We’ve all been there. For me, it was my first job after college as a newspaper reporter. After writing seven stories for the week, I was instructed that it was now time to lay out the paper. ‘Lay out the paper?,’ I panicked. ‘Shouldn’t an art team do that?’ After all, while I may certainly be a whiz at Word and NewsPro, I quite candidly do not know the difference between leading and kerning and justification and hypthenation.
Me, Me, Me – Abandon the Kindergartner in You
We all have that person in our life. That dear friend who we don’t see for weeks and who—during your once a month dinner catch-up—rehashes every insignificant detail about his or her latest job catastrophe, spousal and/or child predicament and vacation to Bora Bora. We get it; you are busy and you have a lot to talk about.
The thing is, the “me, me, me” complex loses its cuteness at about the age of six. Because the truth is, we are all busy adults—busy adults with our own celebrations, challenges and confusions—and we now see much more quickly through those individuals who so easily forget to ask, “And how was your day?”
Continue reading “Me, Me, Me – Abandon the Kindergartner in You”
Marketing during Human Tragedy = Unthinkable Insensitivity
To say it’s been a tragic week for U.S. citizens, and even the billions around the world, is a gross understatement. The unfathomable events that transpired this week—from the very first explosion during the Boston Marathon, to the Texas fertilizer plant blast, to the still ongoing hunt for Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev—have left us all without words.
Disbelief, Distraught, Empathy, Anger and Confusion have entered our world—from our local delis to our workplace to our neighborhoods. And all we can do is ask: “Why?”
Why does such evil exist in this world? Why has our universe become so recently shattered—not to forget the Batman movie shooting to the Sandy Hook massacre—making us afraid of even our own shadow? Why does it seem that acts of cruelty occur more frequently than acts of benevolence?
Continue reading “Marketing during Human Tragedy = Unthinkable Insensitivity”
Power Up that Laptop; You’ve Got a Story to Tell
While this may come as no surprise, especially as someone who has made a career out of writing, I love everything related to the English language. I love the fact that a single word can inspire, energize, upset, anger and intrigue—sometimes all at once. I love that for every 10 people who read a book, you get 10 different opinions about the true themes and symbolism. I love how we share our stories about ourselves, our companies, and our passions through our writing—oftentimes meticulously massaging each word, caressing tone and losing ourselves in the process of wordsmithing.
So you can imagine how important I think it is for each company to have a section of their website dedicated to storytelling. The part of their website that gives customers, channel partners, stakeholders, investors and potential partners the first few chapters of a company’s novel.
Continue reading “Power Up that Laptop; You’ve Got a Story to Tell”
You Looking at Me?
I am 100 percent a student at heart. I long for the days of hour-long college lectures spent dissecting nuances and gender deconstruction in Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre.” I still experience brief moments of frustration when I try to recall the difference between igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic geology rocks (as a marketer, science was certainly not my strong suit).
And I still wish I could find the time during a busy work week to meet a professor for “office hours” and sip coffee while I pick his/her brain about some esoteric psychology theory.
So making the recent decision to complete my Social Media Marketing professional degree at Purchase College was one of the easiest choices I made.
I love learning. I love social media. And I love following the social media strategies of my favorite brands. No brainer.