And just to show how much we appreciate our members, we are hosting a private members-only event.

If you are a member of the Dayton AMA, you’ve already received your email invitation.

If you are not yet a member, this is a great time to join!  We will have more events like this one.  The AMA has a lot of resources to help you build your career, both here in Dayton and on a national level.  Don’t miss out!

Interested?  Click here:  http://www.marketingpower.com

There’s just so much to read . . . so many things that are useful and interesting . . . and only so much time in the day.  How to prioritize?

I also have a Kindle with two e-magazines that need reading before the next issue is transmitted.  My queue is growing every day.  I read books and magazines on:

• Marketing
• Business Writing
• Social Media
• Computers (both Mac & PC)
• Personal Finance
• Current Events
• Home Improvement (one of my copywriting niches)
• Home Economics
• And for fun, Reader’s Digest.

Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the libraries love me (because I always pay overdue fines).  My problem is that there is a wild abundance of printed material out there on every imaginable subject.  I’m sure there are magazines I’d love that I haven’t even heard of; I get a few delivered in my email inbox as well along with blogs and online newsletters.  Then there are sites like Mashable, and of course the American Marketing Association’s online resources, email newsletters and print publications.

I could sit and read 24 hours a day and never run out of interesting, relevant, even helpful material.

And what do I do when I’m not reading?  I write stuff for other people to read.

I like to read for fun too.  My favorite genre is historical fiction, but I don’t have much time for it because I’m too busy catching up on things like Advertising Age, Newsweek and Kiplinger’s.

Everybody who’s anybody has written a book.  At SummitUp 2010 we gave three of them to every registered attendee.  They were good.  Did you read them?  What did you think of them?

As a word geek, I wasn’t sure that other people valued reading as much as I do until I attended a seminar a few months ago and one of the speakers said his biggest piece of advice was to read.  And he did not look like a stereotypical bookworm.

How much do you read?  What do you read?  How do you make time for it?  Is it a regular part of your routine?  How do you filter out the junk in today’s media deluge?

I’d like to know, and I’m sure others would, too.

Drop us a line at info@daytonama.com and let us know.  We’ll post your advice right here.

Whether your company provides a product or a service, every brand’s goal is to leverage their needs for market actualization with the self-actualization needs of their consumer or client.

Kicking off our speaker season is CD Vann, Founder of the rapidly growing and popular social media conferences “UnGeeked Elite.” http://www.ungeekedelite.c​om

Using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs CD will demonstrate how brands and companies can actualize their brand reaching their target market while at the same time delivering the promised value to their consumer.

The techniques she will discuss allows brands to be more transparent, provide better content to tell story about the brand’s value and authenticity while also providing your clients or consumers with the one value they need the most — reaching their own actualization via by the brand’s product or service represented.

CD Vann, Founder of Ungeeked Elite can be found on Twitter, @thatwoman_is @ungeeked

Registration is OPEN.  Click HERE! Hurry, space is limited.

Taking a little break to rejuvenate, make new plans for a bigger and better Dayton AMA.

Lots of great programs being planned, so check in again soon!

who gave an excellent presentation called Life Happens Here: A Marketing Plan for Downtown Cincinnati. 

Mindy showed us all what DCI has done to revitalize Cincinnati’s downtown area, including radio spots, mailings, a gift card program, billboards, and much more.

She told us what worked and, most important, what didn’t work!

Mindy Rosen

Marketing is always a learn-as-you-go experience, and it’s helpful to find out what other people have done so we can build on their successes.  Attendees reported that they really got a lot out of the presentation and emerged with some excellent ideas for working together and making downtown Dayton a vital, thriving community too!

Dayton AMA Pres-Elect Kim Janky

Our April event will be coming soon; details forthcoming within the next week.  Hint:  it’s about Social Media, and we think it will be helpful for everyone from beginner to expert.

A quote from the article linked above:

Many of the changes we make are so subtle that very few people notice them. But in the last day or so we launched a pretty big algorithmic improvement to our ranking—a change that noticeably impacts 11.8% of our queries—and we wanted to let people know what’s going on. This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites—sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful. At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high-quality sites—sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on.

Basically, this means that if you’ve got good, relevant, well-written content on your site, you’re a winner.  You were already a winner, but now your blue ribbon shines a little brighter.

