We're all in this together. What does that even mean? It's something I've been thinking a lot about in these days of business shutdowns, social isolation and social distancing. For me, I'm focusing on how to be an even better person. And truly making a difference. We all have skills that we can contribute. That's ultimately what will make "we're all in this together" truly succeed. For me, that means making myself available to help or listen. Giving back is now more important than ever. Helping others is paramount. We'll figure out the rest when all this over.

In this episode, I share the story of my career journey. It has been filled with highs and lows. It has been filled with naysayers and it has been filled with regrets. I have spent the last 10 years trying to rationalize time lost and what I still consider to be years of lost identity, something I still struggle with today. I'm living my best life today and soaring. And I rely on a few simple reminders to keep me focused. 

There's so much advice floating around out there about what you should and shouldn't do on Instagram. Most of it is wrong. Instagram is NOT Facebook. It's not Twitter. In fact, it's something totally unique. Its power is that it is a 'discovery' channel. It's where we discover people, places and shops. Those discoveries influence us to visit, shop, or engage. If all you're doing as a business is posing materials or products for the perfect 'staged' photos, you're missing the real power of Instagram. In this episode I talk about 'discovery' and what it means and how you can leverage it with your Instagram content.

I've noticed a growing trend in my industry today: More and more newcomers to the marketing field, many with little experience, are trumpeting 'popularity' as the key indicator of success for businesses. It's all about the number of Likes. And views (even if the hidden truth is that 87% of those views were less than five seconds). On Facebook, especially, I'm just not sure anymore about the value of a Like. It seems people just robotically hit Like with little thought. Personally, I have been putting more emphasis on places where I am seeing customers acquired, real conversations, and creating business-to-business relationships that transfer to offline collaborations.

Throughout my 10 years in business as a social media strategist, filmmaker and conference speaker, I've heard a ton of excuses from businesses about why they can't do or need various types of marketing. In this episode I talk about three of the most common ones. This probably won't be the last podcast I do about this theme.... there are many excuses I have heard and still hear today

We all face decisions in life and in our careers. More times than not, I find the Head, Heart, Gut decision-making formula helps guide me, evaluate stuff, and choose the best path. Make note that I said best path. It might not always work out, but that's part of life. We grow. We learn. We swerve and adapt. In this episode I talk about which one I rely on most -- Head, Heart or Gut. You may rely on a different one, or two, or all three.

It is drilled into the heads of business owners and organizations everywhere by marketing gurus.... "Tell stories!" To be honest, most of those pitches fly over the heads of most small businesses. Too hard to understand. Too overwhelming. Too much "show don't tell" jargon lacking relatable substance. So in this episode I break it all down into a simple, easy-to-grasp explanation about why telling stories matters, especially in this era of big box stores and mass produced goods. 

In the community where I live, a hashtag was adopted several months ago by the municipality and used by local politicians. The hashtag attempted to illustrate that the fabric of the community is what makes the community undeniably unique. Trouble is, local politicians and some so-called 'leaders' later started parroting a false narrative that the community is broke and therefore all things heritage and culture (libraries, arenas, arts centre, and museums) should be cut, hours reduced, or thrown into the hands of unpaid volunteers. The municipal hashtag has now become a PR disaster because a new grassroots coalition leveraged the original hashtag and flipped it upside down into a new not-so-complimentary alternative. There are so many lessons to be learned from this episode. I share some valuable takeaways so that other communities don't make such a silly and costly mistake when it comes to haphazardly choosing a hashtag without doing due diligence.

Hey, you're super proud of that website that you had built five years ago! Congrats! Or, maybe not. Here's the kicker: Your website is pretty much out of date and out of touch with reality in 2020. You only have to look at some of the big keys for Google search engine rankings today to realize your website is probably not cutting it anymore. In this episode I share a few tips and wisdom.