Pimp My Cube Contest

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Contest Factory for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

A friend of mine tells an interesting experience. He rated it as the most disgusting hotel room he has ever been in. He booked this online and was not expecting fancy accommodations - but the filth level in this room was frightening. There was not a surface that wasn't covered in stains. He was afraid to sit on the bed or chair, so he sat on the floor while he called his online travel agent to find another hotel. Bad move, the carpet may have been worse than any other surface. After getting the run around from his travel agent and numerous disconnects he just left. He can't imagine the illness and bedbugs he would have brought home had he stayed there.   The gentleman at the front desk was pleasant and did not seem at all surprised that he was leaving.

I thought that hotel he visited is eligible for the Pimp My Cube Contest.  Pimp My Cube is searching for the worst, most pathetic and messy cubicle or office that may have bad furniture, old technology, messy, unorganized, noisy, dirty, and dark and/or any other attributes that make it a bad space to work in.

They want you to upload a video showing your cube/office/workspace while you explain the details about why it is horrible and why it is so important that Contest Factory come in and ‘Pimp’ your cube.

Once your video is entered, you invite your friends, family and coworkers to vote for your video.  You get sweepstakes entry points for registering, voting, commenting and inviting others to register for the contest.  The grand prize of your cube being ‘pimped’ will be selected by CF judges based on various criteria including for the most votes, best (really worst) video and most compelling story.

The contest has a total grand prize value of approximately $1200.  Prize is to update your office/workspace/cube with one of three prize packages:

• New high end computer system
• New Desk, Chair and Decorations
• New Entertainment Package with high end stereo, espresso machine etc.

Right now only a few has uploaded a video so the chances of winning are very good.  It is easy to upload video to the site to enter from your phone or webcam. Video should be fun and witty – anything goes!!  The better the story, the funnier the video – better chances of winning.

A second sweepstakes prize of a $200 gift card will be awarded to the registered user chosen by random drawing at the end of the contest period.

The contest period is from 12/5/11 at 12:00 PM to 1/31/12 at 12:00 PM.

Super Vegetable Garden

Pro-Natura International, in association with the social business JTS Seeds, has developed the innovative, ecological and highly productive Super Vegetable Garden. Initially planned for Africa, this enriched garden yields a perfectly balanced diet for 10 people on a surface area  of  60  m2.  It  is  a  combination  of  the  Improved  Tropical  Garden  (ITG)  of  JTS  Seeds, and Pro-Natura’s Biochar. This garden is a promise for a richer, healthier future worldwide.

The result of 15 years of research and 30 years of field experience, initially demonstrated in Niger and Senegal, the biological growing technique involved is  applicable to all tropical zones.  The  corresponding  kit  includes the  necessary  seeds,  soil  amendments, adapted  irrigation  devices  together  with specially  adapted  equipment  (covering veils, tools etc.). The price ex -production
facility in France is from 149  €.

The  GMO  free  seeds  are  the  fruit  of  15 years  of  specialist  selection.  Production in this garden is constant all year round, whatever  the  season,  involving  a consistently  regular  cycle  of  45  days. Water  consumption  is  reduced  by  more than  80%,  the  necessary  workload limited to 2 hours per day. 

Among  the  notable  innovative  aspects  of  the  Super  Vegetable  Garden is  the  inclusion  of biochar, produced thanks to Pro-Natura’s green charcoal  technology. Soil fertilization using charcoal dust (biochar) is an ancestral practice first employed more than 7,000 years ago by pre -Columbian Indians in the Amazon regions. The exceptional properties of these soils are  still  discernable  today,  as  has  recently  been  discovered  by  the  scientific  community which as a result now shows great interest in biochar.  

Pro-Natura’s  biochar  avoids  ecological  problems  linked  to  charcoal  production  since  it involves  green  charcoal,  exclusively  produced  from  renewable  biomass  (agricultural  or forest  residues  not  used  for  cattle  feed;  organic  matter,  invasive  plants  etc.).  It  is  the product of  a continuous carbonization process, both efficient and ecological, using Pyro -6 and  Pyro-7  machines.  Complementary  fertilizers  are  limited  to  organic  products  such  as compost and manure.  In  and  of  itself,  biochar  allows  for  the  doubling  in  productivity  of  agricultural  land,  if  not more, once the soil has been fertilized by incorporating one kilograms of biochar per m2.  In  addition  to  this  direct  fertilizing  effect,  biochar  also  acts  as  a  sustainable  carbon  sink. This induces the sequestration of carbon from atmospheric CO2, (one ton of biochar being the equivalent of 3 tons of CO2), thus mitigating long -term climate change. 

