Posts from the ‘Featured’ Category

Mar 7

Client and Employment Update March 2012

There has not been a new post in quite some time. That’s not because there’s been a lack of activity to talk about, just that I’ve been eyeball deep in client delivery AND starting a new FT job. Thankfully these two activities go hand in hand. It’s a little different than the norm. Here’s the story.

I am now the Marketing Content Strategist (since January) at the Vertek Division (Randolph, VT) of Applied Research Associates, which is based in Albuquerque, NM. They’re an engineering and R&D company that solves large national problems from divisions nationwide. I spend about 30% of my time developing their digital marketing presence around certain products (specifically a small robot for police and military use) within their overall ARA web scope. The other 70% of my time I continue to offer freelance communications and media services locally and within the national snowsports world. These clients are invoiced from ARA rather than me personally, but that’s the only difference. I have basically been “acquired” as a business entity by ARA (my word not theirs).

Nov 16

Modern Marketing in VT – Strategy – Delivery – Training

Marketing has changed.

Are you riding the new wave of opportunity effectively and in a resource smart way?

Traditional marketing agencies are great for long term projects like brochure creation/distribution, managing ad buys and re-brandings. What they do less well is help your business evolve into the new relevancy based marketing climate built upon quick thinking and ongoing multimedia communications.

What wins online is targeted listening, ongoing relevancy and speed. It’s noisy out there. Only relevant brands stay top of mind and gain market share. This requires one of two systems in place.

A capable person or team dedicated to and skilled at piloting your content initiatives and building relationships within your customer base and influencers/media.
Hiring someone to train your staff and/or do it for you.

Integrating this effort into your overall marketing strategy is modern day marketing and PR. It’s not just posting stuff to your social sites. It’s about building relationships with customers, media and influencers and growing the number of all of them. A bedrock business goal you’ve likely had since day one. It’s worth doing well. Either to catch up to your competition or get ahead of them. Having profiles and posting stuff is better than not, but it is the lowest common denominator. You’re better than that. Let’s get you a purpose and the tailored means to dominate.

I bring 10 years of content marketing and PR experience both as a freelancer and marketing manager for some of the nation’s largest ski areas. I’ll open up my brain for your business for the low cost of lunch. Maybe there will be a reason to work together, maybe not. Let’s find out.

Businesses that I work with typically select one of these services:

Half day staff training sessions on various modern marketing topics.
Social media development/management. Content, voice, advertising, updates.
Web video production.
Press release strategy and writing.
Marketing budget analysis.
SEO guidance and blogging purpose.
Crisis communications and change management consulting.
Marketing and communications solutions tailored to business.

See the “about” page for contact info and testimonials. Then let’s eat. Your business will thank you.

Oct 13

Texas Times – From the Desert to the Delta

After departing New Mexico in late February we had little in the way of plans other than to get to the Gulf of Mexico in Florida by mid March. That left us about three weeks to get across Texas and towards the bayou.

By this time the lack of marketing gigs at I-10 truck stops (not exactly tourist hotspots) meant that we could generally go wherever, rather than where the work was.

We hit up two state parks in West Texas, got off I-10 for a while to explore the Big Bend area, and well, I’ll let the best and worst list cover the highlights. Photos below too.

The worst of Texas:

Dust storm. Spent an entire day trapped in Balmorhea, Texas while winds of 70+mph ripped at the aging seams on the outside of the RV and shook it like a leaf on a tree. Glad to have decided not to drive that day.
Fort Davis, Texas RV Park manager guy. Laura really pissed him off when she counted the quarters he gave her for laundry, in front of him.
Got all the way to a “no reservations” state park after a day of travel. It was full.
Austin, Texas. People are simply way too hip there. It’s overwhelming.
Ran our batteries dead on a cold night in Austin. Slept in the front seat of the RV with the engine running for heat.
Kaylin’s stroller got a flat tire. Better than the RV I suppose.

The best of Texas:

Met a couple with a baby from Canada. They were towing an old trailer and seeing the states on their maternity leave. Camped with them for a few days in the Davis Mountains.
Wildlife. West Texas is quite rural with interesting topography. Deer and javelinas (little hogs) everywhere.
The angry park manager guy in Fort Davis. I found him to be intellectually challenging. Like a game of Jenga.
BYOB Mexican restaurants within walking distance.
Kappy made a miniature dog (that could not swim) jump off the end of a dock simply upon viewing him. (Not a lot of huskies in Texas I guess)
Saw our old friend Jess from college.
Took a shower and enjoyed electricity (for free of course) after 3 days of boondocking. Best shower of the trip.
Met some of the “Judgement Day” folks. Asked them if they had retirement funds.

Most of the best photos from Texas were on the western side. If you have no idea how this story starts or ends, click the RV category or a state name in the tags to find out. We lived in an RV for 3 months moving from Oregon to Vermont, then sold the beast.

