Marketing

I always look forward to seeing what the new design will be on the elementary school Field Day shirt every year. Some great, some average and some blah. At first, I thought this year’s “Field Day is good” was bland. I knew it was a play off “Life is good,” but it didn’t captivate me. However, since then, it grew on me. My eight-year-old didn’t get it. Then the next morning, the newspaper had the “life is good” line in the article about Trader Joe’s and I showed it to him. (Yes, Dallas and places around Texas are finally getting Trader Joe’s!!)

I still have two of my favorite Field Day shirts. A couple of years ago, I caught a shirt one of the P.E. coaches wore and loved it. Then, I looked at the year on it thinking it was before my kids’ time at the school and couldn’t believe it. I could’ve had that shirt. How did I miss it?

The neat thing about the Field Day shirts is they sell for $5. PTA always sells them for as little as possible making only pennies (rounding to nearest dollar) because they want to make it as affordable as possible — not a profit. Huzzah, PTA!

Brain food…

• How to Minimize Interruptions When You’re Working: One of the reasons I’ve been efficient in my entire professional career is because of my deafness. Because of that, I never get phone calls. I think that’s where many waste time. OK, so I make up for it in obsessively checking email. I’m REALLY trying to cut back.
• 38 Life Lessons I’ve Learned in 38 Years and 15 Life Lessons They Don’t Teach You in School: Imagine what a better place the world would be if many of us read these and follow them — bosses, employees, family.
• How Many Times a Day Should You Check Your Email: I’m awful. But I’ve had some days when I force myself to ease up. I close Thunderbird more often and instead just do a quick scan on the BlackBerry for urgent ones. In Gmail, I switch to Contacts so I keep Gmail open along with Chat.
• Using Quora to Boost a Freelancing Career: I tried to use it this week to look up some questions and it felt overwhelming. The best thing to do is have something very specific in mind when searching. It’s too big for generic.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• 55 Hysterically Funny Smart Autocorrect Bombs: Warning — Lotsa cuss words and lotsa laughs.
• 10 Rejected Mother’s Day Gift Ideas: Smart move.
• The Anatomy of a Cupcake: Yum.
• 10 Most Amazing Flashmobs: Still looking to join one.
• Geek Zodiac v2.0: Me a samurai? Nahhh… Oh wait. Does this work like the Chinese New Year? You look at the previous year if you were born before the Chinese New Year? That would be astronaut. Eh… [Link: Bitrebels]

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Calm before the storm. Next weekend is kuuuhhraazzyyyy. Not only is it my youngest child’s birthday, but it felt like everyone wanted to schedule something that weekend. I’ll be heading to a family event with my mom and one unhappy son while hubs and son go on a scout camp out. Then, Sunday is the birthday / movie party for my baby. Dang, I can’t believe it’s been eight years since I held him in my arms for the first time.

Photo by sxc.hu user ba1969

Happy Easter to all who celebrate. Here’s an Easter smile: 10 Geekiest Gadgets to Celebrate Easter.

Brain food…

• 40+ free ebook tools for authors: Mah-velous list. [Link: Porter Anderson]
• The Comfort of Bad Reviews (That Aren’t Yours): Even the classics get bashed. [Link: Therese Walsh]
• Spring cleaning (and organization) for your social networks: By Cousin Sarah Evans. OK, She’s not really my cousin, but I wish because she’s awesome and thanks to her, I dumped big files in Gmail with Find Big Mail.
• 4 PR Lessons I Learned from Saved by the Bell: Yes, that show. I loved it and admit having the theme song on my MP3.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Book rug: <3 this rug by Pamela Paulsrud. She has other book sculptures — just click prev/next. My second fave is alphabook. [Link: Bitrebels]
• iPaw’d: I’d get this for my dog, but she doesn’t hear very well anymore. [Link: Bitrebels]
• 8 Snarky Song Charts Cleverly Illustrated: I had seen “Friday I’m In Love” before, but not the others. Delightful collection. Prepare for songs to play in your head.
• World’s Biggest Pac-Man: Holy, Inky, Blinky and Clyde!!
• The 20 All-Time Funniest Twitter Bios (part 2): S P E C T A C U L A R V E R N A C U L A R

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

You know March roars in like lion and goes out like a lamb? Not this time. It feels like the month whizzed by unless you’re in Japan. I’m sure it’s been a long couple of weeks. I’m thinking of the folks there every day.