Lead Nurturing

Lead Nurturing sometimes goes by other names: marketing automation, drip marketing, auto-responders, etc. Simply put, lead nurturing  is a system that allows you to send an automated series of emails to an early stage lead in order to pre-qualify them before handing them over to your sales team.   As a marketer, you definitely want to capture as much lead information for as many people on your site as you can, but not everyone is ready to talk to sales. Getting leads is awesome - but not all leads are at the point where they can be considered sales-ready. Depending on whose research you read, only 5% - 25% of the traffic on your site is actually ready to do business with you at that moment; the rest are doing research.

Gleanster Research estimates that 50% of leads who are qualified to buy are not ready to purchase immediately. If you call these leads up and push them into making a decision right away, you will likely lose them. Instead, take a look at your existing sales funnel. How long does it typically take a lead to become a customer after his or her first inquiry? Does the sales cycle vary for different types of purchases?Equipped with the answers to these questions, you can build some effective lead nurturing campaigns and leverage this marketing channel to qualify leads and help your sales organization.

As an inbound marketing tactic, lead nurturing is all about understanding the nuances of your leads’ timing and needs.  by getting these details right, you set yourself up for success. If it typically takes your leads a month to make a purchasing decision, then make sure you’re spreading out your communications to keep them engaged throughout the month. by taking this approach, you save your sales organization time because you educate and qualify the lead over time. This is only one of the reasons you should start doing lead nurturing.
In this section, we will look at some of the other reasons behind launching lead nurturing campaigns.

Facebook for Everything

Facebook currently has over 750 million active users, and that number continues to  grow  steadily. According  to  Compete.com,  it  is  currently  the second most popular website  in  the world  (behind  Google) in  terms  of  unique  visitors,  and according to ComScore, the most popular social network overall.

Think your customers aren’t on Facebook? There are tens of thousands of work-related,  collegiate,  and  high  school networks.  According  to InsideFacebook.com,  approximately two thirds of US Facebook users are outside  of the  college demographic, and  users  age  26  to  64  make  up more  than  half  of  Facebook'  US user  base.  While  Facebook  started off  as  a  community  for  college students, it has expanded far beyond that,  and  you‟d  be  hard-pressed  to find a demographic not yet represented among Facebook’  750 million users.

At  this  point,  you have  heard  of  social media  and  inbound  marketing.  Maybe you’ve  experimented  with  Twitter  and checked out your kids‟ Facebook profiles, and  you  can  see  the  value  for  college students who want to make sure they‟re all at the same bar on Saturday night. But why does  any  of  this matter  to  you  or  your business?

Social  media  and  inbound  marketing  are  increasingly  important  assets  for businesses to get found by and engage with potential buyers on the web. Think about  the  way  you  find  information  about  products  and  services –  are  you watching TV ads? Going through your junk mail? Or are you consulting a search engine  or  a  friend?  People  have  gotten  better  and  better  at  ignoring  marketing messages  with  DVRs,  caller  ID,  and  spam  filters.  Instead they  visit Google  and social  networks  for  answers  to  their  questions.  The  question  for you  is,  will  you be there to answer it? Facebook  is  not  an  evil  time-waster,  a  community  just for younger  generations, nor is it irrelevant for marketers – even B2B folks.

Rather, Facebook is a tool for connecting  people  with  those  around  them.  And,  as  with  any  social  media  tool, marketers  have  an  opportunity  to  use  Facebook  to  expand  their  online  footprint and directly engage with customers and prospects. But yes, it can be difficult to figure out what you can and should do. And yes, it can  be  quite  a  feat  to  convince  your  CEO  to  let  you  incorporate  Facebook  or  a larger  social  media  strategy  into  your  marketing  plan.  But,  armed  with  the  right knowledge and metrics, it is possible.