Tuesday, June 15, 2010

The world is what you make of it. If you were to look back at this day so far, would you like what you see?

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Friday, May 7, 2010

If you had a chance to meet anyone in the world right now, who would it be?

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

The Viral Value of Video - Free-Press-Release.com http://ping.fm/YuUhd

The Viral Value of Video - Free-Press-Release.com

The Viral Value of Video - Free-Press-Release.com

Social Media Budgeting | Boom Media Magazine

Social Media Budgeting | Boom Media Magazine

Social Media Budgeting, By Ray Spellerberg


Social Media Budgeting is one of the hardest tasks facing the marketing world at this moment.

Who Wants to be Known as Traditional?

Who wants to be known or even associated with the term traditional media? The battered and bruised category just seems so unattractive and unhip. The fact is, it still has a place in the media mix. Nonetheless, the traditional media space has changed dramatically over the years. It may be known today, in some circles, as more “content” than“influencer.” I believe it to be both. In fairness all media has an impact, and the way it is purchased and utilized is key. In the pre-owned automotive business profit per unit is often determined by how well the unit was originally purchased, reconditioned and presented. It is the same with media, especially traditional media. Price and value is not only determined by reach, circulation and impressions, but relevancy to the brand and the campaign objective must be considered as well.

2010 Marketing Budget Shift

Recent E-marketer research shows a dramatic shift of marketing budgets by category. Up to 79% of retail/ecommerce companies will increase their social media budgets, as the retail/ecommerce category is known to be leading indicators of marketing and advertising trends, and the rest of the business categories will surely follow.

2010 is a pivitol year for social media marketing budgeting. It is the first year of true and significant budget shifts from traditional and existing online media. The results will be scrutinized and analyzed all year in preparation for budget forecasts of 2011 and beyond. The results will vary based on objectives and no doubt creative considerations. The leaders in global branding, as early adopters to social media marketing, will once again widen their lead in the marketplace.

Ad Budgets Follow Audience

The point of budgets following audience has been tried and true for generations. There is no sense in publishing social media user statistics here, as they will be outdated by the time this is posted and read. The studies being conducted now on usage, demographics and growth all beg to the frightening truth that the social media space is moving so fast, that to not initiate a social media strategy now may be detrimental to a business in the very near future.

The good news is that when budgeting for social media, businesses do not need to add new dollars to the mix but rather reallocate existing dollars. A thorough examination of the current marketing budget always brings to light inefficiencies in the marketing mix. If there is not a solid sourcing process to determine the effectiveness of any budgeted marketing dollars, rest assured that the budget allocation for social media will be measurable if campaigned and implememented properly.

I am certain that the percentages of budget being allocated to social media will not be anywhere close to the percentage of users, or customers to a business, engaged in social media.

Must Drive Revenue

Your allocation of an existing marketing budget to a social media strategy is not about making friends or simply “having a conversation,” it is a highly effeicient way to drive revenue, find new prospects and nuture exiting customer relationships.

In the realm of social media, where friends and followers can number hundreds or thousands per profile, an appropriate shift in your budget goes a long way in growing your business.

By Ray Spellerberg

Director of Sales

Boom Media Inc

Social Media Budgeting by Ray Spellerberg

Social Media Budgeting is one of the hardest tasks facing the marketing world at this moment.

Who Wants to be Known as Traditional?


Who wants to be known or even associated with the term traditional media? The battered and bruised category just seems so unattractive and unhip. The fact is, it still has a place in the media mix. Nonetheless, the traditional media space has changed dramatically over the years. It may be known today, in some circles, as more “content” than “influencer.” I believe it to be both. In fairness all media has an impact, and the way it is purchased and utilized is key. In the pre-owned automotive business profit per unit is often determined by how well the unit was originally purchased, reconditioned and presented. It is the same with media, especially traditional media. Price and value is not only determined by reach, circulation and impressions, but relevancy to the brand and the campaign objective must be considered as well.

2010 Marketing Budget Shift


Recent E-marketer research shows a dramatic shift of marketing budgets by category. Up to 79% of retail/ecommerce companies will increase their social media budgets, as the retail/ecommerce category is known to be leading indicators of marketing and advertising trends, and the rest of the business categories will surely follow.

2010 is a pivitol year for social media marketing budgeting. It is the first year of true and significant budget shifts from traditional and existing online media. The results will be scrutinized and analyzed all year in preparation for budget forecasts of 2011 and beyond. The results will vary based on objectives and no doubt creative considerations. The leaders in global branding, as early adopters to social media marketing, will once again widen their lead in the marketplace.

