Many high schools host a college fair, providing students with direct access to a variety of local, out-of-state and international learning institutions. When I was assessing colleges, I took the college fair opportunity visit with any school that interested me. By the end of the fair, I signed up to receive information from ten different universities. From that point forward, they bombarded my email and mailbox with recruitment material. But of the ten, only one college marketed to me with all the right components that make me not just apply, but also accept.

The Approach

Texas Christian University – it’s not too big, it’s not too small, it’s just right. Coming from a private school with 120 graduating seniors, I was accustomed to a small-sized learning environment. I was used to this dynamic, but I still was not sure if going to a small college was the right choice for me. At the college fair, I spoke about this with the TCU representative.

When I started receiving mail from TCU, my informational packet contained a handwritten note from the TCU representative I met. The note talked about how a smaller population meant a more personal connection with other students, professors, and alumni. This personal gesture showed me that TCU remembered me and cared about my concern.

The Visit

I took a campus tour of TCU, since none of the other schools I was interested in took the time to send me a personalized message. On the tour, our guide escorted my group around campus highlighting the beautiful Horn Frog environment. After the tour, I took a private tour of the freshman dorm rooms. I appreciated that they offered this. It helped me view their living quarters as my potential new home.

It also did not hurt that all the dorms were newly renovated, had close parking for residents, and laundry service available. That’s when I knew that smaller schools could offer more than I expected.TCU made the college experience luxurious.

The Decision

After my visit, I applied to TCU. The university emailed me a few days after I completed the application, conveying their excitement about my decision to apply. Again, TCU won me over by making each interaction personal. No other school had truly made me feel like I would be more than just another student. TCU consistently worked to build a customized experience for me.

When I received the huge envelope saying, “Congratulations Mariah”, I had no doubt that TCU was the school for me.

Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read. – Groucho Marx

One of my favorite authors, Gretchen Rubin, once wrote that if a person enjoys reading about their industry in their off-duty hours, they are on the right career path. I actually enjoy reading about marketing – I love learning about how companies promote themselves, new marketing tools I can use, and the pitfalls of unsuccessful marketing.

Here are a few of my favorite titles:

The Storytelling Non-Profit: A practical guide to telling stories that raise money and awareness  by Vanessa Chase Lockshin

Before reading The Storytelling Nonprofit, I was a big fan of Lockshin’s blog. It took me a while to buy her book (my parents call me cheap, I prefer the word frugal). I’m glad that I did.

Every nonprofit has a story to tell and I fervently believe that nonprofits can, and should, use storytelling to market themselves and raise funds. Part guide, part workbook, The Storytelling Nonprofit takes the reader step-by-step through a storytelling process that will reach audiences and donors.

The Crowdsourceress: Get Smart, Get Funded, and Kickstart Your Next Big Idea  by Alex Daly

I like the The Crowdsourceress for a few different reasons: 1) I love learning about people who took a circuitous route to the work that they do now, 2) it’s full of fun stories about successful (and not so successful) crowdsourcing campaigns, and 3) the book gets down to the nitty-gritty of marketing.

In the beginning of the book, Daly was working for a documentary film production company, writing grant applications, when one day a colleague asked her what turned out to be a fateful question: “What do you know about Kickstarter?” From there, the book takes a deep-dive into marketing for crowdsourcing campaigns. Even if you never crowdsource funding, this book is applicable to the marketing of any business or product.

The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use Social Media, Online Video, Mobile Applications, Blogs, News Releases, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly by David Meerman Scott

Now in its 6th edition, David Meerman Scott’s The New Rules of Marketing and PR is a great introduction to digital media that enables two-way communication between businesses and their customers. At the time that the first edition came out, I knew that social media could be used to build relationships with prospective audiences, but I wasn’t sure how. This book was a great introduction. Scott updates the book every year with fresh, new content.

Scott outlines case study after case study of businesses that used social media, video, and blogs to create an open dialog and build relationships with their customers. If you are unsure about the seemingly Wild West that is the social, online world, The New Rules of Marketing and PR is a great primer.