The second Legoland Discovery Center in the US comes to Dallas. My family heads there tomorrow as part of a special preview for Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts. I can’t believe Lego built the second one here. Here’s hoping it’s a memorable experience for the boys. I’m sure they’ll be asking for this ‘n that as Lego wouldn’t have this place and no Lego for sale.

The youngest got his braces on this week. He got tired of everyone asking, “Why do you need braces?” Severe overbite in his case. That will be three braces for all three kids.

I hope the younger two won’t need them again in the future. The older brother’s permanent teeth haven’t all come in yet and the latest round tried to mess with his teeth. Poor guy had to have three teeth pulled to prevent damage. Orthodontia has changed since I’ve sported railroad tracks. They put braces on kids sooner because they’re waiting until they’re older and baby teeth fall out can do more harm than good.

Brain food…

• 6 Strategic Approaches for Using Twitter: What I like about this infographic is that it covers customer relations, crisis management, corporate reputation management, event coverage, product promotion and sales and issue advocacy. Applicable to almost everyone. Key: Don’t wait until you need it to use Twitter. Start now.
• America’s 100 Best Small Companies: If you’d like to learn about how small companies succeed, these are a good place to start. Some known and some not known.
• 7 Different Types of Writing Gigs for Freelance Copywriters: When I spoke to second graders, first thing I asked was what kind of writers do they know about? Answers: book authors, newspaper writers, magazines. The usual. You know we can do much more and here are some ideas.
• Is a public post a quotable source? Due diligence in sharing information: Depends on the quote selected and where content posted. Newspaper, blog, testimonial, company website, Twitter etc. [Link: Arik Hanson]

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• 20 creative guerrilla marketing campaigns: I must live in a dull place or don’t get out much. Never see creative campaigns like these around town.
• 14 Funny Warning Signs: Thank you for noticing this notice. Your noticing this notice is noted.
• Angry Birds Papercraft: Made my own! No, I didn’t suddenly find myself with free time on my hands. Need to make ‘em so I could throw ‘em around when I get angry at the game instead of breaking my iPod.
• Magazine grammar fail: Eat, Ray, Love — that works, but they forgot the rest of the commas.
• Star Ways John Williams Tribute: Even Wookie captions! (Thank you, Corey, for captioning the video.) [Link: Lori Widmer]

Two ways you can easily help others and make a big impact: Donate blood and join the bone marrow registry. Donating blood takes little time and helps many. You have a few options for donating blood and some depends on your physical attributes. My tall husband can donate double red, I can’t.

Another great option is donating platelets, which you can do every three days. With platelets, you have very little — if any — physical reaction. Some people say that donating whole blood makes them lightheaded or too tired. Platelets don’t do that since the machine returns some of the blood properties back to you. I used to donate platelets, but I had a lot of problems with it. Because I couldn’t always hear the the beeping sound that lets you know when it’s downloading or uploading blood, the alarm kept going off due to low pressure. I tried watching the monitor, but it didn’t work either.

So I donate whole blood. I do it quickly and with no side effects. The blood center is grateful for anything you can do. Whole blood requires waiting 56 days between donations. Double red requires 112 days between donations. If you can do double red, it’s an amazing way to contribute and it’s only a few times a year.

Brain food…

• 7 Don’t-Miss Sites for Online Marketing: Focuses on authors.
• Finding Case Studies for Your Articles: Facebook is also great.
• 50 Rhetorical Devices for Rational Writing: I just learned the word “tricolon” before reading this. Oh, I’ve used tricolon. I just didn’t know it had a name. “A series of three parallel words, phrases, clauses, or statements: “I came, I saw, I conquered.” “Veni, Vidi, Vici.”  [Link: Elizabeth S Craig]
• Why Selling Similar Work to Multiple Clients is Risky Business: And don’t do it when you do a guest post. At least, be honest about it and post a second version months later.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Demotivational Posters for Freelancers: Demotivational posters aren’t new, but this is a great collection.
• Paper vs. Rock: Yeah, paper magically wraps itself around rock. If it could do that, it’d attack us when we write all over it.
• Scrabble a la Typography: Love this! [Link: Esther Schindler]
• Admiral Grammar letter to Colonel Burn: I salute you, Admiral!

