Three Subject Lines That’ll Kill Your Email Campaign

Mary Schmidt

Jun 03, 2013

I get emails. Some good. Some bad. Some absolutely terrible.  Most of the bad and absolutely terrible come from - ahem - supposedly professional PR and marketing people. I always feel badly because I know that somebody shelled out good money for the bad and terrible (...and has now damaged their brand. Hello? Weber Grill, please stop spamming me! Really? On my biz email?)

Of course, if I listed every ugly, bad, no good subject line, we’d be here - well - forever. So, here are the worst from

In Marketing Troubleshooting, Pet Peeves

The Four Ws of Social Media

Mary Schmidt

May 30, 2013

I’m working on a presentation “Social Media for Startups”...and as I pull from my files and look for current good/bad/ugly examples…once again, I’m reminded the basics always remain the same. regardless of the communications mechanism.

Who: Who is your audience? Who will be interested in what you say? One of the challenges of social media planning is the dizzy seduction of sheer numbers. “Facebook has over 1 BILLION USERS! WE’VE GOTTA GET LIKES!”  C’mon. Is your product or service suited

In Start-Up Sanity Checks, Social Media Reality Checks

The Flamingo Factor

Mary Schmidt

May 21, 2013

I’m fortunate that I live a “20-minute life” (As Sunset magazine dubbed it - pretty much anything and everything I need or want is within 20 minutes of walking or biking.)  I “run” errands on foot, and take (almost) daily power walks. And on those walks, I see many things I’d totally miss if I were driving. 

Things that make me smile. Get my creative synapses going. Give me ideas for clients. Just the other day, it was a flock of flamingos in someone’s front yard. 

Pink. Plastic. 2 feet

In Brain Food, Start-Up Sanity Checks

The “If Only” Syndrome

Mary Schmidt

May 14, 2013

We all do it at one time or another. Find excuses for doing (or not doing) something. Look for others to blame. It’s human, and it’s also self-defeating.

“If only we had closed that deal.”
“If only we had a larger marketing budget.”
“If only we had more customers.”
“If only we had more space.”
“If only we had a working prototype.”
“If only we had more support from the state.”
“If only the economy was better.”

Etc. etc. etc. Doesn’t just reading that list bring down your energy level?

In Start-Up Sanity Checks

The Monday “Must Do” List

Mary Schmidt

May 06, 2013

Do you have one written down? Even if you don’t, you’re probably like most of us.  You wake up thinking of about 1,000 things you simply “must do” today.  And that 1,000 is a bit overwhelming, isn’t it? Especially if you’re in a startup; you wear a lot of different hats and multi-task your brains out on a daily basis. 

So.

Here’s a quick sanity check:  What would happen if you DIDN’T do something? 

It’s about results, not activity.

Huge difference between “must” and “could.”

Now, I’m

In Start-Up Sanity Checks

“NOW They’re Broken.”

Mary Schmidt

Apr 29, 2013

My office is officially closed for the week. (Although I’ll be lurking via voice mail and email, if you really need to get in touch.)  I’m moving my mom, aka “The Momster,” into a new apartment, and will be dealing with a wide assortment of drama and trauma. So, my bandwidth for biz will be severely limited. (I’ll also be adding to my job skills, installing toilet safety rails and the like. Here’s hoping the holes line up.) Thus, I’ll leave you with a classic lesson in entrepreneurship from The

In Start-Up Sanity Checks

Why The NM GOP Should’ve Attended My Social Media Workshop

Mary Schmidt

Apr 26, 2013

...before doing ANYTHING with social media.  (The GOP has a lot of other problems that are beyond the scope of this post. Suffice to say, it’s a textbook example of confusing talk with walk when it comes to “branding.”) A bit of context.  When I worked for a teleworking/teleservices company, we had a patented process for building and managing remote work programs. One of the very first steps was culture and employee evaluation.  Not every company or person is suited for remote work.  And so it

In Pet Peeves, Social Media Reality Checks