our favorite local coffee shop Kean. Dana makes sure that we know all about the latest Google products and that our clients are getting the very best service and attention possible. She also has great style, if I do say so myself. Thanks for the visit Dana!

Excited about the recent launch of The Bruery’s new website, we sat down with (owner) Patrick Rue, Ben, Matt, Sara and a table full of The Bruery’s awesome employees to discuss ideas for upcoming enhancements to the site. The Bruery’s Tasting Room is a laid-back environment with a spacious room, a giant bar and dozens of beers on tap. The perfect place to spend an afternoon.

Chris Mazurk (GC Project Manager) and
Patrick Rue (The Bruery Owner)
at The Bruery Tasting Room

Once business was concluded we stayed behind for a tour of the brewing operation (thanks Patrick!) and to do some taste testing. We tried the Humulus Lager and the Grandma Katz’s Oatmeal Cookies Stout, and eventually left with a couple growlers of the former.

We’re really fortunate to get to work with the team at The Bruery. It seems they can’t stop winning awards and garnering high praise by critics and consumers alike. Their beer was a hit at our Holiday Party and this trip was a blast! We’re already planning our next visit and highly recommend a trip to their Tasting Room to anyone who loves great beer.

Businesses, start your pinning! Since Pinterest launched  “Pinterest for Businesses”, companies are now able to create commercial accounts on the social networking site. Of course, Golden Comm had to join the fun. You can find our boards here.

It’s incredibly easy to start your company account. You are able to register under your business name, not as your first and last name. All the content that is streaming on the site benefits businesses by allowing verification badges, buttons, widgets all driving more traffic to your company website.

Future tools to look forward to would be analytics for the site, a business model, and a monetary plan for members.

Another great Pinterest tool includes using their new secret boards. This can be useful if you want to share a in-house company designs, inter-office collaboration, and showcasing new products before they go out to the public.

So, will you use Pinterest for your business?

On Saturday night, December 8, 2012, GoldenComm and a handful of guests celebrated the holidays at Jason and Brenda’s home with an awesome gathering of people, food and drinks.

A special thanks to POM Wonderful for supplying us with ample flavors of their pomegranate juices. The night’s specialty was "The POM BOMB" – which is, POM juice, soda water and… well… drinker’s choice of third mix.

Also chipping in was The Bruery, supplying their six favorite microbrews (quite the conversation pieces). And, of course, we can’t thank enough The Beach Pit BBQ for supplying the smoked BBQ Turkey and all the trimmings – YUMM.

Overall, about 50 people, lots of fun and a great way to reflect on 2012. We are blessed, indeed. Merry Christmas everyone.

Big Train’s Yottaa Optimized Site

If you are looking to increase your site’s performance, look no further than Yottaa Site Optimizer.  They were our first choice when Jim Wendt from Big Train was interested in speeding up his pages without cutting down content.  Big Train is considered an industry leader, providing beverage mixes to coffeehouses across the country.  In March of 2012 they decided to introduce full-scale eCommerce functionality to their website, as they decided to not only sell to business, but consumers as well.  Interested in learning about how Yottaa’s solution helped Big Train’s site?  Have your own eCommerce site you are interested in optimizing?  Check out Yottaa’s solution and the facts here: Yottaa Case Study: Big Train.  And if you are looking for a delicious hot or cold beverage look no further than our friends at Big Train, inc.

(left to right) The Signal Hill Team- Debra, Amanda, and Taylor with Matt and Erin from GC

GoldenComm had the privilege to meet with the team at Signal Hill Petroleum today.  We are working on their new website and since we wanted to get a feel for all that they do, they gave us a grand tour of the city.  What an incredible place!  If you haven’t been to Signal Hill- you should head over there ASAP!  We learned so much about the history of the city and the company and got to spend a morning with the wonderful SHP team.  The work they do in the community is incredible.  As we drove around the city, they pointed out housing developments they helped develop, town centers they had a part in planning and a city park they are in the process of designing and developing.  They care so much about the local community and it was neat to see it first hand.  Thank you to Debra, Amanda and Taylor for being such wonderful hosts.  We hope to come back soon!

Matt, Lauren and Erin from GC

Had the opportunity to spend 4 days with Vistage Chair Peter Schwartz in the Washington DC / Northern Virginia area this week. One of the highlights of the trip was sitting in on the Executives Leaders Radio Show, hosted by Peter himself.

Every week, Peter conducts "elite interviews" of local CEOs, CFOs, and Presidents focusing on the human side of business (e.g. getting to know the person, not just the business). It’s talk show for small to medium sized businesses – LOVED IT.

Hard working productive people need to be applauded, so I could not help but to throw Peter and the Executives Leaders Radio Show a compliment. Keep it up!

Featured on the show this week:

Jim Kershaw from Aegis Technologies, Inc.
Bryan Gernert from Resonate
Sabret Flocos from Fox Archtitects
Joshua Konowe from Uppidy, Inc.

Finally, thanks to the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce for hosting the event.

Last night Golden Comm unplugged the computers and donned our finest clothes to mingle with the OC Metro’s Hot 25 honorees. More than 500 of Orange County’s elite were in attendance at the newly renovated Island Hotel ballroom.

Golden Comm was there supporting the event as a silver level sponsor and celebrating with two of our clients, Nekter Juice Bar, home of Orange County’s best cleanses, and Phoenix Energy Technologies, Enterprise Energy Management experts. Steven and Alexis of Nekter and Lisa Vargas of Phoenix ET were two of the Hottest 25.

Steve and Alexis Schulze of Nekter Juice Bar

Lisa Varga (on right) CEO of Phoenix ET with Susan Belknapp of OC Metro

The night was filled with delicious hor d’oeuvres, including mini chili bread bowls, a grilled cheese sandwich bar and assorted cake pops, all from Executive Chef David Man of the Island Hotel. We left full and happy.

Of course this night would have not been such a fabulous event without OC Metro publisher and Churm Media CEO, Steve Churm.  If you are interested in Orange County Businesses, Steve Churm is your guy.   He left the audience with some words of wisdom,  “Work like there’s no tomorrow and when you get there, feel damn lucky.”

Thank you OC Metro for including the team at Golden Comm in such an awesome event!  We can’t wait for next year!