Lip-Sticking

Labor (Less) Day (Life)

By Guest Blogger, Mary Schmidt, Marketing Troubleshooter

Life is too short to be in a hurry - Thoreau 

But don't we all (even when we know better) fall into the trap of rushing, rushing, RUSHING!   Too much to do, too little time!  Never get enough sleep! Work "all" the time! Gotta connect, gotta text, gotta call, gotta post! GOTTA MOVE! NO TIME! 

But, is all that really true?  You already know the answer, don't you?  It's No. In fact, studies have found that it's largely a myth that we don't get enough sleep.  And, I know from my own career that much work is really not work. Activity ain't the same as results and we often seem to have meetings for the sake of meetings. (Tip: If it's an in-person meeting - recommend (or require if you can) that everyone stand up for the entire time. The number of meetings will likely quickly and dramatically drop.)  

I'd submit we're often exhausted mentally - because we've gotten into the rush, rush, rush, "I'll never get all done" habit.  Makes me tired to even type that sentence.

So, in honor of the official Labor Day holiday - here are three ways I plan to labor less from now on.

Power Women ala Forbes

by Yvonne DiVita

The title of this post refers to another great list of powerful women and how they manage their lives. But, seriously, I'd like a list of their Mothers, thank you. Or, their Fathers. Or, their kids.

Every year the business world creates these lists of the World's Most Powerful Women, and, while I appreciate the focus on women of accomplishment, I resent that the lists really just shuffle names around. Even when they add someone new, it's based on how much money the woman makes. As if money is the only way to demonstrate accomplishment. These are MY personal thoughts, of course. The actual process may be quite different.

I see a number of female celebrities on the list -

Sweepstakes and Contest Laws and Guidelines Overview from BlogPaws 2011

By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

Both a hurricane and an earthquake where the main topics of conversation this past weekend at the BlogPaws 2011 Conference which was held in Tysons Corner just outside of D.C. There was approximately 400 people in attendance consisting of pet bloggers, sponsors, news media, as well as about 70 dogs, a few cats, three ferrets, and one guinea pig.

This was the second year, and the third conference, that BlogPaws has hosted and they all did a fabulous job packed with many great sessions and some really entertaining keynotes. Unfortunately a few people did end up leaving a little earlier than planned to get home before the storm hit, including one of the founders, Caroline Golin, who lives in Long Island. Those of us that hung in there had a great time. Here's a photo of me with one of the puppies up for adoption from Lucky Dog Animal Rescue. Almost brought him home!

I spoke at one of the last sessions and was pleasantly surprised that we still had a good number of people in the room. It was a panel titled Copyright Basics, FTC Updates & Contests Rules & Regulations. Emily Campbell from Dunlap Codding, P.C. started us off with advice on how to best protect your work on your blog. Mary Engle, who I met at last year's BlogPaws, followed with tips on how to stay out of trouble with the FTC. Then I wrapped up the session reviewing sweepstakes and contests rules and guidelines. Here's a summary on my presentation:

We Notice The Little Things.

By Mary Schmidt, Marketing Troubleshooter 

Clean restrooms. Wide, uncluttered aisles. Spotless silverware. Pleasing color combinations. Intuitive web site navigation. Employee benefits. 

What do all these have in common?  

They're all things women notice - and that will incent us to buy, again and again.  Employee benefits? Really?  Yes, really.  If you treat your employees well, they'll be much happier (and likely) to go above and beyond for your customers. If I know, for example, that you let employees bring their dogs to work...or wear jeans on Friday, I feel good about giving you my hard-earned dinero, for everything from clothing to software. 

And, we also like creative. Not that men aren't creative, but...in real life, most not so much, especially when it comes to quality of life. We're talking the sex, after all, that seemingly can't grok that glaring overhead light doesn't make for a homey home. I still remember one boyfriend saying, as he sank gratefully onto my sofa by a roaring fire, "I love coming here, it's so nice. What do you do?"  Um, pillows? Lamps? A few live plants? ;0

ANYWAY, where was I going with this? Oh. Yeah. Stick with me, I do have a point. 

Is your brand creating thirst?

Guest post by AmyK Hutchens

In the mid 70s a famous perfume commercial told young women everywhere they could “bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan, and never let their husbands forget they’re a man.”   The quintessential do everything, be everything woman of the decade was there on the TV emulating what women wanted and showing young girls what they could aspire to. The Super Woman race had officially begun.

Thirty-some years later, women today can visually recall with crystal clarity the beautiful and sexy model who intimidated us in her business suit and beguiled us in a sequin gown. We can hum the jingle and recite the lyrics almost verbatim, as we remember the analogy of her fanning money for “bacon”.  Why? Because that commercial ingeniously burned, e.g. branded, an emotional response in our brains. It piqued our curiosity, asking us, “Do you thirst for this lifestyle?” And women everywhere shouted a resounding, Yes!

And while the famous ad jingle is now just an ever popular click on Youtube, providing women these days with a giggle as we look back and think, That was my role model message at age eight, orThat WAS me, attempting to set large rollers in my hair while simultaneously balancing the books of a business and being home by six to serve a five-course dinner for my family of four.  Whichever the case, the tune and the images this perfume company sold us still lives on in our psyche. What magic spell was cast upon millions of women the day they sat in front of their television set, (sans cell phone, laptop and remote) and were baited, hooked, and caught on the idea that they could attain: corporate business skills, seduction techniques and chef de haute cuisine talents all from a perfume?  A magic spell cast through a little brainwashing.

