The Autumn Star

For Baby Girl's half-birthday (six months), I'm giving her the gift of time. My time. I'm leaving my full-time position to become a full-time mom.  When I went back to work in December, I knew I wanted to work from home. It's a 90-minute commute to our office in Sarasota, and neither I nor Baby Girl liked that drive. Leaving her at home was out of the question for me. She had never learned to take a bottle, and I wasn't going to shock her into taking one by leaving her hungry for hours with a stranger.  Working from home, part-time, with flexible hours, worked. My employer was awesome during my transition into maternity leave and equally awesome transitioning me back.  I couldn't work and entertain Baby Girl, so I hired a nanny. Luckily, by that point she had started to cut teeth and was ready for her first foods. We supplemented my nursing schedule with the nanny feeding her cereal, which allowed me to leave the house for a few hours.  ...

As much as I pick on advertising, I do love commercials. Or, I guess I should say I love the potential of commercials. Video is an incredibly engaging medium for content, and until DVR technology came along and let us fast-forward through them, TV commercials were a great vehicle to deliver your brand and product directly into the homes of millions of viewers. There are two problems with commercials these days. One is the aforementioned DVR technology, and the other is creative laziness. I'm pretty sure that latter spurred the creation of the former. Think about it, if commercials were better, were more like thirty second stories, wouldn't we be more inclined to sit through them? Sitting in front of the boob tube is one of the most passive activities known to man. It burns fewer calories than reading . We have to break from our near-comatose state in order to skip the commercials. During my maternity leave, I watched a lot of commercials. I've put together a list of the...

As lame as it may sound to some, New Year's Resolutions are alive and well. Personally, I like them. They're like the ultimate to-do list, and I'm semi-famous for my dated, color-coded to-do lists. So here are my New Year's Resolutions for 2016: #1 Return to Work. I love being a mommy, but I also love being a marketing strategist. In 2016, it's time to get my little one bottle-trained and in the care of a super-awesome nanny.  #2 Start Running ... Again. Before my daughter came around, I ran several miles a week. It was the best stress relief ever. I was healthy and happy. I'd like to get out and run again. Preferably without a jogging stroller. This is my Me Time.  #3 Produce More Awesomeness. I love breaking apart content marketing conventions, calling out bad ad strategy, and dishing social media secrets. I plan to create even more blog content in the coming year. Hope you're looking forward to it as much as I am! #4 Speak As Often ...

I've been honored to be a guest speaker at University of South Florida's digital marketing class for a few years now. I'm also incredibly proud to have been voted Best Guest Speaker by the students every semester. I put together a custom presentation each semester, because it's fun and because I think the students deserve it, but I use a few favorite slides every time. The Justice League slide is one of them. ... Because superheroes. I think it's one of the most important slides for the students. More important than content audits and syndication strategies. The Justice League slide is tips on creating, managing and working as part of a team. Assemble Your Superheroes  From Gotham and Metropolis to Mars and Themyscira, the Justice League brings the best of the best together. You can do the same by finding the heroes in each department and inviting them to every brainstorm. Too often marketers brainstorm only with other marketers, or worse, alone at thei...

Successful content marketing is all about providing the information your customers need. How do you find out what kind of information your customers are looking for? Your customer service department is a great place to start.  Customer service reps--particularly the veterans--know exactly what questions customers ask about your product, what issues they have with it, and what they think of your brand as a whole. Customer service reps are basically the political ambassadors of your company, dealing with some hostile negotiations and making peace. That's why the job requires people skills.  Tap your veterans and ask them for the questions most often asked.  Answer frequently asked questions in blog (or vlog!) format, then link to them on your FAQ page.  You know what else customer service people have? Stories. You'd be surprised how long a customer will talk to a real live person. Those stories can help illuminate how your product fits into the lives...

Advertising and marketing are two entirely different things. I don't care how many times they're used interchangeably by brand managers, media buyers, and marketing agencies. Advertising is about getting the public's attention and then showing said public your service or product. Marketing is about getting the public's attention and then showing said public a representation of your brand. Advertising is part of marketing, but marketing is bigger. Advertising is about your product. Marketing is about your brand. The expected response from advertising is a purchase. The expected response from marketing is an emotion. Me? I've always preferred to work in marketing. I've got no problem with advertising. It plays an important role in the success of a business. Ads let people know about your product, special pricing and other sales-related info. But ads don't build relationships.  For example, I buy Lucky Charms when I see an ad telling me boxes of Ge...

I told my boss that I was pregnant while we stood in line for coffee at a Starbucks. We had just finished a successful client pitch meeting and we were discussing the potential future growth of his agency. I was ten weeks pregnant, and contemplating the very certain growth of my household. I was excited, and the announcement just sort of came out. I knew he would be happy for me personally, as we’d known each other for years and he knew that I wanted a child. But still, I was nervous. It was February, and I’d only started my position at the beginning of January. Besides that, I had no guarantee of any time off or even that my position would still be available if I took maternity leave. The company had less than 50 employees, so FMLA laws did not apply. Here’s the first thing my boss did right. He congratulated me sincerely...and then set up a meeting to discuss a maternity leave plan. That sincerity shouldn't be underestimated. Before, during and after my maternity leave...