Here are the noteworthy blogs and sites for this week!

1. Keith N. Hampton- Hampton is an Assistant Professor in the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.  His blog mainly deals with social networking, social media, community and societal issues.  A great read! You can also follow Keith on Twitter.
2. A Friend in Every City- This blog discusses global social networking and its effect in the workforce.  It is based on the book A Friend in Every City, which was written by Penny Power, Thomas Power and Andy Coote.  Feel free to pick up a copy!
3. Apophenia- Managed by Danah Boyd, an Internet scholar, social media researcher and Fellow at the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society, this blog deals with computing, technology, social networking and youth culture.  Extremely well-written and worth checking out.  You can also follow Danah on Twitter.
4. Writer in Residence- Cornwall- Written by Andy Coote, this blog deals with business networking, marketing and communications.  Stop by and have a look!
5. Ecademy- This is a really neat site that helps business people connect to one another- sort of similar to LinkedIn

At Hummingbird Creative Group, we use the acronym SOAR to represent helping our clients to “Strategically Orient their companies to Achieve marketing Results.” In an economy like this, each of us should step back and brainstorm about new products and services we might offer based on insight gathering from clients and prospects to position our companies for success. Insight gathering is simply doing market research including competitive analysis, brand analysis and interviews to establish core facts, values, character and the market’s perception of your offerings, opportunities, targets and referring audiences. Interviewing customers and prospects through the use of case studies and surveys can help you understand what you are doing right, or wrong and how you could change what you are doing to better meet needs in the marketplace. Other things you might want to do to help you Strategically Orient your company to Achieve marketing Results include:

1. Take time away from your everyday business activities and analyze what you can do differently, such as pricing services differently to meet client needs or developing a new product or service that can help your customers get through this tough economy.

2. Write down your strategy before its implementation. By having a road map of what to do and how to achieve it, you are more likely to make it happen.

3. Explore and learn new media, such as Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media outlets. These are inexpensive ways to spread the word about your company, and they can compliment traditional media efforts such as TV, radio and print media.

4. Make sure that your website is positioned correctly to reflect your competitive advantages and other branding messages. You might want to add a client area to your website, increase search engine optimization, or even redesign your site to reflect what you now offer.

5. Join organizations where you can be seen and heard by other businesses and develop positive one-on-one relationships to grow and nurture what you’re building through other mass media activities.

6. Consider outsourcing your branding efforts by hiring a marketing firm with capabilities to do strategic planning, writing, design, interactive and new media planning. Outsourcing is usually about the same cost of a full-time employee who might have only core competencies in one or two of these areas.

Most importantly, do not stop marketing and advertising your company during this time! Strong, consistent brand messages and graphic elements will wake up your brand and help prospects and customers keep your company top-of-mind. Continue to build your brand awareness so you will stay top-of-mind no matter what the economy holds!

In this day and age, more and more people are operating their businesses from the comfort of their own home.  If your business requires you to have regular contact with people out-of-state or even overseas (internationally), then your phone bill can be pretty high.  That being said, there is a company called ProxyComm which was modeled on the principle of providing generations of people and business owners alike with the best possible communications services.  Founded by John and Sunshine Peterson, ProxyComm combines the telecommunications industry with the technology industry to  offer advanced communications services to untapped markets.

ProxyComm Products

ProxyComm offers  fantastic call routing and unlimited domestic and international calling plans that are unlike any other calling plans in the market.  Some of the things you’ll get with the ProxyLine service include but are not limited to:

• An additional line for your existing phones
• UNLIMITED nationwide calling
• Great features including: Simutaneous Ring, Advanced Voicemail, Call Screening, Call Recording, Live Call Transfer and Free Directory Assistance

ProxyComm Features

When you’re trying to run and operate a business, the type of phone plan as well as phone features you have suddenly become very important.  After all, the last thing you want to hear is that one of your clients (or potential clients) couldn’t reach you.  Therefore, ProxyComm offers the following features (with more to come!):

• Do Not Disturb- Set your ProxyLine to send calls straight to Voicemail or to accept calls normally.
• Simultaneous Ring- You can haver your ProxyLine ring on up to 4 phones.
• Personal Number Administration- Log in to your account through our web portal and manage your account and service options in real time.
• Caller ID Control- Program your inbound and outbound CallerID numbers used by your ProxyLine through the Personal Number Admin tool.
• Call Recording- Ever wanted to record a call for playback later?  Now you can receive recordings as email attachments just like with voicemail messages.
• Advanced Voicemail- ProxyComm Voicemail includes many advanced features such as a folder storage system, broadcast and forward capabilities, and separate “busy” and “not available” messages.
• Email Notification- Have your voicemail messages sent to you as a sound file attached in an email where you can listen to your messages on your computer, forward them or save them!
• Free Google Directory Service- You get unlimited, free directory listings, powered by Google!
• UNLIMITED Calling- You can use your ProxyLine like a calling card for unlimited outbound calling.  Callers will see your ProxyLine number in their CallerID display, and you will save on long distance charges with our unlimited nationwide calling or with our unlimited International plans.
• Call Screening- Your ProxyLine service comes wth an optional call attendant to answer  your phone and screen your calls with a name announcement.
• Call Transfers- Transfer live calls between any two phones- cell phones or landlines.  Need to run and take the call with you?  Just transfer it from your landline to your cell phone!