I had the pleasure yesterday of speaking to a group of women State Farm agents from around the state of Maine. We met at their offices in South Portland. 

I talked about Conversational Marketing which refers to the way today’s consumers want us to communicate with them. Social media provides us with a method of carrying on an open and online dialogue about our businesses or our lives in general. That’s the way the world is going. No longer do consumers want us to talk ‘at’ them, they want us to talk ‘with’ them in an equal, two-way dialogue. Continue Reading »

Seems that everyone I know who has an iPhone is fanatical about it. I don’t have one because I use U.S. Cellular and they don’t offer them (note to self: ask my friend Jim Holmes at U.S. Cellular if and when they will offer iPhones.)

This is a photo of my friend Michael Stumpf who owns Stumpf and Associates from Doylestown, Pennsylvania taking a photo last Friday night on Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey before we went in to have dinner at Domenico’s on the Wharf. The calamari appetizer there was unbelievable, as were the fresh California artichokes. Continue Reading »

I took these photos along the shoreline near Pebble Beach last Thursday before my bike ‘encounter’ with the door of a Mercedes Benz. Not sure how the door fared, but I was pretty shook up and bruised (and still am!)  I was in too much of a daze after it happened to see if the door was damaged or not. At least that’s replaceable but my head is not!

Regardless, Monterey is a beautiful part of the country and it was a beautiful setting to learn about social media from Brett Giles and Andrew Bagley out of Sitewire in Tempe, Arizona.  They work on all aspects of search marketing for national clients like Olive Garden and Red Lobster. This field of social media and search marketing is evolving so quickly and there are so many different ways of getting involved with it that I find it extremely stimulating and fun. Continue Reading »

I spent five days in California this past week. It was a combination of business and fun.  Sometimes fun isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

I had flown into Monterey on Wednesday and stayed with a good friend, Betsy Shea, in Carmel Valley. She owns Shea Campbell, a marketing communications agency which is part of my national agency network, called the Alliance of Marketing Communication Agencies. Continue Reading »

Since starting this blog, I’ve met several people in person who have visited my blog and are familar with my persona as the “Maine PR Maven.”  This is a fun and unexpected side benefit of having a blog. Continue Reading »

My husband Jay and I have been in Chicago for a conference presented by Dave Wood of Agency Management Roundtable.  We’ve been interacting with several other marketing communications agencies which is always stimulating. It’s great to hear what’s happening in our business in other markets across the country. Continue Reading »

I’ve been away from my blog for over a week…shame on me. I do have an excuse, however. I’ve been playing with my new toys.

First of all, I ordered a new iPod. My old one was nice, but it was full and had no more hard drive space for me to download podcasts. My new one is the new pink Nano, with 8 Gigs of space for all my stuff. I’ve grown to really love listening to podcasts. My favorite is FIR, which stands for For Immediate Release, is all about PR and social media. The hosts are Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson. Continue Reading »

Lately I have had the privilege of working with several non-profit network groups in western Maine to help them move forward their marketing programs. One of them is the Franklin County Community College Network. This is a new way of doing college, which is driven by businesses and organizations in the region such as the hospital, the economic development organization, the high schools and the workforce investment board, among others. The idea is to help train residents of western Maine with skills needed for the new kinds of jobs coming into the area. The college classes are held in places that are convenient for the students, such as their own workplace or a nearby high school. The idea is to get people into college classes who might not otherwise do any kind of post-secondary training. The neat thing is that the whole thing is run by a network of people who are cooperating and collaborating to make it work….for the common good of the region. Continue Reading »

Do you know how ‘tone of voice’ is often lost in e-mails?  How sometimes peoples’ feelings can be hurt because they misunderstand someone’s intentions in an e-mail?  People tend to ’snipe’ on e-mails because it’s easy to type away then press send without really considering the impact of your words. Continue Reading »

On Monday night, I was invited to speak to the Maine Film and Video Association about Marketing, Sales and Social Media. I talked about how the online world is not just made up of 15 year olds any more. I talked about how 2/3 of adult online travelers consumer online video and audio clips; 4 in 10 read blogs, share photos and take online tours. Also 1 in 4 post responses to blogs and participate in social networks. These adults, who are educated and affluent, no longer jst go online for information, they go online to interact. Continue Reading »