actionable marketing guide

Greetings from a sunny but not as hot and humid New York City!

Our hearts go out to you if you’ve in or near the Baton Rouge floods or California fires. We hope you focus on staying safe. Property and things can be replaced but people can’t.

We’ve heard from our colleagues at Reputation Capital Media in Baton Rouge. Fortunately, they’re okay and busy helping their friends and neighbors.

With an opening like this it’s difficult to move on towards more mundane topics.

This is an important marketing lesson. When your audience or community experiences problems, you have to stop your marketing messages. They sound tone-deaf and hurt your brand.

If your business is in the position to help either on the ground or by sending funds, do so. BUT—

• Don’t do it as a publicity stunt.
• Do it because it’s the right thing to do.

As I mentioned last week, my husband and I drove up to Keene, NH to get out of the city and unplug.

We visited friends who are farmers. My friend Mary is also an artist. She does an amazing job of transforming farm life into her oil paintings. (Please do me a favor and check out her website and her paintings.)

As farmers, Mary and her husband work hard every day of the year. They raise a few cattle, horses and sheep as well as a vegetable garden. This year’s been particularly difficult since they’ve had a draught. This means it’s tougher to feed the animals and grow their garden.

When you’re a farmer, most of what you do is low tech. BUT you must be inventive to use the stuff you have available. I’m always amazed at how they reuse and fix machinery others would’ve thrown out years ago.

Their animals haven't learned about public holidays. They don’t understand vacations. All they care about is feeding time and food. This happens regularly every day of the year.

The highlight of our trip was their 6 adorable kittens born last month. These tiny beings had free run of the art studio. Unfortunately due to my allergies, I wasn’t able to capture their playful fun on video (as if there aren't already enough cat videos on the Internet without mine.)

Their fun won’t last long. As farm cats they have a job just like you! They’re responsible for keeping the mice and other rodent population down. 

Actionable take-aways (Note: These tips aren’t directly about marketing.)

These tips are about your well-being. It’s the stuff I learned on my 3 day break. (FYI: I’m writing this on Sunday to catch up in case you were wondering how I managed this time away from my work!)

Without nurturing yourself, it’s difficult to be a good marketer. You can’t perform at your best. Taking time off from work can improve your creativity and provide fresh insight into your work.

• Take time to unplug. Give your connected devices a timeout, even if you don’t go away.  Walk around your neighborhood or explore a new one. Go to a nearby park or beach. Take in the pleasure of your surroundings. This will give you a new perspective on life.
  
  
• Give yourself a break. Even if you only take a day off each week and don’t go anywhere. Spend the time doing non-work activities. You need time to recharge. Pushing yourself to do more and more doesn’t make you more efficient or feeling fulfilled. (BTW, it allows your brain to work in the background.)
  
  
• Interact with people who have different backgrounds and points of view. The objective isn’t to go up to strangers. Rather understand how other people see the world. For example, Mary's husband, George, can trace his ancestors back to the American Revolution!

There are 2 more weeks until Labor Day, the symbolic end of summer. (Personally, I’m going to try to pack in a few more beach days. I plan to get up early to work and so I can get to the beach in the late afternoon!)

It means that Back-To-School season is revving up. I’m setting down my plans for the last 4 months of 2016 (YIKES-Where did the year go???).

I’d love to know:

What marketing questions do you want answered?

What are the biggest problems facing your business and marketing now?

Please just hit respond and let me know the answers. It’ll help me determine what to write about in the coming weeks.

Take the time to breathe.

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