Dear ,

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you in the US!

A large number of cultures and religions celebrate the end of the harvest.

Anyone who lives in or has visited the Northeastern US in the late fall knows that crops and harvest have already been taken care of and farm animals are in for the winter.

To support retail sales, President Franklin Roosevelt moved the U.S. harvest holiday to the fourth Thursday in November

Last week, as I watched the ambulance take one of my neighbors to the emergency room, I felt thankful for being alive and healthy. This incident hit close to home because 2 of my friends lost their grandmothers over the weekend.

Yet I smile as I remember my grandmother cooking for Thanksgiving dinner. Her Brooklyn apartment revealed her adopted American middle class lifestyle.

Her extended family crowded around the dining room table. Since we were small we got wedged next to the wall while the adults spilled from the cramped hallway into the living room.

While I didn’t like it at the time, I recall the love of the grownups who felt the urge to pinch my cheek between their polished fingers.

More importantly, my grandmother would squeeze us tight and tell each of her 5 grandchildren that each one was her favorite. Being the only boy, my brother caught on to this faster than my sister and I.

Want to know the best part of these Thanksgiving memories?
A small part of my grandmother still lives in my heart.

Last year, my husband and I celebrated Thanksgiving in Amsterdam at a knit night party with American expats at Stephen & Penelope, a yarn destination. (BTW: Stephen West, the owner, is a rockstar knitting designer with a global following.)

As we shared traditional Thanksgiving dishes adapted to foods available locally, my husband made a hand turkey. 

To my surprise, one of the members made a Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup Bean Casserole. While neither my grandmother or my mother made it, Ann Handley described its story as an example of on-going content marketing!   

But most of all, we felt connected because we were welcomed by this knitting community. Something that we’ve found at destinations around the world.

So what does this Thanksgiving celebration mean for your marketing?

• Offer your audience a place to meet face-to-face. People crave live events, especially in today’s digital-only world.
• Take advantage of holidays that make sense to your audience and customers. For example, Stephen is an American who lives in Amsterdam and his shop is open on Thursdays.
• Empower your customers to be the best version of themselves. On Ravelry, the knitting and crocheting social media site, Stephen’s presentation of his designs gives knitters permission to feel great when they wear projects he designed.

Don't forget! You still have time to access Agorapulse's Social Success Summit. Even better, the Social Success Summit 2.0 is FREE. Act Now—The sessions are only available until December 13th!

 
If you're starting to plan your 2020 conference calendar, here are 3 conferences to consider attending. (Note: these are affiliate links. TIA for your support.)

• Join me at Project Voice! I'll be at this must-attend event in Chattanooga.
  Why? To get the latest on how to get found in a voice-first world.

  
   
• Social Media Marketing World. Get the inside scoop on the latest Social Media approaches.
  
   
• MAICON 2020. This is THE conference to attend to get up to speed on Marketing Artificial Intelligence.
  
  Use code:  ACTIONABLE100 to save $100 when you register.

 

If you’re running an event that you would like me to speak at, please let me know. (Just hit reply to reach me.)

Shout out to new readers: Alex, Alexandra, Cami, Ahmed, Getachew, Mirna, Milena, Nancy, Nora, Penelope, Alexander, Tracey, Sharyn and Serena. Welcome and thank you for joining our community.

Happy Marketing,
Heidi

PS: Do you have a friend or colleague who would benefit from reading the Actionable Marketing Guide newsletter? If so would you please forward this email to them?

 

FEATURED ARTICLE: B2B Customers

Do you market to B2B customers?

If so, read and share this article with your colleagues.
It explains how the B2B purchase process has changed 

 

FEATURED ARTICLE: Blogging

Want your marketing to succeed?

Of course you do!

Then put a blog at the heart of your owned media and publish content on a regular basis to grow your addressable audience.

Here is the research, tips and examples to help you.

 

FEATURED ARTICLE: How To Build Share of Audience Attention To Improve Your Marketing Results

Want to break through seismic marketing shift?

Use Share of Audience Attention to increase trust and content distribution with consistent content.

Share of Audience Attention (or SoAA for short) helps solve your marketing conundrum.

 

Heidi Cohen Around The Internet

• Heidi Cohen was featured in Onalytica’s Complete Guide To B2B Influencer Marketing. It’s jam packed with useful information you can use!
   
• Talkwalker also spotlighted Heidi Cohen in their Social Media Trends for 2020. Personally, I love what Jay Baer says about social media in 2010. To paraphrase, social media returns to its personal communication roots. (Translation: Away from mass marketing.)

BTW—Chris Penn gave a thoughtful answer to my question about Google SEO strategies for 2020.
 

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The fine print:

• Unless noted otherwise, all photos are ©2019 by Heidi Cohen
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