While Uber and Lyft have popularized the concept of the gig economy, the truth is that gig, freelance, or contract workers have been around for a long time. In fact, I’ve been one of these since 1981, when I first started writing business articles for a wide range of trade and business publications. I’ve worked remotely with publishers and editors for years—most of them I’ve never physically met! My interest in the gig economy, which traditionally had been referred to as telecommuting, led me to research and write a book on the topic some years ago. Read the rest of this entry »
Hiring Freelancers and Contractors: Tips and Best Practices
November 29th, 2023Companies That Stand the Test of Time: What Does It Take?
November 21st, 2023
Vinyl records. Audiotapes. Typewriters. Carbon paper. That white stuff that Mike Nesmith’s mom invented that we used to use to correct typing errors. Rotary phones. The Post Office (well, not yet…). Look back over the past 10, 20 or 50 years, and you’ll find countless examples of products and services that simply no longer exist — or that have morphed into something else. Products and services that, for whatever reasons, have become obsolete. Read the rest of this entry »
Generative AI and Copyright Issues: What You Need to Know
November 14th, 2023
Generative AI (ChatGPT is one popular example) holds a lot of promise for researchers and content creators of all kinds, but it may also pose some risks that have not yet been fully explored, such as the risk of copyright infringement. As an AI tool crawls the internet and digital sources for information to respond to users’ queries, the information that’s pulled often belongs to other content creators. What risks does that have for those relying on this information—sometimes verbatim—especially when it might be inaccurate? Here we take a look at written content generated by AI and the implications content creators need to be aware of. Read the rest of this entry »
Do You Have What It Takes to Be an Influencer?
November 7th, 2023
Influencer marketing is a type of social media marketing that leverages endorsements and product mentions from people who have a dedicated social following and are viewed as experts among a particular demographic. This marketing strategy works effectively due to the high amount of trust these influencers have built up with their following. Their recommendations and opinions offer “social proof” that can be powerful enticements for purchasing products and services of varying kinds.Not all influencers are created equal, of course.
Opportunities for Building Generative AI Into Work Processes
October 10th, 2023
If you’re involved in content creation or management and you haven’t heard of ChatGPT by now, you must be living under a rock. ChatGPT is a form of generative AI—“a type of artificial intelligence technology that can produce various types of content including text, imagery, audio and synthetic data,” according to George Lawton in an article from TechTarget.
It holds a lot of promise but also, potentially, a lot of peril for users.
The Top Marketing Trends for 2023: AI Captures the Most Mindshare, but Marketers Have More on Their Plates
October 3rd, 2023
When it comes to trend spotting in the marketing space, there’s a bright, shiny thing in the room: artificial intelligence.
AI is clearly top of mind for marketers. But it can also be a distraction that keeps marketing pros focused raptly on it and turning their attention away from other compelling technologies and trends that should be on their radar screens. Nonetheless, its current and potential impact cannot be ignored. Read the rest of this entry »
Customer Intent: Elusive, but Not Impossible to Obtain
September 27th, 2023
Customer or buyer intent refers to the motivations that drive consumer behaviors—not simply what they want, but why they want it. The ability to discern the whys behind the whats is obviously important to marketers. The more they can understand the motivations of their customers, the better they will be able to produce the goods and services that best meet their needs and effectively communicate the right points to compel the desired action—a sale. Read the rest of this entry »
Direct Mail — The “Snail Mail” Kind — Never Goes Out of Style
September 1st, 2023
A number of years ago, a colleague of mine gave me a book on fractals to read and it was fascinating! At least I thought so. It was all about how nature is made up of fractals that operate in a systematic way to create patterns (in clouds, in leaves, in trees—in everything!). It’s all very mathematical (and I didn’t understand much of the really technical content…) but the images were fascinating and the idea that there are patterns—often predictable patterns—in everything around us, was Read the rest of this entry »
The “5th P” in the Marketing Mix: People
August 29th, 2023
Developing and maintaining a strong brand for a service is significantly more challenging than developing and maintaining a strong brand for a product. Why? Because a service is less tangible, more ephemeral—and often involves multiple “touchpoints” that really determine the “brand experience.”
What makes a strong brand? Read the rest of this entry »
Ask Before Acting: Why You Should Seek Input From Target Audiences
August 24th, 2023
I was pulled into an interesting online discussion recently in a PR forum that I participate in on LinkedIn. There are currently more than 100 responses to a question that initially asked whether participants hated cold-calling and eventually evolved into a discussion of whether Read the rest of this entry »
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