Social Media Content Marketing

For retail businesses, now starts the biggest time of the year. In fact, many retail chains report doing about 90% of their sales from now through the New Year. But for the rest of us, the Monday or Tuesday before Thanksgiving is pretty much the last day of the year any business will get done. Break out the bubbly, the year is as good as over. Though many like to deny it to the board, employee productivity drops significantly during this time. It's not just the Holidays to blame. Depleted budgets, holiday parties, "use it or lose it" vacations, associated family events, school closings, not to mention the flu season being in full bloom all add to making December the most infuriating month for upper management. Perhaps the most frustrating part of this is for most of us who despite the temptation to slough off, procrastinate, and avoid, do the opposite during this time. We work harder in fact to meet those end of year deadlines. We have the reports ready,...

I've been thinking about an article on the importance of spontaneity or perhaps indecisiveness? I'll write it when I have more time, maybe. Instead, I'll point the mic towards business. I've had a lot of contracted consulting assignments over my career, but the ones in 2014 win a unique award. I am deeming 2014 "The Year of the Wishy Washy Business. The one thing these companies had in common was they all were in a rush to avoid a decision. I received urgent calls from referrals, past business associates, all in a different fields who "needed help ASAP." Sometimes it was me calling them. Sometimes it was the CEO or the CMO. But every time they claimed the monies were allocated in the budget. Everyone assured me they had to sign off and blessing from management, and everyone needed me to start "yesterday." But 9 times at 10 the deal fell through - not because of time or money or even won by another, but because of internal ...

I know you're busy... Maybe you're one of the "lucky" ones who got to keep their job after the recession hit and now get the "privilege" of also doing the work of the three others in your department who are no longer there? Or maybe you're the new hire getting paid peanuts - no I mean actual peanuts and other snacks that corporate has replaced in lieu of monetary rewards. Or maybe like me you do all things marketing because, well, no one else will do it? Regardless, not being able to see over the piles of files on your desk is not just cause for sharing, forwarding, liking, and tweeting, articles, emails, blogs, tweets, and posts that you haven't actually read. Everyone has a Top Sharing Offender in their lives. A friend, parent, acquaintance, or boss who needs to attend Repost Anonymous meetings ASAP.  But most of us are guilty of the occasional unaware share. I just did it today when I forwarded an article to my Harry Potter fanatic kid. Som...

"Tattoo? What Tattoo?"Regardless of whether you like them or not, does a visible tattoo influence your opinion of the person wearing it? Sure it does. It's why we wear a suit, shine our shoe and/or spend extra time on our hair for a job interview. Our appearance in the workplace says a lot. And tattoos can say much more. According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center last year, the percentage of U.S. adults age 26-40 who have at least one tattoo is 40%.  How people react to tattoos depends upon many different factors.  Your generation, your cultural background or religion, your views on self-expression - all of which has nothing to do with the subject matter of the tattoo, where on the body it's placed, and whose body it's on. But in business, there are a slew more of questions often going undiscussed as it's a slippery slope.  First, it depends on the visibility. Business people have had tattoos long before their recent po...