We used to call it a chart. Now it’s “information visualization.” 1 syllable to 10. George Carlin would have a field day. – @markhurst (Yikes! I’d never thought I’d be guilty of such a thing!)

Talk about jam packed week. I’ve done so much writing that I’m tapped out with nothing to share. I don’t want to waste your time with mindless babble. Oh, the Texas Tornadoes refers to the minor league hockey team. Family going to watch them play courtesy a generous client. (The only local client, but we met online.)

Brain food…

• Plagiarism is Not The Sincerest Form of Flattery: This is scary. Writers read a lot. So it’s plausible that ideas stick in our heads that by the time we pull them out, we think they’re original not recalling the origin of a source.
• IBM AbilityLab Voice Transcription Manager Research Project: [Link: Deborah Edwards-Onoro]
• 10 Tips on How to Find a Job the New Way: Everyone should know this regardless whether straight out of college or a long-time corporate vet. I think it was monster.com that I used in 1995 when I was looking for a job back home in Texas. Though few used it, that’s now how I landed the job. How? Word of mouth. Someone referred my husband to several companies and he connected them with me.
• How to Grow Your Reader Community with an Author Blog: Start before the book ever comes out.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• All-TIME 100 Greatest Toys: Barbie? That wasn’t my kind of toy. I preferred (still do — add flying objects, too!) remote control cars.
• Most Popular Fonts by Operating System: Still waiting for Comic Sans to be just “sans.” [Link: Bitrebels]
• 12 Funny Animal Fails: lol! (Or should that be wof — woofing out loud?)
• 12 Hilariously Ironic Signs: Hey, nobody’s erfect.
• Playable Angry Birds birthday cake: Made with a lot of patience. [Link: Mark Hurst]
• Don’t You Want Me: Atomic Tom video — how many ’80s movies can you find? [Link: Mark, too]

I mentioned last week that my daughter made her first appearance right after the Dallas Cowboys won the Super Bowl. Wow. 17 years. And by this time next year, she might have a decision where she’ll be going to college in the Fall of 2012. I hope we’ll be done with the college application process. Looking at the list of things to do during the junior and senior years is the fastest way to give a heartburn to a parent. I think Tums is calling me. (I prefer Dicarbosil, but they’re no longer on the market.)

As hard as we might live in the moment and appreciate each day, time races on at high speeds. (That’s the best I could come up with to avoid the tired “Time flies.”)

Best headline from “North Texas” ice week: “Snow MG!”

Speaking of OMG, Bitrebels listed me as one of Twitter’s Top 75 Bad*bleep* Women. (I have three kids, you know. This is a safe for work website. *grin*) I followed over half of these great women before the list came out, so I’d say it’s a valid list — not another popularity thing. Me and popularity never go together. OK, better stop with the self-deprecating business before it spins out of control. Anyway, thank you, Bitrebels.

Lots of brain food this week! Not to worry,  it won’t take up your weekend.

Brain food…

• Nancy Pearl’s Rule of 50 for dropping a bad book: Writers, another reason why those first few pages must grip readers. Readers, we have so many books to read — don’t waste it on the ones that don’t captivate you. [Link: Daphne Gray-Grant]
• Amazon Kindle Firmware 3.1 Update: Right now, the update is only available to the latest generation of Kindles (third). I hope they plan to make it available for earlier generations as I’ve been longing for print page numbers. If I can upgrade to 3.1, it’ll be another reason to like the Kindle. It’s growing on me.
• 40 Ways to Build Trust in Your Brand: Excellent tips for every business.
• How Your Name May Cost You at the Mall: Fascinating. Those of ya with last names R through Z (women, go based on your maiden name), what’s your experience? Thinking about it, I don’t recall doing anything in alphabet order other than lining up for 5th grade and high school graduations.
• How the Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie Can Help You Improve Your Problem Solving Skills: I remember trying to read this book in high school as I’m an Agatha Christie fan. I couldn’t get into it. But of course, that could change today. Anyway, I love Avil’s use of the book to share lessons learned.
• Post Super Bowl Twitter Hangover: Frank’s experience of using social media too much during the Super Bowl is a lesson we need to learn. This is one reason why I stop participating in Twitter chats. It took time away from family and getting things done and didn’t pay off enough to make these sacrifices.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• What Lies Are We Telling Our Loved Ones: Hmm… don’t think I’ve committed these… am I lying to myself now? [Link: Guy Kawasaki]
• Chart: It’s Valentine’s Day. What Should You Get Him? Not Kosher, but funny.
• The Social Media World Before Twitter and Facebook: I used bulletin board systems (BBS). In fact, I met my husband through one. I wouldn’t tell people this in the ’90s, but thanks to the Internet and social networking — I shout it from the social media rooftops.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

