It doesn’t have to be so hard

By PeteKennedy

There is lots of good content on the importance of good content. The latest example we ran across was written by Rebecca Lieb of Altimer Group.

Lieb advocates “regular, repeatable content units.” Her analysis reminds us that planning can remove much of the pain of content development.

She also has lots of other interesting stuff to say. You can check out her article here.

Do typos, missing words matter online?

By Jack Burke
Mistakes, I've made a few...There was the time when I was laying out the front page of newspaper and used "bare" instead of "bear" in a headline. The only saving grace was the fact the story was from the wire and not about a local resident.
I thought about that slip-up after I received an email invite to a webinar. The topic of the webinar was interesting, but the text of the invite was rife with errors. In the first paragraph, I counted six mistakes--typos, syntax and style. How unprofessional, I thought.
But then I wondered: Do the errors matter? The webinar isn't about grammar and style; it's about mobile apps. Would people react the way I did--that the invite showed a glaring lack of professionalism--or would most people shrug ( or even notice)?
In the end, I don't think companies can risk alienating potential customers with ham-handed content. If you feel you can't generate solid marketing content in-house, find help. Concentrate on your core capabilities and let someone else take care of the message.

Don't move the deck chairs, focus on getting to shore

By Jack Burke
I read a short piece at the Harvard Business Review that really hit home and reminded me about trap common to many businesses. Too often we focus on everything exept the end goal. Have you ever spent 30 minutes in a project meeting debating when to send an e-blast instead of using that time to focus on the content of the message? Has a problem with an insignificant part of a project ever made the whole process grind to a halt? That's because we're not focusing on the main goal. Drop what's unimportant. Ask yourself "What am I trying to really accomplish?"
Then do it.

The learning value in networking

By Kris Matz
Are you on LinkedIn? Probably. Do you pay attention to the postings and lists of the people you’re linked to?  If not, you should.
I’m a bit addicted to LinkedIn. I’ve found that the people that I am linked to have an enormous amount of knowledge and insight. Recently, some of the best business books I’ve read have come from the Amazon reading lists of others on LinkedIn. I’ve also found some great online articles this way, including the article referenced in my last blog about hiring the right person (thank you Amanda!)
Check it out, you might learn something really useful!

Are you hiring? Consider this!

By Kris Matz
In business school we’re taught all about job specifications, job analysis and job descriptions.  This is great for making sure that a person has the required skills and abilities to perform the work.  But what about a person’s attitude?  Consider this when you’re looking for perfect person for your company. 

Global magazine Paving News is out

 By Pete Kennedy

Another issue of Paving News has just printed. It's the third and final issue of 2011.

Paving News is a truly global magazine. It prints in eight languages, with more regularly added, and is distributed in North and South America, Australia, Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Putting the magazine together is a logistical challenge, to be sure, and we’ve learned some lessons along the way. But now we’re going into year three of the global content approach and the lessons don’t come quite as frequently.

We take pride in developing content for a worldwide audience. It’s impressive when all the magazines are lined up, next to each other in all the different languages.