Blogs

If you're like me, you're always looking for new and interesting ways to illustrate your blog posts. This can be a daunting task. If you're not much of a photographer (and personally, I'm not), you can't rely on your own images, and stock photographs, which are often inexpensive, still cost money, and many not-for-profits don't have the money (or the inclination) to spend on online endeavours.

Every January, I start thinking about the Super Bowl. Not because I enjoy American football (I don't), but because I enjoy seeing the commercials that run during the Super Bowl broadcast. In the marketing/advertising world, these commercials make a major impact, and it's always smart for those in our business to keep an eye on what runs, and what works on Super Bowl Sunday.

Newsjacking. Have you heard of it? It's a phrase that has been bouncing around the not-for-profit sector a lot lately, but admittedly, it took me a while to figure out what it means.

As for a former journalist, I was curious. "Newsjacking" doesn't sound good, exactly, but neither does it sound too bad. I assumed it is some sort of guerilla tactic, a term coined to describe a new way for not-for-profits to garner notice in mainstream media. Turns out, I wasn't so far off the mark.

Here at Nyman Ink, we often counsel our clients on the issue of saying thanks. We talk about how important it is to thank your donors and we stress that small personal gestures can make an impact. In fact, ensuring that your organization offers up a simple thank you should be paramount for any not-for-profit wanting to make a difference in the crowded marketplace.

In honour of Wordless Wednesday (one of those fun little blogosphere themes), today I bring you a series of illusion images. May they inspire you in your pursuit of great graphic design.

Does spelling still matter?

A teacher friend of mine told me about a new software program being used in the younger grades in her school. It's used to help with reading and writing, and provides a spell checker and word prediction. Instead of marvelling at this innovative technology, she actually lamented. She feared that instead of teaching the students to spell, it would just do the job for them. (And for those of us who have predictive text on our cell phones, we know this is a scary thing.) For years now, educators and their government counterparts have been promoting literacy with programs such as DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) and Family Literacy. But why learn how to spell when, truthfully, computers can do it for us, quicker and better?

I had an interesting experience related to my Facebook account last week, which I think might be worth sharing. Here's what happened:

A friend (that is, a real friend who is also a Facebook friend) told me that he wasn't able to see any of my updates on his mobile device/smart phone and that he'd been missing out on all my big annoucements. (I recently shared news of my engagement.)

I'm vigilant about keeping my Facebook settings up to date, so this problem surprised me. Had Facebook been making even MORE changes to its privacy policies? Had I missed something?

Even established newspapers can fall prey to the dreaded typo.

Last year, I came across a great post on getting more out of your marketing agency. This post came to me via the CMO newsletter. Written by Kent Lewis, a veteran agency expert who has worked at nine different creative organizations in his time, I've been meaning to share it with you ever since.