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Gen X Marketing: Don’t You Forget About Us

Generation XLately, it appears that most marketing content is geared towards millenials or even baby boomers. Although I’m sure they’re all perfectly nice people, it seems like Generation X—born between 1961 and 1981—has been relegated to second-class citizen status when it comes to product promotion.

I don’t only say that because I am approaching middle age (whatever that means) and feeling left out, but because I believe that much of what defines our popular culture today—such as rap music and ground-breaking TV series like “Breaking Bad,” “The Sopranos” and “Sex in the City”—is a product of my generation. Therefore, our absence from marketing content seems like an anomaly.

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With August Approaching the Question on Marketers’ Minds is, ‘How Can I Slow Down Time?’

shutterstock_98725346Here at the office, I am constantly chastised by my team for saying the following: Summer is almost over. And I don’t say it to be cruel. After the polar vortex last winter, I am hardly wishing for snow.

It’s just that as marketers, the fast-pace of the job keeps us on our toes, our fingers feverishly typing away on the keyboard and our carpal tunnel persistent. And, before we know it, June turns to July, July turns to August, and August turns to September, which starts fall. (See… I’m not that off in my thinking with how fast the weeks go).

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Hidden Tricks Industry-Leading Content Marketers Keep Close to the Vest

shutterstock_131728910We’ve all been in the company of that individual—you know, the marketer who seems to be able to come up with witty slogans, awe-inspiring website copy and evocative white paper concepts on the fly. That individual who never seems scared or intimidated by behemoth marketing tasks.

He or she seems like a marketing superhero—even a magician—and, in truth, makes you feel wholly inadequate when it comes to your own marketing prowess.

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Twitter’s New Feed: What Do You Think?

followmeTo answer my own question, I don’t like it. Well, let me rephrase that: the consumer in me doesn’t like it. The marketer in me? Well, I think it is gold.

Let’s back track for a moment. Just a few days ago, Twitter announced that it is launching a new initiative to make tweets even more visual. As you will recall, if you previously embedded a video or picture with your tweet, it would show up as a link, teasing a Twitter user to click on the link to figure out what the visual would be. But now, Twitter wants to make it “easier” for everyone to enjoy what the company refers to as “those great moments you share on Twitter.”

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Top Three Ways to Beat Writer’s Block

It usually comes without warning, carrying the same air of desperation that comes when you suddenly experience an onset of insatiable hunger at 4 pm, right before that two-hour long work meeting. It has the same feeling of frustration that arrives when you can’t—no matter what—seem to run your 10K in under an hour. And it has that same feeling of regret like when you can’t close the sales deal, despite your most brilliant pitch.

shutterstock_110330690Ah… good ‘ole writer’s block. It’s undoubtedly one of the most crippling incidents that can happen to writers, marketers, journalists and creative people.

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How to Keep Your Prized Marketing Materials out of the Dreaded Junk Folder

Do you feel like you are in a constant battle with your Outlook inbox? Feverishly trying to respond to emails so that the daunting bold number next “Inbox” steadily inches closer to zero. Desperately sifting through emails with a cursory scan to make sure you are not neglecting your key company stakeholders. Praying that maybe, just maybe, you will learn that there is a 26-hour day coming up, giving you a whole extra 120 minutes to sort, file and compartmentalize your inbox.

You are not alone.

The entire world seems to be lost in a sea of emails. In fact, 144 billion emails are exchanged every day worldwide and of those, 68.8% are spam. Moreover, individual email volume rose 5.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012 when compared with 2011. So not only are you drowning in the whirlpool of business critical messages, but you are also forced with having to reel in the imperative emails over the “seaweed.”

shutterstock_94977535So as a marketer, how do you ensure that your corporate eNewsletters stay good and far away from the feared “deleted items” folder? By considering the following:

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