Archive for October, 2011

Happy Halloween!

Monday, October 31st, 2011

Goblins. Witches. Ghouls. It’s that one time of year when everyone is welcome in any shape or form!

It’s that time when when the pumpkins are carved, scary movies are everywhere and candy is king. Halloween is a day filled with fun, but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn anything from it. Here are 5 marketing lessons you can learn from Halloween!

1. Let Them Know You’re Home: Just like when you’re passing out candy, you have to let people know that you’re open for business. This means updating your website, posting blogs and staying at the helm of your Facebook account. Afterall, no one is going to come knocking when all the lights are off!

2. Tell a Gripping Story: A great way to stir interest and entice visitors is always to set the stage and tell a great story. For those passing out candy, that means transforming your house into a haunted mansion, but for marketers, that means creating presentations and sharing case studies.

3. Pass Out the Goods: Everyone likes to get something for free, but don’t just pass out anything. You want to give something that will make you stand out, and great content will have them coming back for more, just like the best candies will bring the trick-or-treaters in droves.

4. Prepare for Success: When you’re offering something great, chances are people are going to want it, so make sure you can live up to your promises. If new customers come to find that the content they’re looking for isn’t available, you better have more things lined up because nothing is worse than running out of goodies for your visitors!

5. Show Your Thanks to Big-Time Fans: There are always those people who come back time after time. Show your appreciation by giving them a little something extra whether it’s a special perk, retweeting or a shout out. This way they’ll be more likely to come back for more and bring their friends along for the treat!

For more on the topic, please check out this article here!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN from all of us here at Gunn|Jerkens!

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Happy Birthday, Amanda!

Tuesday, October 25th, 2011

The round of fall birthday celebrations continued today as the Gunn|Jerkens team wished Amanda a happy birthday!

Everyone celebrated at the G|J office with a plentiful lunch of assorted Greek food rounded out with slices of strawberry shortcake and fresh fruit. It was delicious! Table topics for the occasion focused on Amanda’s birthday plans, fabulous restaurants in the Long Beach area to try out and things to see and do if you happen to be visiting Des Moines, IA anytime soon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMANDA!

To stay up to date on all the new and innovative happenings at Gunn|Jerkens, check back often, follow us on Twitter (@GunnJerkens) and “Like” us on Facebook.

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The Dive of a Lifetime

Tuesday, October 25th, 2011

Someone once said, “If riding in an airplane is flying, then riding in a boat is swimming. If you want to experience the element, then get out of the vehicle.” That’s exactly what Gunn|Jerkens team member Laura did this weekend!

Laura has always wanted to skydive and after watching others do it for some time, she finally had to give it a try herself and make it happen. This past Saturday, Laura braved it out with her best friend and showed up with her adventure hat on for an early morning appointment at Skydive Elsinore.

Laura prepared for her dive, in which she would be attached to her tandem instructor, with an hour of training that walked her through the process of exiting the aircraft from above, how to properly arch her body during the freefall and how to pull the ripcord at just the right altitude.

Jumping from a cruising altitude of 12,500 feet, Laura was given the option to simply jump out of the plane or to try a dive. Laura says, “For some strange reason, I chose to go all out and dive!” With a freefall that lasted about 60 seconds and a parachute glide for over seven minutes, Laura says this was “one of the most exhilarating and exciting experiences, and surprisingly, I remained quite calm!”

Skydiving may not be everyone’s preferred extreme sport of choice, but Laura encourages anyone who wants to try it out to do so. One thing is certain – this is one adventure that is guaranteed to be the thrill of a lifetime!

Here’s a bit of G|J trivia. Laura isn’t the first G|J team member to take the plunge. Can you guess who else in the office has tried skydiving before?

To stay up to date on all the new and innovative happenings at Gunn|Jerkens, check back often, follow us on Twitter (@GunnJerkens) and “Like” us on Facebook.

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Happy Boss’s Day!

Monday, October 17th, 2011

Today was a big day here at Gunn|Jerkens! In case you don’t know, yesterday was National Boss’s Day, so we took today to celebrate Linda!

