Super Best Top Attorney Under 40

Next time your attorneys lobby for your help in making the Attorney List/Ranking du jour...ask them to complete a quick (and easy!) homework assignment. For the next two weeks, ask them to take note of all the plaques, window stickers and logos on the walls, windows and menus of the restaurants they patronize. Do they visit these restaurants because of the rankings? Do the rankings in any way enhance the flavor or improve the ambiance of the establishments? Can you distinguish one list from the other (ie SF Weekly / Yelp / Zagat / Michelen...)?

While this excercise will not prevent the tide of inquiries to a marketer's inbox, it might give you brainstorming fodder.

It's always somebody's Birthday

How will you connect? Every birthday I receive a handful of advertisements from businesses that have managed to get hold of my special digits. Generally,these are glorified advertisements: "10% off on your birthday" or "come visit us (and spend money) on your special day". This leads me to wonder...since a birthday is such a personal thing, the one day in the year that you are allowed to celebrate life with reckless abandon by sticking your face in a plateful of frosting and cake or indulging in some exotic and fruity libation or going on a spending spree to replace old socks and underwear, why don't businesses bother to personalize their offer a little more. Naturally, for the consumer market their is only so much personalization that can be cost-effectively accomplished but for boutique shops or professional services it seems like an ideal opportunity to connect in a memorable way with your clientele.

Find a partner in the community. Give a restaurant or spa discounted or trade services in exchange for gift certificates to send to your elite customers on their big day. You could be the hero lest their friends and family forget.

Spend a little dough on dough. Donuts or pastries are a relatively inexpensive way to brighten some one's morning...drop them off in person and you've really gone the extra mile.

Send a hand-written note or card. Least expensive but perhaps the most memorable option is a surefire way to stand out. People seem to have forgotten the potency of pen and paper.

Cute Cats won't make you dumb, Attending College won't make you smart

From the Wall Street Journal: Does the Internet Make You Dumber? Does the Internet Make You Smarter?

To answer questions with more questions: Does reading a holy book make you more spiritual? Does going to college make you more educated? Does shopping at Whole Foods make you healthier? It's all about intention. What do you want the Internet to do? I bet it can help you achieve either option.