It’s always been a terrifying time for me. Semester end - report card time. Although I was an “Above average” student, I knew I was a consummate under-achiever. As soon as my parents would get the report card I knew the questions would start…

I usually blamed my friends… sorry.

Well, now as an adult (technically), and somewhat accountable for my actions, I’ve been almost obsessed with tracking my work and grading progress and improvement. Whether it’s in client satisfaction or web ranking, I always want to know “how I’m doing” versus my last project (or my competition).

John Jantsch, over at Duct Tape Marketing has found a great way to grade your search engine ranking, and the SEO of all of your websites - AND your competitors!

Although this grading isn’t anything new, the reporting that you get back is clear and concise. I personally would like to tank John for pointing it out and making my job a little easier…

Please, take a look at his post, follow the link to see how your site(s) stack up…

Do you make the grade?

Then come back and let us know how you did. And how will you make changes to better your site?

In the meantime, Keep Cooking!
Andrew

This was the first year in which I even thought of considering - attempting the idea of - writing a novel. It came to me about eight months ago; as I started to really make notes for my blog and reading voraciously in the attempt to… well, basically learn.

I didn’t want to write a long novel… Those that really know me would agree that my attention span wouldn’t allow anything like Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series or even anything by Steven King – both amazingly prolific writers. My goal was to put together a single story, from beginning to end. And as you’ll see by my blogging history (to the right), I’m anything but consistent.

I’ve always loved to write, but I’ve really never given it a chance.

Then, early in November, I read an article in the Des Moines Register about National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). In a nutshell, it’s when (truly motivated) writers try to put together a 50,000-word (175 pages) novel in a single month – from November 1st through the 30th. That works out to just over 1,600 words a day.

Insane? Yup. Motivation? Heck yeah!

As I sat and read the article, out loud, to my wife and daughter, my head was swimming with stories that I’d already started. I had stories covering every subject from fantasy to tech and on through romance and adventure. Heck, I even had a stack of poetry that I could edit and put together for a head start. I thought I had this challenge licked…

So, fast-forward to today… the 28th of the month. I’ve been writing. I’ve been editing. But I’m not going to make the goal of 50,000 words by Friday. Most likely, I’ll have about 20,000 combined by two stories I’ve stared. “Dang” (edited for content).

My wife, on the other hand, has about 47,000 words and will likely have over the 50,000 by the weekend. So, I smile.

What have I learned? I still love to write. Actually, I have a greater passion for writing today than I’ve had in over 15 years. I learned that I’m a perfectionist, a pessimist, an idealist, a romantic, and a procrastinator.

But, I also learned that motivation and discovery come from unique places. My wife, who is truly brilliant, found motivation in my excitement. She wasn’t even trying to reach the NaNoWriMo goal. But by supporting me, by listening to me, she began to write when I wrote. She now writes after dinner and late into the night… every night.

Amazing.

I started this NaNoWriMo challenge in the hopes of achieving a goal… I didn’t reach my goal, but here’s what did achieve:

1) I posted more to my blog this month than ever before.
2) I read three books (one for hobby, one was technology-based, and one was a compilation of essays written for NPR).
3) I learned that my daughter has a wonderful imagination and about 5,000 impressive words of her own…

So, Where do you find your motivation (writing, drawing, singing, Indian leg wrestling…)?
Have you ever set a goal you didn’t achieve, but felt good about anyway?

Please, tell me about it. I’d love to learn from you.

Keep Cooking!
Andrew

Well, it comes to that time of year where we (Americans) all look forward to another a couple days off work to gorge ourselves on charred poultry, confectionery creations of all colors, alcohol in corresponding colors, nuts, pies, breads, board games, and football – all in the name of thanks.

Seriously, although the true meaning of the Thanksgiving holiday has been homogenized by commercialism, cynicism and apathy, my family tries (between bites of turkey and stuffing) to reflect on the year that has passed and give a simple “thank you” for the blessings we have received.

So, this holiday season, I am personally thankful for:

My lovely wife –I couldn’t breathe without her (although my doctor has assured me otherwise)
My children – they remind me I’m human… more and more every day
My family – for showing me what insanity really is…
My faith – for keeping me sane
Music – for inspiring me
Books – for opening doors
Creative conversation - duh
My sketchbook(s) – someday I’ll let you see what really goes on in there…
Tears – especially the tears of laughter, but all of them are good
Unsolicited hugs
Coffee – simple, black, nothing added…
The smell of “home”
Down comforters
Soup
Sunshine – although the snow falling right now is brilliant
Fresh air
Silence
And my friends – you know who you are

I hope that everyone that reads this post has a beautiful Thanksgiving. And if you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you take the time to stop and appreciate the things that have made you who you are this year. Next year could be completely different.

Keep cooking!
Andrew

Dick Wilson, better known as the “anti-TP-squeezing” manager in the classic Charmin commercials, died today at 91.

I grew up with this icon. Mr. Whipple permeated my childhood and my generation. I often refer to memories of the Charmin commercials when I discuss messaging and brand consistency.

For more spots like this you can go here.

Just for fun, I went to the store this morning and gave a squeeze in honor of Mr. Whipple.

Enough said.

We all know that the pace of technology advancement is growing exponentially. Just to keep up with new innovation is a challenge for most companies, their marketers, advertisers, PR professionals, and yes, our educators.

A great link sent to me this morning brings into perspective the speed in which the technology shift is happening. Besides shedding light on the speed of change, it also made me realize that those educating our children may have the biggest challenge… but that’s another post…

So what do we, as marketers, advertisers, and public relations professionals do?

Some advertising and marketing companies have already taken steps to keep pace with the speed of innovation by releasing promotional materials, advertisements and press releases that tout the company’s future. As shown in this Adage Article and video commentary, some advertisers are even promoting products that have yet to be perfected - calling it “awareness prepping.” I’m still working out that one…

In a way, it’s our job to predict the future for our clients. Research, testing, focus groups, demographic studies all (we hope) lead us to a logical solution to promote out clients and their products. But as the speed of technology increases, do we push information out there in such a haste to “beet the clock?” Do we cut corners - make predictions that may put our clients
at risk?

Here are my questions to you.

1) Have you ever considered promoting a product before it had been completely proven, just to stay ahead of the curve?

2) And the big question… Can you predict the future?

Food for thought…

Keep Cooking!
Andrew

Photo Credit: photo.net