Idea Seeds: How to make business-cause partnerships a win-win

By Amanda Ponzar

This week’s post is written by my friend Ed Martin as well as Sarah Adolphson on creating innovative business partnerships (especially around global marketing and research) that drive profits for companies and funding for important cause-based initiatives ?- yet another example of the hot “Creating Shared Value” concept of corporate social responsibility. It’s easier than you may think! Check out their "idea seeds" and article on "Driving innovative cause-based business partnerships”. 

Ed Martin is the Director of Marketing Excellence and Corporate Social Responsibility Insights at The Hershey Company and a former veteran of Kellogg Company, Coca-Cola, Citigroup and Ford Motor Company. Sarah Adolphson heads WME’s Foundation, which improves arts and education for underserved youth. Adolphson has consulted on the charitable initiatives of clients including Christian Bale, Charlize Theron and Usher.

Mobile Promotion Drives in Back-to-School Shoppers for Office Depot

By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

This year does finally appear to be the year for mobile promotions. I've done a few for clients and lately have been getting more and inquiries about integrating mobile in the mix for this up and coming holiday season. One program may even launch this Labor Day weekend. I'll update you on that as soon as I can.

Here's a interesting new technology that Office Depot is utilizing in a nationwide back-to-school mobile promotion that they recently launched. The objective of the promotion is to drive people into their stores for a chance to win one of 5,000 $100 gift cards. Now with many of us getting the kids ready to head back to school, we're all looking for the best deals and selection. I wrote this back-to-school promotion post a couple of weeks ago and confessed that I would be one of the many shoppers helping the economy by using my credit card for this purpose. From the numbers I've heard in the media, it seems that many of us are doing the same thing.

Office Depot will award a total of $500,000 in instant gift cards from this promotion that runs through Sept. 11. Al Roker from NBC's The Today Show is featured in their advertising as their spokesperson. The ad campaign includes TV, in-store and out-of-home print advertising, email, and online advertising on Facebook, Twitter and OfficeDepot.com.

Their agency, Momentum Worldwide, developed the promotion along with SpyderLynk, a marketing technology company that has created a logo-centric QR Code alternative called the SnapTag. When customers come into an Office Depot location they have to locate the SnapTag that is featured on in-store displays, take a picture of it with their mobile camera phone and send it to SnapTag to find out if they have won one of the $100 gift cards. These gift cards are instantly redeemable in-store. Winners just need to take their mobile phone over to the checkout counter to redeem their prize. Plus, all participants will receive mobile coupons good towards savings on back-to-school products.

With QR codes now becoming more and more popular, what's unique about this technology is the fact that you don't have to have a smart phone to participate. Any standard mobile phone with a camera will do. Since you don't need to scan anything as you would with most QR code solutions, you also don't need to download a scanning app. However, I understand that SpyderLynk does offer a free iPhone and Android app to scan SnapTags for those of us who prefer to do it that way.. And of course, there is an alternate means of entry. People can also participate without a mobile phone by visiting this website, gobacksmarter.com/home/, and filling out an online entry form.

I do think this is a pretty cool program and I'm planning to check out SpyderLynk to get some information on their fees for using this technology. It's appears simple enough to explain how to participate and it's a great way to drive traffic into retail locations. Plus utilizing the mobile redeemable gift cards as prizes is a great incentive that gives many participants chances to win instantly. I gotta get to an Office Depot and try this out. Let me know if anyone else has tried it and if so what you think of the experience.

Teaching - Learning - Sharing - It's Not the Wave of the Future, It's Now

For many women, the opportunity to share their knowledge and expertise is a prime reason they build a blog, write a book, attend a networking event. While all of that also works to help them market their skills and products, the underlying sense of accomplishment at having been an influence for a new business person or having helped a start-up actually get started is as important as the monetary benefit they might get from promoting their own work.

I know that the women I talk with and meet at conferences are eager to showcase their successes in order to provide a foundation for others to grow on. It's definitely a collaborative mindset.

That's why I was intrigued by this article over on Business on Main - "Skillshare: A Marketplace for Education." Skillshare is "a community marketplace that allows anyone to learn just about anything from local experts." Note that word: local. It's huge. After all, though we operate in a global economy and a global climate, most of us do our business on a local basis, don't we?

What will it take to be 'Great Again'?

Book review by Blog Manager Robbi Hess

In the book, “Great again: Revitalizing America’s Entrepreneurial Leadership” authors Henry Nothhaft

and David Kline delve into the way the United States is failing in both the economy and technology advances. They ask, “How can America revitalize its innovation leadership and kick-start its sputtering economy?”

This is not a book you’ll be picking up and thumbing through lightly. The authors rely on “groundbreaking research and original analysis” to show open the readers eyes to a new vision for the country that can be constructed around achievable and practical regulatory, tax and other reforms. The authors believe it is the entrepreneur that will help to strengthen and revitalize the country again.

Are you building your business community as well as your social?

Guest post by Blog Manager Robbi Hess

Quick when I mention social media what platforms do you think of? Facebook? Twitter? Google+? Where does LinkedIn figure into your social media platform? 

While LinkedIn reaches a different audience than your other social media platforms do, it shouldn't be used as an afterthought, especially if you are a professional who is looking to build a client base, sell products or simply learn from others in your career field. 

When is the last time you logged into your LinkedIn account? Do you interact with your professional connections? Have you joined any groups and more importantly are you interacting and offering useful advice to the members in the groups? And, lastly how up-to-date is your professional profile? 

Your professional profile should be optimized for searchability, aka you need a good "headline" especially if you're looking for more business. Even if you're not a self-employed individual, you will want to keep your business profile up-to-date because truly who knows when downsizing will occur. 

Take a few minutes to log into your LinkedIn account, interact with your connections, update your status and more importantly update your profile if necessary. 

Quick quiz: When is the last time you logged in?