Stumbling
I enjoy StumbleUpon immensely. Here are some of the enjoyable things I found this evening.
- The World Without Man, by Steve Robinson (interesting post-apocalyptic ideas)
- Scrapblog (would this be a total vacuum for my free time? I think so)
- How Introverts Communicate (oh my goodness - this is ME!)
- Santa Fe Prize for Photography (mass ideas for strong feminine lead characters)
Initial Goals
So, like many people, when I verbalize my goals to other people, I stand a better chance of achieving them. However, usually the people I tell are my parents and my husband, and since they’re prone to being lenient with me, they “allow” me to slip. (When I set goals with clients? No problems. I’m motivated, and often overshoot my goals.)
In an effort to combat this nasty little habit of only telling family, I’m going to post some goals here. You, dear reader, are my client. (This may seem intuitive to many people, but I’m going to have to use my imagination to make this connection. Fortunately, I have a good one.)
Here are my initial goals, guidelines for future goals and the direction this site should take. Anyone passing by noticing that perhaps I haven’t fulfilled one of my goals should feel free to chastise and reprimand as needed.
- Make my goals public on my blog. (Done!)
- Make all my goals specific.
- Write one post per weekday between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. (unless appointments or vacation make it impossible).
- Read one book/chapter of a story to my kids before bedtime every evening between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.
- Write one new goal every day.
I won’t make this a goal, but I’ll reassess my goals as I go along, and if I need to modify, I will.
Who wants to take the goal-a-day challenge with me?
(Today’s inspiration brought to you by Marc and Angel Hack Life - although I’m nowhere near giving up television for a full week.)
Filed under Goals | Comments (2)Voice
When I’m not a marketer, I’m a writer. If for a moment I forget modesty, I think I’m a pretty good writer, for an unpublished one, and one of my best skills is my writing voice.
But I confess, I’m having a hard time finding my voice here. I think I’m trying too hard to not be me - which is intensely personal, even when that’s not such a good idea.
It’s a hard happy medium to find, because I want this to be a place I can advertise professionally without embarassing myself.
I read something today - I’ll have to hunt to find it because I’m not sure I starred it, and to be honest, it was something I’ve read before with different themes on various sites - that if you write about something you love, you’ll get an audience.
Since I feel a bit stiff, here, that means I’m not hitting the right happy medium of writing what pleases me so that it can please others.
Filed under Internet, Writing | Comment (0)Postcard Dos and Don’ts
I read an interesting article this morning about the Dos and Don’ts of Postcard Marketing. Since postcard marketing is a large part of my job (perhaps only 15% of my time at the desk, but 25% of all marketing materials I produce), I definately paid attention.
Here’s what I learned:
- My agents need to get more personal, even if it does involve a little more time and effort. Perhaps a scanned signature added to all postcards, and the removal of “or Current Resident” from our computerized labels (although that little detail didn’t bother the article author much).
- Make sure the picture is decent, and not just the version on the Multiple Listing Service. Nothing would turn me off faster than a grainy picture of a home that’s badly framed in the shot, so what makes us think that the client receiving the postcard would not care?
- Letters are perfectly acceptable ways of promoting open houses and new listings. In fact, when everyone else is sending postcards (glossy or not), your letter stands out. Especially when you send it in an envelope that isn’t just generically white.
- Be willing to shell out more than just your name and number. Personally, a license number on a postcard, for me, would be unnecessary data. However, it does show that you’ve committed yourself to get your license, and you’re not just Joe Schmoe from the street trying to sell me a piece of real estate.
And the two things I disagreed with?
- The highlighter thing? Not so crazy about that. Besides, if the author of the article is so sure she’s going to start a trend with her comment that it worked on her, why would I want to jump on that wagon? I’ll create my own, thankyouverymuch.
- There’s no way I’ll be asking my agents to hand write the addresses on their cards or letters. When they’re giving me orders of 400 mailers to go out TODAY, with virtually no processing time? I don’t think so.
Post Hijacking!
I must have really been out of the loop for a while. My post from earlier today about Printer Queue Optimization was hijacked by some random site that looks automated.
Is this common?
The credit is incorrect, although the link does point to my site. Wow. I don’t know whether to be upset, or just take the extra attention and run with it.
I’ve gone to the site that the link says originally posted my post, but have only found a similar format - posts by other people and credited. Mine’s not there, or I haven’t found it.
You know, I did sign up for Feed Burner today…perhaps the culprit lies there.
Filed under Internet | Comment (0)
