Content Marketing and Web 2.0

I attended Content Marketing World 2011 in Cleveland, Ohio, and for anyone who is in marketing, this was a fantastic event to attend - really, an absolute wealth of information, and plenty of interaction that helps to plant seeds for ingenious ideas tailored to your business. Take a look at this YouTube video featuring Joe Pulizzi, founder of Content Marketing Institute. If you are a marketer trying to wrap your head around how to use the Web 2.0 technologies to grow your business and engage your audience, I recommend checking out Content Marketing World 2012 in Columbus.

Social Media E-commerce

I came across an article today from emarketer.com in an e-newsletter that I receive that is right in line with what we're reading in Chapter 1 of the text. It talks about the growing trend of using social media sites (Facebook, in this case) for commercial transactions. Check it out, here!

The fun and funky world of digital marketing

I thought I'd share this with you all today, as it's highly relevant to our class. I was in a meeting with one of our publishing groups who was toying with the idea of using QR codes in the print magazine. Their goal was to drive traffic to the website, but there wasn't much understanding and planning behind the initiative from the beginning. I addressed my concern with using the codes arbitrarily and posed the question, "Why will people go through the extra effort on their end to scan these codes?" That got people thinking. During our meeting, within 45 minutes, we were able to come up with a huge number of ideas that would benefit our readers, our advertisers, and our own business - not only in the print publications, but also at the events that we attend and in promotional materials.

Now, I know that QR codes are still a bit new and a lot of people haven't quite caught on to the appeal, but I thought it was a fun conversation to have. By the end of the meeting, I wasn't the most excited one in the room - the more experienced, conservative folks were! The people who have seen publishing go through twists and turns and ups and downs and multiple platforms over the course of decades were actually embracing something as alien as QR codes, and thinking of marketing applications on their own. I don't know about you, but I thought that was a pretty cool moment for us. Getting print publishing executives to go into completely foreign territory and try new forms of digital marketing (and get excited about it) can sometimes be challenging. But when it all meshes, it's really, really fun.

For any of you in the marketing fields, have you used QR codes in your business? What kind of response have you had? For those of you who aren't in marketing, have you clicked on any QR codes as a consumer? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

A little glimpse

Hello everyone, and welcome to my blog! This isn't my first attempt at a blog, although I chose to create a new one for class, because my previous one was embarrassingly inconsistent and a bit more informal than we would aim for in this course. That said, if you enjoy reading general musings about local, national and global jaunts, recaps of adventures and days-in-the-life of Heather, you can accept my warning and visit You Can Sleep at Home, my travel blog that I posted to in order to keep my family and friends in the loop while I was away.

The hysterical Louie.

To give you a glimpse into my world, I'll first start with some of the basics. I am a wife to a fantastic husband, Brad, who was a friend in high school, a boyfriend in college, and now is a partner and best friend for life. We have been married for four years, and have a fluffy orange tabby cat named Milo, and a dog named Louie who has an uneven under-bite and ears that belong on a kangaroo. I love the cat; we both love the dog. The dog loves tennis balls.

I come from a family of five children - a middle child with two older brothers, an older sister and a younger sister. My parents are absolutely astounding, having raised three of us in diapers at the same time (my brothers are twins and are 16 months older than me). Personally, I enjoy traveling, kickboxing, playing piano, reading, hiking, and road running. I'm rather proud of that last accomplishment, as only two years ago I was an asthmatic ex-smoker with a bad back (broken when I was in eighth grade), who couldn't run a half mile without keeling over in pain. Now, I'm up to a 10K, and I hope to run a half marathon this October. Wish me luck!


I am a Web Content Manager at a magazine publishing company in Northeast Ohio, managing a team of digital media professionals who conceptualize, design, develop and implement e-newsletters, websites, mobile apps, podcasts, webinars, and a number of other e-media products to complement the 17 print B2B publications that our company produces. It is a very busy, very rewarding, very rapidly-changing job, and I love the challenge. My background is in journalism, with a degree from Ohio University (go Bobcats!!).

Where to, next?

Finally, I am very much looking forward to my next step in life: working toward and obtaining an MS in International Marketing Management from Boston University. I'm confident that the skills I'll learn from these classes will directly apply to my current position, and take me beyond my present capabilities into new realms of possibility. I chose the title of this blog, "In Transit," because I feel like I'm constantly changing, constantly moving, constantly looking at the next place. There's no stopping, I'm always in transit to the next phase. Here's to a great couple of years!