Category Archive

Marketing & PR

Tough love: are you making these marketing communication mistakes?

I LIKE MARKETING. Done correctly, I strongly believe that it can be helpful, useful information. Done poorly, it’s irritating. Done really poorly? It’s a form of assault.

My Empire work makes me a target for a lot of marketing campaigns from both small businesses and large corporations alike. Both make marketing mistakes. Here are a few that you can learn from…

I’m the asshole without contact info on my business cards

I recently ordered a fresh batch of business cards, and when I handed one to a friend/colleague, he quipped, “Oh, you’re one of THOSE assholes — you don’t have any contact information on your card!”

He’s right, of course. My card has my name, title, and publication names … and that’s it. No email. No phone. Not even the URLs of the websites I run. Here’s why:

Vendor tips: how to get blacklisted from Offbeat Bride’s comments

I interact with dozens and dozens of amazing wedding vendors every day, and for the most part, it’s an amazing industry filled with inspired, independent, creative, and whip-smart people. Unfortunately, however, there are always a few small business owners who are still playing catch-up when it comes to blog commenting etiquette.

How I engineered a viral post

Recently, a post I wrote about cell phones at weddings went WAY viral, getting shared 43,000 times in one day. It wasn’t an accident. Here’s how I did it.