Football fans, welcome to Dallas-Fort Worth and places around and in between! First, sorry about the cold weather. It happens when you have Green Bay and Pittsburgh headlining the game. So what can we do? Here are the answers to all your “North Texas” questions and myth crushers from The Dallas Morning News.

Photo by flickr user John Pozadzides

Technically, Cowboy stadium is in Arlington, not Dallas. Oh, not the one with the cemetery. That’s in Virginia. It’s Arlington, Texas where the 2010 MLB American League champions Texas Rangers play. Dang proud of ‘em even if they didn’t win the World Series.

You’ll also find a couple of amusement parks where I spent many summers there including Six Flags and the water park that has changed names many times.

Although Arlington is an entertaining city sandwiched between Dallas and Fort Worth, naming the teams “Arlington” just doesn’t work. Sorry, Arlington.

On top of the identity confusion, did you know that official Super Bowl merchandise say, “North Texas”? Bland, isn’t it?

“Where are you from?”

“North Texas.”

“Where’s the Super Bowl?”

“North Texas.”

Good news is that weather reports predict temps in the 50s on Super Bowl Sunday. I’d say that’s cool. Maybe not South Florida warm, but it’ll do.

I haven’t seen Texas Stadium except while driving on I-20 to my hometown of Fort Worth. My seven-year-old has (camp field trip), my cousin from New York has (Cowboys – Giants game). I just don’t pass that way often and when I do, I’m on my way to hang out with my family in Fort Worth. I did catch a Cowboy game at the old stadium. Neat experience. TV works just fine for me especially with the high priced tickets and parking.

A memorable Super Bowl: I was 11 days from my due date with my oldest child when the Cowboys won the Super Bowl in 1994. Boy, it took a lot of energy not to jump up and down. Folks were surprised I didn’t go in labor during the game.

Brain food…

• 10 Ways to Make Editors Fall in Love with Your Work: Michelle Rafter shares advice from Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW) editors.
• Four reasons why the sales growth of e-books will be slower than industry executives think: Michael Hyatt is one of the most reliable resources on the publishing industry.
• The Problem with Memoirs: Harsh, but lots of truths. [Link: Rachelle Gardner]
• Yes Virginia, You Can Over-promote: Sometimes I’m perplexed. I’ve seen folks like the person described in Lori Widmer’s article. Yet, they’re getting results. I aim to help others, get to know ‘em and occasionally point to my work. I think results could be better, but I’d never promote myself like this. And I’ve unsubscribed to newsletters from people who send too much stuff.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Typography Art: Darth Vader and Typographic Maps. [Links: Bitrebels]
• Browser History Timeline: Eric Meyer updated the timeline. I remember my first browser: Mosaic from Internet in a Box.
• United States of Awesome and United States of Shame: Texas rocks wind power, but fails high school.
• Intel’s Thrilling Chase Movie: How long did it take to create this extremely creative film?
• 7 Videogame Characters Made out of Bottle Caps: Starring Blinky and Mario.
• Gamer Wedding Cakes: Glad we stuck with a traditional one even if we liked playing games. These are cute, though, especially “Game Over.”

My second child and older son turned 12 this week. Wow. Last year of the tweens. It won’t be long before he’s taller than me (5.5″ to go). E Since he loves to play video games, I’m sharing this article I found on his birthday: Factoids of the day: Game not over. The article highlights how games make us better. It’s all true, but we still need to limit video game time for kids or else they’d play all hours. Gotta get ‘em movin’!

The Challenger disaster happened 25 years ago today. I was in school, but I can’t recall how I found out. The only thing I remember feeling stunned while watching the explosion in front of a clear blue sky and seeing the looks on the family’s faces that looked neither happy or sad because they didn’t know what happened yet. AP asked Facebook readers where they were on this day. It’s a chilling read.

