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Because there is no such thing as bad publicity, right? Recently, three companies have taken stunt marketing to the next level.

Is it just us or does it feel like some companies are giving new meaning to the phrase “stunt marketing” lately?

Within the last week, Andreessen Horowitz, Vice Media, and SugarDaddie have launched headline-grabbing marketing ploys, and while the effectiveness of each stunt is up for debate, at the very least, all three will make you pause and think.

Andreessen Horowitz puts its money where its mouth is. Famed VC’s Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz just used RapGenius, a website that allows users to decipher rap-lyrics and also (ahem) one of their portfolio companies, to analyze the significance behind each line of ex-Groupon CEO Andrew Mason’s amazing “I got fired” memo.

Just so happens, the VC firm dropped $15 million into RapGenius last fall and has been vocal about the site’s use beyond just decoding rap lyrics–Mason’s note, case in point.

Vice Media, Dennis Rodman, and Kim Jong-un–oh my! Vice recently partnered with HBO to produce a video series centered on a show-case basketball game with a few Harlem Globetrotters and former NBA legend Dennis Rodman in North Korea.

But when North Korean ruler Kim Jong-un showed up to the exhibition game, it became an international incident. Photos show Jong-un buddying it up with Rodman. (Apparently, in Rodman’s first interview upon returning to the States, he called Kim Jong-un “a great guy.”)

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Google is far more than a search engine. If you know where to look, you can find a treasure trove of free or practically free tools to help grow your business. Just about everyone uses Google in some form for their business. I’m sure you know about Google Maps, AdWords, Google Analytics, and Gmail. You might also know about Google Drive, Google Calendar, and Chrome, Google’s Web browser. I even bet a few of you out there have delved into Google’s “Even More” section, where you’ll find several dozen Google products listed. But Google provides tools beyond those published in this section, and many of them can help you in your everyday marketing and business operations. Let me take you on a brief tour. Link via Inc.com

Design elements and code snippets for Bootstrap HTML/CSS/JS framework. Bootsnipp is an element gallery for web designers and web developers.

Want to be happier? Steal a page from the perennial optimist’s playbook. Link via Inc.com

As a therapist-turned-entrepreneur (kinda), I have helped lots of people fight myriad mental and emotional setbacks.

Over time, I have learned that the skill set that helps you avoid depression or anxiety is not the same skill set that helps you experience a joyful, meaningful, and connected life. If you want to be truly happy, you need a new playbook.

Here’s a page from that playbook. It contains eight ways that happy people are different than everyone else.

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Everyone knows you shouldn’t send the same email twice, right? Wrong.

Email marketing is one of the most effective ways drive traffic and increase sales. But there are many misconceptions about how to make a great email pitch. Many companies don’t send enough marketing emails–and the ones they do send rarely get opened. Here are some of the myths that could be getting in your way of becoming an amazing email marketer. Link via Inc.com

Myth 1: If you send a lot of emails, you’ll annoy your customers.

In our extensive testing, we have found that as long as your e-mails and subject lines feel fresh, varied, and not spammy-feeling, it is nearly impossible to send too many emails to your clients. Yes, some people may unsubscribe. But the impact you get from sending more emails far outweighs the loss of a few subscribers.Besides, you can reduce the number of unsubscribes by giving customers an option to reduce the number of emails they receive rather than unsubscribing completely. For example, our unsubscribe page helps us retain more than 10 percent of people who wanted to unsubscribe.

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