actionable marketing guide

Dear ,

My husband and I are back from our amazing trip to Belize. I found the country’s natural beauty creatively inspiring.

We spent 5 days in the rainforest outside of Belmopan at the eco-friendly Jungle Creek Lodge. At night in our rustic cabin with its romantic 4-poster bed covered with a mosquito net we were serenaded by a variety of birds and monkeys.

Amazing flowers appeared with their pops of color around the grounds that was at the end of a hiking trail. The one hitch in our plans was the fact that the resort’s limited wifi was depended on a satellite link that didn’t work when it rained.

And it rained a lot. Although we were there during the “dry season”, it rained every day. In fact, it had rained for the previous 2 weeks. As a result, the rivers were almost overflowing and the animals remained nestled out of sight .

While we were unable to see some of the major tourist sites, we found inspiration in attractions that would have otherwise seemed second rate such as a local art/crafts cooperative and the local market studded with colorful fruits I had never seen before.

My favorite 2 stops were the zoo and the botanical garden run by Ian Anderson’s wife at the adjacent hotel.

Beyond explaining the plants, our personal guide at the garden helped with the photography. My favorite flower was called Hot Lips based on the fact that its 2 orangey red petals looked like lips.

Although I’m generally not a big zoo fan, the Belize Zoo blew me away. The diversity of animals allowed to live protected in natural surrounding was amazing, even better we got to see monkeys and jaguars.

But the birds were so inspiring that I wished I was at the zoo as a member of Project Runway – Belize Edition to create amazing clothes based on seeing these animals. I bet that Heidi Klum would consider the clothes too loudly colored. 

As a marketers and writer, I needed this vacation like a man in the desert needs water. For me, being forced to unplug and tap into the natural beauty around me fueled my creativity.

I didn’t trust my brain to keep these ideas for long. I’ve learned over the years that despite having a great memory, once my brain has made the creative connections and thought through the ideas, it feels that it’s done it’s work and is on to the next one.

Therefore to be able to develop these ideas later, I must write them down when I get them and not trust my memory.  To this end, I generally go old school and use pen and paper. Although with my new Pixel 2, I was able to capture great photos.

With Social Media Marketing World just a week away, I’ve been intensely focused on creativity and idea generation for my Friday, March 2^nd session entitled, “How To Generate Quality Ideas To Fuel Consistent Content Creation”.

BTW, you still have an opportunity to purchase tickets either for the live event or for the virtual event (a worthwhile investment for anyone who practices social media!)

This year I’m thrilled that Mike Stelzner and the rest of the Social Media Examiner team have expanded the conference’s focus beyond social media with a special content track. I view this as an acknowledgement of content’s key role at the core of social media.

If you’re attending SMMW18, please let me know. I arrive on Tuesday afternoon and will be there through the closing keynote on Friday. As with every conference, I’ve been working on the content I plan to create based on the conference as well as other ways to take advantage of being with an amazing group of people. To help you here are a few recommended resources to help you plan your conference attendance.

Content Idea Generation: 3 Super Easy Steps

When it comes to the top Internet players and the impact and sway they can hold over your audience and customers, you need to be constantly vigilant while keeping an eye on the bigger picture.

Just as Facebook slowly crept up to join Google with their current digital ad duopoly, keep a lookout for Amazon.

According to Fast Company, Amazon is gaining traction in the ecommerce advertising segment. It’s no surprise; many people forget that Amazon is a top content destination. It’s where shoppers turn first for product information. Additionally, it’s the granddaddy of customer ratings and review sites.

And don’t forget that they own IMDB, the bible for everything movies and television.

• Heidi Cohen was featured in Shane Barker’s massive roundup post on SEO. It’s worth your time since it covers many key challenges for marketers in 2018.

• We Formulate spotlighted Heidi Cohen in their latest article on digital marketing.

• Want to know who to see at 2018’s marketing conferences? Then check out Outbrain’s list of 37 top marketing speakers (including Heidi Cohen).

• Jaime Netzer listed Heidi Cohen at the top of his SpredFast.com post, 10 Top Marketing Influencers to Follow in 2018. I particularly liked Joe Chernov’s quote that they spotlighted: “Remember this: just as the camera adds 10 pounds, email adds 10 units of unintended hostility.”