Highlights from my February 8, 2010 appearance on FOX Business News’ Your Questions, Your Money, including details about the Teleflora Super Bowl ad and discussion of the behind-the-scenes footage with Don Rickles.

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In this week’s Ask Lynda, a successful non-profit wonders about its future as the economy falters. Lynda’s advice? Don’t make website visitors work to make a donation, reorganize your boards so that people receive recognition but also contribute to their full potential, and, above all, tap into the sources already at your disposal: your current donors.

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I’m proud to announce that last week in New York City at the annual Public Relations Week Awards, the Roll PR team was awarded “Best In-House PR Team of the Year,” beating out other semi-finalists McDonald’s, American Red Cross and Deloitte. More than 100 companies submitted entries for this award category, the most prestigious in the industry. (more…)

As with most Super Bowl commercials, our Teleflora ad tried to cut through the clutter with humor – and from the laughter I heard starting in my own living room and reverberating around the blogosphere and cyberspace (The Mercury News, The Times Picayune, Buzz Sugar, I4U News, The Tennessean, Fanhouse, Yahoo! Video – to name a few of the earliest posters), it seems to have hit its mark.

You can vote for your favorite Super Bowl commercial on these sites: (more…)

We all know times are so tough that a lot of SMBs – and even large ones – are packing it in. But there is a determined group out there that’s not only surviving but thriving in today’s economy. As I’ve said before, now is the time to make a difference with your business, to promote your Unique Selling Proposition while the rest of your competition is floundering to make sense of the chaos around them.

Each Tuesday, henceforth to be known as Ruby Tuesday, I will choose a small- to medium-sized business that is doing something different to set itself apart from the flock, whether that’s by making the most of its USP, tapping into new Internet tools, or simply (more…)

For the first time in company history, Teleflora will advertise during the Super Bowl.

For the first time in our company’s history, Teleflora has purchased a spot on the Super Bowl. It is also the first time in 20 years that a floral company has bought commercial time during the big game.

The timing couldn’t be better. With Valentine’s Day following just two weeks after the Super Bowl, we’re giving guys a heads-up that if they want Valentine’s “Night,” they’d better remember (more…)

Today, I appeared on The Advertising Show, the country’s only weekly show of its kind, to discuss Rubies in the Orchard with hosts Brad Forsythe and Ray Schilens. In addition to chatting about my upcoming book and some of the secrets and stories therein, the three of us also talked about other key book topics, such as business transparency, unique selling propositions, interacting with your customers, and the newly leveled playing field created by the current economy.

If you missed the show, you can still tune in to hear about a topic I didn’t cover in my book: why I decided açai wasn’t as good for my customers as pomegranates are. (The answer just might make you kick that açai habit and switch to POM.) You’ll also get a taste for (more…)