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Sep 23

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The Best and Worst of the Desert Southwest

I’ll take another break from marketing jibber jabber and move a bit further along in the recent “let’s move back east over the course of three months in an old rv and see if it works out” event. It did work out thankfully and much of it was paid for by the freelance work I was able to rustle up along the way.

Arizona and New Mexico represented just over 2 weeks of the journey, mostly in February. Our location in Tucson was the first RV park to actually welcome us before our arrival thanks to the example work emailed ahead of time. It felt like progress. We also spent time at a couple different state parks, which provided most of the scenery.

The worst things that happened in the desert southwest:

The welcoming RV park, was well, grim. It was also a bit smelly. Our neighbors had about a dozen board games stored on their picnic table. By stored I mean old and decomposing. But hey, it was free.
It was also not camera friendly. They wanted a video to make it look good. New challenge, but still doable.
The fridge had stopped working (from the LP source) in San Diego so we stopped to get it fixed in Tucson. Cost around $300. Might have gotten ripped off.
People generally hate recycling in Arizona. It makes for uncomfortable situations when you are the one asking about it. At one point we drove 26 miles roundtrip to recycle. I think it was the wrong call environmentally.
We went to downtown Tucson. Not great.
Kappy could never run free since everything was prickly.
Many friends telling us to head to really pretty areas in the far away northern part of Arizona where it was also winter. We were not in a situation to explore, baby, RV and all.
The RV Park manager invited me to his cigar night with the park pals. He fed me waaay too much cheap scotch in front of his LP gas campfire.

The best things that happened in the desert southwest:

Stayed one night in a place called Picacho Peak. Amazing and close to I-10. Stay there if between Tucson and Phoenix.
Laura went to the sewing club with all the snowbirds in the RV Park. I assume it was great.
Walked in the only snow of the trip up on Mt Lemmon.
Enjoyed the best sunset of the entire trip on Laura’s birthday near Deming, New Mexico in Rockhound State Park.
Gas was $2.99.
We left the Tuscon RV park early even though it was free. Had to get out of there.
My computer power cord died. Was given a new one free by the scotch giving park manager. Thanks Dan.
Many tacos.
Everyone else we knew was cold in February. We were wearing shorts.

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Jul 9

The Best and Worst of California – Plus Photos!

I promised that I would start to recount the interesting details of our “let’s live in an RV for 3 months while we move back east” juggernaut.

I probably should just keep posting about marketing, social media, cultivating your audience, and online best practices in order to create more local moonlighting opportunities, but hell. There’s waaaay too many other people doing that – and it’s my birthday, so today we’ll skip it.

Without further adieu, here are the worst things that happened in California:

When leaving Redding (on about day 2) the door to the RV flew open while we were driving. SCARY.

The people at the Napa park got mad at me and threatened to kick us out for continuing to ask if they wanted me to make them a video for trade. I made one anyway.

I lost my original pair of poop gloves. They were my favorite.

The large, heavy and old TV fell on me while pulling into a gas station. Would have fallen on Laura too if she wasn’t in back seat. Kappy took some of the brunt as well. She had been warning me the whole time that it wasn’t stable.

Shopping at a store called El Super. It was El Confusing.

Having security called on me at Chula Vista RV Resort. I wanted to chat with decision maker about a trade. They refused. So I hung around in hopes they would eventually cave and allow a chat. They didn’t.

Jack-knifed the RV into the car trailer while attempting to park. Ripped open the bumber/rotten wood. Lots of caulk.

It wasn’t all bad though:

Asst Manager at Home Depot in Napa opened 8 different new grills to find me one single part I needed for mine. When he found it, he gave it to me free. Whoa!

The Napa folks changed their tune after seeing the video. They wanted it and refunded our card. Plus apologized for being grumpsters.

Scored a case of expensive wine+cash in Pismo on a work trade.

Had In-N-Out Burger for the first time ever.

Sold the car trailer on craigslist in San Diego for $100 more than I bought it for in Oregon.

The TV that fell on me…. still worked when I put it back.

Got an email from the marketing firm of an RV resort that shot me down. Said, “too bad we didn’t know you were coming – KOA got a great deal”.

Oh yeah it was January/February. You were all cold. We were not.

: Fire pit / dog bed in Pismo Beach

Apr 24

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Use It Or Lose It – Telling The Real Stories (Game on!)

While we were on our 3 month crawling journey across America, this blog focused mostly on the freelance work I was able to secure, as I needed to have it featured in order to get future work down the road. It served that purpose well.

At this point however, you may notice that the blog has a different look, and a seemingly different destination. I now have a 9-5 job that’s keeping me busy so no need to be all corporate in this space. So let’s re-embark on the trip, with a focus on the real deal. Rather than just chonologically rehash it, I’m going to drill into various topics when I have time. Some of them may include, but are not limited to: