An Introduction
Hi, my name is Emily Cote, and I am the new Community Manager for Outspoken Media.
You probably didn’t know this, but I have been the Community Manager for the past month. The reason you didn’t know this is because I have pretty much been non-existent online since then. And honestly, I owe you an apology for that.
No one ever likes to admit their weaknesses. It goes against all human nature. But I believe the only way we can ever make progress (as individuals, and as a species) is to know where we are starting from, and to know where we want to go. In between, there is a lot of stumbling, a lot of questioning, and a lot of positive, life-changing growth.
I also think I need to tell you, our readers, the truth. At Outspoken Media, we are pretty much starting at square one.
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What if I told you that you could reduce reputation problems, provide great customer service, strengthen your brand, and live according to your values and mission through a single marketing tactic? The answer lies in fruit. Yes, fruit.
Around the Outspoken Media office, we’ve been on a big corporate social responsibility kick. It’s one way we convey our values, so when I stumbled on a “fruit delivery” service from The FruitGuys, I had to know more. They provide a corporate delivery solution for local and organic produce. Fantastic! I’m a big environmentalist and the team has a love/hate relationship with carbs. This service could provide a healthy, environmentally friendly alternative to office snacking.
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Want to see more of Outspoken Media? Here’s where we will be hanging out at in the coming months. We’re always happy to meet new people and catch up with the industry’s finest, so please come and say ‘hi’ if you catch us at one of these events:
SMX Advanced is fast approaching! This conference is loaded with some great speakers this year, including keynotes from Matt Cutts, Google’s head of web spam, and Derrick Connell of Bing’s Search Program Management team. Besides contributing to the creation of Bing, we’re pretty sure Derrick has an amazing Irish accent. [read the full post…]
When you created your business plan, you took into account things like a marketing plan, financial data, licenses, employee salaries, insurance, and a social media policy. But did you think about corporate social responsibility (CSR)? If not, it may be time to rethink your business strategy. And if you think you don’t have time to volunteer, contribute to charity, or do something meaningful for your customers because you’re too busy running your business, well, you may want to rethink that attitude because CSR can increase your bottom line. Not only that, it can help you attract and retain valuable employees.
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[This is part five in a five-part series charting Outspoken Media's operational development process.]
I love “ah-ha!” moments. I’m fortunate enough to work in an industry where they happen all of the time. Kind of like when I find your navigation is coded in non-crawlable JavaScript and not HTML. I love those moments like they’re my own children. Well, that’s extreme, but you get the point.
When Outspoken Media started working with Shem Cohen on strategic planning, team building, and organizational development, though, I stumbled upon more “ah-ha!” moments in our daily operations. They reinvigorated my love for the industry and Outspoken Media in general. Turns out, my assumptions about productivity and working with others were false and were hindering progress, not facilitating it. This is what I learned about making assumptions. [read the full post…]
[This is part four in a five-part series charting Outspoken Media's operational development process.]
Let’s just get this out in the open right now—a lot of you think the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test is a bunch of hooey. Come on, admit it. You think it’s like a horoscope, right? You can read into it pretty much whatever you want, and then use it to justify your behavior, right or wrong. I’m sure a lot of people do that. You’re not really responsible for your behavior if it’s attributable to your predetermined personality. That’s just you, and everyone else just needs to get used to you, and let you be you. Right? Yeah, how’s that workin’ for ya?
Look, if anyone is going to take the MBTI results and run with them, it’s going to be me. The test told me something I already knew—I’m an introvert. Actually, I’m not an introvert. In the Outspoken Media office, I’m the introvert. In the extrovert/introvert portions of the test, I did not choose a single extroverted response. Not one. In case you’re not completely familiar with introversion, it’s not just shyness:
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Image courtesy of jamiesrabbits
[This is part three in a five-part series charting Outspoken Media's operational development process.]
It was only around 10:00 a.m. when Shem set the jar full of Twizzler nibs, M&Ms, and pistachios on a chair in the center of the room. For me, it’s never too early for sweets. So as he explained the next activity, I fixated on acquiring the contents of the jar.
“Take some time to describe what you see. Avoid naming the objects. Just jot down thoughts or words to describe it. Feel free to walk around, pick it up, and examine it.” [read the full post…]
[This is part two in a five-part series charting Outspoken Media's operational development process.]
Rarely do I get the opportunity to track my own evolution. Okay, I take that back. Facebook timeline kind of does that in a creepy “can’t believe I wore/said/acted/looked like that” sort of way.
But when it comes to true personal development, it’s rare that I have gotten to see cold hard facts showing that I have, indeed, evolved over time. But, during an organizational workshop the Outspoken Media team participated in, I got to see firsthand that I am a much different person now than I was six years ago.
How do I know? In my second year as a business management student, I was required to take an MBTI assessment for one of my classes. My personality type: a clear-as-day INFP. (Don’t worry, you don’t need to know all the details of what that means. I’ll show you as we go along.)
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[This is part one in a five-part series charting Outspoken Media's operational development process.]
This week, you’re going to hear a lot from Outspoken Media. Each day, we will feature a new post that is both personal and professional from each of us. We’re opening up about recent changes in the company and the broader business applications from our discovery. I’ll be the first to kick things off, but check back daily to get to know the team and benefit from our journey.
This all started back in February when we began a process of strategic planning, team building, and organizational development with Shem Cohen of Change Events, Inc. Shem has been incredible in helping me focus on the vision for Outspoken Media, our services, our clients, and our team. While there have been so many lessons I could write a book series, I want to personally take a moment to discuss what I’ve learned about myself in the hope that it can help you as well.
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Recently, I was contacted by a small business owner who was facing what appeared to be an insurmountable slump in sales. The business owner was a wreck. He’d opened his store in a part of town that no longer received much foot traffic since a new overpass was added to a major intersection. Sales were dismal. He had a good product, but there were stores that were more accessible with similar products at a comparable cost.
One day, the business owner decided to try to capture more sales through new marketing techniques he’d heard about from a friend of a friend. This person swore by his methods and the business owner had nothing to lose, so he figured, “what the heck, why not!”
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