In SEO circles, this upgrade is being referred to as the “farmer” upgrade.  That’s because it’s supposed to penalize “content farms” that crank out low-quality articles with more regard to keyword saturation than to useful content.

I wrote about this kind of thing before.  Also, sometimes a business web site will publish low-quality keyword-saturated content as a lure, hoping visitors will stick around to see the rest of the site.  Sounds like bait-and-switch to me, and if I saw that I don’t think I’d have a high opinion of the company.

Even if you’re not intentionally deceiving your visitors, Google’s upgrade makes it more important to invest in top-quality content for your site.  Frequent updates keep visitors clicking, whether it’s a blog, information about your products, tips, or online newsletters.  Better make it good!

My advice is constant, regardless of what Google does to its search algorithm.  If you write top-quality, relevant content, the keywords and SEO will (probably) follow naturally, without much effort.

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Pamela Kock is a freelance copywriter and AMA board member based in Springboro, Ohio. Her Web site is http://www.wayswriter.com. She would be happy to help with your next brochure, newsletter, catalog, sales letter or other marketing collateral. Give her a call at 513-284-7124 or email pamela@wayswriter.com.

Service articles offer advice, ideas, inspiration–on a serious note, they’re a writer’s bread and butter, giving staff writers something to do and freelancers a paycheck in between those big “I almost died that day” feature articles.

Here’s how to write a service article.  It’s kind of like playing Mad Libs.  There are 7 options here, so all you have to do is cycle through them.

[number] ways to [verb] your [noun].
Top [number] reasons to [verb] (optional:  with a [noun])
[number] ways you may be [verb]-ing [noun] and how to stop.
How to [verb] using only [number] [plural noun].
[number] surprising/shocking facts about [verb] OR [noun].
[number] things you never knew about [noun]
How to [verb] your [noun] like a professional.

I should clarify–yes, this article is supposed to be humorous, and I do not wish to insult professional writers who do this stuff.  Actually I am a professional writer who does this stuff.  I’ve written bunches of these articles.  So you may wonder, is it really that easy?  Well, yes, it is.  And no, it isn’t.  This technique will help you write a service article, but writing a good one may be something else entirely.  Thank you, Captain Obvious.

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Pamela Kock is a freelance copywriter and AMA board member based in Springboro, Ohio. Her Web site is http://www.wayswriter.com. She would be happy to help with your next brochure, newsletter, catalog, sales letter or other marketing collateral. Give her a call at 513-284-7124 or email pamela@wayswriter.com.

Susan Funderburg of Early Express Presented on Feb. 8, 2011

Skillful, Relevant Presenters. We work hard to book speakers for our events that will educate and inspire you, no matter what your level of marketing expertise may be.  Whether you’re a recent graduate or a seasoned pro, there’s something in it for you.

Convenient Locations. Our luncheon events are held at Carillon Park, on the south side of Dayton.  It’s easy to get to Carillon and there’s ample parking.  We hold other events as well at various venues throughout the area, such as the Fox and Hound, Milano’s, Marriott Hotel Downtown, and others.   If you have a suggestion for a great location or want to sponsor an event at your place, please let us know!

You Matter. Every person who attends our events is important to us.  We want to know about your business, your goals, and hear your ideas for how the Dayton AMA can help support you.

Networking Opportunities. Every Dayton AMA event is a chance to network with other marketing professionals.  You never know who you might meet!

Invitation to Join the AMA. When you join the AMA you’re not just part of a local group with local resources–you’re a member of one of the largest professional organizations for marketers with over 38,000 members worldwide.

Wrap sandwiches, salads, brownies, cookies. Yum!

Meeting Our Dedicated Board Members. We’ve got a great group of directors this year who are working hard to bring you more great events, educational opportunities and career development resources.  Come and meet us in person!

Great Food. Our luncheon events are catered by Christopher’s–we usually have a variety of wrap sandwiches and a salad, along with a selection of beverages.

Sponsorship Opportunities. Give your business an advertising boost by sponsoring a Dayton AMA event.  We are currently developing opportunities for sponsorships at all financial levels.  Not only will your business gain extra visibility, but you’ll also feel good about helping an organization that serves the Dayton business community.

