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. …

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 …

I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee.  ~Carly Simon
Anyone who has been reading this blog for any amount of time or has had the unfortunate experience of being on a trip with me where the only brew available is the gas station variety knows that I love good coffee. I’ve got sort of an embarrassing number of posts about it.
I collect coffee cups and choose the perfect one every morning.  When I moved I had two full and impressively heavy cardboard boxes full of them.  Ok, so …

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 …