actionable marketing guide

Dear ,

Happy 2017—may this year bring you, your family, your friends and your colleagues a year of joy, wellbeing and love.

My husband and I celebrated New Year’s Eve with our traditional candlelight dinner at home. Minutes before the stroke of midnight, we flipped on the local news station’s ad-free, commentary-free countdown in Times Square and toasted 2017.

Having worked in Times Square, I’ve walked through it many times over the years. I never cease to be amazed by its larger than life experience. In part it’s the billboards that bejewel every building facing Times Square.

But on New Year’s Eve, Times Square becomes the center of the world. People congregate. They wait hours and hours to see the crystal ball. It shimmers as it effortlessly glides down to the stroke of midnight.

While television cameras focus on faces in the crowd, uptown from Times Square the fireworks sparkle like organized, colored snowflakes over Central Park.

This year, my husband started a new tradition. Before dinner, he made us focus on the good memories of 2016.

It’s easy to remember the bad things, especially when they’re personal. When they happen to us and to those who are close to us they make us feel like our world is shaking.

By contrast, the good things tend to whisper. They leave a flickering fragment of a memory. You have to capture them and hold them in your heart to feel the fullness of their warmth.

As I glance up at the yellow tinged roses my husband bought last week at Trader Joe’s, I smile at how lucky I am. The flowers have spread back their ivory petals in celebration despite the grey New Year’s Day rain.

I greet 2017 energized.

I decided to not make any New Year’s resolutions this year.

Resolutions focus on big outcomes. But they hide the baby steps needed to achieve them.

They’ve got failure built into them. It’s why exercise routines and diets fail.

Cold turkey change is hard. You wind up focusing on the things you can’t have instead of your goal.

You have to keep building your skills.

Often you fall down. Sometimes, you even fail big.

But you need grit in Angela Duckworthy’s words. You must keep getting up and trying again and again. Until you succeed!

As my friend Aaron Orendorff says: #LetsGetRejected

Orendorff turned the loss of a high profile column into guest posting success. He took the articles he had written and offered them to high profile publications including Mashable.

How can you turn your #fails into #successes?

Personally, I’m planning 2017 around a variety of major initiatives or projects—professional and personal.

Note the difference. I’m giving myself space to build my muscles to accomplish big goals.

Ask yourself these 2 simple questions.

• What do you want to achieve in 2017? These are your big hairy goals.
• What do you need to do to reach these objectives? Schedule these activities.

Don’t limit yourself to your professional life. Apply them to your personal life, your relationships, your physical health and your spiritual center.

Also, find time for your passion. I’m not talking about love or a relationship. I’m referring to an activity, hobby or interest that’s not work or taking care of your family. It’s about building your joy.

If you’d prefer a visual option, check out how a Google HR executive uses mind maps.

Happy Marketing
Heidi.

Heidi Cohen
Actionable Marketing Guide

BTW—I’m presenting a blogging workshop at Social Media Marketing World 2017. It’s an inside view into how I write quality blog posts quickly and consistently.

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• Heidi Cohen was cited on the Marketo blog for the definition of brand.  My biggest learning from the piece: How many of my friends and colleagues saw it on LinkedIn. Lesson: Don’t underestimate who’s watching you on social media.
  
  
• Roger Parker cited this Actionable Marketing Guide newsletter in his Content Marketing Institute piece: 7 Changes Forward-Thinking Marketers Need to Consider in 2017. Lesson:  Examine trends you see in the wild.
  
  
• Heidi Cohen was referenced in Jason Miller’s fun blog post on Christmas songs. Lesson: Use a fun question that’s not necessarily business-oriented but rather just seasonal as the basis of a blog post.

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