I’m going to do something here I’ve never done before. I’m going to share an infographic!

Jon Aston will be so proud. He’ll tell all of his friends and then we’ll be a big hit (not really; he hates infographics).

And, truth be told, I’m not a fan of them, either. Particularly on Pinterest because they take up too much room and that irritates me when I’m scrolling through my stream on my phone.

But alas. That isn’t the point.

Geoff Livingston (rightly so) thought we should have an infographic to support the book, made up of the stats we used from our research. And, so, RAD Campaign set out to create something for us and, when we received it, I said, “Wow. That’s really cool!” Continue Reading »

Last May, I was in New York for BlogWorld and I met Geoff Livingston, for the first time in person, to discuss writing a book together. It was a sunny day and we stopped for bruschetta and wine while we discussed this crazy idea.

The stars were all aligned. We already knew we think alike, putting business goals ahead of anything else through our marketing and communication programs. It’s seemingly easier to write half a book than an entire one. And, while we have some of the same friends, a big part of our networks are different, which would introduce us both to new people and new opportunities.

And so we went for it. We wrote an outline, we divided up the chapters, and we got to work. He wrote mostly at night, after his daughter went to bed. I wrote mostly weekends, without distractions from the business. And we hired an awesome editor (Jennifer Goode Stevens) who helped us put the book in the same voice (though I think some of you know us well enough to still figure out who wrote what).

Then, with the help of Anna Barcelos and Steve Hall, we began the editing process which, some days was much more painful than the actual writing of it. They caught things that were beyond basic editing, but made the book a much better read and incorporated an even higher-level strategy.

After all of that, our friends at Pearson began to make it look like an actual book, with chapters and an index and a table of contents and the best cover design I’ve seen in a long time.

And now it’s here. It’s actually here! Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Geoff Livingston.

Local and mobile are two really hot topics in marketing. They embody the spirit of the current customer media experience and where they are in any given moment.

Increasingly, companies are turning to cause marketing to show their cultural values and enhance their brands. Consider that 83 percent of Americans want their favorite brands to invest in causes.

This is why events (mobile), which are local and cause-oriented, can be a great boon to businesses. Add in social media and local digerati, and now you’re talking a marketing perfect storm.

At Razoo, we wanted to harness these various elements into one event, Twive and Receive, a national giving day on June 14 to promote our platform.

Yes, I can see the snark coming… Another Twitter coined word: Twive, combining Twitter and giving. What can we say? We wanted Twive to have the same fun spirit of early groundbreaking Twitter moments. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Geoff Livingston.

After reading  Molli Megasko’s, “The Top 10 Fiction Books Every PR and Marketing Pro Should Read” and Gini Dietrich’s “Reading Fiction Helps Your Career,” I felt inspired to offer my own suggestions.

Like Gini, I was a literature major in college, and see value not only in studying the written word, but in creativity, metaphorical lessons, and storytelling.

So reading these posts made me think of books that seem relevant to today’s online communications conversation.

With that, following are my nine recommendations.

Continue Reading »

Many of you know I’m co-authoring a book with Geoff Livingston.

I know, I know. Shocking, isn’t it?

Well Geoff, as it turns out, is waaaaaaaay more creative than I am and he came up with this fabulous idea for our book tour.

I’m not going to tell you what the idea is yet (after all, I need more fodder so I can keep talking about the book), but I will tell you we’re calling it G2.

Get it? Geoff and Gini? G2?

Marketing In the Round with G2.

Kind of catchy, isn’t it? Continue Reading »

I’m baaaaack!

I hope everyone had great holidays. I did…and I’m dragging a bit this morning because of it. I was getting used to sleeping until 7:30 every morning!

Because it’s the first day back for many of us, this isn’t going to be a heady blog post.

I have a feeling. I think 2012 is going to be a very good year. It’s going to be a good year for the economy, for business, and for a lot of us personally. Continue Reading »

This post is co-written by G Squared (Geoff Livingston and Gini Dietrich).

Guess what?!?

We finally get to talk about our new book! We joked, early on, that it’s not nice to tell prolific bloggers they can’t write about what they’re writing about. It’s been a challenge, that’s for sure.

But it’s time to let the cat out of the bag because Marketing In the Round: Multichannel Approaches In the Post- Social Media Era is listed and ready for pre-sale on Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

I was trying really hard not to be a douchecanoe who gets all excited about these little milestones, but it’s really stinking cool to see your name listed on Amazon. I mean,really cool.

About the book… Continue Reading »

It’s almost time for PRSA! I’m going to Orlando just in time for Chicago’s sub-40 degree temps.

I actually love sub-40 degree temps, but I guess I can do with sitting by the pool on Sunday afternoon with Abbie Fink (right, Abbie?!?).

Don’t forget, if you’re going to be there, look me up! I’ll be the one with the two Canadians and large microphones.

And, we’re hosting a TweetUp on Monday night. If you RSVP ahead of time (invite here), Martin Waxman and Joe Thornley will buy your first drink.

Me? I’m just going to going to be eating bon-bons and people watching.

If you’re not going to be there, well…here is Gin and Topics to tide you over. Continue Reading »

Today’s #FollowFriday is a little bit different. Elissa Freeman and I thought it’d be fun to list our five brain crushes…giving you 10 people to follow.

And, seeing as it’s the holiday weekend and I’m not going to write Gin and Topics today, I thought it was only fair to give you just a little bit more.

This started when I admitted I have a serious brain crush on Jeff Jarvis, the author of “What Would Google Do?” and The Buzz Machine.

So this is the result…10 people whose brains we love. Continue Reading »

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to bring you some news.

I’m writing a book.

With Geoff Livingston.

Yes, the guy who dresses in drag.

But he only does it for charity, so he can’t be all that bad. Right?

The problem?  Continue Reading »