“You want weapons? We’re in a library! Books! The best weapons in the world! This room’s the greatest arsenal we could have – arm yourselves!” – Doctor Who, Episode: Tooth and Claw

If you love reading about marketing as much as I do, I hope you enjoyed this list. If you don’t, you can always call us, and we would be more than happy to help guide your next campaign.

Maybe it’s the arrival of new interns on the Porch or the fact that it’s graduation season, but I have been thinking a lot lately about marketing as a career and the things I’ve learned over the years.

So, in no particular order, here are a few things to remember as you try to make your mark on the world:

Strong writing skills make up the foundation of any marketer’s toolbox.

There are plenty of writing opportunities outside of copy writing that will come up, and you need to be ready. Marketing plans, proposals, key message development, talking points, and So. Many. Emails. – writing will be key to your professional life.

The industry you know now will change dramatically in ten years.

When I graduated from college, social media didn’t even exist. Now, my parents Facebook message me from Guam and I follow my little brothers’ dogs’ Instagram (Yes, @Berkeleytheyellowlab , has his own Instagram account.)

Don’t worry too much about keeping up – figure out what piques your interest and learn as much as you can about the topic. Not what you hoped for? That’s okay. Try out as many aspects of marketing as you can and see where you can add value.

It gets better.

Millennials are known for being super-confident and yet somehow, suffer from an epic case of Imposter Syndrome. We get it, you’ve got a lot of anxiety. The good news is, this too shall pass. The bad news is, it might take a while. Your twenties are a time of proving yourself, building a network, and acquiring new skills. And that can be a painful, stressful process.

But, one day, you will wake up in your 30s, and feel a sense of calm. You will still feel stress, but these worries won’t run around in your head like a demonic hamster. They will come, and they will go.

You’ll be the one writing a blog post on a Sunday night, with a to-do list a mile long and the laundry piling up. And you will know that you are exactly where you need to be.

Spring is a beautiful time of year to sit on the porch and watch flowers bloom and the green grass grow. While April showers bring May flowers (unless you’re in Texas, of course!), as spring turns towards summer, we must evaluate and adjust our strategies to keep our flowers blooming, our grass green and growing. We START watering. We STOP the weeds from spreading. We CONTINUE fertilizing.

This start, stop, continue approach can help you rock your 2018 marketing goals, too. As we near mid-year, there is still time to impact 2018 results. It is a great time to evaluate how your marketing plan is blooming. For your goals to flourish, you may need to STOP less successful strategies. You may need to START new strategies to sprout growth. CONTINUE the strategies that are thriving and helping you grow your “green” (revenue!).

Here are some tips for evaluating your marketing progress and pruning your strategies to meet your goals by the end of the year:

1. Get the lay of the land

Review your 2018 marketing plan. In the hopes of boosting activity (and ultimately revenue), were you going to start a blog or a newsletter, send email campaigns, try paid social media posts, or launch a referral program?

2. Water the roots

Review your internal business development process. How well is your team growing prospective clients to revenue-sprouting clients? How are you distinguishing yourself from the competition?

3. Plant seeds online

Review your website. Is your content up-to-date, optimized for mobile devices and appealing to prospects? This is a good time to add new content based on 2018 experiences to date. Adding success stories or client testimonials can sprout new opportunities and potential relationships.

4. Cultivate relationships

Review vendor agreements. If you are using third party sources to help you with certain aspects of your business (SEO or lead generation, for example) is it proving fruitful? Are the results, activities, reports and general communications meeting your expectations?

5. Grow your green

Review your financials. Are the marketing strategies you are using ultimately sprouting a growth in revenue?

6. Prune when necessary

Review what needs to START, STOP or CONTINUE. Asking the following questions will help you to determine which strategies are working and which strategies need to be pruned:

• What areas for improvement have sprouted and can be addressed proactively throughout the remainder of the year?
• Where have things failed to flourish or failed to deliver the results anticipated?
• What is thriving and performing at or above expectations?

START – Plant new seeds to realize your 2018 marketing goals.
STOP – Pull the weeds and stop unfruitful marketing activities.
CONTINUE – Grow and/or maintain the portions of your marketing plan which are thriving.

