The catch-22 of running a creative, digital marketing or ad agency is that it takes money to make money. While it would seem that bringing on more clients would increase cash flow, the challenge is having enough employees available to handle the client work. And if a client quits your agency, will you be laying off those employees? These are only a few of the thoughts that plague the mind of an agency owner when they're trying to get to sleep at night. Cash is king and must be available to keep

Visitors come to your website. They click (or not). They browse (or not). They move on (or, if you’re doing things right, not). As marketers, we’re fortunate to have tools to collect this data and other various analytics. But there is more to analytics than collecting data. Tools like Google Analytics and HubSpot allow a marketer to gather information on website visitors such as: If they filled out a HubSpot form, you can obtain even more critical information that can range from basic to comp

I wrote recently about the dreaded blog troll. You know the type:  they provide no relevance or value to the conversation or topic but feel like they want their .02 to be heard anyway. What they usually post are obscene comments or attempts to promote links, a product, or service that doesn’t relate at all (link spamming). Either way, the challenge is delicately dealing with those who interrupt your engagement with those who actually do care about what you have to say. Sadly, blogs are not the

After a content strategy discussion, our marketing clients question which social networks they should be using. Typically, Google Plus is one of the last networks mentioned and it's often dismissed on the basis that "no one is there". In actuality, I'd recommend the network to just about anyone and here's why. Unlike Facebook, Instagram and in some cases, Twitter, I wouldn't consider Google+ a social network. (By the way, I'm not the first to say this.) To me, a "social" network is one where y

This week, I was quite surprised to hear that Nutella had issued a cease and desist letter to the creator of World Nutella Day, Sara Rosso. Because her promotion of the brand, via the website and social media, was not directly approved by the company, she was using their brand name without permission. Thankfully, they came to their senses, dropped the cease and desist and communicated with her directly about continuing her support of the brand. Somehow, Nutella (or their parent company, Ferrero

Writing a blog means that you're putting yourself out there. Potential fans are waiting to hear what you have to say. Your perspective, your opinions and your observations are yours and quite possibly yours alone. If the post is compelling enough, readers will leave comments. Some may agree with you and others may not. How you respond to those comments will tell even more of your story. Unless the comment is very obviously spam (meaning it has no relevance to the article and/or it is only a lin

Gone are the days of black hat SEO and creating web pages stuffed with keywords. Today's search engines and web users are looking for engaging content to keep their relatively short attention spans longing for more. In order to create good content, it is best to start with a powerful content strategy. Content strategy begins with answering the basics and planning with the results in mind: What is the core message of your business? Does your company's reputation (the way outsiders view you) ali

I have been on Twitter for a very long time. It's actually one of my favorite social networks for connecting with people. Often, I'm asked questions about this micro-blogging site. This post should clear up some things. I hear this question more than anything else. Twitter is my news. I hear about the weather, local traffic updates, local, national, and world news. I also stay in touch with what my friends are reading and what my favorite experts are discussing. I use Twitter for networking bot

As stated in my profile, I frequent marketing events around the D/FW area. A few weeks ago, I had the honor of hearing Seth Godin speak. I was surrounded by other marketing professionals who were all open to thinking differently about social media and marketing. It wasn't about how to get more likes on Facebook but the psychology behind why we like things on Facebook. This post will cover a few things I've learned from that event. Seth Godin began by pointing out a brief history of marketing. B

With a background in technology and being the mother of two daughters, it is important to me that my children recognize that they can do anything. I was once part of the minority, as a female in a mostly male field, but things are changing rapidly. I thought I’d look at some tools available to help my children gain some insight and interest in technology, beyond video games, iPods and DVRs. In 4th grade, both boys and girls tend to like math and science. The percentages are pretty equal. By 8th

In the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex, we are fortunate to have access to some brilliant minds in the way of social media, SEO and internet marketing. Recently, I attended two events filled with days-long information overload on those topics. Looking back on them, however, I found a few things in common. A couple of weeks ago, Social Media Club of Dallas (SMC Dallas) hosted Unmarketing’s Scott Stratten. Stratten was promoting his latest book, The Book of Business Awesome/The Book of Business Unawes

I'll go ahead and age myself. I'll admit that I was working in technology before we all had access to the Internet. I can recall late night coding and trying to stifle the sound of my modem connecting to the mainframe at the university. It's been interesting, watching how the world has changed since we all connected electronically to each other. Social media has helped organize revolutions. Social media has helped overthrow dictatorial governments. Social media has inflamed an entire faith, cau