Ad Budgets Follow Audience


The point of budgets following audience has been tried and true for generations. There is no sense in publishing social media user statistics here, as they will be outdated by the time this is posted and read. The studies being conducted now on usage, demographics and growth all beg to the frightening truth that the social media space is moving so fast, that to not initiate a social media strategy now may be detrimental to a business in the very near future.

The good news is that when budgeting for social media, businesses do not need to add new dollars to the mix but rather reallocate existing dollars. A thorough examination of the current marketing budget always brings to light inefficiencies in the marketing mix. If there is not a solid sourcing process to determine the effectiveness of any budgeted marketing dollars, rest assured that the budget allocation for social media will be measurable if campaigned and implememented properly.

I am certain that the percentages of budget being allocated to social media will not be anywhere close to the percentage of users, or customers to a business, engaged in social media.

Must Drive Revenue


Your allocation of an existing marketing budget to a social media strategy is not about making friends or simply “having a conversation,” it is a highly effeicient way to drive revenue, find new prospects and nuture exiting customer relationships.

In the realm of social media, where friends and followers can number hundreds or thousands per profile, an appropriate shift in your budget goes a long way in growing your business.

By Ray Spellerberg

Director of Sales

Boom Media Inc
Any thoughts on this? The U.S. Supreme Court will consider reviving a California law prohibiting sales of violent video games to minors http://bit.ly/azux41

Thought of the day

One word keeps popping into my head this week and it has everything to do with the way I motivate myself. I hear this word and I feel it makes a connection with me on a level unknown to most. The word is courage and it has been thrown out the door in the modern times. We have all been taught to be courageous in battle and to have courage under fire, but what about the everyday Joe Schmoe. What do we do to be courageous? Is it courageous to go to work, work hard and feed your family? Do you have to be a soldier to have courage? The answer is simple and two letters, N-O.
I hear this word in my head when times are tough, when times are stagnant, when things are slow and when things are fast. It reminds me that there are millions of people that would love to have the problem of going to work to feed their family. So many people lose sight of courage and forget that it is a guiding light to the things you want in life. It isn’t easy to open a business or raise kids or help others, these things take real courage. Reward and motivate yourself with this little word every day. Remember that what you are doing, whatever it is, is for a reason! Even if you hate your job and boss and have gone through some tough times, it has a purpose. The first step to having courage is finding what makes you tick. For me, it is my family; I work for them and live for them. It takes courage to work 17 hours a day to build something to hand to them if I pass away. I didn’t always know this, I was often times embarrassed that I didn’t spend more time with them. I thought that I was being selfish in the things I do for a living and in the end, I am fighting a fight that they cannot. Find what makes you tick, then be courageous enough to make it happen, today!
Come join me on Bebo http://ping.fm/HL8qD
A life lived in the shadows is no life at all.... http://mymediaboom.net

Facebook privacy settings essential for business | Boom Media Magazine

Facebook privacy settings essential for business | Boom Media Magazine

The Rick Amato Show, Black Tea Patriots & American Heart Live | Boom Media Magazine

The Rick Amato Show, Black Tea Patriots & American Heart Live | Boom Media Magazine

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Calling All Lions to the Founders Den

Times are tough in this economy and through tough economic times entrepreneurs lead the way out. However, I can say with 100% certainty that I am worried about our future entrepreneurs in this country. As it sits today they are nothing more than prey. Prey for those that pretend to be “guru’s” and “experts” of entrepreneurialism. First of all is that even possible? Being an entrepreneur changes every 5 seconds as is. I am concerned for the people out there that have the intelligence and possess the work ethic to be successful (not necessarily always rich) being taken for a ride by people that have never made 6 figures in one fiscal year. When you look up the word entrepreneur online all you seem to come across are some slick writing MLM salespeople, Public Speakers that “teach you” to be an entrepreneur (most of which cannot afford to buy you lunch) and someone trying to sell you some sort of startup package. If these people were such great entrepreneurs wouldn’t they be on the news with the press be speaking about them and not house Mom’s that just made $300 selling a potion or lotion to their neighbor giving testimonials? If they were truly successful they would have zero time to “teach” entrepreneurs anything. I myself have no time to “teach” anything and I am nowhere near the level of success they claim to be at. I am not interested in someone paying me money to tell them some information, at all. I am always interested in a new, well qualified, ambitious new business partner with “good greed”. Good Greed” is not Gordon Gecko it is not stabbing people in the back to make a buck. It is a simple saying for normal people that want to be a success in life, but not at the expense of sacrificing their integrity. You see there is too much bad greed out there and that is really killing our economy. This plague will not take up any more of the space on my blog form here out.