As I skim materials for my upcoming Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Marketing and Sales class, my mind wanders (Hey, a squirrel! Or is it procrastination, perhaps?). I must blog. Now.

This post builds on my colleague Jacqui Chappell’s last blog on differentiating against competition. She is known as being the writer extraordinaire on the Porch, so I do not want to disappoint as I follow a post from her! So just read this blog for content and nuggets of marketing and sales knowledge. Puhleeeease!!

There is no one size fits all marketing and sales strategy. And this post does not suggest it, either. Period.

However, as I stare at a document asking me to define “current and aspirational competitors and their market share,” I realize Front Porch Marketing has a million and one competitors. I do not watch them daily, nor do I care if they are watching us.

I was asked recently by a client if they should list names of their clients on their website, collateral materials, etc. My answer: Heeeelllll, yes! If you are doing your job well, then no competitor can cold call your client list and take them away from you.

Doing your job well is obviously the first way to weed out your competitors.

Here are five more:

1. Define your brand. Know your pillars.
2. Communicate your brand consistently inside and out. If you look like every other company in your category, you are not doing this, nor is your brand defined.
3. Look outside your industry. Take key learnings from strong or unique brands in other spaces and consider how you can use them to help your brand.
4. Talk to your clients / customers. Ask them why they selected your company or product over others? What didn’t they get from their last partner or other product?
5. Ask yourself if who you consider your main competition is really that. Speaking to two business owners independently recently, they named each other as direct / primary competition. The more we learned about said businesses, the more we found them to be great complements to each other’s concepts and thought of more than a dozen ways they could leverage each other to grow their businesses. (Maybe if they use our ideas, they will let us blog about them specifically in the future.)

Identifying and evaluating your competition is an important exercise, there is no doubt. But it’s a delicate balance. Knowing they are there keeps you on your toes, pushes you to do your best work, and provides occasional inspiration. But ultimately, what will differentiate you from your competitors is your brand, the work that you do, and the way that you do it.

So rock your brand, rock your work and rock your competitors! TTFN!

Earlier this week, I took my tennis-crazy son to the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in beautiful Palm Springs, California. Over the years, we’ve attended several professional tournaments of all sizes, but this one … it’s the best.

The desert weather is temperate and ideal. The mountain ranges on all sides provide a heavenly backdrop. The venue is world-class both in quality of infrastructure and use of technology. The food and drink offerings are unparalleled (Nobu has a permanent restaurant on site and the Moet champagne garden offers a place to lounge while sipping bubbly). The world’s best tennis players in both the men’s and women’s games come to play in both doubles and singles, and they are so well cared for that they mix and mingle with fans in an intimate setting.

This tournament has differentiated itself from its peers by being the best.

It’s a fascinating case study, because it wasn’t always so. In 1990, the tournament was in the red and in danger of being sold to a city overseas. Enter Larry Ellison of Oracle, one of the richest men in the world with a love for tennis, who stepped in and bought the tournament. Every year since then, he has improved it – building new stadiums, upgrading the grounds, bringing in permanent vendors, establishing strategic partnerships, offering increased prize money, and giving the fans an enhanced experience. He has turned the tennis world on its ear by being the same, but being different.

Differentiate Yourself

This mindset is an essential one for any business or entrepreneur. In your market, you must differentiate yourself from your competitors by doing what they do, but doing it better. Then you must seize upon this differentiator by positioning your brand as an industry leader, and creating a marketing plan to leverage your efforts.

Take a page from Larry. Do you think other tournaments are happy that he has set the bar so high? They aren’t! They fear they cannot keep up. Take on this mindset and separate yourself from your competitors. Then come see us on the Porch! We can help you stand out by positioning and marketing your brand and making it rock!

It’s January and all around us, the focus is on the new year and a slew of new resolutions. Personally, after the rush of year end and the holidays, I am still in recovery mode, and I spend January trying to regroup, simplify, and live with intention.

But what does this mean?

For me, it’s a daily commitment to doing only the things that are important, meaningful, and rewarding, and doing them in a way that is mindful, earnest and honest.

