Communication
You Are What You Write
by Sarah Warlick, copywriter and editor Language gives us the power to share thoughts, dreams, feelings and observations. It drives business relationships as well as personal ones, and does much to shape our perceptions of others. Our choice of words can deliver subtle messages masked behind the obvious ones as we talk to ourselves and…
Read MoreThere Is No Substitute for Good Communication
by Sarah Warlick, copywriter and editor In business, failure and success are often the result of communication (or lack thereof). Recently, I switched internet providers. I’d been meaning to for a while, so when a door-to-door sales rep made me an offer I couldn’t refuse, I didn’t turn it down. I did, of course, ask all…
Read MoreEnough With the Ridiculous Titles!
by Sarah Warlick, copywriter and editor Describing yourself briefly to new acquaintances is an important part of introductions. It’s an integral component of everyday human interaction, whether the context is all business, purely social or somewhere in between the two. Traditionally, we use one short sentence to give people a sense of our public identities…
Read MoreSay Hey! (It’s More Effective Than You Think)
by Sarah Warlick, copywriter and editor With the national election at a safe distance behind us, it’s a good time to analyze one of the controversial campaign tactics the Obama camp utilized from a marketing perspective. During the campaign, the Democratic candidate sent out a constant stream of emails to potential supporters with what…
Read MoreNewsle Helps You Track News Alerts on Your Social Media Connections
by Kelly Lucas, marketing and social media manager If you’ve not yet heard about Newsle, then do I have a treat for you! Newsle is a platform that brings you news stories that feature your personal and professional connections. By connecting your LinkedIn and Facebook accounts to Newsle, the site will notify you whenever…
Read MorePeople, Planning and Pampering
by Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk, president Last week, we closed the office on Thursday to do our annual planning day. While there’s never a convenient time for this task, it is well worth the effort. The goal is to take a look at what we’ve done well in 2012 and address any areas that need…
Read MoreOur Halloween Mailing Is Causing Quite a Stir!
by Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk, president (zombie on the left) Many of you should have received our Halloween mailing by now and I’m happy to say it’s getting a pretty strong and positive response. I’ve also received quite a few questions about it, which I’ll do my best to answer below. And if you want…
Read MoreBehold the power of social media (aka “Is that pot I smell?”)
by Kelly Googe Lucas, marketing and social media manager Recently, Bonnie and I traveled to New York and Connecticut for some business meetings. We visited the High Line in Manhattan (very pretty) and met with a client at the Standard Biergarten (very cool). I’m telling you, a biergarten by the water in New York…
Read MoreBeware the Scourge of Buzzwords
by Sarah Warlick, copywriter and editor You know the way a buzzing mosquito or a fly stuck in the blinds can drive you crazy? Well here’s another buzz that drives people right up the wall: buzzwords. Every industry has them, and they serve a reasonable communication purpose. For a moment. After that, they’re just…
Read MoreCan You Keep a Secret?
Published in AccountingToday, August 16, 2012 by Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk, president A few weeks ago I wrote a post entitled An Argument for Original Content that explained why I think investing in original content can be very valuable for your firm. Some of the biggest arguments against this tactic are skill and time. Professional services…
Read MoreI Know You Have Something to Say…
by Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk, president As some of you know, I have been doing a good deal of speaking lately. While I still get nervous beforehand, it’s not paralyzing like it used to be. It’s truly an honor to be asked to share my knowledge with a group – one that I do not…
Read MoreShyness: The Career Killer
From time to time we ask partners to share their expertise via guest posts, and here is one that we thought would be particularly interesting to our readers. I can say from personal experience that the folks at Executive Speak Write are incredibly talented and can take even the biggest case of stage fright…
Read MoreSocial Media Dreaming
by Sarah Warlick, writer and copy editor I’ve been devoting a lot of thought to social media lately between reading articles about it, writing some myself, helping manage it for clients and handling my own accounts. The result was that my brain helpfully carried on without me as I slept, entertaining me with a…
Read More“Kittens can be polarizing” and other nuggets of marketing wisdom
by Kelly Googe Lucas, marketing and social media manager This past week I attended the second annual Digital Summit here in Atlanta. The event played host to nerds professionals of all types and offered workshops and panels that touched on the latest and greatest in digital marketing. I gleaned some great information and have…
Read MoreKnow Your Audience – And Certainly Don’t Annoy Them!
by Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk, president I have quite a few speaking engagements coming up about which I’m very excited, so I’m always looking for opportunities to see others in action, the better to hone my craft. Additionally, I am fascinated by communication styles and issues, differences in the way each generation is wired, how we…
Read MoreI don’t mean to “Complain,” but…
by Kelly Googe Lucas, marketing and social media manager Each and every single day I receive several newsletters and email blast announcements. They come from clients, vendors and others with whom I registered for something a million years ago and they still have me in their system. For the most part, I just skim…
Read MoreMarketing is a courtship: drip marketing, trigger marketing and lead nurturing
by Kelly Lucas, Social Media and Marketing Manager When it comes to courting and sustaining a successful relationship with our significant other, we all know the basic rules: remember important dates like birthdays and anniversaries, notice if something is different like a new haircut and make sure to routinely remind the other person how…
Read MoreBe careful what you Tweet for…
by Kelly Lucas, marketing and social media manager I love to play around on Twitter and will often join in when there’s an interesting hashtag trending. Recently I saw one for #11thcommandment. The best tweet from this campaign was from @orangejulius317: “thoust moveth thine feet, thoust loseth thine seat.” Classic. Because these hashtag campaigns…
Read MoreAll You Had to Do Was Ask
by Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk, president I recently attended a National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) luncheon. I used to be a board member of the Atlanta group, and truly enjoy the programs they sponsor and the members I meet at these meetings. This one in particular piqued my interest, since Annette Saldana was…
Read MoreCurmudgeons at Play
by Sarah Warlick, copy editor Out with the old and in with the new! We’re all about to become disciplined, fit and disturbingly Zen in our daily lives, what with resolutions for 2012 fresh in our minds. As part of this new leaf motif, let’s pause in our newly adopted heart-healthy, sustainable and time-efficient routines…
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