Brain food…

• 22 Social Media Marketing Tools: Apps for managing multiple social media IDs in one spot. [Link: Alan K'necht]
• Ten Useful Hacks to Make Things Happen: Another winner from Valeria Maltoni.
• If You Think Someone Is Mentally Ill: Loughner’s Six Warning Signs: I believe it’s important we’re all aware of these signs. Unlike sinus infections and diabetes, mental illness is an unseen illness — and a very real one that needs treating infections and pneumonia.
• Five great Gmail timesavers: I didn’t even know about Smart Mute, but then I don’t fall into too many group conversations — thank goodness.
• Thsrs: The shorter thesaurus.
• Kill Your To-Do List: Some people just need to dump to dos altogether and try this one. Be sure to check out the comments for more great advice.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• This is the web right now: Another winner from Oatmeal.
• iPad Game for Cats: Smart doggy!
• Social Media Guru Robbed after Using Foursquare: This is actually a parody of a very serious problem. I stopped using the service months ago after reading several true horror stories. I loved the service, but it’s just not worth the dark side of it… [Link: t2]
• 36 Facebook T-Shirts to Match Your Status Update: First it was Twitter tees… now FB. LinkedIn far behind? Nahh… too serious of a social network.

I’m grateful to live in a time and a place where we treat people for who they are inside not what’s visible.

Brain food…

• Authors: How to write a press release for your book: While press releases aren’t the best route for marketing a book, you can make sure that the PR you do is the best possible with these tips. [Link: Jane Friedman]
• How to Write Copy that Connects using a Tried and True Formula: One thing I work to do… avoid “we” or “company name” and make it about “you.”
• Social Media Measurement 2011: Five Things to Forget and Five Things to Learn: I love this article. It’s not your usual social media metrics article. For one, it says forget about following numbers. Agreed. People ask me, “How did you get so many followers?” That’s not the point. The point is whether they’re the right folks. Of course, if you’re looking for a social media expert and see a self-proclaimed expert with 20 followers — pass.
• My Favorite Question: Makes you think about a company’s strengths. “If brand dies tomorrow, and you had to deliver its eulogy, what would you say missed the most? What would make you genuinely sad?” This helps writers who work on content for companies.
• 5 Tips for Freelance Mentor Relationships: Some of you may have  gotten emails from newer writers asking for advice. At first, it may frustrate you because you’re thinking, “I worked hard by myself to get where I am. Why don’t you Google that?” True. But put a positive spin on it. The person contacting you sees you as a success and that you have the answers.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Should I Work for Free? Debated whether this was brain food or fun. It’s both. [Link: Karen Swim]
• Pac-Man Ghosts: Another mashup. Inky, Blinky, Clyde and Sue replaced by Waldo, Stormtrooper, Superman and Megaman.
• Apple’s Rise to Number 1 Infographic: How Apple went from Homebrew Computer Club to number one.
• 15 Funny Exam Answers: Makes me wonder how my teachers would’ve responded if I had given smart aleck answers. Probably just mark ‘em wrong.
• 10 Most Curious Birth Stories: I would’ve love to have a kid born in 09/09/99, 03/03/03 or 05/04/03 (missed by one week), but it wasn’t to be. Fascinating stories.

Twitter chats entrenched me in conversations without losing track of the topic and reading everyone’s lips like a tennis match gone wrong. I understood every single person in the chat. I turned into the listener I’ve always wanted to be: focused and catching every word.

At the peak of my joining Twitter chats, I spent at least two hours per night on three or four evenings every week. Because I work on a computer all day and have a history of eye pain, the expected happened. Eyestrain and pain knocked me out of the chat game. After my eyes felt better, I had an “aha” moment and didn’t return to the chats.

I realized two things: the chats ate into family time and they didn’t lead to opportunities despite months of chatting, helping others and building deeper connections. One chat invited me to be a guest expert. Even though the opportunity came about because of chats, the appearance didn’t lead to anything.

Despite learning a lot and meeting talented folks, the time invested didn’t justify continuing. This taught me that social media is a great medium, but you still need to evaluate its effectiveness for you and your business. 10 minutes a day in Twitter is just as effective as one or two hours in a Twitter chat.

In those 10 minutes, I do all I can to help others and share useful resources while limiting self-promotion — typically no more than once per day.

How do add value to your business using Twitter?