Steve is the CEO of Polar Unlimited, a digital marketing and innovation agency where he and his team serve some of the most progressive thinkers in the healthcare, hi-tech, home comfort and not-for-profit industries. He is a frequent speaker to groups of CEOs across North America on the power of social media and innovative web content to transform the way businesses run, and ultimately win in the marketplace.
Content
'Think Better': A Step-by-Step Guide to Creative Thinking
By Steve Cunningham Friday Apr 16, 2010Why, after all these years of creativity training, can’t we come up with ideas that actually work? This is one of the questions that Tim Hurson tackles in his great book, “Think Better." In it, he gives us step-by-step advice on how to take an idea from the womb all the way into the world where it gets executed. Below you’ll find a video summary of the book.
Why Your Company Doesn't Need a Facebook Page
By Steve Cunningham Monday Mar 15, 2010In my last post here, I talked about the 5 Reasons Every Entrepreneur Should Be Using Social Media. I believe in those reasons enough to say that I'll give anybody who can convince me I'm wrong a dinner and a night on the town. But I also believe that for social media to be powerful for a marketing/PR initiative, it's not necessary for you to be using social media. Why?
Why EVERY Entrepreneur Needs Social Media
By Steve Cunningham Wednesday Mar 3, 2010I'm a firm believer that entrepreneur on the planet should be using social media. Why? Because being an entrepreneur is tough, and quite often the entrepreneur is viewed as the proverbial "lone-cowboy." When I became an entrepreneur myself, that description didn't sit well with me. I surely didn't have all the answers,and was pretty sure that I'd benefit from others who have "been there, done that."
Like It or Not, Customers Control Your Message Now
By Steve Cunningham Tuesday Mar 2, 2010There's a great quote by Mark Twain (and the other numerous people it gets attributed to) that goes like this: "It ain't the things we don't know that gets us in trouble. It's the things we know that just ain't so."
3 Entrepreneurs Whose Lives Were Changed by Social Media
By Steve Cunningham Monday Mar 1, 2010That's a question I get quite often. The easy answer is: as long as it takes to get the result you are looking for. Some people might advocate devoting a fixed amount of time to the medium, with a certain amount of time set aside for "listening to the conversation," "joining the conversation" and creating content. The truth of the matter is that there are no hard and fast rules, especially when you are an entrepreneur. For example:
Is Social Media Just a Fad?
By Steve Cunningham Wednesday Feb 24, 2010That's a question I was asked recently in a presentation to a group of CEOs. There is a very simple answer to this question: No. I've seen a lot of people become indignant and complain that some people "just don't get it" when that question is asked. However, there's a much better (and technical) reason what this is not a fad. Here's why. Although the worldwide web is still less than 20 years old, we've seen a rapid evolution in its ability to connect like-minded people from around the world. There are three widely accepted stages of this evolution:
Why Social Media Can Create Your Next Game-Changing Business Idea
By Steve Cunningham Tuesday Feb 16, 2010Pop quiz: Who will create your next game-changing business idea? Is it: a), Your employees? b), Your customers? c), Your vendors? Or d), Your consultants? Give up? The correct answer is: (e), Nobody knows, it could literally come from anywhere.
3 Reasons Why the $200 Budget Beats the $20,000 Budget
By Steve Cunningham Friday Feb 12, 2010If there is a consistent complaint in business, it's that we don't have enough time, money or resources to complete the task at hand, and that the only thing that would guarantee results would be an increase in one of those things. If I had three weeks to complete this assignment instead of two, things would be different. If I had a $30,000 budget instead of a $20,000 budget, things would be different. If I had five people in my department instead of three, things would be different.
3 Reasons Why Email Still Matters to Your Business
By Steve Cunningham Thursday Feb 11, 2010Email has long been considered the dinosaur of the digital marketing world. Our inbox is overflowing to the point where it is unmanageable and we certainly don't need more of it, right? However, there are plenty of reasons why email marketing will remain the workhorse of any digital marketing strategy, and in particular, any successful social media strategy. Here are the top 3 reasons why email and social media belong together. #1 - Not all customers are social media users.
The Right Way to Think About Social Media
By Steve Cunningham Tuesday Feb 2, 2010Metaphors are a very useful tool when trying to describe something new, and I have found it particularly useful when describing social media to those who want to understand what it is. I've heard them all over the past year or so, many of them posed as rhetorical questions, pointing to the logical conclusion that social media needs to be taken more seriously by marketers and entrepreneurs.
