Following the recent news that weekly jobless claims have hit a nine-month high, President Obama issued a statement calling out Congress for not passing a bill that would aid small businesses. I don’t care for the “Blame Game.”  My dad used to drill into me “fix the problem, not the blame.” That aside, the fact is that the struggles of …

While sitting in my favorite cigar lounge enjoying some company, I listened to a couple of guys talking about one’s new Harley. He’d traded up to a massive new bike from what he called his “learning bike.”  He wasn’t comfortable on it anymore as he was moving on to longer rides.  He needed comfort.  And didn’t want to continue to …

The definition of Brand (noun).  The action of Branding. (verb) IMHO this word - Brand - is thrown around much too casually.  Every creative shop in town talks about “Branding” to their clients.  But, do they really know what branding is? A complete Brand strategy will accomplish two important objectives.  Here they are along with a sentence to clarify: Explain …

The most stereotypical example of poor customer service had always been the Department of Motor Vehicles. Mention the DMV and instantly images of gargantuan lines pop into your head and your eye begins to twitch.  More recently however, the DMV had made some improvements by adopting common sense operational efficiencies and online tools. Many locations will give the poor motorist …

I’ve recently been brushing up on my market research of the Albany - Schenectady - Troy MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area).  It’s important to keep up on the markets in which you compete. Did you know that Albany is the #1 test market in the United States.  Correct-a-mundo. According to Acxiom’s  last published study in 2004, Albany, NY was the market …