Dear ,

Happy Veteran's Day.
And thank you to those of you who served in the military.

Of the veterans I know, Three men standout.

While my dad's drab olive army jacket hung in the attic, he never spoke about what he did in London during World War II.

As part of the Signal Corps, my dad had a high security clearance and learned how to communicate in code.

This became a life-long practice of his. Whenever he didn't want people to know what he was talking about, he either changed languages or used code words to get his message across.

One of my Citibank bosses served in Vietnam as a soldier in the army. Unlike too many other Vietnam veterans, my boss didn't suffer from PTSD.

While he never talked about the horrors of war he experienced, he often referenced the level of trust you establish with your fellow soldiers.

For him, "Sharing a Foxhole" meant trusting another person to have your back and to protect you. This was a sign that you were a special person in his book.

Of my bosses, I respected him the most. While always ready to support the next corporate initiative, he cared about his department and colleagues across the bank. 

Lastly, the most honorable man I know was a West Point graduate and an Army Ranger. That alone deserves respect.

As the COO of a top marketing firm when he was called to active duty in Iraq, he was well known in the community. While in Iraq, he asked friends and colleagues to send toys and clothes for the local children instead of packages for him.

Unfortunately, he was severely wounded early in his tour of duty, yet he not only survived, but also beat the odds and made a full recovery. 

And the silver lining to his story is that he now works with veterans who visited him while he was recovering at Walter Reade Hospital

He started a not-for-profit to help young victims of the war needing medical care. When I taught Advanced Online Marketing, a number of my classes created marketing plans for his foundation.

If you can donate or would like to attend their Gala, here's the information for the TD Foundation.

Actionable Marketing Lesson:

• Support your local community and society. Skip empty lip service—your customers can smell it a mile away. This is particularly important as we approach #GivingDay, Tuesday, December 3rd.

In the early days of Twitter, Carrie Kerpen of Likeable Media supported Tweetsgiving, an event to raise money for a school in Africa.

Actionable Marketing Lessons:

• Make the donation feel concrete for donors. For example, the Tweetsgiving donation included a painted brick.
• Select a price point to attract the most donors. 
• Make the not-for-profit relevant to your business and your audience. For example, Joe and Pam Pulizzi started the Orange Effect Foundation as part of Content Marketing Institute.
  
  It focuses on getting expensive therapy for autistic children so they can live normal lives. Like Content Marketing Institute, the Orange Effect Foundation has education at its core. If you'd like to donate to the Orange Foundation, here's the information.
  

BTW—In case you didn't know, I taught Not-For-Profit Marketing at CUNY: Hunter in New York City.

For those of you interested in improving your Social Media and Content Marketing skills, Agorapulse has you covered!

They have gathered some of the top Social Media and Content Marketers to share their secrets to success.

Even better, you don't need to travel to get this marketing goodness! Just sign up and you can watch the sessions on your device of choice after November 13th.

And did I mention that Agorapulse's Social Success Summit 2.0 is FREE?

For those of you looking for help planning your 2020 content marketing and social media, my Seismic Marketing Shift session at the Summit provides actionable marketing tactics and planning templates.

If you're starting to plan your 2020 conference calendar, here are 2 conferences to consider attending. (Note: these are affiliate links. TIA for your support.)

• Social Media Marketing World. Get the inside scoop on the latest Social Media approaches.
  
   
• MAICON 2020. This is THE conference to attend to get up to speed on Marketing Artificial Intelligence.
  
  Use code:  ACTIONABLE100 to save $100 when you register.

Shout out to new readers: Jt, Prisca, Terry, Amyna, Cesar, Fabio, Fdfs, Tara, Abdelhak, Cory, Linu, Liafisu, Rebeccah, Mick, Stephanie, Reena, Nour Welcome and thank you for joining our community.

Happy Marketing,
Heidi

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Heidi Cohen Around The Internet

• Heidi Cohen was featured in Onalytica’s Complete Guide To B2B Influencer Marketing. It’s jam packed with useful information you can use!
   
• Talkwalker also spotlighted Heidi Cohen in their Social Media Trends for 2020. Personally, I love what Jay Baer says about social media in 2010. To paraphrase, social media returns to its personal communication roots. (Translation: Away from mass marketing.)

• Unless noted otherwise, all photos are ©2019 by Heidi Cohen
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