The Dove Beauty Campaign created an experiment. A forensic artist was asked to sketch individual women based off their own description of their faces. The artist never saw them, he only drew what they described. Then, Dove brought strangers in to describe each participant to create a second picture. Each personal sketch proved to be distorted and unrealistic. When strangers described what they saw, it proved to be more like the real face of each of the participants. The participants … [Read more...]
You can’t do it all
If there's one thing I've learned in the past 30 days: You can't do it all. But... You can do it. Whether it's delegation, better planning, careful analysis, further education, seeking out more understanding from others, or simply saying no, you can do it. You just can't do it, alone. … [Read more...]
Bloggers are taking over
There's no doubt that bloggers are becoming a force to be reckoned with. What I didn't realize, until today, is how many of them write about brands, products and services on their blogs. According to eMarketer.com, on average, 38% of all types of bloggers (hobbyists, professional part-time, professional full-time, corporate, entrepreneur) blog about brands that they love or hate. Even more influential is that 68% of bloggers are influenced by what they read on other blogs. Did you hear … [Read more...]
How to Write a Strong Marketing Proposal
Save time and download this entire post and a Microsoft Word template for FREE Download Template Now X Writing a strong marketing proposal is key to winning new business. It is the point of reference that both you and your client will reference when there is a need to establish expectations, objectives, and successes. Over the years, I have written a lot of marketing proposals. Some were bad, and some were great. In the past year or so, I've begun to hone in on what I believe to be a … [Read more...]
Five Steps to Collecting & Using Business Cards Effectively
Stacked in my drawer are dozens, if not hundreds of business cards that I've collected over the years. Perhaps you have the same quandry as I do: what do I do with all of those cards? If you're like me, you don't dare throw them away. After all, you might need one of them some day. But, the problem is, most likely, you don't have a clue when and where you met those people. All you know is that somehow, you have their card. Good, but not helpful. Jeff Pulver, co-founder of the Vonage … [Read more...]
Eight Things I Learned at Social Fresh Charlotte
Today, I joined a couple hundred of my new closest socmed Charlotte friends for an all day conference called Social Fresh. Established and ran by former Charlottean, Jason Keath, this six-session event was packed full of topics that ranged from community development to corporate social policy. I really enjoyed the conference, mainly because it was small and intimate. I met a lot of new people like @jakrose, @yarby, @benjamingetz, @CaseyLBrewton, @MCDolphens, @GenevieveJooste, @Mysticle, … [Read more...]
Social Fresh – Charlotte
After being a Charlotean for a whole month, tomorrow I'm headed to the Social Fresh conference to jump in, with both feet, to the local social media community. The conference was founded and lead by social entrepreneur Jason Keith (@jakrose), and is targeted to marketers who use social media strategically. Personally, I can't wait to meet a bunch of people who love Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare like I do. But most of all, I'm looking forward to learning. This industry is ever-changing and … [Read more...]
How Nashville businesses can help flood victims using Foursquare
If you are a business in Nashville looking for ways to contribute to the relief from to the #nashvillefloods this past weekend, the new geolocation social networking app, Foursquare, may be an easy way to facilitate your contributions. What is Foursquare? Foursquare is a relatively new social networking tool that gives people the ability to "check-in" at all kinds of places: cafes, bars, restaurants, parks, homes, offices—you name it. Think of it as an easy way of telling other users where you … [Read more...]
Does sharing your location in social networks scare you?
My wife sent me a link to an article and video (posted below) she found the other day with a short note that said, "Please be careful." The caution refers to my avid use of the usual social networks: Twitter, Facebook and my recent new interest, Foursquare (thanks Jeff Hamilton!). Over the past couple of years even my mom has spoken up on the topic of making people aware of where you are; which ultimately reveals where you aren't. To be honest, I am totally on the fence around this … [Read more...]