Career Development. By attending our events, learning something new about marketing, building relationships through networking, you become more valuable to your employer.

Support Your Employees. Show your co-workers you care about them by bringing them along to an AMA event.  A company-paid AMA membership is a great way to add value to your employees’ set of “perks.”

Join us for our next event on March 8, 2011 at 11:30 a.m. when Mindy Rosen presents “Life Happens Here:  A Marketing Plan for Downtown Cincinnati.”  It’s only $25 for AMA members, $35 for non-members–and that includes lunch.  Here’s the link to our registration page. We hope to see you there!

Since you’re reading this blog, I’m assuming you’re in the first group, and might be wondering why–and if–people are afraid of social media. Oh come on, you know better! Sensationalist headlines are splashed all over TV and print media (which, incidentally, have their own reasons to be scared of social media) and even on social media outlets themselves. You’ve seen them. Facebook will steal your identity. Foursquare will make you a sitting duck for crime because it tells the world you’re not home. Data harvesters know everything about you and use it for nefarious purposes. Post your kids’ photos online and they’ll be targeted by pedophiles.

Actually, some of this is true. Do you really know everyone on your Facebook friend list? Can you trust the privacy settings on social media services such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.? Maybe, maybe not, but the fact is you have a choice about how much or how little information you share, even if you do choose to use the services. It’s a tradeoff–the services are free, in exchange for your info.  But info sharing is kind of the point, isn’t it?

Within certain parameters, I’ve never understood people’s obsession with privacy. Today’s world gives us precious little of it–we have to register for social security numbers at birth so the government can track us, bank card users have every purchase tracked, most people are fingerprinted at some point in their lives. We answer surveys in exchange for coupons and free samples. Google Earth has taken a photo of your house, maybe even at street level. If you’re a homeowner, anyone can see what you pay in real estate taxes at the county auditor’s site. Many counties let anybody check on your police record. And big data companies such as Lexis Nexis or Teradata know everything about you, down to your favorite flavor of ice cream. I mean, you’re not alone, and there’s not much you can do about it anyway. The way I see it, social media applications at least give us something back in exchange for what they take from us.

The problem with being a social media scaredy-cat is that eventually you’ll be left behind. Imagine if, in the 1940s, you simply refused to buy a television or telephone. Imagine if, in the 1990s, you refused to learn how to use a computer. I read an article recently opining that e-mail will be a thing of the past someday soon, and I believe it. Just today someone told me she hates to use e-mail because it’s more efficient to conduct business (business!) on Facebook groups. And two of my e-mail groups (mailing lists created in the mid-1990s with a service called Usenet) rarely post e-mails anymore but still maintain a lively community on Facebook.

So how can we encourage scaredy-cats to jump in?

First, admit they’re right–the Internet can be a dangerous place. But then again, so can the world in real-life, too. Many of us media junkies have bad habits online that do put us at risk from criminals. If you want to be a leader, first you’ve got to prove you can conduct your own business responsibly.

Second, produce credible statistics and research to back up your opinion about what’s safe.

Third, demonstrate how it can serve them immediately, on a cost-benefit scale. Keep in touch with family members, reunite with people you’ve lost touch with. Get news about companies and businesspeople that interest you. Get discounts and coupons. Engage in business networking and promote yourself and your company. Hold online meetings via chat.

And if that doesn’t work, there’s always peer pressure. Tease them mercilessly about being a relic from the stone age. Hey Mike, did you know that you can get a phone now that doesn’t have a wire attached to the wall plug?

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Pamela Kock is a freelance copywriter and AMA board member based in Springboro, Ohio. Her Web site is http://www.wayswriter.com. She would be happy to help with your next brochure, newsletter, catalog, sales letter or other marketing collateral. Give her a call at 513-284-7124 or email pamela@wayswriter.com.

Interesting . . . we at the Dayton AMA board meetings were recently discussing just that, and lamenting that Facebook seems to be made more for B2C marketing instead of B2B, because people at work don’t seem to read our Facebook posts. Or do they?

Number 2: Allow browser freedom. Hmm, another recent topic of discussion, for certain Market Divas who love to use Chrome, Rockmelt, Safari, Opera, Mosaic, Lynx (huh?) . . . .

This is a great article. Read the whole thing here: http://mashable.com/2011/02/03/love-your-employees/