Content is still king in 2014, but how do you generate meaningful social media that provides VALUE? By focusing on creating content that will be: Visual Amusing       and by making sure you Listen Unify Engage with your audience. VISUAL A picture is worth a thousand words, and sometimes a thousand clicks. When you scroll through your news feed on your smart phone, what catches your eye? Photo posts account for 93% of the most engaging posts on Facebook. Photos on Facebook generate 53% more likes than the average text only post (Hubspot 2012). Use pictures and video to your advantage by creating compelling images that share the story of your brand and its impact, your brand’s history, and celebrate your customers. AMUSE Even the most conservative brands and organizations can have fun. Show your wittier side and your fans will love you. Think about the unpredictable humor behind such…

I love to say “YES.” It’s more than just the salesman in me who wants to promise the moon in order to get the deal. I thrive on the challenge to help someone accomplish a goal or seize an opportunity. I specially love tell “yes” to my clients on projects that I know will make a difference in people’s lives. But behind every “yes” there are moving parts, deadlines, budgets and deliverables that most often are beyond my control. I’ve struggled over the years to balance my can-d0 attitude with the realities of resources and realistic time lines. But over the years in business I have come to believe while my clients appreciate my willingness to understand and even share in their sense of urgency, they appreciate even more my honesty on what can realistic be done.  Managing expectations has been the most difficult lesson for me to learn, but…

In the new world of marketing and advertising, it’s not as much about your message as it is about engaging your audience in a dialogue about your message. Long ago marketing was all about exposing a product to the public. As competition grew and more products and services continued to vie for our attention, exposing a product was no longer enough. Marketers then began positioning it within a category or industry. They strived to place products in the minds of consumers by creating an unique promise, claim, or even story. But in today’s social-media drive culture, position is not enough. Consumers want a conversation with their favorite brands. Consumers now want, and will soon demand, marketing that gives them a chance to dialog with their brands of choice. It’s not enough for us to know the story behind our favorite car, soap, or burrito. We now want to be able…

Strategies and implementation tactics are too often built on a single person’s skill set instead of built on a plan that takes advantage of his or her skills and experiences. While some might call such differentiation “semantics,” it is an important principle that when violated can slow down growth and even derail an organization. Unfortunately I have seen this happen time and time again in business, not-for-profits as well as academia. The bright new  head of  “blank” (fill in a key position: IT, marketing, sales, development) comes in and wants to put his or her mark on your organization, and so, too often, all current plans, ideas  and systems are replaced by the new hire with his “better” ones.  While I understand the need to allow your new hire freedom to do his job in a way he can succeed, I also find the wisdom in protecting the organization from…

Your organization might have a good grasp on its vision: you know where you want to go. Most business or ministries I have worked closely with have a very well-defined vision statement. Some talk about their calling, and some still have what I have heard described as a “sense of destiny.” But in my experience an organization falters or fail to reach its vision not for the lack of direction, but by not having a clear understanding of the “how.” Vision, by its own nature, is the “what” question every organization must answer. What are we all about? What are we accomplishing? What defines success for us? All these are important and even primarily important, meaning, without clearly answering them, the following questions do not matter. But once that’s done, every organization must answer the next and critically important question, “how are we going to do that.” In my experience…

Last year I actually lost weight during the holidays. It was not a special diet but tweaking my eating habits that allowed me to lose 10 lbs during a time where most people gain 10 lbs. I don’t know about you, but most people come out of the holidays and into the new year broken and bloated.  Conventional wisdom begs the question, “how many pounds can I really gain between Thanksgiving and the new year?” Well, in my experience the answer is 14. Yes.  Once I gained 14 pounds in 14 days. Don’t ask. It was ugly. Last year, however, I decided to see if I could hold my weight in check during the month of parties, baked goods, and eating bonanzas. Not only was I able to keep my weight in check, surprisingly,  I was able to drop 10 lbs during the month of December. Crazy, isn’t it? Here’s…

“How do you sleep at night knowing that so many people are dependent on you for their livelihoods?” Asked a friend I hadn’t seen since The A Group was in its infancy. As a young entrepreneur he is quite aware of his responsibilities for those whom he hired. The question prompted a few realizations: The A Group has currently the largest overhead in its 10-year history Our projects are larger and more complex than ever before I sleep more soundly now than ever before By all accounts, my level of anxiety and stress should be proportional to the growth of my company. But the opposite is true. It’s not that my work has gotten easier with the growth of the company; it has, however, become more strategic. While there might be a number of factors that have contributed to my being in such professional place, I can think of one…

I used to believe one could not over communicate in a volunteer organization, specially church members, volunteers, or leadership, but I have changed my mind on that. Early in my career, communicating with a large group of constituents meant sending them letters, newsletter or post cards in the mail and for church members that would include a blurb in the bulletin and an announcement from the pulpit. The rule of thumb was that you needed to communicate seven times the same message before the majority of people would even become aware of it. Today we have more channels: email, text messages, social media to ad to the mix. But like anything else in life, sometimes more is not better but more is just, more noise, more junk mail, more interruptions. And instead of getting our message through, we become a nuisance to those we want to engage. So how should…

Many of my current conversations start with “we need our own app.” I usually answer this question with one of my own, “why do you think you need an app?” The usual answer is something similar to what junior high boys give their parents when they want a new game console: “All the cool kids have one.” But before you try to keep up with the cool, rich kids of technology, I would suggest you take a step back and think about creating a mobile strategy first. Much like creating marketing pieces without an integrated marketing campaign is not a smart idea, creating apps without first designing a mobile strategy is not a good move. Sometimes your best app is not an app at all, but a killer mobile version of your site. Recently, Google put out some good thinking on mobile strategies. Following are 4 questions you should consider…

“We are afraid of wasting money on social media. What’s our ROI (return on investment?)” said a potential client recently. I understand the hesitance, especially from organizations that have successfully fundraised, or sold goods, for decades through more traditional means such as events and direct mail. I understand their concern. It’s a legitimate one. What should they do? Here’s my answer: Continue doing what’s working. If you are finding success through direct mail, it would be foolish to stop pursuing it. But also look at trends and costs. Most likely you are seeing a diminishing return on your investments in these campaigns. With good strategy and planning you can incorporate social media tools inside your traditional advertisement or appeals. Reach a new audience while you can. There are great groups of people that do not respond to letters of appeal or glossy brochures. If you don’t engage them now, you…