Over two decades ago, author, artist and teacher Mary Anne Rademacher wrote these words as she embarked upon her quest to live with intention:

“Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Continue to learn. Appreciate your friends. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is.”

And every January, instead of resolutions, I re-visit these words, and renew my commitment to living with intention.

Mindful. Earnest. Honest. And simple.

Happy New Year, friends.

If you’re anything like me, right about now, you are exhausted. You’ve shopped and caroled and baked and planned and celebrated and stressed and shopped and stressed some more … and the big gatherings are still in front of you.

It’s this time every year that I always have to remind myself to take a deep breath and look objectively at the situation. What can I let go of that will help me truly enjoy the days to come?

The idea of perfection.

Perfect families in perfect clothing gathered around the perfectly set table eating the perfect meal … it’s an illusion. None of it is real. And none of it is important. If you are together and love is present, that’s the only reality you need.

Petty grievances.

Gatherings are inherent in the season, and interpersonal dynamics can be complicated. Invariably, you will have to spend some time with someone who has made things difficult. Rather than stress over seating arrangements and buffers, forgive and forget. What a relief it will be.

Worry.

This time of year, the list of worries is long. Let them all go. The old adage, “worrying doesn’t take care of tomorrow’s troubles, it robs you of today’s peace” has never been more true.

And last, but certainly not least…

Your diet!

Eat, drink, and be merry. Have the dessert. Have the cocktail. Enjoy the food. And then get up tomorrow and enjoy that food as well. This is not the time to count calories. Don’t be that girl!

Resolve to truly enjoy yourself this holiday season. Enjoy your friends. Enjoy your family.

Happy Holidays!

Every year at this time, I sit down to write a blog that adequately expresses the gratitude I have in my heart. And the truth of the matter is, I struggle to find words weighty enough.

Friends, I am beyond thankful.

I am thankful that …

• my dream of forming a company to do work that I love, every day, has become a reality.
• my team of amazing professionals are not just co-workers; but also parents, warriors and above all else, friends.
• I work for and alongside amazing client partners who value what we do, follow our lead and in turn, inspire us to grow and evolve.
• the structure of my professional life allows me to be present for the important moments in my personal life. And I am proud that my entire team is able to do the same.
• I have a loving husband who values and appreciates me.
• I have strong, healthy, independent, amazing children whose successes bring me more joy than I thought imaginable. Don’t even get me started on this one. I am so grateful.
• my entire family, but most specifically my parents, whose unending support and involvement in my life means everything.

I am thankful, friends. Beyond thankful.

Thank you, all of you, for making my personal and professional life rich and meaningful. My heart is full.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Fear is a funny thing. It starts out small, often as a small, nagging discomfort. But over time, fear can take on a life of its own, and develop into a full blown, panic-inducing phobia.

Funny story.

I am deathly afraid of the ocean. An innocuous snorkeling trip as a teenager developed, over time, into an intense fear of what lay beneath the beautiful water. My husband has a similar feeling about heights. And for two people who absolutely love to travel, over time, we came to realize that these fears were extremely limiting. Think about all the adventurous activities that our fears were keeping us from doing.

So we made a deal. He would zip line in Cancun if I would scuba dive in Grand Cayman.

Last summer, he made good on his promise. (He nearly stroked out, but he did it!) And so the time had come for me to return the favor: Grand Cayman.

We had become overly busy in the time leading up to the trip and never became dive-certified, so instead, swimming with the stingrays became the activity of choice.

And I did it. The screaming child who grabbed onto me for comfort nearly did me in (didn’t he know that I wanted his dad to rescue ME by lifting me out of the water like an airplane???), but I did it.

Eleanor Roosevelt was a wise woman. She said, “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.”

And that’s true. Getting in the water to swim with stingrays is not a heroic act. But the very fact that I made the decision to do it, despite the fear that had lived with me for decades, was an empowering one. I feel like a better and stronger version of myself for having done it. And I made my husband happy in the process. It was a win-win.

A small lesson in not allowing fear, big or small, to keep you from living your life. It’s a nice reminder, isn’t it?