This is why we started this incubator program as a free service to keep good minds away from bad business people, to create innovation from the ashes and to help build win-win situations for us and our candidates. We make Lions! Lions feed themselves, they don’t wait for others. Lions hunt as a team and are loyal to each other for the greater good of the pride. We have so many business ideas as a group already, we don’t need you to have one of your own, just the want to create, just the want to captain a ship and become a REAL CEO. Let me explain this saying, REAL CEO. How many times have you seen somebody’s business card that just opened a business with no employees, revenue or product last week and have the title of CEO on their card? This is bullshit and we all know it, so do they. To let you know how much this means to me, I am not even the CEO of my own company, I am the President. There is a huge difference in the two. This is because I know what makes a business work, having the right people in place. Knowing your role is the first step to success. David Turner is the right man for that job, not me. I am a growth man and love to innovate, not run a company. The time of the fake CEO is coming to an end in this coming year of 2010, period. We will make real CEO’s, who run real companies, which make real money, that have real numbers, employees and products. Being a CEO is a big deal if you do it right. It can also be the biggest self fulfilling lie you ever tell yourself. The mirror will let you know where you really stand, if you have the courage to listen to it. The premise of this program is making CEO’s, not entrepreneurs. I am an entrepreneur, to its very finest, and I don’t want to see more of me. I want to see qualified CEO’s that know what I know and can work the hours I work with the skill and precision of a David Turner (a true executive). Our Den will have all kinds of people in it, CFO’s, COO’s, CMO’s, CIO’s, Presidents, Sales Directors and the whole nine yards. This is due to design; we want all to be able to work together along side of us. Our candidates will literally be working for us and watching us run our companies every single day. Learning will occur late night after the day is done.

The word Entrepreneur is so whored out it makes me sick. Please stop being prey, stop listening to guys that advertise how smart and successful they are, it is a fools dream to think you will find your Yoda on a late night infomercial. Stop being preyed on by an industry that doesn’t have your track record, yet alone a better one. They will continue to prey on you as long as you keep paying their fee and stroking their ego. You don’t need to pay money; you need to give your time to someone that has actually been there recently. It does not come overnight; it takes lots of time, energy and pain. I will guarantee you do not get rich overnight, because you will start this program making minimum wage and learning. That is correct; we actually pay our candidates to start. You will first learn to make markets, and then sell the product to those markets. Then you will be given equity in real businesses that have real problems, turn them around and get paid. All the while we will be working with you and the rest of our self made community to create, fund and start your own business. Your incremental learning will be paid for, nicely. Your time will not be wasted, unless you let it be. We are creating our own CEO’s in our image, period. If you have an idea, a business or just a dream it matters not to me. Send me a note on Facebook only if you are ready to become a Lion. If you aren’t ready yet please don’t waste either of our time.

The entrepreneurs that go through our program will have to start their journey by taking an IQ and proprietary personality evaluation to see if they have the basic make up we require for an interview. We aren’t looking for Harvard kids here, unless their name is Will Hunting! We are looking for people that have the capacity to learn and the talent to forgo their ego and work long hours. I can tell you from experience that being a success means one thing, just one thing. YOU MUST BE WILLING AND ABLE TO DO WHAT OTHERS WON’T AND CAN’T. You must be willing to work while everyone else plays and you must have the ability to learn from the fire, not the books. I will say that books count and if I were starting over I would read, Good to Great by Jim Collins and Mastering Business Operations by Joerg Sieber, along with sales book after sales book. We make sure all candidates know that this is the basics of business first, build a great team, create a company, sell as much product as possible and make sure it operates smoothly so customers get what they pay for. It is that simple in the beginning. The first thing entrepreneurs need to learn, in my opinion, is to sell and work as long as their body can handle. I see it all too often, “I believe in balance which is why I don’t work past 6 or on weekends”. This really translates to “I am too lazy to achieve my dreams” in my language. After passing the tests we give out they are then thrown into a group interview and then meet with David Turner, John Montieth, Adam Blejski and I. We will decide who we take in and then find out if they have a current business idea or if they just have passion and need an idea to work on; both way we don’t care and can work with both. We just want other Lions in our Den. We want those people that want to work their guts out to get what they want so they can take care of their families forever. All entitled people need not apply!!!!! In the group that will be running the program, day in and day out, there are 2 IPO’s, 21 companies (non-mlm) started from scratch, millions of dollars a year in provable income, experts in every field from personal finance to social media and a panel of well vetted educators to pick up the slack when we are too busy to be there. The Founders Den is a place for ideas to harvest and become reality. It is a place that doesn’t judge and doesn’t hold back. We want all the folks involved to spawn as many ideas as humanly possible to make this world a better place. The stages, which will be explained publically over the next 3 weeks, are in increments of 45, 180 and 90 days if done right. We will use our own money to fund our candidates’ ideas!!! In the end this will be the largest organization of Business Founders in the world. …………more to come this week.