Creating My Own Marketing Textbook

Creating My Own Marketing Textbook

“2015 a year of learning, exercising and creating”

That has been my mission statement for this year. So far I think I have been doing okay at working on those three things. Today I am blogging about the first priority for this year, learning.

My new job working in marketing is one that requires a lot of learning on my part across the spectrum; learning new techniques, new computer programs and the scariest thing (for me) about banking. Working two jobs has proved to be a little bit much on top of my three goals. We have had a couple of snowdays so my living room has been turned into the University of Kate on the days I have time to dig into my Lynda.com curriculum.

One easy thing I have been doing to keep my brain in “learn mode” and to help build knowledge about Lynda.com is to read. Every day at my new job I sit and I read at least one article online. It can be about marketing, social media, innovation, finances, banking or business in general; whatever strikes my fancy or is trendy or relevant that day. I have learned an incredible amount from slowing my racing mind down for 5-10 minutes and reading an article. I then sum up the key points that pertain to my role at my job in one line on the paper and put it away until the next day.

things within my job that are not being covered by

Yes, it is that easy. One line a day and you are slowly creating your own personal textbook. I often go back and read through the list I have created thus far and reflect on the things I have learned in the past.

I often find my articles on LinkedIN or via my business buddies on Twitter. I have a few blogs that I love one being effUmarketing by Jordan Rycroft. My readings are not peer-reviewed articles or data plugged in and shot out at me to tell me what to think. The readings I do are from people working everyday in their respective fields and who see what is going on the in the world we try so hard to predict and cash-in on. Most of the articles are comprised of data that is complimented by anecdotal evidence or stories to back the overall message but have much more substance than an average blog and much less opinion.

That is just another thing I am doing to help myself learn new things in 2015. As you can see the longer I am at this job, the less time I have to do my readings. Do you have any tips? Leave them in the comment field or you can find me on LinkedIn and Twitter below. Let’s be friends :)

@KateBruce

https://ca.linkedin.com/in/katebruce

Just A Little Radio Rant...

I’m going to be honest with you. I am pretty honest in my blogs, revealing some of my most embarrassing stories and thoughts because it is generally my safe place. My blog provides me a little piece of mind with a little expressive flare that I can’t always let out on-air. Generally I like to be quick and simple on the radio and writing here gives me the space and freedom to give you weird details to support my strange way of thinking. This blog has been a couple weeks in the making and after a little social media post last night on Facebook I thought I would elaborate more here. I am not really a mushy person here on my blog or on social media so don’t expect this type of thing to happen again…

I have been struggling to blog lately because I have been doing two radio shows a day on top of voice tracking for 4 hours. That’s 12 hours of radio total. I’ve done it before, I’ll do it again once this phase of my career is over, it is a reality I am totally okay with but to be honest with you other parts of my life are suffering. I’m still making it to the gym (today was workout #79 in the last 16 weeks) and going through the motions but I am pretty tired all the time. It is a good thing that my boyfriend is in Quebec at Basic Military Training because I am pretty much engulfed with work.

I really actually don’t mind doing the two shows, I have found that it really helps put things in perspective with how things in radio used to be done. People tell me all the time about their long days and nights on-air and I can now say I totally know the feeling of prepping an 8 hour show! Slowly, but surely I am on my way to mastery (let’s hope)!

That is not why I started this blog; I started it as a big shout-out and THANK YOU to our amazing listeners in the Kootenays and around the world. The last couple of weeks have had some big changes and the listeners are why we work so hard and continuously trying to be the best radio station we can be.

Today I had three winners on my show and they totally made my day. There is a 99% chance they will never read this but I really wanted to put out in the universe that they made my day with their excitement and positivity! Chris, Remi and Dave all were so happy to have won passes to GFI and keys to Storage War today and it really helped pick me up and it reminded me why we do what we do in radio. It’s not to be big wigs, it is not to be pseudo small town (or big city) celebrities, it is to make our listeners days a little better any way we can.

