Where I’m at with life as 2024 begins

I am 66 years old. I am in excellent health, possess a positive outlook, and enjoy my life very much. I really do! I love to go out and hear live music and see shows, go on my field trips, and I REALLY like my own company, so I am happy to get up and go anywhere, any time, even …

The Art of the Quality Referral

I am fortunate that in my work as a copywriter and marketing communications practitioner, I get to collaborate with and provide outsourced writing services to many people. They are agency owners who run advertising, marketing, and public relations firms; branding experts; marketing strategists and implementers of marketing campaigns; art directors and graphic designers; videographers and photographers. With all those connections, …

Hashing out the Hashtags in Your Social Media Copy

Hashtags. They’re everywhere, like rabbits that reproduced with abandon and hopped from Twitter (where they originated in 2007) to LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube and Instagram (forgive me if I overlooked a hashtag-laden social network). Hashtags help group topics and trends for social media users and make content searchable. Marketers can use them to create brand awareness and connect with their …

How Social are Your Social Media Posts? (Posting in the Age of COVID-19 and Beyond)

It seems that every person involved in advertising and marketing is reminding businesses that during an extensive shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this is not the time to shut down their marketing activities. I totally agree. When this is all over, the companies that will remain top of mind among their target audiences will be those who stayed the …

Virus-Driven Networking in the Social Media Age (Or is that Business Networking in the Virus Age?)

With so many events canceled and physical distancing going from strong recommendation to survival requirement, business networking is changing in real time. Gone for the foreseeable future are in-person business networking events, whether they be casual business card exchanges or networking luncheons or dinners with presenters or panelists. So, what are we to do for the time being, given the …

Making Your Press Releases and Marketing Images Camera (and Publication) Ready

Are you images ready for their closeup? Chances are—not so much. One of my recent LinkedIn posts generated some conversation and commentary about this topic. I went on a short rant about the quality of photos I’d been getting from clients that were meant to accompany their news releases, social media posts and marketing newsletters. Not so fast! As I …