If you’re in business for yourself or operate in a small company, often times the outward brand that customers see is YOU. So did you ever consider yourself a brand? Ok, so you’re not Michael Jordan or Danica Patrick, but to your customers you are the face of the company.

If you sit with any respectable marketing professional these days, the phrase “content marketing” is sure to come up. In fact, if you and those in charge of marketing your business don’t view themselves more like news reporters than advertising execs, you’re in for a bumpy ride.

As a web designer and marketing consultant, I’ve heard the saying “design is the new marketing” more than a handful of times in my career. Enough so that I’m already feeling numb to the jargon and simply want to move on to the meaning. But this idea that design is in any way a NEW concept is preposterous.

Oscar Mayer recently delivered an excellent video piece that’s crispy, smokey, and simply delicious. If this incredible spot doesn’t go viral for Father’s Day, I don’t know what will. Hooray for ‘Say it With Bacon.’ I just love finding videos like this one, especially when they come from big brands.

Today is Friday and I find myself swimming in desperation to find some inspiration.  A bright shining star in the sky of creativity that can point me in the direction of some unique design, welcoming tone, and memorable voice.  Is that too much to ask here at the end of a hard week?

Whoa! I’m sure you’re thinking “Wait Dave… you’ve got it backwards.” Sure, sure… I understand. As most business owners are trained to think, you want your website expense to be as little as possible. You also love the taste of Dom Perignon but can only afford Mums.

True confession time: I LOVE my local library! If it was a woman, I would totally marry her and make sweet, sweet love to her every night. That is, if she were super-hot, athletic, sandy-blonde, funny, smart and ummm, oh yeah… didn’t mind me picking my toenails in bed.

There are certain truths in nature that we simply can’t defy.  For instance, the reality that no matter how hard you try, you will always pick the slowest moving line in the grocery store when you’re in the biggest hurry.

You would laugh to see my wife and I curl up in bed at night.  She with her People magazine and “chic lit” (her words, not mine) and me reading something about sales or corporate branding.  It’s funny how much our tastes in literature diverge.

Whenever I need help getting started on a client’s copy or sales pitch as it were, I find myself referring back to a classic scene in my favorite episode of Mad Men. If you don’t watch the show, you should. It’s brilliant.