We’d actually been preparing for this day for weeks, and it all began with a passing joke. A few weeks ago, after Linda left for a meeting, all of us here in the office got together to try to figure out what to do for Boss’s Day. Someone jokingly mentioned doing confessions like a reality show, and the rest is history.

The whole G|J team (minus Linda!) put their brains together to come up with a fun, witty and personal video that captured the energy of the office and poked fun at some of Linda’s most memorable idiosyncrasies–all in a loving and thankful way of course! Each of us recorded a confessional as well as office footage that related to our confessions. We all had so much fun sneaking around and setting everything up, and we couldn’t wait to show it to Linda!

We brought Linda into the conference room this morning for her big surprise, and I think it’s safe to say she loved it! Everyone crowded around as she cried tears of joy and laughter while watching our boss tribute. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that today was something special for the whole G|J team.

Happy Boss’s Day, Linda! Thanks for being such a great boss. We were all thrilled to make our video for you!

Enjoy our Boss’s Day video!

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Running In the LBC!

Tuesday, October 11th, 2011

Last Sunday, the G|J team participated in the 2011 Long Beach International City Bank ICB Marathon & Half Marathon! We were all so excited about participating in this event as a group, and we even created special t-shirts to mark the occasion.

Pre-race:

Most of us were participating for the team-building efforts and for exercise, but there were a few who are a bit more serious about running and wanted to break their personal records.

Post-race:

We want to send out a special congratulations to Stacey, who in her first full-marathon attempt, managed to outrun almost everyone else in the race. We just found out that Stacey actually finished her marathon with a final time of 3:17:33! Pacing at an average of 7:33 per mile, Stacey came in 115th place overall, 15th out of 1,206 women and 2nd out of 83 runners in her age group!

We had a great time, captured some good pictures and can’t wait to try it again next year.

To stay up to date on all the new and innovative happenings at Gunn|Jerkens, check back often, follow us on Twitter (@GunnJerkens) and “Like” us on Facebook.

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Happy Birthday to Jen H!

Friday, October 7th, 2011

Leaves are getting ready to fall, the days are getting shorter and, of course, we’re rolling out another round of birthdays at Gunn/Jerkens! Today we were lucky enough to celebrate Jen H’s birthday!

Everyone here at the G/J office got together in honor of Jen’s special day for a grand feast of delicious Greek food, red velvet cake and tasty fruit! In addition to Jen’s birthday, our upcoming Sunday marathon/half-marathon/5K race was a big topic of conversation at the table. It will be the first race for many of us, and we’re happy to do it together as a group!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JEN!

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Remembering Steve Jobs

Thursday, October 6th, 2011

Yesterday was a sad day for the world of technology and innovation. Apple’s co-founder, former CEO and creative mastermind, Steve Jobs,  passed away at 56 years old. Steve was responsible for some of the greatest technological achievements of our time. I think it’s safe to say that you would be hard-pressed to find someone who has not been impacted by his passion, ingenuity and accomplishments.

In honor of Steve’s passing, we’d like to recap a bit about his life, his energy and his vision.

Steve co-founded Apple in 1976 with the goal of changing the world. He saw the digital universe as the new frontier, and he was determined to map out his own distinct path. Before long, he and his Apple team successfully launched one of the first lines of personal computers, and in the 1980s, introduced the Macintosh computer to the world.

After leaving Apple for several years, Jobs became heavily involved in Pixar and NeXT Computer. With a fresh start, Jobs felt re-energized and found a new creative tap, which led to bolder ideas and some of the greatest technological products of our era.

Jobs rejoined Apple in 1997 and the creativity quickly followed. Apple soon became one of the most valuable companies in the world, turning out revolutionary products such as the iMac and iPod, and more recently, the iPad and iPhone.

Without Jobs, the world would be a very different place. His ideas inspired, created and moved, and his legacy will live on long after his passing. What do you remember Jobs for most?

We leave you with an inspirational quote from the man himself:

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

To stay up to date on all the new and innovative happenings at Gunn|Jerkens, check back often, follow us on Twitter (@GunnJerkens) and “Like” us on Facebook.

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Posted in General Blogginess, New Media, Our Neck of the Woods, Social Media, Technology | 1 Comment »