Before you throw a wad of money at your next problem, consider this: Most consumers are more motivated by a pure sense of self-fulfillment than greenbacks. Social psychologist Edward Deci first floated this theory in the 1970s. In a series of experiments, Deci asked two groups of subjects to solve a puzzle. One group was compensated for finding a solution; the other had to make do with the satisfaction of cracking the problem. Deci observed that the unpaid groups outperformed the paid ones in speed, originality and overall satisfaction. We see this effect frequently when consumers perceive an altruistic benefit to a product, an advantage that will often bear a higher price. It’s another vivid difference between a commodity and a brand.

Danger has always been associated with creativity, but death? These bright minds were done in by their own inventions.

Marie Curie: The first person to win two Nobel Prizes, Curie pioneered cancer treatment with radioactive isotopes, which she toted around in her pockets. Whoops. She died from aplastic anaemia in 1934 by being exposed to radiation in her research shed. Her research papers from the late 1800s are still too dangerous to handle because of their radioactivity.

William Bullock: Body parts and machine gears don’t mix. Bullock revolutionized the printing industry in 1863 when he invented the efficient and fast web rotary printing press. Though a brilliant inventor, Bullock was no genius as a handyman. After kicking a belt onto pulley in 1867, his leg was crushed by his own printing press. He died days later of gangrene.

HTML’s much-needed facelift brings dynamic localized content, improved search engine marketing and much more to the plate in HTML 5. The new markup language changes the game for Web designers and advertisers alike, and here are some reasons why you shouldn’t be scared of the makeover:

Simplified video: Say goodbye to mandatory, cumbersome and confusing third-party applications such as Flash and Quicktime. HTML 5 is optimized for search engines by embedding video on its own with one line of text.

Geolocation: HTML 5 uses WiFi and GPS towers to pinpoint locations, a feature familiar to iPhone users. It more localized advertising and content catered to any corner of the world.

Update Your Browsers! The newest versions of Google Chrome, Firefox and Safari support many HTML 5 features. And we have hopes for Internet Explorer 9.

Can throwing big bucks at search engine marketing smooth over a corporate crisis? BP thinks so. A quick “oil spill” search puts the embattled oil giant’s tailored messages above organic search results on Google, Bing and Yahoo.

BP’s PR strategy for the bad press is no shocker. One study showed that nearly 30 percent of people will click a sponsored link before genuine search results.

Google’s AdWords program lets companies purchase sponsored links that appear above normal search results depending on the company’s budget.

Terms that also trigger BP’s response website include “oil spill claims,” “oil spill disaster” and “oil spill cleanup.” BP may be paying $10,000 daily to stay at the top of search results, according to ABC News.

Share your thoughts with us on Twitter.

You can’t nuke obnoxious people from your family, but you should make it a habit on Twitter. The wrong followers drag down the rep of your entire feed, and make it difficult to engage those that matter. It’s easy to decide who stays or goes once you have a strategy in place that defines your objectives and criteria for following or purging. Follow your strategy, and you’ll attract the right followers.

Find out how influential your feed is at Klout.com. This free service analyzes your Twitter interactions and followers and assigns a score similar to Page Rank for websites.

A quick reaction to news that relates to your brand can spur exceptional results. After all, your customers are already tuned into the news. All you need to do is weave in a relevant story about your brand. Procter and Gamble, for example, immediately responds to oil spills by donating Dawn dishwashing detergent. The community relations effort drives millions in free publicity while embedding a key brand message about Dawn’s cleaning power.

You don’t need a billion dollar advertising budget to harness the same concept. After Sony announced that it would cease floppy disk production, Ideopia pounced on this news to unseat one of its client’s competitors, whose medical device is dependant on floppies. Yippee!

The Advantage of News Tie-ins

• Built-in and sensitized audience
• Credibility of third party endorsement, e.g. “Silicon Valley News says the floppy is dead.”
• Relevancy. It’s happening now, not six weeks from now when your next ad campaign launches.

Unearth News Tie-ins for Your Brand

• Monitor keywords and trending topics in social media
• Track online publications using Google Alerts
• Keep micro audiences in mind. It may not be news for June and Ward, but it could blow the top off your industry.

Develop a Quick Response Mentality

• Create an infrastructure that can think and act quickly.
• Social Media and Web: 1-2 hours
• Print: 24 hours
• TV and Radio: 12 hours

Creating easy-to-read and relevant content is the most time-consuming aspect of most email programs. So get the most for your money by trying out these strategies.

Send Every E-mail Twice

Remail is the best practice in the email industry and it’s simple. After you send the initial mailing, wait at least one week, remove the people who already opened your mail from the list and send the same content again. Our return rates on remail range from 10 to 15%. But even if you only get an incremental return, say 5%, it’s almost free!

Integrate Newsletter Content With Social Media

A study of nine major websites recently showed that more traffic was driven to their sites by social media than organic search. So put your newsletter content to work.

• Invite signups to your newsletter every month on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Turn your friends into subscribers and prospects.
• Tease specific stories from your newsletter over social media throughout the month and build traffic to your site.
• Boost your credibility and provide your sales force with links to specific articles they can send to prospects.

Turn Newsletter Articles Into Blog Posts

Get added mileage by posting news stories to your company’s blog. Every article with target keywords will bolster your site’s performance in organic search.

At a meeting in Columbus, Wednesday, April 28, 2010, The Ohio Cooperative Education Association named Ideopia a Distinguished Employer, and bestowed the Coolest Co-op Award on Ideopia graphic designer, Emily Babel.

One of three college students honored statewide, Babel received her award for an essay entitled “High Heels, Swim Suits and a Casual Atmosphere.” Said Babel, “It felt great to know that my designs were helping families and making a difference.”

For its commitment to cultivating college students and interns, Ideopia was named a distinguished employer along with General Electric, Target, Procter & Gamble – Germany, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Incidentally that rumor about Ideopia forcing interns to wash our cars is just not true.

Promotions and contests can stimulate short-term sales. They’re also a powerful tool for educating consumers about a brand, even the stuff that doesn’t seem so sexy on the surface, and gathering valuable information. A recent web promotion Ideopia created for Reliance Medical Products presented an entertaining quiz that educated prospects about the benefits of dealing with an American Manufacturer. In addition to driving engagement on an important brand value, visitors were required to answer questions before entering the quiz. Just the kind of stuff that you might use for customizing email… who knows? Let us know if you would like a tour of this project.

This month, Ideopia welcomes two new employees to our creative group: graphic designer Emily Babel, and copywriter, Eric House. Eric and Emily will both assist with our rapidly growing business in web site design, web marketing and social media.

For Emily the transition has been especially easy. A recent graduate in graphic and interior design from the College of Mount St. Joseph, Emily worked at Ideopia as a co-op student and part-time employee for the past two years. She’s worked on creative for the Ronald McDonald House Charities Cincinnati, and our medical and food clients. Emily is an avid runner, volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, and a wicked web animator. And recently she won the Coolest Co-Op Award (see below).

Eric is an Ideopia newbie, but his work with animals has helped him fit in with our team seamlessly. Eric graduated this past May with a degree in journalism from The Ohio State University. While there he reported on a variety of entertainment, social and technology topic for one of the nation’s largest student newspapers. He also worked in public relations in the Ophthalmology Department at the School of Veterinary medicine. Eric looks forward to making the transition to humans.