'Tweet This week, I’ve joined marketers from around the world in Athens Americana – Boston, Mass. for MarketingSherpa and MarketingExperiments Optimization Summit 2013. After a short (and rather scenic) water taxi ride from the airport, I’ve settled into one of the Value Proposition Development Course sessions being led by Austin McCraw, Senior Editorial Analyst, MECLABS, as he taught marketers how to craft and express value propositions. I want to take the theory that we have put in place so far, and bring it down to a ground floor level of application,” Austin said. and write down you answer. MORE >>

'Do you ever ask yourself the question: “What characteristics would my team use to describe me as a boss?” If you haven’t, it’s a really great question to ask yourself if you manage a team. Last week I had the privilege of attending a leadership training program where I learned a lot about being a better boss. It’s only been the first session of 7, and I can already tell it will be time well spent. One of the exercises my colleagues and I completed was to think about the best boss we ever had, and then write down the characteristics that he or she possessed. Empowering. Smart. Strategic. Coach. MORE >>

'The weekend has arrived and this is a new thing we’re doing on Saturday’s (at least till college football starts). We’ll be sharing highlights of the week just passed. Here are some of the most popular posts from this week at this Fearless Competitor blog. By the way, this award-winning blog is powered by WPEngine – the best and fastest hosting available. Want to supercharge your WordPress blog? Check out this to learn more and you’ll find a great offer for you. Encore: Rise with @PattyAzzarello on Marketing Made Simple TV. highly recommend the book and the show. MORE >>

'We’ve written a lot about content marketing and how important it is to provide valuable information and resources for your customers and prospects, as well as how content marketing benefits your search engine optimization efforts. But, is the act of producing engaging content encouraging nefarious behavior? Have you ever discovered a piece of your own work copied word-for-word on another website or blog without credit? Feels pretty crummy, and there are far reaching consequences for both sides. You’re just abusing someone else’s effort.” Plagiarism isn’t cool. MORE >>

'Over a year ago, I wrote about P&G''s plans to lay off over 1,600 of their workforce because they''d wasted so much money on advertisements, and needed to move to more efficient expenditures like Facebook and Google. This week, I come to find they haven''t learned a damn thing. When I wrote about their layoffs last year, I cautioned P&G (because they were obviously reading my blog article) that: Digital media is not free. Not all advertising is inherently bad. Not all digital advertising is inherently effective. Apparently, the words of warning did not resonate. Facepalm*. wait for it. MORE >>