Do you spend much time in the garden? Is it a chore or therapy? I am an avid gardener. Sometimes I have trouble falling asleep at night, planning my gardening activities for the weekend. Or, I wake up EARLY Saturday morning and am unable to fall back asleep, anticipating the day ahead. This past weekend, I got to play in the …
Psychographics: 4 Pointers for Content Marketing
If you plan on expanding your business through your marketing, and I know you do, then you need to know about psychographics. At first blush, the word itself sounds like something a serial killer might develop in a darkroom, but it is nothing so ominous as that. In marketing terms, psychographics are a collection of data regarding the behavior of …
Tech 13 and Social Organizations: Day 2
A few years ago, when I was just beginning to dip my toes into the social media space, Chris Brogan made a statement about loving the serendipity of social media. I remember thinking, ‘What was a strange choice of words to use to talk about social networking.’ Now that I’ve been engaged in Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook for the last 3 years, …
The Marketing Communications Audit: Content Marketing Step 2
What is it that a sports coach and her/his team are looking for when they review past game tapes of next week’s opposing team? At first glance, that could seem like an incredible waste of time! The answer is holes. They’re looking for holes—holes in the opponent’s offense, holes in their defense. Where are the gaps, what are the weaknesses, …
Content Marketing Step 1: Know Your Audience
Know your audience. Having pulled together four weddings in the last three years, please understand that I’m still in recovery mode. So the best analogy I can come up with about knowing your audience is related to wedding analogies. When you’re putting together your guest list, travel arrangements and seating at the reception you have to take all kinds of …
Content Marketing: What Is It?
Marketing Overview Summary First there was Integrated Marketing. Then there was Direct Marketing. Then Online Marketing, Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Digital Marketing, Social Media Marketing and now Content Marketing. With all these marketing buzz words, one can easily become confused. (Apologies if I missed a few 🙂 ) What’s the difference? Is there a difference? Interestingly, there can be quite …
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Millennials: The Economic Engine of the Future
The wedding is just over 5 weeks away. After marrying 3 sons off in the last three years, I FINALLY get to play the role “Mother-of-the-Bride!” As the parent of 5 millennials, it’s easy to identify with the stereotypes of this younger generation as entitled, spoiled and non-committal. Wedding planning is a great microcosm to see these characteristics at their …
Gen Y: Retention and Loyalty
Our daughter was recognized as an Outstanding Scholar recently at her university and I was truly touched with the intimacy of the ceremony and recognition given to each student. But what blew me away was the tribute to the educators and influencers that helped motivate each student to achieve such a high level of excellence. As an educator myself, I …
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Association Membership: Keeping Gen Y Motivated and Engaged
“The challenge inherent in keeping Gen Y engaged is that we’re easily distracted, we want to see progress from our daily efforts, and have a high need to stay in touch with those leading us.” ~ (p. 108) Translation for Associations: GenY needs to know OFTEN why being a part of your association matters. They need to see measureable …
Associations, Are You Talking to Me?
I’ve been waiting to see if some of the associations that I’m interested in would reach out to me first. Why? I’d rather spend the money on a weekend get away or dinner at my favorite restaurant, unless you can convince me of the value of membership in your association. I love to read posts by XYZ University’s Shannon Neeser. …