Business Cards Are Not Dead

When it comes to business cards, I am reminded of a chapter in my book, Pioneers of Digital, where the fabulous Avinash Kaushik talks about how he tested his famous blog – Occam’s Razor – on his wife and fellow work colleagues to get their feedback before he went public with it.

Well, when I started Delightful Communications, I decided to canvas industry peers about many aspects of my start-up, including marketing. What I found was that many people singled out business cards as a no-no. They’d scoff and say, “I don’t need to carry business cards, they’re out-of-date in this digital age.”

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We all know the sky has fallen as the wails and cries of marketers everywhere announced Facebook’s de-prioritization of business news in mid-January. The group has emphasized a new focus on news from friends and family. Organic Facebook posts have long been a way for business small and large to affordably reach their audience. In the case of many small businesses, that has been the only way they engage online with their audience. Budgets have been tossed out the window and strategy has been re-plotted at a faster rate than Twitter’s #280.

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If there’s one thing we could all agree we need more of most as marketers, it would be time. More time to devote to the smaller details of campaigns that are important, more time to sift through data to find the best performing content, more time to design compelling and engaging blog posts.

Who doesn’t want more time?

Unfortunately, there will always be only 24 hours in a day and hopefully, not all those hours are being spent on your marketing campaigns. However, you can learn to maximize the time you have and save time where you can.

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All digital marketers want to increase content visibility. All brands want to increase awareness that leads to trust and conversions—the basics of the business marketing. The trick is finding a competitive and cost-effective way to amplify this brand content. One of the ways to increase this visibility is with employee advocacy. It’s essentially free. People you already pay take a moment to share your new content, increasing visibility, and organic reach. And the commentary on this content is from experts too, as employees have the most detailed knowledge of your brand and its features.

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Instagram is a platform here to stay. Yet, many people don’t know how to use Instagram Stories to it’s fullest potential.

According to CNBC, Instagram now has 800 million monthly users and 500 million daily users. Those numbers have jumped 160% over the past year since the launch of Instagram stories, the feature that allows users to post stories that last just 24 hours. This feature clearly benefits and entices daily use; don’t forget to check Instagram, that content only lasts 24 hours!

The social media FOMO clicks in and you open the app.

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Winter is a time of celebration and friends and family often exchange gifts. No matter what holidays you celebrate, holiday shopping lists can be difficult as you search for the perfect fit for everyone. That difficulty increases with those up-to-date techy friends—and that includes those delightful digital marketers in your lives.

Not to worry, we’ve got you covered here at Delightful. Check out some of our favorite gifts for digital marketers, online content experts, and search engine aficionados. Find yourself the perfect present, or pass this list along to your loved ones.

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A defining characteristic of Twitter has long been the 140 character limit. A challenge for many to create a cohesive story, users frequently turned to numbered tweets, external links, and smartly edited graphics to convey their points across this platform. When Twitter announced a switch to 280 characters for all on Nov 7th – everything changed.

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Developing your personal brand and sharing your story is wonderful when things are going well, but what happens when things go wrong? Perhaps your career was affected by a colleague’s gossip or your stellar product launch was closer to a fiery inferno. Your Amazon seller reviews come back not only poor but also mocking. Maybe your personal information got shared publicly, or disaster strikes and your service is disrupted.

It’s not a matter of if something bad will happen, but when. How you handle these troubles can be a tipping point that makes or breaks your brand. In the face of adversity, here are some things to remember.

Owning Your Mistakes

An excuse is not equivalent to an explanation—and no one wants to hear it. Describe what happened and own the error. Don’t pass the blame along to a third party. By admitting that a mistake was made you demonstrate honesty and integrity. You may be surprised at just how empathetic your audience may be towards human error.

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We’ve received tons of positive feedback since the launch of our latest eBook: Introduction to Personal Branding: 10 Steps Toward a New Professional You, which is also live now on Audible and iTunes as an audio book!

We are thrilled that the book has helped our readers to start paying more attention to their personal brand and more importantly, actually making plans and taking action to improve their personal brand and be more discoverable, shareable and memorable:

“This is by far the most-bookmarked book (per page-capita) on my Kindle today. I’ve already set up a site, paid attention to image names, tweaked my LinkedIn profile, and more based on Mel’s tips.” – S. Weise

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I am the newest member of the Delightful Team and, as the Digital Marketing Program Manager, I will be working with clients and online influencers, providing strategic support and content to amplify their personal and professional brands.

Organic — It’s not just for groceries.

I’m a University of Washington alum (Go Dawgs!) from the Master of Science in Information Management program where I focused on user experience and content strategy. Under the mentorship of the talented professors there I found a home with digital content. I was fortunate to capitalize on these skills with a large variety of client work as both a contractor and agency marketer here in Seattle.

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