Here is Dave’s big moment. He is now 1 of 100 contestants that will have keys for Storage War III coming up on July 5, 2014 at West Kootenay Self Storage. Three keys will unlock thousands of dollars in of prizes in three storage lockers and one of those three keys could be Dave’s! All of the excitement today truly has pumped me up and I can't wait to get back at it tomorrow!  

Again, thank you to everyone for their support and tolerance over the past couple weeks! I can’t wait to get back on-air tomorrow and do it all again!  

Shameless plug alert:

You can listen to me on the new GOAT 10am-6pm (PT) on www.kootenays.thegoat.ca! 

Kate On-Air Reaches Its First 1000 Hits

Thanks everyone for helping me reach my first 1000 hits on my backlog of 'On-Air' Blog.

In appreciation, here is a GIF of a prairie dog stealing a kiss :)

Kate's Pet Peeves: Social Media Whiners

I hate reading people whine on social media.

It is one of my pet peeves. It seems like people no longer understand how to cope with basic problems in daily life. It is like the new ‘go-to’ response to things is to complain about things online. The only thing worse than the initial complaint or rant about an issue is how offended people get by their ‘followers’ or friends respond unfavorably.

I love using social media, my friends and family are spread across Canada and it is the perfect way to keep in touch on a daily basis. But, do I care that they are angry that people are criticizing their choice to switch their baby’s formula to whatever they can get on sale that week (yes, that is a very specific and real example)? Nope, not even enough to comment about it (except in this rant-like blog).

I really hope schools start teaching children how to use the web properly, because all of us growing up with it kind of suck at it. Okay, that’s not true; all of us radio hosts are Internet-gurus who do not complain and can find you the most adorable animals online.

I am just kidding, kind of. I really do find web-whiners annoying, but recently I have benefitted from a little strategic Twitter complaining. While I do not condone bitching about the onions on your Big Mac, when you are having a problem witch a large corporation and a lot of your money is on the line (to me a lot of money is over $100), than go for it… but only once (per issue).

I have complained via Twitter twice, both times I have received timely appropriate responses on large-scale problems. Why? Because some companies do have people on staff waiting to search you out and ensure that you are one happy customer. And, I used firm language and did not abuse my right to voice my concerns.

My first complaint came nine months ago after a major electronics company lost my iPad they had been repairing (under insurance) two months after they told me it was repaired. My second complaint was last week (August 2013) after waiting nearly a month to hear back from my car insurance company after an accident. In both cases, both companies responded to my indirect tweets (I did not @ message them) within minutes and the situations began to be worked out in a timely manor. Had I have not sent out my tweets than I would have continued to be on their backburners, which would have continued to waste my time and money.

Both of my issues were worked out in amazing fashion once I used a gentle but firm tweet to get my problem out in the Twitterverse. Before I tweeted, people recommended the good-ole angry phone call, but I honestly hate phone calls and I am too busy to sit on hold for an hour. A little firm input online will usually result in a message or email that will get a polite phone call at your earliest convenience (no waits, less angst). Everybody wins!

I have problems all the time, being minorly addicted to fast food I had two imperfect orders at two fast food restaurants within 10 minutes last week (UUUURRRRGGGG!!!!). Like everyone else I am human and wanted to tell the world by picketing outside both restaurants with a sign explaining my slight. But, I only have a half-hour for lunch and need a job to pay off my student loans. Every time I fight the urge to open up my Twitter app and complain, why don’t I? Because I value my followers and would hate from them to think I do not value my place on their news feed. Seriously, 30 cents worth of onions is not as valuable to me as those people’s interactions on a semi-regular basis.

I guess my message in this rant of a blog is that social media is not a time machine that can take you back in time to fix an imperfect situation when you press the post button. Unless you think some specific individuals out there can make the situation better and you don’t mind potentially losing followers because of the post, than keep your complaints to yourself. Especially the age-old complaint, “I’m SOOOOOOO tired”. Being tired is part of being an average adult, have a coffee (like the rest of us) and get over it.  

Okay, maybe I have complained over a smaller issue too… I did once tweet to KFC Canada asking when the Zinger Double-Down would be back; it was August 2012 and as of Spring 2013 the Zinger Double-Down is back in KFC Canada restaurants. Triple-win Kate.