If you are lucky enough to work for an organization large enough to have a dedicated resource or resources to the marketing and PR function then you can just skip this read.  However, for the many of us who are small business owners or sole practitioners the struggle to balance marketing/overhead-related activities with billable hours is never ending.

We all acknowledge the primary goal of the entire marketing flurry is to gain access to paying gigs.  And, once you land the client well, there is an expectation of delivery of goods and services.  I am not saying anything that we all don’t already know; already intrinsically struggle with on a daily basis.  We’ve heard it all:  “Feast or Famine” …  “When it rains it pours”….   And, we all continuously look for ways to ‘fix’ the problem – to somehow not repeat it.  When we’re ‘feasting’ it’s hard to imagine the impending ‘famine’ lurking right around the corner.

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What would be said about you in your 40th Birthday Book?

Thus far this year I have had the pleasure of celebrating two very important 40th birthdays in my inner circle.  No, not mine – I wish I could go back a few years but that time has passed me by.

Due to the fact I have way too much disposable time (hint of sarcasm here), I decided to create personalized books for these two women.  The idea being to reach out to those individuals important to them, request they write something – a few paragraphs – free from – what they might want to tell to or what they might want others to know about the person.  

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Should You Always Participate in Conversations About You?

Recently I was perusing my LinkedIn Groups for interesting conversations – I cheat, I automatically click on “most comments” letting other’s level of interest influence which ones I’ll actually read.

I came across one that asked a simple question about which Social Media Aggregator(s) might be the best.  The first comment back to this individual was one sentence, "Personally I like Hootsuite as it encompasses several of the big social sites.” No analysis, no extensive list of features and benefits, no concrete evidence – just a personal opinion.

That set the tone.  

Many comments followed, 91 to be exact, with additional information on other aggregators but a resounding, overall love-fest for the free professional Twitter client from Invoke Media Inc. of Vancouver, British Columbia. 

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It’s still happening, I am sitting in front of a prospect or even a current client and I hear that statement: “I don’t have time for social media.”  

I have struggled with the answer to that question for some time.  I have struggled with whether or not I should even have that conversation.  To better arm myself, I spent some time researching – talking to the experts; searching online and reading a great deal on the topic on Twitter and other locations in the hopes of finding something – something enlightening – some revelation that will speak to those nay-sayers and move them to understanding.

The following list is not by any stretch exhaustive – but it does contain those nuggets that I have found most useful:

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