By  Melissa Lawhorn
While there are a lot of social networks out there, one of the golden rules of digital marketing is to go where your customers go. Right now, that place is Pinterest.
Not convinced? According to Compete, unique visitors to Pinterest.com increased by 429% from September to December 2011, and the social network already boasts a user base of 3.3million.  In order for brands to be successful on Pinterest, they need to engage fans in a way that convinces them to do one of two things: either engage or convert. …

My heart always gets a little warmer when I turn away from the gathering I’m at (who is there to watch football of course) and log on Twitter and visit with my people about the REALLY important stuff. People who say things like:
“I’m here for the ads”
“Are you ready for some… Commercials!?”
So I was pretty excited this year to take a look at the ads and despite the fact that they seemed to have been posted everywhere, I held out to watch them live with the game. …

When I was invited by a friend to go to the Bushmills Whiskey party in Boston the first thing I asked was:
“are they going to have anything besides whiskey drinks?”  I’m not a huge fan of whiskey (until last night).  My friend said “no, it’s a whiskey party, what’s wrong with you?”
Since I hadn’t seen this friend in a while, I went.  I assumed it would be another branded event where I’d be handed informational pamphlets, had the sellers bug me about how whiskey is made, why I should buy …

There are two kinds of people, those who do the work and those who take the credit. Try to be in the first group; there is less competition there.
~ Indira Ghandi
When it comes to competition, I know a lot of people might say ‘don’t worry about what other people are doing’.  My mom would say that.  My grade school teachers would say that.  I might even be tempted to say that if it weren’t so helpful in strategy building to know exactly what other people are doing.
I …

“Forget safety, live where you fear to live”  ~Rumi
I started telling people a week or so ago that Ryan and I were moving to Boston.  We collected boxes, started packing the kitchen stuff and talked a lot about the move.  We discussed how this might work, how my business would do, how I would meet people.  The more I talked with the people in my life about moving the more I found myself using  the same analogy to describe it:
“I’m jumping off the diving board and hoping there’s water in …

So, big news for Real Bullets Branding!
I’ve decided to move the whole show to Boston after long hours of trying to figure out if Madison was the right city (for a while it was), or if the winters were going to be warmer than Wisconsin (they aren’t really), and if I could learn to root for a team that’s not the Brewers (no way).
Truthfully, a smaller city like Madison is awesome for starting a company.  Living expenses are reasonable and there aren’t as many crazy fun things to distract you …

I’ve been working from Boston this week so I’ve had the great fortune to hang out with some internet friends I haven’t seen in a while as well as meet some new people.  One of the things I love about conferences, parties, and seeing old friends is that you usually end up having loads of good conversation.  One in particular really stood out because we went around and around with this for hours.
Is being an entrepreneur the same as being a business owner?  Are the terms interchangeable?
It seems like being …

I wasn’t supposed to go to Coachella (which, if you are over 30 you might not know is a music festival of about 100,000 people in the desert outside of LA showcasing a huge lineup of bands, mostly indie) but ended up there because of some good luck (thanks Christina and Asos.com!), in 97 degree heat, with a lot of sweaty people.
So, the first thing I did was of course, look up the sponsors and see who was doing what.  100,000 music fans are a good group to be able …

I did it.  I launched a new company.   It’s called Real Bullets Branding – here’s the site.
I’d love to say it was because I was hit by a lightening bolt idea and had to make it real, but it didn’t happen that way.  What happened was, I was developing strategies for lots of different brands.  First small-ish ones, then bigger, and then eventually I was on calls with 10 people in New York and California telling them about how I help my parents on their farm over the weekend (people …

3 years ago I fell in love with a painting I saw in a gallery in Santa Fe.  I stood there for nearly 2 hours looking at it.  From every angle.  First one way and then walking by it, and then going into another room before coming back.  Then  trying to decide if I could justify spending more than 2 months rent on this.  I took the card of the gallery telling myself that I could always have it shipped.
Over the next 3 years, I thought about this painting often.  …